Roads less Traveled, Beautiful People and Places

Roads less Traveled, but many kilometers traveled

      We are grateful to have a car to travel across the Czech Republic and into western Slovakia these past 3 weeks.  The countryside is amazingly beautiful, the cities are organized and full of history and energy; but most importantly we continue to meet beautiful and wonderful people in our journeys.  We drove 4,250 kilometers (2,550 miles) these past 40 days.  Our typical week includes two trips to Cumorah Academy near Pravětice (1 hour each way ~ 100km), one or two trips to Brno (1 hour each way ~100km); however, last week we drove to Trenčin, Slovakia (3 hours, 225 km) to visit the Slovaki West District [6 great young elders to offer support and some training].  We then drove to Bratislava, Slovakia to meet with the church branch leadership [5] and missionaries [5 sisters and 2 elders].

     We had our first mission and zone conferences since my last post, very uplifting and excellent days.

     Michele celebrated her last 50 something birthday since my last post.  59 is a brighter day then her 54th when we lost our son, Garrett and held his funeral the day before her birthday.  Both birthdays are and were filled with Hope and Love.   The love we have for him never ceases and we are grateful for the eternal principles in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  As I often shared with him, it is not what we've done that defines us most, it is what we become or are becoming that matters most in life and into the next.  May we all become a little better today relying wholly on the merits of Christ who is mighty to save.     

    Our Self Reliance Advisor, Matthew Matthias, lives in France near Geneva Switzerland (nestled between the Swiss Alps and the Jura Mountain Range).  The views from his home sound post card perfect too.  He traveled with us last week. He trained us and the missionaries and members how self reliance are key Christ led ministering principles.  Christ healed and enabled abilities; individuals with commitment and effort following the Savior and His teachings were able to increase both their spiritual and temporal self reliance with faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.

The countryside roads and small towns offer beautiful vistas, but you must be constantly aware for large logging, farming and semi-trucks on the narrow roads and highways.

       

      

 

I hope you enjoyed coming along with us on a few of our weekly routes!

First Zone and Mission  Conference

     We were blessed to have Elder Nash visit our mission the week of 18-October.  We traveled to Prague for the first time since we arrived 29-September.  It was an instructional and Spirit filled afternoon with much love and learning.  May we put our trust in Christ, His Light and Spirit and walk humbly in our work, and be "all in" with our strength, might, heart and mind--to keep our focus outward on others.   I reread my three pages of notes--many learnings were personal items I need to do, we'll keep striving to do a little better and learn a little more (especially with my language study).

West Zone (Czechia) Missionaries 19-October-2021 with Elder and Sister Nash in Prague, Czechia

East Zone (Slovakia) Missionaries 21-October-2021 with Elder and Sister Nash in Bratislava, Slovakia

     In between the separate Zone gathering dates, we had zoom mission conferences with both zones while in our home in Jihlava.  It was a good week indeed.

Happy Birthday Sestra Michele Ross Schroedter

      We did a little (ok a lot of walking in the mall) strolling near our home in Jihlava to find her birthday winter coat.  She's been a bit worried since our mission letter said to expect "extremely cold winters".  Coming from Houston Texas, this was a bit of change from our mindset for sure.  

   

    Michele's new birthday winter coat  &  a pleasant day on the reception deck at Cumorah Academy

       It was warm enough for us to take a preparation day afternoon at the Zoo near our apartment.  We loved the wildlife from around the world, but felt a bit sad for the animals who long to run and live normally.

Zoo entrance flag,  We often walk on the left path, the zoo is over this small stream on the right.

 

Some beautiful cats and animals always looking for prey

we need to plan an African Safari in the future....

reminded us of the Singapore Bird Park....great memories

thinking of our Shelby and Taylor and times in Australia together

Ok--Grant said we need to go back to Madagascar with you and Kendall to see Lemurs in the wild park and attend the new temple dedication, it's a plan

     

That's a wrap for the Jihlava Zoo -- come visit and we can walk over together!

Road Trip with Matt Matthias and our first time to Slovakia

     We met Elder and Sister Smith who drove down from their home in Heidelberg Germany.  They had just attended a stake conference in Leipzig, Germany.  The same city/region many of ancestors on my father's side came from.  My grandparents joined Christ church in Leipzig and immigrated to the U.S. before WW II and moved to California for economic opportunities in the 1930s/40s.  We hope to visit that area of southern Germany some day.  The Smiths have helped us onboard into our self reliance roles.  We enjoyed our face to face time with them in Prague.

      Matt Matthias flew in Monday, 1-Nov, to Prague from Geneva.   We traveled to Cumorah Academy together and joined 1 of the 5 self reliance courses on Tuesday.  Thereafter, Matt drove with us to Slovakia to do training in Trěcin, Bratislava, and back to Prague for meetings on Thursday afternoon.

Prague, Czechia
  

The Smiths who flew to Croatia were reunited with Elder Parker --they quarantined together until they went to Germany and Czechia respectively.  Our Assistants to the President (Elder Parker and Elder Woodland).  We met Elder Woodland's bishop (from Colorado) in the SLC Airport on our way here.

Pravětice, Czechia (Cumorah Academy)

 

At the Mission Home in Prague with President and Sister Gehring, Matt Matthias, Us, and Sister and Elder Smith before we went to dinner together.  Next morning at Cumorah Academy...

 

     One of the five classes where 8-10 students rotate being the discussion facilitator with their personal finance self reliance class each Tuesday.  Elder and Sister Boam who come up from Vienna Austria three days each week teach various business leadership classes, including Institute.

This awesome young couple living in France shared their family pioneer heritage (her parents came from Madagascar, settled in France where her parents joined the church. They raised their children in the gospel).  She served a mission to Tahiti.  His parents joined the church in Tahiti.  He served his mission to Manchester England.--their future is bright in their love and in the gospel of Christ.

      Successful businesswomen and businessmen "weekly mentors" come from the U.S., Romania, U.K., Latvia,.... to share their learnings, stories and skills with these young single adults (from Albania, Ukraine, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, France, Andorra, Czechia, Nigeria and Bolivia).  It's a great learning temporal and spiritual development environment.

  off Tuesday afternoon for our self reliance training roadshow to:

Trěcin, Slovakia

...beautiful fall time.  I apologize to the 6 Elders I missed getting a photo from our Tuesday 6-8pm training session (and pizza).  It was a long travel day and evening.  

Our hotel (Magnus) was pretty nice in Trěcin; Sestra Schroedter has missed having a bath, so it was a special treat.  We're not complaining, our shower has plenty of hot water in Jihlava.--no fwp

On to Bratislava, Slovakia

A little free time Wednesday 3-Nov visiting the Bratislava Castle and overlooking the Danube River.

 

 

Beautiful Bratislava, Slovakia

Missionaries in the Bratislava Zone

Katy Texas connection -- Sister Utsch and we were called from the same Katy 2nd congregation.

Great evening with fine branch leadership (not shown) and the Bratislava zone missionaries.  

Blue Church in Bratislava 

(Brother Matthias took us by this iconic building on our way back to Prague, 4-November-2021)

  

Learning Leadership Skills at Cumorah Academy and a fun YSA Activity in Brno

     These wonderful young people each have a story, just like all of you reading this blog have a story (if you're still reading my long entry/story).  These young adults from across Europe want to learn and improve their future through education, specialized training and skills.  Perhaps, they may meet their life's partner or have found them already.  I would love to share some of their stories and journeys (if I get permission--I'll share a few), much of their road is yet to be traveled, but I'm hopeful for the future of the world when I meet such young souls with great energy and dreams. 

Young Single Adult Activity in Brno (6-Nov-21), a large Cumorah Academy group with Czech YSAs

         Brother and Sister Farrell have lived in Brno for 4 years, while Sister Farrell worked for Honeywell.  They asked us to come help cook and serve the food for the YSA joint activity 6-Nov (our pleasure to help such an awesome couple).  They are returning to Arizona in a week--we will temporarily fill in as Institute teachers on Wednesday's night in Brno!

        Yummy 15 meter burrito, home made root beer with dry ice.... 60 + hungry YSAs  ready to eat after their 1000--1330 scavenger hunt around Brno.

 

  

 

     Sestra Schroedter and I joined 2 other couples and we answered questions on marriage and dating for an hour.  Very good dialogue and questions....then onto karaoke, singing and board games.

       

(unfortunately--only 2 of the 8 videos could be loaded...)

      It was exciting to see the various nationalities (Ukrainian, Albanian, Georgian, Romanian...) sing and come together to celebrate one another's songs and heritage.  In between song selection, I was excited to share my Japanese song (forget-me-not) 忘れな草をあなたにあなたに！  Sorry no recording, I couldn't sing and record lah!

     We cleaned the church with the Farrells and a few other local Brno young adults as the Cumorah Academy got on their chartered bus back to Pravětice.  We were exhausted, but energized from the wonderful YSAs from across Europe meeting our Czech YSAs in Brno.

Sunday Baptism back to Brno 7-Nov

     We did witness a youth baptism Saturday morning in Brno from an awesome family from Třebič.  We returned Sunday to support Sestry Batt a Taggart and Scott (from the Philippines) at 1pm

  

 Back to Prague, 8-Nov to reposition a car from Brno with Mission Wide Transfers

      We were able to have lunch with 2 other senior missionary couples (the Strattons and the Andersons) and visit the famous Charles Bridge and Prague Plaza (námčstí) in the daylight hours vs our first visit with Prezident Gehring our 2nd day in country 30-Sep.

   

   

love these red roofs--notice the 3 workers tied off (safely I trust) on this beautiful mansion next to Charles Bridge

  

 

  

  

 

Praha Námčstí -- stepping back in time.....

  

Charles Bridge sounds and sights

lightning fast....or pano slow as we leave Charles Bridge

  

I believe we got our 10,000 steps this day

Back to Jihlava Monday evening, another great Tuesday back at the Cumorah Academy and Wednesday evening we went to Brno to join Institute (Brother Farrell's last lesson and heart felt testimony and the love he has for this part of the vineyard (4 years living here) and his son who served in Slovakia.

  

Brno YSAs after a delicious lasagna meal prepared by the Farrells.  Ray is their YSA YM leader and full of lots of energy and spirit!  It will be hard to fill the shoes of the Farrells, but we'll love this group much too!  

Maybe I shouldn't go so long between blogs (it's been a busy 3 weeks).  We are loving our mission and time with the citizens of these beautiful countries and our young missionaries!