Jarnie Tancovacku

The Young Single Adults of the Prague Branch invite you to the first annual

"Spring Dance"

March 27, 2009

Sorry you were not able to be there so I'll fill you in on what you missed: learning to line dance, do the Cha-cha, a fabulous trumpet player, who played without a trumpet, a visit from

"Tom Cruise", the "Czech" dance, (I got all excited and thought we were going to learn a traditional Czech dance and then found out it was the CHICKEN dance, it was fun too) and yummy refreshments. I think what was best for the youth was to watch their Branch President and his wife, who really know how to dance. It's good for them to see you can be a good member of the church and still have lots of fun. The DJ and his wife were very impressed that people could have so much fun and not be drinking. It was his first time doing a dance in a church and he didn't know quite what to expect.

Elder Robbins cuttin' a rug with Helena..........

Sestra Robbins with Tomasi!


Elisabeth LOVES, Elder Robbins. Looks as if Elder Robbins is enjoying the attention too!

I have written before about "Fat Sunday" and this is what it looks like


To bylo bajecne!

That was delicious!



Yes we finally have not only good smelling clothes but clean clothes....



solved that problem!!!!!

Side Stories

Today we have been missionaries for six months! Sunday to Sunday flies by but it seems we haven't seen family and friends FOREVER! We feel quite comfortable as Praguers now and have just some random thoughts to share......

This is one of our regular means of transport and we can't count the number of times we've had to break out in a dead run to catch our limo. I always hope someone will cheer as we breathlessly sprint up the steps before the door closes or at least say, "Good for you, you made it!" I think I'll be waiting a long time for that.

I have learned that "gas permable" contact lens are not common in the Czech Republic. My supply of contact solution is getting low so this week I went looking for some. Oh they have many optical shops here, in fact there our three just around the corner from us and two more about a 10 minute walk, but no solution. It took a map, a 15 minute tram ride, a walk down a winding street.......

through this walkway, which is under contruction, across a boarded sidewalk........

into this torn-up court yard and up the winding staircase........ sure enough Beno Blachut had the solution. I just don't know how he stays in business!

Everything we do seems to take longer. Sister Slovacek asked me to help with Auxillary Training next week. First everything has to be translated and then when I try to make some handouts that require fonts, formatting and clip art it I need an Elder's help. All the computers are in Czech!!! Thank goodness for

Elder Crane's expertise and patience with me.

I was starting to feel confident about my ability to recognize Czech products and then I realized this week I have been washing our clothes in fabric softener for the last month!?! Yes, the clothes do smell good but now I know why the collars and cuffs weren't coming out clean. Oh me!!!!

This is Elisabeth one of our beautiful French young adults. She made us wonderful french crepes for Family Home Evening. We celebrated her birthday with cake and singing this month. We told her in our family we not only sing "Happy Birthday" in English, but Portuguese: which we did. Then it was sung to her in Czech, Slovak, Russian, Mongolian, Spanish, German and French! Are we an international family or what!?!

The rest of the story.......

Okay, so I erased this photo from it's proper spot in the blog so you will have to read the whole thing to find out what this is all about...................... Just when I start to feel good about my blogging skills!

I met the doll creator... Sestra Bartasova!! I took the Sisters with me to translate and what a treat we had. Dolls, dolls, dolls... two rooms full of them! Many were dolls she has collected, but most of them are ones she has dressed in her own hand-knitted creations. Dolls from 3 inches to 3 feet. What fun. Her daughter, Jarka is a very talented painter. Sestra Bartasova first came in contact with the church in 1950. She showed us the Book of Mormon she received all those years ago. Her mother didn't want her to join the church. Then along came communism..... but she came in contact with the church again and she and her daughter were baptized in 1995. They are both very faithful members of the Prague Branch. Since my last post we have had many new and wonderful experiences. We attended our first Prague District Conference. It was held in a beautiful performance hall on Namesti Miru " Peace Square" (An appropriate name) just a ten minute walk from our apartment. Who knew we would be able to walk to church in Prague? Next time I'll take my camera so I can post pictures of the hall. We also had a mission tour from Elder and Sister Neuwenschwander of the Seventy and Elder and Sister Wondra an area authority from Vienna. They attended our Missionary Zone Conference and inspired and instructed the missionaries on identifying and teaching to the needs of their investigators. It has been great to meet with our missionaries in our weekly District Meetings and see them put into practice the things they learned. Mike and I both had the opportunity to teach with Elder Chernov (our Ukranian Elder) and Elder Apple as they taught Dan. He is a diplomat from Nigeria, who is here in Prague working on his doctorate. He is a humble and teachable man who was baptized today! I was asked to speak at his baptism. It was a tender experience for me and as I said to Elder Apple, "This is why we all came!"

Who knew we would come on a mission to where, to do what?..............................................

LINE DANCE,
(Where's Waldo?)

ICE SKATE,

(At the oldest Ice Hockey Stadium in the Czech Republic. I have the 2 bruised knees to prove it and thankfully, Viktor picked me up and skated me back in!!!)

and EAT DELICIOUS DESSERTS,

with the Alsops.
(Insert the first picture

Yum, yum!!)

Well maybe we knew we would need a Czech Class. You'll know where to find us every Tuesday at 5:00 pm

Marketa and Sister Clark are the tutors: Elder and Sister Robbins and Dema, from Ukraine are the students.

With all this Czech, plus a Czech haircut and this last week a Czech filling to cure my toothache, OUCH!........we are practically natives.