Were they REALLY here?

On Sunday August 16th the much anticipated arrival of Natalie and JJ really happened!We took them from the airport to our apartment for a quick change and then to church so we could show them off!

Next day we started our Prague tour......


at St. Vitus Cathedral next to Prague Castle

Along the Vltava River

Peter- Paul Cathedral at Vysehrad Fort

and of course because we are Robbins we had to have our ice cream!

At the outdoor market (aren't they adorable?)

The back- packing adventurers ready for the 2nd half of their adventure.

On the metro.

The big ole train that took them away. I felt just like Uncle Albert on Mary Poppins. " People come and we have such a lovely time and then they have to go and I'm so sad!" Yes we were so sad to have them leave, but it was such a wonderful visit for us. They also helped us out with Family Home Evening by giving the spiritual thought on eternal marriage. So good for our kids to see and hear about the importance and blessing of marriage in the temple.

The week before Natalie and JJ came was transfer week and we were again involved in the feeding and training of 7 new missionaries and the feeding and saying good-bye to 9. After all the activities the mission president took us and the office staff out for dinner along the river.

PIONEERS

On the 24th of July, Utah celebrates the arrival of the Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. We have always loved celebrating this summer holiday and remembering those who went before and made it so much better for us. This week we didn't just remember pioneers but spent 5 days with more than 250 of the pioneers and future leaders of the church in central Europe. The theme of our young single adult conference was; "Be an instrument in the hands of the Lord." Although the native language of the participants may have been: czech, russian, polish, hungarian, romanian, serbian, croatian, albanian, slovakian, slovenian or english, we learned that all could understood the language of the spirit, English was the official language of the conference and so in all the firesides and workshops there was always a low rumble as they translated the message for each other. One of the great messages we came away with is that it isn't enough just to know about the Savior. We have to KNOW Him. We have such respect for these young people: they have to be so strong to resist temptation all around them and often disapproval from friends and even family. The future of the church in central Europe is bright and positive because of these young people.

The conference was held in the beautiful farming village of Sec in the Czech Republic. The facility was built by the communists as a youth indoctrination camp, but we changed all that this week as the restored gospel of Jesus Christ was shared!!

The camp was next to this beautiful lake and was quite close to a castle where the service project was held. As a participant from Brazil said to me, "This is a dream to do a service project at a CASTLE."

We cleaned out the moat, painted and helped move stones!

Yellow vests with the Mormon Helping Hands logo.

(Elder Waldo doing his part)

The huge bonfire to burn up our labor.

With some of our young adults. . .
(Wonder what Elder Robbins is thinking?)

We're wearing t-shirts that the kids made for us!!

This is Janos from Hungary who just received his mission call to the Czech Republic. He joined the church three years ago. He is the only member of the church and was brought up in an atheistic family. He told me his first missionary was Johann Sebastian Bach!?! He started taking piano lessons at the age of 10 and first felt the stirings of the spirit as he learned Bach's music. He will arrive in our mission in December and I told him I wouldn't be able to give him a hug as a missionary so we got our hugs in now!!

Bohemian Paradise or Cesky Raj

We went on a spectacular "vylet" outing with the office staff this week. (Mike is afraid that when the new office couple arrives we won't be in the "in group" anymore! ) We left the mission office in a rain storm and although we had to hike under our umbrellas . . . it only added to the ambience of the scenery!

The rain, fog and mist enhanced the views!
at Trotsky Castle

with Elders Kartchner and Nowland

Elders Lindsay and Robbins

Elder Guzy and Sestra Robbins

Elder Kartchner exploring!?!

As Sister Slovacek said, "This is where Zions National Park meets the Amazon."

On to Valdstein castle, with Pres and Sister Slovacek in the middle

more gorgeous views...

Oh and this castle has a real dungeon

"Come and see it Mike, I promise I won't close the door."

Gotcha!

Ceska Babicky (Czech Grandmas)

I didn't realize until I downloaded my photos that I had a theme going on. . . .

For Family Home Evening the young adults visited a nursing home to visit Babicka Dana who was celebrating her 83rd birthday. She is one of the oldest long time members in the Czech Republic. We brought her flowers and sang to her. She and her daughter, who is not a member were most grateful and it was a tender experience for all of us.

On Saturday we ate and learned how to make "knedliky ovecem" (dumplings with fruit) from
Babicky Jana and Anicka.

The young adults hosted a "RETRO PARTY" with music from the 60's to 80's.

Some of our beautiful girls!

Members young and old had a great time. . .

Especially Babicka Emilie!


(Don't ask why it uploaded on it's side, I couldn't have done this if I tried!)

"Natalie, HELP!"

Name tags and every 9 weeks. . . . .

The song goes: "You're never fully dressed without a smile." Missionaries add:" without your nametag." It lets others know your name, but more importantly who you represent each day. Two names stand out, the missionary and Jesus Christ. We have been wearing these nametags for nine months and have come to understand better what is means to represent Him. We love His gospel, we love His children in the Czech Republic, we love serving with valiant young men and women. There is a power in this nametag. A dear friend of ours in our home ward who was very sick with cancer had always planned to serve a mission. With tears in her eyes she told us, "I would give anything to be able to wear one of those nametags. Nancy died last December and we think of her often and try to evaluate if we appreciate enough what a privilege it is to wear His name. One of the first sentences we learned in Czech: "Jsem zastupice, Jezise Krista." (I am a representative of Jesus Christ.) We hope we will always remember that we want to be Christ-like missionaries and not just do missionary things.

"And now I would that ye should be humble , and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

And see that ye have faith, hope and charity and then ye will always abound in good works." Alma 7: 23-24

Every 9 weeks transfers happen in the Czech Prague Mission. One can feel the anticipation and excitement of new assignments, new companions and new cities. On top of that missionaries arrive from the MTC and leave the Czech Republic after a full mission. There is much laughter and many tears!!

Last week Elder Robbins......

the temporary Finance Secretary and Sister Robbins the. . .

temporary Executive Secretary were right in the middle of training and feeding the above two groups: 8 arriving and 16 departing.

(The Alsops were released with this group and their replacements don't arrive until the end of July, so we are doing double duty and it is indeed keeping us out of trouble.!!)

Elder Smith and Sister Clark who have been here in Prague as long as we have were transferred to other cities. We have really fallen in love with them and know they will be a great strength in their new areas. We do miss them.

Sisters Barron and Reese, our new Outreach companionship got hold of the camera. It is so fun to work with them. (Sister Barron reminds us alot of our daughter-in-law, Allison.!)

May is over, but it was MARVELOUS!

The prophecy of the growth of the church in Europe being among the young people is coming to pass in the Czech Republic. Two wonderful young people were baptized in May!

Our dear Anna!! We both had the privilege of teaching Anna with the Elders. She is from the Ukraine and brings such love, enthusiasm and faith. She has already had a great impact on the young adult program here. She asked Mike to speak at her baptism.

Vojtech read everything he could on the church's website and then called the mission office to see if there was someone who could talk to him about the church!!! Wow did the Elders jump on that. They had to make him wait to be baptized so he could attend church twice. He brought a friend and his younger brother and sister to church the week after he was baptized to start lessons with the missionaries.


Anna wanted "something clever" for this photo. Do you think it worked?


Memorial Day Barbeque at the mission home...

Hot dogs...

ice cream....

and American flags!!

We were invited to Helena Novakova's for dinner along with the Sisters and two of their investigators. Sestra Novakova joined the church in 1950 at the age of 17. During the Communist occupation, member couldn't meet together in groups larger than 8 or 9. Three or four meetings were held each Sunday, often in the home of Sestra Novakova. Her husband died when she was 32 and she cared for a handicapped son for 8 years by herself; carrying him up and down 5 flights of stairs to take him to the doctor every week. When sharing her story with us, her most common expression was, "Everything was fine." What a dear and faithful woman she is.

The young adults had an outing to the alpine slides planned, but it was rained out so we spent the afternoon at the church. Lunch and games. . .

A mean game of Crab Soccer.

A highlight of the month was a visit from Elder and Sister L. Tom Perry and Elder and Sister Robert Oaks. A fireside was held at the beautiful National Theatre with an overflowing crowd of more than 300. Saints had traveled 8 hours from Slovakia. The next day we attended a conference with the entire mission: both Czech Republic and Slovakia. The first time in about two years that the entire mission has been together. There was much good counsel given to young and older missionaries. Elder Perry said the problem with the world is they want a cafeteria style church, where they choose only desserts and leave the broccolli for others. He then gave an overview of Christ's church. No man assumes position. The Lord organized the system and the senior apostle is always the next president. "We don't wear our number on our jerseys, but we know our number!" He then gave observations of each prophet he had personally served with from President Lee to Monson. He ended by giving counsel about staying close to your companion. Do things that endear yourself to your companion. He told of a companion he loved and trusted and has stayed close to his entire life. It was a privilege to be taught by an apostle.