Matt's Mission

Final Transfer

2011-07-06T21:02:00.000-04:00

Today was Matt's final transfer in the mission field. Next transfer day he'll be on a plane headed home. He stayed in Plzen and is now the District Leader. He's the one responsible for gtathering statistical information from all the missionaries in his district and then reporting that information to the Zone Leaders. His final companion is Elder Stockdale from Montana. Elder Stockdale has been on his mission for 6 months. Matt will be spending a lot of time working with him to help him master the language.

Matt is excited, but a little nervous, knowing that his time is getting short. But he was glad he was able to stay in Plzen. they have several investigators they have been teaching and he looks forward to the next 9 weeks of teaching and getting to know them better. He's got his fingers crossed for a baptism, but knows that it's the Lord's timetable not his.

he has had a wonderful mission and made many new friends in the Czech Republic. He loves the people, loves the country and will be sad to leave. He also looks forward to returning home, getting into school and doing a lot of things. We are all very proud of him and his example has been an inspiration to all of us.

Hi from Big Hoffa's

2011-07-03T23:56:00.002-04:00

We're not too sure how the Pirate Theme fits in with barbeque, but the food was fantastic! We all hope Matt hasn't lost his taste for barbeque.

McKinley's face tells it all. THIS is how you eat barbeque!

Last Transfer!

2011-07-03T23:41:00.001-04:00

This Wednesday is Matt's last transfer! I'm not sure if he will be staying in Plzen or moving to a new district, but as soon as we know we'll post his location. This means that he is only 9 weeks away from finishing a wonderful mission. He has made many new friends in the Czech Republic and will miss them dearly. He has also made many new friends of the companions he has served with and the other missionaries he has met. It will be difficult for him to leave, but I know he will also be looking forward to returning home. And we are all excited to know he will be be here soon.

He has some great investigators he and his companions have been working with over the last couple of months. They were even able to take one of their investigators to Prague to witness a baptism there. It was a very special trip for them all. He loves teaching the gospel and knows that the Lord will bless the lives of those they have met and taught.

Loads of Pictures!

2011-07-03T18:39:00.002-04:00

I decided to upload a lot of pictures from Matt. These are as recent as a couple of weeks ago and as far back as last November. The picture of Matt drinking from the fountain made him sick, ironically, the people of CZ consider this to be the fountain of luck and health! The picture of the ledger contains the name of a member of our ward who served in the CZ in 1992. Enjoy!

Brno District Conference

2010-10-25T16:39:00.002-04:00

Matt in Brno for District Conference last week. Pictured with him is Veronika, a member of the Brno Branch. Veronica updates her Facebook page with pictures of the missionaries serving in Brno, and we were able to get pictures of Matt while he was there.

Where in the world is Matt?

2010-10-24T08:16:00.004-04:00

It's been too long since I have published an update about Matt. He has long since left the city of Brno and moved to a small town in the middle of the country...Jihlava.
Jihlava is about halfway between Brno and Prague. It is the oldest mining town of the Czech Republic. Silver mining has been ongoing since 799AD. It has a population of about 50,000, so Matt and his companion Elder Hicken are the only missionaries in the area.

They recently had a baptism in Jihlava...

Ondra, was one of the people that Matt and Elder Hicken have been teaching the gospel to. They were very exicted for Ondra to be baptized. They go out everyday looking for people to talk to and teach. Matt really loves what he is doing. He has come to love the people of the Czech Republic.

He says his favorite food is not Czech, but Hungarian. Segedínský guláš.

It is a goulash made with pork, sauerkraut, and apples. His taste buds have changed a lot since going on his mission. If I ever mentioned we were having sauerkraut I'm sure he would have turned up his nose! I'm not a big fan of sauerkraut either, but I suppose I should learn to make this dish so when he comes home he will have a bit of his mission to keep with him.

Matt and I have been reading the book 'Jesus The Christ' together over the last several weeks. I think he has finished it and I'm nearly done. It's a wonderful book on the life and ministry of Jesus. If anyone would like to read it here is a link for the audio version. I have seen several places online where you can download a pdf copy as well.

The past week Matt has been travelling a lot back and forth to Prague and Brno. He needed to go to Prague and renew his visa, but didn't realize until he got there that the visa office was closed and had to return later in the week. He and his companion also traveled to Brno for a District Conference, where he and a lot of the other missionaries in the area met.

The mission has a new President, he and his wife are from England and had served in the Czech Republic as senior missionaries before. Matt really enjoys him and likes hearing him speak with his british accent and all. He says there are times though when it's hard to understand him since he uses british terms for words and he's not always exactly sure what he means.

He was all excited this week as he received a care package from home. A few new shirts, a pair of pants, and new red scarf to wear this winter (he was glad for the color - he was telling his companion they needed to add some color since they seem to always wear black), a lot of Skittles (he requested these a few weeks ago - they just don't have that good old american candy there!), some missionary supplies, and of course, something fun - SPY Glasses!

When you wear them they reflect back over your shoulder so you can see what is going on behind you. We figured he and his companion could have a little fun with each other around the house and on P-Day (their day off).

Well, enough for now. Matt is doing well, is healthy, and looking forward to winter. It's starting to get colder there now, highs in the 40's, low in the 30's. It won't be long before there is snow on the ground. Next week is a transfer week, so he may possibly be moved to a new town. I'll will update this and let everyone know in a couple of weeks...WHERE IN THE WORLD MATT IS!

Hi Uncle Matt!!

2010-06-21T14:01:00.002-04:00

This past Mother's Day, when Elder Vivona called home, he told us that he was able to see the blog when he logged on to email home each week. Well, since it's not always easy to email him photo's (or send them and have him lugging them around) I thought it would be nice to add a few of them here for him to see quickly. (You're welcome, Matt!)

I just took some pictures of the girls this past week, and figured I would load those up first. My plan is to take a few more of the rest of the family this week. Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can all get outside for some fun sunshine pictures.

Here you go Matt... we love you!!!

Ashlynn (11 Months)

McKinley (9 Months)

Ashlynn & McKinley

McKinley & Ashlynn

(Click on the collage to make it bigger)

Matt, I promise the rest of the family photo's will get put up this week too!!!

Cesky Raj

2010-05-23T08:39:00.007-04:00

Before Matt was transferred from the office in Prague, President Slovacek and his wife took several of the missionaries on a site seeing trip to Cesky Raj/Bohemian Paradise. The Bohemian Paradise is the country's oldset nature reserve featuring deep valleys, lakes and ponds, and sandstone rock towers. Looks like they had a great time. Here are some pictures Sister Slovacek shared on her blog page...

Cesky Raj/Bohemian Paradise

Sister Slovacek writes, "We love this place! We took the office on an excursion to Cesky Raj for P-Day a few weeks ago. From the bottom up: Elder Mittanck, Elder Anderson, Sister Anderson, me, Elder Foster, Heidi Slovacek, Elder Hatch, Sister Foster, Elder Vivona (at the very top). I'm not sure why Elder Fruehan is not in this picture."

"Hey look! We found Elder Fruehan!"

"President Slovacek was the photographer. Here he is getting a good shot of us. I took a picture of him taking a picture of us."

"Every time we looked up, we would see Elder Vivona standing high above us among the rocks."

Mother's Day

2010-05-23T07:44:00.009-04:00

Two weeks ago we all got to spend some time talking to Matt on the phone! And he sounded great! He really enjoys his new area...Brno. It's in the southeastern part of the country. Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic. His new companion, Elder Darrington, served with him in the MTC (how nice to be working with an old friend). He tells us the language barrier is finally broken and he can now undserstand and speak the language with very little problem. He is very excited to be back out in the field working, not that his experience in the office was all that bad (he just missed being out among the people).

The weather in Brno is very much like the weather here in Indy. Lot's of rain and mild temperatures, although this week he says that it has turned hot so it's a little bit humid. Yesterday he and his companion, along with some of the other missionaries serving in Brno went to visit a castle. Spilberk Castle was built around 1250 and has been a Royal home, a fortress, a prison, a barracks and now is the home of the Brno City Museum.

When we asked him if there was anything from home he wanted his response was...Mac-N-Cheese! So this week we sent him a care package (well, tao care packages. We tend to get carried away when it comes to sending things from home!) It was really wonderful to hear his voice. We already can't wait for Christmas to come around so we can talk to him again. But we are all grateful he has access to email so we can talk to him each week. Here are a couple of pictures he sent this week.

Brno Cave

Missionary cow!

Starsi Vivona and Starsi Darrington

I'm now in Brno!

2010-05-02T08:26:00.003-04:00

hey mom and dad,

im sorry that i have been combining your letters into one, but i only have 1 hour to write letters to you and to the president (and you guys write me novel-long emails, haha jk) but thats awesome to hear about all the things that have been going on:) So, once again, we have 9 week transfers not 6 week ones. and the past week, we had my 4th transfer in the country.... and guess what?! im now in brno!! the only sad part is is that im not in praha anymore, i love that city. but being here for only abuot 4 days i can already tell that i will like it here too. im now serving with elder darrington! he was one of the elders in my mtc group. hes a way cool guy and its nice to be around someone that speaks that same amount of czech that i do. my first day here in brno, on wednesday, we talk 3 lessons in about 2 hours. i love how it is summer, because bench contacting rocks.

well im having a blast here! i really cant even destribe it. but i am glad to be out of the office now, it was starting to kill me having to be in the ofice all day and not out being a missionary. well, i already have to go, but i want to you to know that i love you both and that i cant wait to talk to you in about two weeks (for mothers day). oh, and my pdays are back to monday again. i love you.

s laskou

elder vivona

Transfers!

2010-02-22T15:23:00.001-05:00

I'm srry that i didnt have a chance to write to you this past pday, but i got transferred early. guess where im at now... PRAGUE!! the reason that i got tranferred early is because im now in the office of the mission home as the office manager:) it was really nerve-recking because on last monday, the district that i was in down in české budějovice went on a vilet (like a field trip) to an old castle ruins that was close by, and while we were there, President Slovacek called me on our cell phone. since we were kinda out in the middle of nowhere, we didn't have very good reception so i had to call him back once we got to civilization again. so needless to say, i was way nervous that he was calling me, i thought that i was in trouble or something. well anyways when i called him back, immediately he told me that i was going to be serving in the office in praha and that i needed to get there as fast as possible. after the phone call we went home and immediately i had to start packing my stuff. i was way nervous because when you are in the office, you have to answer the phone and pretty much be a secretary for the president. and since i dont really speak the language super well, i thought he was almost joking when he told me what i was assigned to do. but anyways, im here now, and let me tell you, THIS CITY IS B-E-A-UTIFUL. and its way uber big too. this past week, has been crazy hectic though. i had to learn all of my responsiblities and all the things that i need to know how to do ( like ordering all the supplies for the mission). but the good thing is is that i can order just about everything from the internet;) its just like im back at home;) oh, and i get some really cool perks too, like i get my own phone and computer, and our pdays are on saturday:) so that is exciting.

its way cool to hear about everything that is happening back at home, its kinda crazy that you are still getting snow there. oh, and thank you for the packages:) (i finally got the package with the sweaters in it:) since im in the office now, i dont have to wait for zone conference to pick up my mail, but it actually just gets delivered to me (that is one of the new resopnsibilties that i now have too, signing for all the mail) but ive been having a blast here. my new comp is Elder Fruehan, he has been in the mission for about a year and a half, so he is my translator for a couple of ppl. its really cool, i cant understand just about everyone if i talk with them in person, but on the phone for some reason i just cant understand everthing... i dont really know why. well tomorrow is my first sunday in the praha branch so im excited:) they have about 130 members here so that is a lot more than in the last branch.

i totally forgot about megans bday today so, im srry that i didnt send a card or something, but i will send her an email today. wish her a happy bday for me:) i miss you both and im happy that i have such awesome parents:) im glad that i had the opportunity to be raised in this church and that i could go on a mission. i know that at times here the work is really difficult, but if we just put our faith in the lord, then everything will work out and that our burdens will become lighter. just like it says in matthew 11:28-30,

28 ¶ aCome unto me, all ye that blabour and are heavy laden, and I will give you crest.
29 Take my ayoke upon you, and blearn of me; for I am cmeek and dlowly in eheart: and ye shall find frest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is aeasy, and my burden is light.

i know that this is a true statement and that if we come unto christ in our afflictions then, he will make our weaknesses and our hardships become our strengths.

love,
starší vívona

Fwd: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

2010-02-22T09:30:00.002-05:00

From: matt vivona
Date: February 20, 2010 3:42:54 AM EST
To: meganpeyton@kw.com
Subject: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear megan, happy birthday to you.... and many more from Mr. moby in the morning! ok, there we go, i just felt bad because i havent written in such a long time. but at least i got to sing to you... kinda;) so how are you? from the letter that i get from mom and dad you and jared seem to doing pretty good:) so how is the girl doing? you would not believe how many pictures i have of her and ashlynn. its really crazy. i have more pictures of them than i do of any of the rest of the family. but its good i guess. so how does it feel to be turning 24? wow youre getting old... haha jk. i love you anyways;)

well as you probably heard from mom and dad, im now an office elder, which means that now im serving in Prague:) and this place is really way cool:) the city is beautiful, but i think that it will take me a long time to know my way around. there are so many different forms of transportation here, but thankfully as an office elder, we get a car:) and maybe soon they will let me get my czech licence:) that would be way tight:)

well i just wanted to write and wish you a happy birthday, so happy birthday agian.

s laskou,

starší vívona

Fwd: Letter from President Slovacek

2010-02-22T09:29:00.007-05:00

CÍRKEV

CZECH PRAGUE MISSION
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Milady Horákové 85/95
170 00 Praha 7 – Holešovice
Czech Republic
Tel.: +(420) 224 322 215
Fax: +(420) 224 324 751
2013061-PRS@LDSChurch.org

22 February 2010

Dear Brother and Sister Vivona:

I am pleased to inform you that your son, Elder Matthew Ryan Vivona, has been called to work in the mission office as the Office Manager. Elder Vivona is an outstanding missionary and has touched the lives of many here in the Czech Republic.

As the Office Manager he has many responsibilities necessary for this office to run smoothly and efficiently. He has worked hard at learning the Czech language and we are grateful for his skill, as he will have to communicate with many in the community who provide services and supplies for us. He has the responsibility to distribute printed materials, not only to the missionaries, but to the many branches included in our mission.

This is a very important responsibility. I feel it an honor to serve with him. I have watched him carefully and know him to be a very special young man and a dedicated servant of the Lord. Thank you for raising such a fine young man. May the Lord bless you as you continue to support him in his missionary labors.

With warmest regards,

Marvin J. Slováček, Jr.
President, Czech Prague Mission

Fwd: hi

2010-02-22T09:29:00.006-05:00

Subject: hi

ok so im really sorry for not being able to write the past couple of weeks, but weve had pday on saturday, and in české budějovice nothing has been open. well i dont really have a ton of time to write to you but ill try to fit everything in. the past couple of week s have been really good, weve been able to teach a lot of ppl through tracting mostly since it is so cold outside. in the past like 4 days weve gotten about a foot of snow. it makes i not verz much fun to contakt in so weve been tracting alot. christmas was a blast and news zears was a ton of fun too. i got so reallz cool firework pics:) we had to comeee inearly on news years because ppl get pretty crazy with all he fireworks and the alchohl. but it was a lot of fun. the other elders came over to our house and we played monopoly until like 3 in teh morning. it was a blast. but other than that nothing super spectacular has happened. that is so crazy to hear that chris and ashley gto into a car accident!! im so glad to hear that everzone is ok! even ashlznn, she sounds way cute:) well im sorry that this is such a short letter but i dont have much time. me and elder peterson are doing pretty good. its really fun to see how different missionaries do things in the work differently. the past week or so, ive also become quite the good... male seamstress(?) haha its been a lot of fun to fix things for myself:) well that is pretty much everything so i have to gett going, i still have to write president and then go shopping. oh and i get packages everytime that i go up to praha, so every zone conference. i love you all.

s laskou,
starší vivona

ps. im using a czech keyboard, so you may have to repalce the z for a y:)

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Fwd: this week:)

2010-02-22T09:29:00.005-05:00

this week:)

Hi:) this week has been pretty good, im srry for the short letter last week, but today we found a better emailing place in a nearby library. so how have things been going? whats it like at home right now? here, today it finally is starting to warm up a little, but there is still snow on the ground. (it snowed about another 3 inches on top of the foot we already had). tracting has gottin' really fun now that it is so cool outside;) in fact, in the past week, we have found 4 new investigators from tracting! its a lot of fun... except when you get kicked out of the biulding by the old ppl that dont want you there. (its happened like 3 times in the past couple weeks) but it is ok i guess. im staying pretty healthy here as weel. last night we were invited over to the harff's house, the american family, for dinner and they fed us some "healthy spanish food" because brother harff went to argintina on hhis mission. they are a pretty cool family:) all of the families in this branch are. and yesterday i had to give a talk in sacrement meeting. it was pretty good i guess. (i personally think that i could have been alot better, but quite a few people complemented me on it) i had been working on it everyday during personal study and then on saturday and sunday morning i translated it. just before church i had elder nowland check it and make corrections to my grammar, and i was glad that i gave it to him! he had to fix alot of things, but there were quite a few less misstakes than in my last talk. i gave it on pokora (humility) and it actually ended up being about 15 minutes long too:) i was pretty excited. and that is pretty much everything that has been going on. all of our investigators are doing pretty well. we found this one girl this past week or two that is really interested in our message:) she is like 16 and she plays softball for the czech national team. and she has been coming to church for the past 2 weeks:) her name is veronika. and there are a couple others that are about the same. i dont know, but i guess things are starting to pick up here:) i cant beleive that the transfer is almost over, we only have about 4 more weeks left. me and elder peterson are getting along really well too:) OH! on wednesday, we went on echanges so i was with elder horvath for the whole day. it was so crazy, we had a meeting with one of their new members, so we went and taught her the new member lessons. since he is new, he really doesnt understand anything, so i pretty much had the whole lesson! it was so cool and scary at the same time. but i understood everything that she said, and i was able to translate for horvath! it was such a neat experience:) i know that the lord really was helping me that day, and i knowthat he helps me everyday:) i know that this church is true and that the spirit really does prompt us to know what our heavnly father wants us to do. i love this gospel and i kow that through this knowledge that we have we can know what we have to do to return to our father in heaven. i love you both and the whole family, i cant wait to hear how everyone is doing. well i have to go, i still need to write to president slovacek.

s laskou,

starsi vivona

p.s. can you maybe find some cool spiritual thought ideas for me? our companoinship is kind of running out, and we are about going to have to start repeating ourselves. thank you:)

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Ceske Budevice

2009-10-20T21:28:00.002-04:00

hey!! THIS COUNTRY IS SO TOTALLY AWESOME!!! so after i talked to you guys at the airport, we got on the plane and headed for austria, it was the longest flight ever!! completely not fun. 8 hours of boredom on a plane that i couldnt watch the movies on, it kinda stunk but it was cool that i was with the guys from my district and the croatians and the slovaks so we were able to socialize on the plane. that was one super long day though. we spent the night on the plane over the ocean, and then went straight from our terminal in austria that we got out of to the next place we had to go to get on our flight to the czech republic. at the airport in austria, we were all super thirsty but none of us had any euros so we had to pay with my card, but the guy told us that we had to at least buy 5 euros for some reson. idk but it was cool, i got my first taste of european Fanta. it was pretty good becuz it doesnt have as much carbonation. but yeah so we had to say bye to every one that was not going to our mission, it was kind of a bummer but it was ok. then we hopped on a prop plane and headed out for the czech republic. it took us about 40 min which wasnt bad at all comparitively:) there we met the mission president, president Slováček and his wife sestra SLováčkova and the two assistants. they took us back to the mission home which is also the church biulding in praha, we put our stuff there and then we headed out for our prague walk and tourist day thing. i took a lot of pics so i will send those home soon. i was so tired at that point taht i think i took a pic of the same building three times but idk. then we went contacting that day and we, me and my companion elder anderson were able to talk to this one guy on the street about the gospel for like 20 minutes!. it was an awesome experience. then we went back to the mission home and paased out, it was only like 630 ish.haha the next morning we werre at the missiopn home and that morning we were assigned to our companions, i became comps with elder Hill, hes a way cool guy from utah. and we were going to serve in české buděvice in the waz south end of the country. it took us about 2 and a half hours to get here from praha and it was on the first train that i have ever ridden. it was pretty cool. and that day we went contacting again in this city and it was pretty cool but the people here dont speak as much english as the ppl in prague do so i have to rely on my comp al ot to answer questions they have about what we are talking about. its pretty cool. our appartment is right in the middle of town which makes contacing really nice. we are like 2 blocks away from the naměsti which is the town square thing where we do the bulk of our contacting. well i have to go so i will have to finish this up in a letter. i love you very much and i cant wait to hear from you agian. i know that this is the true gospel and that through the atonement we can return to our heavenly father. i know that joseph smith was a true prophet and that he saw GOd and his son Jesus Christ in the sacred grove. i love this gospel so much.
starsi vivona

9-22-09 Email home!

2009-09-23T09:15:00.000-04:00

Dear family:)
So today is my P-day once again (YAY) and I’m sorry about not writing real letters I know that you like that a lot more, so I’ll write one today. Well this morning we went to the temple (chrám) and it was awesome. When you stand outside the temple on the front step you can see provo valley and the lake in the middle and it is a pretty cool sight to see cuz the temple is on the base of the mountain so its higher than everything around it:) we went to the 8 oclock session so we had the rest of the day to do all of our other stuff like laundry (which im getting pretty amazing at BTW) haha but its been really fun here. If there wasn’t so much stuff to keep me busy all the time I would probably be crazy home sick. And I mean seriously, we have a weekly planning session every Friday morning and we plan all of our language and PMG lessons and then every night we plan out what we are going to do in our personal (osobní) and our companion (studium se společnikem) and our language study (jazykové studium) times. So our days are so full of stuff to do that is insane. My brain is about ready to explode by the end of the day;) and last week our TRC was entirely in Czech if you remember and then every week till the end of my time here will be the same way so itll really be challenging. But its all good I guess. Last week we had elder Holland instead of the President Monson, but it was still super awesome:) I think he might be one of my favorite speakers. He always gets so into it that he pounds his fists on the podium. It was really powerful (mocný) (haha I know how to write most of this letter in Czech, but I don’t really feel like having to translate this whole thing, sooo, yeah) and his wife got up and spoke just before he did it was pretty cool she’s Just as amazing as he is. And then this Sunday we got to watch another movie (we get to choose between like four every week) and this week we chose the prophet of the restoration (I think that’s what its called) but it was awesome:)
And yeah the glasses that we got are really strange for me to wear, haha cuz apparently I have a slight stigmatism and the glasses correct that (and my other ones didn’t) so its one of those things that Im just gonna have to get used to I guess:) and im not going to need to buy a bike for my mission cuz it’s a walking/public transportation missions. So im really glad about that cuz it cant be fun to have to ride a bike in a suit (its uncomfortable enough as it is just to wear one haha). And my companions thought I was crazy for wanting that Hollister cologne, but once I put it on they kept wanting to smell me, haha it was kinda gay, but apparently it has the same affect on guys as it does girls;)
So the mtc is a blast and I pretty much love the food, but the more that I stay here the more I just want to leave. We’ve seen two groups come and go within the time that we’ve been here. All engliash speaking of course, but its kinda depressing to think that they are already in the field and we’re not. Oh, and I haven’t had to give a sinlge talk since ive been here! Its so awesome! Every week everyone has to prepare one and then in the announcements in sacrament meeting, they announce who is going to speak (its pretty much on the spot, so theres really no time to even get nervous, I like it a lot more;) ). And yes:( I have gained weight, Im at 200lbs, but its muscle weight;) and I still haven’t gotten used to only being able to listen to the tab choir, its kind of just getting annoying now, but im thinkin that ill just kinda tune it out soon. For choir, we’re not singing in this years’ general conference, I was knida bummed about that but its still totally fun to sing with that many elders and sisters. (theres usually about 500 or so that show up for choir). We sing every Tuesday for devotional.
So as I said, my brain usually is about to explode at the end of every day cuz of all the learning, but itspretty cool cuz all of the teachers on this floor of the building we are in speak relatively similar languages and evertime my teachers speak I can understand about 90% of it so it’s a good feeling:)
And its awesome to hear about how every ones doing, especially my nieces:) I cant wait to get pictures of them:) well, im just about out of time so I gotta wrap it up. I want you all to know that I love you all so much, and ill write a couple of snail mail letters today. I know that this gospel is true and that through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can return to live with our Father in Heaven. And that we can live as an eternal family in this world and the world to come. I knoe that Joseph smith was a true prophet and that he saw God the Father and His son Jesus Christ, so that he could restore the fullness of His gospel on the earth. I love you all again, and I will write again soon:)

Love,
Starší Vivona

How to send Christmas packages to Prague

2009-09-13T21:55:00.004-04:00

Dear Parents and Loved Ones of the Czech Prague Missionaries,

President Slovacek and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support of your missionary. Your communication with them is vital to their well being. When they know they are fully supported by loved ones at home, they are much happier missionaries. They have a clearer focus. They are free to work harder because their attention is not being diverted by wondering how things are going at home. So thank you again for your loving and sustained support.

Though it may not seem like it, the holiday season is close at hand. Many of you will want to send a Christmas package to your missionary. This is highly encouraged; so we would like to send along a few reminders concerning the mail. Please notify friends and family of these reminders as well.

Mail packages early. If you send a package in September or October, it will arrive on time without an enormous shipping cost. Your missionary will also receive the package before Christmas. We make a special trip the week before Christmas to take packages to the missionaries. If a package arrives after we have made our deliveries, the missionary will not receive the package until January.

Address all packages to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and send to the mission home. This cannot be stressed enough. Last year, several packages were either lost or sent back to the sender because this simple request was ignored. Packages have a way of disappearing off missionary apartment doorsteps in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. They are much safer here in the mission home. Please be assured that we will do all we can to keep the packages secure. We have set up a new security system with many locks and limited access to keys to the missionary closet.

Put their name second on the mailing label. Your mailing label should look like this:

Cirkev Jezise Krista Svatych Poslednich Dnu
Elder Matthew Vivona
85/95 Milady Horakove
Praha 170 00 Czech Republic

I hope this is not confusing. Please take a few minutes before you mail your package to get the address label right. It will make all the difference to your missionary at Christmas time.

Thank you again for your continued support. We love your missionary! In December, we will be posting a slide show of all the missionaries throughout the mission on our blog: www.theslovaceks.blogspot.com

Many thanks,

President and Sister Slovacek

A New Niece!

2009-09-13T21:35:00.002-04:00

Matt is an uncle, AGAIN! Welcome Mckinley Addison Peyton to the family. McKinley was born 9/10/09 at 9:22pm to Megan and Jared. Matt has been asking every time he writes "is she here yet?" Well here she is!

2009-09-13T21:22:00.002-04:00

Starsi Vivona is rapidly learning Czech. The MTC teachers are longer speaking English to the Elders. They now must really learn the language. matt said last week when they first stopped speaking english he was only getting about every third word. This week he is beginning to understand a bit more. He has had several occassions to teach (in English), by working in the Referral Center (RC). The referral Center is where phjone calls come in from people seeing the church's commercials on television and wanting to know more. Matt told us that last week he spoke to a woman in Texas for over an hour on the phone and when they were finished speaking she had agreed to have missionaries come to her home to discuss more of the gospel. Matt gladly sent the referral to missionaries in her area. He was excited to be able to speak with her and teach by the Spirit. He looks forward to going to the RC to work. He really likes his companions and they are getting along well. Last week a couple of the Elders had gotten sick and had to spend some time in the infirmary. Whiel they were recovering, Matt and his companions had to take notes for them to study from. He said that was quite a challenge, as now they were only getting to hear czech, and missing every other word and had to take notes. But he said they were able to take down enough to pass on to their fallen companions. He really loves being in the MTC and learning.

Last Tuesday was P-day and he had some time on the computer to send us an email. Cynthia was with clients when Matt's mail came through. Thinking she had missed him quickly sent a simple reply, "r u still there?". To her surprise he was and they were able to exchange a few emails. Cynthia said it was almost like having him in the room and speaking directly to him. He has about 4 more weeks of training before heading overseas. He is looking forward to teaching the Czech people.

Starsi Vivona's Testimony

2009-08-28T18:23:00.002-04:00

Letter from the MTC

2009-08-25T17:13:00.004-04:00

Hey everybody! The MTC is awesome!! Sorry if this is in txting format but I only have 30 min to write so I have to do it as fast as possible. This past week has been amazing, the spirit is really strong here, although I am kinda getting sick of church music.... haha jk. The czech is so cool, I can read the BoM (Book of Mormon) (I may not understand everything, but I can still read it) and I can pray and bear my testimony. Both my companions and I get along pretty well and all the elders in my district are really cool. Today is p-day so we got to visit the temple today. The Provo Temple is really pretty and probably the better part about going was that we got to leave the MTC grounds haha. All of our learning is done all in one class room so looking at the same boring walls for 12 hours straight gets boring fast. We are learning a lot from PMG (Preach my Gospel) and teaching ppl (people) is starting to get really fun. They have this place called the RC (the Referral Center) and we go there once a week for about two hours. And all we do is answer the phones of the ppl that see the church's comercial and want to get a free BoM or have the missionaries come talk to them. My first time going there I didnt like it at all because I dont like talking on the phone, as all of you know, but this last time we went it was a lot better. There is also this other thing called the TRC which is when your companionship go to teach one of the instructors the first lesson, or whatever you need to work on the most. Last week we practiced door contacting and street contacting in czech! It was a lot of fun and we didnt do too badly:) speaking czech is getting easier too. All of my teachers are way cool too. Almost every day we have "culture time" unintentionally of course;) its when one of our teachers gets into one of their mission stories. Its a ton of fun to learn about the czech republic. I may have already told you this, but we have three teachers, Bratr (czech for Brother) Brown, Bratr Johnson, and Bratr Cardon. And every once in a while Brother Ruda comes in and teaches us, he's a native czech, so he has some cool stories about his childhood and finding the church. So hows everything been? Has Megan had her baby yet? Is everything going alright? Oh and I love getting all those letters from dearelder.com, its so cool to see how everyones doing:) Well my times just about up so I have to start wrapping this up unfortunately:( I was sitting in the celetial room today and for some reason got really home sick, more than I had been for my entire time being here. But I know this is where I need to be and that its the right thing to do. I love you all sooo much and I just want to leave you with my testimony that I know that God is our eternal heavenly father and that he loves us. And that this church has the fullness of the gospel and that we will all be blessed if we follow the council of the prophet. I love you all and I will write again soon bye:)

2009-08-23T18:25:00.002-04:00

We got our first letter from Matt last week. He had just gotten to the MTC, actually, he got there 2 hours early. He was given his name tags. Strasi Vivona, which is Elder Vivona. He has 2 companions, Elder Anderson from Katy, Texas and Elder Osborn from American Fork, Utah. He got settled into his dorm room and immediately began his classes. He said dinner was "crazy early". He eats at 4:45, we're barely taking food out of the freezer at that hour! I'm sure by now that he has gotten used to his daily schedule. He sends his love to all.

2009-08-12T13:58:00.007-04:00

This is the MTC (Missionary Training Center)where Matt is learning to speak Czech, and all he needs to know to go out and be a missionary. He can receive your email letters everyday while he is there. Here's what you need to do.

Go to the following website:

http://www.dearelder.com/index/inc_name/home

Register for a free account. Go to the tab labled "Write a Letter". Under letter sselection choose "Provo MTC". Fill in the information asked for. Elder Matthew Vivona, mailbox number 152, Czech Prague (mission), 10/12/09 (departure date). You will then be able to compose an email to Matt. If you do this before 12:00 (noon) mountain time, Matt will get your letter the same day. Anything posted after noon he will get the next day. Care packages can be sent to him as well. Just remember to not send anything that he would need to pack into his suitcase to take to Prague. His bags were extrememly full when he left home today. So full we had to pay for overweight charges on one of them.

He will love to hear from you. He is going to be very busy for the next 8 weeks. He has one day a week to send us an email, but he can write everyday, if he has the motivation. Hopefully, we will all hear from him often.

Bookmark the dearelder.com website for use and be sure to bookmark this blog page and check back often. I will try to keep it updated weekly. You will also be able to register on the blog page and post comments. We are not sure if Matt will be able to check the blog page while he is away, but he may. And it will be fun for him to read our posts and your comments. Once he gets to Prague, I will update everyone on where and how to send mail and packages.

Elder Vivona & Family

2009-08-12T13:36:00.004-04:00

This was taken last night, right after Matt was set apart as a Missionary by Stake President Paul Sinclair. (Matt - front, Cynthia, Ashley & Ashlynn - middle, me, Megan, Jared - back).

2009-08-12T11:11:00.006-04:00

Proud parents.

Headed for the MTC

2009-08-12T10:35:00.005-04:00

This morning at 6:45 we said farewell to Matt. We are so proud of him. The past few days have been tough, but family bonds have been strengthened. We had some of the best family time together as he prepared himself for his mission. Lots of laughs, lots of tears, lots of hugs. The whole family will miss him tremendously, but we know that what he is about to begin will be the greatest thing he will ever do. He will make an AWESOME missionary. Once he arrives in Salt Lake City will we post his mailing address. He will be at the MTC for about 8 weeks.

We just got a call from Matt from the Salt Lake airport. He had a good flight, but was not able to sleep. He will be tired tonight. It was good to hear his voice. He had tried to leave a voice mail (a prompting of his mother's) but the answering machine wasn't working. Unfortunately, this will be the last time we will hear his voice until he calls home at Christmas. We will all be looking forward to then. He has about a 45 minute ride to Provo and then the work begins. Almost immediately upon arrival, he will be assigned to a companion, shown around a little, find his dorm room and then off to the business at hand. Quickly diving into work will keep his mind occupied on things other than home. We wished him well, encouraged him to work hard and left him with our love. Our son--Elder Vivona.