Cesky Raj

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

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!

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!

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!!!

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

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

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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