Sunday, April 29, 2012

DAY # 9 - PRAGUE-CZECH


We made it . . . we are in Prague! We have been waiting the whole trip to see "the most beautiful city in Europe", and we have been saving all of our money, well let's be honest, some of our money to spend in Prague, because it has some of the BEST shopping!  

Today was a great day . . . it is crazy to think we have been gone for a week, it seems like we left a long time ago, and then it feels like time has been flying by!  We have seen some amazing things since we have been here!  Today we had the opportunity to go to church in Vienna, Austria!  It was amazing . . . some of us had earphones that had an interpreter so that we understood the talks, and others of us just sat and listened to them speak in German.  It was cool to think that you can be anywhere in the world, and they can speak any language, and you still feel the same comfort and peace! 

The whole group of us

Jess and Bazz

Bug and Merc

Jen, Stacy, Our fearless coordinator, Joe and his wife Kathy

The Thornocks

All the girls 


We then changed our clothes, and hopped on the bus and headed towards Prague! It was about a 4 hour bus ride, and we stopped to have lunch at the border.  We all had sack lunches on the curb and the chocolate wafers were to die for! Really though,  I think every bit of chocolate in Europe is delicious!  Then back on the bus and continued our journey through some beautiful country.  


Cloee, Hilary, and Niki

All of us eating our sack lunches

Parents and their sack lunches

More lunches . . . and Snitzel and her dad

Carolyn, Laura and Bug . . . on the blessed bus

We arrived in Prague, changed back into our church clothes and then headed to the fireside.  We had the pleasure of hearing from Niki Fernandes, who talked about faith; Catherine Snyder talked about returning to our Father in Heaven; Angelica Dickson talked about the church being constant and eternal families; Jessica Ringwood talked about living life to the fullest; and finally Annie Amos talked about choosing the right, and how difficult that can be in the world today!  It was such a great experience to be able to be in two different places, with two different languages in the same day, and be able to share the gospel. The girls did a great job speaking, and sharing their testimonies.  There was an investigator at the fireside, and he is in the front of this picture holding the BYU t-shirt, and he talked about how grateful he is to be able to have found the church and that it was a part of his life, and he was planning on getting baptized soon.  


The investigator, missionaries and the team

Rob and the investigator . . . Rob gave him his very own BYU tie


The members were so welcoming and nice, and it was great to see the girls interacting with the members even though we didn’t speak the same language.  Here are some of the members:


The members

Jennie and her dad, Tony

After the fireside

Fireside

The cool poster they made to promote the fireside

Mamma Glo, Nancy, Gayle, Terri and Jen

The Czech church sign

Then we ate of course . . . and I am pretty sure dinner was soup, weird I know, and then some meat and potatoes, more weird, and then some delicious dessert.  This seems to be our eating routine for the last 9 days . . . but all in all I think it was a pretty great day! Tomorrow we are headed to see the castle and tour the city, and then shop of course!  Some people might head over to see an old work camp . . . so check back to see what happens on our second to last day on our European Adventures!!!


Jaiden, Dana, Cloee and Nimmer . .. getting ready to eat

ALL OF US EATING . . . 











Saturday, April 28, 2012

DAY #8 - VIENNA, AUSTRIA

JEN FOUND HER BAG . . . AND FINALLY HAS CLEAN CLOTHES . . . AFTER 7 DAYS!!!

Today we got to sleep in . . . I think that we are all getting used to this time zone, we are all enjoying our sleep and actually sleeping in!  We headed into the city to do some shopping and sight-seeing!  Some of us tried to rent Vespa's to go and check out the city! Bazz, Merc, Colette, Jess, Bug and Mr. Bug all set out on an adventure to find a Vespa . . . only to come up short! They were all rented out . . . when we caught up with the parents they were saying that they all prayed for us to be safe, and I guess they got their answer to their prayers = no scooters.  For any of  you who know Bazz and how she drives, that could have been a recipe for disaster!  Oh yeah, and some of us went to the Farmer's Market . . . lots of people, lots of different foods, mostly everything stuffed with cheese!  Also . . . I (Bug) was pick-pocketed by an old man with a cane . . . little did he know he just got a map, joke is on him!  

Tom and the girls 

Merc and Colette and the octopus

Niki, Cloee, and Kayla loving the market

How about them apples?

The girls with the opera people 

Coach and his wifey

Tom pondering about how much he loves the soccer team

Laurel and Mamma Glo

The girls in Vienna

Don't worry . . . we still have McD's . . . mostly we just use their bathroom, it's real nice, and free

Kayla being Kayla 

After we shopped and did stuff in the city we headed off to the big soccer game, FK Austrian Wien vs Wacker Innsbruck.  It was a good game, we were cheering for the home team, the purple guys!  Here are a few of my observations from the game:  1.  Think we all smoked a pack of cigarettes through the second hand pack 2.  Jen said she had the best hotdog of her life 3.  The girls said the hotdogs tasted gross 4.  They cage in the opposing fans, literally fence them off from the other fans 4.  Some guy took a lot of creepy stalker pictures of our girls 5.  They light flares and smoke bombs a lot . . . not sure how they could breath with the cigarette smoke on top of the flares and smoke bombs!  We had a great time!

The game

Jen and "the best hotdog ever"

Lindsi and Carlee with "the worst hotdog"

The game

Jennie and her dad, Tony

Nimmer loves the game . . . so does Jess and Bazz 

Yay for the purple team

All of us Cougs together

With one of the fellas from the purple team




Finally, we all came back for dinner and a night on the town.  Some of us ate at really good pizza and pasta restaurant in an alley others of us ate delicious hotdogs! We also ran into this guy who was singing in the city  . . . he was so so good!  Carlee and Lindsi also met some models and took some pictures . . . and then we finished the night off with a little devotional from Lo Anderson about being nice to people, it was awesome! 

Carlee and Lindsi with the model boys

This guy was AMAZING . . he was just singing in Vienna

Finally got some good hotdogs

Tomorrow we are headed to Prague, where we will shop, shop and shop some more!  First we will go to church and then do a fireside!  Check back tomorrow!


Special thanks to Rob Smith for most of our amazing pictures!!!!! Shout out to the SILVER FOX!!! 

Silver Fox, Anne and Mamma Glo


Silver Fox at his best