"But If Not" - May 25th, 2015

Zdravo Družina!

We had another great week this week. We had exchanges so I got to work with another sister here in Maribor for a couple days and this next week we find out TRANSFERS! Transfers are 9 weeks in this mission rather than 6, and I feel like I just got here. Fastest two months ever.

The young girl we found tracting came to her follow up lesson and we had a super awesome member there too!!! What?! She is like a girl, Slovene, Joseph Smith. She already prays every night and is so awesome. I'm so excited to keep meeting with her and help her find out more about her purpose. She seems super geniuine AND her Dad dropped her off at the church for her lesson! That means her parents are ok with it too.

Drugač, we got to have a lesson in this woman's house yesterday and she seemed really lost. It was probably the strongest I have felt this spirit on a first lesson and just reminds me how easy it is for this spirit to be felt in homes! That is where we need to learn the language of the spirit so when you are out on the streets, working, playing, whatever it is, you can still hear the voice of the spirit. Other cool part to that story, her mother in law came in about half way through the lesson and suddenly, it turned into a member lesson. Haha, her Mom just wanted her to believe in something and was trying to convince her to read the book of Mormon and just give it a try. It was so awesome. Going outside of Maribor and tracting out there is teaching me a lot. And our juice intake has increased significantly. Slovenes are super nice.

Advice for the week: We should all trying saying 'but if not' in our prayers. Sometimes we are pleading for things we want and KNOW are good for us. This is fine. But let us all remember who truly knows what will make us grow and that He truly does everything out of love.

I love you all so much. The work is progressing, it always will. I pray for you all and hope everyone is in good health and enjoying each day! Talk to you again soon! xoxoxo

Sestra Rhodes

P

I saw all these weird wooden carvings at a garden last week, don't know why but I could see you taking pictures of them. So I took a selfie with one for you. Prašič je.

Thanks for your letter. Always appreciated. xoxoxo

Hyhbapibee Mibondibay.

Sibestriba RhibodesS.  

Let's go on a mushroom soup - May 18th, 2015

Dear dear family.

This week was awesome. Beyond awesome. In fact it had some pretty big

downs as well, but I literally cannot remember them because of all the

blessings we have had. So, let's get started.

We had 3 appointments with members/part-members this week. Members are

my favorite part of being over here. Seeing and hearing there

testimonies strengthens me more than they can know. One of our

members, a cute single mom was painting her apartment! That

means...seeervice!! We went over on Saturday and got to be with her,

and paint her walls, and talk to her about how she has been wanting to

share the gospel with her friends and is planning for us to meet them!

What? A referral? It's too good to be true. Also...we got to wear pants

for this little adventure. Bingo.

We have also seen miracles with finding people or just having people

listen to us, by really trying to follow the spirit and by going that

extra step. When it is more uncomfortable or maybe inconvenient, or

when we were hungry and literally one building away from being home

for the night...that is when we found people that would listen. So we

found some awesome potentials and one investigator (who we had to give

to the elders) WHO CAME TO HIS FOLLOW UP APPOINTMENT! That was the

first time that has ever happened to me thus far on the mission. He

really came. Oh it was so great. Even better, we went and gave him a

church tour with the elders to make a smooth transfer and he said he

wants to meet with them weekly. We met him on a park bench AFTER we

had walked past him and then decided to go back. Awkward? A little.

Did it pay off? Yes!

Another awesome story. Yesterday we went to do our tracting outside of

Maribor....it is such a beautiful town and lots of families. We got

let in...wait for it....3 times. And though not all of them wanted to

learn even more, one did. It was our very last house we went to, and

there was a very friendly mom who was working in her garden and

immediately let us into her 200 year old, giant, gorgeous house and

gave us cake and juice. She then called her daughter (key part of the

zgodba) who speaks english to come and talk to us. Well turns out the

mom wasn't interested, but the daughter was! How we found this out? As

the four of us sat at their table, the mom got a call. Naturally their

bunny had run away and was half way down the street, so the mom ran to

go find the bunny and we got to have a lesson with her daughter. She

goes to high school in Maribor so she said we could get together this

week! Also, when the mom came back, bunny in hand, I almost thought it

was a weird dog. It was THE biggest pet bunny I have ever seen. So

sometimes the Lord works through runaway rabbits. So we are praying

that Vita will come to her follow up appointment and we can help her!

She is so cute and would love young women's.

I literally do not have time to write down all the great things that

happened this week. But one more? English class. We spent some time

advertising for our English class and started it up again two weeks

ago. We have about 12 people coming! In our class we have 4 sometime 5

in our English class and it is sooo fun and an answer to prayers. Not

to mention two of them have started coming for our spiritual thoughts

afterwards. They are so great and help us with Slovene too.

So...moral of the story. I am 100 percent not able to do anything here

in Slovenia...without the holy ghost. We have been guided and helped

and comforted and I have also been given an awesome companion and we

are working hard. I know the Lord blesses us in a lot of different

ways, sometimes we just have to look! So the challenge for you

all....look for your blessings this week. Be grateful, SEEK to find

what the Lord has given you. You will be happier.

I love you all so much and pray for you and know this church is the

happiest path we can be on. Until next week!

Love,

Sestra Rhodes

p.s.

We also make the most random friends here. Including a man last week

(during our pday) who without any effort on our part, started talking

to us (in English) and ended up inviting us 'on a mushroom soup' and

giving us pages of his power point work on 'common sense.' This kind

of stuff is a regular occurrence people. And it is so funny and

awesome. Slovenes rock.

pps

shout out to Karlie who sent some stellar recipes this week!

Slovene Sights - May 11th

Zdravo everybody!

It was so great to see your faces and hear your voices yesterday! AND I got a plethora of awesome niece and nephew pics today so THANK YOU. HVALA.

As for a quick update on the week. This week I felt spoiled. Monday we went on a crazy awesome drive with a senior couple, had a little picnic and saw some of the gorgeous sights of Slovenia. I feel like I am back again in the Truman show. My surroundings sometimes look like they could be painted..and I would never know. EXCEPT for the fact that we get to go tracting in these mountainous, green, green areas. We have been fed juice, rolls, juice, cookies, candy, and more juice. People are so friendly and very kind to us. We sat with this gentleman on his porch while it was dumping rain and he called his daughter on the phone and the conversation went something like this (in slovene of course.)

-Are you coming home?

   No. Why?

-No reason.

    Why?

-I just have a little visit.

   From who?

-Two cute american girls.

    What?

And then he hung up and just said, Ha. She won't believe me.

It is quite helpful being a foreigner who is learning Slovene, because there are not a lot fo people under that category. Great conversation starter that leads perferctly into the restoration lesson!

We also got to have a family home evening lesson last Monday evening with the cutest family and they invited an inactive and her daughter. We went and it was sooo great to feel the happiness that the spirit brings into the home. We taught a 10 minute lesson, we sang, had the treat. There is nothing that I love more than being where a member is, especially in their homes and it always testifies to me of how true the gospel is, no matter how few people have it over here, no matter where you are, no matter what language you speak. The message and the feeling is always the same.

I love being able to share that with the people here and it is truly crazy how much love I feel every time I see a family, or a mother, son...everyone has a story. Unique and special, especially to our Heavenly Father. I feel so privileged to feel that love for these people and am so excited to find those who are prepared for the gospel.

Anywho, that was only  Monday folks. Shows you how awesome this week started out. We also got to go to Kranj for a conference for the new missionaries and President took us to Lake Bled (google that) and fed us cake. Hence I feel very spoiled this week. We are learning over here, working lots, eating pretty great food, and my companion and I have a good laugh daily. (Keeps a person healthy.) I love you all so much and hope you know how much I pray for you and am grateful for your prayers!

Stay strong!

Love,

Sestra Rhodes

The famous cake at Lake Bled, Slovenia.

Castle at Lake Bled with my MTC goers! Sestra Deschler, Wagner, Higgins, me, Redding, Eder Peterson, and Rice

                           

Picnic in the mountains with the Eklunds! 

                                       

The hills are alive! 

   

Sister Eklund, Sister Robertson, and me

THE most beautiful drive! An amazing use of a P-Day, sponsored by the Eklunds. 

                                       

Farm Eggs and Analogies - May 4th

Tako....družina. Zdravo še en krat.

It is quite the front seat we have to a view on the plan of Salvation right now. Wedding, funeral, family....I hope you all feel my love and most importantly feel the love from our Heavenly Father. Imagine at this time how much He feels for us. His children. We are so blessed with this knowledge and I am so blessed to get to share it with people in Slovenia.

We've started our tracking adventures. Each house we knock on and each person we talk to, it is truly crazy how much I feel love for these strangers. I genuinely love them all and have such a strong desire for them and their families. We met the sweetest woman and her mother who had come to English class approx 10 years ago. She is around 60 and her mom is around 90, blind, can barely move, and they work their farm together. She really didn't want to get baptized 10 years ago but really wants us to keep visiting her. So we naturally were looking for service opportunities. Her pregnant cow is due any day....but, I don't know if I could handle that in a skirt. Just kidding, I totally would, but based on her description of how that goes down (really it was just based on the game of charades we were playing...their Slovene was really hard to understand) I'm thinking we won't be able to help out. But we did get to feed and water her goats.

You wouldn't believe how confusing it is to choose between 5 buckets and put some water in one of them, when trying to follow the directions of a blind Slovene. . . one of the funniest parts of my week. Also she gave us fresh eggs from her farm. Woot! 

This week I am especially grateful for the holy ghost. We always teach and learn that it is a thing of comfort for us...but I have really felt that for myself over the past two weeks especially. I feel a little bit like Dimitri on Anastasia. I so desperately want to force people to believe something they have just forgotten. (Princess Anastasia) And the other part of me wants to convince people that I seriously have the answer to their questions that they have been searching for for years! (The grand duchess naturally.) I just want to hand them all the 'music box' and say  LOOK! CAN'T YOU REMEMBER? You lived before this life and willingly chose to follow Jesus Christ!

   That is why I am grateful for the spirit. As good as my Slovene is . . . . . . . awkward silence . . . . this task would be impossible without the holy ghost testifying to people and God preparing their hearts for us. So, I will do everything I can to be the instrument that allows these beautiful people to feel the holy ghost and that love from our Heavenly Father. This week I really dug into Jacob 5. 8 times the Lord of the Vinyard says or refers to the thought that, ˝It grieveth me that I should lose this tree.' He even weeps over his vinyard to see that it is struggling. I promise you all, Heavenly Father truly loves us. If you have not felt that in a while, do something different. Put yourself in a place that you can feel the presence of the Holy Ghost in your life.

This work is starting to pick up and every day my desire to share it increases. I love you all so much and pray for you and hope that you have an amazing week. Talk to you on Sunday!

xoxox

Sestra Rhodes

p.s.

Answer to the language question: It is definitely coming! However sometimes we have a conversation with a Slovene and then when I talk about it with my companion, the story that I just heard in my head whilst that person was talking turns out to be quite opposite sometimes. So...work to be had. Words to be learned. But I love it!

A Week To Celebrate - April 28th

Zdravo Družina!!

 

Wow! That was so awesome to read all the wedding updates, see pictures of my beautiful family and see life back at home. Thanks for all the emails and updates. It truly was a week to celebrate. Sister Robertson hit her half way mark in the mission and Dylan worked out His eternal salvation...so what else was to be done? Make smoothies. All that time of watching Dad put things in a blender, payed off. We celebrated as hard as missionaries can! With an episode of the District and smoothies...really, you all missed out. Other reasons to celebrate the past and upcoming week are as follows:

 

We had District Conference here in our Maribor Branch, which means we had quite a few members come, the District President over Slovenia (He's probably only in his 30s and he is the head of the church in Slovenia....crazy.), and though I didn't know, the mission president and his wife came as well!! I think I learned more slovene and got more spritual food out of this sunday than I have almost my whole mission. President opened Sunday school for questions and it was amazing. One of which I would like to share. I feel that subcontiously I have always questioned how to make the sacrament effect. If it is supposed to be the best part and most important part of the week, how are we supposed to make that 10 minutes live up to that title? Here is what the president suggested:

1. In order to make the sacrament truly effective, it has to be an every week deal. You can't treat it lightly. Go to church and get the sacrament regularly. Treat it with the importance it deserves. Every week. That's it.

2. If you are just focusing on the sacrament for that 10-15 minute time block, that is not enough. You will appreciate and learn from the sacrament if you make it an all day affair. Make sure the rest of your sabbath is allowing you time to think about your Savior, and keeping it as holy as possible. One way we can really keep the sabbath day holy, is by making the other 6 days dedicated for work!!

3. Have a constant prayer in your heart. You won't get much out of the sacrament if the only time you are praying is when your are taking it. And more often than not, with kids or simply wandering thoughts, that 10 minutes is not enough time. Keep that prayer in your heart, always.

 

So I challenge you all this week to really prepare yourselves. Every week. All Day. Make the sacrament truly special. Put forth the effort and God will show you His.

 

Other reasons to celebrate. I have thought a lot this week about Slovenia and how not many peole know about the church. While this could be a hard thing...I truly think it is amaying. I have the responsibility and task to be the first impression. People who have truly never heard about the gospel, whether they accept it or not, this is the first exposure they have to it in this life. Quite a task, and I am so grateful for that.

 

Also, after a week of some low numbers as far as finding goes before we went out tracting, Sestra Robertson in her prayer asked that we might be able to have fun. (It was a rather sluggish day before this.) Well...hahaha, God answers prayers. The first house we went to, this older man was outside and we told him about our message and he asked approx 5 times... How much does this book cost?

Nothing. It is free, if you want to read it.

Ok. But HOW MUCH? 

So after this repetitive exchange he said 'ok. good. Come inside.' Haha, what? His Slovene was very hard to understand and he was sooo funny. His daughter fed us balogne sandwhiches, chocolate bunnies on a stick, and of coarse, juice. He said he would read the book and return it when he was finished. I told him that he would want to be baptized. Then he spent 10 minutes figuring out WHERE we would baptise him. Water was not a good enough answer....apparantly. I wish I could actually describe how funny this encounter was, but I can't. Just know, God answers prayers. We have also seen miracles of people who are willing to listen and switch numbers and what not...so hopefully these ones are serious!

 

Sometimes I actually feel like this man. I keep asking the same question in my prayers over and over again. But something I learned this week? God doesn't answer rhetorical questions. Sometimes we already know the answer, sometimes He has already given the answer. Just listen to the first one!

 

LAST THING I promise....I am so excited. Maribor is part of an expansion experiment, to see if people outside of the city are more receptive to the gospel. Also...they are FAMILIES!! So we have this whole proposal and as missionaries, every weekend we get to go outside Maribor to tract and tract and tract and share this gospel, the whooooole day. I am so excited because usally when we tract houses, there are some more receptive peolpe rather than in the center of town. So first week starts this week! That is really a reason to celebrate!

Anywho, I love you all and must say farewell. Enjoy the week and know I am always praying for you! Stay strong. It is so worth it. xoxoxo

 

Sestra Rhodes