Tell everybody I'm on my way. . . Aug. 15th, 2016

If this were a blog, I would have the song "On my way" by Phil Collins playing while you all read this. But since it is not . . . 

"Tell everybody I'm on my way, new friends and new places to see. 

With blue skies ahead, yes I'm on my way and there's nowhere else that I'd rather be.

Tell everybody I'm on my way, and I'm loving every step I take. 

With the sun beating down, yes I'm on my way and I can't keep the smile off my face. 

Cuz there's nothing like seeing each other again, no matter what the distance between. 

And the stories that we tell will make you smile, oh it really lifts my heart."

This has been a year and half journey that has shaped my life forever. I have learned to love people, even random strangers, in a way that I didn't know was possible. Heavenly Father truly cares and loves every. single. one. of His children. I have felt it for the people here and have felt His love for me. I know He is our Father and has a glorious plan for us. WE are His plan. Our progression and growth and salvation are His goal. Let it be ours too! 

This past week was surreal. There was quite a bit of driving and Sister Rhodes giving out as many Books of Mormon in Serbia as she could! We met some great people and it was fun to see another culture and such a giant city. (The population in Belgrade alone is more than all of Slovenia) 

Then we made it back in time to finish preparing my talk and pull the last strings together for Baka's baptism. It was a wonderful baptism. It is so rare to see entire families in the Church over here. In fact, I think I could count the ones I know from our entire mission on two hands. Yet I got to witness first their son get baptized, then when he baptized his sister and his grandmother. They will continue to learn so much together and Baka is so dedicated. She said in front of everyone at her  baptism "I came here and I will stay here until I die!" I love that kind of commitment. :) We went to their house for dinner last night and I met up with another investigator that I have known for 9 months. I love her dearly and introduced her to Sister Turner so she will still have that connection when she decides to learn more. Wow. People are awesome. 

Including you all. I can't wait to see you and share all our experiences in person and be together as a family. The Church is true. Nobody dare forget it. Shall we not go on in so great a cause? 

S puno ljubavi,

Sestra Rhodes 

Сестра Роудѕ

The Lopert ladies, me and Davis

Baka's Baptism - Just before coming home!

3 Countries...One mission - Writing From a Manhole! Aug. 8th, 2016

Hi mom. Hi dad. 

I am very tired right now. I am writing you because I honestly have no clue what my schedule will look like and I hope I have some time for emails but if I do it will probably just be one email to everyone. Why? Because tomorrow I am the driving myself and a mini missionary to Serbia. I'm going to finish off my mission for 6 days in the capitol of Serbia, Belgrade. So. Epic. I am really excited and have a long drive tomorrow that I have never driven before....hence I just wanted to tell you guys I am safe and will email you something later most likely. 

I love you both so much! 

xoxoxoxo

Сестра Роудз

Cao family!

I am writing from a man hole at the moment. Poorly lit, video gamers all around me, silhouettes of weapons and video game cartoons painted everywhere . . . obviously missionary appropriate music playing. In other words, I made it to Belgrade, Serbia today! We left this morning and just got here. Looooooooong wait at the border, hence this will be my only letter today.

All is well here. I cannot even believe this is my last week. My last week with Milica was so amazing and a miracle baptism happened in the mission, in Rijeka that we attended. We successfully left our investigators with the other sisters, I passed off ALL my public affair duties and am ready to work the streets of Serbia! I will be here for 5 days and then returning on Sat for Baka's baptism and confirmation the next day.

Hopefully I will have time to write a few more details next week, but I love you all and will see you soon. Have a wonderful week!

Sestra Roudz

2 Balkans and 3 Americans in an elevator - Aug. 1, 2016

Bok family! 

Time is going as fast as ever and this week was fan.tas.tic. For starters, this next week (towards the end) I will finally be handing off all of my public affair duties off completely! Then I will have 4 or 5 days in who-knows-where for my final bow out of the Adriatic North mission. So this week consisted of more training, tracting, contacting, the usual. 

Having a mini missionary is life changing I tell you. On average I would say we find about 5-8 investigators (one companionship) weekly. Well this week between the four of us we had 4 people actually progressing who are having constant lessons with us and we found 28 new investigators together. It has been soooo fun. I will forever love talking to random people on the streets, in their homes, in parks...wherever. Talking to people, getting to know them and teaching them the gospel wherever they are will forever be a feeling that I remember and cherish. 

Yesterday I was talking to Sister Turner who told me that she had never been let in tracting. She has been out in the field for four months! So we said, today is the day. We will tract and find someone. We knew Heavenly Father would prepare someone and open a door. So we did. We tracted an entire building and the very last door this old lady answered. Her initial reaction (and I quote) "I know everything there is about God. I do not need to learn more. I know, everything." Aha, ok. Then she continued to chat and told us about her pains and surgeries and what not (actually a very frequent topic when you meet the people at the door. They are oddly very willing to show you scars and tell you all about their medical history.) Well knowing we were not going to get a great restoration lesson in, I asked if we could pray for her. So she let us in. She continued to tell us her story and she wept. I wanted to cry with her. She was so sweet. At the end she just kept telling us over and over how grateful she was to have someone listen to her, that no one has listened to her in months, and that she KNEW God sent us and that now she didn't hurt any more. She just kept saying "girls...you don't know how happy I am right now. Thank you God for sending them." It was so sweet. She told us to come back anytime AND (the best part) her daughter is coming to visit and she wants us to come meet her. Bingo! 

Heavenly Father works in lots of ways, but it was a really cool experience! 

Also, my mini missionary's little sister also went to serve a mini mission this week in Rijeka, Croatia.But she spend a night with us first. Well, what happens when you put 2 Balkans, 3 Americans and luggage in a sketch European elevator?  Haha. Well 45 minutes in there was extremely hot. We got out at 10:30. Everyone's true colors showed. My comp was panicking and singing and hates elevators and is claustrophobic. Her sister was calm as a turtle. (I think those are calm) Sister Turner and I were just laughing. And sister Davis is calling  people to let them know where we were / get assistance. Haha, while we are sweating bullets, she is on the phone "Hey Elder Halling, how are you this evening? Good? Great! Well we just have a quick question if right now is a good time . . . " Haha. It was quite the scene. But we were filled with good Chinese food so all was well. 

Baka is doing great. She is the most active member of her entire family and is so excited to be baptized! She is going to be such a great example for them all! 

So that is the update. Love you all and hope you are enjoying the summer! 

Sestra Rhodes 

Party of Four! - July 25th, 2016

Bokić everybody! 

Wow. What a fantastic week. This mission thing just keeps getting better and better. We started off Monday with the birthday celebrations and the senior sisters treated us to my favorite. . . Indian food! The place was fantastic and a little hole in the wall that you might miss if you are not an Indian food fanatic like myself.

Me, Davis and the Davenpratts

Then Tuesday we had a great lesson with Baka. She cried. Not from the law of chastity lesson that we taught (which with 75 years behind her...she does not exactly have a problem with) but because we told her the new sisters were coming and that I will have to leave soon. She is so awesome. I will have to keep up my Croatian just so I can keep talking to her! 

Right after the lesson we went to the church and picked up our new companions! The whole week I have been with Sister Vučenovioć from Serbia!! She is going to study opera singing and sings like a dream...speaks flawless English but still speaks a lot of Serbian-Croatian with me to let me practice and we are having SO. MUCH. FUN. The first time we went contacting together she placed a Book of Mormon and it is so powerful to have a native bearing testimony right next to you. We both have accents to the Croatian people so it gets quite the reactions when we tell them that an American and a Serbian are preaching the gospel together. It is so awesome! It is also like having a new missionary in the sense that she is so excited and full of hope. Every time we give away a card she says that she really feels like they will look at the pages or that they will call us and she is so humble and hopeful that it is making missionary work even more fun! 

We taught an awesome English class together as well on her second day where we talked about family history and the history of the Book of Mormon and then gave a student a bom right in the middle of class. (She has been coming a while but never wanted one or showed interest until this week. Super cool!) 

We have also entered the party of 4 life. All four sisters in one apartment. We do some splits and mix it up so it is like being in a quad together. Since we double the sisters we also double the effort and numbers and we are finding lots of investigators. So pretty much life is a party. It will be like this until the 8th of August when she goes to a ysa conference in Hungary. I canćt even describe to you all how awesome and fun and exciting it is.

So this week rocked. All the weeks rock, even when they are hard or slow. Missions rock. You all rock. (I dont usually use the word rock that much but today everything rocks. . . so . . . ) 

I love you all and am keeping you all in my prayers. I hope you are all finding living the gospel as rewarding and happy and forgiving and fun as it is meant to be. Have a fantastic week! 

Sestra Rhodes

She is also teaching me some fun Balkan cooking ways and Im returning her the favor by teaching her about american goodness. We cook lots! 

Also....IT IS SO BLAZING HOT THIS WEEK! 

 Some more birthday pics. Rachel Grant is the blonde and her friends who are traveling. We spent some time with them in centar of town. 

Time For Change - July 18th, 2016

Hallo family! 

Wow! You all really came through on the birthday emails. Thanks for all the good wishes! Haha I think everyone mentioned that it was cool to have a birthday on a P-day. Which is true! Today something very novel is going to happen for the celebration. It's called, Indian food. Sister Pratt and her family went this week and her son said (and I quote) "I have had Indian food now on four continents, and this was the best." WAHOO. So we are going with senior sisters and the Hallings. They are so awesome. When I came into the office for emails I was welcomed with a rendition of happy birthday song in Croatian and gifted a GIANT, soft, chocolate chip cookie from Sister Halling. I am well taken care of. :) 

So....now that I am 21, something HAD to change. So another sister is coming from Slovenia tomorrow to take my spot here in the public affairs busniess. She will be companions with sister Davis and I will be serving WITH A MINI MISSIONARY FOR THREE WEEKS! I am BEYOND excited. Having a native companion in these countries is . . . next to rare. The only way to serve with a native is if you get a mini missionary. She is coming from Serbia and we will be bunking with the other sisters in Zagreb for three weeks...so I will be living out of suitcases. Wahoo. I will train the new sister from Slovenia and then be full time with my new sestra! However she is only here until August 8th, so who knows what I will be doing the last week of my mission! (Except for being her the sat. before i leave for Bakas baptism.) 

We taught a lot of lessons this week. It has been so much fun. We are now consistently having lessons with two guys (at different times) that we met street contacting and they are both really open and receptive. However when I asked him to be baptized he just said 'I don't get it.' So then the member that was there (which usually helps) asks him the same thing in even more flawless Croatian. But he just says again, 'I don't get it.' He did NOT grasp the concept that his baptism was not valid the first time...so back to the restoration of the priesthood! 

Also, last night we were talking to people in a beautiful park and after talking to this young girl she asked if she could ask us something personal . . . so we sat on a bench, she told us her situation and how she has a boyfriend but doesnt know what to study or do in life and has been thinking about becoming a nun... In my mind I am thinking 'perfect, now we can tell her NOT to do that.' It wasn't until later that she told us, the entire time she thought WE were nuns. Nuns giving advice not to become nuns . . . haha. She still took a book of mormon and recognized that is was not a coincidence to meet us right as she decided to take a walk in the park to 'ponder' all that was going on. 

Baka is still doing well and is holding strong for her baptismal date in August. She is actually coming and staying to meetings more than her granddaughter who just got baptized. So wait to be the example baka! 

Here's to another great week ahead of us all! Love you a lot! 

Sestra Rhodes

Me, Milica Vucenovic, Sestra Turner, Sestra Davis

KOKICE! July 11th, 2016

Bok family. 

I got a lot of fantastic emails and updates and pictures from you all this week! I love hearing and seeing you guys. It is always a treat to get online mondays and to see how positive you all are and encouraging and how many miracles that are going on in your lives. 

Here is how he has blessed my week. We will work backwards. The whole week, members from our entire mission filled a giant bus and went to the temple in Switzerland. A family from our branch got sealed, one received her endowment, another family from Serbia got sealed and their son opened his mission call in front of all the other members. It was amazing to see how changed they were after one week at the temple. On Sunday all those that went got to bear their testimonies after their trip (it happens once a year.) It was the. best. sacrament. meeting. ever. The spirit was so strong in that chapel and it was visible how the temple changes people. They were completely lifted spiritually and physically. They bore testimony on doing genealogy work, eternal families,  the priesthood, etc. and in 8 months in Zagreb it was my favorite Sunday. I cannot believe how close we have temples and what a wonderful blessing that is. 

We had great lessons with Baka this week and she said (I quote) "I already know all of this! You can just baptize me!" Haha, I agree. She is the one that picked her date for so far away! We are going to try to change that this week. Her granddaughter (the new convert) also NEVER comes to relief society and rarely to sunday school.  But the best part is that when they were all leaving after sacrament meeting their grandma tells them 'we have to stay you guys!' Although they didn't, she is already a great example for them. Soooo awesome. 

We taught two new investigators and will continue meeting with them. Two young men who are displeased with their previous church. (Take a guess which one.) 

We also had another interview this week, similar to the one I did in Slovenia. There will be a video but the majority of it will be a written article. Now I have one in Croatian! Sweet! It is pretty to get interviews when you are a mormon missionary from America in a small country. But hey, I'll take it. I'll let you all know when it goes up! 

So it was a fantastic week and we are going to go on a hike today! I love you all a lot and hope you have a great week! 

xoxoxo

Sestra Rhodes  

Surprise Church and Concert Appearance - July 4th, 2016

Cao family! 

We had another fantastic week here in Zagreb. I had my very last zone conference :( Usually we would have one more, but this one was special and all the countries are taking a turn coming to the mission home in Zagreb and staying the night. Ours was first this week and it was a wonderful conference! I learned a ton and we did a lot of practicing teaching. We are really focused right now on becoming master teachers and I only wish we would have done this at the beginning of my mission!!!! We also played basketball and volleyball, I got to play some piano and we had an American bbq! (Happy 4th of July ps) I also had to give my 'farewell testimony' that all departing missionaries give at their last zone conference. Only I had to give mine premature. However I always love a chance the testify! 

Baka is doing really great. She could be baptized this week. We are going start with the commandments this week, so that should be fun. She also made us MORE burek...Sister Davis and I just looked at each other and our faces started to turn green. We had already had SO much the previous week and decided we could handle no more, and then she puts a big plate of it in front of us that she made JUST for us. Haha. Too kind of her. 

She came to church this week and stayed for all three meeting as did TWO of our other investigators! They are the single neighbors that have the lessons together. Three investigators at church! It was so fantastic!! We had to help in primary for second hour, so we did not get to go with them to Sunday school but the other missionaries went with them and showed them the way and apparently they were all really active and giving great answers to questions and what not!

Also random part of the week... I had heard some music from 2CELLOS from missionaries before but did not know much about them. Well on our way home on Saturday there were THOUSANDS of people smashed in the center of Zagreb and they were having a free concert in the main square! We heard a couple pieces and it was so cool! I thought they were from the states but then one of them started off by saying 'good evening zagreb!' in Croatian. I just thought, 'how cute he learned a phrase so he could say that to these people.' THEN he continued in Croatian and the second cellist. One is from Slovenia and the other is from Croatia. I have never seen Zagreb so packed and needless to say I was just a bit more excited than my Rugby companion. haha. I may or may not have freaked out a little. Here is the best picture I could get!

Well that is that for this week! I love and pray for you all!!!! 

Pozz,

Sestra Rhodes 

Warmin up, Speedin up! June 27th, 2016

Hej fam! 

It is POURING rain here in Zagreb...rather odd because the rest of the week was blazing hot. Summer has officially begun as well as the awkward missionary tan lines. 

However despite the heat, we had an awesome week. Per president's orders, all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders had to do 'blitz' exchanges with everyone in just over a week. So I went for just over a day to work in Karlovac again. They have a really beautiful river and we talked to some great people. I also introduced the sister I worked with to coconut ice cream King bars...so now the rest of her mission will be different. 

The morning before I left however, we had a lesson with Baka (the grandma.) We went over to her place to teach the plan of salvation. The best part was that her granddaughter the new convert was on the lesson and she was SO AWESOME! She explained things very clearly without us asking and talked about how she can really be ready for baptism and shared her own experiences...she even helped get things on tract when Baka would talk about random things or worry about the Burek (the lunch) that she put in the oven. My favorite part was to see how much she helped in the lesson and to hear how confident she was in what she was saying! So cool! 

The lunch was also fantastic...Burek is a traditional Bosnian (maybe turkish as well) breaded dish, stuffed with meat or potatoes or cheese, ect. that is everywhere here. The reason I tell you this is because late in the week Baka taught Sister Grant and us how to make it! It was a very very funny evening and there is no type of recipe involved...it all comes from the heart.

We also talked about her baptism and when that would be. Her family is going out of town at different times and then she is going to the sea later this summer. She wants her family to be there so they talked about it and decided on the date...August 13th. The Saturday before I leave. I did not even tell her when I leave so that was a little miracle! She and I are glad that I will be here. Then she will go to the sea the Sunday after she gets confirmed. Until then we agreed on lessons twice a week, so we will have plenty of time to teach her and make sure she understand everything! 

I already told this to mom but Sister Pratt sent this quote in our mission newsletter and I thought it was pretty fantastic: "If this world didn't suck, we would fall off!" Haha, so as hard as it may seem, those difficult things in life keep our feet grounded and teach us what we need to learn. I am trying to learn all I can and pic of the pace of the work, the whole mission is and already see miracles on a daily basis. 

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! 

xoxoxo

Sestra Rhodes 

Surprise Soup and Surprise Lesson - June 20th, 2016

Bok everybody! 

This week was really fantastic. We got some new missionaries in our district and had a great district meeting to kick it off. I never really talk about district meeting but they are great. There is a lot of support in numbers and after you have worked hard all week, it is great to get together and share success, build some more spiritual stamina for the week. Plus we had two birthdays in the district so the senior couples brought twix, snickers, and .....my favorite. .... BOUNTY ice cream bars. I am aaaaall about the coconut these days and I did not know that my favorite candy bar came in the form of ice cream. Score. 

I also share the Rhodes family tradition of 'birthday memories!' We have all served with Sister Pratt for a while and it was fun to have a little Rhodes family in the mix of the week. 

I forgot to tell something awesome that happened last week...and the week before. There is a new convert in the branch (who found the gospel online) and he is soooo great. However, his mom is really really sick. She just went into the hospital for the 7th time and before was just in a hospital bed in their home. Well she loves music and loves to sing. So all the young missionaries got together and went over to sing to her....one of the most priceless moments. She wept and her sweet husband just sat holding her hand and cried. So we decided to make it a weekly thing right after church. When we went over last Sunday, right as we all walked in the door...the waterworks started and she just kept saying, "Thank you for coming! Oh let God bless you, thank you for coming! You guys are angels...etc. etc." There is nothing better than making someone feel good. It was my favorite part of the week (aside from the baptism.) She is so sick and just laying in bed, but she still made jokes and sang along. Such a great example of a positive attitude. 

This week we couldn't get a hold of Baka to teach her a lesson, but she came to church and we had Sunday school all combined. (Usually we have a beginners, investigators and new converts class, seperate from the others.) Needless to say, talking about the reign of judges in the book of mormon was not exactly entreguing. Then she asked if they were going to ask her those types of question at her baptismal interview about Lamanites and Nephites...etc.So we put her fears at ease and for the third hour taught her the restoration and a member came in on the lesson. It was a last second thing but the member that came was absolutely perfect, it was not a coincidence that we asked her and not another. 

We set up a time for our lesson this week and will go for the baptismal date! She has definitely been guided through her family here and seems very solid. She also said she will teach us how to make Burek this week! Dreams do come true!!! 

I hope you all have a great week. Send pictures of yourself. That is my favorite. :) Love you all! 

Sestra Rhodes

Some very short, very fantastic people. 

Krštenje plesačice - June 13th, 2016

Pozdrav!!! 

She did it! The dancer got baptized. It was so fantastic. We had a lesson with her and her mom and Wednesday and finalized everything, we made programs, put together musical numbers, brought the clothes and towels and then she came. One of the coolest parts was that her brother who was baptized a couple months ago was the one who baptized her. I sat by her during the service and through the first talk she just cried, and she was slightly worried about the testimony at the end and what she was allowed to say and she did a great job! She told a cool experience about answer to prayer and it was wonderful.

Sestra Davis, Anja, me

The second coolest part is that her grandma drove back from Bosnia to come to the baptism (and woke up early to make Burek for it....sooo good.) She introduced herself to everyone as 'Baka'. Which means grandma, or just a general term for an old lady. She is so funny! That was the first time she had been to the church and she really felt the spirit. By the time she came back the following day, she announced to everyone that she had decided to be baptized. It has been sooo amazing to be in Zagreb long enough to see this family come back from inactivity, watch the kids get baptized, soon the Baka, and see them prepare for the temple. It has been a blessing to be a part of it! 

So that was a great end to the week. Other than that, the normal apartment to apartment, talking to people on the streets went down. :) It is also transfer week this week... very weird to be entering my last transfer. I will be spending it in Zagreb. surprise. ;) I love it here and the members and I am excited to work with Baka and teach her the gospel!! 

 As I am entering this last transfer I have been thinking a lot about change. Have I changed enough? Have I seen other people change because of the gospel? What do I still need to change? Well here is a great quote by Winston Churchill  "to improve is to change, to perfect is to change often." Our God works gloriously in the work of perfection. I am so so grateful that his goal for us is progress. I continue to learn that as serve that Heavenly Father gives us all we need, that we might change, become better and closer to Him. What an amazing plan He has for us. 

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! 

xoxoxo

Sestra Rhodes 

The Zagreb Bunch! - June 6th, 2016

Bok family! 

Greetings from the Zagreb bunch from the first church in Zagreb (an apartment) which is now the office. The very same building that (now) President Monson stood in to dedicate the land of Yugoslavia for the preaching of the gospel. Normally they do it outside, but since they had to do it indoors they threw open all the windows during the dedication. This is however only half the district. Here are the rest. 

A pretty great bunch!! And a pretty cool building right in the heart of Zagreb. 

This week was a good one. Like every other. Our dancer came back from England!! She and her mom told us aaaaall about it and she had her baptismal interview on Sunday. The baptism will be on Saturday followed by a branch palačinke (aka pancakes...aka crepes) activity. She has grown a lot I feel and is ready to take this step, but my biggest desire is for her to be strong in the church forever. As a missionary I did not expect to be this impatient. I want each individual to accept the gospel, accept it quickly, and have a testimony of steel. However it took me 20 (almost 21:) ) gradual years to learn all that I have and the learning never stops! I am so grateful for that, that God's goal for us is PROGRESS. Eternal progress. And that is my pray for Anja, that she will continue to progress, a lot. 

We have also taken over two investigators from the Elders. They are neighbors, two single older women and we always teach them together. One of them is a self referral and the other she just brought along. I have never met two people with so many questions in my whole life. They shoot out questions in our lessons like two fiery machine guns.  Soooo...we are currently trying to find a balance of teaching and them asking questions for 45 minutes. They are both very sincere however, which is obviously key. 

Another cool thing from this week: we had a district (aka Croatia) wide relief society meeting and I accompanied a really cute non member girl who sang. She and her mom came and they are SO AWESOWE. They do not live in our city, but they invited us to theirs! They are good friends if a member there and there is no way they did not feel the spirit in that meeting or during the song. High hopes for them.  She has a picture but will send t later. 

Overall a great week. This next week is transfer announcements. I am perfectly happy to stay in Zagreb. I love this place and the people and genuinely love Croatian. I thought my heart would forever be in Slovenia, but it grew!!! This place is so great and I can't wait to make the best out of the time I have left. 

Love you all! Have a fantastic week! 

Svako dobro, 

Sestra Rhodes 

Check Out That CHEESE! May 30th, 2016

Bok everybody. 

What a week we all had. Congratulations to everyone for enduring, birthing, and all the other things that happened. 

Here is what happened on this side of the world.

Our dancer has been at her competition all week in England but has sent us pictures and we have been in contact all week. Before she left it was her birthday so we pulled a classic, girly-missionary gift. (Thanks to all those years of young women's crafty handouts for inspiration.) We gave her multiple envelopes to take on her trip that told her when to open them..when she is scared or nervous or happy or at the beginning of everything bla bla bla. THEN, the good part, it had a scripture to match when to open it. In an effort to keep her reading the scriptures while she was gone. She really liked it and we are hoping that she has still been reading and praying and all the important things while in London because her baptism is really coming up quick! 

One benefit about being in one place for a while is that you get to know the members really well and I am really enjoying that lately. One awesome member has been offering and taking us to church with here, more have offered to come on lessons, and we are now going into primary weekly to help with singing time. I love going to church so much and these people are very strong and unique and they are the number one way that the church will grow out here. 

We had zone conference again this week. They come SO fast! For the past few months our whole mission has been focusing on becoming master teachers and I LOVE it. We are learning how to teach better and practicing and it makes me feel a lot more confident going into lessons. (Surprise, knowing everything and being a flawless teacher does not just happen when they give you the name tag.) 

We also had some guest sisters at our apartment this week because one of them was in the hospital again during zone conference. We were supposed to go on exchanges but instead they both came to Zagreb and we got to switch companions up a little bit to proselyte. 

We got to skype with the France, Leon mission this week! Shout out to my French speaking siblings! We skyped with a really cool guy from Serbia who they thought was really interested . . . turns out they just could not communicate very well in English because he had a reeeeeeeally difficult time accepting the book of Mormon. But we asked him to read the introduction before he decides NOT to read it and pray about it. It was a good teaching opportunity and sister Davis and I are continually progressing in teaching unity.

We also had two great p days, last week and today. Last week we had some things we needed to get for our apartment (mainly a stool for my comp who could not see in the mirror due to height challenges....haha) and some other things. Well who else needed to run errands? The senior sisters! The Davenpratts. So once again we went to Ikea, only this time in a lot nicer car and enjoyed lunch together and getting all the things we needed. We also stopped at Metro (the closest thing to costco but still not even close. However their cheese selection was pretty remarkable.)

                  

Driving Presidents car to IKEA!

Notice the change in missionary attire! 

Then today we drove to Rijeka with the Elders to do a service project of unloading a ton of beds and materials for refugees. We are also going to make an article out of it for mission public affairs use. It was the first time I saw the coast line of Croatia!!!! (Which is what people tell me 5 times daily that I need to go see and swim in . . . ) Then we ate on a boat restaurant. IT WAS A DADDY'S BOAT!!!! I even ordered fish since we were so close to the sea:) 

I was reading in Mosiah this week again about the Atonement and a particular phrase hit me that I had never given much thought to: Acquainted with grief. 

Acquainted. Having personal knowledge as a result of study, experience, etc. Jesus Christ has personal knowledge of grief through experiencing every type of grief we have, are feeling, or will ever feel in this life. He is acquainted with OUR grief. Thus of course He is extremely well acquainted with us and our lives. I am so grateful for that knowledge. He knows what is going on and the most comforting . . . He knows what we need to get back home to our Heavenly Father. 

As Joseph Smith taught, 'a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation.' 

I love you all and pray for you daily. Let the work go on! 

Sestra Rhodes 

Haleluja for free tee shirts! - May 23rd, 2016

Hallo everybody! 

This week was really great because it finally stopped raining!!!! Call me mortal, but contacting in the rain is not quite as fun as contacting in the beautiful Croatian sun. Well this week the sun reeeeally came out and gave me flashbacks to last summer tracting outside of Maribor in the blazing heat. Wonderful times they were and wonderful times ahead! 

We have officially taught Anja all the commandments and now she is headed off to Blackpool England to the worldwide ballroom competition! Maybe Richard Gear and J lo will make an appearance... We asked her to read something out of the book of Mormon every day and something out of the 'for the strength of youth' every day on her trip. That little book is a wonderful wonderful tool. She will be getting baptized in the beginning of June and I am praying that she gets a deeper understanding of the truthfulness of the gospel throughout the next couple of weeks. 

This week we also had the opportunity to help out at the annual Kresimir Cosic basketball tournament for the mission. The members each got a team from their country (Slovenia won) and came to Zagreb to play in this tournament to remember Kresimir. Hugh Nibley taught Kresimir when he went to play basketball at BYU and instead of continuing professionally like offered, Kresimir came back to his country to bring the gospel here. His story is really amazing it is was really neat to see all the members come together, playing basketball in the same gym because of this one man. Though it was a game of basketball, there was a huge gratitude for the gospel among all these members . . . and free t shirts. Win win. Here is me in mine helping keep score. My very first time... you can imagine it went very well. ;)

Cool story of the week. We pass out a lot of cards and pamphlets (and this week we hit our goal of Book of Mormons passed out!), all of which have our number on it. Well Saturday afternoon we got a call from a random number and she said that she found this pamphlet at a friends house and took it home and that it kept tugging at her to go to that church. Well she forgot about it but on Saturday she was cleaning up and found it again and that something kept tugging her to go there. So she called the number to get better directions. I talked to her and she sounded really great and I am hoping that she follows that prompting and comes next Sunday! (If not, we have her number and will prompt her further :) ) It was just really comforting to know that it does good to hand out  things like we do. Maybe that person won't directly benefit from it, but a friend, a family member, who knows. Well, actually one person knows. But we don't so we have to keep working and handing out things and talking to people! It also gave me comfort to remember that Heavenly Father is working on people. The holy ghost still prompts them to pick up a phone, to read that pamphlet, and I know that by these simple things, GREAT AND WONDERFUL things will happen! 

Also my 60 year old English class student invited me again to come stay with her this summer in her 'vikenica' or her little get away house on the coast of Croatia. So if you don't see me in August...you will know where to find me. :) 

 I love you all a lot and hope you have a wonderful week! I am rooting for you all and appreciating your prayers in my behalf as well. 

Lijepi pozz

Sestra Rhodes 

Return of the Worldy Music - May 16th, 2016

Bok bok everybody. 

We had a very busy week as usual; but now busy with the usual. I'll start with the people we are teaching. Our dancer friend is doing great. We meet with her twice a week and she usually has training on Sundays and has to leave after sacrament meeting but this week she stayed for Sunday school! We taught the Sabbath day and (drum roll) law of chastity. Both went over really well actually and her mom has been staying for the lessons, which is a blessing, considering they both need to be taught. She is preparing to go to Blackpool, the international ballroom competition in england and we will not see her for two weeks. She leaves at the end of this week and gets baptized shortly after her return. Two weeks is a lot of time for Satan to work while she is away so we are trying our best to help her be prepared and continue to prepare for baptism without us. 

We got to teach our baka investigator. Though 66 she is very spry and filled with energy. She also loves to talk. Welcome to almost every investigator I have ever taught. She has felt the spirit multiple times and feels like she belongs with us. We committed her to a soft date for baptism and she said that that is her biggest desire. Never bad words to hear when you are a missionary. We will be meeting with her this week and are practicing a lot so we can teach clearly and simply and answer all her questions. 

This week we also had our David Archuleta events missionwide. David, his fantastic accompanist Kendra, and his traveling manager Carrie all came. In Slovenia he had a concert with Paul Cardall in the Ljubljana opera house as a fundraiser for the 25th anniversary of a heart foundation in Slovenia. Seeing we have worked a lot on helping these events come together on the media we were invited and I got to see some of my Slovenian member friends and sit next to my former comp Sis. Duffy!

David hit it home with Imagine and some of his other popular ones INCLUDING 'The Prayer' with a members daughter who one Slovenia idol. They NAILED IT. 

He had a missionary fireside in Slovenia with Paul Cardall as well, then he went to Serbia (we did not) and then he came to Zagreb. Sunday night we had the church the fullest I have ever seen it. Members brought friends, nonmembers brought friends, AND two Hungarian people who saw it on social media came and loved it! They are now going to take the missionary discussions in Hungary!! Yeah! Then Monday morning we had a missionary breakfast with him and his crew and they each shared some wonderful missionary thoughts and then he treated us with some really great primary songs and a repeat (per my request) of 'He lives in you' from the lion king. Very, very enjoyable. What was not so enjoyable, when President Grant made me and sister Davis roleplay the gospel of Jesus Christ lesson to David and his manager (who is baptist) in front of all the other missionaries . . . in English.

David also shared some nice thoughts (from Brad Wilcox actually) about Christ's first miracle of changing water to wine. While some may think 'why was Christ drinking wine' or 'who's wedding was it?' and a plethora of other thoughts, Christ was announcing himself to the world with a divine message "I can change things." 

Christ can change things. I am striving to change every day and it is my sincerest desire that I can help someone else recognize that that change is possible through Jesus Christ. Let us not get comfortable where we are, but let us constantly strive to use the atonement of Jesus Christ to change! 

Love you all. Have a great week. 

Sestra Rhodes

Glad I got to show Sis Davis a piece of Slovenia!