Ptuj - Feb. 8th, 2016

Zdravo everyone!

I am afraid that we have very very little time to write today. We spent our time, woke up early and drove to my homeland of Slovenia! A little town called Ptuj (patooie) and all of Slovenia have a week long festival to scare away winter. Called Pust. (Pustovanje). They have a speacial donut and crazy masks and figures to scare away winter. So that is where I have been today. Great to see my motherland again. 

We went to a castle and saw some cool museums and luckily there was a free organ concert today. A man played on a very very very ancient organ and is was fun to watch! (For me at least.)

Knighting Sister Allred and wearing pants in the same pic. Legendary. 

Sister Redding and me AND pants! 

Other than that, the highlight of this week was THE BAPTISM! Satan tried really hard to make things not go right, including the fact that the father did not come to be a witness or at all, and the baptismal outfits all got messed up and someone had to pull some strings at the very last second to be able to baptize them....all worked out. The spirit was so strong and he got baptized! It was a wonderful personal experience for myself as well and I am so grateful to have been able to teach such an amazing kid and to see miracles ....so many! His sweet mom (who I adore) just cried and cried after he got baptized. She has basically raised them alone in the gospel and is such an example of endurance and a positive attitude.

Tomislav's baptism! 

So all was successful and we are looking forward to the next one! 

Sorry for the lack of details. I love and pray for you all and hope you all have an amazing week!! 

Sestra Rhodes  

Hurry for the Lord! Feb. 1st, 2016

Pozdrav svima! 

Here is a description of my week in pixels.

  Obviously a stellar one. Now for the words part. It was the first week of my 12 months that I planned for an investigator to be baptized during weekly planning, and it was the best!! The boy we are teaching had his interview and he really knows this gospel. He is SUCH a stellar kid and will be a great leader over here, I can feel it. I so enjoy teaching him. We had a great lesson about tithing and fast. Brought to you by m&ms. We used m&m's to show the three little kids how to pay 10 percent and then how much Heavenly Father gives us back in return. Needless to say, they feasted on m&m's. Heavenly Father loves to bless us! It was a great lesson because, it felt like a family home evening at home. There was a lot of laughter, spiritual instruction, questions, treats, prayer kneeling down, etc. I have learned another way to feel the spirit out here, and that is happiness! It was enjoyable for everyone and he is excited to get baptized. :) I AM A LITTLE EXCITED TOOO!!!!!!! 

   Haha, also, at the end of the lesson we all knelt down to say the closing prayer when the cute mom looks at me and says, "eh, sister Rhodes? You have to kneel with us." Then they all looked under the table and saw that I was kneeling. Hahaha, we laughed for a while. Not everyone looks the same height kneeling and sitting apparently. Sister Allred has questioned me a time or two as well. :) 

Another miracle, is that it will be a double baptism!! After a member friended and befriended someone on facebook, this guy came to church and has been taking the lessons and will be getting baptized on Saturday as well! District unity! 

   The banana suit belongs to my dear companion. She let me borrow it in attempts to celebrate my year mark (and Dylanćs birthday....cough cough.) Banana suit and homemade milka chocolate oreo shake...what a party. 

   We have also been asked to skype teach a Serbian family in Germany...why are they finding all our investigators huh? So we will see how that goes. I'll have to brush up on my Serbian . . . 

   This week I also almost had a meltdown because I talked to someone from Slovenia over the phone...it has been about 3 months since I attempted a full conversation in Slovenian. Only Croatian came out. So I talked to myself in Slovenian the rest of the day...in the shower...doing the dishes....Sister Allred was a little worried and questioned my mumbling. Just a language technique. It is sad to think how quickly you can lose a language! It is still there, it started to come back...it is just in the back of my brain, not gone. I was reminded how much I love that language and people too. But on the bright side, Croatian is coming along. I really enjoy teaching English class because I can secretly learn a lot of Croatian at the same time. We played pictionary this week with our English class group of 30+ year old singles and they LOVED it. Another success of the week, and a great time filler. Win win. 

   I wish you all the best of weeks! I will be praying for you over here. The church is so true and the gospel just makes sense. I know it is God's plan for us. He knows us, He is in charge, He will make up all our losses. 

Lijep pozdrav, 

Sestra Rhodes 

ps. We have an American friend, Michael. He does not speak Croatian but lives here and he is SOO American. Funniest part of the week is when Sister Allred and I were walking home for lunch and saw him at the tram stop across the street. Well apparently we were walking fast (always do with Sister Allred. So small. But so fast.) and he yelled to us, "Hurry for the Lord!!" 

He did not know that lunch was our next destination, but it was very funny. :) 

Lijep Pozdrav - Jan. 25th, 2016

Pozdrav Family. 

Another month down! I can't believe we are almost to February. So here's the update. We went over to that awesome awesome family's house three times this week and talked a lot about prophets and commandments. The little 12 year old has his baptismal interview next week and he knows the gospel better than a lot of people out there. I see power in a good mother there! She reads and prays with them and they have come to church the past three weeks in a row! Despite the cold, and their difficulty in getting to church. They have almost nothing and yet want to feed us palecinke and popcorn and juice and whatever they have every time we go over. I LOVE THAT FAMILY. I know that by getting baptised he is going to be the biggest influence for good on his dad too. He reminds me of Matthew in how loving he is to people and how he plays with siblings... plus the fact that he is half Venezuelan. :) He is also very patient with our Croatian and makes such great comments. Really a stellar kid. I am learning a lot from teaching them! 

That family is probably the highlight of my week. We also had a lot of really cool people come to church this week! (Although due to a sick comp, we were at home.) Some less actives and another person who is on baptismal date (member friend) brought two of his friends to church!!!! Yeah! Member work is 10000000 times more powerful than us talking to strangers on the street. So when we have BOTH, it all works out for the better. 

ALSO, we had a worldwide missionary broadcast this week!!! IT WAS SO GREAT! Like a mini general conference for missionaries :) We gathered in districts and ate dinner together and got instructed by apostles and the missionary department. As we sat watching the apostles, the catholic church bells went of right next to us! It was funny and rather surreal to be listening to them from Croatia. We were very spiritually fed and given some specific direction. (Which I am a big fan of.) 

Well...other than that, life is normal here. Working hard. Enjoying my time as a missionary and learning every day! 

I love and pray for you all and hope it is a wonderful week for you all! 

Sestra Rhodes

Pictures of the week!

      
           

Great humidity and weather pic!   Ahhhhh, Croatia!

A Week to Remember. Staring... Jan. 18th, 2016

A Week to Remember. Staring...the Rhodes family!! 

Sunday Night Tracting

Babies, jobs, missions...quite the week for us all. So i will describe really quick why mine was so memorable. 

First of all, we have been working with a less active family and part member...they have not baptized their kids. The oldest boy is 12 and the kindest, smartest, kid out there. I. love. this. family. The problem is the dad has been saying that the children need to know more before they get baptized. (Hence, we said ok and started going over and teaching the oldest boy all the lessons.) Well this week we had a lesson (after some venezuelan-croatian palečinke aka crepes) with the mom and the oldest son and we talked about...baptism. It went really well, and he really does know everything. Then we made a baptismal date together for February! This was all really great, the only problem..the dad was in the other room. He came out at the end when we asked him to come for the prayer and he just said, "good lesson." We didnt actually know however if he heard the date...so we told them we would come back tomorrow and make a baptismal calendar together. So we did. Cue round two of palečinke. However this time during the planning the oldest boy quickly tells us in English (he is the only one in the family who speaks english) "don't say it out loud, but my dad said I can get baptized in February!" 

Yaaaaaaaaa! 

He is such a good kid and really wants to be baptized. So worry number 2? We did not want the dad to feel bad that he could not baptize his own kids and postpone it, so we prayed to know how to handle that. Well at the end of our planning he came again for the pray, sits down and really opens up. He told us who he wants to baptize his kids and everything. SUCH an answer to prayers that I cannot relay over email...but Heavenly Father is really watching over this family. AND the mom brought her two boys to church, even though she is has a health issues and isnćt supposed to go out when it is too cold... and it was really cold and it is rough for them getting to the bus station. But they came! And they will get blessed for it! 

We also had a great zone conference here in Zagreb with the Croatia zone. Still a little weird to see so many unfamiliar faces at a zone conference, I dont know all the missionaries on this side of the mission! They are all great though and we talked about baptismal calendars too, then applied it, then saw that miracle! So great, great week. 

Got three new investigators. (Aka people who gave us there number or time) one of which we will get together with this next week. That is more success in one week than I have seen in 2 months! 

So moral of the story, Heavenly Father answers prayers. He knows what we need and He knows what everyone around us needs. I am so grateful for this gospel and so grateful for my testimony. That is one of the best gifts we can be given and I pray that we all constantly seek to gain and grow our testimony of the restored gospel. It will bless our lives in every way possible. 

I love and pray for you all! 

ps. fun fact. A random inactive members mom gave us a pan of delicious Balkan goodies from her Baka. (Grandma) THEY WERE SO GOOD. Homemade Balkan food...quite life changing if I might say so. 

Random fact number two: They do not have boots for cars when you park illegally, and the towing system is differnt. We call it the pouk. (Spider) It is a big spider looking machine on a truck that literally just comes and picks up your car and takes it away. This week was the first time I actually saw it in action...so how could it not be a memorable week? 

Setting up for zone conference.

                                                                                     

                               
 

                                                         

                               

To the Coast! Jan. 11th, 2016

Bok obitelj! 

Welcome to little baby Pierce! Quite an eventful month everyone had. Thanks for the updates! In return...guess what...I will update you all on my week. Shocker. 

First things first. We are working with a less active family who has two kids older enough for baptism but are not yet baptized. The father has not come to church in years and the mom is soooo awesome and from Venezuela. She makes sure they all pray and read scriptures even though they dont have means to come to church. Well after some lessons with them, health problems with the mom, and a birthday celebration for the 8 year old *at McDonald* .... The Father brought his oldest son to church yesterday!!!!!! My heart has never been so happy during sacrament meeting. They are such a great family and I love working with them. So, wahoo! Also, last time we were at their house, the mom showed us some Christmas Venezuelan styled video clips of dancing and how THEY have Christmas. haha, it was very funny and made me miss Los Hermanos a little bit. 

    I also got an email from a friend in Slovenia this week. She wants to come visit me in Zagreb and bring Sister Duffy! Haha, she has not really grasped the -missionary- concept yet. But she is really cool and I am going to email her back and give my testimony to her. Maybe she'll come to Zagreb and I can teach her. :) 

 We also met a super cool mom contacting a couple nights ago. We were walking through a very wet area and decided to ditch that right when we ran into her. She listen to a full 10 min lesson on the restoration and in her heart wants to be baptized. She just didnt say it out loud. Those are the best moments on my mission though...teaching truth and feeling the spirit in the middle of a cold street. 

Another random fact...due to some complications with the exchanges for sisters in Croatia, sis. Allred and I have to help out a little bit. This means, I am leaving Zagreb tonight and going to be in ZADAR for 5 days. Do you know what this means family? I am in the ADRIATIC NORTH MISSION...and I finally get to see the ADRIATIC SEA!!!! I am beyond excited! I will send you pictures next week. They have also had a really hard finding over there, so I am going to pray really hard and go work with another sister for the week and I know we will find someone for them to teach. I have a strong testimony of exchanges. Both times I went to Kranj on exchanges miracles happened. So that will be exciting and eventful. Next stop. Serbia. :) Just kidding, but it is a secret desire I have. Bring on Cyrillic!! 

  We are still praying to find a family. Still tracting. Still working. Still loving life. It is great to work with Sister Allred. She is a fast paced little fire bolt and we have a good time. I have a testimony of laughing ... it is a very important part of missionary work and of life! Well I love you all and wish you a great week! The church is true! I got some good advice this week from someone I love dearly, "keep on going." It's all worth it family. Keep going. Keep enjoying the gospel. After all, that is why Adam fell, that we might be and that we might have JOY!!! 

Pozdrav,

Sestra Rhodes 

Sretna Nova Godina! Jan. 4th, 2016

Happy New Year everybody! 

Hope you all enjoyed the holidays and are ready to get back to school and work! You will all be in my prayers as always. So quick update on this week.

Helping people clean their cars
with quality tools!

New Years was great. We went to bed at 10 and sat in our bed for 30 min listening to fireworks *which over here actually just sound like bombs* and listening to Elder Hollands byu address from 2009 and not looking back. It was probably one of my favorite New Years Eve's thus far. And on January 1 we went for a run at 6.30 as some people were getting off the tram...coming home. Haha, needless to say, there were not many people to talk to that day. 

The cold cold fog is gone and it turned to three days of snow. I am very very grateful for my giant tall person coat and the snow boots that I almost didn't bring. They are a game changer. However, everyone has oddly been super happy. Maybe it is a new year goal. But we have been able to talk to a lot of great people and last night gave away two books of mormon in less than an hour! Then we pranced through the knee deep snow to make a bus. Very enjoyable. One is never too old to play in the snow. Also, Zagreb is very beautiful in the snow...especially when all the graffiti is cover up. 

We have some promises of "when we get back from the holidays" get to gethers...so hoping that happens this week or next. We have had quite a bit of tracting time as well. Not going to lie...that is one of Sister Rhodes weakness...knocking on strangers doors. You would think it would be a lot easier after you have done it 1000002033345546 times, but it still take quite a bit of courage. Well after that one man called the office and wanted to get baptized we started teaching him then gave him to the elders and now are not sure if he is going to be ready for baptism...for many many years. However, we feel that Heavenly Father did not just bring him into our lives for nothing, so we are going to tract every apartment building in his vicinity to find a very prepared person. Family actually. We are aiming for a family.  

There are some really miraculous things happening in Ljubljana right now as well! A really cool couple has been investigating for a while and going through ups and downs and it is true and I can't do this ...until finally one of them moved to Ireland for a short amount of time. Well, that helped! The girl got baptized in Ljubljana and her (now) fiance who is living in Ireland for a short amount of time just got baptized there! AND all his family and fiance were there over skype and now HIS mom sees the difference that the church has made in her son and wants to be taught. The gospel definitely grows through families! I have a testimony of that! So miracles everywere! I am also so happy because Sister Robertson got to be a part of that and she is going home this next transfer and she deserves to teach some lessons! She is a great missionary and it will be said when she and Elder Brown (Maribor elder i served with for a while) leave Slovenia in a month! 

Overall, progress is being had! I feel like my Croatian is improving, my relationships with the members, our success in talking to people went up this week, and it is a matter of fact that everyone is happier when they see success. Well this week, we saw it in different small and big forms. The church is true and I KNOW Heavenly Father is watching out for every one of us. We grow when we go through hard things and luckily, He has the vision and loves us enough to give us things in life that will help us grow become for like Him so we can then live WITH Him. I love you all and wish you a week of keep resolutions and staying warm in this beautiful snow! 

Lots of love from Zagreb,

Sestra Rhodes 

ps. Sometimes (even though we say the word Mormon and the name of the church repetitively) people still think we are Catholic. We gave a very old baka a picture of Jesus Christ with our information while tracting and she thought we were Catholic and was SO SO grateful. I honestly felt so loved for giving that one pass along card. She said thank you so many times and waved to us for a solid 30 seconds. That is 28 seconds longer than most door contacts and 100 percent nicer. Haha, we laughed for a while. At least her day was made. :)

The size of most my companions...aka Sis. Allred

ps...i saved the hot chocolate you sent in the package... it was worth waiting. Also...the watch. I put this on LAST Christmas and think I have not worn it all of 2 days....so. That was one of the best purchases yet. Love you! 

Sausage - Dec. 28th. 2015

Hello all!! 

What an extremely fast 50 minutes that was! Wow. We have a big family. It was so great to see all of you and I am only know thinking of all the things I wanted to tell you. Haha. Lucky for us, we have emails once a week, so here is the update. 

We had a really really great Christmas. It lasted a few days it felt like. We had a zone conference from wed-thurs and then Christmas on Friday. At zone conference we learned in meetings and then we took the last group caroling in centar! It was a lot of fun and put me a little out of my comfort zone as sister allred and I were split to lead two different groups. IT went great and we talked to some really great people. After about a half hour of that we got some time to tour centar and enjoy the christmas markets. I bought a Christmas tree ornament. A classic zagreb item. We went around in a group this time so it was great buy some zagreb treats and be able to share them so you could try more than one thing! Pres and Sister Grant's daughter is here as well and she is so awesome. She came to midnight mass with us and toured around and it was some very well spent free time!!

                                                            

             

Christmas eve we dropped off some surprise gifts at some members (they don't know...we dressed in black and ran our guts away) then went into centr to find some dinner and....NOTHING was open. Except...of coarse..the one american restaraunt. Rocket Burger. So that was our Christmas Eve dinner with the district and then we hit up midnight mass! It always confirms my testimony of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. But is still a cool and unique experience! They have had a really cool live nativity going on all week right in the middle of zagreb. They are definitely proud of their religion which is really cool to me. 

Christmas day consisted of us waking up early to make district breakfast at the church and host a mass (with about 6 people) in our church building. A little interfaith building never hurts! The bonus for working on Christmas day...this awesome pictures. Very worth it. 

             

Danijel Asler, Allred, Serbian Orthodox priest, me, Elder Harris

We then had our lovely chat and made our way to the mission home for an amazing dinner (featuring pretzel jello salad from sister Rhodes), a warm Christmas tree, Meet the Mormons movie, and a nice nap. (I guess only half of Meet the Mormons.) 

So all in all, it was a very nice, spirit filled, food filled Christmas and it is great to be back to work. Back to the grind. Back to serving not being served. Back to finding people prepared for the gospel!!! 

Thanks for all of your support and prayers! I am praying for all of you over here as well and hope you have a great week! Don't let the Christmas spirit go! Keep Christ centered all year round. 

Love,

Sestra Rhodes

P.S. Also, the reason it was title sausage was because between 6 of us we split 4 sausages that were SOOO GOOOD. Two words. Cheese filled. It was a life changer for sure.

Merry Christmas to me?  Maybe....fun coat!

Merry Christmas everyone! Dec. 21st, 2015

Sretan Božić everyone!!!

What a wonderful time of year! There is nothing like being a missionary during Christmas. No matter how many Christmas cookies you have made, or how many times you have watched the Grinch or It's a Wonderful Life, there is nothing that can beat getting in the Christmas spirit like being a missionary. I could not be happier. To share what we know about the Savior and His life during a time when people are already a little softer due to the season, is really amazing and strengthens MY testimony of His life and mission on earth. 

A lot of things happened this week to help us get into the Christmas spirit even further. We had a branch Christmas party with an appearance by man himself...grandpa Christmas (as they call hime here.) We welcomed him in with a Rhodes rendition of Sleigh Bells, accompanied by myself at the piano and a lot of little kids as horses and bells and what not.

We also did a district finding activity. We put the Savior is Born video on a projector in the chapel and set up hot chocolate and went out finding and inviting people in for tours of the church and hot chocolate. With all of us at work we got a phone number, an english class student, and gave a church tour in the span of about an hour of finding. Yeah! IT is always great showing people the church in Zagreb because it is one of two actual church built buildings in the mission. Zagreb and Ljubljana. It is beautiful and has a baptismal font that we can show people and talk about baptism. 

For Christmas zone conferences this year, everyone is coming to Zagreb, so each country takes a turn here in Zagreb for meetings and to get a view of Zagreb in the Christmas season. The greatest part, is we come and bring them all to centar and have a big group of carolers! They sing and we contact people as they stop to listen. We have not had a lot of voices in our previous efforts of caroling, so it is great to have a few groups of a lot of people in multiple places at the same time. Way to do missionary work everybody! We are taking another group out today, and are hoping to find some actual investigators from it!!! 

Also a highlight of my day yesterday....Sister Allred and I wanted to keep nativity traditions going and really got in the Christmas spirit last night. Merry Christmas from the Zagreb sisters. (We were in desperate need for a trio as the donkey was missing....) 

Height comp issues. 

                                 

Well, I am really excited to talk to you all and hope you have a wonderful few days to Christmas! 

I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and to my Father in Heaven for sending us His Son. That is the best gift we have ever been given. 

John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the worlds.

I love you all and will talk to you soon. 

Love,

Sestra Rhodes 

Put her in the stocks! Dec. 14th, 2015

Dearest Family,

Know that I am with you all in this season of Christmas and change. I pray for you all daily and know that Heavenly Father is watching over us all, no matter where we are! We had a great week this week, some pretty crazy things happened. 

First off, we lost contact with our investigator over skype. The elders in Germany can not get ahold of him and he is not at home. So, no idea what happened there, but he is for sure in our prayers. Considering he doesn't really speak German or english, i am praying Heavenly Father leads him back to the Balkans so he can get baptized here!! 

Second off, on Monday we sent a group of missionaries home and we had a couple sisters stay at our apartment while waiting for the new missionaries, so we found ourselves at the office. That mormning while we were there a man called. He said he received the book of mormon from missionaries at least 5 years ago, but that it has just been sitting on his shelf until this week. He asked God if it is something he should study and got an answer. Hence he called us and wanted to know how to learn more and become a member. Ummm...alright. We have started teaching him and I think will have to hand him off to the elders due to gender rules. He came to church and only had to take one smoke break. After teaching him a few times, we have a lot of questions and will take it slow to make sure we follow the spirit. But he is great and really likes being taught. 

Third off....Zagreb!

Yeah! Zagreb is very beautiful this year and was voted the best christmas market fin europe for 2016. I got moved here just in time. :) We have gone on a caroling craze as well. We carol and people stop themselves to listen and then one missionary is always out talking to the stoppers. It is so awesome and we are talking to a lot of people about #spasitljserodi. I love singing about Jesus in the middle of the center of Zagreb, it is really making the season fun and special and is way more effective than any other type of street contacting that I have done. We have been really involved in this big Christmas campaign and really want the video and all materials in all the languages next year not just Croatian. Around the world from this Christmas stuff they have gotten over 10,000 self referrals and one here in Croatia. My prayer is that we carol our way to a baptism or that someone finds all the material online! 

We also celebrated last monday by going to the zagreb torture museum...Between the beautiful center and little christmas markets and museums...there is plenty to do on p days. haha. 

                                           What happens when you don't follow the white handbook. 

I have officially been switched to a

Croatian missionary now.

Got the new name tag this week!

   I am really enjoying studying about Christ's birth and all the gifts 
   that my Father in Heaven has given me. What a wonderful
   time to remember our Savior. What a wonderful time to be in 
   His service. I love and pray for you all and hope you are enjoying
   the Christmas season as intended! have a great week! 

    Sestra Rhodes 

  I learned Silent Night on the guitar.

     A start to my new Croatian life. 

         

      Jasna and I got to help decorate the church for the

        upcoming party.  Sleigh bells round two!!