Avgust Leti - August 24th, 2015

Hello dear family!

I can not BELIEVE how fast this month is going....we only have one week of August and the month of September will be just as busy if not busier. So right into the update. We had a successful zone conference here in Maribor and a special treat was that one of the members here in Maribor wants to go on a mission, so we invited her and she got to come feel the spirit there around all the missionaries and the President and it was a wonderful day. We saw some cool miracles as we headed back out into the exact same two cities that we tracted a short two months ago. We met some really nice people, got fed homemade pastries.. and the best part is that there are two families that said we could come back later to explain more of what we are doing! One foot in:) I am thinking of just taking the pastries and juice that I get and taking it to the next house as an offering. If they don't want the Book of Mormon, maybe something a little less dependent on their eternal salvation will soften some hearts. :) I'll let you know how that goes.

Another cool thing of the week...I got to talk to Sister Greenwood on the phone for a while! She was visiting with her husband the mission home in Croatia...turns out their mission responsibilities have taken them all over the place! It was great to hear a familiar voice and see how we are all doing the Lord's work in different ways from our lives now, to our families back home. It is the most important thing we can be doing...the Lord's work. Whether that is at home or abroad or within yourself.

We also got to have a member lesson last night (very last minute) with the branch mission leader and his wife! Aka...the coolest couple I have ever met. So devoted and awesome. I love them! The coolest part (why the lesson was last minute) was that right when I got to Slovenia, we had contact with a young man and kept trying to set up lessons with him. He even said he was going to bring his cousin....but it always fell through. Well, four months later, we are getting on a bus coming home from trackting and we start talking to a kid next to us with headphones in. We ask him a question about Slovene, then explain why we are learning Slovene, then after a short amount of time....who is he? THE COUSIN! So right before he had to get off the bus he gives us his number and says that they will contact us for reals this time....AND THEY DID! They are future missionaries and leaders of the church here in Slovenia, i feel it! So cool.

So...miracles are happening and we are trying to be worthy enough and work hard enough in order to be able to find and TEACH the people that are prepared for this gospel. The work will go on no matter what I do...so might as well stay on board! :) I love and think of you all often! Send pictures of your lives, that is my favorite! (Shout out to the selfies I have received from many fo you . . . you know who you are . . . including Dad adn his tomatoes. That's all I'm askin:) )

Have an amazing week family!

xoxoxo

Sestra rhodes

Sestra Christenson, me ... european hippies. 

Take Two and Temple Trip - Aug. 17th, 2015

Zdravo draga družina!

Sounds like life is picking up speed again there in the states and that you all had a fun week. We had a pretty great week over here in Maribor. I really love this place, it is pretty beautiful and I have grown up accostumed to the Maribor accent, it is crazy how many different accents there are in Slovenia, when it is such a small country. Someone look that up on google and tell me if there are some facts to back this up.

Biggest events going on right now? 1 We have zone conference tomorrow here in Maribor! Everyone will be coming here and all the missionaries will learn and have meetings and lunch and build our spirits for the work. :) Also, one of our members here in Maribor wants to serve a mission, so we invited her to come and feel the spirit and I am really excited for her to come! She is awesome and speaks better English than Slovene.

2 Remember that outside of Maribor tracking stuff? We are going at it a second time. Only this time we are switching areas with the Elders...maybe some peopel will like the sisters better. Just kidding, it's gauranteed. ;) It is taking a lot of faith to go out there again, when we entirely trackted it out two months ago...so I studied all the times in the scriptures when the Lord commanded people to 'go back' for the plates, to teach hard-hearted people . . . the times are countless. So I am confident the Lord has prepared someone in the last two months, we will give them all another chance. :)

3 The coolest part of my week, all the members came back from the Frankfurt temple trip. Sister Robertson and I had been working with a member here to try and do family history and make it possible to do baptisms for her parents...we worked with it a lot and put pictures online and everything but ended up running into some weird computer difficulties. So we sent her with the information to the temple and told her what to ask for at the family history center there. When she came back, not only did she get baptized for them, but she had others help her so they could receive their endowments and get ceiled! She bore her testimony on how they are together and got teary and it was one of my favorite moments. The same member frequently prints out photos of us from our varies activities here in Maribor and gives them to us. She is really wonderful and I am learning so much about love and patience from all these members here in Maribor.

  That about sums up this week. Coming up next week: 20 people with baptismal dates from the Slovenia zone. :)

 I love and think of you all often! I am more grateful for you all every day and your examples of righteous living. Thanks for everything and have a great week!

xoxoxo

Sestra Rhodes

On The Sea - Aug. 10th, 2015

Hello dear Family,

Can't believe the summer is coming to a close! Everyone still has a month left over here. They go back on Sep 1 I believe. Which has also resulted in quite a few tourist around our little maribor town. Can't imagine what it is like in Ljubljana. . . or any other touristy place that is bigger than Slovenia. . .aka all of them. Meanwhile, all of our dear Slovenes are still on the beach in Croatia. The main attraction for everyone around here. Some go 2 to 3 times. 'On the Sea' is how it is phrased in Slovene.

However, beautiful croatian beaches and incoming tourists cannot stop the work. We had mission leadership conference in zagreb again, only this time with a new companion! I always feel really spoiled at presidents house. Not only do we get fed physically really well, but there is a lot of spiritual intake as well and I love going there and getting reenergized for missionary work. We have all been talking a lot about 'lingering less in negative mindsets.' I am reminded of our gratitude thoughts that we do every day as a family and am so confident that being happy really is our choice. Sometimes there are a lot of things that try to make it seem otherwise, but I know with the help of the Lord we will be able to see things the way He does and constnantly have the faith to be happy. So thank you for all your examples and bodite srečni!

As far as the work goes. . . we have the opportunity to go and teach our first found family who recently moved . . . tomorrow. Our time with her is really slim know that we cannot spend all our time traveling to teach her and they do not have a car nor money to come into Maribor, so they will really need a miracle soon. Which is exactly what the Lords is willing to provide, but we all have to be willing to work for it and accept it. She is one of the kindest people I have ever met though and I love her and her little family.

 One of the coolest parts of the week . . . 140 members from around our entire mission are all going to the Frankfurt temple this week. Sister Robertson and I were able to help one of our sweet sister members here in Maribor to do some family history and she is taking some information there and I believe will be able to get baptized for both of her parents! It makes me really appreciate the temple and how many we have to see the sacrifices these people make, most of them with very little or no money, just to get there once a year. Also, the number of people going this year as apposed to last year has nearly doubled. Proof, that the church is growing over here. Also. . . I want to go with them soooo badly! But there are things to be done. Slovene to learn. People to find. Baptismal dates to be made!

So here is to another week of work and awesomeness! Enjoy your last week over summer everybody. Send pics. I like seeing your faces. :) Stay strong and remember to put your trust in the Lord. Love you all.

 

Sestra Rhodes

Sprememba v Mariboru! Aug. 3, 2015

Dober Dan Družina!

Kako smo? Great to hear that summer is still moving! It is going crazy
fast over here in Slovenia. I past my 6 month mark this past
week....baaah! So much to do and so little time. This week was
TRANSFER week! I am very pleased to say that I get to stay in Maribor
another 2 montsh! I also found myself a new companion. Sestra
Christensen is from Wyoming and is 5'2'' and sooo awesome! It is going
to be quite the view walking together around town. The giant and the .
. . something really small. She is so great and actually was
companions with Sestra Robertson right before I came. So she has
already lived in Maribor and has been out here for a year. I am really
excited to work with her. We will both be Sister training leaders so
that means another trip to Zagreb and exchanges with the other
sisters! It will be great. I reeeeeally love Maribor and things are
starting to pick up here. About 90 percent of the people we have been
finding have been families! Which is the best way to build this
church.
Miracle of the week: A while back the Elders talked to family who said
they were interested and had to leave but gave them a street address.
This street was in our area as sisters so we went to give it a visit.
Turns out there were 3 apartment buildings that were all pretty tall
and would take a while to tract them all to find one family. But it
was the plan. Until we heard a family from a window on the bottom
floor. So we turned around and knocked. Nothing. However we KNEW that
a family was there so three days ago we passed that apartment again
and decided to turn around and try one more time. This time a GIANT
man came to the door, then his wife and child. Then they told us that
they had met the Elders a few weeks ago and we could come back the
next day to talk.
One street, a ton of apartments, and the first door we tried was this
family we did not think we would ever find. They are a really young
family and the dad had soooo many questions that WE HAVE THE ANSWERS
TO! We gave them a book of Mormon and tried to help him understand
that he can find answers there. They both want to read it now. I am so
confident God is preparing people. This is such a wonderful family who
already believes in God and I KNOW God will help them find the
blessings of this gospel. I can hardly wait to go back and teach them.
  He told us so many stories of why he believes in God and of His past
and . . . let us just say it was one of my favorite moments thus far
on my missions.
  I also send a request to you all. We have a lot of young families
and people who could become potential investigators. Singles who just
want to wait to find God until they are older and have grand-kids. . .
and couples with young kids. If any of you have advice for teaching
with little kids around, of scriptures or material based on family. .
. or just testimonies of any of the above, do share. I would love all
the help with these families and young people as possible and I know
that testimony through experience is one of the best ways to do that.
   Another great experience. Monday night last week we talked to this
man sitting on a bench on a street with a bunch of street food. We
started talking to him and turns out, he owns this London street food
stand with a bunch of delicious salads and what not. So naturally he
offered to give us the left overs from the day. He made us two lovely
salads FOR FREE and we got to teach him about the gospel. We are
hoping the elders will work with him and find out if he is really
interested. It was a great time though.
  So. . . miracles are happening. You know how the stone that is cut
out of a mountain will continue to roll forth? The stone over here is
a little more of a square shape. Takes some time to push it from one
side to the next. But the edges are rounding out and the work is
picking up, because it is God's work. This gospel truly blesses lives
and it has already blessed mine in ways I cannot count. I love and
pray for you all. Have an amazing next week. It's going to be a good
one!

xoxox
Sestra Rhodes

                           

Beautiful Maribor - 2 more months!

Center of Maribor

                                            

Selfies and Sunshine! July 27th, 2015

Dobro Jutro!

Hello family! I am going to jump right into my life this week due to lack of time.

W.O.W. Slovenia can get reeeeally hot. And humid. It is mentioned at least . . . in every conversation I have with every single person. Sometimes you wake up. . . and start sweating. The good news? It rained today! We have a two day cool break before the heat comes back. The other good news? Slovene's always know the weather so it is an AWESOME way to start talking to someone. All you have to say is 'Hello. Hot, no?' Restoration conversation. IN the bag after that.

The family we have been teaching: We have had contact with them, but it has always been hard to feel the spirit because they live in a veeeery small one room apartment with three kids and right on a busy road. But we called them the other day. . . THEY MOVED! What? They are now even farther away. But we can still visit them. The really good news, we called and she needs help putting her house together! We don't get to do a lot of service and I think it will be awesome to go over there and help her out and show her another aspect of this wonderful gospel.

We also found two other moms this week who both want to learn more! Miracles. Now we will see if they will actually progress. Families is what this Maribor branch needs and will help them grow. Priesthood Holders. Primary. God will prepare people and this branch will grow.

We also meet a lot of different religious people on the streets which lead to a lot of interesting conversations. Last night we met a Hindu who was from India and had never heard of Mormons, had a great conversation. . and YET AGAIN we got asked if we would take a selfie with him. This time we agreed. (My vision as he is taking the picture? He posts it on Instagram. Caption? Two mormon missionaries in Slovenia. Response? All of India looks up mormon.org and the church explodes.) It will happen.

   A REALLY common question over here is if my parents and family are also Mormon. Then of course....it is more tradition. (Because religion over here really is tradition.) So I have always hated that question. UNTIL personal study this morning. I read about the 2000 stripling warriors and how they KNEW that their mothers (might I add family) knew the truth of the gospel and the power of God. I read through once again the advice you all gave me from my Christmas book and am so grateful for the strength and support of all your testimonies. I have had your words, faces, and advice come into my mind multiple times and have been so grateful for your strength and help even though I am over here. So stay strong. This church is so true. God knows what we are going through and what we need. I am SO grateful for the happiness this gospel brings.

I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Love,

SEstra Rhodes

Discovery Channel and Mr. Bean! - July 20th, 2015

Zdravo Družina!!

First off...thank you so much for all the birthday wishes! I read and loved them all but don't have time currently to write you all back. Give me time, I'll get there. You are all so awesome and I appreciate all your support. Tako... an update on the works in Slovenia.

You would all be shocked at the amount of times Slovene's bring up the Discover Channel. It is my favorite thing and is so funny. I am talking about a spiritual conversation context. Me: 'So do you believe in God?' Them: 'Well, I have watched Discovery Channel a fair amount of times, so...no.'

Next.

Also as far as tv goes...apparently Mr. Bean made his way over to Slovenia. I was never a big fan myself, but boy is he a conversation starter now! So many random things that make me laugh ever day.

We had a pretty epic day on my birthday. We got to have a yw lesson with two less active girls at the church and went for ice cream and we really felt the spirit. It was super great and reminds me how grateful I am for the yw program and primary and growing up feeling the influence of the holy ghost. Take advantage of these things people! they are there for a reason. :) We then ended the day with a concert! Here in Maribor. Instrument: Half an electric keyboard, guitar, half an electric organ...and missionaries. It was actually pretty successful and we had a few non members come too! A total of about 25 people! Which was almost filling our little chapel. It was great! However...the greatest part? The afterparty. We met a man in the park a couple weeks ago who came to church even, ( i think I already mentioned him), well he came to the concert. AND he brought his accordion. (Accordion over here is like the piano in Utah, everyone knows it or wants to.) But he really knew how to play and played a bunch of Slovene songs while everyone sang along and ate banana bread and had a great time. It was sooooo awesome. Just singing around an accordion in Slovene. Soo fun and the members really loved it. So that was a great birthday bash.

The saddest part of the week? This morning we went and made omelets for the senior couple and invited the elders in our area and we all laughed and shared memories and (while being humble) awed at Sister Rhodes flipping omelets (thanks Dad), BECAUSE . . . today they left. They are going back to Canada. They have been such an awesome senior couple and I appreciate them sooo much. (Shout out to my grandparents for their missions) However life moves quickly and we have to enjoy it, so that is what I am doing..... Being diligent and being happy. I encourage everyone to do the same. The dictionary has diligence as :Persistently and energetically striving to complete a task. Maybe it is prayer, maybe it is searching the scriptures, seeking forgiveness, seeking for help...whatever it is, seek in diligence. God will give it to you. In the words of President Rich Wood : Hang in there! We grow when we have diligence and faith to continue our search when it gets hard.

Sorry for the random thoughts. I love you all and am very grateful for the knowledge of the gospel. I know that sharing that is the most important thing I can be doing right now. Stay safe, have fun at powell! xoxoxo

Sestra Rhodes

ps. If you can give feed back and scriptural evidence to this question, I'd love it: If God is so loving, why do bad things happen around the worlds?

 pretty common on the streets here in Slovenia.

The Eklend's and their last breakfast in Maribor! They saved
my life when first getting to Slovenia!

Goodbye to our dear missionary couple! We will miss you! 

         

Got this addition to our apartment! 

Epic Happenings - July 13th, 2015

Zdravo družina!

Great to hear from you guys and see some pictures! Sounds like summer is proving to be pretty great, as it is over here in Slovenia! The heat calmed down a little bit this week, and we had lots of traveling! Monday and Tuesday we traveled to and from Zagreb again for Mission Leadership Council. It was sooo awesome. We felt the spirit strongly and made a plan on how to better rely on the Lord in order to accomplish our goals. As a result, the zone leaders and sister Robertson and I traveled to the other three cities in Slovenia spreading the words and making goals. Basically it was a giant, spiritual pump up session and now we are all really going to work the second half of this year. Miracles are about to happen over here in Slovenia and the Adriatic North mission, I can feel it. The Lord is preparing this people and I am excited to find those who will accept the blessings of baptism.

A lot of other things happened this week that goes under the 'epic' category. We finally got to see our family again, AND a member came with us! When was the last time a family in Slovenia was taught WITH a member present? I have no idea, but it was awesome. We didnt actually get to talk, but the member and this mom sure did! And the best part, now this member truly has a desire to help this family see how awesome the gospel is.

Another epic happening? Homemade banana icecream. You may ask how this is done? Frozen bananas.

Konec. That's it. Just frozen bananas blended, turns into ice cream? What?

Another thing for the list...we met a man in the park on Wednesday who actually said that he would come to church. (Now mind you in the almost 4 months I have been here, we have had 1 investigator come to church) HE CAME! I don't exactly know what he wants in life (because he also invited us to go to his birthday party on a bus tour with his friends to Bosnia...) but HE CAME TO CHURCH! The same Sunday, we had the first primary classs we have had since I have been here, probably in a number of years for maribor. It was great to be a part of, and this one primary girl (the one that just got baptised) teaches us a lot of Slovene and bore a really sweet testimony in Sacrament meeting. She has such a strong testimony of Jesus AND baptism. I would love to do missionary work with this little one.

So a lot of great things are happening here and we are having fun sharing the gospel. I know that this is the happiest we can be, when we are living the commandments and constantly seeking to strengthen our relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I love you all and am so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel and the happiness it brings. I have started carrying around my picture of you guys and showing it to people when we talk about families and that we share a message for them. What can I say, you are all a crowd pleaser. :)

We are holding a summer concert here in Maribor on Saturday, without a piano. Just a gross, electric keyboard, organ thing.....so.... it is going to be awesome! Love you all! Stay strong!

xoxoxoxo

Sestra Rhodes 

                                 Banana Ice Cream - Who knew that blending bananas turned

                                                            into this delicious dessert!