If the Savior Stood Beside Me...

July 27, 2015

Well hello family&friends.

This week has been WONDERFULLLLLLLLLL (as always). On Monday we got to do a lot of touristy things - which was great! We went to Fort Casey and also on a beautiful hike at Ebey’s Landing. Thank goodness for awesome ward members to take us! We also did a lot of tracting this week. I really don't mind it though which is nice. Otherwise the days would feel like a million years long. We had quite a few lessons with investigators, less actives, and recent converts. We actually got one of our less actives to come to church for the first time in 20 years. He stayed for all 3 hours. We also had to teach the Gospel Principles class on Sunday... that was a real treat. We went on exchanges with some sisters I am serving over and it was great. I actually stayed in the area and I had to do it all by myself. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I also WAS volunteered to sing in sacrament by Sister Perkinson in a few weeks with her. I might die. PLEASE PRAY FOR ME AND THE EARS THAT ARE IN THE BUILDING. not kidding.

Now here is the thing that really needs prayers. We are teaching a couple that are Pentecostals and they have gotten into a lot of anti so our lessons are more like clarifying doctrine.  His dad is actually the preacher out here on the island.  We wanted to do a lesson tonight (Monday) but it's their family night... well guess who got invited to family night with all the extended Pentecostal family members? We did. Guess who agreed to going... we did.  This is gonna be interesting.

Well I hope you all have a great week. I love and miss each of you.

I know the church that Christ established is restored on the earth today. I know we have the priesthood authority on the earth today so we can perform saving ordinances that lead us back to our Father in heaven. I know that we have modern day revelation and the Holy Ghost to guide and direct us.

The song we are singing in sacrament is "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" and it has really changed my outlook on the things I do, say, and think. I would invite each of you to listen to the words and ponder the things that are shared. But don't just think and ponder them... ACT ON THEM.  We are people called to action, not objects being acted upon.

Love, Sister Rodda

Cat Quilt

July 20, 2015

This is Sister Rodda reporting for my weekly report.

THIS WEEK WAS AAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMAZZZZZZZZZINGGGGGGGG. (every week is amazing and I really need new ideas for how to start off my emails)

First of all, I am just too happy to wait to tell everyone so I feel the need to start with it. There is a lady in our ward who LOVES to sew, so she makes a quilt for all the missionaries that serve in the South Whidbey Ward.  Welp, it was my turn to get one.  I sent pictures and no description can describe what I got. It is a lovely quilt. It has cats on it.

This week did lots and lots and lots of tracting, but we got 3 new investigators out of it! They are so nice and so sincere!  One of them is in her 60's and she says "I am never going to convert. I just want to learn more..."  WE ALL KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS... just wait until the spirit testifies to her and she recognizes it.  The other 2 are a couple.  His dad is a preacher so he had some really good questions.  She just kinda goes with whatever her husband says.  They just got married a month or two ago.  We have lessons planned with them this week!

That's about all I have to say... I am getting lame at this emailing thing.  But here is something I can tell you... I have this new thing going where I can literally fall asleep in 1 minute. Sister Perkinson can testify.  She says, "sometimes I think you are joking until I start hearing the deep breaths that turn into tiny snores."  Hahaha!  I guess that is a sign that you are working hard or something.  It is crazy.  You go to bed and all the sudden it's morning again.  It's weird.

I hope you all have a super duper week! xoxoxoxoxoxo

Love, sister rodda

Spitz and Cats

July 13, 2015

Well hello there!!

This week has been great! I think that is how I start out every email but that's okay because it's the truth. I suggest everyone serves a mission, that is all. Currently we don't have any investigators which is different than what I have experienced my whole mission, but it is fun. We go out tracting for like 6 hours everyday. Haha, just kidding, not EVERY day.  But a lot of them. It is fun to talk to the islanders because most of them are really, really relaxed and they invite you in just to get out of the sun or they are really, really not chill and relaxed and they count down until you get off their mile long drive way. It keeps it interesting. Plus Sister Perkinson and I get along really well so we make it fun and we can just talk for hours. Funny how you can still find things to talk about when you are together 24/7. She is a great missionary. This week we had zone conference. I don't know if you remember, but a while back we won the obedience test. Well we had it again and I am sad to say that I didn't win. I got out on "you have made your bed every day this past week." WHAT THE HECK!! SINCE WHEN IS THAT A RULE. I DON'T THINK THAT IS IN THE MISSIONARY HANDBOOK. I didn't argue because it was only brownies we were playing for and it was my cute mission presidents wife -Sister Bonham- but man oh man, was I a bit peeved. Also at zone conference we got this things we called TIWIS. (We nicknamed ours Spits because of our sunflower seed addiction.  I got Sister P hooked on the dill pickle seeds.)  Anyways, “Spits” is a car controller basically. If you go too fast or turn too fast or brake too hard it monitors and tracks everything. And you get green, yellow, or red every transfer and depending on that you can either drive or not.

Also, here is the funniest moment of the week. We had just finished service on the mainland and we were dropping off some of the other sisters when all the sudden we hear a cat crying. We are like what the heck?  We know WA loves their cats but... we have never heard this before. Where is it coming from? Then... the moment you have all been waiting for... we looked right above us and sure enough, I do not lie, the cat was stuck in the tree. At the tippy tippy top. It was straight out of the movies. So us little missionary sisters - not highly trained in this sort of ordeal - start panicking. "CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT."  That's what they do in the movies, so we are playing hot potato with the phone trying to figure out who is going to call.  Well the neighbors came out (probably from hearing all the commotion and squeals) and climbed up the tree to rescue the cat.  Sister Perkinson and I were standing on both sides of the tree like we were gonna save the day by either catching the cat or this 300 pound guy. Please thank Heavenly Father in your prayers tonight that neither of them fell.

I am so grateful to be a missionary. I mean it now more than ever. I love being able to share the restored gospel with all those that I come in contact with. I know that happiness does not come from temporal things. Happiness comes from WILLINGLY living the gospel and it is a change of heart from within. I know that the Heavenly Father has a specific plan for each of us - a plan to return to him in an everlasting state of glory.  Satan is working so hard on members, families, and missionaries right now and we need to strengthen our testimonies everyday to withstand the fiery darts of evil. The church is true folks.

I love you all!  Have a great week!!!

xoxox

sister rodda

Whidbey Island

July 6, 2015

ALOHA FAMILY.

THIS IS ME SAYING HELLO FROM THE LOVELY WHIDBEY ISLAND. No I am not on vacation but I am serving the Lord on the best Island in the beautiful North West. This week has been great and I am loving every second of it. It is beautiful out here. Just imagine the most beautiful forest full of deer, bunnies, flowers and berries. Then imagine the ocean. Private beaches, sun, sanddollars and shells everywhere. Yep, that's the island.  The best of both worlds.  Heavenly Father is way too good to me. So here is the worldly aspect of the island:

Deer: The deer are everywhere. They are so used to humans and cars that they just walk everywhere like they are people too. You can literally get 2 feet from them and they don't run away.

Bunnies: So we live in a town called Langley and I guess a long time ago there was some fair grounds and a whole bunch of bunnies got loose. They replenish quite quickly so Langley is COVERED in bunnies. Every shape, color, and size. It is really cool but they are way too fast to catch. Sister Perkinson (my companion-I will get to her in a second) said she counted 64 on a 1-2 minute drive the day before I got to the Island. You might wonder how I get to the island. That's the next topic.

Ferry: We get to ride the ferry whenever we want to get to the mainland. It is so cool. We wait in like a 3-hour line and then we drive onto the ferry and go for a 15 minute ride across the ocean and we are on the other side. It is pretty fun. And whenever we go over to the other side it takes up our whole day. So you might wonder what we drive...

Car: Our car is a 2015 Subaru. It is really nice looking and yeah I am spoiled out here.

Apartment: Our apartment is rented out by a 94 year old man and he is so cute! haha. It is like the basement. It is the perfect size and the only complaint I have are the spiders. Okay they are HUGE. Like really big. The size of my fist. They say you need one pet spider in every room to keep the rest of the bugs out. I couldn't handle it though. I had to vacuum most of them up and put them outside. I will take the spiders though. It could be worse.

PEOPLE: THE BEST PART!!! The people here are amazing. I love them. I love the ward. They are like grandparents and since they loved Sister Wawro all I have to say is, "Hi, I am Sister Rodda. Sister Wawro trained me." And then from there it is automatic love. INSTANT LOVE.  And that's why I am grateful for a wonderful trainer- who is almost engaged- and who promised me a year and half until she got married...-

COMPANION: This is the other best part! My companion's name is Sister Perkinson. She is from Mesa Arizona. Yes mom. she is.  She is awesome. I love her.  A little sad that she goes home after this transfer but it will be okay. We get along great!

So now that my email was a billion years long. I just want to tell a little about my week. The Island celebrates the 4th on the 3rd. idk, don't ask.  But we had to go in early on the 4th so Sister Perkinson and I had GNO(inside). We also had a baptism yesterday and that was AMAZING. I was only able to teach him twice but I will be able to teach him all the new member lessons.  We currently don't have any investigators but we are going to find, find, find this week!  We do a lot of tracting out here. I am a little burnt but luckily it will go away. We had a busy week last week so this upcoming week we will be able to work!!!!!! Thanks for all the love and support. I hope you are all doing well! xoxo

love,

sister rodda.

You Are What You Eat...

June 29, 2015

HOLY THIS WEEK HAS BEEN ONE FOR THE BOOK.

THIS MIGHT JUST MAKE IT ON THE CHARTS FOR THE NUMBER ONE MOST STRESSFUL WEEK IN THE CENTURY OF STRESS EXISTENCE. 

So here is the run down

Monday: Monday was hectic. Sister Westover was planning on leaving for Taiwan Tuesday morning but we found out that she had to be at the mission office that night. So we packed all day, cleaned, but then our district leader convinced us to do something with the district so we went to the park. It was a lot of fun. Sister Westover and I made food so we brought it to the park to have a picnic. Then we went and played volleyball. but of course i brought my soccer ball. so these 3 little 10 year old girls want to come play. i played soccer with them and played head/catch. remember that, Hayden? then we started talking about religion. they would sing us a christian song and then we would sing a primary song like i am a child of god. it was awesome and they had great questions. we gave each of them a book of Mormon and a picture of Jesus. Then that night was all traveling and getting settled in Lake Stevens with my new companion Sister Solosko.

Sister Solosko

Tuesday:We did service in lake stevens and then traveled an hour up to burlington and spent the day there. taught a few lessons and yeah...

Wednesday: Went to district meeting and i had to give instruction. that sucked. i am so bad at that. i can teach a lesson to investigators but to other missionaries... game over. then that night we traveled back down to lake stevens.

Thursday: we did 4 hours of service in her area and then did another lemon"aid" stand. oh and i got a call to be a sister training leader.

Friday: we went to a leadership meeting for me. details coming later and then did another lemon"aid stand and yeah... that was the day. oh and then we traveled to burlington.

Saturday: we went to trail builders, weekly planned... blah blah blah and then that night was the awful night... i get a call and 8:58 saying that our area is getting a new companionship of missionaries. boo. so hopefully nobody gets lost or anything like that. but it will all be okay.

Sunday: went to church, said goodbye to whoever was there, and then stopped at Mya, Amy, and Zoe's. those were the only people. then we traveled to lake stevens where we went to pick up sister howlett because her companion was going home. it's been a week.

Monday: that's today... and that's all...

Tuesday (tomorrow): I am getting a new area. boo. I am getting a new companion. That's exciting. I am a Sister Training Leader. That's nerve racking. so yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

i am a sister training leader. so i get assigned companionships of sisters. i go on exchanges with them and have to fill out forms to give to president. i am someone they can counsel to. i have to help when  they are struggling and stuff like that. so yeah. i am really grateful to have this opportunity and i want to do it well so prayyyyy for me!!!!!!!! ;)

i love you all. thanks for all the love and support. keep on keeping on. #holdtotherodda

oh something i have learned this week is: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. SO FEAST UPON THE WORDS OF CHRIST. that's all.

love, sister rodda.