What’s Up with the Whites in Croatia?

Mission Updates: May 1 - 9, 2026

I hope you enjoy these blogs, they end up long, but they are only a fraction of what is going on here! And the scenery...it's so beautiful!

This is the church of St. Donatus, (Donat) the centerpiece of our old town in Zadar. We love walking in this area, can't begin to count the many times and people we have loved walking here with, 

We took our Sister missionaries (Quarnberg & Gardner) to the town of Nin, about 30 minutes from Zadar. This was the first official city and capital of Croatia. This is Gregory of Nin, (there are 3 statues of him in Croatia) he was a bishop who fought with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to allow the people to hear mass in their own language and have scripture in Croatian. He was demoted and is honored in Croatia now. Touching his golden toe brings good luck if you wish for something that is not monetary. 

A beautiful old city with many of its walls and gates still standing. 

Queen's beach is also there, one of the only sandy beaches in Croatia, most are rocky and pebbles. I told them to always remember they are the queen!

This is us at our apartment having one of our weekly interviews with Sister Matulovic-Mahoney our service missionary. We are finishing up the "my plan" for after she is no longer a full time missionary next month. She lives about 5 hours from us on a beautiful island called Korcula. 

We ran in to two of our missionaries at the main gate of old town Zadar. They ended up getting told they could not set up a table, but they tried. 

We were all going in to Zadar and a lady yelled "hi missionaries" she was so excited to see missionaries from her church. She was from the Philippines. 

This was a special morning, I arranged for all of our Zadar missionaries to visit with Ankica and Mišo to learn about the early church in our area, they were the first couple to be baptized in Yugoslavia. They are so important to our branch and he is the Patriarch for several countries. 

Elder McConkie loves getting advice about being a missionary and about his future in basketball as Mišo was a NBA scout for 20 years in the US, 

After church I love getting some time to talk with our missionaries! It's kind of like we are their temporary parents (or grandparents) but they like to ask for advice. 

We had a new member Simone who was from Madagascar when she was converted to our church, went on a mission and now is married to a Croatian man. She lives far away in Croatia and has come to Zadar to live for 6 months while she works. She was in the hospital here her first week so we helped and were glad we could serve her needs. She stayed with us a couple of days. 

Another fun Sunday meal with now 8 missionaries and Simone joined us. 

Our grandson Elder Teige White, in Zagreb about 3 hours from us. He is having some great success with friends joining the church. 

Meanwhile back at home our first granddaughter Madison graduated with her masters (MBA) from UVU, and her husband Jared with his degree in business. So proud of both of them!

And her brother Trey White is starting flight school at a wonderful flight academy. Spreading his wings! 

These are some of the great members of our Zadar branch with our two sister missionaries. 

I love to get pictures from grandkids, this is from Scarlet (Lisa's daughter) drawing our city Zadar. She will be here in 10 days!

Croatia West (our coastal area) part of our zone conference, so many are leaving soon! 

            Always have to get a little crazy after all the sitting still!

This is Slovenia, the beautiful town of Ljubljana. We visited here after zone conference while waiting for our friends Ron and Diane Crump to arrive. 

                          An amazing bronze main door at a cathedral. 

                         The beautiful river through Ljubljana   

On our way to Lake Bled we drove through the beautiful Julian Alps of Slovenia. Incredible world we live in. 

                   These places make me feel reverence & gratitude

                Then we arrive at beautiful Lake Bled, Slovenia

                Diane and Ron Crump arrived at about 2:00 AM

We get some time to share our mission experience and the beauties of this land with them. Glorious! So fun to get these moments. This is truly a wonderful world. Following Jesus Christ and trying to live in a way that honors Him, has given me hope even when many things in the world seem to be unraveling. 

            We take the traditional Plenta boats to the chapel on the island. 

Even way out here in Slovenia, we ran into Elder and Sister Smith serving in Bosnia, and the Reeds from Zagreb, Croatia. No coincidences. 

          I don't want to post too many food pictures, but this was so good! 

             We did a quick morning to Ljubljana on our way back to Zadar.  This is the dragon bridge, symbol of strength and protection. 

                           Is this adorable. Little Cygnets! 

While we were away, our adorable Sister Ellie Kay, (who has gone home but came to visit with her family) came to visit Zadar! So fun. 

Ok, I am going to end this blog and start a new one, they just get too long, but so much is going on!  .....continued on the next blog