What’s Up with the Whites in Croatia?
Mission Updates: June 5 – July 2, 2026
Hello, friends, and family! I've officially given up apologizing for the length of these mission updates. Every month is overflowing with people we love, places we discover, and moments that strengthen our faith. Even these photos only tell part of the story! If you'd like to journey along with us, each picture has a short caption that shares a little more about our life here on our mission.
The beautiful spring/summer flowers and bees are everywhere!
Our wonderful Old Town in the early morning light.
Elder Kearon and our entire missionaries from our district (all 5 countries) See if you can find us in the almost back left.
Love these missionary sisters. Sister Shuman just left for home, and Sister Clayton.
We get to celebrate at Zveki's house (RS president) her 8 year old son Kris. (pronounced Crease)
Zone conference, Teige (Elder White) wants to join us seniors for dinner (of course he would, Grandpa pays and it's better than anything he's had all month!)
They like to ham it up, acting like this means they are dying in the mission, (that is what you say for a missionary on his last week with you in the mission) We have had several die with us in Zadar! Some born here too. (are you getting the lingo, and a mother/father is the first one to train them, etc)
Taking our missionaries to the town of Nin. The first capital of Croatia. This is the smallest cathedral in the world.
We do a lot of silly things to entertain ourselves!
Lots of dinner pictures, this is Jerome on the back left, he is a member from the Philippines and we love having him with us for 2 years.
Two of my really good friends serving here, Lisa Ivancich (Roseville, CA), and Shelly Smith (Hurricane, UT)
We say our last goodbyes to the Cordray's at zone conf.
We will miss them, and we are also excited to get to work with our new mission president and his wife, the Moores from Oregon. They arrived June 23.
This was a fun picture Jared sent us, this is Teige at the Stake center before leaving on his mission to the ANM. We had our papers getting started and just hoped we might get to go there. Now we are all in the same district in Zadar!
Another branch linger-longer after church.
This is Anna Louise, our service missionary and her Mom. We are at the split, Croatia branch where she gave her homecoming talk and Russell and I spoke with her also. She has finished her 18 month service mission, doing family history and billion graves.
We took all of our district out for a "last supper" croatian style meat boards before Elder McConkie and Elder Anderson leave us.
And here they come! We get to have our grandson Elder Teige White with us in Zadar for his last 6 weeks in the mission. This is a very rare thing and we are so happy to get to have him here. He is a very hard working missionary and has piano talents too that will help our branch. We also get Elder Steadman one of the nicest missionaries in our whole mission, and he has the voice of an angel! Music will be fun in our sacrament meetings now!
Our 4 elders in Zadar and we have 2 sisters too!
We stayed up late to watch the Croatia/England World Cup Soccer (football) game.
Our granddaughter Joss is on her way with her family. They start in Slovenia and we get to see them in a week. She sent me her pictures.
This is our apartment complex, about 6 just like these all around us. They have been under scaffolding the whole time we have been here, and look like they will be done just about the time we leave! Nice for our replacements!
This is Anna Louise, our service missionary and her Mom. We are at the split, Croatia branch where she gave her homecoming talk and Russell and I spoke with her also. She has finished her 18 month service mission, doing family history and billion graves.
This is called the way of the cross, a beautiful set of sculptures and stained glass out in a dirt road place near us.
We took all of our district out for a "last supper" croatian style meat boards before Elder McConkie and Elder Anderson leave us.
Then off they go to head home. With gift bags of goodies and notes in hand. We have loved having them here with us and are excited to hear about their decisions for life ahead.
And here they come! We get to have our grandson Elder Teige White with us in Zadar for his last 6 weeks in the mission. This is a very rare thing and we are so happy to get to have him here. He is a very hard working missionary and has piano talents too that will help our branch. We also get Elder Steadman one of the nicest missionaries in our whole mission, and he has the voice of an angel! Music will be fun in our sacrament meetings now!
Our 4 elders in Zadar and we have 2 sisters too!
We stayed up late to watch the Croatia/England World Cup Soccer (football) game.
Trivia: did you know most of Fiddler on the Roof was filmed here in Croatia?
Our granddaughter Joss is on her way with her family. They start in Slovenia and we get to see them in a week. She sent me her pictures.
This is our apartment complex, about 6 just like these all around us. They have been under scaffolding the whole time we have been here, and look like they will be done just about the time we leave! Nice for our replacements!
This was fun, a cruise ship coming in and we know 2 couples from Utah (not together) who are on it. We are on our morning walk and this is what we see coming by us.
We had lunch with the Partridge's who served here with us at the beginning of our mission (from Kaysville), and then the Bird's from Tremonton found out we were here and came to join. (We are their fowl friends!) How sweet to get to have visits from them. They came to the church and met the missionaries.
Elder (Teige) White got to speak for his first Sunday with us. This is our district president (like a Stake President when you only have a district) President Flis was here sitting behind him.
And again a table shot (it seems like I am feeding missionaries a lot!) What a joy they are to talk with.
Then we were surprised by Luke Wagner (he served here with us in Zadar and was released from his mission 2 days prior) was here with his parents. What a great family. They gave us some new white shirts and ties for our branch members who might need them.
Time for the first p-day with the new elders. They wanted to go over to the island next to us, Uglian. This is the fortress and views that look like the islands of Greece!
It's a tough background for a picture, but someone has to do it!
President Brian and Sister Angelica Cordray. On their way out. They are no longer mission president, The Moore's are. They have done a wonderful, loving, dedicated work. They will live now in Frankfurt Germany. Farwell friends!
I have taught the missionaries the "I love my life" photo position! My grandkids call it the 'Grandma pose'.
For a service each day two of our missionaries deliver soup to the homebound elderly. Today I was able to go with them and visit.
The day before the big Zadar District activity here (5 countries for a Relief Society, and a primary and youth activity) We played some pickleball and had some of our other senior missionaries get to take a trip up our elevator! It is quite the experience!
You just pray it will get up and down the 6 floors safely!
This was our district fireside with our brand new mission president (Pres. Jeff Moore), and his sweet wife Debbie and their daughter Sarah. (from Oregon) We had the privilege of helping them get around Zadar and to the activities. (They only flew in 2 days before to Zagreb, drove the 4 hours to Zadar and had no idea where they were or what was going on) So we became very close friends very quickly. They will be wonderful for this mission! He speaks Croatian from being a young missionary here.
Then we headed back at the RS activity, I spoke on relationships and communication. My daughter in-law Lane (Jake's wife) and her mother Leslie Thomas came to the Zadar activity right then to be with me. It seemed to go well and ladies from all 5 countries helped add to the conversation. This was the last time I will be involved in a district activity and I told them how much I loved them and had learned from them.
Are we lucky, family and friends getting to see us on our mission!
We asked Tom (an area seventy from the SW states) and Leslie to speak to the district Sunday. They gave wonderful talks (that had to be translated into Croatian, Serbian and Slovene. What a blessing they were to our members, and Pres. and Sister Moore also spoke. We loved it. We were packed in like sardines! Russell conducted in Croatian and I am always so proud of him. We were so happy with the way it all went and our Jr. missionaries helped out so much! Tired but happy!
Jake and Tommy at church
Teige (Elder T. White) wore the tie that Jake had given him from his mission to Mexico years ago. He had signed it and told him to have fun. So glad they got to see each other!
President Jeff and Debbie Moore and us in the Zadar branch. Fantastic people! (and my orange lilies for a sweet touch)
Ankica, Beth and I. We have lots of good times on the mission together!
We had after dinner after church together, then they they were off to see Split/Dubrovnik down south. Jake and Lane will be back next week to spend some easy going time with us. Joss wants a grandkid sleepover!
We got to have some good talks. The weekend went so well. Then we both looked at each other and said: "we did it!". And it was quiet.
Lovin' the elevator ride, and goodbye for a week!
Well, another month has come and gone, and now we have just two months left in our mission. It's a bittersweet season. We are soaking up every day, grateful for every opportunity to serve and every friendship we've made. At the same time, we're genuinely excited to hug our family and friends again, sleep in our own bed, and settle back into the familiar rhythms of home.
What an incredible adventure this has been. It has stretched us, humbled us, and filled our hearts in ways we never expected.
Until next time... choose happiness—it really is a choice. Hold your loved ones close, try to become just a little better each day, and don't forget to enjoy a little chocolate now and then!
Sending our love to all of you.
No comments:
Post a Comment