From London to You

Hello friends and family,

A lot has happened this week in the beautiful, bustling city of London. Today I get a new mission president, which is craziness! I've only been here for almost 3 weeks now... but it feels like I've known President and Sister Jordan for a whole lot longer than that. They are fantastic, but I also know that President and Sister Stevens will be equally as incredible! It will be an adjustment, but I'm not really used to consistency in the mission yet anyways. ;) 

Something else super exciting that happened this week was that our Finnish investigator is getting baptized!! :) Woohoo He'll be getting baptized on the 25th of July!! I wish is could be earlier, but we are teaching him all of the discussions again because of the language barrier. With English being his second language he's been having a hard time understanding some things, but I am so grateful for technology these days because we've been able to send him home with general conference talks in Finnish! We also have Book of Mormons in almost all languages here at the Visitors Center so that's super convenient. 

We've also been teaching a Polish lady with a 19 month son. He is adorable! :) We had set an appointment with her for Thursday and wanted to bring a mother from the ward with us to teach. We called almost every one of the young mothers in the ward and they were all busy, but at the last minute we got a call back from a cute little nanny from the Philippines saying she could come. When we got to her flat, the little boy was crying and you could tell something was wrong. Apparently, just minutes before we had gotten there he had eaten something that he was allergic to and was having an allergic reaction. He had hives all over his body and had a fever. She quickly asked us if we could babysit him and ran off to the store to grab some medicine. He ended up alright and we were able to calm him down enough until she came back, but if the Filipino lady wasn't there she wouldn't have been able to leave and get the medicine (we aren't allowed to babysit). She now has a strong testimony of prayer, and is coming to church next week. Miracles happen everyday, even if they are small and simple! :) 

We are also teaching a Muslim family of 7, but they are hesitant to learn seeing as its Ramadan (month of fast) right now. They like reading the Book of Mormon though, and let us pray for them. :) 

3 things that are different from Utah:

1. There are people from all over the world here! London really is a melting pot. Also, I've learned how to say "hello" and "God loves you" in 8 different languages :)

2. Pants actually means underwear here...oops.. learned that the hard way.

3. Grocery shopping is weird here. There are hardly any sugar cereals, the peanut butter is less than par and there are 2 whole rows dedicated to tea- I'm being serious.

I hope everyone is doing really fantastic! I hear that the temperature is in the 100's there... wow that's ridiculous. Have an amazing week and don't ever forget that God loves you. :) 

Love, Sister Croft

 The Natural History museum...you can go tracting anywhere when you're a missionary. ;)

 The Natural History museum, although it looks like Hogwarts! It was such an incredible place!

All the VC sisters getting crepes at this place on Exhibition Road-they were delicious!

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Rebekah also had some visitors this week. In an email to me she said, "It seems like every time I see Elder Cardall he's saying that I have some friends here to see me. haha. It's been fun to see them. I keep telling them to tell you that I love you! :) Hopefully that message gets through but, if not...LOVE YOU!"

The Thomas family from our previous neighborhood in Centerville stopped by the Hyde Park Chapel Visitor Centre on Thursday. Their son Emery has also been called to serve in London, but in the England London South Mission. He leaves later this summer. It was so nice of them to take the time to look up Rebekah while they were visiting! And to text me this picture!

And then Courtney, one of Rebekah's good friends from our neighborhood here in Kaysville has been traveling through Europe with some friends this month and found Rebekah when she attended church at the Hyde Park Chapel yesterday. Rebekah and Courtney went to EFY together back when they were 14-years old and now look at the two of them! Rebekah on a mission in London, Courtney heading off to BYU Hawaii next month. So grown up, both of them! 

I've also decided that being a missionary momma in the era of social media does have its perks. Sister Jordan posts picture frequently to her Instagram and Facebook page. Hyde Park Chapel Visitor's Centre also has a Facebook page. And because the Jordans are leaving this week, there have been many pictures as they say their goodbyes to all the missionaries they've been serving with. It has been so much fun to randomly come across these pictures of Rebekah as I scroll through my newsfeed!

 This was after a breakfast with the Visitor Centre missionaries.

 The Hyde Park Zone.

This was on the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors' Centre Facebook page on Saturday morning. Poor Rebekah looks a little jet-lagged....this picture is from the day she and Sister Griffeth arrived in London after their long flight 'over the pond.'

Ilford

Hello all! (: How is everyone in the great United States?

This week in London has been great! For some reason I always imagined England be gloomy and rainy everyday, but it's been super humid and sunny lately. I guess we'll see how much it rains in the winter though, I'm sure it will be freezing! I'm finally getting the hang of the schedule, and the transportation here. The tube can be pretty darn confusing sometimes... especially when your in a hurry... Good thing I have a companion, otherwise I would get lost everyday! Hopefully I'll get a hang of it soon. (: 

Something exciting that happened this week is that I went on my first exchange. Woohoo!! This Wednesday I packed my overnight bag and headed to Ilford. It's as if you're in Pakistan...most people who live there are Indian, and it always smells like curry. The whole point of exchanges is to learn from other missionaries and get ideas of finding and teaching techniques from different areas. Sister Nebeker became my new companion for the day and we went to work. (: We taught, talked to people on the streets about the gospel, did a bit of service, ate ice cream, taught some more, taught people on the bus, and before I knew it I was headed back to South Kensington. Time in the mission is so weird... a quote from the MTC "The days feel like weeks, and the weeks feel like days". 

Sister Hug and I also had a bunch of miracles happen this week. One day as we were on visitors center shift a 23 year old woman named V. walked into the visitors center. After talking to her a bit we learned that after years of feeling like there was something more to life she came across one of Elder Hollands talks online. She absolutely loved it and started to research more into the LDS church. By the time she walked into the visitors center she had never met with the missionaries before, but had read the Book of Mormon up to Alma, watched general conference, and even walked around the London Temple grounds. (: Sister Hug left and started giving another tour, so I took over. As I showed her the baptismal font (we have our own in Hyde Park Chapel) she looked at me, and gave me the most sincere smile I have ever seen. She said "When can I be baptized? That's what I want to do." (: She's now meeting with the missionaries in her area and is working to be baptized on July 5th! It just goes to show how much God prepares people to hear the gospel. He knows exactly how much, and exactly when every one of his children need to hear the gospel. (:

Well, that was just a bit of my week. Just taking it day by day, doing the work God's way. (: Hope everyone has an incredible week! Love you all! Cheerio. ;)

Love, Sister Croft

Crumpets, miracles and double decker buses

Hello everyone, so guess what. I made it to London!! (: It's crazy to think that on Tuesday I was at the still in Provo and now, almost a week later I'm here in England. On Tuesday morning my companion and I rolled out of bed at 3 am to pack and  quickly clean our room before hopping on a bus and catching the tracks to the airport. We then got on an airplane and headed to Detroit- our connecting flight. The next flight was 7 hours long... and it seemed even longer because I couldn't sleep at all. :( Blame it one nerves, the crying baby behind us? I'm not sure, but I think I got a solid 30 minutes of sleep on that flight.. It was all worth it though, because in the morning we got to see the England country side from the plane window and it was beautiful! When we landed we had a bit of trouble getting though customs... (imagine 2 very American, very tired, and very missionary like girls trying to find proof of residence that you didn't know yet at 6 am in the morning), but thankfully we finally convinced him he weren't going to be bums on the street and he let us through. We were then picked up and taken to the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors Center which also doubles as the mission office. The rest of the day went by in a blur of meetings, and papers. By the end of Wednesday, I did the calculations on what brain power I still did have and learned that I had been awake for a total of 35 hours! Jet lag is a Killer! 

Two exciting things that did happen however were 1st: we were thrown on the streets on Exhibition Road (the busiest road in London), given a book of mormon and told not to come back with it. Yep, it was a bit terrifying, but after a few rejections we actually found someone who was interested and gave him the book and our number. (: 2nd: I got a new companion!! Sister Hug (pronounced Hoog) is my trainer for the next 6 weeks. She's from Switzerland and speaks German, French, and English! Her name also fits her quite well, because she is a very "huggy" person. (: She's a great missionary, and I've already learned a ton from her! 

Although getting to London was a bit of a crazy, hectic experience the last few days here have been really great! Hard yes, but also really incredible. (: It is so beautiful here, and such an adventure everyday! We travel everywhere on either the tube (underground subway station that goes everywhere) or by double decker buses. Also, the food is actually really good here as well. I had my first crumpet today and surprisingly it wasn't that bad, good actually! I haven't had fish and chips yet... but I have had lots and lots of curry. (: 

On the more "spiritual" side of things, although everything  we do essentially relates to missionary work in some way or another... Elder Holland came to the Visitors Center on Friday! We had a zone conference of sorts with not only our mission, but also the entire London England south mission as well. There were a total of over 500 missionaries, and Elder Holland insisted on shaking each and every one of our hands. My favorite things he said to us was "You are God's investigator" and that we need to constantly be progressing and becoming better. The visitor center sisters (10 of us in total), also got to sing for everyone! This mission call really was inspired because... I get to sing all the time for various events. God must know that I like to sing, and that I would have missed it to much going somewhere else. (:

Teaching wise we are teaching M.- an older Finnish guy, who actually has a baptism date coming up next week. We are trying to help him quit drinking wine and teaching him about the word of wisdom and the blessings that come with it, but it's been really hard for him. We are also teaching E.- a cute little lady from the Philippines. I taught her for the first time on Thursday. She has a very strong Catholic background, but feels as if something is missing. As we were teaching her about the Restoration of this gospel I just had this feeling that I needed to ask her to be baptized... but I was fighting it because I was very new and hardly even knew her. At the end of the lesson Sister Hug started to go in the direction of baptism, and finally I piped up and asked. To my surprise she replied that following the example of Christ and being baptized was exactly what she wanted to do! (: Miracles do happen when you follow the spirit, I'm telling ya. I've also been spending half of everyday in the visitors center giving tours, and teaching lessons to random people who walk in off the street. It's really different teaching someone you hardly know... but I've had some pretty incredible experiences already. 

Well, I'm sorry that this email is ridiculously long... a bunch has happened this week. I hope that everyone is doing great back home! I love and miss you all. 

Love, Sister Croft

 The beautiful English country side.

 The street right behind the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors Center.

 View from our flat.

New companion Sister Hug (pronounced hoog) from Switzerland and Visitor Center directors-the Cardalls.

Eating tea and crumpets. ;) Sister Phillips in the middle is from England.

Shaking hands with Elder Holland.

Pictures from the MTC

Rebekah didn't send any pictures home while she was in the MTC. She said that she would've needed to buy an expensive cord and preferred to save her money for other things. She swore that once she got to London, she would send pictures then. So here are some be-lated pictures from her time at the MTC. I'm still thrilled to have them! Rebekah didn't add any captions for any of them...I guess most of them are fairly self-explanatory.

Meet Sister Griffeth, Rebekah's MTC companion! If you don't remember, she and Rebekah already knew each other having been in the same student ward at Utah State. (Don't they look like they could be twins?)

During the three weeks they spent in the MTC, I think they had the opportunity to attend the Provo Temple twice.

 Not that these two will likely be biking in London...  :)

When Bryan was in the MTC he used to write letters home about performing "Celestial Service" aka cleaning the bathrooms on P-Days. I'm guessing this is something similar.

 I'm not sure who this group is but my guess would be maybe the sisters participating in visitor center training?

This is Rebekah's bedroom at the MTC. Looks like she took this picture as she was packing up to leave. Her luggage is the purple set there in the right bottom corner. Bryan says the rooms haven't changed much since he was there.

Phone calls and photographs

Traditionally missionaries are allowed to call home to chat with their families from the airport as they leave the MTC and fly to their mission destination. Rebekah informed us of the day and the time frame in which she would be calling home, and we sent her a "burner" phone that she could use to call us and then throw away, rather than have her buy a calling card and then fight for time at one of the very few pay phones still installed at the airport. Interestingly enough, the five other members of Rebekah's family would be in four different places when she called. Julianne and I would be in New York City that day, Bryan would be already at work getting ready to teach an early class, Lilian would be at her grandparents house, leaving Brandon as the only one here at home. So in the package with the phone was information as to where each member of the family would be and what phone numbers she could use to contact each of us if she had the time.

Rebekah called Bryan first and was only able to chat for a few minutes seeing as he was already teaching. But to hear each other's voices and say a quick hello and I love you was I'm sure, certainly worth it. The phone call to Lilian was brief as well, but Lilian was delighted that Rebekah would call specifically to talk to her. Brandon excitedly texted me with the news that he had also received a phone call from his sister. Julianne and I were in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty when Rebekah's call came through. And because we were out on an island it was at times hard to hear and the call dropped a few times. But we were both able to spend some time talking with Rebekah. She said she was extremely excited to go to London. She told me more about her Visitor Center training at the MTC and the time she spent at Temple Square. She said that she had been made that travel leader...but considering it was only her and Sister Griffeth, it wasn't that great of an honor, really. :) I told her how much I loved her, how excited I was for her new adventure in London and how proud I was of her. We eventually hung up and I found myself thankful for my sunglasses so I could shed a few private tears as we walked with our group back to the ferry boat. 

A few hours later my phone rang again. This time while I was at my hotel. Rebekah had made it to her layover in Detroit and was letting me know that so far her travel had gone well. It was nice to talk to her a second time because this time the connection was better. I was really glad we had sent her that burner phone so she had the opportunity to call again easily. She didn't have much time...her layover was brief and they were getting ready to board, but considering the next time I will hear her voice is at Christmas, I was happy to take any few minutes I could get.

The next day this picture showed up on Sister Jordan's (Rebekah's mission president's wife) Instagram page and was sent to me by a friend. (It also showed up on a Ireland and UK Missionary Momma's Facebook page that I follow.) It said, "New missionaries and their trainers today! We know they are going to be great missionaries!" It was the first time I had seen a picture of Rebekah since she left 3 weeks earlier so I was so thankful for a social media savvy Mission President's wife! Plus, it was confirmation that Rebekah had indeed made it to London and was where she was supposed to be.

(Rebekah is 2nd from the left on the 2nd row.)

Then on Thursday (still in NYC) I got a text from a Jennie, a neighbor from home who was in London with her daughter Morgan. They had stopped at the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors Center and looked for Rebekah. They asked a senior missionary couple if they new her. (Keep in mind Rebekah had just arrived in London the day before.) They said they did know her and that though she wasn't there right then, she was due back in a few hours for a song practice. Apparently Elder Holland was coming that weekend to speak to all the missionaries in both London missions and Rebekah was part of the musical number. Jennie and Morgan told this couple that Rebekah was a beautiful singer and they responded that they already knew. :) Jennie felt bad that she hadn't been able to give Rebekah a hug from me and send a picture. I was just happy for the update! How kind of Jennie and Morgan to even stop by and ask. It meant a lot to me.

(And how interesting to hear that Rebekah was going to hear from and sing for Elder Holland for the second time in a month! Remember, he came to the MTC her first week there and she sang with the MTC choir for the musical number in that fireside as well.)

So I wasn't too surprised when this picture showed up on that same Facebook page later.

(Rebekah is on the front row to the left of center wearing a red jacket.)

But what did surprise me was when I was standing in line for a smoothie at a little cafe in Brooklyn on Saturday morning, scrolling through my Facebook feed...and randomly came across this picture on the Hyde Park Chapel Visitor's Center page.

In this close-up picture I'm sure you can see her sweet face singing at the fireside for Elder Holland. What a treat!

Last week at the MTC

This will be my last letter before taking off for London! Only 3 more days and I will actually be out in the "real world" sharing the gospel, talking to people on the streets, teaching people in the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors Center, and so much more. You could say I'm a bit excited... (: I'll be leaving for the airport at 6:00 am on Tuesday June 9th, and then after having a quick layover in Detroit I'll be making it to England right as the sun will be coming up at 6:00 am on Wednesday June 10th. It will be a long long day of travel, but it will be well worth it.

Leaving the MTC is bitter sweet however because I've learned so much here, and made so many friends, both the missionaries in my district, and people I've taught This last week at the MTC has been especially exciting.

On Tuesday of this week Sister Griffeth, Sister Brown and I were abandoned by our district as they headed out for their various mission fields. We were left for one final week of visitor center training, which at the time I was less than happy about... but visitor center training has actually been my favorite few days of my entire time here! On Wednesday we had the opportunity to hop on the front runner and tour Temple Square to get the feel of what serving in a visitors center would be like. We got to see the behind the scenes of Temple Square, and learned information about each and every one of our individual visitor centers we will be serving in. We will be going on Saturday as well, but by then we will actually be paired up with a Sister serving at Temple Square and be giving tours! Talk about intimidating!! :o Hopefully it will be fun. 

In our new district we have sisters from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Uruguay, Germany, Texas, and then there's me and Sister Griffeth just from Utah and Idaho. (: They are all such sweet girls! They've been teaching us how to say various things in their languages, and in return we've been helping them with their English although they are all great already. Sometimes I feel so uncultured... but at least I know how to say hello is 5 different languages now. ;) I also learned that I'll only be spending from 3-4 days in the Visitors Center and only for part of the day. The rest I'll be knocking on doors, and talking to people on the streets. 

Something else really cool that we've been doing in the VC training, is chatting online with people all around the world. We have the opportunity as visitor center sisters to answer people's questions from the mormon.org chat option. It's honestly so incredible what resources the church has, and how technologically advanced sharing the gospel has become. Anyone from anywhere around the world can get onto mormon.org and if they have questions about anything relating to the gospel can click on the chat option and chat with a sister missionary. It's such an amazing experience to answer people's questions! Most people are really sincerely looking for answers to gospel related questions, but there are always going to be pranksters.. just yesterday we we chatting with someone and we asked him what his religious background was, he answered "I was born in the Mexican Riviera to a coal miner and a milk maid. I was raided during the great depression and God has been a big part of my life ever since I lost my left eye and my pet rock, Jeff. " Sister Griffeth and I were busting up laughing during that chat, but still had the opportunity to share a few scriptures, and our testimonies to him. (:

Something else exciting that happened at the MTC this week... Elder D. Todd Christofferson came and spoke at the Tuesday night devotional! (: Two general authorities in a row?? Now, that's lucky! *We also got to hear from Janice Kapp Perry on Sunday, and sang the As Sister's In Zion/Armies of Helaman medley with all the missionaries in the MTC! It was seriously powerful, and the Spirit was so strong especially when we sang the line "We will be the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth." We also got to view Elder Perry's funeral. He is such an inspired man, and I always looked forward to his talks in General Conference! It just makes me happy for the knowledge that death isn't the end, and that families really are forever. (:

MTC week 3 is almost over... and then begins the real missionary work in London! I couldn't be more excited! I hope everyone is doing great back home. Love you all! 

Love, Sister Rebekah Croft

*Interestingly enough, on that very same day Rebekah was singing As Sisters in Zion/Armies of Helaman in the MTC, Brandon and Julianne sang it in our Sacrament Meeting with all of the youth in our ward. (Probably a good 100 kids in all...we have a huge youth program.) And the whole time they were singing, I thought about Rebekah on her mission...especially during that very same line that she quoted, "We will be the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth." The majority of the congregation was crying, the Spirit was so incredibly strong. What an amazing coincidence that Rebekah and her fellow missionaries and then Julianne and Brandon and their fellow wardies...were all singing the same powerful song on the same day.