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.