Hola, Bonjor, Sawatika, Ciao, Acholi, Arigato, Conichiwa, Ne, or just Hello. :)
How has everyone's week been? Hopefully full of sunshine, good food, and the last couple of weeks of summer. I keep getting reminded that the Summer is almost over, and that classes are about to start, but it doesn't seem like any time has passed here. On one hand I feel like I've only been on my mission for a week, but then on the other hand I feel like I've been here for 10 years.. sometimes I feel like time has completely stopped in every other country but England, and I'm just going to come back in 18 months and everything & everyone will be exactly how I left them, but then on Monday reality hits me and I realize time is definitely moving back in good ole Utah. Time is just weird on a mission. Period. I hope everyone is doing great, and the changes are good though! :)
This week has been really fantastic. First big news of the week is... drum roll please. M. has a baptismal date! If everything goes as planned, he will be getting baptized on the 6th of September. :) On Tuesday of this week he had a lesson with him and taught about Faith, Repentance, and Baptism. While we were teaching Baptism we focused on just how special it is that baptism is the 1st covenant that we make with God. We invited him to be baptised and at first he was a bit hesitant and worried about making that leap of faith. The Spirit in the room was so strong, and I found myself telling him about my baptism (I don't remember much, but I do remember being happy, and feeling weightless when I came out of the water). Sister Apiyo and I invited him to be baptized again, and he said that he knew baptism was what he needed to do. It was such an incredible moment, and I'm so excited to help him prepare for next month! :)
On Wednesday I had my first ever Zone conference. :) It's amazing how much of a spiritual booster it can be for your whole week. It was focused on member missionary work, and how we can be exponentially more effective missionaries if we work with the ward members. It's actually very surprising how different missionary work is now compared to how it was 30 or so years ago. We hardly ever knock on doors.. but focus on building up the ward, giving service, teaching ward member's friends, and talking to people on the streets. President Phillips (our stake president) said, "The missionary work being done now is extremely different than it was before. Your role as missionaries is to break the mold and to change how missionary work is done."
(BBQ on the roof of the chapel with the zone.)
Also on Wednesday I learned that I would be going on an exchange to Illford again. Surprise! I got to be with Sister Nebeker again, which I was just fine with. She is an amazing, diligent, hilarious missionary. We get along well! While there we taught B, a 14 year old girl from Bulgaria. At the end of the lesson she expressed that her Mom was somewhat against her being baptized and that she didn't know what to do. It was heartbreaking to hear her say this, and all we could do was bear testimony that God would help her get though these trials, and that she really was ready to make this promise with her Heavenly Father. At the end of the lesson Sister Nebeker prayed fervently that B's mom's heart would be softened, and that B would be able to be strengthened in this hard time. Just yesterday I heard that she will be baptized this next week. :) Prayer works. It really does. Also while in "Illfordistan" we got to do service (which you can hardly ever find in central London). We had the opportunity to help put up a canopy/shade tent for this lady. While in the middle of it, the sky opened and it just started pouring rain. haha We just kept going, determined to finish, and after 2 hours of screwing pipes together, and velcroing tarps we finished. Completely drenched this lady hugged and thanked us over and over The Sisters in Illford will be going back over this next week to teach her about the Book of Mormon. :)
(Sister Nebeker. Don't let her badge fool you, she just lost hers.)
One more story and then I'm finished. Pinky promise.
On Saturday, we had a lot of cancellations with appointments and a whole bunch of free time (which is a bad thing when your a missionary) The Elders in our ward: Elder Jackson and elder Leite had their appointment fall through too, so we decided to go finding together. We hopped on a bus and headed over to Shepherds Bush area and started talking to people. Now usually Sister Apiyo and I don't have much time to just talk to people. We usually end up talking to people on the bus or the tube and finding new investigators that way, but today we decided to divide and conquer. Talk about exhilarating & also terrifying! I swear every time I stopped someone I had a mini heart attack before the Spirit kicked in and I could start sharing my testimony and my knowledge about the Restored gospel. It was scary, but also I knew that if I didn't talk to them the next time they would hear about the gospel is who knows when. Something I read before I left was "As a missionary I just had to conquer the fear, because it was my awkwardness, or their salvation." It really hit me that these people need that knowledge of Jesus Christ in their lives, because it can change lives! :)
All in all, in that 30 minute block I had some pretty amazing conversations with people. Together we got 5 people who were interested in hearing more about the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ.
Sorry this email is ridiculously long, but if you can take anything from it take this: pray works- we have a loving Heavenly Father up there and he hears every single one of our prayers, "when you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God", conquer your fears- Jesus Christ can and always will be that strength and courage in times of trial.
I love you all SO much! :)
Love, Sister Rebekah Croft
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I am a member of a "missionary mommas" Facebook page which I joined last May about a week before Rebekah left for the MTC. When I introduced myself for the first time and mentioned where my daughter would be serving I got a message from another mother whose son was serving in the same mission. Her profile picture looked familiar to me and it wasn't long before I realized that Bryan and I had gone to high school with her! We started chatting back and forth in private messages about the England London Mission. I asked her tons of questions and she gave me loads of hugely helpful advice as we were finishing up getting Rebekah ready to go. Since then we have been continuously reminding our missionary kiddos to watch for each other any time there was a mission gathering where they might end up getting a chance to actually meet. Apparently this past week they finally did. My friend sent me a picture this morning of the two of them smiling happily. What fun for them to find another missionary with ties from home.
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