My London Tale Continues

Well, it's official. I'm back in the hustle & bustle & beautiful city of London! :) It was a bit strange coming back at first because in some ways it seemed like I'd been gone for a lot longer than 3 months, and in others it didn't seem like I'd left at all. I'm happy to be back here though, although a part of me is always going to miss the people in Canterbury.  

This week has been absolutely wonderful, crazy, emotionally draining, and a spiritual explosion as well! The week really started off on Wednesday when I moved back to London. Usually a lot of the missionaries meet up at Kings Cross Station (platform 9 3/4) to exchange companions and move to different areas, but because Sister Mussman was training, and I was headed back to Hyde Park we had about a 90 minute travel via the train, tube, and bus.. haha let me tell you that is not easy with a whole bunch of luggage. We made it though, so no worries. ;) Immediately I was thrown into the busy life of being a missionary in the Britannia ward. Exciting stuff!

My new companion is Sister Wai, and she is the cutest! Her ancestry is from China, but she's actually from California. So I get two awesome companions from California in a row! :) Lucky me! My new ward consists of about 200 YSA students from all over the world, and they are SO amazing!! Also, a large chunk are from China, and so Sister Wai's Mandarin speaking abilities are super handy. Speaking of Mandarin, on Friday Sister Wai informed me that we'd be teaching the gospel principles class on Sunday- the Chinese gospel principles class... WHAT?! Let's just say that most of that class was in "Chinglish" (chinese & english). haha But she's been teaching me all about tones, and teaching me a new phrase everyday, so we'll see how quickly I can learn this language. :) It's interesting because I feel like I'm experiencing such a broad variety of cultures. First with all of the Filipinos, then the very British, and now Chinese! And I'm loving it! 

On Thursday most of the day was taken up by my first Zone Meeting back in the Hyde Park Zone. All the Elders had changed since my last time here, but most of the Sisters were the same so it was a deja vu sort of experience. The meeting was amazing though!! We set some great goals for the month of January and talked a lot about having faith in the Saviour, in ourselves, and in this great work. :)

The most exciting event of the week, and what took up most of our time preparing for was Z---Z-- Y-- (S's) baptism on Sunday! :) I only got to teach him twice, but oh my word that guy was SO prepared. He met the missionaries on Exhibition Road about 3 weeks ago, and yesterday he was baptised! He came to church on Sunday just buzzing with excitement to be baptized, and the actual service was absolutely wonderful! After he was baptised he got up and bore his testimony, and it was the most powerful testimony I've ever heard from a recent convert! He talked about how before he met the missionaries he felt really alone, and how he'd been looking for what he was missing.. he talked about how his heart was now full & how he'd finally found what he'd been searching for. :) But what really got me about his testimony was his experiences with prayers, because it's been something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I just listened as this young man shared how he knew there was a loving Heavenly Father listening to every prayer, and I couldn't help but smile. My heart was full, because I also know that prayer works! I LOVE prayer! How incredible is it that we have an all knowing, infinitely loving father just a prayer away? It's not only incredible, but it's true, & I love Him!

Other than that my week was a lot of the normal. Or the old normal I guess. :) Finding, VC shifts, online teaching, and a fantastic visitors center family. It's a good life. It's a good work. 

I hope that everyone is enjoying the cold month of January! Thank you for everything that you do, I couldn't ask for a better support team of friends and family. I love you all! 

Zai Jian (goodbye)

Love, Sister Croft

 My Old Dutch Pancake House with the Cardalls

 S's baptism! WW baptized him and he was only baptized in November. Such an amazing moment!

 Celebration of S's baptism with homemade Chinese food. Yumm

Hyde Park Zone

 Visitors Centre family breakfast to say goodbye to the Cardalls...I'm going to miss them!

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I had the opportunity yesterday to go to the Homecoming of Elder Ramsay. He was Rebekah's zone leader these past 3 months in Canterbury. But interestingly, their connection goes back further than that. I've mentioned this before, but just as a quick reminder....about a week before Rebekah left for the MTC back in May, I was invited to join the Missionary Momma's Facebook page. I introduced myself and mentioned where my daughter would be serving. Immediately I got a comment from a woman who said her son was in the England London Mission and that Rebekah would love it there. I realized as I looked more closely at her name and profile picture that the two of us had gone to high school together! I sent her a message and confirmed it, and then the two of us went back and forth for days...I got so much advice from her about what to pack, what to expect, how things worked in England and in that particular mission. She was so incredibly helpful! We both told our kiddos that they should watch for each other. And one day a few months after Rebekah had arrived in England, there was a mission conference where Elder Ramsay was conducting a training session that Rebekah was in. She recognized his name as the one I had told her to watch for and went up and introduced herself afterwards. He immediately realized who she was and they took pictures to send home to their momma's as proof that they'd found each other and official met. :) 

When Rebekah got transferred to Canterbury I knew before I got her email...because Elder Ramsay's mother had sent me a message earlier that morning telling me that her son had emailed and told her that Rebekah was going to be in his zone.

It felt almost a little strange officially meeting him yesterday because between his mom and Rebekah, I kind of felt like I already knew him. But it was great hearing is mission report. He left no one in doubt of the love he had for the country of England, the people there and the gospel. I went up afterwards to introduce myself. When he heard who I was he said, "Oh, I have a big hug for you!" Because apparently he and Rebekah had talked before he left about the possibility of me coming to his Homecoming. And if I did, he told Rebekah he'd give me a proper high five from her. And she said, no way...you give my mom a huge hug from me! Always nice to get a hug from your missionary daughter...even if it's by proxy. And fun to talk with someone who had seen and talked to Rebekah just a couple of weeks ago. I told Rebekah about Elder Ramsay's homecoming in my email to her last night and she said this:

"I opened up todays email and was like "woahh it's my Mom and Elder Ramsay! So weird!" haha I think it's so great that you had the chance to go to his homecoming! Elder Ramsay really was a great Zone Leader, and a good friend of mine so I'm glad you got to hear some of his experiences, and hear his testimony. It's a powerful one. Also, props to him for keeping his promise about giving you a hug. I'll have to tell him thank you one day. "