*creative title*

Hello one and all from the UK! :) I hope that everyone had a great week! 

My week was pretty fantastic! We did have a lot of appointments fall through... so that was frustrating and disappointing, but the week ended with a beautiful baptism! K---- the daughter of a less-active member of the ward was baptized on Saturday! :) She is such an example to her family, and honestly my hero even though she's a little girl. She's great! It was also really special to work with her mom, and to start seeing her heart slowly change. We'll be meeting with her more now to try and help her come back to church. 

We had an online miracle that happened this week, but there is a bit of a back story. Sister Moody (another visitors centre missionary) has been in contact with a man from Kenya. He came onto mormon.org to chat and requested a free Book of Mormon a few months ago. It turns out that he's a preacher and has a congregation of about 80. While reading the Book of Mormon, he discovered that it's true, gained a testimony of the restoration and now he only speaks to his congregation using the Book of Mormon. This man wants to be baptized and wants the missionaries to come to his city in Kenya. There isn't a church nearby them, but they're all anxiously awaiting for the missionaries to get there. This whole thing has been quite the big deal! President Stevens has been involved, as well as the Hulets, and we're trying to get this congregation baptized. haha :) Who would've thought?! A preacher preaching from The Book of Mormon to his congregation. Anyway, while Sister Griffeth and I were online, we were chatting with a man from Kenya, I attached a picture of the conversation we had via chat on mormon.org. It's now a joke amongst the VC staff that we're going to baptize Kenya. ;)

I'm sure there are many many other miracles that happened this week that I just can't remember right now. (That seems to happen when I get on the computer to email...) But all in all, it was a good week! :) 

Scripture of the week for me: Proverbs 3: 5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy way acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." 

I LOVE you all!! Thank you so much for the prayers and emails. You're the best family and friends a sister missionary could ask for. :)  Have a wonderful 7 days! Bye.

Love, Sister Rebekah Croft

Hump day celebrations & 30 minute miracles

Well that went way too quick...

I hit my hump day on Wednesday.. WHAT?! Let me say that one more time. On the 20th of February I officially hit my half way mark of my mission. I've been a missionary for a whole 9 months now!! Oh my goodness, I can't believe that! I honestly feel like I just arrived here in this beautiful country. But the reality is that I've been a representative of the Lord for a solid 36 weeks now. I've served in 4 areas, had 6 incredible companions, witnessed many miracles from on high, experimented with all different cultures of food, seen good friends "come unto Christ" through baptism, laughed a lot, and had probably too many awkward moments to count. These are memories that I will never ever forget, but wow did they go fast!

Now that I've had my little freak out about time moving too quickly.. This week was really really amazing!! :) Probably one of my favorite weeks to date.

Since I last talked to you all, I've switched areas. Although I was heartbroken to be leaving Britannia and all the progress Sister Wai and I had made, I knew deep down that good things were waiting ahead. On Wednesday I moved back to my original flat that I lived in for my first 4.5 months of my mission. Only this time I wasn't in Hyde Park 1st ward, but the 2nd ward. The funny thing about being in the visitors centre is that usually you just move around the Stake so you get to know everyone really well. Hyde Park 2nd ward is similar to my first area in that it's very muti-cultural! There are people from all over the world- Jamaica, America, Ghana, London, Philippines, you name it! :) I haven't been able to meet many of the members yet, but I love them already, and I'm excited to get to know them!  

On Thursday, my first day in the area, we decided that we needed to do some major finding because we didn't have a very big teaching pool. We prayed for inspiration, left the flat, and ended up talking to people in Kensington Gardens. Kensington Palace is in our area so technically the royal family are potential investigators. ;) haha No, but we ended up talking to some really cool people there, some that we'll be seeing this next week. :)

Another miracle of Thursday is that while Sister Griffeth and I were on shift at the visitors centre a sweet mother and son from Brazil walked in, and we gave them a tour. The spirit was very strong as we testified of the Book of Mormon and of Jesus Christ, and we learned that the mother had actually met with missionaries before in Brazil! The son was searching for a church to join, and seemed very interested. By the end of the tour we knew that they were special, and we asked them if the missionaries could come visit them when they returned home. And when they said no we were really confused.. :( The miracle came when on Saturday they walked through the visitors centre doors again, and the son told us that he had read parts of the book of Mormon, and that he would like to keep in touch! :) So amazing! We'll be teaching him online now.

On Friday we did a lot more finding, and also one of the members took us out for dinner to celebrate our half way mark. Pizza Hut, and ice cream. :) Yesss! The fun thing is that Sister Griffeth and I were MTC companions, and so now celebrating our 9 month mark together was really great!

Sunday was another day jam packed full of miracles. :) After church we went over to our Bishop's house for dinner with his adorable family, and then after that we went finding again. We prayed to Heavenly Father letting him know that we were going to talk with everyone, and that if he had any of his prepared children waiting to hear the message of the restored gospel to put them in our path. The next 30 minutes or so were some of the most incredible minutes of my entire mission. We came into contact with person after person who was searching for the truth! They were all so prepared by God to listen, and so ready to take it all in. It was unreal!! Just from that experience alone, there is no way that the Lord didn't have a hand in that. He is aware of this work, and He loves all His children!

Also on Sunday I was able to do a musical number with Sister Wai, and H------ (from Britannia ward). It was such an incredible musical arrangement with piano, cello, and alto & soprano but what really touched me was the lyrics. "Come follow me, the Savior said. Then let us in his footsteps tread.." These words are so beautiful, and so true! The Savior lived a perfect life, and gave us a perfect example. All we need to do is follow in His footsteps, and try our best to become like him. I'm so thankful for the road He paved, and for his never ending love! :)

I hope that everyone had a wonderful week! Sorry that this email is mega long.. but it was a grand week. Thanks for all you do for me dear ones. Love you!

Love, Sister Rebekah Croft

Valentines Roller Coaster

First, before I forget, Happy late Valentines Day everyone!! :) 

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day full of love & sweets. It's not a widely celebrated holiday here in the UK unless you're engaged or very old, but we had some fun in the visitors centre giving out valentines, and chocolates. My favorite part of the day was when a random lady walked into the VC in the morning holding a package. She turned to the member I was talking to at the time and asked "Are you one of the Mormons?" To which he responded "Umm, yes I am," and she handed him a wrapped package of chocolates with a card that said "Happy Valentines Day to all the Mormons." Talk about the sweetest thing ever!! haha Made my whole day. :) 

This week was really a roller coaster. It always seems that when you have the biggest miracles, and best spiritual experiences, they always come with the most difficult trials and hugest growing pains. Opposition in all things I suppose, but wow! I am spent.

Just to share a few miracles that happened:

*Sunday was full of miracles (Valentines Day and all), but it all started with the lesson we had with our friend R------. He is great, but he has lots of questions and so the lesson was kind of going around in circles. As he was talking on and on I was praying silently to Heavenly Father that I would know what to say, and suddenly I found myself stopping him mid sentence and inviting him to be baptized. As silence filled the room, and I was asking myself "Why in the world did you do that Sister Croft?!" but a familiar spirit filled the room, and he said "Yes, of course I will be." :) The spirit is real guys. That was not me talking! Later in the day when we were at the visitors centre a cute Chinese girl walked into the VC and asked to be taught. Miracle of miracles! She'd been taught in the past, and almost got baptized but moved away at the last minute.

*On Monday we saw this sweet girl, and she is so golden! We asked her what having faith in Jesus Christ meant to her and she pulled her phone out and played a song from the children's hymn book. "Faith is knowing the sun will rise, lighting each new day. Faith is knowing the Lord will hear my prayers each time I pray. Faith is like a little seed: If planted, it will grow. Faith is a swelling within my heart. When I do right, I know."

The Spirit was so strong as she sung along to one of my all time favorite songs! :) It was a little tender mercy.

This week my eyes were also opened even more to the reality of this gospel, and the need for a Savior. There are so many problems in this world, and so many people suffering through individual trials. My heart is full because I love these people SO much, but this week I realized just how helpless I am to help them, and just how inadequate. I honestly couldn't do any of what I'm doing without the Saviors help! The Atonement of Christ is real, and I can't say words enough to express the gratitude I have for this knowledge. 

I also have some shocking news... I will be leaving Britannia Ward on Wednesday! :( Transfer calls were yesterday and I learned that I will be being transferred to Hyde Park 2nd Ward. I'm brokenhearted because I love these people to death, but the good news is that I'll still be here at the VC and I'll still see them fairly often. Also, my new companion is Sister Griffeth (my original MTC companion)! I've honestly learned so much this transfer, and we've worked so hard. I'm really sad to be leaving it all behind, but I know that I'm needed somewhere else. If the Lord is in charge of this work, and I know He is, then I'm needed in HP2 now. But I'll still miss this chinese family of mine, Sister Wai, and everything else! Maybe I'll come back to this ward one day, but for now wish me luck! :)

Love you all across the oceans!! Have a wonderful week and remember how much the Savior loves you as well. :) 

Love, Sister Rebekah Croft

A few more Chinese New Year party pics...

Happy Year of the Monkey

新年快樂！Happy Chinese New Year Everyone! :) 

I know that it's probably absolutely bizarre that I'm wishing you a happy new year seeing as I'm in England... but since there are so many Chinese here we celebrated it anyways! On Saturday night we had a big party with lots of calligraphy, dumplings, games, and good fortune (which I'm told is a BIG thing in China). It was such a great night! 

Other then the Chinese celebrations, this week went by really quickly. We had loads of people cancel appointments on us which was disappointing, but the Lord blessed us in other ways! We met lots of amazing new people, and we will be seeing them all this coming week. Should be exciting! 

This week on Wednesday we had a really amazing miracle! As a visitors center sister, I get to spend 1-2 hours online everyday picking up chats, and calls from mormon.org. Now this can be super stressful sometimes, especially in the morning because we are literally the only sisters online in the whole world. I'm so stoked that there will be another visitors center in Europe when the one in Rome opens. Anyways, there is usually a very long queue in the mornings, and we try to talk to as many people as possible. Sometimes there are trolls, or people with random questions, but on Wednesday morning the first chat we picked up told a story of a man who had been searching for the truth for years now. He told us how he met missionaries just a few days earlier on the street, but lost their contact details. He wanted to be taught, and he had the desire to be baptised! We're now teaching him over facebook until the missionaries can contact him, and he is SO cool! :) I love my online investigators all around the world. 

We also went to Euston Station to teach Q--- on Wednesday.The funny story is- we were trying to find a nice quiet cafe we could sit down and eat lunch + teach about the Plan of Salvation in, and the only place we could find was Nando's... which is far from a good place to teach the gospel at, although the food is D E L I C I O U S! Q--- is great though, and said we could meet this next week when all her exams are over. :) 

Another miracle was on Friday when we got to teach S's friends Y- J--, and M-- T-- again. They are honestly so prepared by God, and so full of faith! Y- J-- especially keeps telling us that all she wants to do is to follow the Savior! She's on date for baptism for the 28th of this month, and she's just waiting for a confirmation through prayer from Heavenly Father. Speaking of baptism... two of my good friends were baptised this weekend! :) N---, who has been being taught since my first transfer here. And I---, who is possibly the sweetest and most spunky Chinese girl I've ever met! Love them both.

Something I've been thinking a lot about recently is eternal families. Chinese New Year is based around spending time with friends, and family, and so it was already something on my mind. But to have the knowledge that we can be together with the people we love forever. It's life changing! :) It's one of my favorite things to teach about, because it brings so much hope into peoples lives. I'm so thankful for the temple that makes this possible, and for a Savior who conquered death so that we can also conquer it one day. I love this gospel, and I love this work!! 

Hey everyone where ever you are! Have an awesome week alright? Love you all!!

Love, Sister Rebekah Croft

 British Museum! It was incredible! :)

 At the Chinese New Years party.

Rebekah got our Valentines Day package! :)

The Hands of Christ

Hello everyone!

I hope that you have all had a wonderful week, and that everyone enjoyed the end of January! If you have snow, count yourself very lucky because I've been waiting to build a snowman, and throw a snowball for ages. Sadly, the closest to a snow flake I've seen is lots and lots of rain. Well, one can always hope that February will bring snow right..? :) We will see!

Now that you've gotten the non important weekly weather update... (sorry about that) This week was really fantastic! :) Nothing earth shaking, or mind blowing, but some really amazing things happened! 

Just to mention a few cool stories of the week:

Sooo Britannia ward is the land of recent converts, because there have been so many baptisms in the past year. And so Sister Wai & I get to teach them every week for a year! This week we've been teaching a lot about the Atonement and how the Saviors hands lift can us from anything that we are going through as long as we accepts His help. That fact that He has felt every single pain, heartache, sickness, and sin that we've ever felt, and will ever feel, and that He chose to do so because of His love for each one of us. It's amazing!  As we were teaching this quite a few times this week I couldn't help but be thankful for the huge sacrifice that He gave! It's what makes everything in this gospel possible, but sometimes we get stuck on the tiny details instead of remembering what's most important. 

One of my favorite quotes about the Atonement from Jeffery R. Holland is this- "Because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so."

On Friday we got to sing on the step of the Hyde Park chapel! :) It's something that they used to do all the time, but I missed it when I was in Canterbury... So it was so fun to sing some of my favorite hymns and see people stop mid stride and look up to see the chapel name, sometimes stopping to talk with other missionaries on the streets. Music is my favorite way to share the gospel! It's great!

On Sunday while we were on shift at the VC in the morning, the sweetest English lady walked through the doors. She told me that she had grown up in a small village that had an LDS church in it, and that many of her friends had joined the church as she was growing up. She had always walked passed the church and had wondered, but had never walked inside. While she was walking down Exhibition Road she saw the Hyde Park Chapel, and decided that she'd walked past an LDS church one too many times without going inside and asking questions. We ended up talking for over an hour, and the spirit was super strong! We talked about Heavenly Fathers love and his plan for us, the restoration of the gospel and Joseph Smith, and much much more. When she was walking out the door with a Book of Mormon in hand I felt like I'd known her much longer then an hour. :) Such a tender mercy! Another little miracle of the day was that S, our recent recent convert, brought 3 of his Chinese friends to church. We've already been teaching two of them, and the third is also interested in learning about the gospel! :) Talk about super member missionary work! YES! Later that night we got to go to a dinner appointment at H's flat, which also made the day great! In a YSA ward you don't get many dinner appointments.. poor university students. I understand!

Hope that you all have a great week! :) Thanks for everything that you have done for me! The prayers, the support. It means the world. You are all the best!

Much Love,

Sister Rebekah Croft

The couple in the middle are the Hulet's...the new directors of the Hyde Park Chapel Visitor's Centre, now that the Cardall's have finished their service and gone home.

----------------

Speaking of the Cardalls...I had the opportunity to go to their Homecoming yesterday in Salt Lake City. Sister Cardall sent me a friend request on Facebook as soon as Rebekah arrived in London and has sent me multiple messages or comments about how Rebekah has been doing. According to Rebekah, they also updated her occasionally on various things I had posted on Facebook. So though Sister Cardall and I have talked back and forth virtually, we had never actually met in person until yesterday. I was there early and noticed that Elder and Sister Cardall were standing near the back of the chapel greeting friends and family as they came in so I decided to say hello. As soon as I introduced myself, Sister Cardall pulled me into a huge hug and we both got a bit emotional as we talked about Rebekah....how much she loves and admires and misses them, and how much they love and adore her. Elder Cardall said that it was a bit strange talking to me...it felt like he was talking to Rebekah, we sounded so much alike, and we joked about how Rebekah is my mini-me. He told me how thrilled he was that Rebekah was serving in the Britannia ward and that he was going to share some experiences from that ward in his talk. So it was actually such fun to recognize so many names and stories that Rebekah has also shared. 

I found myself wiping away tears the entire meeting. I will always and forever love the Cardalls for welcoming Rebekah to her mission and the big city of London. They took care of her, watched out for her, encouraged her, taught her, and truly loved her. They went out of their way to get to know not only her, but also her family so they knew how best to help her. They were aware of some of the struggles our family has faced this past year and Sister Cardall even took the time yesterday to encourage and lift me. I will never be able to thank them enough!