The "Last Door" & Ambulance Rides

This was one of the craziest weeks of my entire mission...

Loved ones, boy do I have a story for you. So it all started Tuesday morning. Sister Teng and I both woke up not feeling well. I just had a headache and it went away pretty quickly, but Sister Teng had some serious stomach pain and so we stayed in the flat for the morning. About mid day however she started to get really sick. To the point where she was throwing up every 15ish minutes, and also not talking at all because her pain level was so high. I called the GP (local doctor) to ask about going to the hospital, but she said the waiting time would be about 3-4 hours, so we just waited.This was a very long 2 hours... but there was nothing else that I could do except for be moral support, and pray really hard! I felt a lot of emotional, and physical strength from something beyond me this entire day. I felt the Saviour's love both for me, and for her as she suffered this severe pain, and I was basically helpless to help. :/ Eventually I was able to figure everything out so that a senior couple was able to come pick us up and take us to a GP (local doctor) appointment. The senior couple brought some Elders to give her a blessing, and afterwards they carried her down to the car. Then we drove all the way to the appointment, vomit bucket and all. When we got there Sister Teng was really not doing well... poor girl! She was just so weak, and had lost so much fluid that I was really worried she was getting dehydrated. The doctor came up to see her in the waiting room right away, and instead of treat her there she told us that she was going to call an ambulance immediately. Within 5 minutes an ambulance showed up and two paramedics came out to carry my companion. Looking back, it's pretty cool that I got to ride in a London ambulance, but at the time I was extremely worried about Sister Teng so I didn't pay much attention. The paramedics strapped my companion in, gave her some pain killers, and we were off to the emergency room. Now, you'd think that if you came to the hospital in an ambulance you'd be on the top of the priority list, but no. :( We sat in the waiting room for a good 1.5 hours before we were taken back. Sister Teng was sitting in a wheelchair holding my hand, I was holding a nasty throw up bowl, and we could hear everything going on around us! I could hear a man screaming in pain a few doors down, there were a few ladies who had gotten in a bike crash sitting by us, and we kept seeing old people with oxygen masks come in through the doors on stretchers. It was just like a movie, I swear!! Finally they called us back, and we got our own little room. It was about 7 pm by then. After lots of needles, morphine & anti-sick medicine, blood tests, lots of vomit, an IV for dehydration, 4 different nurses, and a ex-ray they had no idea what was wrong... President and Sister Stevens showed up around 10 so I wasn't alone anymore, but the whole ordeal was pretty intense. Lots of waiting too... Surprisingly I was able to stay calm through the whole thing though. Again, looking back that was a HUGE blessing! Anyways, by 12:30 there were still no answers, and so the doctor told us she would have to stay at the hospital over night. They took us all upstairs and then we had to leave. It was really difficult leaving her in a strange hospital bed in the middle of the night with her still being in pain, but she was absolutely exhausted and needed to stay! The doctor told us she would be taken care of, and so we left. President and Sister Stevens dropped me off at my flat at 2 in the morning, and I had to sleep in my room all alone. I think I had a lot of adrenaline as well because I couldn't fall asleep forever... It felt like I just closed my eyes when the sun came up, and it was time to get up. Long story short she had to stay another night in the hospital, but the next day we went again to bring her home. They weren't able to figure out what was wrong, but she was feeling 100 times better after 2 days in the hospital being pumped with fluid, and resting a ton.

So, that's my story... she's great now! :) As happy as ever, with a bit of a sore stomach the first day back, but oh my goodness it was intense! I can't even begin to explain how much I felt the atonement through this whole experience. Most of my life the atonement has just been an abstract concept that I didn't completely understand. I knew that I had a Saviour, and I knew that the atonement was real, but I just hadn't felt it much in my own life. Well, I guess I just didn't apply it. Or recognize it for what it was. On my mission however, I've felt the atonement strengthen me personally, and I've felt my Saviours love for me as an individual! It's an incredible thing, and honestly very hard to describe in words, but it's real. I love Jesus, and I love my companion! What an experience for the books. Wow.

The rest of the week was average in comparison, but I'll share one cool experience that happened on Sunday evening. So, for those of you that didn't watch the General Women's Conference this story might not make complete sense... but if it doesn't just go read Elder Uchtdorf's talk. :) In the evening we went to go track down a former investigator of mine from over a year ago. I've felt like we needed to go visit this family for a while now, but things kept getting in the way of us going there. It was dark by the time we got to their street, and I realized that I didn't remember their flat number! We said a quick prayer that we would be able to find them and then we started walking. I didn't recognize anything in the dark. Finally we decided that we needed to start knocking on doors that looked familiar to me. But this was a long street, and it was getting late. After about 15 doors with no luck, we were getting pretty discouraged. We decided to knock on one more door and then call it a night. Well, guess what? We found the family! "Fourth floor, last door." moment.

VC staff photo. "Family photo"

 We took a pit stop at the Sherlock Homes museum last P-Day.

Our stroll though Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens this morning. :) We all went to have a surprise picnic for the Neeleys (senior couple at the VC).

I love this work, I love London, and I really love the Lord! I hope you all have a great week family and friends. Enjoy this beautiful Autumn, and all the colours that come with it! Also, sorry this email is massive... if you made it though the whole thing I'm amazed!

Much Love,

Sister Croft

The Olive Tree, Sleepovers and Baptisms

Another week in the service of the Lord. Another 7 days in the beautiful city of London. :) I feel pretty lucky!  

Ello family and friends, how has your week been? 

Although there was tons that happened every single day this week, one of the biggest things was Zone Conference on Wednesday. I'm always amazed at how inspiring these conferences are. President and Sister Stevens are incredible! Also, I got to see Sister Yau again which was great! I love that girl. 

Something I took away from Zone Conference was from Jacob 5 in the Book of Mormon. I feel like I've read this story about the olive tree, and the vineyard dozens of times, but never truly understood it. I saw it in a new light as we compared ourselves to the trees that were being taken care of, pruned, and changed. Sometimes it's not the most comfortable experience to let the Master of the vineyard graft new branches, or cut away at us, but He does it because He loves us and wants us to be the best that we can be. Only He knows our true potential, and although it may hurt sometimes, the trials we go though are to shape us into who the Lord knows we can become. 

It's always an adventure with two blonde sisters from America, a Sister from Malaysia, and a Sister from China. But when there is a "burglar scare" at the Britannia flat you add a Sister from South Korea and another blonde from America...that's when the real party happens. Oh, these sisters are great! :) We see so many miracles in the VC together. 

Speaking of miracles, here's one from the week. About 8 months ago I had the opportunity to give 

N----- a tour at the visitors centre. He was visiting on holiday from Russia and decided to come inside the chapel to learn a bit more about the gospel. He couldn't stay for long, but we introduced him to the Book of Mormon, testified of it's truthfulness, and gave him his own copy. We've stayed in touch over the months via Facebook messenger, and my companion and I answered his questions, and taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ as he read the Book of Mormon on his own. This last summer N----- moved to Utah to go to school, and we got him in touch with the missionaries there. Then on Saturday, he entered into the waters of baptism and my sister Julianne got to witness it. I don't have the words in my own vocabulary to describe how much joy this brings me, but my heart is full! As Ammon said "...I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." I love this gospel with all my heart, and seeing friends embrace it with open arms is so amazing!

Have a wonderful September week everyone! :) Talk to you in 7. Never forget how real this gospel is, and how much potential we have. Love you all! 

Love, Sister Croft

Visit from a 70 & "Dr Who?"

Happy Monday everyone! :) 

Another 7 days of memories and experiences have gone by. I hope you all had a good one! 

Lets see. Where to start? On Wednesday all the new missionaries came to the mission. There were a total of 24 new missionaries! Which is a ton in terms of our mission. Also, there were 2 new Visitors Centre missionaries from mainland China, and South Korea. They are the cutest, and I love them already! Our Visitors Centre staff is slowly turning all Asian, which I think is hilarious seeing as we are in Europe. Sometimes we joke that it's an "Asian Invasion." They are wonderful, and we are already seeing many miracles together! Also on Wednesday Sister Dobrowska (another VC missionary), and I were asked by president to help all the new missionaries set their iPads up. Usually they have the Tech Elders do it, but there were so many new missionaries that they needed extra help. So, unofficially I'm a "Tech Sister" now. ;) I thought you would get a kick out of this Dad.

*Asian Invasion*

Thursday was my very first full day with Sister Teng. Oh, she is the sweetest! Sister Teng is so enthusiastic about this work, fearless and so full of faith! She's also absolutely brilliant because she speaks 5 different languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, traditional Taiwanese, Malay, and English. 

We saw a lot of different ways that the Lords hand touched our week but, I'll just share one experience. On Friday all of our appointments cancelled and so we went to go contact a referral we got from HQ. We were trying to find this place for a pretty long time with no luck, and so we stopped two Filipino women for directions. Long story short, F--- and T---- dropped everything that they were doing and walked around with us for a good 30 minutes trying to help us find this address. As we were walking we started to talk about the gospel, and by the time we finally found the place we were looking for F--- turned to us and asked if we'd be available to come by their place the following week for "tea, and a gospel discussion." Um yes! :) Pass on the tea, but the gospel discussion- absolutely! Sister Teng and I were on a faith high at this point and so we walked into the apartment complex excited to contact our referral as well. The security guard stopped us to ask who we were looking for and when we told him we were looking for T---- he corrected us. We were now looking for Dr. T----. That's not intimidating at all.. this was a pretty posh place after all! We went up the stairs and knocked on the door to find a older gentleman on the other side of the door. He immediately recognized us and said that although he was headed out the door in a few minutes, he'd love to see us on Thursday evening of next week. What a miracle!! :) We're excited to see what happens later this week with these people. I'll keep you updated. 

*New district, new transfer*

We were also privileged to have another visit from a member of the quorum of the 70! Gotta love those! Elder & Sister Zwick are such powerful examples of what is possible when you live the gospel of Jesus Christ. I received a lot of answers to my prayers as they spoke to us, and I'll just share a few of my favorite quotes because there were a lot.

"Keeping your life centred on Christ makes all the difference" -Sister Stevens

"God is up there with a huge basket of blessings to pour down on us and our friends, we just need to help others put down their umbrellas so that they can receive them." - President Stevens

"Oxygen is needed to survive, as well as the atonement of Jesus Christ is needed to survive in this world. First we need to embrace and use it though, just like we need to put the oxygen mask over our mouth and nose" -Sister Zwick

"The Lord knows your name, He even knows your nickname. He know you personally!" -Elder Zwick

This email is getting pretty lengthy... but I just want just wanted to end with my testimony. I really do know this gospel is true! All of it. God is real. Jesus Christ lives today, and we can use His atonement in our own lives! The Book of Mormon is another witness of this along with the Bible and I love reading them both. :) We have a living prophet on the earth today, we really do, and this is the Lord's church on the earth today. Every single moment of my mission has imprinted this into my heart. I love this work, and I love all of you!! Have an incredible week, and enjoy this glorious gospel. 

*P-Day adventures with the district*

Love,

Sister Rebekah Croft

Faith in God's Timing and Transfers

Hi everyone! :) Wow, what a roller coaster of a week.. The week before transfers is usually a bit crazy, but this week was just over the top. We saw some of the biggest miracles, and had some quite difficult moments as well. It's a week where I found myself saying "opposition in all things" a lot. Good thing that's what God's plan is all about huh? ;)

On Friday we had Zone Meeting! Here's the Hyde Park Zone as of 6/9/2016. We saw a ton of miracles this transfer!

There were lots of baptisms at the chapel this week! These people are so special. I love not only hearing, but also being part of their stories. Everyone is different, and the journey is always different, but the gospel is always the same. It's a truly incredible experience to be a part of something so important! :) 

One of our friends L-- X--- was preparing for baptism this next Sunday, and he was so excited to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and start this new life. As we met with him on Tuesday morning we recognized that he really was almost ready to make this step, and we were beyond excited! Later that night however, we got a text from him saying that after speaking with his wife about one of the commandments he was going to commit to live after baptism, he didn't feel ready for next Sunday after all... talk about a heart being broken! It was so sad. :( We were praying for him a lot that night, and the next morning trying to figure out what we could do to help him and the rest of his family. I was so positive that he was ready to be baptized on the 11th of September, but as I prayed about it the familiar words of a general conference talk came to mind. "Faith in God includes faith in His timing." It was a humbling experience, but it's so true. How often do we say, yes I have faith in you God as long as it happens in the exact way that I always thought it would, and at the time I planned out. I know that I have. But having faith in God really does mean to have faith in his timing, even if it doesn't make sense at first. 

A cool experience Sister Yau and I had at the VC this week actually happened just as we were walking out of the door one night. Right before we walked out, a Chinese student from Imperial college across the street walked in. We put our bags down, and gave her a tour of the chapel. As we did we learned that she had arrived just that morning and that her mom had instructed her to find a church as soon as she arrived. She found us! :) As we continued to give the tour she was so receptive, and when we showed her the baptismal font she asked when she could be baptized herself. We really like that question around here. ;) She'll be meeting with the Britannia missionaries this week, and coming to church on Sunday!

Sorry to keep you on the edge of your seats everyone, but I figured I would save it for last. Transfer news is that Sister Yau will be going to Canterbury (my old area!!) and I will be staying in Hyde Park 1st ward yet again to follow up train Sister Teng from Malaysia. She actually speaks 5 different languages and so the Mandarin streak isn't broken yet. I'm seriously starting to think I need to learn this language! Sister Yau is on the left, and my new companion Sister Teng, is on the right. Wow, I love them both so much!

Family and friends I love you! :) I hope that you are having the most incredible September. Remember that the gospel is true, it's been restored to this earth, and that when we have faith in God's timing everything will work out the way it's supposed to. 

Much love,

Sister Rebekah Croft