A very Christ centered Easter and "Little Venice" miracles

Happy Easter everyone! Easter is honestly one of my favourite times of the year, but I've never experienced an Easter quite like the one I had this year. I did go on an annual Easter egg hunt thanks to Sister Hulet (the Visitors Centre director's wife), but other than that, this whole Easter season was completely Christ centered. And I wouldn't have had it any other way. :) Take away all the commercial blues, yellows, and pinks, the Easter eggs, and the chocolate bunnies, and you find the real reason we celebrate Easter. It's because we have a Saviour who lovingly took all of my mistakes, shortcomings, and pains upon himself. In Jesus Christ I really have found new life daily. The atonement is not only enabling, it is REAL. I've felt it, and I've felt my Saviours love for me again and again this Easter season! I love Him, and I'm beyond thankful for what he's done for not only me, but everyone in the entire world. That truly is amazing!

In other news- Transfers have come and went.

The word is in and I'll be staying in Hyde Park 2nd with Sister Griffeth! I'm super excited because I love these people to death, and Sister Griffeth and I have been seeing a ton of miracles together especially this last week. We are both ready to work hard next transfer, and find more of Heavenly Fathers "elect." Should be a good transfer! 

As for this week in general, it started out a bit weird.. with the bombings in Brussles everyone was paranoid for a few days and the security here in London skyrocketed! It's absolutely devastating to think of all the people who lost their lives or were injured in Belgium... :( My heart hurts for them! But, not to make this email super depressing because really this week was grand!

Just to mention a few of the incredible things that happened this week- on Thursday we stopped by a part member family who Sister Griffeth had taught before. The previous sisters dropped them in the past because neither the less active husband or the wife were progressing in the gospel, but we felt prompted to go by and share a short Easter message. Only C------ was there, so we talked with her for a long while and then asked if we could share a short spiritual thought. After the opening prayer, we both felt prompted to simply ask her about baptism. Umm what?! We followed the Spirits promptings though, and she completely opened up saying what her concerns were and what obstacles she felt were blocking her path towards baptism. Then after we talked through it, she opened up even more saying that in the past when the sisters mentioned baptism she didn't see the point because she's been baptised in another Christian church before. After they didn't come around for a while she started thinking more and more about it. She asked God what she should do and she got the answer that baptism was in His plan for her!! After the lesson T-- walked in and she was able to tell him. The spirit was undeniably strong and he started to tear up. It was so precious, and so special. I feel very blessed to be part of it.

Another miracle happened on Tuesday when we went to a place called Warwick Avenue a.k.a. Little Venice. When we came out of the tube station we went to the side of the road to pray and ask Heavenly Father to put someone prepared in our path as we were finding. We said "amen" and started walking down the road. Literally the first person we talked to was very interested in the gospel, and we had a step in lesson with him on the road for a good 45 minutes! He is from near Thailand, and he also wants to bring his Christian girlfriend to our first lesson this next week. It was amazing! :) Also in Little Venice another day a younger guy stopped US (that doesn't happen much in England). He said that he was very open to meeting, and learning more about Jesus Christ and His gospel! We referred him to the Britannia ward, but they should be meeting with him soon.

A cool experience I had in the VC this week was on Wednesday. The public affairs office is on the third floor of the Visitors Centre with the mission office. The Burke's are the senior couple who work there, and they told us that there would be a man from the Iraqi embassy coming while we were on shift. Elder Burke gave us a bit of notice because of how nervous he was to bring him in. Poor Sister Burke was very nervous! We were asked to give part of the tour and to keep it more informational than a spiritual. Talk about intimidating! This man was pretty high up in the ranks of the embassy! Everything went well though, and he turned out to be nice.

Well, there is my week in a few paragraphs. I'm always amazed at what I don't have time to write about.. but there you go. All in all it was a fantastic week, and I couldn't be happier! :) Hope that you all are safe, and had a special Easter weekend!

Love, Sister Rebekah Croft

I'll let you guess this one. "Here comes the son, do do do do. Here comes the son. And I say, it's alright."  Abbey Road!!!

 "Little Venice"

With C------! She's amazing! :)

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

These two....  :) Seriously, they already look so much alike that sometimes in their pictures you'd swear they were twins. Here they have braided their hair together! 

This picture was for Brandon. He's a big Beatles fan so apparently Rebekah thought it would be fun to take a picture holding the Happy Birthday banner in the middle of Abbey Road. But it was too crowded with tourists to get any more pictures than just the one of the four of them walking across. So they took this picture on the sidewalk.

Also...

It’s been a bit of a strange week. The Brussels attacks hit a little too close to home for a couple of reasons. One of course, being that Belgium is directly across the channel from England….and London itself is obviously a big target for terrorists. Rebekah is literally smack in the middle of London…just a few blocks from both Buckingham Palace and the Parliament Buildings, etc. She takes the “tube” (the Metro or England’s version of the subway) nearly every day. 

But also there were 4 missionaries injured in the bombing at the Brussels airport, as you all probably know by now. And one of those missionaries, Elder Empey, is a friend of Rebekah’s. He and his family lived in our ward before they moved to St. George and we moved to Kaysville. Rebekah and Joe (or Dresden, as we called him back then) used to play together back when they were in elementary school. They are still in contact through instagram and Facebook. So when I first heard the reports about the missionaries being injured in the bombings, the news was of course very sobering and sad. But then I came across the names of the missionaries and my heart dropped to my toes when I realized that one of the elders was Dresden. I sent Rebekah a couple of emails through the week with updates on Dresden from his parents Facebook page, and of the other missionaries from the news. It’s been just really way too awful that within just a few weeks of each other I've had to send Rebekah such sad news about friends….first the death of Sadie Wells on her mission in Pennsylvania due to a car accident, and then Dresden’s horrible injuries from a terrorist bombing on his mission in Brussels. 

Rebekah had this to say in her personal email to me:

"London is dealing with the Brussles attack alright.. there is definitely a lot more security around especially in the tube stations, and the day it happened was really eerie…. :( Thank you so much for sending me the updates on Elder Empey! I actually did know quite a bit about it mostly because of facebook. There were a lot of things that I saw there, that I put two and two together. It's SO SAD though! The world is really messed up... signs of the times I suppose. The second coming is closer and closer everyday which is scary, and also happy news! But back to how people are acting, they are pretty paranoid. It kind of makes sense that London would be next so that freaks people out, but I don't want you to worry about me. I've honestly never felt safer than I do now. The Lord protects His missionaries! :) So I'll be just fine. Terrorist attack or not."

New in the neighborhood and a not so green "Green Day"

Hello my sweet family and friends! I pray that you are all healthy & happy. :) Seems like I was just writing to you.. and yet another 7 days have passed. Crazy, crazy.. 

My week was really incredible! Was is the most successful week in the measurable aspect of the work (ask the numbers)? Not really.. but when I think back to the amazing experiences we had, and the great people we talked to I would define it as an absolute success!

It amazes me every day how in control the Lord is of this work. He is at the head, and while usually I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing He makes up the difference. It's been a process for me to completely hand over my will to Him, but it's always better when I do. That's when the miracles start to happen! Speaking of miracles, lets talk about some, shall we?

On Thursday morning we decided to take about an hour to just go through the numbers on our phone and filter out those who weren't interested in learning more, and find those who really would like to meet with us. We called over 30 numbers and talked with quite a few different people. One man in particular answered the phone and when I told him who I was he was shocked saying that he had been reading a general conference talk just that morning, and had been thinking about going back to chuch. He said that he was going to be in South Kensington that very day, and so he said he would stop by the visitors center. When he came we showed him the new Easter video, and the spirit was extrememly strong! He talked about how when he was first meeting with the missionaries he was trying to find excuses not to be baptized, and how now he felt like there weren't any more excuses. He'll even be going to Utah on a trip the beginning of April, and he wants to go to general conference!! :) This guy is one of the most prepared people I've ever met. I'm so grateful that the Lord directed us to call him! 

On Friday we had a mini miracle. We were headed to a less active members house for dinner and as we were getting off the bus we miraculously passed someone on the street that we had met 2 weeks earlier. You've got to understand that you never talk to the same person in London twice. This city is huge! Anyways, we met K-- Q--- at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago. This Chinese man is hilarious, and also super prepared for the gospel! We weren't able to get any of his contact details the first time because he was in a rush, but we've been praying to meet him again. So when Sister Griffeth recognized him, and when she processed that it was him we had to turn around and run after him to catch up. We were able to chat with him more about the gospel, and he's very interested in learning more! We will be teaching him soon. :) 

Another tiny miracle not much involved with missionary work, but in day to day life here is that we moved flats!! Hurray! Our old flat was having problems... (mice, broken water heater etc) Our new flat is so posh! God is good. 

As for St. Patricks Day there wasn't much in the way of celebrating here in England. You'd think that there would be more here seeing as we are so much closer to Ireland, but the only places that I saw that were celebrating were the pubs... Sister Griffeth and I still wore green though and celebrated in little ways! Just not at the pub. ;) 

All in all, this week was another beautiful, amazing week as a missionary in London! Sorry if this email was super scattered and didn't make much sense, but if you take anything from this email just know that the gospel is true! I really know that. Heavenly Father is real, he is loving, and he is aware of every single one of us. The book is blue, and it's true. I LOVE this work! Have a wonderful week everyone!

-Sister Rebekah Croft

 The Crofts family. They are amazing! Plus they have the last name as me so that's pretty cool. :)

 Our old flat.

St Patrick's Day

 Fire safety training at the Visitor's Centre

Zone Conference

The Queen says "Hello"

This week. Where to even begin?

Well first I suppose I'll explain the title of this email... a monumental moment happened a couple of hours ago... I SAW THE QUEEN!!!!!! We were walking from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace and suddenly we saw some fancy motorcycles with the Queens flag on top, and a very expensive looking car driving past. As the car was passing I looked in through the window of the car and saw Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in a nice tailored blue suit jacket, and an amazing hat to match. She smiled at our little group of missionaries, as Prince Philip waved. Day. Made. Oh my goodness!! :) 

Other than that little bit of excitement, this week was much of the normal mixed in with some of Heavenly Fathers wonderful miracles. 

We didn't have much time in our area this week due to a zone conference, exchanges, and some extra shifts at the visitors center, but surprisingly, and then again not surprisingly at all we were able to accomplish a lot with the Lords help. 

On Wednesday we had zone conference which was amazing! Conferences are always great, but this one was completely centered on the Atonement. It was powerful! We also talked a lot about the new Easter Initiative- "Follow Him & Find New Life." If anyone hasn't seen it yet, stop reading this email asap, and go and watch it! I'm so thankful for the Savior. My heart is full as I think about all that He did for not only me, but everyone in the entire world who ever lived, and whoever will live! In Jesus Christ I have also found new life in so many different ways. I love Him and will never have enough words to describe how thankful I am!

Thursday was exchanges with the STL's (Sister Training Leaders). This time was a little bit different because they've changed the way that they do exchanges. Now both of us go to their area instead of splitting. For Sister Griffeth and I- that meant London North. It was a really fun experience and I learned a lot from Sister Swan from Australia! We mostly went finding the whole time, but oh my word I got to talk to some of the most amazing people! :) Let me just say- there are prepared people to hear this gospel everywhere. 

One of the biggest miracles that happened this week was on Thursday night. We didn't have any time to go finding that day, but we really needed a new friend to teach. We started going through the area book, and calling people who had been taught in the past. No one was interested. :( We said a prayer asking Heavenly Father if he would help us find one new person to teach, and then the last call we made I randomly went through the old numbers in the phone. I stopped at the name E--- and pushed the call button. He answered and I asked him if he was still interested in learning about Jesus Christ to which he responded "Of course I would be. Could we meet tomorrow?" Umm yes!! :) Next he said "Would you like me to bring my Mother too?" Of course! We taught them the next day, and then he wanted to watch the whole hour version of the restoration. I'm a fan of Bulgarians now! It was also a very big testimony builder for me that God hears our prayers. He always does! 

Love you all family and friends! I hope that everyone is doing well wherever you may be. Have a fantastic week!

Sister Rebekah Croft

https://www.mormon.org/easter -link to the new Easter video! :)

Happy "British" Mothers Day

Oh my goodness, this week. It's been on of the most exhausting weeks of my whole mission, but that means we had some of the most amazing miracles as well. :) So it all works out in the end! 

Going day by day, on Monday night Sister Griffeth and I were asked to go to the London BYU Centre to teach family home evening there. There are about 40 study abroad students in the program right now, and we were asked to talk about our missions, how we decided to come, etc. We decided to turn it more into a Q & A session, so that it would be open for any of the girls to ask questions. It was such an incredible experience! Not only was it an amazing thing to help them feel of God's love for them, and understand that He has an individual plan for each of them. But it also helped me remember why I came out on my mission to begin with, and realize just how much I've learned in these 9 short months. 

On Wednesday we had a huge miracle happen. It was the end of a long day, and we were headed home. On the way to the tube station we passed a young man sitting on a suitcase on the side of the road. I didn't pay much attention, but as we started walking down the tube station steps a few feet away I go the strongest prompting that we needed to go back and talk with him. It was one of those promptings that if you don't take action on, you know you'll be in trouble. ;) We went back and talked with him learning that he was a student, but he's been homeless for the past 2 weeks. We got him some food, told him how much God loves him, and he told us that he'd actually been searching for a church to go to. He has the most sincere desire to change his life around! He came in the visitors centre the next day, and now he's started his journey to get his feet back under him, and then he wants to be baptised!! I love meeting these people who are so genuine about seeking the truth! :) Since he's 27 we'll be turning him over to the AP's in the Britannia (YSA) ward.

Something else we've been working on this week is contacting a list of AUF's (Address Unknown Files) we received from our ward clerk. It's a real process to find these "lost sheep" to see if they still live in the same address and to see if they're interested in coming back to church. We weren't having much success, but then we knocked on one door and a woman answered right away. It turned out it was the daughter of who we were looking for, and she said that she would come to church the following day. It was a cool experience!

There are a few people we are teaching online who are from all around the world! Dang, technology is pretty incredible. That's all I have to say. E----, from South Africa who's waiting for the missionaries in her area to get in contact with her so that she can be taught and be baptised. She's so great! :) Also, we're teaching men from Slovakia, Kenya, and Norway, and women from Canada, America, and the Philippines. I couldn't be more thankful that I can teach these people from here in England! 

I hope that everyone is doing well, and that you all know just how aware Heavenly Father is of you & of your situation. He loves you! And I love you too! 

Love, Sister Rebekah Croft

*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.

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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!  

I'm officially 8 months old

Hello loved ones! 

It was my 8 month birthday on Wednesday! :) I can't remember if I've explained this before but.. all the missionaries count the time they've been on missions by celebrating month birthdays. Every month it's your "___ month birthday." It's a fun tradition! I really can't believe that I've been a missionary for 8 months now though! Oh my goodness, time flies! Honestly, 8 months have gone past in the blink of an eye. This week went by in something similar, because it seems like just I just wrote all of you. Absolute craziness!

It was quite the eventful week. Starting with Tuesday, when Sister Wai & I got a message from a girl in China saying that she'd like to be baptized this Saturday! She told us that she had been investigating the church for over 3 years now, and that she had even been taught by the Britannia Sisters in the past. Long story short, she arrived on Friday we taught her for a very long time to review all the lessons, and then she was interviewed by President Stevens. Although she has one of the strongest desires to be baptized that I've ever seen, the outcome of the baptismal interview was that it would be better for her to be baptized in Shanghai. She is the sweetest thing, and I'm excited for her to make this special step in her life in the next month! :) Also on Tuesday, the Hulets arrived!! We went a few days without any visitors center directors, and it was super weird... especially because everyone was grieving Elder & Sister Cardall leaving to go home, but Elder & Sister Hulet from Upland, California are here now and they are fantastic! I haven't got to serve around them too much yet, but I'm already excited to see what exciting events the next few months hold for the visitors center. 

Wednesday was a day full of meetings and interviews. It's always exciting to have interviews with President & Sister Stevens for 2 reasons. First, Sister Stevens always makes the most delicious brownies served with milk. And second, I always learn so much from both of them! We talked a lot about the Atonement, and what it means to us. It's actually something I've been thinking and studying a lot lately so it was perfect! It means more and more to me every time I think about it though! The fact that the Savior has felt every pain, every hurt, sickness, and sin. And that he suffered through it because of His immense love for us. The Atonement means so much more to me than I can even express through words! Also on Wednesday we had an official world wide missionary conference. Can I just say- AMAZING!! It was so incredible to feel united with all the missionaries all around the world, and to be taught by the apostles! :) Although I took bunches and bunches of notes, one thing in particular that stood out to me was when Neil A. Anderson talked about always having Christ's name on our lips. That we should always be testifying of Him, and his redeeming sacrifice. Wow, I love the Savior! He is real, and he is here for all of us!

Skipping the quite average Thursday, Friday was an incredible day! We got to teach two of our investigators back to back in the morning. First I, who I actually taught before I left for Canterbury three months ago. She is the most genuine seeker of the truth, and I absolutely love her! Then we were going to teach S's (our recent converts) friend, and she surprised us by bringing another friend to the lesson! Talk about an amazing miracle! :) We taught about the restoration of the gospel, and S got to share his pure & strong testimony just being baptized less than 3 weeks ago. 

Saturday was Sister Wai's birthday!! Wahoo! We started out the morning with the VC training meeting, and then K (one of the YSA) made us all the most delicious porridge! He actually wants to open up a porridge restaurant, so we call him The Porridge Master, although I'm not sure how fond he is of the name yet.. We spent most of the rest of the day teaching C, the girl from China. Then while we were on shift, we threw a mini surprise birthday party, and the AP's made a cheese cake with candles to blow out and everything. It was a good day! :)

Lastly, Sunday was yesterday. The good news is that we had many of our friends come to church, so that was great! The sad news is that a few of the Chinese members are headed back to China this next week, and so it was their last Sunday here in London! I'm going to miss these wonderful people that I've come to know and love. We were invited to a goodbye party/dinner after church, and because they have been telling me so much about traditional Hot Pot we ate that. And they weren't raving about it for nothing.. it was DELICIOUS! 

So, that's my week in a not so small nutshell. I hope that you all had a marvelous week! Just know that I love you all! 

Love, Sister Croft

(The Chinese members gave me a Chinese name- Ta Li Li) Now I just have to pronounce it correctly. ;) haha

 Hot Pot party! These people are so great!

 Starbucks and email reading. We're fans!