The Good Life

What a week! Can I just say how blessed I feel to be serving here in London. :)  I'm amazed daily at the dozens of different cultures surrounding me, the architecture, the history, and the delicious food of this wonderful city. Not to mention the real reason I'm here- for these incredible people I get to serve and the miracles I see around every corner! Awe, it's a good life.

This was a good week in the Hyde Park 2nd ward, and although the work was a bit slow at the beginning of the week, it sped up towards the end. We started out the week with an exchange to North London. I got to be with Sister Pan from Spain, and we had a lot of fun! It's always an adventure to be placed in a completely different area for 24 hours. We taught some incredible people and put one of their investigators on date for the beginning of May. She's excited to be baptised!

The highlight of Wednesday was seeing C------. She always insists on feeding us after we teach her, and tells us again and again if we need a hug she can be our Spanish mother here in London. She's honestly the best, and is very peaceful about her baptism coming up in early May. :)

Saturday we had some big miracles at the visitors center. We were online picking up chats, and phone calls from Mormon.org when I got a message from someone I have been teaching since the beginning of my mission. His message said that he and his twin brother were outside the Hyde Park Chapel and wondered if they could come in and have a tour. Umm YES! It was such a cool experience to finally meet him after teaching him the gospel online for so long. He and his brother had been meeting with missionaries in Colchester, but only recently stopped because they went back to Lithuania for a holiday. The whole time we were giving a tour the spirit was very powerful, as if to say "this is the right place for you." It was an amazing experience! Then, a few minutes later while we were still on shift a man from Turkey Sister Griffeth talked with on the tube the day before came into the visitors center. He also brought his friend along! We taught them for a good hour and a half. They had so many questions!

On Sunday we went to go and visit a less active member in the ward with the ward clerk, but he got stuck in traffic and the lady we were going to visit wasn't home. We decided to walk down a few blocks to a man who was baptised a little over a year ago, but no one has seen him in quite a while. We rang the flat quite a few times before we decided to walk away.. just before we turned the corner however, I looked up at the window and saw a man poking his head out the window. We asked if V---- was home and turns out he was! He came out and we went and sat on a bench across the street and talked for a good hour. He told us that because of his background he has had to be very careful of sharing his new beliefs with his flat mates as to not have it get back to his family in Romania before he has the chance to tell them. He told us that he knows he needs to come back to church though, and that he'll try and come this Sunday. The Lord sure works in mysterious ways! 

On Saturday we had a dinner appointment with one of the less active members in the ward- O----- and her baby! As we walked up the stairs to her place we heard lots and lots of kids running around. Sister Griffeth and I just looked at each other and smiled. She had invited her friend over for dinner too, and had actually already invited her to come to church! We got to teach her and her 3 kids. What a sweet miracle. :) O----- rocks at missionary work!!

Sorry if this email is a bit scattered, and makes no sense... we went to Camden Town (a crazy, but very fun market place in the center of London), and I had to write most of this email on the tube. Fun, fun. I hope that everyone is happy and healthy back home though! I love you all SO much! 

-Sister Rebekah Croft

"I believe in Christ, so come what may." 

This picture was sent to me on Facebook this morning by a member in London...who will actually be traveling to Utah next month and has plans to come visit us and bring us a little package from our sweet Rebekah. The packages Rebekah is holding apparently arrived today and are birthday gifts that my parents and I both sent from Amazon UK last week. She asked for hints as to what they contain...because I told her she had to wait two weeks till her birthday on May 9th. ;) Since we will be skyping with her the day before for Mothers Day, maybe we'll let her open them then and have a bit of a birthday party over the computer. 

God's the Perfect Builder

Hello everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful week and weekend wherever you may be in this great big world. :) My week was pretty good, although it wasn't nearly as exciting and miraculous as last week. As Elder Holland put it in General Conference "...we all have to come down from peak experiences to deal with the regular vicissitudes of life.." Don't get me wrong, it was still a fantastic week, but just not as great as last week and all the miracles we experienced.

Let me share some of the highlights. :)

First on Tuesday we had a really sweet experience with C------ and her family. We went over to teach about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then we went upstairs to watch the Restoration film in Espanol. C------'s son G---- watched the 20 minute video with us. I've never watched it in a different language before, but it was just as powerful! After it ended G--- turned to us and expressed how peaceful he felt while watching it. Prompted by the spirit we asked him if he had ever thought about being baptised, and even on the same day as his mother to which he replied "Yes, I actually have thought about it." Oh wow! I'm honestly so thankful for the prophet Joseph Smith and the restoration of Christ's original church. I'm amazed every day at the truth of this! 

Also this week we had interviews with President Stevens. I always look forward to these, so it was a great day! Just a quote that I want to share with you all: "Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of- throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself." Sorry that was so long, but I just LOVE it! I've experienced this quite a bit on my mission, and it's taken a while to understand that Heavenly Father has far greater plans for me than I can even imagine. He does for all of us! :)

Another tender mercy this week is that Sister Griffeth and I got to teach Primary on Sunday. We got to teach all about when Alma and Amulek went to Ammonihah to preach repentance and the people tried to bribe them with money to deny the existence of God. (Alma 8) When this part of the story came up I turned to these kids and asked them if they would ever say there was no God if they were given money. They all looked at me confused and said things like "Never!", "Why would I do that, of course there is a God." I absolutely adore kids and how strong their faith is! 

Other than that the week was pretty normal. Normal for missionary work at least. The weather is getting sunnier, and so we did quite a bit of finding. We met a lot of cool people- one by the name of Bubbles! How cool is that?! 

I hope that everyone has a great week! Love you all!

Love, Sister Rebekah Croft

 Singing at St. Teresa's care home. SO CUTE!! :)

28 Miracles in 28 Hours

God is good to us! That's all I have to say. Oh my goodness, this week was incredible! Just fair warning... this email is ridiculously long. Prepare yourself.

At the very beginning of the week during weekly planning, Sister Griffeth and I determined that we would only have 2 full working days in our area this week. Between VC shifts, and various meetings we would have approximately 28 hours in our proselyting area (hence the title of this email). Needless to say, we were pretty stressed when we saw that. The good news is that it was also very humbling. We KNEW that the only way we were going to be able to do everything was with the Lords help. He sure helped us, and we saw so many miracles! Many, many more than 28. :)

So first I should mention that I had a visitor this week in London. The one and only Casey Lucas, who popped into the visitors centre on Tuesday. It was so good to see a familiar face from home! We were able to go out and eat some waffles/ ice cream, and then she came out finding with us. We talked with some really amazing people in that short 30 minutes of finding.

Also on Tuesday we saw C------ again. She's doing really well! We taught her the Plan of Salvation, and she had lots of questions. She's still very excited for her baptism coming up on the 7th of May. On the way home as we were coming off the tube we spotted a Jewish man who was struggling to pull 4 huge suitcases up a few flights of stairs at once. We stopped him and asked if he needed help to which he replied in his broken English that he would really appreciate it. On the way up we learned that he just got off the plane from Israel. This man was a genuine Jew- Sister Griffeth and I think he might have even been a Rabbi. We helped him all the way to the ticket stand, and bought his ticket for him. It's just more evidence to me that Heavenly Father really is aware of His children! :) I love being in the right spot at the right time to be an instrument in God's hands.

Wednesday as we were on shift one of our security guards observed a women who walked past the building three or four times looking inside, and then started to walk away. He told us, and we decided to run out (in the rain without coats by the way), and talk to her. We caught her at the Science Museum, and she said "Hello Sisters" as we ran up to her. She turned out to be a less active member from the Philippines who couldn't muster enough courage to come inside the visitors centre. She told us that she would be there on Sunday, and thanked us for running after her. Once again, God knows His children! 

Another miracle at the visitors centre happened on Thursday. It was pretty busy by the doors at the time, but I saw 4 teenage boys walk up the stairs towards the Christus, and then turn back and start to walk away. Prompted by the Spirit I excused myself from a conversation and went outside to invite them in. They turned around with smiles on their faces and said they would love to come in. These 4 boys were from Hertfordshire, and were just in London for the day. Coincidence? I think not. ;) We gave them a tour, and they were all so receptive to the spirit. After showing them the new Easter video in the cinema, and testifying of the Savior one of the boys responded "So, what's our next step if we want to learn more about this?" We showed them the baptismal font, and 3 of the 4 boys said that if they came to know the gospel was true they would be baptised!! They all left us with their information and now 2 of them are in contact with missionaries in their area as well. Amazing!

Friday we had Zone Training Meeting which is always a pump up for the week, but that also meant we didn't have any time in our area. The good news is that at the visitors centre we had tour after amazing tour. We sang hymns on the steps and one man stopped to listen for a good 20 minutes. One of the YSA members went and talked with him, and when we stopped singing he came in for a tour. He was there for a good 2 hours asking all sorts of questions, and then even played the organ for us while we sang. We'll be teaching him via Skype until he gets home from holiday to Scotland!

Also, a man from Florida came in and brought his non-member friend. They are both pilots and so they had the night here in London. At first the member didn't say much and let us show him around, and teach him more about the gospel. At the very end however, he bore one of the strongest testimonies of the restoration of the gospel I've ever heard. You've gotta love the members. :)

We went to visit a less active member named B------ on Saturday. She's a young single mother with a brand new baby. Sister Griffeth had been to see her a few times before, but she'd never really opened up to why she wasn't coming to church. Turned out that she forgot we were coming over, and so she had invited her friend over. This was the biggest miracle! C--------- was also a less active member of the church, and she and B------ had actually met at girls camp years and years before. We showed the new Easter video and asked them how they felt their relationship with Christ was to which B------ answered "well quite rubbish actually..." They both talked about how they had fallen out of habit of reading scriptures, and praying, and then both expressed the desire to come back! It was a huge miracle, and I know it was nothing that I did! God has been preparing his two daughters to come back to church for a long time now.

Last miracle I'll share was on Sunday. Sister Griffeth has been calling a woman named C---- for many weeks now. C---- is a member who moved here from Nicaragua about 4 months ago. We received her number, but never met her. On Sunday morning however, we received an out-of-the-blue phone call from her asking us what time church started! We didn't see her in Sacrament meeting and were pretty disappointed, but Elder Neeley was on shift at the time and told us of this family who walked in and told him that the 11 year old son wanted missionaries to teach him. They were in the YSA Sacrament meeting, so we decided to stay around the chapel to work until they got done. They ended up walking out right then! C---- told us that her husband is also not a member, and they're staying with their mother-in-law who is Buddhist and won't allow missionaries into her home. Swiss Cottage is where T-- and C------ live, and they were ecstatic to find out that this family lives so close!  They said they would be happy to have lessons in their homes. :)

I honestly stand all amazed at everything that happened this week. I couldn't feel more privileged to be part of this incredible work that the Lord so apparently leads. I love my Father in Heaven and I love the Saviour. I love you all as well! Thanks for all the prayers, and support. You are the best!

Love, Sister Rebekah Croft

Wise Words & Conference in General

Well, hello dear ones! Another week has passed here in England, and it's good to talk with you all again. :) This week went by in a blur of sun, hard work, wonderful spiritual experiences, and craziness with transfers.

C------'s lesson this week went really well. We planned to start teaching her about the plan of salvation and word of wisdom, but it turned out that we spent the whole time talking about the word of wisdom. During the lesson, she went to her cupboard to pull out some drinks and said, "Would Jesus say eet's ok?" in her strong Spanish accent. She also memorized the five things she's not allowed. We read the scripture in D&C 89:18-20 and she loved it! We did have to explain to her, though, that "health in the navel" does not mean that obeying the word of wisdom would result in her tummy magically flattening once she stopped drinking coffee. ;) Oh, how I love her. She's the best!

We also had a lesson with F---- this week- the man we met last week in "Little Venice." He was more interested in converting us to Buddhism instead of listening to our message about Christ though, so we aren't teaching him anymore.. Oh, F----.

We also had many, many miracles happen in the visitors center this week! I'm always amazed at how many non-members come through, and want to learn more. :) There was a less-active member from Italy who came in this week with her boyfriend. She speaks English really well, but he couldn't understand hardly anything. She said she decided to move to England after she became less-active because she wanted to get away from it all. Ever since moving here, she said she has spotted missionaries everywhere, and has felt the need to come into the chapel. She stayed for about 30 minutes as we showed them a couple of the General Conference talks we have in Italian and watched the Easter initiative. She said she really felt like God was telling her to go back to church and knew how to get her there despite her stubbornness. We got her contact information and sent it to the missionaries in her ward, then she came to general conference a few days later. She seems to be doing great!

Speaking of general conference.. wasn't it incredible!! :) I was super excited that this time I was able to attend all of the sessions, and really concentrate on all the talks. Last time I was on shift for most of the sessions... the Lords work still goes on. I just wanted to share some of my favourite talks and quotes really quickly.

*The Prophet's short but powerful testimony about agency and choices. "We need to choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong." I love and sustain that man as a living prophet of God! And my prayers go with Him.

*President Uchdorfs expert talk on obedience and the loving shepherd. "Obedience is the life blood of faith." Also his cheeky comment about the "celestial language." (My german district leader appreciated that one.)

*Elder Gongs talk about 6 ways that we can remember Jesus Christ in our day to day lives. "Jesus Christ knows everything we don't want people to know about us, and He still loves us."

*My area president Elder Kearon's powerful, and moving talk about the refugees. "The Saviour knows how it feels to be a refugee, he was one."

*Also, Elder Holland's bold testimony of relying on the Saviour in the not so stable tomorrow. "If we give our heart to God, and love the Lord, tomorrow can be magnificent." And the dinosaur picture was also a highlight. :)

I'm so thankful for these inspired men who lead and guide the church. I know that they are truly called by God, and that they receive revelation for the entire church in the crazy world that we live in.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! If you missed general conference, stop. Go watch it! It's amazing, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a missionary. ;)

Much love, Sister Rebekah Croft

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