I sent her our Skype info and also FaceTime info as well in case we needed to go that route, and then hoped for the best. On Christmas Eve I received and official invite to connect with Rebekah on Skype. That made me feel a lot better...even if it did make me cry. (I know, I know...I'm a bawl baby these days.) And then Christmas morning there was a message on Skype wishing us a Merry Christmas and reminding us that she'd call/Skype around 8:00 PM England time, 1:00 PM Utah time.
She was about 25 minutes late getting connected, but it came through just fine. Hallelujah! The picture got a bit fuzzy at times but for the most part looked really good. Only once did the connection fail entirely and Rebekah had to call us back again.
Some odds and ends (or bits and bobs as she calls them) in regards to our conversation:
* Rebekah and her companion were Skyping on their iPads from the church which is only about 2 minutes walk away from their flat. Rebekah was in the foyer and Sis. Mussman was in another room...the primary room, maybe?
* Rebekah, Sis Mussman and two other elders had spent their Christmas day at a members house...a member who has friended me on FaceBook and who kindly sent me some pictures. They have been Rebekah's family away from home while she is in Canterbury and I have been overwhelmed with how kind they have been to her, how much they love her.
* She doesn't have a British accent necessarily but she definitely speaks differently now. Her words are very precise, she enunciates very crisply.
* We caught her using British words frequently. Examples:
When asking about her long hair she commented, "I haven't had it cut since I got here and the ends are just rubbish."
Talking about her Christmas tree, "We decorated it with twinkly lights and baubles."
We noticed she wasn't in a skirt and asked if she'd been able to dress more casually that day to which she made a comment about it being nice to wear "trousers."
We asked her what she ate for breakfast, "Oh I usually eat porridge most mornings."
Often we found ourselves talking over each other which made it hard for her to hear and so if we'd asked her a question she'd say, "Pardon?" We teased her a bit and she said that when she would say "What?" in England, people would correct her and say it was much more proper and polite to say "Pardon?"
* Rebekah showed us her mission tags which are magnetic! And she also has a few that clip as well, but no pins. She said the elders do have those pocket protector ones but they don't like to wear them because they feel nerdy when they do. ;)
* She went into more detail about each of the companions she'd had up to this point...what they were like, what she had learned about each of their cultures (Swiss, African, British, etc) and how she related to each one in different ways. (She's absolutely adored all of them.)
* She talked about listening to the Queen's Christmas speech that afternoon and said that it was a tradition for everyone to tune in. I listened to it myself on-line later that evening and it was very interesting, actually. The tradition goes back to 1932.
* Right near the end Rebekah and her companion traded iPads for a few minutes and we got to chat with Sis. Mussman. She is absolutely delightful! I can see why Rebekah loves her so much.
* We decided to have a family prayer before signing off and we had Rebekah say it. It was a very special highlight and I'm so glad we did it! Even if it meant that I had tears pouring down my face.
* All in all we were able to skype with Rebekah for 1 hour and 50 mins. It was wonderful and truly the best part of Christmas Day. I miss my girl so much but oh, I am so proud of her!
And the screen shot Rebekah took from her end....
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