Week 12 in Rossendale

Hello family and friends!

Tis me! K well this week was really good! I'm really sad that Sister Limb is leaving(She's going back to america). But she really has done so well and has taught me so much. Now she is going to the land of eternal P-days where she can watch movies and listen to apostate music haha. Now this week I'm getting a new companion named Sister Pymm! I feel really bad for her though since her name is so close to Sister Limb`s. I have only heard good things about her so I'm so excited for the new experience. I know that Sister Limb is going to lead an incredible life at home when she puts her mind to it.

So this week, I had some pretty incredible experiences. Namely, I got to take Becca to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. It was So incredible. You could see how it made becca feel. The spirit was so strong in the room. The Preston Temple font was just breathtaking as well. Becca was so nervous coming into the temple but she said as she was going onto the water, all of those feelings washed away. Afterwards, I had to go on exchange with some sisters while Sister Limb went on her departing temple trip.

Oh! Also we went to the lake district last week! One of the elders got a sandwich that was way bigger than his stomach. I just got this brie sandwich. Brie in England is SO cheap. I get it literally every week.

Another thing was on Saturday we spent a lot of the day with becca since sister limb was leaving and we talked with Mike and her family. We ended up getting her entire family to come to church! We were planning on getting a picture with their entire family but they had left before we got it so I have no proof but it did happen. It was pretty amazing. And becca`s son, Ethan who is 7, learned that Sister Limb was leaving on Tuesday and burst into tears. That completely broke our hearts. Becca was so sad to see her go. And I am so happy that I get to stay with her in Rossendale because if I got transferred then I am pretty sure we would have broken her. She gave us both mugs since she didn't know if I was leaving as well. We love them and are keeping them forever.

Then we went to Wales today and passed through Wrexham and went to the coast at Landudno. It was so good and we got to see 2 castles! It was so exciting. We went with a few companionships from rundown since my old district leader elder Prazak was there.

But anyways this week has taught me how important it is to believe in God and yourself. And to be honest, in some ways they go hand in hand. Because the gospel gives you confidence the more you learn about it. Then you can learn your true identity, your true worth. The more I learn about the more powerful the statement, I am a child of God. It is so strong. I know that it is true and the more I learn about myself, the more I learn about other people's identity and their potential.

Sister Sever

Week 11 in Rossendale

Sooo...THIS is the email we got from Sidney this week:

"I'm sorry did you get my weekly email?  Because I sent it, but for some reason I can't see that I have sent it. I really hope I didn't delete it."

That's our girl!!  haha!  But on a positive note...there were a couple of pictures I was able to get a hold of!!  :-)

Week 10 in Rossendale

Well hiya!

This week was pretty legit. We had A LOT of stuff happen. So first was I went to Peel tower last Monday that left me with little to no time to email. So there is a lot of stuff I need to send. 

And then this week we had two broadcasts to listen to. One was a missionary broadcast and the other was for the church members throughout England. And this was part of President Nelson's  (the prophet) worldwide tour. I so wish they visited Chorley or I could have physically gone! But it was still pretty incredible. Sister Nelson talked for a bit about how it is like being the prophet's wife and how she got revelation to leave the room in the middle of the night and just clean...and the few hours when she left was when president Nelson received revelation for ministering changes and the priesthood class changes. It was really good! 

But on a more amazing note! Sister Limb and I have been getting closer to Michelle, which is the elders` investigator. We aren't trying to steal her but...... We really want to because she is so amazing. Anyways she likes us better, haha. So she has been having problems with actually knowing that this church is for her. So her dog got ran over by a car... and they ran quickly took her to the veterinarians hospital.  There was literally nothing wrong with her!!  And that was her sign...because she had never prayed so hard in her life. So she is officially thinking of being baptized she just needs a date!

We also had lunch with a couple senior missionaries this week and that was so fun. We went to this place called the Fig Tree that was super delicious. And then we went to the Temperance Bar. Okay... So the temperance bar is basically the happiest place on earth besides Disneyland and the celestial kingdom. So basically it's a bar filled with amazing non alcoholic drinks, so it is a mormon`s paradise. Tthey make these delicious milkshakes out of cordial. So good!

Then yesterday we were struggling to find investigators. We were getting desperate to actually find someone so we decided to knock on doors near our apartment. So on our way there somebody stops us and says wait, are you the Mormons!? His name is Marco and he has met with the missionaries before and knows basically all the members, and LOVES us. He also loves America and he has always wanted to move there. He was so nice and open with us. But that is not all. So we decided that before we officially ask him to meet with us again we might as well get to know him at one of the sports nights that we do on Fridays. So we invited him to it and gave him our number and he said he was definitely going to meet us there. But little did we know that sports night was cancelled because they are remodeling the gym in our chapel!!! So we were bummed; we had to tell him, but we couldn't because we did not have his number- he had ours though. So we went tracting for a couple hours then we went back home and on the way back we came across..... MARCO!!! He was completely fine with it being cancelled and just said that he still wanted to meet with us and we could "talk about Jesus". It was the best! We were ecstatic. 

Also while we were knocking on doors one lady just said she wasn't interested and closed the door. About 10 doors down we suddenly hear someone yelling,"SISTAHS!!" (In British accent) and she caught up to us and just said that she didn't know why but she felt like she just had to run down to us and tell us that she hoped people were being nice to us. Apparently she is dating a less active member and she knows that we are just doing what we are passionate about. She was so sweet.

We also found another girl named Lisa who is a spiritualist. She was so nice and is interested in learning more. Apparently she doesn't have a specific belief with what happens after we die...but she just recently became interested. We briefly explained the plan of salvation and she told us we can come over again next week.

Then today we went to climb a random steep hill and take district pictures it was super fun but there were a few..... accidents. Sister Limb, the district leader, and Elder Cowdrey all fell in mud and, to literally everyone`s surprise, I came out unscathed. So you know all those rivers I managed to fall into for camping trips! Yeah I'm totally over that.

 I love missionary work!  It is hard at times, but as is life as well. It can be character building. But I know from now on that if anyone tells me that they are thinking of going I will say, just do it!  It will only build you if you let it.

So yes this was my week! Very eventful! Well I love and miss you all!

Sister Sever

Week 9 in Rossendale

Hello family and friends!

This week is a bit more boring, well as boring as a mission can get, which to be honest isn't very haha. But we came out of this week only finding really one solid new investigator whose name is Csian, who was a dropped investigator from a while back. But she was only dropped because she couldn't find time off of work to actually visit with the missionaries... but she was interested. We are meeting up with her next week which we are pretty excited about. 

Another thing to be excited about is....... drum roll..... it's getting warmer in England!!! Apparently in the next few days it's going to be REALLY HOT. And do you know what that is..... like 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Isn't it like 80 degrees in Hanford right now? But it is really humid here. But at least I don't have to worry about random snow that cancels church when your investigator is about to be baptised😂 

Speaking of Becca, we visited her quite a bit this week. Once because we had a tea appointment with her and her family.  Oh I wish I thought to take a picture; they would have totally let me. We basically had this English roast inside a HUGE Yorkshire pudding. It was pretty incredible. Have I mentioned how much I love Yorkshire puddings? They need them in America.  English people have them ALL THE TIME!  And after tea, we had a lesson about the plan of salvation with Becca and Mike. And it was an amazing lesson!!! Basically we made little comments during it but Becca taught most of it to her husband and then bore her testimony. It was amazing.  She really is so special and you can tell that Mike can see the difference in her and how happy she is with what she knows. Mike also told us his basic beliefs, and they are basically along the lines of what we teach. I think we just need to teach him how the gospel can apply to him personally, but he definitely has potential. 

Also we had this new member fireside on Sunday. Ok I have no idea if they do this anywhere else but every month President Mcreynolds holds a meeting where a couple new converts bare their testimony and it's a chance for investigators to see people who were not born in the church and how they came to know it was true. And it is A BIG thing. There were probably 400 people there! And Becca spoke! She was so good too. She was really nervous before she got up but she was fine once she started speaking. 

After her was this young girl who didn't know English too well, and she said that when she met the missionaries she thought they were security.  They had invited her to a baptism, which they drove her to, which she thought  was in Lancaster, but in reality, it was in Preston. She said she thought they were abducting her.

I also just went to Blackburn to hike to Darwin tower but I didn't have anything to take pictures since I wasn't being smart and told the zone leaders to keep it in their car. And people did take pictures of me... I just won't get them til later... sad days. 

Well this week I also had a talk on Sunday about the atonement of Jesus Christ. And it really made me think about the love of Christ to sacrifice his life for our sins. And it is still hard for me to understand how one man can sacrifice his life for all our sins. And Richard G. Scott (? I think) Said that no mortal mind can truly comprehend it. But that doesn't stop us from learning about it. And I know that even though I can't truly understand the atonement fully, I can still have faith in something I don't truly understand.

 I love you all and hope everything is going well. You are all in my prayers😊
Love,  Sister Sever

(who is in the picture!!...This was from the fireside for the new members. There is me, Sister Limb, the bishops wife Janet, below is Rachelles daughter Meghan, then becca, then Rachelle, Charlotte daly(the member who basically converted becca), and ros  thompson)

Week 8 in Rossendale

Hiya and HAPPY EASTER!!!!! 

I can't believe it's already that time of year! I am so close to hitting my 3 month mark since leaving America which is insane! It seriously has seemed like only a couple weeks. So last Monday for P-day we went to Townley Hall in Burnley. It's basically this huge mansion that people can tour through for fun. We went with a couple members from the ward and we had the greatest time! We even recreated a coupe paintings in some of the rooms.

So this week has kinda been insane! We had zone conference which is always good. And for that they usually send out a few days beforehand a topic that everyone has to write a talk on and they pick 3 people to give it once we are there. And as you might have expected...... I was chosen. Well to say the least I was amazing as always, just kidding I'm humble, but people told me it was alright haha. Then we had exchanges where when we went to a member in Chorley 's ward, they remembered to get the sisters going on the exchanges Easter eggs as well! They are so nice and know somebody living in orange county.  I have found that many people know others from California just not anywhere near the fresno area. So.... when we were heading back I needed to buy another bus pass and realized that I left my mission ATM card at subway.  So Sister Limb bought my card and told my STL's to check in the morning. Not only that but we missed out bus by 10 minutes so we had to go to a city that was moderately close to Rossendale and when we got there.... we missed the bus by 10 minutes. So we called some members who picked us up from Bury. The next day we took a bus to Haslingdon on the way to sing at the nursing home. When we got on I used my bus pass but for some reason it was not denying or accepting my card but the bus driver didn't care so he let me on. So we tried catching another bus but this bus driver wouldn't let us on and then I realized that it wasn't my bus pass, it was the extra that I got that had no money on it at all. My real bus pass was in my wallet that I left at home! So we got off and tried walking home from Haslingdon(25 minutes).

So on the way home, we found this trail that lead to the top of a hill overlooking Rossendale which was gorgeous and by that point we were about halfway home, and I was looking in my bag when Sister Limb looks over my shoulder and pulls out..... MY WALLET. So we catch a bus and I pull out my actual pass which inside it was..... MY ATM CARD. So I think that experience summed up my life.

And hey conference was this week! It was so good and so many changes! I could only watch 2 of them live though which was pretty weird and I still need to find time to watch the last session that announced the ministering changes. But wow I have never been so excited to watch conference before. I just switched between watching at the chapel and at members houses. I think one of my favorite talks was by Brian Taylor? I think? But it was about knowing your identity and how we can help people with personal challenges by teaching them their worth. I think it is so important by seeing people by their potential and what they can be. That knowledge has helped me a lot in the mission and gives me motivation to talk to people that i see by seeing them how Heavenly Father sees them. 

Well anyways I know this email is shorter but I will send tons of pictures to make it up! So just remember to follow what the prophet said and seek and heed the holy ghost' s promptings, humble yourself, and know that God WANTS to talk to us. And i know that President Nelson was called of God to lead this dispensation and am so excited as to how he is going to lead the church. I love you all and wish you the best week ever!

Sister Sever