Week 18 in Wigan

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Well this week was uber exciting!!! Here are the highlights.... So we had a street display in Wigan and even though Christmas is done we still had quite a few light the world cards. I wanted to just get them out of the flat so bad. So I grabbed a ton of them and I was determined to give them out to everyone!!! So, some elders from Liverpool came down and did a street display with us. I was on a roll! It was so funny because I noticed if I walked up to a group of people and one of them said no, they all said not. But if one of them said yes, they would all take one. There were these 2 men that I saw out of the corner of my eye. I walked up to them and said hi!! Once they looked at me I could tell they were REALLY drunk, you could really smell it. One of them looked at me and was just like,"I'm doing GREAT!! You look like you need a cuddle!" I was like,"No, I am fine!" I start backing away, I look at the elders and you can see the panic in their faces. Then he hugs me and I'm trying to much him off me! One of the elders like shouted,"I want a cuddle!" So he gets off of him and hugs him instead haha! 

Then, this Sunday we had a tea appointment that evening and he told us that we were getting a roast dinner. We were so excited! After sacrament meeting we were talking with some members and they were telling us how they really wanted over for tea! We told them We had one at 6 pm and they said,"well we can have you over at 3 so you can eat something before hand, we are having fajitas". I love fajitas and we couldn't resist so we said yes. We go over to their house and they give us the fajitas filling.... over a MOUNTAIN of rice!!! I have never eaten so much rice in my entire life! I looked at it and I was like okay, I'm pretty hungry and I can usually eat a lot anyways, I'll just eat it really fast so my stomach can't comprehend how much i have eaten. I ate it!! Then we went to our other tea appointment. We were not hungry whatsoever!!! Then we ha we roast dinner and it was also humongous! It was like double the amount of a normal roast dinner. But I survived and that's what matters. I have lived to tell the tale! 

Also, I have one more chapter of the book of Mormon before I finish!!!!! This challenge was seriously the best!! Focusing on the Saviour throughout the book of Mormon really just made me realize how much the book of Mormon testifies of Him. I was reading in Moroni 7 and in a couple verses he mentioned "my beloved brethren". I than stopped for a few seconds and thought, at this point Moroni doesn't have any brethren. He is just talking directly at us! It just made it a lot more personal. Of course the entire book of Mormon is directed at us but this book is the only one where a man is pleading for us to have charity while his family and people have been killed off and he is the only one left. It just made it so much more real. 

Well I love you all and hope you have an amazing New Years!!

Sister Sever

Week 17 in Wigan

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! 

I hope everyone has had a lovely holiday! Ours was definitely one to remember! You know, we don’t proselyte for Christmas but these past few days have been just as busy if not even busier than our normal days! We have been fed a lot and quite well. We are currently at some members house, The Grants. They are just a proper family. They have all of the family over and they gave us some presents, the most exciting being Reeses peanut butter! 

Also, Christmas Eve we had district Council in the morning and afterwards we all pitched in to get dominoes. Then, we had a tea appointment later so I could skype home. They weren’t feeling too well to cook so they decided to get something to eat.... DOMINOES!!! Yup, my favourite haha. 

Then Christmas Day, Lucy and Barry had us over for a full English breakfast! Super good. They also got us presents. They are slipper boots! They are the softest things I have ever felt! Then, some members, the Doriches had us over for tea. They gave us some chicken, and this German potato ball. The way I will describe it will make it sound gross but it was actually quite good! It’s kind of sticky and tastes like dough but you put gravy over it to add flavour. It’s called kartoffelclausse... I think... Then we went to our bishops house for Sister Dunlavy to skype home and then went to their parents house for the rest of Christmas!!!! 

We also had a lesson with a couple named Hollie and Michael. They are a very nice Christian family. Her husband happened to be a pastor, no big deal. I was actually super nervous coming to this appointment just because I knew that they weren’t too interested. But, during the lesson I was surprisingly very calm. I wasn’t nervous at all. That morning I studied in Preach My Gospel in the role of the Book of Mormon and it talked about how the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our church. Of course the bible is the word of God and we need its teachings just as much as the Book of Mormon, but if people prove the Book of Mormon isn’t true then Joseph Smith is not a prophet and our church crumbles. There was a specific quote in it that stood out to me the most, it said that without the Book of Mormon and revelation, our church doesn’t exist. I noticed how in the lesson they kept on trying to disprove and attack the Book of Mormon saying there is no way it is the word of God. They kept on referring us to quotes of somebody who left the church or anti-church facts. I asked them to ask God if it was true as I have and they did not want to. But I just kept on thinking, throughout the lesson even though it was obvious that they had done some research but they couldn’t say anything against my testimony. If I hadn’t asked God if the Book of Mormon is true or if I hadn’t read from it and constantly continuing to water the seed, I would not have held up how I did when defending what I knew to be true! The same goes for Sister Dunlavy, she is so amazing and her testimony so bright. But I do know the Book of Mormon is true and that it is the word of a God. I know this because I have asked with faith in Christ, trusting in whatever answer he would give me. I love this gospel, the more I learn the more I know it is true and will lead me to true and eternal happiness. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

I love you all and hope you had an amazing holiday! 

Sister Sever

1. We had canned soup one night and we thought it would be better of we made it look aesthetic haha

2 And 3. Lucy and Barry

3. Us at the grants getting our presents

Week 16 in Wigan

(mom note:  below is all I received from Sidney this week...but her word is true...there are actually LOTS of pictures)

Sorry mom, this is gonna be a lame email. I had a lot more written out but the gmail is doing something really weird. It literally deleted most of everything:( I think 10:30 your time would be the best:) I did have a weekly letter written out but it looks like it was deleted... So I'm just going to send the pictures since I don't have time to write it. But, I promise to send you 2 next time!!  Also, p-day is switched this next week. Boxing day is our p-day(the day after Christmas).

Here's Lucy,Barry and their daughter Hallie

week 15 in Wigan

..................

Hello family and friends!!!

This week will be a bit shorter because I am struggling to remember
what happened. But, we definitely had some miracles!!! So, Lucy and
her husband(excommunicated bishop) were supposed to come to church
this week but one of their kids got a virus and started throwing up
when they were getting ready to leave:( Sad day, but it didn’t stop
them from inviting us over later that evening while she was asleep so
we could have a lesson with them! They are seriously amazing! Lucy
genuinely wants to know and Barry still believes in the church and
wants to come back. He knows that he is not living gospel standards
and wants to change. Something he said was that some people will leave
the church and deny they had the spiritual experiences that they did.
But he said that even when he was excommunicated he always believed it
to be true and by telling himself that he didn’t have those
experiences he would be lying to himself so what’s the point in that!
He also explains things so well and is even asking us questions during
our lessons! Lucy is the cutest! She wants to take a trip to the
temple with us and go to a fireside. She really wants to go to church
events! And Christmas time is perfect because there are so many!

Well, I love Christmas on the mission! It’s not even Christmas and I
already love it! But this time of year just feels so special. Whenever
we go to members houses we just focus on Christ and what a blessing he
is in our lives. We watched the Christmas broadcast this week and it
was amazing! The tabernacle did an amazing job! I loved President
Nelson’s talk. If we turn to the Saviour he will help us and we will
receive the gifts he does offer us and blessings without measure! He
loves us so much! “His infinite and perfect love moved Him to atone
for you and me. That gift -His atonement- allows all His other gifts
to become ours.”

Well, I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Sister Sever

(mom note:  here's a fun excerpt from my personal email...it's always interesting to hear of various takes on Sidney's life in England.
"Something weird about England.
They do not have salted or buttered popcorn.... it’s literally
nonexistent here! You cannot find it! At movie theatres they give you
sweet popcorn. Nobody pops it either! No one! Everyone buys it already
popped! I mentioned it to someone and they looked at me like I was
crazy! ")

Week 14 in Wigan

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one SOUL unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! 

 Have you guessed it? ... SOUL IS DATED FOR BAPTISM!!!

Yup it was a miracle! To be honest, we were so afraid that he wasn’t keeping commitments so what happened was... we went in for a word of wisdom lesson, he was already taught it before but we decided to teach it again because we were pretty sure if not positive he wasn’t keeping it. So, we started talking and he told us that he was a huge smoker... 5 months ago. Apparently, when the sisters taught him that smoking was wrong he didn’t stop straight away. He went to church that Sunday and before he went in he had a smoke. When he was inside the building, he just felt this overwhelming feeling that it was wrong and he has stopped ever since. He said he still drinks occasionally but we were just like that is a huge step forward!! And so now he is dated for January 19! Super exciting!

Then we had this trend going on this week with people telling us to read and open our hearts to the bible... We kept on telling them that we have the bible and read it frequently haha. But I think they thought that our bible was the Book of Mormon. But there was one man who we talked to that was a tad bit drunk. He came up to us and was just like,”Why do you believe in a God?” And we told him haha. He was lightly bashing us, not too much but by the end of the conversation he really wanted to learn more! We gave him a Book of Mormon and he wants to meet with us again!

We had zone conference this week and the mission presidents wife focused a lot on giving our will to the Father. They gave us this talk called,”Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father”. It’s super good! Totally recommend. But at the end she challenged all of us to find something to “put on the altar”so that we can become better. It just made me think of Soul and all other that I have taught and seen become members of the church. Some of them give up so much to become members but the change that I see makes them become so much better because they are coming unto Christ. I’m so truly blessed to be a missionary at this time. It seriously is the best. I know that this church is true without a shadow of a doubt and I know that if we do continually change throughout our lives to become more like Christ, we will be truly happy😊 I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Sister Sever