Week 22 in Wigan

Hello friends and family!! 

This week we had another amazing lesson with Vejas!!! We taught him the Word of Wisdom, with a member named Gonzalo, and he accepted it immediately. We were teaching him about the importance of prayer and we were telling him he needs to pray every day! So, he decided that he was going to say prayers of gratitude for one of us every day. He said," Tomorrow will be for Sister Dunlavy, then Sister Sever, then Sister Rasmussen, and last Gonzalo, because he needs salvation." 😂😂

We also had a ward activity called a Burns Night! Apparently, it's a Scottish holiday for a poet named Robert Burns. We have a Scottish family in our ward and all the men had kilts on. They had somebody from another ward come and play the bagpipe. Then, a member from the Scottish family read out a poem that apparently you read out before you have haggis. In the middle of it, He stabbed into a sheep's stomach. And yes, I had haggis again. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is the inside of a sheep's stomach😳 It is alright. It just tastes like a meaty stuffing. They also did Scottish dancing, called Keely. It looked super fun! 

We also had a tea appointment with a member and she took us for dessert to this gelato place. They had halfbaked cookie dough and she said we could get some. Naturally, we all got some! Well, we should have all shared because I think by midway I started feeling super sick! But, I was so proud, I ate it all!!!!! It was mighty delicious and a genius creation!

During sacrament, we had someone give a talk about having a celestial vision. As I have taught people the plan of salvation my knowledge(although still not perfect) has grown significantly in how perfect God's plan is for us! If we have faith in Christ, we can achieve anything! Miracles are wrought according to our faith! Having a celestial vision is so important becsuse our brains are so powerful. What you think is exactly what you do! If you think you are lower, then we will achieve lower than what we are capable of. Our thoughts are everything and if we truly desire to live with our Heavenly Father again... We will!!! We have endless potential. Heavenly Father has gifted us with agency so that we can progress now and forever but also so that we can attain our higher purpose IF we have the vision to do so. I know Heavenly Father's plan is without fault and I know that he loves us infinitely. That is why there is a sure way to Heaven if we keep his commandments and honour the promises we make. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Sister Sever

(Bonus mom note!!  From our personal email today, which I thought, would also be interesting to all of you:
"I was in Manchester today and I totally had a flashback to my MTC days because tons of missionaries from the mtc were proselyting there! They asked what advice we would give them and the only thing I thought of was to have genuine love. Genuine love for the work, for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, for the people, for yourself! I want to use this for the rest of my life. If I have genuine love and interest for the gospel and for my God and others. Then, everything else falls into place. No matter what happens you can endure but enjoy as you are doing it! There is a Hope Works that totally describes what I am talking about, it's called Feeling Joy in the Midst of Struggle by Abby Stephens. It's on lds.org and mormonchannel.org if you want to watch it it. Also, a few sisters from the MTC told me that they read my blog before coming out haha! I had to tell them I have an amazing mother who makes it possible! They thought the vegan video was pretty hilarious😂 ")

1. Piccadilly square

2. Trump calendar you can buy in stores that we thought was funny😂

3. Chinatown in Manchester

4. Cookie dough place with members, winter makes me look like a hobo😂

5. This week there was something super random, it was just a normal day in Wigan and then in the town square a ton of Chinese people started dancing😂😂😂

6. Manchester

7 & 8. Guess what..... IT SNOWED!!!!!❄❄

9. Haggis!!! They had mashed potatoes and carrots with it.

Week 21 in Wigan

Well hello everyone! 

This week was..... full of excitement! So much happened! Literally, I think this is the longest yet shortest week of my entire mission. We had zone conference this Thursday but it feels like it was 500 years ago!!! We had this lesson with a friend named Alan! I think I might have spoken about him before. But, we were supposed to have it in the library. He showed up and was just like,”well, it’s a nice day outside so why don’t we just go out there instead”. So we up and moved to a swing set and sat there and taught him the restoration. Definitely a first in my mission, but I loved it! 

Then, not this Sunday but the Sunday before...something amazing happened! So,I was playing piano in church and we got a phone call, well the actual chapel did. A man on the phone named Tommy asked for me but since I was playing they got one of my companions to get the phone instead. They got his number and promised that I would call him later. So, afterwards they told me and I remembered him as somebody I talked to on the bus a week ago! I called him back and set up an appointment with him this week. He is just this sweet old man and we talked a lot about what we believe. He actually took us for a tour in the chapel he goes to! So that was a nice quirk we didn’t expect. We were just on a roll this week for having unusual places our friends wanted to take us to. 

Then we visited with Vejas!!!! Oh blessings! Vejas is amazing! So, we taught him this week and he now wants to be baptised! He also committed himself to read to page 300 of the Book of Mormon by next Sunday! Not of our own doing, although we support him wholeheartedly in his efforts, he asked for this himself.😂

Well, this week was my year mark! Crazy stuff! We celebrated by going to get gelato. 

Oh! And we also had zone conference this week! They were a lot of things that missionaries said that just hit me so hard! It was one of the best zone conferences I have had. But, one thing that I really liked was a quote that somebody read outloud. I didn’t write down the specific quote but it said how our desires lead to our priorities, which lead to our choices, which lead to our actions. Like this big domino effect. If we have righteous desires it will lead to righteous action down the line! A missionary brought up the point that as humans we are not born straight off the bat with righteous desire. But we can grow and obtain that desire! It is a mindset that we need to work at and obtain! I think what really helps me to have that desire is having a vision of where I want to be. I just want to be with my Heavenly Father again, I want to live with my family for eternity, and I want to find true and everlasting joy in Christ. With those mindsets, I find that my desires have changed and my actions show accordingly. I find myself growing in my testimony every day and striving to live so I can obtain that vision! I love this gospel and I am so lucky to be a part of the restoration of Jesus Christ’s church! I love you all!

Sister Sever

Week 20 in Wigan

Hello friends and family!!!

This week was.... AMAZING!!! One of the best weeks ever! So much happened I don’t even know where to start.

Then we had a day where we had 3 lessons! We had one with Vejas and wow he is so solid! He has been keeping commitments! He has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying! We talked on the plan of salvation and he had excellent questions but he kept on mentioning how it just all makes sense. I am just in awe. I know the Lord prepares people but when I meet them it just makes me remember how the Lord prepares people! 

Then we had a lesson with Soul! He is keeping commitments! We moved back his date still to February 9 just because his baptismal interview was supposed to be last week but he is embarking on the 21 day Book of Mormon challenge. He prays in front of us and always thanks Heavenly Father for Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He has been quitting tea and coffee and hasn’t touched alcohol! He truly is amazing. During the lesson, he started talking about the Saviour and how amazing He is. He just bore testimony to us about Him and I could feel the spirit so strong! 

Then we had a first lesson with a boy named Alan. He is the sweetest boy! He just is happy all the time and is just positive about everything! He believes in mindfulness and thinks there is an afterlife he just doesn’t know about a God. We invited him to come to church and he was so excited!

We also had a lesson with Katie! I forgot how amazing she is! She has been more open about talking with her fiancé Phil about God and he has been telling her questions to ask us about! She has such faith! She says she has been praying about baptism and she just really feels that it should be after her wedding so it isn’t overshadowed. She kept on telling us small experiences she has had in which she knows God is there and it has been an answer to prayers. So good!

Well this week I was studying in the Book of Mormon(of course). I’m studying in 1 Nephi 5 and I was just thinking how long it took for Sariah to actually complain. She was probably waiting for a very long time, thinking her sons might have been dead. I would imagine that when they first left she had full faith on their return. But then she did complain for fear of her sons. But when she did Lehi said that he was a visionary man and he is grateful for it because if he hadn’t have seen these things by a vision he wouldn’t know the goodness of God. I always read this verse as a straight up rebuke from Lehi but after truly pondering on Sariah’s situation I now see it as more of a reassurance. Because in reality Lehi is reassuring her that God is good and they will see their sons again not harshly rebuking her. Then, when their sons did return Sariah’s faith was renewed. I think I really applied this to my life because at times I don’t act like I should, I complain because the work isn’t going so well or I’m not happy. But the Lord has reassured me time and time again that he is good and it always goes by his timing and plan. 

I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Sister Sever

1. Archie’s is the only place with American milkshakes! We had to take a selfie

2. Just us in Wigan

3. Is with Sister McKinnon and Pymm at the docks. It was super windy!

4. Anglican cathedral

5. Trio in Liverpool

Week 19 in Wigan

Hello friends and family!!!

This one will be a bit short since my email has been acting up. It deletes things now so I'm hoping this email sends.

This week was really good!! We had a miracle right before transfers started! Sister Dunlavy and I have been feeling a bit down about the work; I mean we haven't slacked in the slightest, but no matter how many people we talk to nobody has been interested. But one day we had it in our plans to call by some people we are "teaching" but have never met before. One of them was Julia. We stopped by her house, and her previous boyfriend, Mantas, answered. Apparently they broke up so we talked to him instead. He doesn't believe in a God but after we left he texted us and said he really enjoyed our conversation and he wished he could believe in a God. Then the other person we called by was John. He was supposed to be 51-70 and the boy that answered was definitely not that age. He was probably 17 or 18. But we had the most amazing conversation with him! He gave us his phone number right off the bat and was really excited to see us again! We also saw his parents as well and they are super nice and seem open as well! He was so sweet and they are all Argentinean and so we immediately texted our ward mission leader who is also of the same nationality. So it was a really good start to the week!

Then we got Sister Rasmussen!!! She really is amazing and the sweetest person! I can't believe I'm serving with her again! We were companions in the MTC and I love her to bits. Being in a trio is the best, I really do have the best companions. 

I love you all!!!

Sister Sever

***Some Of the pictures are of the Anglican church we went to, another was of the trio I'm in, and...I also melted a spatula to one of our pans