Week 30 in Wigan

Hola friends and family!!

This week has been absolutely amazing!! The weather has been nice and perfect for miracles. First and foremost... Vejas is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!!! His service was wonderful and he kept on telling us how grateful he was that we taught him about the church. It is just amazing to see the change that happens to these people over the course of just a couple months! Only Christ can change people so fast and significantly. Next step... THE TEMPLE!!! 

Then, we also taught Sebastian again this week. We taught him the plan of salvation. Sister Brown(the bishop’s wife) was there again and you can just see how she looks forward to teaching him. She actually invited him to a ward activity we didn’t even know about! He came as well! So, he got to know a lot of ward members there.

Then.... transfers are now here!!! And all of you have probably guessed what is happening especially since I have been in Wigan for so long.... IM STAYIN!!! Woo!! I am getting a new companion but I don’t really know who it is until tomorrow so you will just have to find out next week! She is a new missionary!! But, I am so glad that I have had the chance to serve with Sister Robertson. Even though it was but for a short 3 weeks. 

In Train the Trainers, the assistants mentioned 2 Nephi 2:11 in a different way that I didn’t realise before. They said the same applies in our mission lives as well. Without those days where our lessons fell through and we couldn’t find anyone I couldn’t appreciate days like seeing Vejas get baptised. But since I know those days, I have to say seeing the fruits of our labours just makes the fruit of the tree of life a lot sweeter. I do know there is opposition in all things for a reason and I am grateful for that. Without that opposition, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. 

I love you all!!

Sister Sever

Week 29 in Wigan

Hello friends and family!!!

So... I haven’t sent this in a while!!! My email hasn’t been working well but I have been working great! I didn’t have an update last week. But here are the highlights!!! 

So, we had a miracle last week where we met this man named Andrew. It was right before we were going to go in for the night and we introduced ourselves to him. He asked us if we could walk with him for a little bit so he could talk with us a bit more. We talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and he kept on asking us,”So... Is it true?” And we kept on saying,”Yes! It is true!” Then we met with him again and by the end of us teaching the Restoration he said, “IT HAS TO BE TRUE!!” He was talking about how far the Book has come and probably a lot of people have tried to destroy it and make it less than it is. But now he is meeting with missionaries and learning more about that same book. 

We also met with Paul!!! He is so good! He just has such amazing insight. He has now read through the entire Book of Mormon. And... he bought himself a quad!!! He loves quoting scriptures to us and he has such an amazing testimony of the Book of Mormon. We are planning on giving him a chapel tour soon. 

We also had the chance to go to a fireside. There was a testimony I really liked. It was the first speaker and he was completely atheist before he met with missionaries. The missionaries asked him to pray before he read the Book of Mormon and then he did! He said when he was reading it he just felt this amazing feeling that the book was true! Ever since then he has not doubted it and now he is baptised! 

So that was last week!! This week was quite exciting! So first and foremost..... VEJAS IS DEFINITELY GETTING BAPTISED!!! MARCH 23!!! We met with him actually today! He is excited that he is being baptised and yeah he is the best! I am so excited for his baptism! I can’t believe that from when I first saw him talking to Elder Wagner in a street display that he would be preparing for his baptism next week! It is just amazing being a part in this amazing work:)

Also!!! So, a new sister came in midtransfer and so our mission President took the liberty of switching out a few companionship’s! So now I am with Sister Robertson! She is amazing and I am so excited to serve with her! Even though it might only be for a few weeks. Sister Rasmussen has gone to Barrow with Sister Dunlavy. Reunited at last!

We also had another miracle this week! We were going to a tea appointment and we had a bit of time so we tracted a street. Nothing. So we started to knock another street and the first door we knocked a man immediately opened the door. He said he saw us from his window and didn’t think we were going to knock but we did! He met with a missionaries a year ago and he really liked what they had to say but then they disappeared and never contacted him again. He thought they were really nice people. He actually made a return appointment for the day after and we planned on talking to him about the Restoration. But then, literally all of his questions followed every principle of the plan of salvation. After he learned it, he said that he found such great comfort from it and it just felt right. MIRACLES!!

This week on Sunday a member gave a talk about revelation. He mentioned the sentence Russell M. Nelson gave about how in the coming days we will need to be led and guided by the spirit,and receive revelation EVERY DAY in order to survive spiritually. He then made the point that what did Russell M. Nelson mean by the coming days? Is it in a few years? Few months? Then he said, he thinks he meant the last 12 months since he gave that talk! That really got me thinking! These truly are the last days! The coming days are now and revelation is key. There is a quote by Lorenzo Snow that says “It is our right to receive revelation EVERY DAY.” We need only ask from Heavenly Father. He is so willing to give us inspiration and we just ask him he will not give us anything contrary to it if it of righteous desire:) I love you all!!!

Sister Sever

Week 28 in Wigan

Hello friends and family!!!

This week has been super good! We have had a couple lessons with Vejas and are planning to have a couple more! He is doing so well! He is really dedicated, he comes to church despite having no sleep due to work. But he still does!!! He now has been really thinking about the Rome temple and he wants to go inside it! Already thinking ahead:)

We also had a first lesson with a boy name Sebastian! We had first met him on Sunday and he actually looked up the church on his own and requested the missionaries to come. And so we did! We taught him the Restoration and he said he really wants to come on Sunday! 

We also had exchanges in Liverpool and it was super neat because 2 exchanges ago I was with Sister Takata and we found a man named Andrew. This exchange, I was again with Sister Takata and we met with Andrew for a lesson! It’s so amazing seeing the people we have found still be taught in the future! He not only is being taught but also his mother as well! It was such a good lesson as well. You never know what his happening with the seeds you plant and how they might grow. I have heard of so many stories of people who were not interested but took a card and time passes and they find the card and decide how was the right time. Then they are baptised! We have these fireside where people say how they are found and I think there is one of those almost every single time. It gives me hope and motivation to make sure I am doing my best to share the word of God! Because even if they are not interested then, we never know what the future may hold!

This week, I read a talk by Jeffrey R. Holland and I thought it was just amazing! It was called Lord I Believe. It talked to those who were young in age, young in membership of the church, and young in faith. He said a story that I really liked. It said, “A 14-year-old boy recently said to me a little hesitantly, “Brother Holland, I can’t say yet that I know the Church is true, but I believe it is.” I hugged that boy until his eyes bulged out. I told him with all the fervor of my soul that belief is a precious word, an even more precious act, and he need never apologize for “only believing.” I told him that Christ Himself said, “Be not afraid, only believe,” a phrase which, by the way, carried young Gordon B. Hinckley into the mission field. I told this boy that belief was always the first step toward conviction and that the definitive articles of our collective faith forcefully reiterate the phrase “We believe.”And I told him how very proud I was of him for the honesty of his quest.” He talks also in this how it doesn’t matter how much faith you have to work miracles in your life, that’s why the Lord said if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can move mountains. Believe is a strong word. It doesn’t seem like it is but when a man came to Jesus Christ asking for him to heal his son, he said!”Lord I Believe.” And his son was healed through his faith even though he but only believed. So many people I have taught have only believed and the Lord has worked miracles in their lives. It has led them to baptism and through that their belief has grown. As I have also grown in my belief, I can say that I do know. Even though I say I know now but tomorrow I will say it with more conviction. Because it is an ever growing process as I learn more of what Heavenly Father has in store for us and feel of the redeeming love of Jesus Christ. I know this gospel to be true. I love you all!

Sister Sever