Week 6 in Maccelsfield

Hello friends and family!

This week was.... One for the books!! I can't believe just how amazing it was! A lot of things happened that just really made me feel the spirit and God's love a lot!!

We had quite a miracle this week! So we were struggling with finding this week. We were out of town a lot and had lots of lessons this week so we just really had to find by the way. We had time to talk to people around the town Center so we were just walking around and stopping people. Suddenly🤯 a woman just ran up to us and asked if we could use her phone. We gave her it and she tried making a few calls but nothing. So, she went on her way. We started talking to people and were just walking down the street when we saw the same woman again and it was looking like she was using another person's phone. They looked like they knew each other but she asked us if she could use our phone again and we started talking to the girl she was with. Her name is Sam and she just looked at us and got excited. She said,"Which religion?" We told her we were from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and she just said,"Wow I am really interested!" The girl who was using our phone gave it back to us and Sam said,"Let's go sit on a bench and you can tell me more. So, we sat on a bench and just talked about the Book of Mormon. She said, "Wow, I am loving this. I mean I love the Bible but I also love different perspectives." We then started answering her questions and she said that she has never had someone answer her questions like we have! She really wants to come to church. 

We then taught some amazing people this week. We taught Georgia and Antony again. We had a break through with Georgia and learned a lot about her this lesson. We also had an amazing conversation with Antony about the Holy Ghost! He came to church this week and said that he would really like to stay for priesthood because he wants to become a better man! 

I had the chance to go to the temple this week!!! I was able to go through for the first time in a year and a half! Wow, I missed going through the temple so much. I have these moments on my mission quite a lot where instances or circumstances occur where I have this overwhelming feeling of wow! The church is true! I had that moment when I was in the temple this week and I realized that there is no way that you can feel the spirit so strongly in a place that wasn't the house of the Lord.

As you all probably know, my time on my mission is coming to an end soon. The time where I get to see the faces of the people I have missed and loved for a year and a half is growing closer! I feel like a mission has been the best investment I could have ever made. This last week I have been thinking back on my mission a lot and all the people I have met. I have found as of late that my prayers are just full of gratitude for the people I have seen and the experiences I have had. The scriptures talk a lot about remembering all the Lord has done for us and the importance of seeing his tender mercies. You can see a pattern in the scriptures when the people forget all that the Lord has done for them and turn to their own means. I have really felt this week just how much the Lord blesses us when we think of Him and everything He has done for us. He has given us everything and will give us even more if we follow Him. I love my God. I also love you all and I am incredibly thankful for those that have been reading these updates. I hope you all have an amazing week!

Week 5 in Macclesfield

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY(late) friends and family!

Even though I was in the country where we gained independence from, there were fireworks going off in my heart. We also wore red, white  and blue but people might just interpret that to United Kingdom flag colors🇬🇧🇺🇸

How have you all been doing? I have been doing great!!! Sorry that my last email was really lame ,I didn't even put in a spiritual thought or anything!!! But, I will make up for it this time! So, I don't know how much a I spoke about Georgia in the past. But, she is one of our friends that we are teaching . She is the absolute sweetest woman. We have been teaching her ever since I got here. We were able to take her and our other friend Antony, to a fireside this week! Georgia said she really liked it!! The testimonies that were shared were powerful.

Antony also had a special experience while he was there. He said he really enjoyed the testimonies but in the middle of the meeting he had to leave because it got really hot. So, he just walked out and he started talking to a man outside. He said he just got so much clarification from him. He said a lot of his questions were answered and he knew he was meant to go outside to talk to that man. So things are looking up!!!

We also had an amazing Sunday experience. It was fast Sunday and I don't know how I haven't mentioned this before, but I love testimony meetings. A lot of them just really stood out to me. One was a woman named Nkechi and she has been going through a tough time at the moment. She spoke about how we just need patience and endurance. Heavenly Father will answer us and we will find joy in Christ but we need patience and endurance when they aren't given to us in that very moment. I feel like the mission has really shown me Christ's character. I still don't have a perfect knowledge of it but my understanding of it has really deepened. Another testimony spoke of how incredible Christ is and how of we just turn to Him than any misunderstandings, anger, fear, can be turned to love. Christ was the perfect example in patience, endurance, love, humility, and selflessness and when we turn to Him he can help us to bear our afflictions with patience and we will see the benefits whether now or later.

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

Sister Sever

Week 3 & 4 in Macceslfield

Hello friends and family!! So this is the lay down for the last 2 weeks! My email had a massive freak out and deleted my last email when I tried to send it haha! But, I will try to compact everything with the little remaining time I have! We also met this boy on the street named Jay! He is so sweet. He is only a teenager but he was very interested sun meeting with us. He says he is losing his faith but he loves going to other churches. He is the most talented boy I have ever met and so smart. We had a lesson with him and he said that he would love to come to church but he is going to a different country for the summer! We plan to keep in contact with him and meet with him once more before he leaves. We also met with Antony. So, he promised one he finished the old Testament to read the Book of Mormon but he said he just really wants to read the New Testament so he is reading that first. He read Matthew really fast so we just hope that he gets done with it soon. We have been reading chapters in the Book of Mormon when we are with him. We also had a surprise lesson yesterday. We went to a munch and mingle after church and afterwards we were walking home and we passed by a street. Sister Hales said they found a man who lived here that seemed pretty solid and said to teach his family but didn't hear back from him. So, we decided to try by and he was there as well as his family. We talked with them and taught them a few principles. He said he keeps the Book of Mormon in his bag to remind himself he needs to read it. He said things have been hectic and he hasn't read a lot but he promised God that if his house was finished that he would read the entire Book. And guess what... His house finished!! And he said that now he HAS to read it! He says he has a really good feeling about it. , we were calling through the paper areabook and we called a lady named Yvonne. She was so nice and was really open to have us come over for a chat. She said she loved having the missionaries over in the past and she has such a strong faith in God and Jesus Christ. She said when the missionaries gave her a Book of Mormon that she was reading it and one of the church members from her other church said that it wasn't a good book. Then, she started defending the Book of Mormon. She says she has no problem with it and she doesn't mind at all us teaching out of it. Well, that's a fast summary. We have some amazing people.we are working with and we hope to find some more! Sister Secer

Photos below

Tree man I thought was cool

 Macclesfield town center

 A walk we went on to get home

My companion and I with our friend, Georgia

 Pictures below are of a conference a couple weeks ago.

Week 1 & 2 in Macclesfield

Hello friends and family!! 

Wow did lots happen this week! My first week in Macclesfield has been just amazing! It is a very nice town and I'm excited to spend the rest of my mission here. So, it's probably not in California right now but as for England it has been really wet and a tad bit cold. But, the greenness makes up for the rain because it is beautiful. It has been an adjustment here physically because there really are no buses nor any public transportation. This is the first time I am biking in my entire mission and it has been a workout! It's great!

Sister Hales is amazing! She is so sweet and caring. She is an amazing missionary and so obedient. She really motivates me to try harder to follow every rule with exactness and to talk to everybody. I have good feeling about this transfer and I feel like some good things are going to happen. 

We also had quite a miracle!! So, Sister Hales and her companion found a lady named Sam before I came. Sister Hales said it was quite an experience where she felt like she needed to go by a returning member. Sam yelled at them to say that she was asleep and they gave her a pamphlet. We went by later to follow up if she has read it and a man answered. He was very friendly and said that they would be very interested to meet with us. We mentioned which church we were from and he said that he was so sure that he was a member of the church. It said it was a long tome ago but that he was going to church and was baptised in Birmingham. He said he loved the Church and had no idea that there was one so close by. He is excited to start coming to church again and to meet with us in the future.

This past week I just have been thinking about how many things I have seen and just how much the Lord has blessed me. I was reading in the Book of Mormon where it says that the Lord's arms are extended to all. It says that a couple times but it just made me think that I can be those arms. I look at the people on the side of the street and I realize that there is somebody out there who loves them and cares for them and it is my responsibility for them to know. Whether they accept or deny it. I am just so blessed to have this knowledge and I know that I can never deny it. I love you all!

Week 6 in Stafford

Hello friends and family!!

This week was pretty great! Well, a really big highlight was that Sister Ryser learned how to make Torta Fritas and also churros! So, I have been pretty spoiled. But, an even bigger highlight was the friends that we met this week!

We met with one of our friends Pauline and she is the sweetest. She doesn't fail to cook us food whenever we go over. She has been meeting with missionaries for a long time. But, Sister Ryser and I really feel like she is making some very positive steps forward. She said that recently she has been really hungering for more knowledge. We read Mosiah 18 with her and she said she really wants to pray to know if baptism is the right step. She believes the Book of Mormon to be the word of God as well! So, if you get the chance, please pray for her to receive that answer!

Sister Ryser had an amazing idea to start a Book of Morning reading evening. So, we are getting that up and running! We are starting from chapter 1 in the Book of Mormon and reading and discussing it with members and friends that want to learn more. Some members are pretty excited as well as our friends! We hope that it will be a good finding tool as well.

Also, we got a new branch President this week! He looks like he is going to be really good! It was announced during fast and testimony week and the testimonies afterwards were really amazing. It just really made me think how church callings are so divine. It gives me chills just thinking that the callings we have are something the Lord knows we need to do to help build his church. A mission is a lot more special when I think that I never chose any of the areas I have been to. They were never even a thought in my mind. But, each area I go to just proves to me that they are exactly what I need. I have lived and love each and every one of them. It is so true that the Lord really is in the details of our lives. I look back on mine and i realize that He was there every step of the way.

I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week!

1. Torta Fritas

2. Churros

3. There is a place called Hanford on the way to Newcastle!!

Week 5 in Stafford

Hello friends and family!!
How are you all doing? We had some MIRACLES this week!!! First and foremost.... So it all started 10 years ago... A woman named Irene met with missionaries and really believed and liked what they said and actually wanted to be baptised. But, before she did, she got nervous and didn't really understand how she was going to be baptised. She lost contact with missionaries and wasn t baptised. Around a month ago, elders were talking to people along the streets of Stafford and met Irene. She said she would love to meet with us and come to church again. They got her phone number and gace bit to us. We texted and called her a couple of times but there was no answer. Just this week, we called the number and HALLELUJAH!!! The phone answered. She said her phone wasn t acting properly but she would like us to come to her home the next day. So we did! She immediately brought up why she wasn't baptised and said she would love to come to church again. She said she definitely believed Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ and that the Book of Mormon was true. We addressed the reasons why she wasnt baptised and she accepted it immediately. She said the reason why she wants to come back so bad is that she really wants her family who has passed to be baptised and she knows our church is the way they can love with her forever❤ She is the SWEETEST woman and we are so excited to teach her. 

Sister Ryser and I gave a talk in sacrament meeting this week! I gave mine on testimonies and Sister Ryser gave hers on charity. I talked about how a testiminy is so powerful because it is born of the spirit. A witness of the spirit is more meaningful than any evidence you can ever receive because it is so personal. The stake patriarch also spoke after the both of us and he talked some more on both of nour talks. He said that when you feel the spirit, it is so short. He talked of a time where he looked his wife before they were married and he felt that this woman was for him. He also was told that He needed to take care of her. He said that he physically felt the Spirit for maybe 10 seconds but he has remembered decades after. I think that is so true. The times we feel the spirit are so short. But,The effects last for a lifetime.

1.  Found a little "home" in England
2.  Always eating yummy food (btw, I'm NOT eating the flower pin on my jacket, lol!)
3-6.  pictures from last week's zone conference

Week 4 in Stafford

Hello friends and family!!

So, this week we had lots of exciting things happen!! First and foremost, last week I sent an email and I only realized later that some parts of it didn't make sense. The title of ijt was Chinese with a hint of regret and it was because we got Chinese takeaway which we later regretted because our stomachs started hurting super bad Worth it because it was still really good food! Also, one of the pictures was of my companion and I with masks on. So, her mother sent her these face masks and we didn't realize that they actually had the pictures of the princesses on the masks! They looked really scary when you put them on.

We had a really good week! We had an amazing lesson with a 10 year old boy named Nathan! He actually wants to be baptized and went to a baptismal service of someone in the ward! He is the cutest! We taught him about the priesthood and he could remember things and noticed things that was just amazing for his age! I am super excited to teach him again!

Then, we had a lesson with Gail! We brought a member and Gail got us all presents! She is the sweetest lady!

We taught this woman named Val and I felt like her lesson went amazingly well! She loves the bible and has an amazing testimony of Jesus Christ. She said she REALLY wants to come to church.

We also had something CRAZY happen!! So, Sister Ryser and I had just come to the flat for companionship study and were talking together when we heard a weird trickling sound. Then, Sister Ryser just looks in the kitchen and says,"Why is there water in the kitchen?" There is just this puddle in our kitchen so we started inspecting and found water leaking from the outlets and from the ceiling. We suddenly got worried that something happened in the flat above so we rushed upstairs and knocked on the door. Nobody answered but we could see reader around the door and on the ceiling surrounding the door so we thought,"that means it is ABOVE that flat." So we went the next floor up and knocked on that door and a man answered he said he had a really bad water problem. No serious damage was done and everything was fine but we found it quite funny

A little spiritual thought! So, I was on exchange this week in Stoke and we Gor to visit this family who had just moved into the ward. They were from So Salvador and didn't know much English. Luckily, my exchange companion at the time spoke Spanish since she was from Argentina. So, basically the entire lesson was in Spanish! Since I took Spanish in high school I was actually quite surprise with the words I could remember but when it came to the spiritual thought... I didn't know gospel words. But, I remember when the father of the family spoke and I could immediately feel in my heart he was bearing testimony. I didn't know what he was saying but I could feel the spirit witnessing to me that this father had a strong testiminy of the gospel. It truly showed to me that the Spirit doesn't mainly speak through the words we say. The most important thing it speaks is through the heart. The spirit changes us and it's a lot deeper than any words that we can possibly say. I have seen it's effect and I have felt it's effect. It testifies of Christ and how grateful I am that we have the promise that the Spirit will always be with us when we partake of the sacrament!!

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

Sister Sever