Week 25 in Wigan

Hello friends and family! 

This week was pretty good. First and foremost.... I CAN CALL MY FAMILY!!! Of all the changes that we are all expecting, this was one that certainly surprised and I didn’t think would happen. I Skyped my family today! (Well.... google hangout) That is seriously just amazing! I am still in shock. After I called them, I just felt so weird because it felt like a holiday. Like, it was Mother’s Day and then I just had to wait for 6 months to call them again. Not to be biased, but I really like this change. 

We met with Vejas a lot this week! Like 4 times. One time was for a YSA activity. We all had to play a game where one person had to ask a question and had to remember all the answers everyone gave. You would think since my memory is so bad I would be naturally bad at this game but I surprised myself! So basically, I can forget my wallet on a bus but when it comes to a memory game I am fine haha. Priorities. 

Also, we had to say goodbye to Sister Dunlavy.... It’s so weird not being in a trio! But, I love Sister Rasmussen. She is so sweet and she is hilarious. I am definitely looking forward to this transfer! I can sense good things are coming! 

I don’t really have time for a spiritual thought but here is a scripture that I was reading in my personal study. My life would be nothing within it God, it would hold no meaning. I love this gospel and I love my Saviour. I hope you all have an amazing week!

2 Nephi 22:2

2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.

Sister Sever

Week 24 in Wigan

Hello friends and family!!

So something exciting this week is that we had something called miracle Monday yesterday. We all posted on this group chat that had every missionary in the entire mission and we had some set challenges we had to accomplish before the day was done. Then, we all posted miracles that happened to us throughout the day. One of them, we had to pass out a book of Mormon in a different language. I didn't really know what language we would need so I grabbed a Persian one, hoping that I would meet someone who would need it. Then that morning we ran into a nice young boy and we tried talking to him but he couldn't speak English very well. That sparked my interest and so I asked him what language he spoke.... He spoke Spanish!!!!!!! .....Just kidding, it was Persian!! So, we gave him the book of Mormon! We ended up giving out quite a lot of them! It was super fun! (Mostly english) 

We had some lessons with Vejas this week! He is really amazing! But.... He is moving to Manchester soon😫 It's ok though. He has promised he would visit us. We took him to eat at Galloways and by the way, Galloways has the best pies in the world!! 10/10!!!!! Ok, now I just have a question for all of you, I think I am rethinking my life a bit..... Do you eat pies from the outside in or the inside out? I eat the crust on the outside first but Sister Rasmussen and Vejas eat from the inside out. They just take a scoop out from the middle of the pie!!!!!! It got me shocked!! 

Oh! Also, speaking of companions.... guess what! Transfers are here!!! Sister Rasmussen and I are staying!!!! So...the trio is down to a duo😔  Sister Dunlavy has gone to the land of Barrow!!!!! Not only that!!!!! But she is going with a brand new trainee (most likely american) who will be driving them!!!! She said that she will be singing "Jesus Take the Wheel" when she first starts driving haha! I will miss her though! Sister Dunlavy was the best, we had so much fun!!!! She is an amazing missionary and will do absolutely incredible in Barrow:) I am also so excited to be staying in Wigan for another 6 weeks!!!! I have been here 6 months now and now I will be here for another 6 weeks!!!! Which I am super excited for because I love it here!!! Not only that but I get to stay with Sister Rasmussen! She is amazing! She is from Colarado for those who do not know and she is the sweetest person alive! She is an amazing teacher and is hilarious! 

So in a tea appointment (We call dinner, tea here), we shared this video by D. Todd Christofferson called, Is There A Place for Me? He talks about how God's church is one body and how we need everyone! He mentions that when we feel like we are alone or feel like we aren't needed he says for us to think,"Jesus Christ died for me." I watched this video first quite a while ago and it changed my thinking a bit when I was talking to people. I started thinking," Jesus Christ died for them." Sometimes I am on a bus and I look up and I have a sudden realization that everyone here, the people who are walking on the street outside, all the people in this entire world! Jesus Christ died for them. This truth rings clear for every single individual no matter how insubstantial they feel, no matter what mistakes they have made, no matter their living situation. And they need to know this! People need to know that there is a man who was perfect and loved them infinitely who died for them. And because he did, they have the chance to feel true joy, peace and purpose like they have never experienced before in their entire lives. I love Jesus Christ and I know He is my Saviour. I know He died for me as well as He died for you. I know that this church is true and that we have a living Heavenly Father who desires and longs for us to return home to Him :) 

I love you all!!! I hope you have an amazing week!
Sister Sever

Week 23 in Wigan

Hello friends and family! 

This week was amazing! We had a miracle earlier in the week! So, I have to go on a little blast to the past.🕓 So, when Sister Dunlavy and I were together for the first time(2 months ago), we got into a conversation with a young man named Paul. We talked for only a little time but he was so nice! He said he investigated the church and had a Book of Mormon but he doesn’t know where it is. However, when we asked if we could meet with him he said he didn’t believe in a God. He was more leaning towards Buddhism. So, now back to the present.🕐 So, we were having a street display and we weren’t finding much success. I couldn’t really see why because it was sunny!!!🌅 (Usually people are a lot happier with the sun haha! ) So I said a little prayer in my heart and asked that I or some other missionaries could come into contact with someone who was prepared and I felt immediate relief! Then... not 5 minutes later ...I was looking around the town center and I saw a man and he seemed REALLY familiar. He saw me and gave me a huge smile. I then remembered he was Paul!!(those of you who know me probably will remember I have a rubbish memory, so this was really surprising to me that I remembered him that fast) He then proceeded to tell me that ever since he talked with us he had a desire to learn more. He couldn’t find his Book of Mormon so he bought another one and has been reading it ever since. He said this time he read it and he has felt more spiritually connected to it and it’s teachings than he has any other book. He also said he has paid a visit to the Chorley temple grounds and has been having dreams of meeting with missionaries and when he talked with them in his dream he would feel really good and happy but when he woke up he could never remember what they would say. MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!!! I seriously was in shock while I was talking with him. Like seriously, what an answer to prayers!!!!!

We went to Liverpool this week! We had exchanges and we got to go to their ward coordination. They have 5 sets of missionaries in one ward! It was like a mini zone conference. We also taught Vejas this week! 

A little spiritual thought! ...I was studying 1 Nephi 16 (or 15?) and I did some deep thinking. It is the chapter where Nephi breaks his bow. It is a very popular story where Nephi and his family are in the wilderness and Nephi breaks the last bow they have. So, they don’t have any means to get food and so his family starts complaining. Even Nephi’s father(who is the prophet) is not happy about this situation. And so, Nephi makes another one and then he asks his dad to pray to show him the way to obtain food. He does and Nephi gets food for them and everyone is happy! But then I got wondering...why does Nephi ask his father to pray? Doesn’t Nephi probably have more factor with God since he is the only one not complaining? But then I thought, why do we ask the friends we teach to pray? Well, because it is important. We want them to know that prayer is a direct communication to God and we need to rely on him for EVERYTHING! I think that’s why Nephi asked him to pray. I think Lehi forgot in that time to rely on the Lord and the true power of prayer. I also think to this week when for a moment I knew I wasn’t doing well in the street display and so I prayed. It was just such a small thing to think of but I know it was because of that I got to be a part of that miracle! I know that as we rely on the Lord for all of our needs and as long as we ask him with a sincere heart and real intent. He will grant us our desires. I know that there is a God out there who listens to us and hears us and he wants us to comeback to Him so badly. He rejoices when we make right choices and helps us as we turn to Him. I love Him and I am so grateful for this chance to serve Him. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Sister Sever

Pictures below...NOT in order. :-(

Liverpool at night

It was a nice in Liverpool so I took a picture

A river in Wigan

A beautiful sunset

A view from a members window

Zone p-day in Liverpool 

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