Week 13 in Wigan

Hello friends and family!!! And HAPPY THANKSGIVING🦃🦃

This week was amazing!!!! It was chock full of miracles!!! First of

all, Sister Dunlavy is amazing and I love her so much!!

We didn’t get to celebrate thanksgiving that much but we did have a

tea appointment then where a member gave us delicious Chinese food!!

Then, I learned something really important. Probably the most

significant thing I have learned on my mission. Apparently, golfing is

dangerous😂 The member told us he has the record of the most injuries

on the golf course. There’s one course he calls hand break corner

where he fell 2 feet and broke his hand. When he went to the hospital,

the doctor asked him how tall the building was he fell off of because

the hand was completely shattered. After they did the x-ray, they put

it up in the break room where the other employees played guess the

body part and apparently nobody got it right! Then there is another

course he calls heart attack hill!! Apparently, it’s a really steep

hill where he actually had a heart attack and a false alarm of one!

So, that’s what I have learned this week! Haha.

Then, we had a lesson with good ol' Soul! He is praying and really

wants his friends to come to church. He said he will bribe 15-20 of

them and then lock them in the chapel so they will feel the spirit and

be converted. He then said they will have champagne later... we told

him that probably wouldn’t be best to end Sunday with haha.

Then, A MIRACLE!!! Yup they do have them. The church is true! So

Sister Terry(shout out) had an a amazing idea to message everyone in

our WhatsApp to see if anyone was interested! So, a girl named Lucy

responded and said she enjoyed our message from the church and talked

about the word of wisdom and so we assumed that she was probably

taught by the missionaries.... WRONGO! We got there and her husband

opened the door. So her husband was a bishop and was a member of the

church a few years ago. Now he wants to come back and be rebaptised.

But it was the best lesson and he was an amazing fellow shipper. He

encouraged her to meet with the missionaries and said that he will

come to church next week with the kids. Lucy has a doctors appointment

and said she would meet with us in the evening though. There can be

miracles! When you believe!

But yeah, this week in my personal study I have been studying in

Mosiah and one chapter it was talking about how God and Heavenly

Father are one. And I was just thinking,”No wonder religions believe

in the trinity because if I didn’t know they were separate this would

be really confusing.” With the focus of Jesus Christ in my Book of

Mormon reading, I have become really confused with if they are

speaking about Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ. But, it truly

testifies that Jesus Christ is our prime example. He came down on this

Earth not to do his own will, but of the will of the His Father that

sent him. He came here for no selfish desire but for us and Heavenly

Father. He gave us his gospel, established the true church, and died

for our sins for us. Because of Him there is hope for us! With Light

the World just around the corner. It is a perfect time to thank Him by

serving others. As we learn from King Benjamin, when we are in the

service of our fellow beings we are only in the service of our God. I

know that Jesus Christ lives and that he is my Saviour. I love this

gospel so much!

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

Sister Sever

Pictures below...my new companion, Sister Dunlavy!!!  (and a pretty path...there are lots of those, haha)

Week 12 in Wigan

Hello friends and family! 

Transfers are here!!! I am staying in Wigan but Sister Terry is leaving😭 I am a bit heartbroken. I love her to bits but I’m getting another American companion named Sister Dunlavy!! She is pretty great so I’m excited to serve with her.

This week has been pretty eventful!  We had a great lesson with Charlotte and talked with her about the word of wisdom. She told us of an amazing experience she had where she went to a bar for a karaoke competition. She had a few drinks, she said she definitely didnt drink a lot but she got quite upset with her fiancé and her brother for drinking and smoking but she can’t remember it at all! This scared her quite a bit so she said she is officially quitting drinking! Her fiancé also quit at least til Christmas!

We had a miracle lesson with Katie. We haven’t been able to teach her for a while but we finally found time to teach her the plan of salvation. We had a really good discussion about the premortal life where we talked about how the gospel may seem familiar to us because we already knew it before! She then said how whenever we teach her something new, she feels like she has known it before. Pretty incredible!

Then one day, we had a few lessons that were arranged and were excited for! But then they ALL fell through... but there were amazing fruits instead!!  The Lord truly does have a plan for us. We decided to try to stop by another friend in the area and he accepted a Book of Mormon and told us we could come back! His name is Jason! Then we had a fellowshipper for one of the lessons. He is a returning member who served a mission not too long ago. So we told him the lesson fell through and then he said, “well you can teach me!” So we met up with him in the town center and he gave us a ton of referrals to go by! 

I have been hearing about those California fires!! I’ve heard they were really bad! A friend we are teaching, Soul, was really concerned about my family! But I assured him that if anything was close to you that the mission would notify me immediately. But, Soul told me to tell you that you are in his prayers. So more people in England are praying for you besides me haha. But those fires do sound terrible. You can definitely take some of England’s rain. They have plenty! 

So...we have plans for thanksgiving! So one member who feeds us asks us what country we want him to make and then he makes dishes from there. So he signed up for this Thursday and so we asked him if he could make us American food! But then he was like, American, I don’t much like American is there ANYTHING else you want.... so we are having Chinese food for thanksgiving haha! But he is an amazing cook so I’m super excited! 

Christmas time is coming!!!! It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!! I am so excited for this Christmas season! Since Sister Terry was leaving, a member gave us our Christmas presents earlier so my new companion wouldn’t feel left out. So now I’m super pumped for Christmas and I can’t wait to see the miracles in store! 

Then I also was reading in the Book of Mormon this week in Isaiah. I started in the middle of the Book of Mormon for president nelson’s challenge. I decided this time when I read them I do want to look in the bible and use both to try and understand. It totally works! I understood the Isaiah chapters more than I have in my entire life! The footnotes in the bible made it so much easier to understand! It truly testified to me how the Book of Mormon and the bible support one another and we need both for our salvation. I definitely know these books are true. Whenever I read them, my testimony of them grows stronger. I can feel just how much God loves us by giving us these books to truly help us in this life to come closer to Christ. 

Well I hope you all have a good week!

Sister Sever

Below are

1. Sister Terry and I we were matching haha

2. Debora and us

3. Deboras baby she is the cutest

4.Sister Terry and I in Manchester after my doctors appointment, President and sister McReynolds came and it was their date night haha

5. A rainbow!!!

Week 11 in Wigan

Hello friends and family!!! 

Today was a very special week!!! It was November 11 and it signifies 100 years since WW1 ended!!! Pretty incredible stuff! So it is a HUGE thing here. The poppy flower signifies peace and supports soldiers and veterans and so everyone wears one. The churches help sell them in poppy appeal stall and the profits go to the British legion which helps all the families of those who have died in conflict and the veterans who have returned home. This Sunday was the exact day of when it ended and the church did something really special where there was only an hour of church at 1. And at 11 am we all went to a cenotaph(a war memorial) and spent 2 minutes of silence, remembering those who have fought for us! There were actually tons of people there!!!! It was really special. It was kind of weird though because it was really cloudy and rainy before the minutes of silence and then 5 minutes after it had cleared up and it was sunny!! 

We had interviews with President McReynolds this week which is always fun!! Then we had a lesson with Debora!!! She is the sweetest!! We talked to her about callings and ministering assignments. Then also her records are in!!!! So hopefully we can go to the temple with her soon!!!!! She is also super excited to minister!!! She is just amazing. She said that the church and its members have helped her so much and she wants to help those in the church as well. 

We also met with Charlotte and Yvette this week!! Charlotte is getting married on May 31!!!! Now she is thinking of getting baptised soon after and her mom wants to get baptised sooner than that. Yvette wants to get baptised while her son is home so it should be pretty soon. 

Then Katie, the miracle referral, came to church!!! Apparently there is a hole in her ceiling and so that's why she couldn't meet with us this past week.... so solid excuse. But we are meeting with her this week on Wednesday!!! She is still reading the book of Mormon and she is still amazing. 

So this week I have been thinking a lot about all the wars and tribulations that we do have in this life. I love how British people have taken the poppy as  a sign of peace. The story behind it is that there was a war in France in this place called Flanders fields and it was basically a massacre. Many people died in this field and for years nothing grew on it. Until a few tears later and it was filled with poppies. Now, English people take it as a sign of peace. I can't help but think through everything we do go through in life, our church takes Christ as that symbol of peace. The talks this Sunday all talked about how all those men who fought in those wars sacrificed their lives for their country but how Christ sacrificed his life for everyone. He made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us so that we can be happy not only in this life but in the life to come. I am just so grateful for that sacrifice and I definitely have seen how that sacrifice has changed lives including my own. 

Well, I love you all!!!!

Sister Sever

Week 10 in Wigan

Hello family and friends!!!

This week was great!!!! We met with our friend Charlotte and she asked us to dedicate her home. So her home is now dedicated and she says she feels better! So that is great! She still wants to be baptised and her fiancé and her have a marriage date!!! She said it is somewhere after Christmas. She hasn’t told her mom yet so she didn’t feel comfortable telling it to us which is reasonable. But she said it’s not too soon but not too far. 

Also, Debora got to speak at a fireside!!! She was amazing.  I almost cried. She just has been through so much and the gospel has changed her significantly. She lived in a very tribal part of Namibia where her parents weren’t Christian but believed in holy fire that they talked to and they could talk to their forefathers. So she wasn’t allowed to go to church but she believed in God. But now she is in England and met with Missionaries! 

Also, an answer to prayers is real!!! So we were supposed to help a member with a poppy apple stall in the Wigan market but Sister Terry got really sick. So we had to cancel:( But the member was very overwhelmed and prayed that the Lord could give her help. She started talking to a returning member named Sonya and she helped her! Not just for that day, but for the rest of the week!!! Sonya wants to come to church again and this Sunday she did! She not only came to church but she brought a nonmember friend named Shane! He wants to come to church as well and he wants to change his life!

Last but not least.... I finished the Book of Mormon this week!!! Seriously this book has so much power. President McReynolds spoke at the fireside where Debora bore her testimony and he said that the most incredible thing about the Book of Mormon is not its miraculous translation, but the spirit of the word of God inside it. Whenever I read it, my testimony grows and it really gives me the motivation to do the work I do. 

I love you all!!! 

Sister Sever

mom note:  I asked her about how Halloween was celebrated in England, and if anyone was aware that it was also her birthday...this was her reply:)

Uuummmmm a few members knew. The relief society president found out and invited us over for lunch and gave me a cake and some flowers haha. I think she posted it on Facebook somewhere so I will find pictures and send them. Then the best thing in the world happened!!! Our baptism!!! Mohammad was baptised and confirmed this week. Baptism on my birthday! It was seriously such a spiritual baptism. After so long, he is finally a member of the church on record! He seriously has the strongest testimony ever. British Halloween is kinda... lame. Well it is getting bigger haha. Not many people go out trick or treating. Then there is a tradition the day before called mischief day where chaps walk around with eggs and flour and then throw them at people. Nothing happened to us but we were warned about it. 

Picture below:  We went to a returning members home and her dog just sat on us haha

Week 9 in Wigan

Hello family and friends!!!!!!!

This week was really busy and full of excitement. I feel like this has been the busiest I have been for my mission life. We are just teaching so many good solid people. One of which is Soul!!!! Soul is amazing and we just hit such a breakthrough lesson with him this week. He has been a very slow progressing friend but this lesson we really just resolved a lot of his questions but he told us that despite all of his questions he knows that this church is true 100%!! He is just so close to actually making that commitment of following Christ! He is actually talking about his baptism! He really just wants to make sure he is doing this for himself and that it is the right thing to do. 

We have also been working with quite a few excommunicated members who want to be rebaptised. One of which is Yvette. She is an amazing person who has been through a lot. She definitely has had multiple trials and challenges in her life but through it all she does want to come back to this church because she knows it is true. She also has a daughter Charlotte who has never been baptised but wants to be. We had a lesson with Yvette where we got to tell her that getting her rebaptised wasn’t as difficult a situation as we thought it was going to be. She was so happy!! Definitely on my mission, I have seen not only how the gospel changes people but what it means to those that have fought to have it in there lives. The gospel has such meaning in our lives if we just let it. Once people feel the atoning sacrifice that Jesus Christ made possible for us is the time that they truly are converted. This gospel is so true and I am so grateful and blessed that I have it in my life. I am also so grateful that I get the chance to share with the people in Wigan. 

Also, this p day was a bit different than the others. So I got to play piano at a funeral this morning! The bishop asked if we could help and so of course we did. Most of the people there were non members, the person who passed away was recently baptism just a few years ago. But, I am just so grateful that I have the comfort the gospel does bring.

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

Sister Sever

Week 8 in Wigan

This week was pretty incredible!!! We had this amazing ward party that was Harry Potter themed and they did amazing on it!!! Tons of people showed up as well!! So many returning members were present and members boroughs many of their friends. We brought a lot of our friends as well. Around 6 people we are teaching decided to come which was amazing! We were all sorted into our houses as well. I guess more people are bound to show when Harry Potter is mentioned haha. 

Then, Sister Terry and I played piano at our bishop’s daughter’s baptism. Our friend Soul decided to come with his adorable son. Soul said he was only going to stay until the actual baptism portion because Manchester United was playing. But he ended up staying for the entire thing and he really liked it! He has actually been talking about his baptism as well. He says he doesn’t know this church is true yet but he does want to look into joining haha. 

This preparation day we decided to come to Liverpool and we went to some pretty amazing places. I don’t know if I have mentioned primary but it is a magical place that is super cheap and has really cute clothes. In Liverpool it has 5 stories!!! It is the biggest one I have ever seen. We also went to the second largest cathedral in the world and another cathedral that looks like a spaceship. It was pretty amazing. Also we took pictures at the docks. 

We also had zone conference this week wher I got to see my old MTC companion Sister Rasmussen! Funny enough Sister Terry was also companions with her haha. Pretty great stuff. So this zone conference our mission President had this object lesson where he had sand and really big rocks. Sister Terry had to fit all these big rocks into the sand without it overflowing and it was really hard. But when she put in the big rocks first then the sand could fit into all the cracks and it all would fit. The analogy was that if we put the Lord first then everything else will work out. The Lord’s promise to us is that when we make sure that he is first in our lives by making time for prayer, scripture study, and families, everything else will work out!

Love you all!!!!!

(mom note:  Here's a little bonus from our personal email.  We had some visiting friends over the weekend with precious England ties and we had an awesome discussion about their loves of all things English.  So Sidney gave her two cents and also piped in about some of hers as well (below).  Enjoy!

"That’s nice that you are thinking of me haha. England is pretty great. I do love it! The weather hasn’t even been that bad. Now it’s getting a bit nippy and the beginning of my mission was..... so cold. But the summer was apparently the best one they have had since the 1960s. So I can’t complain. Except all the British people said they couldn’t cope because they have never had the need for an AC before. Everyone here is obsessed with vegemite and marmite. I’ve never had it here yet but I have had pate. I think that’s what it is called. It’s this weird meat spread, it doesn’t taste that bad. I have had haggis, I actually like it. It’s just this weird stuffing. I can see it being banned in the USA😂 Just like crackers. Iron bull is delicious! It’s really Scottish. But you can get it anywhere. Also, I like the coke here, but if you see doctor pepper....🤢 It’s gross don’t get it. It’s watered down and disgusting. Yes! I have had frog in a hole. That’s like egg, pate, and bread... I think. It likes like a ball. It is quite good! Do you know what else is good!!! Roasted parsnips!!! They are delicious!! I love parsnips! Ooo and I want to learn how to make roasted potatoes with coconut oil, those are delicious! Things I have tasted recently? I have lots of Sunday roasts! We had Mexican food at a members home!! It was quite good. But I still do not get chilli with rice and why they think it is Mexican haha."

pictures1-3-Zone conference
4-'the Beatles
5-Liverpool
6-the beach
7-me at the docks
8-just cause it looks so British, haha
9-space cathedral
10-space cathedral interior
11-large cathedral
12-me in cathedral
13-companion selfie
14-15-Large cathedral

Week 7 in Wigan

(mom note:  All Sidney sent this week is what I have included below...which is basically a response to my own personal email to her.  So if it sounds a little choppy, it's because of that.  But...I was requested by Sidney to delete a special story of one of her new investigators...apparently I can't post it on the blog; might be dangerous for his safety...that's all I can say.  But if you ask her personally about it then she can respond to you and tell you about him.  And let me tell you, it is worth the inquiry.  A very special man and his riveting backstory...it's amazing.)

Debora's baptism was this past Wednesday on the 10th! 

So, I'm in Wigan... and they have really... interesting accents, hahaha. It's the best. 

Woo!!! That's is such great news about dad!!!!! That is the best Christmas present in the world!!! Its so weird how christmas is already just around the corner. Only a couple more months and i will get to see your faces!! 

Oh yeah!! I have some connections in the mission home. They love me haha. When you sent me the package last time, a senior missionary drove to Wigan to personally deliver it. They normally don't do that haha. My mission definitely has increased my desire to serve a mission with my husband in the future. Just because, I love senior couple missionaries!!!!!

That's good that Jayden is better and wow good on him for those grades!!!! It sounds like he has improved loads!!!! He has such a drive, he will be an amazing missionary. 

Yeah!!! I heard that Nate is whitewashing his first area!!! Sounds familiar to what I did in my first area. Whitewashing was so fun and I would love to do it again. I want to whitewash sisters into Wales!!! Elders can't take all of of it!!!