Nothing Can Separate Us From The Love Of God

Week 67, Transfer 10 
Area: Auburn (Auburn 2nd Ward Spanish group & Lincoln 4th Spanish Branch)
Compañera: Hermana Griffin

This was a week of MIRACLES!! This is gonna be a long one.

First off, we got transfer news!! I'm leaving Auburn/Lincoln, going to Chico with Hermana Morgan! We served in the same branch together in Yuba City for 2 transfers so I'm excited to be companions with her for her last transfer! Hermana Griffin is staying in Auburn for her 5th transfer here (!!) with Hermana Scholes, who was here with her right before I came to Auburn. Pretty wild, but it'll be a great transfer!

Grinded member work in Lincoln this past week. Our branch President gave us a few names to visit, and we were able to set up a lesson with one of the families in particular for Thursday. We'll call them la familia Hernandez. We texted Bro. Hernandez on Wednesday and tentatively set up a time for the next day. I say tentatively because he never responded to the message and we forgot to put it in our schedule, so we completely forgot about meeting with them. Until.....

Brother Hernandez called us the next morning. We missed his call just barely because we were doing studies. A quiet thought entered my mind: "Call him back immediately." And we did. He was very nice and we set up a time to meet that afternoon.

Fast forward to midday. Our branch president had advised us that all they really need right now is to feel God's love, to talk about the sacrament, and to (if it comes up) talk about doing the baby blessing for their youngest boy, and also that they didn't have a good reason to not come to church haha. Hermana Griffin said one of the many prayers we say during the day as a missionary for leaving the house or making contacts or something that was not related to the Hernandez family at all, and kind of out of the blue, she adds, "and help us to know what we should share with them today." IMMEDIATELY, the thought of "Romans 8" comes to mind, which very directly speaks of the power of God's infinite love for us.

We pull up to their house and walk inside. They're very welcoming and we sit down. Get to know them for a bit and eventually share a message. I say it's a message of God's love from Romans 8. Hermana Griffin tells them it starts in verse 35. Brother Hernandez stopped us incredulously and told us that was his mission scripture and how much it meant to him. We read the scriptures and he told us about when he called us.

He was working and had the strongest impression that told him to call us back and let us in. So he did. That's why I had the prompting to call back immediately.

Brother Hernandez also served his mission in this same mission, in the California Roseville Mission! And he "just so happened" to talk about the 2 areas that he served where I served as well.

So many miracles lined up to the point where he genuinely teared up while telling us all of these miracles and so many more, including THEM bringing up the baby blessing of their oldest boy and how he regrets not yet blessing his youngest. We ended a very sweet conversation with them saying that they want to come back to church.

Some other highlights were sharing what seemed like a random but spirit-led message with a family after dinner, and the mom walking us out and expressing how much she needed to hear that because of what she's going through; finding a new friend who, after the only words out of our mouths were "¿cómo está?" started crying, telling us how badly he wants to find a church; trying for a good 30–45 minutes to visit this one friend who ended up not even being home, but every time we turned on navigation and started going to her house, we'd find someone on the side of the road or have an impression to talk to someone, and it resulting in us finding a member who hadn't been to church/English class since moving here 3 years ago, and 2 new friends to teach, one of them being a super sweet mom who so willingly and readily accepted a Libro de Mormón!

God is in the details, ESPECIALLY when we are willing and able to HEAR and RECOGNIZE the Holy Ghost. The only reason any of these miracles happened is because we have been striving our best to invite and hear the Spirit. Live worthy of that ability. Strive daily to improve your ability to understand the language of the Spirit. It will change and bless your life and open your eyes and bring joy to your every step more than ANY other thing in this world. Whatever brings you the most joy in this life, being able to follow the Spirit to bless your family and those in need is the superpower and joy that you're missing.

I want to close this week's email with the scripture that brought the Spirit so strongly into the Hernandez family's home so that they could hear the whispers of guidance from God, and inspired them to take the first step on the path that leads them back to God—

Romans 8:35–39
"35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

/Hermana Ellis

Mission photos!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/UtFZf4erpztBvg7x5

Notable Quotes:

My wonderful father: I see ground chickpeas and think of you.

















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