In His Hands

Buon giorno famiglia...

How blessed we are to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ.. How incredibly
watched after, cared for, and completely encircled in the arms of the
Lord's love each and every one of us are.. The Lord is in the details
of each and everyone of our lives, and will direct us in every
decision if we let Him.. I'm learning a lot out here.. It's amazing
how I can be so far away from my family but yet learn so much about
each and every one of you and especially where we are going.. I'm
caught up a little bit by the comment about Justin Ence's dad.. My
heart goes out to him and their family.. I think back to pregame of
senior year against Pine View and just wanting to do anything in my
power to make that the worst day of Justin's life.. I've come to
realize that the little things like that really don't matter in the
grand scheme of things and how much my prayers go out to his family
right now.. How blessed we are to have the knowledge of this Restored
Gospel and the little reassurances in our lives when things go
unexpected.. This week was an incredible week here in Napoli and we're
doing our best to share the opportunity to have these reassurances
with all people that we come in contact with.. I want to tell you all
about the Lucchesi family.. This is a part-member family that the
other Anziani in the city are working with.. Absolutely incredible
family and the Mom is a member from Peru.. For weeks they had bounced
around from house to house, job to job, with the result of being
thrown out of their most recent apartment on the street.. The dad,
mom, three boys (21, 9, 7), with no where to go.. The Church was
quickly there to find a roof to go over their head, but long-term
solutions were scarce.. It has just been a really hard situation and
these people have brought so much joy into my life in the short time
of knowing them.. After many fasts and prayers, they received their
miracle of both work and a house in the same day.. This past Sunday I
had the most incredible opportunity to hear Israele, the
nine-year-old, bear his testimony in Church.. The Spirit that that
little boy brought to that pulpit, as a non-member who speaks broken
Italian, was as strong as I have ever felt in my entire life.. He
shared with the entire congregation his knowledge that God is in
control of our lives.. That He has a plan for each and everyone of us
because He loves us.. It truly hit me how much we need to strive to be
as this stud little boy is.. It truly all comes down to that family..
That God loves us.. That He is that loving Heavenly Father that ONLY
wants the best for us.. It's against his character in each and every
way to not do what's best for us.. What peace this brings to each and
everyone of us as we go through this life and encounter the many
heartaches and hardships that come.. Surely they come, and surely His
love will attend us afterwards.. What an opportunity each of us have
at this time of the year to truly show how much we love Him by serving
those around us.. There truly is no greater joy.. It's indescribable..
I'm absolutely loving being in His service at all times and I'm
finding this joy to be never-ending.. The seasons are changing here
and Christmas is slowly starting to show.. The city is more fun than
ever, the people are just as wonderful, and I feel each and every one
of your prayers everyday.. So thank you!! I'll write more next week
and be sure to send pictures.. Know that I love you all and I will
talk to you again soon!!

Anziano Gatchell