Una bella settimana!

Ciao famiglia!!

How are all of you?? Everything is good here in Napoli.. Very rainy
and wet today.. I never feel more like a missionary than when it's
raining, that's for sure.. I'm loving the work here and I love this
city more and more everyday.. Thanks everyone for the e-mails and the
updates.. Letters are trying to find their way home, but there's a
little problem called the Napoli and Italian mail system.. Oh well,
there's always e-mail.. This week was a really good week here in this
incredible city.. Last week had a Branch Pizza Party (which is quite
common here in Italy).. We were doing some less-active work in the
most brutal part of Piscinola and we weren't having much luck.. Street
addresses here in Italy sort of don't exist at all.. So when we
finally found the correct palazzo, it was to no surprise that there
were no names on the intercom.. We decided to go up anyway and try to
find this woman.. When we knocked on the door she just became
stunned.. "Chi vi ha mandato qua??" Which means who sent you here.. We
began to tell her what work we were doing, she immediately recognized
as her missionaries, and that we felt that today was the day we would
come and see her.. Let me explain a little more about Piscinola.. A
Christian missionary doesn't search for broken down palazzi at
Piscinola past daylight.. It's the most brutal part of one of the
worst cities in the world.. But circumstance led to circumstance and
we found ourselves there well past the sun going down.. With 550
members in our area and a whopping 25 active, it's really hard to know
who to see and where to go.. She told us how she hasn't been to church
in over twenty years but just that morning her grandaughter, a member
from Milan, was visiting and asked her about church.. Something surely
touched her about that conversation and she prayed for the
missionaries to come to her house that day.. The night ended up with
all of us going to the Branch Pizza Party and having an amazing
evening.. It's those small little miracles that I love about this work
and that I'm learning so much about.. We've had quite the success here
in Napoli and with Zone Conference yesterday it was only that much
more motivation to be better.. I'm learning a lot here and I
absolutely love this city.. There is no more of a better place be in
this world! You all sound great on the other side of the world,
however.. Make sure that all of the Dixie Elders know that I love them
and their experiences in their spots of the vineyard strengthen me
every single day.. Right now in Napoli it's beginning to look a lot
like Christmas.. Christmas in Napoli is a party to say the least..
Everyone from Italy comes here to walk the streets and see the amazing
decorations, events, and collections.. We walked around a little bit
today for P-day and I was blown away at the amount of effort they put
into all of this! Christmas is called Natale here, with Papa Natale
being Santa Claus.. Anyway, I know that it is a bit short this week
but I want to let you all know that I love you and I'm thankful for
each and every prayer that you give in our behalf.. We feel them every
single minute of every day and what a great blessing you all are to
us.. This work is the work of the Lord.. He's in the details of not
only this work, but in each and everyone of our lives... Let Him take
the wheel through sincere prayer.. I love you all, have a wonderful
week!!

Anziano Gatchell