Alma 56: 47-48

 

This picture arrangement was put together and given to me by my Mother-In-Law. It is beautiful isn't it? From left to right: Me, My Mom Kristi, My Grandma Josephina Giuseppe Maria Natelli, My Great Grandmother Barbra Maio Natelli.

 The wording in the middle is taken from Alma 56: 47-48

"... They had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, god would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our Mothers knew it..."

"I have mentioned my Grandma before. She kept a very consistent journal during the latter part of her life. She has been on my mind a lot this past couple of weeks. It seems like whenever I face adversity I feel her near me. I draw upon the simple faith that she had, and passed onto my Mom. In almost every entry she speaks of her faith. Here is an example of simple faith.

"...yesterday was one of the most worthless day that I have ever spent. I didn't accomplish anything, and last night I felt so worthless that I could hardly say my prayers. While I was getting into bed the thought came to me to get my day started dedicating my first hour at least, to the Lord. I know when I do this it makes my day 100% better. Just saying my prayers in the morning is not enough, I know I must do some of the things we have been told to do. Writing in my Journal is one the things we are always told to do."  ~ Grandma 09-16-1984

The following entry made me giggle, because I can hear her saying it now, and even more funny, I can hear my Mom saying it. Grandma would roll over in her grave if she saw the junk my husband eats!

"...I'm thankful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints, and that the Lord has given us the Word of Wisdom, however, I'm disgusted with myself for buying candy and cola drinks that are also harmful. I am going to have to start praying much more and fasting to overcome these bad habits"

~ Grandma 

The following entry that I will share, I believe, is the one that I was supposed to find today. It led me to some very important information, that I will be needing.

"After I got up this morning I read a chapter in the Bible, it was the last chapter in Malachi. In the 4th, 5th and 6th Verses it says ...Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.... It makes me very sorrowful that people don't understand these versus. They are so plain and yet the majority of the people don't understand them or don't want to understand that Elijah is speaking of doing genealogy and temple work for our dead who have not received the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints. 

During this last General Conference I was reminded that there is to be a Temple in Rome, Italy. The dedication is in about 2 years. When I heard this I thought "I want to go". Later that day I saw my Mom and she said she wanted me to start saving so we could go to Rome for the temple dedication. I really think that we both had this thought from inspiration.

My Grandma is a first generation Italian American. Her Parents immigrated to the USA and had 12 or 13 kids. They came from Gioi, Salerno, Italy. As a young navy wife my grandmother who was raised devote catholic, catholic school and all... had a cute little Mormon couple as nieghbors. She admired them. They were loving and sweet. It was because of them that she became an investigator of the Church. She joined shortly after, her husband never did neither did any of her extended family. 

Before my Grandma died she did as much Temple Work as she could, but she didn't have the technology that we have now. Since her death she has had more siblings die. Today after I read my Grandma's entry about Elijah I ran a Google search on the name Natelli. Immediately I found the obituary for her sister Madeline. She died 1 year and 3 days ago. I am pretty sure she and my Grandma want her work done. This inspiration has been coming in waves during the last month or so, bit by bit, and today it all made sense. I often feel like I have little talents, and I wonder what is my purpose in life. I know now I do have a job to do. I am actually very talented at researching, I have been since I was young. I need to use my talent to find my Grandma's family and get their work done. It won't be easy, and it will for sure require a trip or two to Italy, but it is something I am going to do.

My Grandma was just one woman with great and simple faith and she has built a posterity of faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Even from the other side she is still sharing the gospel and teaching it. She needs her family to carry on her work. It amazes me that one woman can build a small kingdom through faith, inspiration and obedience.