Give it to God. How would we approach life if in any situation we understood that there was purpose in it? Instead of kicking and screaming we would contemplate, “Wow, I wonder what God is preparing me for? What gift is He giving me? How can I make the most of this experience?”
Yeah, I’ve yet to graduate to that kind of spiritual maturity. I’m still on the level of throwing my fit and asking what the heck is going on, then maybe realizing years later what it all was for. But do you know someone who has that ability? To see the purpose, and if they can’t they still just give it to God and trust that He is doing an amazing work?
I have a friend like that but she is too humble to ever acknowledge her gift. She is one of those women who after you speak to her you think, “Yeah, she speaks with God.” The whole, “let go and let God” thing? She has it down, though I’m sure it came at a cost as do most of the strengths we acquire.
Recently her family hit the one year mark of uprooting themselves from a loved home in the States and relocating to Southern Italy. When we discussed what her great blessings and trials have been we realized they were one in the same. Isn’t it beautiful that God knows exactly who we are and what we need to go through to become who we have the potential to be?
He orchestrates it perfectly and He is doing it for me and for you right now. She also reminded me that it is the same for our children. Going through trials ourselves is one thing, but seeing our children suffer can be even harder if we don’t remember that truth.
I want to share just one of my friend’s examples of this “perfect orchestration” of God, but first a little back ground info.
Before their move to Italy I was visiting her at her rental home in California. I remember her mentioning that they wanted to buy a home but didn’t think it was right time for them yet. So they waited. As we continued talking she told me she had a sense that God had bigger plans for their family overseas. This “sense” she had wasn’t an uncommon thing for her. I told you, she speaks with God and she has the kind of sense that would inspire anyone to seek what she has.
She had no idea where they might end up, but I asked her where they would choose to go if they could. Her husband had served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Southern Italy so that was an easy answer. He loved the people and his grandmother was from Italy so he had always wanted to return. Specifically he wanted to live in Naples, Italy.
A few weeks later I received a text that a job opened in none other than Naples, Italy and her husband had applied. She kept me updated but I was disappointed for them when the news came that it wasn’t likely he’d get the job. The time of impossibility is often when God steps in to let you know who is really in control. Her husband received an offer a fews weeks later and within a few months they were on a plane to Naples, Italy.
Since the move they’ve seen many signs of the wisdom of God’s timing.
In the years before the move the Spirit taught Trista to open her previously guarded heart and love people instantly. She would need that charity as the only common language she would speak to the dear people of Italy.
Her husband has been called to serve as the Bishop of their congregation.
Her daughter “by chance” was assigned to Italy as a foreign exchange student the year before and was recently called as a full-time mission to Northern Italy.
The Rome, Italy temple was dedicated where his former mission president now serves as temple president. Doors have opened to them to find and do work for their Italian ancestors.
Among these many evidences of God’s timing exists a small miracle she was willing to share. Here is her story in her words.
Guest Story shared by Trista Hataburda
“When we give it to God the hardest things become some of our greatest pleasures.”
My husband and I like to work on genealogy. He is so good at gathering information. I typically gather names for ordinance work for our temple and he does the deep research. I feel he has a special gift.
The Italian side of his family has been extremely difficult, almost impossible, to get information. We have used every online resource to no avail and had come to a standstill. He had recently received a family tree from his aunt that was in Italian that represented the “Follo” family. It had a lot of names and a few cities, but he couldn’t figure out the pattern of the tree. How the marriages were lined up and the order of the children didn’t make sense.
We decided one day to go for a drive up to the birthplace of his grandmother in Castlevetere sul Calore in Southern Italy. It was a very quiet city, a small town. Not a lot happening, actually nothing. We walked around the town and he spoke with a few of the locals. No luck. We tried to go to the cemetery, it was closed. As we continued through the town, we believe we finally received a break.
In Italy, to announce an obituary they post a notice on the wall of the day and time of the funeral. Recently, a man named Pasquale Follo passed away with an address listed. My brave husband decided to knock on the door. The woman was very kind, but was convinced we weren’t related. With the description of who we were looking for she told him the granddaughter of our family member owned a shop down the road.
We approached the shop, but it wasn’t open until the afternoon. At that moment, our daughter who was with us needed a ladies room run, so we went to the bar. In Italy the bar is a coffee shop with soda beverages and a snack bar. At night it’s a wet bar, but usually it’s the only place that will have a possible bathroom. He began talking to the employee with information about the “Follo family” and everyone gathered at the counter joined in the conversation. They celebrated that everyone in the city was a Follo and he was related to everyone. Ryan received embraces of welcome and friendship, it was a fun sight to see. As he spoke with them, one of the gentlemen said he would walk us down through town to the il Comune building for the town records.
We arrived at lunch time and didn’t think anyone would be able to help us. Each day there is something called “riposo” where everything closes down. It’s the Italian version of siesta. Everyone knows you don’t knock on anyone’s door during that time. We spoke with a woman about what we were doing and she was surprisingly willing to be late for her lunch to help us.
She took us to the records room in the basement. As we entered the archive, it was organized year by year for the past 200 years. She looked for the name of his grandmother Maria Follo, and his great-grandmother. Within minutes she found who we were looking for. We couldn’t believe it! We finally struck gold as we unlocked my husband’s connection to his family tree and he learned the order of the names, marriages and children listed on the tree.
They typically don’t allow people to take pictures of the records, but her heart softened and she made an exception for us. We celebrated together and took all the pictures we needed. He ended up getting five generations and another lead to a town about a half an hour away.
As I think about that day, I know it is only the first of miracles and beginning of experiences we will have. There is so much information to be found here about his family. My husband lived here as a missionary over 20 years ago. He met some cousins and visited a few places his family was from but it has been so many years that it will take more windows opening to gather the information.
Recently, the Rome temple was dedicated and we have had the opportunity to do the temple work for the ancestors we found that day. What a special moment for our Italian family to have their work done in their own temple. I know that it was a special day for us and many of our family members. Our hearts were full and every time we talk about it, it’s a memory that brings emotion.
I feel that this is one of the many reasons we are here. I think about the timing of our move and I know that it is the Lord’s timing that has brought us here now. There are a lot of things to learn within our whole family. We will learn it if we keep our hearts on the Lord. God’s hand is in everything in our lives. The hope is that we allow ourselves to see it.
