Sunday, March 17, 2019


Hello from Peru



Wow, we have been so super blessed this last past month and 1/2. We arrived back to our mission post here in Shimbillo Peru on the 2nd of February.

We hoped for a slow return into our ministries upon our arrival here in the Jungle. It’s funny that one of my fears before missions was if I was going to be bored. After all, a single mother with 4 children and two jobs what the heck was I going to do in the middle of the jungle. But much the same as last year Jesus again proved me wrong. Since our return we have been going nonstop which is great. 

The home He prepared for us
We have moved to a different home, a home that is half the size of our home last year and a lot cooler than the previous one as well. We our blessed by the amazing breeze that comes in . Also we do not look so American in this home. Our last year’s home looked like a castle and very much not the same as those whom we serve. It made people feel a bit uncomfortable to come in. We are so grateful to have found this little tin roof home.


Another reason we wanted to change homes was because we were praying for more water. God affirmed me many times that in this house we would have water and He was right. Although not in the traditional way of turning on a faucet but by collecting rain water in buckets, and from our friends showering us with the lovely gift of water.  We have not gone without water since our return and have had enough water to take a bucket bath each day. Very different from last year. 

A Family Retreat


My children and I were able to take a four day retreat offered by a wonderful Priest and Religious Sisters in the Northern part of Peru were we were greeted as a guest and provided housing and meals while we were there. It was a wonderful time for my children and I to call upon our Lord and ask him what His will is for us this year. How He would like us to serve Him and the poor whom we live among.  Please keep Julianna, Gabriel and myself in your prayers as we discern the next step that Jesus is calling us to. We are discerning if God might be calling us to serve in a different location than  our current mission post.  It is amazing how we feel Christ’s presence while in the mission field. You can feel him breathe and hear his voice so remarkably close. Its indescribable. We hear him speaking and we have entered into prayer asking Him to make His will know to us in a very clear way. So I beg of you all to keep praying for us to be able to have the courage for the next step as Foreign Missionaries. 

A new chapel on top on the mountain we visited while on our retreat


Father Robert introducing us in the small humble chapel. They use school desk instead of pews. 
Love one another
We were blessed on Saint Valentine’s day to go on 11 Home visits to those here in our home pueblo bringing each family a box full of food with Father Francisco. And we rounded the day off by traveling an hour away with Father Francisco to join him in celebrating mass in a small pueblo. What a wonderful way to celebrate Saint Valentines Day. Sharing our love with those in need and meeting Christ among the faces of the poor. Truly the best Valentines ever. 



Maria and her family were one of 11 to receive a gift box 


In His name we can cure the sick
We were happy to be able to host the very first Medical Mission here for our three pueblos we serve. The Doctors and student doctors and nurses from St Benedict college provided free consultations, medicine and personal hygiene products while we offered prayer and translation between doctors and residents. It was a blessed day for over 200 persons. 



The wonderful team of Doctors and Nurses

Before its person left they were prayed over
New Missionaries 
In the remote area of the Jungles there is such a need of missionaries. It’s crazy to think about what a role we play here. We have only 2 priest and they serve over 175 pueblos. I know that in my home community in Wise County Texas we had 2 priest and they only serve 3 parishes and that was hard. But here without missionaries it’s impossible for the priest to get to every pueblo once a year much less each week. Although we cannot celebrate mass we can do so much more to help the Kingdom of God.  We can visit the sick, bury the dead, visit the incarcerated, celebrate the liturgy of the word, lead and teach catechism classes and prepare people to receive sacraments. By our baptism we are called to do such work and as foreign missionaries this is what we do on a daily bases. It is such a tremendous amount of work that at times seems like there is no end in sight.  We are so blessed that God answered our prayers by sending us 2 new families and 4 new singles to serve among us here in the jungle. Even though they live over an hour away  and our paths barely cross if ever. It’s great to know they will help with the work load of spreading the gospel message among the poor.

Praise God for new missionaries
                                                                   

Maybe we could get just a few more mattress on top. 
Getting the new mission families homes ready before they arrived took a team effort!

Adventures of Super Missionary Boy
 You may have seen the new YOUTUBE channel Super missionary boy, Gabriel has desired to share our families mission with others via YouTube. He is only 9 but has such a big heart for those we live among. Please keep him in your prayers that he will continue to have the desire to let others learn of the great need here among the poor through his videos. You can watch his latest by clicking the link below.



Home Visit Group
Please pray for our new home visit group. We have formed a new group this year which began on the 1st week of Lent, in one of our pueblos called Nuevo Codo and each Thursday at 3pm ( Devine Mercy hour) we gather to visit those who can not make it to church or those whom have fallen away. It’s a ministry my children and I have been doing but this year we have invited the pueblo to join us. I ask that you pray for the group that will have the strength and the courage to bring Jesus to the less fortunate. It’s hard at times among the faithful here for them to go out and sprinkle a bit of that seed that they have cultivated in their own hearts.  One of our goals is to make disciples among our pueblos but it’s difficult at times for them - the poorest of the poor- to remember that they are blessed in many ways and that they should share that with the poorer whom are less fortunate than they are. It’s much easier for a person rich with material things and money to share a bit of it with the less fortunate . But as the widow who gave her last two coins which together did not add up to much gave way more than the rich who only gave out of there surplus. As we read in Mark 12: 42-43 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.  Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. " Please pray that they will see their worth and what gifts each one in the group has to offer to those they are called to serve. 




Home Visits In Nuevo Codo


Our home visit with Gilberto who has a tumor and is 78 years old. 



Beggars For Christ - Uniforms for Lent
 As a missionary its very humbling to have to beg. To be honest we beg for our food, transportation, for our clothes and for prayers on a constant bases. Becoming full time missionaries meant we became full time beggars for the poor. Such a very different world than I grew up in. I remember that 3 or 4 years ago in the beginning of my discernment process I had asked a missionary whom I honored. “How can I ever have funds to help the poor. How do you do it.” I told him how I felt called to serve but I did not have the “guts” to beg for funds to help the poor. I was determined to fund my mission myself.  But that missionary said some very harsh words to me. If I was truly called to be a foreign missionary he would give me the courage to beg.  He bluntly told me that “until I had the “guts” to humbly ask for help to serve the poor,  I would not be a foreign missionary” But I just could not get over myself enough to become a beggar for the poor. It wasn’t in my nature to ever ask for help much less for money.  But when your heart aches and you lay awake praying for the courage to help those in need He is faithful and He gives you the courage it takes to be humble enough to kneel among family and friends and complete strangers in His name.  He doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called. As we read in the book of Exodus.

After finishing our first year in missions last year it makes even more sense the TRUTH my missionary friend spoke to me so many years ago. Living as a full time missionary in a foreign country it’s impossible for us to do the work of the Lord as we do, on our own, for many different reasons. All though my family  has Religious visa’s and permission to live in Peru we do not have permission to work in the country, second we are FULL TIME missionaries which means we are serving every day, and for my family its very common to serve 6 to 7 days a week for 6 to 8 hours a day. It’s not something we do just in our spare time.

With that said It has be such a blessing to be His humble servant and to be able to connect the poor whom we live among with those whom are able to help financially. When we are beggars we are beggars for Christ and the voice for the less fortunate.

This year we felt confident that we could beg for help for school uniforms, shoes, school supplies and back backs for 10 children. It was hard to settle on a number because there are so many people here who need help. But we prayed about it and felt called to help 10 children who we have journeyed with since our arrival her last year. We launch the campaign UNIFORMS FOR LENT and praise God for his faithfulness to his people. We were able to raise the funds for not just 10 but for 13 uniforms. Thank you for all of you who made the sacrifice.  It’s comforting to know that God affirms us and our mission with his goodness and faithfulness in providing for his people here in Peru. To see so many fruits here in the mission field is the most greatest gift of all.  




Thank you for your prayers and financial support.
  Without you there would be no mission.
 Without you we could not serve the poorest of the poor.

I pray that God will answer the prayers that lay within your hearts and that your hearts may be transformed in a radical way during this Lenten season.

With much LOVE!
Karen, Julianna and Gabriel Del Castillo 
Catholic Missionaries 


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