Sunday, March 22, 2020


 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;

 I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done! 


Psalm 9:1







  

My children and I wanted to reach out to each of you and share with you regarding our current situation here in Peru as we are on a mandated quarantine here. We desired to give you a brief update and to also connect with each of you in this time of uncertainty and despair among many.  First of all we would like to remind everyone that this is a time we must unite in prayer and praise God for his faithfulness and love for each of us. We are reaching out to you,  not because we have great courage or strength but because we are weak and feel the need to be united with you, our sweet brothers and sisters in Christ, in prayer during this difficult time. 


So be strong and courageous, all you who 

put your hope in the Lord!- Psalm 31:24


Julianna with her prayer team
Last week March the 8th through the 14th my family and I were blessed by the opportunity to join our fellow missionaries in our old mission post about 9 hours south of us. We joined together to bring medicine, vitamins and two Doctors and two Physical Therapist from the United States to the poor of 6 different pueblos. Julianna served in the prayer station set up at each clinic, she and her team prayed 
with all the patients for Gods healing. Gabriel and I had the task to teach in the education station, were we taught about the importance of washing hands, brushing teeth, diabetes, a healthy diet and drinking water.  



During the clinic we were blessed with so many encounters with the Lord. The witnessing of so many miracles that Jesus performed during the medical mission trip must not be forgotten.  The smiles and the changed hearts we encountered should fill our hearts and last us a life time. For example the beautiful woman pictured below, who walked with her sister over 5 hours away to make it to the clinic. The things we take for granted in the United States and would be frustrated and appalled if we had to do the same. But this lovely woman was so grateful and overjoyed to be able to travel the distance to the free medical clinic. These witnesses and encounters we shared should be indeed cherished forever. 
This sweet women walked with her sister about 5 hours to get to the medical clinic 

I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; 

I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.

Psalm 9:1


But as we are human we fail and in the blink of the eye we can become over whelmed and become highly at risk to forget how good is our God. As we wrapped up the medical mission trip and planned to make the drive back to our mission post we heard that the President of Peru was closing the boarders and placing the country on a mandatory quarantine. With police and military on the ground directing traffic and warning everyone to go home and stay inside,  I heard a voice tell me to “go, go now”,  so we rushed to fuel the truck and pack our belongings as we prayed for open roads, for the ability to refuel along our journey and for Jesus to guide us back through the long journey home. Praise the Lord we were able to make it back to our small town of Cajaruro just in time before the road blocks were enforced. It was in an instance that our world here turned upside down, with absolutely no warning. Sunday night  the President made the announcement and by Monday the airport was closing. By Tuesday the enforcement of the no travel band was in place. No one absolute no one was to be out.   

Military posted everywhere, these guys just walking about town stopping people they saw walking around or driving.


Not normal for the USA, but we are glad to see the Military out in such force. 

We are in day 6 of the 15 day quarantine and it seems this day,  Saturday is a calmer day. The children and I have been diligent and obeying the mandatory quarantine only going out to the local Bodega (store) to make our daily food purchases. As the great Commandment tells us to Love our neighbors as our self’s, we as a family feel very passionate about adhering to the strict regulations during this time. We of all people around us have been exposed to so many different people in the last week. Because we served with the medical mission trip which consisted of 30  missionaries some of which were full time missionaries living here in Peru and others that are based out of FMC’s home base,  and 5 short term missionaries from different parts of the United States we run a high risk of bringing the virus to are small and closed off community. After all, over the course of 5 days we were in contact with over 100 patients each day. To top that off my family even made two trips to the Tarapoto airport dropping of and picking up people.  So needless to say we as a family feel the duty to remain quarantined in hopes to not contaminate anyone else in the event we have been infected by the virus ourselves. 

We must remain faithful even though at times there is no hope, we must be the light for others to know there is better times and a better life to come. For instance on Wednesday we experienced high winds here in our small town, the impact and the force of the winds destroyed many bamboo homes and blew off many tin roofs. Within the last 6 days of the quarantine we  have experienced a day without electricity and a few days without water. And instead of losing hope we must praise Jesus and His Holy Name that we have not had to go with out for long, those who had homes destroyed have found shelter until the quarantine has lifted. Yes there is a huge show of armed military and police officers throughout our small town and we are forbidden to leave our town unless it is for a medical reason or to buy food. But they are here to keep order and to enforce the law in this state of emergency. And to be frankly honest they are doing an amazing job thus far. Though it is not common to see in the United States a show of force from our military within the country I expect it is a common display here in Peru.   One can have a negative outlook and a harden heart about what we are experiencing. But we must not forget that earth is not our eternal home. We were sent here to complete our mission, not to have worldly goods and comforts, we must not forget that in our next life we will not suffer.  Pope Benedict XVI is attributed with saying the following: “The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness!” We should let his words sink in. These times are uncomfortable and scary. Believe me I have had to re-focus my worries to prayer many times in the last 6 days. It is not easy for anyone to live in a third world country but under these times it is especially trying and frightful to say the least. 


Morning after the storm blew through 

Morning after the storm blew threw


I truly want to encourage each of you to take this time of Isolation as a gift, in our suffering we must remember we are united with Christ. We should not panic and we should not be upset for having to change our plans. We should instead have joy and sing praises to the Lord our God,  who does not ever abandon his people. We are in the time of Lent a time of Alms Giving, Prayer and Penance and nothing should keep these things away from us. Yes our Churches have closed, but we must be overjoyed by the faithful and saintly priest that are still celebrating the daily Mass,  all over the world allowing us the body of the church to unite with the Head of the Church, the Bride Groom, whom is our Lord and savior. We should feel we are united with Christ in these desolate and trying times. After all Lent is a reflection of Jesus’s time in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights without food and water. He was tempted by the devil 3 times but even than he remained obedient and focused on His prayer. I cannot help but feel we are called to do the same. 


Please know that we are praying for each one of you. I beg of you to join my family in prayer as we fervently pray for an end to the virus and the quarantine. Most importantly we pray for the safety of all our missionaries around the world whom have been effected by the closing of borders, and mandated quarantines to keep them safe from any threats or outbreaks of violence. Please keep all of us safe as we continue to serve your people. We especially pray for the first responders, including my two sons Mason and Maccray and the doctors and nurses whom do not have the option to stay home.  Lord God we pray for you to remain close to us and to breathe your spirit of peace among each of us during this time.   Amen



Please remember at any time please feel free to send us your special prayer request.   You can send them to us by email:





If this Lenten season you feel called to help support our families mission here in Peru, Please donate by following the link below:

We thank you for your prayers and your support. 
Without the sacrifices made by each of you this work would be impossible. 


Karen,  Julianna and Gabriel Del Castillo 









A wonderful group of missionaries, it was an honor to serve a week with them, 


The doctor found a way to entertain his patient 

Gabriel wanted to help this gentleman make it through the medical stations




Waiting for the Doctor 

Gabriel made it to the small make shift pharmacy with his patient.