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| My buddy, I can not love him enough! |
Hello, my beloved mission partners,
family and friends,
I pray you all are well! We are
doing good, despite the fact it has been raining tremendously here for the last
several months. Which has been rather nice to have to cooler weather but of
courses the mosquitos are out in full force and now on top of covid there now is a
high number of confirmed cases of dengue fever running about.
I am truly sorry it has been a while
since I sent out an update, we have really been enjoying the work the Holy
Spirit has led us to, and grateful for the opportunity to serve our Lord in such
a humble way.
We are supper excited to share with
you how the Holy Spirit has been leading us here in the mission field. Of
course It is always a challenge among us humans to remain with hearts "Wide Open" and with a "YES" on our lips, because as you know we sometimes get in the way of the
Lord’s plan. But we are happy to say that we feel that the Holy Spirit has been
doing an awesome job at directing us despite are thick heads and harden hearts we
posses at times.
I would like to share with you a couple of Glory stories with you. These stories though may not be a huge deal to some, however, they are every bit worthy of praise, and we recognize that the Holy Spirit had every intention in moving in the way he did, and we are so grateful that he is leading the way.
No one comes to Adoration
When we moved to our current mission
post in Oct 2019, Father Robert asked if our family would lead adoration each
Thursday for the community. Of course, we said yes. After all, my family and I
love our time spent with Jesus in the blessed sacrament and were very excited
to lead it for our new community. Overtime though we became discouraged at the
fact that no one would come to adoration despite the fact we were inviting
families personally to join us. We even invited families and friends over on
Thursday nights to share a meal with them in our home before adoration. But
yet, each time somehow, they all managed to slip away before adoration.
Feeling defeated and like the worst
missionary ever, I rested in the fact that at least Thursday night could at
least be a time my family and I could spend time with Jesus. A time that was
quiet, refreshing and spiritually renewing for each of us. The three of us
could have this intimate time alone with Jesus which aids us in our weekly
ministries with those that we journey with that are not quite ready to join us
for adoration.
More than 19 months have passed and
every Thursday Night we open the Church doors, and we expose Jesus in the
blessed sacrament, alone as a family. Heartbroken that no one would attend, I
found myself praying each Thursday for our community, and for all those we had
invited over the months. As I sat there in front of Jesus each week, I begged
for at least a few people to accept the invitation to join us. I also
found myself asking for forgiveness for failing to be a “good enough
missionary”, and at the same time asking for forgiveness because of the
“guilty” feeling I had for enjoying my family's alone time with Jesus.
5 weeks ago, as usual we were in the
chapel during adoration and suddenly, I heard a group of young girls walk in.
Of course, they thought they were talking quietly, but the roar of their voices
drowned out soft music that was playing and attracted all our attention,
instead of the blessed sacrament that was sitting in front of us. They
immediately came up to me and asked if they could join us. And of course, I
said yes. These girls have came back every week since. Sometimes they even
bring their friends and little brothers or sisters with them. I have found
myself frustrated a bit as now my quiet and intimate adoration time has now
been taken away from me by little whispers and the idle movements of young
jittery children scattered throughout the pews and floor of the church. But I
quickly remind myself that I was the one begging for others to join us in
Adoration!
These children are not your normal
everyday adoration goers. They indeed are challenged by silence and stillness,
but I am so grateful for the opportunity to journey with them. Each Thursday
before we expose Jesus, we answer questions and explain to them a different
aspect of adoration and prayer. We have also had the chance to talk to them
about journaling.
Maybe it's not what I was expecting
19 months ago, however I am confident that the Holy Spirit is indeed at work in
the hearts of the children, and it is an honor to walk with them as they build
an incredibly intimate relationship with Jesus.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop
them;
for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”
Matthew 19:14
This is not a picture of adoration in our chapel, it is from last weeks Procession on the feast of Corpus Christi. But the cutie that you see is named Kendra and she is one of the many children that has started coming on Thursdays night to adoration.
An example to others- becoming the
salt and light
The other day, Julianna and Gabriel and
I spent all day mixing sawdust and colorant for a project we are helping with
in honor of the upcoming feast of Corpus Christi. It was late in the afternoon
and time had gotten away from us and we had not eaten all day. We had nothing
in our home and not much money, so I told Julianna to go to the small
restaurant in town and buy three plates to go. The restaurant is super cheap,
and I knew we could buy food for all three of us for the 15 soles (5 dollars)
that we had.
When Julianna came back, she was crying
with Joy, as she told me that she only bought two plates instead of three.
I asked what happened and she began to explain that Camila, one of the
little girls we had become friends not too long ago, came up to her at the
restaurant and she told Julianna that she was hungry and that she had not eaten
all day. You see Camellia’s mother sends her out each day to sell candy, and
she can not go home until she sells all of her candy. Praise God Julianna did
not hesitate to buy her something to eat. As the two of them waited for their
food, Camilla began to ask Julianna about why our family chose to live here in
Peru and what was a missionary’s job. As they were talking a gentleman stood up
from a nearby table and approached them, saying that he was listening and
watching from where he was sitting. He extended his hand out to Camilla,
handing her 50 soles and told her to make sure she buys food for her mother and
sister before going home. Then he turned to Julianna and thanked her for
inspiring him to help.
Praise Jesus’s Holy name for
perfect timing and for the witness of Julianna that inspired a stranger to join
us in our journey with Camilla. Julianna could have just followed my
instructions and just as easily told Camila she did not have enough to buy her
food, praise God instead she decided to become the Salt and the light. And we
are so thankful for the multiplication of food that day, we all were able to
eat until we were full.
“In
the same way, let your light shine before others,
so
that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in
heaven.”
Matthew 5:16
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| This is an old picture from March on Julianna's 18th birthday. But it is one of the only pictures I have with Camilla. She is on the bottom left in the pink shirt. |
Speaking English
Perhaps one may say that this glory
story is insignificant but for us it is right alongside any other miracle Jesus
has performed. Two weeks ago, we had to travel to the Migraciones office 8
hours away to pick up Julianna’s new resident card. In which presented us the
opportunity to see fellow missionaries who live there. And as Gabriel said the
opportunity to speak English to someone other than his mom and sister. The
little things are so rewarding, even if it was just for 2 hours. What a gift it was to talk with these two saintly missionaries who call us on to become
holier. This gift that Jesus had for us, renewed us and filled our hearts for
many months to come.
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
Proverbs 27:17
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| Missionary's friends JP and Soren, what awesome missionaries they are! |
Our Mother Mary
Since the beginning of May we have been teaching the children here about our Mother Mary each week. On the Last week of May we were blessed to be able surprised them with a big balloon rosary. The were smiling ear to ear and were amazed that it floated out of sight.
Mary said “My soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour. For he has looked upon his servant in her littleness. From now on all generations will call me blessed. The Almighty has done great things through me. Holy is His name. God’s mercy extends from age to age, to all who praise him.
Luke 1:46-55
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| These children fill our hearts beyond words! |
Teaching school
Many ask or wonder what we do as
missionaries. Sometimes it is hard to describe in a concrete way. It depends on
the day and what hat we are wearing that day. One could easily find us in the
church praying or leading a meeting just as they could find us helping an
elderly person or visiting the sick and homebound. On an extremely adventurously
day you might find us walking through mud to someone’s home to listen to them
tell us all the reason they do not believe in God. But one of our favorites
lately has been teaching school to the three children of our dear friend Maritza.
Our we teachers you ask?, well not exactly.
Of course, we have no degree or education that would certify us to be. But you
see the children of Peru are suffering more than ever since March of 2020. Believe
it or not Peruvian children have not been back to school. The 1st
year of Covid they just cancelled it all together. This past March the government
decided that school would continue but at home which makes the parents now the
teachers and if they are lucky perhaps, they will receive a phone call from their
teacher each week where they are given their weekly assignments. A lot of the
parents here can not read or write, though that is not the case with Maritza. However,
it is not easy for her to teach all three of them and work in the fields planting
and harvesting crops. So we have been blessed to help them in their studies. In
the picture you see Julianna and Alondra. Alondra just turn 5 and she is
learning how to hold a pencil and Julianna is working with her on writing her
name.
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| Julianna and Alondra hard at work |
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| Learning her name |
Completed projects - Preferential option for the poor
We continue to work on laying cement floors here at our mission post. We are super excited about two other projects that have been completed. Both were enormous task, and we are very grateful for your prayers and financial support in completed them both. Martinez new home know has fully working electricity. Praise God. Though we had to be the, and we had to run the electric lines, as well as set post over a 600-meter span of terrain uphill all the way, they know have light.
We received a huge donation from a very generous donor for the walls for Flor’s home. If you remember correctly, we poured her a concrete floor and where able to build her a new roof. She has been without walls for the last serval months, and we finally were able to construct the walls for her home. She is beyond happy, and she cries tears of joy every time she talks about her new home.
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| Learning how to set post and string electric wire up a mountain! |
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| Jose are dear friend is helping us get electricity to Maritza's home. |
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| The 1st night they had power. |
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| Flor's new home, do you remember what it was like before? |
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| A huge difference I must say! |
Today is my birthday and I am so grateful for the past years of my life. But more so I am grateful for all the Lord's patience's with me. For his merciful love and forgiveness he has shown me through out my life. I am grateful to be in the midst of his restless love.
Prayer request
Email: karendelcastillo@familymissionscompany.com
DonWeb Site: delcastillo.familymissionscompany.com
Happy Birthday, Karen del Castillo!! hello to Julianna and Gabriel.
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