To Cry Is Human, but to Lament Is Christian / PART 2 / Where the Gospel takes you.

Shared from my journal entry dated June 29, 2024 | Saturday just 2 days after 

we were forbidden from leaving Peru.

Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of Saint Peter and Paul

I find it only fitting to share the goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ with you. After finding out that migrations will not allow us to leave Peru and return to the States for a short-term rest. Our idea was to find a place where we could lament and rest in the Lord and well, heal from the disappointment of our situation. Praise the Lord we have indeed found that place.

It is a little fishing town where we encountered the nicest lady named Milu, she is a spitfire and she is so in love with the Lord, and the poor. She has taken Gabriel and me in and has made sure our every need has been taken care of. She seems to be a very important figure in the small town. She is constantly on the phone planning the pickup and drop-off of donations. When she meets people on the street, she tells them she will be at their house later to drop off different items like baby clothes, strollers, and other items. All at the same time making sure that the townspeople are not polluting the beach or ocean all while taking Gabriel and I under her care and treating us like family. It is incredible and I am in awe watching her minister to the people here.

I told Gabriel she is such a role model for me and watching her defend the Gospel and the poor without shame and with such boldness gave me such encouragement. Gabriel told me that I would, soon be the Milu of Santa Clara when I am her age. (not sure if it was a compliment or a dig at how old I am due to the fact I just turned 50).  He said instead of the beach town, I would be the spitfire old lady known for defending the mountain and its poor people.

If Milu and her love for the Lord and for us was not enough Jesus made sure to shower us with so many days of wonderful Gospel Messages to encourage and fill our hearts. We as a family have always prayed each day with the Gospel reading for the day. And well the theme for the time we spent in the little fishing town once again seems to have been planned just for us.

Each day we were able to enter right into the Gospel readings. It is as if Jesus was speaking directly to us. Encouraging us, loving on us, being personal and intimate with us, and ensuring us that he was with us and that we are at the center of his will. It seemed we were living out the Gospel once again which if you know you know! There is no better place to be than where the Gospel takes you.

One of those days Gabriel and I were reflecting on the daily Gospel, which was the Solemnity of Saint Peter and Paul, and as we reflected on the lives that these two men had before coming Disciples of Christ, reflecting on their call to missions and what they were able to achieve for God’s Kingdom, we really had no idea what the Lord had planned for us.   

As we meditated on the fact Peter was a fisherman, and Paul was a tentmaker. Peter denied Christ, but then turned and strengthened his brethren; Paul persecuted the Church, the Body of Christ, but then turned and brought the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Their encounter with Jesus and their conversion of hearts leads them to a life of missions of sharing their testimony with others. They both lived to win souls for Christ including dying to themselves, and up to their martyrdom in Rome: Peter was crucified upside down on the Vatican Hill; Paul was beheaded.

Milu her niece and I

And as we prayerfully reflected on the fact that Peter was a man who was aware of his sin and how it offended God. His awareness of his sin would bring him tears of repentance and a contrite heart. Paul enjoyed a struggle and was ready for a battle, and to fight the good fight, he knew he needed the Lord because without him he was weak. He trusted not himself but in the Lord who could conquer all things.

These two amazing missionary disciples brought Gabriel and me a lot of hope and renewal of our faith and the love for our mission here in Peru as we prayerfully reflected on the Gospel Message and what it meant for our own lives. But you cannot imagine what came next. During our prayer time, the open doorway allowed the breeze and sweet smell of the sea and the sound of the ocean to accompany our morning prayer and as we wrapped up with a song, Milu appeared in the doorway to invite us to a procession in honor of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. With a bit of hesitation, we said yes. What a gift the Lord had for us,  it was as if it was Jesus himself inviting us as we were living the Gospel, we were on the shore being called to follow Him, we were in the boat with Him, we were with him when he calmed the sea, and we were just like the disciples, ordinary people who because of his mercy and love were changed forever and were empowered to share the Good News to those they encounter.

Gabriel and I have been to many processions since becoming foreign missionaries, but we never dreamed the procession we were invited to would be along the shoreline of the ocean, among whales, sea turtles and so many different fish, not even Milu who was born in the small sea town knew all their names. It was as if we were transported into another world. And it is safe to say that our broken hearts and disappointment of being forbidden from leaving Peru turned into sweet Joy and a new invitation to enter into our mission here in Peru in an even deeper way.

You may already know I am not one to take many pictures, so we have Milu to thank for these. I pray you enjoy them, and I also ask you to keep Milu in your prayers as we give thanks to the Lord for this incredible holy, and divine encounter and new friendship.

I pray this unbelievable, incredible, yet real testimony strengthens your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ! No matter where you are at, no matter the afflictions you encounter, or the denials and trials you face, be confident that the Lord is with you. Seek him in the Gospels and in the Sacraments. Be brave enough and dare to live out the Gospels each day! You may just find yourself in the middle of one of them, and all you have to do is reach for his hand, Jesus will be there, and he won't let go, he won't let you sink he won't let you drown! Just fix your eyes on him and be brave enough to give your life completely to him! I am confident you will not be disappointed. 

Mission Post: Santa Maria Magdalena's Home 

Caserio Santa Clara, Amazonas, Peru   

Contact us with your prayer intentions, follow our blog, or make a donation at the following links.
Email:  karendelcastillo@familymissionscompany.com
Web Site: delcastillo.familymissionscompany.com
Santa Maria Magdalena's Home

To Cry Is Human, but to Lament Is Christian / PART 1

 

 

Gabriel's shoes, He wears these for everything, alter serving, ministries, work and play! 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I am so thankful for your prayers and your authentic and genuine love for the poor, including Gabriel and I. 

Recently, I have been reflecting on how we deal with disappointments we face in our lives when our plans do not align with the will of God. All this stirs around in my heart and in my mind after Gabriel and I experienced a very disappointing situation this past month.

  Last month we were excited to make the long journey to Lima, which started with a 7-hour car ride from our mission post to the closest airport, where we took a 1.5-hour domestic flight in order to board our international flight back to America out of Lima. For selfish reasons, we were desiring to escape Peru and the poverty we face every day here and to rest for just a few weeks. We had meetings planned with benefactors and we wanted to speak English, watch TV, and eat American food all while spending time with family and friends. We had planned on shopping for the much-needed supplies, such as buying tennis shoes for Gabriel’s huge feet, he is a 12.5, and well that size seems not to exist here in Peru. We had also planned for Gabriel to attend Faith Camp, and while he was there for a week my childhood friend and I had planned on going on a little girl's trip to celebrate our 50^th birthdays. This all sounds normal right, I mean it sounds not really over the top, and well deserved. Even speaking with other missionaries and many other missionary organizations they encourage visits back to one’s Passport country for periods of rest, and for time to reconnect with loved ones and benefactors. All of this makes very good sense, but not the reality for Gabriel and I.

 

You see all these plans came to an end when the Migration official pulled us to the side and began to question all the paperwork that gives me the authority to leave Peru with Gabriel. Despite the official and legal documents from the USA, all of which have been translated and legalized in Peru, along with my Peruvian permission to travel which I received from our local Peruvian Notary and was authenticated by the Regional College of Notaries here, all seemed not to be good enough for the immigration official. He accused me of being a habitual lawbreaker as he saw how many times we had traveled in and out of Peru without the proper documentation and insinuated he could place me in jail. As the officials were working on what they were going to do with us, I frighteningly turned to Gabriel and told him if they arrested me, that he needed to Call Father Robert (the Priest we work under) so he could pick him up.   

 

Praise the Lord, they did not arrest me, but they did deny us leaving Peru. In 2018 this happened to us, because I did not know the paperwork that I needed in order to leave Peru since it was my 1^st year here. But ever since then, the paperwork I have has been accepted and we have returned to the States at least 3 times since becoming foreign missionaries, so it never crossed our minds that this time would be any different. However, that was far from the truth as It seems that Peru has changed their laws once again and it may be impossible and not feasible for us to return to the USA due to our unique situation until Gabriel is 18, a legal adult here in Peru. With that said it was a disappointment because our plans did not align with God’s will for us. It is easy for someone to get discouraged in moments like these and question where God is in all of this. To be honest, we knew after our 1^st year in missions that making the decision to come back to Peru could mean we would never be allowed to leave again. Or rather not able to leave until Gabriel turned 18, so I guess some may say we had it coming! .

 

 But both Gabriel and I have been reflecting on the fact that as foreign missionaries we are to enculturate, we are to live in solidarity with the poor, to be a person that dies to self and give until it hurts. There is often a mentality that a foreign missionary is a jet setter that they fly to and from exotic lands and give to the poor and when they are done or need a rest they go home and tell stories of their experience. Similar to the idea that a missionary is a superhero, savior, or has the ability to change the world, which is all far from the reality of foreign mission life. The reality of life in foreign missions is that it is not just a vacation, it is a vocation, and one must be ready to become poor as Jesus did. Not just for a week or a month or a year, we must be ready to face the fact that we were called to live in solidarity with the poor. And that may mean dying in a foreign land or being forbidden to return to your home country like in our case. We can cry about this, and no one would blame us, after all we are only human, and foreign missions is hard. But that would be in error if that’s what we decided to do because we mustn’t forget we are called to something much more than just being human, we are called to sainthood!  

 

Instead, we must have faith and lament because that is what a Christian would do. To lament is trusting in God; it is not crying, it is knowing that the safest place to be is in the center of His will, and not our own. Jesus lamented in the garden and God answered his prayer, God did not remove the cup, the suffering, but rather gave him the strength and the courage to continue forward with the plan they made before time began. Jesus then prayed the prayer he once taught the disciples, “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10). He ended his prayer like those laments in the Psalms, with a response of trust, resting in the perfect will of his Father, which turned sorrow and disappointment, and even fear into joy. 

 

With all this being said we ask you not to be concerned about our situation, that we are unable to leave Peru, but rather pray for us and pray that we will always desire to be in the center of God's will for us. Pray that we will be even better at living in solidarity with the poor and that we can give even more to them than we have in the past years. Pray for the poor we came to serve so many years ago who cannot escape, who have nowhere to rest or run to when they need a break from the realities of Peru. Please pray that we are not forgotten and that somehow Jesus will find a way to support the mission here at Santa Maria Magdalena’s home despite the fact we cannot meet with benefactor’s face to face or fundraise from Stateside.

 

Pray that we will not regard faith as a mere commodity, something that we have a lot or very little of, depending on our circumstances. But rather that we will always know the importance and necessity of maintaining the disposition of a faithful servant. That we will have the courage to mirror Jesus and have unfailing faith and trust in God’s will for us. We ask you to pray that this disappointment and sorrow be turned into so much joy that others may see it and come to ask, “How can we have such peace about being denied returning to our home country” and our response will be “Because we are in the center of God’s will for us”, “We are with Jesus!”

 

Please do not cry for us as we are not crying, we are lamenting. Pray for us, pray we can be confident that through our lamenting we will only be made more human and in the center of God's will.

 

We love you all and pray that you will always remember us and the poor we live among in your prayers. Each one of you holds a special place in our hearts and prayers and we are so very grateful for each of you.

 

May we learn to Love Like Jesus! Let us Rejoice and be confident in our sweet and merciful Lord! 

P.S. If you can fit in your prayer time a few prayers that somehow, we can find shoes big enough for Gabriel here. 

 

Mission Post: Santa Maria Magdalena's Home 

Caserio Santa Clara, Amazonas, Peru   

Contact us with your prayer intentions, follow our blog, or make a donation at the following links.
Email:  karendelcastillo@familymissionscompany.com
Web Site: delcastillo.familymissionscompany.com
Santa Maria Magdalena's Home