1st ever Medical Mission trip

Do not forget the poor, O Lord!

You do see, for you behold misery and sorrow,

taking them in your hands.

On you the unfortunate man depends;

of the fatherless you are the helper.

Last Saturday, we wrapped up our 1st ever medical mission trip. Working together with Helping Hands Medical Missions, Inc. from the USA and the Peruvian health department we were able to provide medical care for over 200 patients throughout the week.

What a sight to admire that the Lord does not forget his poor!

For years we have been praying over not just the spiritual sickness but the physical illnesses of our community. Knowing everyone's pain, and medical problems of each of them has been a heavy cross to carry with us over the years. But this past week the Lord blessed his poor by sending doctors and nurses to each of our communities to heal them physically.

Let us glorify the works of the Lord and what he has done for His poor here!

Enjoy the pictures below from the medical mission trip, and please pray for the doctors, nurses and translators who sacrificed their time and talents to serve the poor we live among.

Mission Post:

Casa de Santa María Magdalena:

Caserio Santa Clara, Amazonas, Peru

Bitter and Sweet Coffee Harvest

 

 

        A few weeks ago, the 1^st harvest of coffee at Santa Maria Magdalena’s home was ready to pick. And before I had a chance to pick the coffee; I was made aware of the fact it was time to harvest it, by many different people who always walk up and down the small gravel road in front of the home. Many stopped to ask if I would hire them to pick the coffee, others wonder if I was leaving it to rot, and perhaps most believed I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to picking coffee.  And to be honest the latter is very true. Short of realizing that every time I gazed out an open window or walked outside I could see the huge amount of small bright red fruit hanging on the coffee trees and could smell the sweet crisp aroma of the coffee in the air, much as if one walked into a Starbucks, this gringa had no idea how to grow or pick coffee, but there was one thing in their thinking that was wrong, I knew what I was going to do with the coffee and that was to give it away!

        I had been so excited for this day to come ever since Jesus allowed us to purchase this land for his mission. I asked my friend Maritza a single mother if she would help teach me how to pick the coffee, I also explained that she would be able to sell it and keep the proceeds for her and her children. It was so sweet to see how excited they all were. More so their unbelief of why I would just give her all the coffee. She kept saying to me, “it’s too much, just pay me a day’s wage”. (A day’s wage is 20 soles which depending on the exchange rate is roughly $6.00 US dollars.)

EVERYONE GETTING FITTED FOR A BUCKET

        I know it seems foolish to many and it makes absolutely no sense to those looking in from the outside why I felt called to give the harvest away and well if you study economics, you would for sure say we are doomed. In reality, we could have used the money for the construction expenses and to help maintain the list of needs here.  But I cannot help but recall in Deuteronomy 15:9  about the fact we should not count the cost and not to listen to the selfish voice within us.  So, to work alongside my poor humble friend and her 3 children was so priceless and so sweet and it filled my heart in such a wonderful way. It was such a confirmation for me that I am to toil in the fields alongside those whom Jesus leads here, such as Maritza and her children, to ensure that they have enough to eat and to ensure that they truly are granted an opportunity to meet Jesus himself.

        Though often I fail miserably at loving others like Christ, I can at least say on this day I may have not missed the mark too bad, and it felt so, so good. I am even more confident that is why Jesus is building this home, to give all we have away, everything we have, even our lives for the sake of the poor and abused unwed mothers and their children. I know in my heart that this is the only way that this home will grow and succeed in its mission to bring Unwed mothers and their children to the foot of the cross.

I cannot lie, though the day brought about a sweetness to it. There was a bit of bitterness that came along with it.

ALL OF MARTIZA CHILDREN WORK HARD

        It was a bitter day we harvested the coffee because It was cold and raining. But it was the only day we had to pick the coffee, if we waited longer the bright red fruit would fall on the ground and rot. It was bitter in the fact that I never have seen three children so eager to work in the rain and mud. It was bitter to see the young children at work because one could tell that they had spent many other days working in the fields to help their mother but only to make a small daily wage. There was a bit of bitterness due to the effort of having to crawl through the coffee trees and escaping death time and time again as we tried not to fall on the slippery slopes of the field. There were many bitter moments when one of us would fall with a full bucket of coffee due to the wet terrain.  It was also bitter in the fact that as just as much coffee we had in our buckets we also had almost as many spiders ranging in all colors and sizes. Some were fast and others were slow, and well many prayers were said, that they would not crawl up, and out of the buckets onto us, some still managed to find their way up our arms and even into our clothes. The next day Gabriel, Sarah, and I also experienced the bitterness of picking coffee and that was due to the fact that little, tiny insects from the coffee plants bored a home into our skin and took up residence deep within causing us to itch immensely.

        It was bittersweet to know that Maritza and her sweet children were able in one day to make enough to sustain them for a month! Bitter, for the fact that this is the reality here in Peru for unwed mothers. And sweet for the fact that Jesus loves them so much that we are here to help them and to Love on them in this way.

MARITZA IS HUMBLE AND SUCH A GOOD FRIEND, AND SHE TEACHES ME SO MUCH!

        I often reflect on how life as a Christian is challenging and living in the foreign mission field even more so. Many seek a comfortable life and desire to reap the benefits of their hard work. In fact, the way the world nowadays reveals this to us makes one believe that we have a right to obtain material goods and money and that we even have a right to store these things up for a later date. Though we must remember it’s not at all a sin to be rich, nor is it a sin to have possessions. In fact, the Catechism states clearly that man has a right to have private property and goods. However, in the same breath, it reminds us of the fact that “ownership of any property makes its holder a steward of Providence with the task of making it fruitful and communicating its benefits to others, first of all his family.” CCC 2404

And in scripture, we can learn what Jesus said about this very thing.

        The young ruler was told by Jesus to “Go and sell what you own, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Mark 10:21 Or how about Jesus’s parable of the rich fool who built bigger barns to store his grain in abundance found in Luke 12:16. We even have the disciples give witness to the fact that they also had everything in common that they shared their possessions among one another. Act 4:32

        I never once thought that going into missions would be easy mentally, physically, or financially. So, what propels me? What has kept me here in a foreign land for almost 6 years? To be honest it’s these exact types of bitter-sweet moments with the poor unwed mothers here which rekindles my hope. This renewed hope is extended by my faith in Jesus, His resurrection, His forgiveness of our sins, and the life to come! Like Saint Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:18-19, “then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are utterly lost.  If it is for just this life that we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable of all men.”

        Perhaps our lives are to reflect the title of this blog, Bitter and sweet! We are all called to live a life for Christ and to not count the cost of doing so which indeed can at times be bitter, but how sweet is it to be able to be confident in the fact that we one day will be awarded a place in the kingdom of heaven!

         I have been reading a book written by Father Sean Davidson about the life of Santa Maria Magdalena. And I have been reflecting on what he wrote, “that the words found in Psalms 73:25 have become the words of Maria Magdalena”,  “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides you.”

        How impactful these words are! To love only Christ, in the same way, that Maria Magdalena did is a goal I pray we all are striving for. To live only for Jesus! That there would never exist a possession, nor any amount of money that would distract us from fully loving Jesus and his beloved poor!  

        It is in my holiest prayers that I pray we all can reflect on these words and what it means to love like Christ.  For us not to count the cost of following Christ nor the act of giving everything we have, even our own lives to the poor. I pray that we all can see beyond this at times very miserable world, full of hatred and unjust situations, and focus our eyes on the kingdom that awaits those who follow Christ in his mission and who help others to do the same.

 

 The miracles that Jesus is performing here are indeed a sight to see. It is through all of you, that Gabriel and I have the opportunity to love these sweet, sweet people! Thank you for your prayers and financial support. 

We still have a long list of needs here and projects that need to be completed before we can fully open. Such as beds, tables, chairs, linens, fencing, driveway, front gates, and three more small one-room homes for our long-term mothers. 

If you feel called to make a donation, please feel free to follow the link. 

SANTA MARIA MAGDALENA'S HOME

To the Santa Maria Magdalena's new webpage to make your donation/send an email/ or to read about the mission of this incredible home. 

We love you all! 

Karen and Gabreil Del Castillo 

Mission post : Santa Clara, Amazonas, Peru - 

Santa Maria Magdalena's Home 

 

WE WERE ALSO BLESSED TO HARVEST COCOA

SNYDER KEEPING HIS BIG BOTHER LAUGHING WITH JOKES

ALONDRA AND SNYDER COLLECTING COCOA

WE WERE ALSO ABLE TO GIFT COCOA EARLIER IN THE MONTH 

Pierce our Hearts, Lord

 

Pierce our Hearts, Lord

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Elver with a wood carving that he made for Santa Maria Magdalena's Home and excited his wife is returning home. 

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It is a challenge as Christians not to have a hardened heart, not just for me a full-time missionary living in the mission field, but I would adventure to say that the challenge can be the same for everyone.

Today’s Gospel reading is Mark 8:14-21

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, "Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod."
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
"Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments did you pick up?"
They answered him, "Twelve."
"When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?"
They answered him, "Seven."
He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"

 

In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus outright ask his disciples if they have a hardened heart, after hearing them discuss the fact that they forgot to bring bread with them. Therefore, they were in the boat together with only one loaf of bread. Needless to say, they were worried and I can only picture that they were squabbling among themselves a bit.

Jesus questions them about their lack of faith and asks “Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember.” Jesus desired them to remember the miracle that he performed with the 5 loaves of bread.  Wherein he fed 5 thousand people with just 5 loaves of bread and after they all ate the disciples were able to collect 12 baskets full of fragments that were left over. The point of the Gospel is that Jesus is pointing out the disciple’s faithlessness and the fact that they still cannot comprehend nor grasp who Jesus really is.

Much like the disciples for the last 3 or 4 weeks, I have been in the boat like disciples wrestling with myself over the fact that I did not bring enough bread with me. It seemed I was offshore with no land in sight, and I felt like I was not prepared for the mission at hand.

You see I felt a lot of anxiety and apprehension when my friend Iris called me crying telling me that her husband wanted a divorce. She and her husband Elver received the sacrament of marriage in 2021. I felt like it was my fault, after all, I was the one who prepared them for the sacrament of marriage. Ha ha, what a great job I did, I thought! I obviously did a really sucky job at that as you can see. Then well Satan himself had his part in it, the prince of lies made good and well with wreaking his Havok on me making sure he threw in my face the fact that I was a divorced mom and how in the heck did I think I could lead and prepare this couple for the sacrament of marriage.

I started to doubt even my vocation to missions and even worse I forgot that this wasn’t about me. Which of course was the slinky snake’s little deceitful plan all along.

Praise the Lord that during my prayer time one morning, I heard Jesus ask me if I had a hardened heart. He said did you forget who I am? What I have done for you, and what I can still do? Hearing those words made me realize that I gave up, I did in fact have a hardened heart. I didn’t even take Iris’s and Elver’s problems to the foot of His cross. I was in disbelief that “I”, could do anything to help. “I”, jumped straight to the conclusion (with help from the prince of lies of course) that their marriage was doomed to fail because “I”, was not good enough to save it.

That little sneaky devil, I tell you gets me every time. “I“, of hardened heart, was faithless and I had forgotten how important intercessory Prayer was. It wasn’t “I”, who needed to bring the bread, “I”, simply needed the eyes to see and the ears to hear and to remember who Jesus is. All of a sudden, I felt that Jesus had pierced my heart and my soul, like that of St Teresa of Avila when an arrow of God’s love pierced her heart. My heart felt pierced with the truth and the immense love Jesus had for not only me but for the love he had for Iris and Elver.

It was very much like what we read in Psalm 38:2 “Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me”.

With that said, I wasted no time in bringing Iris and her husband’s problems to the foot of the cross. Everyday  I prayed for their marriage and that the graces that they received during the sacrament would flood their hearts. That the special gifts that they had received would perfect their love for one another and that, it would strengthen their indissoluble unity. CCC1642

I prayed that Jesus would put everything between Iris and her husband in right order and that he would make their hearts burn for one another again. I fervently prayed each day that they too would experience a transverberation of heart. A heart pierced with the truth of his love for both of them and for one another.

An angel must have indeed pierced their hearts with the Love of God because it was just a few short days after I began to intercede for them that they both called me to tell me that they had reconciled and that they were no longer fighting. Iris had told me that she could not wait to return home to her husband. And Elver told me that he just could not live without his wife any longer and that he remembered that one of his many duties as a husband was to forgive and start anew each day and that it was the only way that their marriage was going to work.  It was as if their hearts had been healed and made new again, that in some mystical way, their hearts were both pierced by the same arrow containing Jesus’s love and they no longer had eyes that could not see or ears that could not hear! Their hearts had been transformed! Praise be to GOD!

 

May we always remember that   

Our prayer acknowledges before God who we are and our need for Him: “we are creatures who are not our own beginning, not the masters of our adversity, not our own last end.  We are sinners who as Christians know that we have turned away from the Father.  Our petition is always a turning back to Him.”  And so we “ask, beseech, plead, invoke, entreat, cry out” for each other and all of our needs. (CCC 2629)  

Elver and Iris on their wedding day in November 2021

Saint Teresa of Ávila Pray for us! 

Saint Valentine Pray for us!

 So that we may always hunger for the Lord and that he will find his way into the depths of our hearts! 

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May the Love of Jesus Pierce our hearts! 

Love Karen and Gabriel Del Castillo 

Mission Post : Cajaruro - Utcubamba- Amazonas - Peru  

We would be honored to receive your prayer request. At anytime you may send them to us through our email address listed below.

 

We thank you for your prayers and your support. 


Without the sacrifices made by each of you this work would be impossible. 

Prayer request
 Email:  karendelcastillo@familymissionscompany.com

Donations Web Site: delcastillo.familymissionscompany.com