His love heals all wounds

 

His love heals all wounds

This is just one of the glorious stories of how His love heals all wounds!

Before I begin, we must recall that Jesus heals not only the body; but he also heals those who are sick in spirit.  Jesus desires to heal tired and restless hearts, or to use St. Augustine’s image, hearts of stone, or at least of uncleanliness.  Jesus searches for those hearts distant from God, and desires to bring them rest and healing.  And praise His Holy name because by approaching the Divine Physician those hearts of stones can be healed and given new life.  Plainly put, Jesus came to heal all, those who are physically sick and those who are spiritually sick. And this is a clear case of both, I must say.

You see, not too many years ago I met Geiber, a very angry man who came to find Irma his wife one night here at Santa Maria Magdalena’s Home. Geiber was clearly mad, and his wife and children looked scared as he approached. Geiber wanted to know why his wife and his children were spending so much time at the Home. He wanted to know if I was trying to separate them, or if Irma was speaking about their relationship troubles with me, and what lies she has been telling me.  

On this particular night he approached me as the rest of the community was leaving after adoration, it was around 9:30 at night. I invited Geiber into the house with his family so that we could talk.  I explained to him that his wife and children have been coming to the home to visit and to spend time with Jesus. I explained and assured him she was on her way home and that we had just finished up with adoration along with the rest of the community in the chapel.

I took this as an opportunity to invite him to come next Thursday. He remarked with a sinister laugh; He told me that it was best that he did not come because the community does not accept him due to his past.  I told him that it did not matter what the community accepts because Jesus accepts everyone and that this house and its chapel is for everyone, and that Jesus' love was for everyone.

Not shortly after Geiber and his family left, a few members of the community came back to the home to check on me to make sure I was ok, as they were concerned for me and Gabriel. They wanted to tell me it was not safe to be alone with Geiber and warned me that I should not allow him inside and that he has done many bad things to people in the community.  The concerned members of our small town told me he was a very angry drunk and a thief.  They did not hesitate to tell me of a past incident when he pulled a knife on our local Catechist. I assured them that we were ok and told them that I wasn’t going to let my fears get in the way, that I came here to serve Jesus, and his beloved people even if that meant giving my life to do so.

So, you can only imagine the look of surprise on my face and the communities when Geiber showed up to adoration the next weekend. Maybe he was just there to keep control over his family, maybe he was there to make plans to harm me and Gabriel. But one thing is for sure is that Jesus had other plans for Geiber and his family.

 It did not take long for Geiber and his family to become regulars at every prayer night, adoration and activities here at the Home. In fact, their attendance became predictable, and they even attended our Valentine’s Day couples retreat for the past two years and held a rosary at their home.  It was clear that we were building a friendship based on the now and not on the past. Just like Jesus does!

When things were looking up for this couple, tragedy hit. Don Geiber, as some of you may remember, was diagnosed with cancer, and he needed help to travel to Lima for treatment. And after a long battle and many trips back and forth for treatment he has been told that there are no more signs of cancer. But that’s not all the Lord has healed.

Over the last few years, the relationship between Geiber and Irma has healed, there has been reconciliation, forgiveness and a newfound love for each other and for Jesus. It has been such a remarkable honor to witness. Jesus has healed their past wounds not only between them as a couple, but also the wounds that were inflicted by their blindness and hardened hearts upon their children as well as the community.

Today as they received their sacrament of marriage an outward sign of just how much Jesus has healed their hearts and made them one in His image. And in a real way the little community of Santa Clara has witnessed a healing miracle as well. One can only pray that this miracle of healing will become a true inspiration for all those who have witnessed it. One can only pray that from such a transformation of healing that this beautiful family has experienced that many more will have courage themselves seek Jesus’s healing power. After all, he came to heal and transform our hearts!  For "those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:17, RSV

 

May together we learn to love like Jesus! 

Mission Post:

Casa de Santa María Magdalena:

Caserio Santa Clara Peru

Follow the link below to learn more about Santa Maria Magdelana´s home, its mission, and how to partner with us.

https://www.familymissionscompany.com/santa-maria.../

A place where heaven and earth collide

It is almost time to celebrate!

We are 21 DAYS away from the dedication mass of the chapel, and the blessing and opening of Casa de Santa Maria Magdalena, BUT WHO'S COUNTING! 

On July 22^nd at 11 pm we will host the Bishop and the priests of the Dioceses of Chachapoyas and together we will celebrate Mass and what the Lord has done here. The priests, I have heard through the grapevine, are very excited about the mission of the home and all that Jesus desires of this place of refuge.

We are finishing the many small details of the main house, chapel, its gardens, and the property’s fence that will provide safety for these mothers and their children. It has really been an honor watching the Lord design this home and the chapel. 

Novena to Santa Maria Magdalena

Please join us 7/13/22 as we begin this new mission with a Novena to Santa Maria Magdalena. You can follow the following link, https://www.praymorenovenas.com/st-mary-magdalene-novena to pray the Novena and also you may sign up for daily reminders.

Special Mass intention of course will be for the mothers and children that we will be serving, but we also will include each of you, our benefactors, in the intentions during this incredibly special mass.

A Place where heaven and earth collide

The pictures of the home and chapel and its gardens do not come close to doing them justice. The chapel was designed with no walls in order to allow the presence of Jesus to be found through the gardens, the songs of the birds, the view of the mountains, and the sounds of the river in the distance. Having no walls also symbolizes Jesus’s desire to restore and make disciples of the women and children who will encounter him there.    In real life, Santa Maria Magdalena’s home is stunning, majestic, and divinely designed to move one’s soul towards our Lord and I am so grateful for each of you who have made so many sacrifices to make this become a place where heaven and earth collide.

Other Ministry News

Though the construction of home and chapel has been the main mission that I have been writing about, I would also like to share with you the other details of what’s been happening lately at our mission post.

We have been asked to host once again the annual retreat for the Priest of Chachapoyas this August. We are short roughly $1500.00 Dollars to make this happen. If we can pull together the funds, we will be able to, rent a local hotel in its entirety. (Priests will lodge, dine, attend talks, and experience fun activities all at the hotel), provide 3 meals and snacks for all Priests and provide a guest Priest to help lead the retreat. So please keep us in your prayers as we continue to fundraise for this incredible opportunity to serve our Priest here.

Gabriel is teaching English classes on Friday!

Titianna and Jasmine

Gabriel and I still celebrate the Liturgy of the word in Paraiso each Sunday, and it has been an honor to bring the Eucharist to them each week. The little remote town is about an hour away from us. And we are preparing two young ladies to receive the sacraments this year Diana who is 15 and wants to receive her Baptism, 1^st confession,1^st communion and confirmation and Antonella who is 14 and who desires to receive Jesus in the Eucharist for the 1st time.

And we are celebrating these three young ladies who have been helping Gabriel altar serve for the last 3 years!  Please pray for Alejandra, Kendra, and Angie that they may continue to find true happiness in their ministry.

 

Maritza is going to officially move here to the home at the end of the school year and before than in August while the children are on break, they will be staying with us temporarily. Please pray for her and the children as they begin preparing for their move. Also pray for Maritza’s sweet daughter Alondra, she just had a growth removed from her chest and the tissue was sent off to test to see if is cancerous or benign. Please pray that Jesus may continue to Support and bless this family with the funds they need to not only survive everyday life but also now for Alondra’s medical care.

Those shoes and her gown! 

 

Waiting for surgery 

Martiza praying over Alondra as we wait for her to wake up from anesthesia. 

Current needs of the home and other minsitries 

It is not easy being in the trenches, as you can imagine. The poverty and struggles that we experience every day in the mission field have become ingrained in our hearts and minds as long as we have been here, sometimes its all we can see all that we know. I am so thankful for our mission partners who join us by supporting everything that happens here, without you there would be NO MISSION. 

"As I am just the mediator seeking to connect His people and His resources with His plan." With that said it is only right and just to share with you the needs here in the mission field because I truly believe that Jesus desires to furnish all the needs for the poor here. So once again I am asking on the behalf of our Lord and the poor here, please pray and consider making a vertical gift by moving some of your earthly gifts to your heavenly bank account.

Here is what our current fundraising needs are. 

With all the initial phases completed with the home and chapel, we are now actively fundraising for the last phases of the construction of Santa Maria Magdalena’s home, which is building three small one-room homes, 2 for long-term mothers and the other for the visiting priest who will be supporting the ministry of the home. (Roughly $20,00.00 USD) We are also trying to raise the funds for 20 bunk beds for the dorms ($5000.00 USD) or at least funds to purchase 40 mattresses which we could just place on the floor ($2200.00).

Lastly, we are trying to raise monthly support for the operating cost of the home. Our goal is set at $2000.00 to $2500.00 per month. This will cover everything the women and their children will need while staying with us (medical expenses, food, school uniforms, clothing etc.) Of course, this is our initial goal, and we may need to be adjusted as the Lord reveals more to us.

We also feel called to help supply the roofing material for the Chapel in a nearby town but of course we need your help in doing so. The community had to tear down their chapel because of the state it was in.  The adobe walls were crumbling and making it terribly unsafe. Along with the Catholic Community of this town we have been pitching in with the labor as well as holding raffles to raise money. The brick walls are almost complete, and they are planning on using the old pews and altar (which are in good shape),  but they are still short funds for the metal roof.  The cost to purchase the metal roof is $3000.00. 

 Follow this link to donate:  Support Maria Magdalena's Home | Family Missions CompanyFamily Missions Company *In the comments add a note letting us know what you would like your donation to be used for. 

Current Prayer Request

• Please continue to pray for all those who support the mission here.
• For the mission of Santa Maria Magdalena’s Home
• For Gabriel and I, that we may not grow tired. That we may be steadfast in prayer and that we trust that the Lord hears our prayers and needs.
• Please pray for our team members Mallory and Sarah as they are currently stateside.

We love you all! 

Karen and Gabriel Del Castillo 

Mission post : Santa Clara, Amazonas, Peru - 

Santa Maria Magdalena's Home 

Pig Pens to Weddings and Everything In Between

Peace to you my brothers and sisters!

I trust that you are well and remain blessed by the Lord. I wanted to write to you and give you a report of the amazing transformations that have been taking place here at our mission post, and to honor you for your faithfulness and steadfast love for the Lord as we approach this Sunday, which has been marked as World Mission Sunday!  

 September marked another year for us serving as foreign missionaries here in Peru. During the months leading up to September, it was made very clear that Jesus still desires us to live, to cry and to share His love with the poor here. However little our YES to the Lord feels, he is capable of transforming it in to so much more. With that said we can not welcome this new season without honoring all of the HUGE things that has transpired here just in the last few months. I invite you to take a moment, get a cup of coffee and learn of the amazing things that Christ has done and desires still to do.

A theme that resounds in our hearts, that propels us forward and that we strive to live out each day, are just what Pope Francis used to mark this Sunday, World Missions Sunday, October 24, 2021 with as he selected the theme “We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard” Acts 4:20 . The Holy Spirit has used these words in so many ways to advance the Gospel Message and to open doors and opportunities for us to enter into the lives of those we have been called to serve. In each opportunity it looks very different for us. Each day is a new and exciting day, as we discover what medium the Holy Spirit chooses for us to use that day, so that we can reach the hearts of the lonely and broken. Like an artist He is, He can choose clay, paint, or broken crayons like us, to create His art. And that is exactly what he has done here, from Pig Pens to Weddings and everything in between. Jesus the artist, has created the following opportunities for us to reach his beloved poor so we can love them just as he has loved us, and we are compelled to share it with you.

 Maritza’s Pig Pens

 Our goal has been to help Maritza obtain income and financial support. We have been blessed to be able to walk with her and navigate through the government offices here, which is a very intimidating and lonely task when going alone. Our desire was for her to not only obtain government support but to help her also to apply for child support from the father of her children. Which we are happy to share that she now is receiving support from both the government and child support.  We have also bought her 2 female and 2 male pigs, and well they are doing well and reproducing which is all part of Gods Plan and the plan to help Maritza earn money by raising them and selling them. With that said all of these new baby piglets need a secure and safe place to live in grow. So together we our building pig pens, doing the work ourselves to not only save money but more importantly because it allows us to spend time together. We have three more pens to build, and we desire to build a chicken coop for her chickens as well, so if you feel the Holy Spirit nudging and calling you to support this project he probably is. Each Pig Pen cost about $200.00 to build. You can follow the Link below to make a donation. 👇

Donation Link 

Karen Del Castillo | Family Missions Company Family Missions Company

 

Bodegas

You may remember our friend named Camila, who instead of worrying about school at her age sells candy on the streets of a neighboring town. We are so excited to share with you that she was able to receive a huge blessing. Little did I know that when I shared a small story about her a few months ago Jesus was able to create even more beautiful art, as a wonderful family from the states contacted me as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit to help her. Often times, as full-time missionaries we work as liaisons, as a connection between those of you in America who have the funds and financial means to help those here. As missionaries we are here full time and it is without a doubt that we get to know the people, their stories of hardship and suffering as we grow in friendship. With that said often we feel the only tool we have to help is prayer. In the silence of our heart Jesus heard our prayers and as a good Father he provided for the needs of this lovely little girl. With the help of this generous family, together we were able to help Camila set up in her small one bedroom home a store called a bodega. Funds were provided to buy her a refrigerator, products to sell such as cokes, waters, chips, and candy. We were also able to purchase tables and chairs so that Camila and her mom can sell chicken on a stick, called anticuchos, at night. With this donation Camila will now be able to stay at home and make money instead of walking the streets all day and all night to sell candy.

Camila and her mother 

Jesus was not done creating his masterpiece with Camila, we were able to help Maritza with the same opportunity to set up a small bodega to help her earn extra income as well. Maritza is such a hard worker but she can not afford daycare, so often she has to leave her children behind when she goes to work in the corn and rice fields, our desire is that this extra income will help her be able to stay with her children. Instead of tables and chairs we bought her a huge pan so she can make a drink called chicha morada which is made from purple corn, cinnamon, and cloves. After she brews it, she will pour it in to recycled plastic coke and water bottles which she has found and cleaned in order to sell them. 

These crazy kids

 More Missionaries

Many of you have heard our request for prayers and have joined us in praying for more missionaries to be sent to our mission post over the last year or more. We could not be more delighted to share the good news that in February our mission post will receive two new missionaries. Their names are Sarah and Mallory, they are currently in formation at FMC’s mission base, located in Abbeville Louisiana. I beg of you to please continue to pray for my family and the missionaries that will be joining us. Please pray that the lies of the devil do not overshadow the truth and the goodness of our Lord. I can tell you the devil is super mad right now, and he is waging his war in protest that the Lord answered our prayers. And the spiritual attacks have begun, his lies have all but told me that we are not good enough to receive missionaries, “how stupid does that sound now that its typed”. Another huge lie is that our mission post is not good enough, pretty enough and too secluded for the new missionaries, “I don’t know, that might even sound worse.”  Lastly please pray that the Lord provides the perfect housing for them. We are super excited to receive such a gift from the Lord and can not wait to see all the good things he has planned for us as these two wonderful ladies join us here to serve for the next two years.

 

Mallory and Sarah 

Saint Magdalene’s home

Since arriving on the mission field the Holy Spirit has been very intentional in His ways and by no mistake, He has directed us to His desire to share Christ’s love with single mothers and their children. He has taken our brokenness and heart ache and mended and fashioned it for his own creation and goodness. For over a year I have heard the whispers and faint nudges during prayer and have seen 1^st hand the need of a home for single mothers. With that we invited Father Robert who I serve under here and FMC’s leadership to discern and join in prayer about the possibility of building a home for mothers. We all have been given such peace with the idea of the project and we all confirm that it is a desire that is of the Lord.

Through a director’s appeal and other private donations, we have over a short period of time raised $49,000.00 for the home. With that said we desire before beginning construction to meet the total needed amount to make this home possible. We are almost halfway to reaching the goal of $100,000.00. Which is truly amazing, and I have no doubt that Jesus will soften the hearts of those he is calling to support this project. I invite you today to take this project of the Lord’s to prayer and ask if it is a project that burns within your heart. If it does, please pray about how you can help with this huge project. Is the Lord calling you to make a donation or share the project with others that may desire to help?

Saint Magdalene’s home that will consist of several small family homes for single mothers and their children to live in, along with a community house where we can come together in prayer, and to share meals together. Our goal is to share our lives with them and create an opportunity to walk with them and disciple each of these beautiful families while prayerfully providing opportunities that will allow them to heal and discover the love Jesus has for each of them. To donate click the link below. 👇

Karen Del Castillo | Family Missions Company  Family Missions Company

Weddings

Elever and Iris 

One of the ministries that I find that satisfies my heart is teaching others about the beautiful Catholic faith, and helping, not only children, but couples as well to receive the sacraments. Which is why I am sharing with you about the growth and the bond that has been made between these two couples pictured here, which tells the amazing truth of Jesus’s love. For over a year we have met each week in search of a deeper understanding of the sacrament of marriage, the mystery of the Eucharist and the purpose of man’s life here on earth. And Last Saturday I am so honored to share with you that the Holy Spirit was Alive and Present in a little old mud brick chapel as these two couples received for the 1^st time in their lives the body and blood of Jesus Christ and the sacrament of Marriage. There is no denying the beauty that has been joined together with the joining of these two couples as they invited Christ the Bridegroom into their relationships. 

Elever and Iris / Elmer and Sandra 

May we pray that they always will strive to live as witnesses of a faithful Christian family, and may they grow in their vocation not only to serve each other as spouses and parents but as they learn to serve their community around them as they live the fullness of their Marriage vocation.

 

Iris and Elever walking to the Church 

Sandra walking with her family to the Church

Sandra 

Iris 

Pope Francis writes, “The theme of this year's World Mission Sunday -- "We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20), is a summons to each of us to 'own' and to bring to others what we bear in our hearts. This mission has always been the hallmark of the Church, for 'she exists to evangelize” (Saint Paul VI, EN14).

We cannot think you enough for your steadfast faithfulness and your love for the poor. Because of you we are able to live among these beautiful people and we are grateful for the opportunity to evangelize so many who have yet heard the Good News preached. May this year be more blessed than the last and may we welcome the sacrifices and hardships that come with serving the Lord and proclaiming His message in every dark corner of the world!

In Christ ! 

Karen, Julianna and Gabriel Del Castillo 

*Mission Post: Cajaruro, Amazonas, Peru*