I am a catholic missionary living in the jungles of Peru. Though I am
only 13 years old I made the commitment
with my mom to live among the poor. Yes, among the poor, not above the poor,
but with the
poor, in the jungles of Peru.
Just a few things interesting about me. I was born in the US. When we got
here, I was just 7 years old and I
knew no Spanish, so I had to learn quickly. I am also home-schooled because our
ministries take first priority. Since I am homeschooled, I can learn at my own
pace; sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Homeschool also allows me to learn
even at night or on weekends.
You
may be wondering why I am writing this letter! With that said I am trying to go
to Faith Camp in July, but the cost is $550.00 for the weeklong camp.
This is the 1 st year I have been old
enough to go. And well Since we live in Peru with the poor, and our full-time
missionaries we don’t have a lot of money, and the money that we do have we
give away to the poor. Most kids in the USA would sell lemonade or set up a
carwash to raise the funds to go to camp or possibly even mow a few lawns to
get enough to go. But here in Peru among the poor, I am not sure any of those
fundraising ideas would work too well. So, I am asking for your help to
reach my goal.
You might be wondering why Faith Camp! Or
why I want to go to Faith Camp. So, I would like to tell you a little bit of
what I know.
The Camp is led by Family Missions Company, and it is held in Louisiana.
Lots of the FMC teen missionaries serving all over the world make the trip back
to attend. It’s a great time for us “Third Culture kids” (those of us living
and growing up in another culture that is not our own) to get to hang out and
relate to one another. I have also heard that faith camp is a week of nothing
but fun, there is mass and lots of activities and games (so I have heard) and a
great opportunity to encounter Jesus!!!!!! If you still are not convinced here
is a link to the page if you
want to read more about FAITH CAMP, I am super positive you will like what you see.
Acts
20:35
“It is
more blessed to give than to receive.” And as I give my life to the poor you
also can receive many blessings by partnering with me! Together we can be
Jesus’s hands and feet as we earn our spots in heaven. If you feel called to
donate please be confident in knowing that I will intercede on your behalf, that
the Lord will bless you 100 times over for your generosity.
With
Love Gabriel Del Castillo 💓💓
If you feel called to help me get to camp, please click the link that follows And please add in the comments on the donation page FAITH CAMP!
Elver with a wood carving that he made for Santa Maria Magdalena's Home and excited his wife is returning home.
💘💘💘💘💘💘
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!
💗💗💗💗💗💗💗
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
Grace to you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
May this
Advent season be a season of wonder and awe. A season of rebirth and
restoration within your souls!
This past year has
been amazingly difficult by human standards but delightful in every way as it
has been all the work of the Lord and I am so grateful to have been chosen to
be a part of it along with each of you!!!
As we make a close to the 1st week of
Advent with a desire to prepare our hearts for the Birth of our Lord, I find myself
reflecting on the triumphs and Glory stories of the year past.
For the most
part of the last year has been a WILD RIDE. With
that said a reoccurring whisper that resounded during my prayer time came from
my beloved Jesus whispering “hang on tight my love, or only a bit longer” and that sums it up in a nutshell. So many things have happened and all
of them would not have been impossible without Jesus and all of you.
Our past year in missions closely resembled a battle or war. And perhaps it is best that we do not sugarcoat
it because INDEED IT WAS!
Not a war between men but that of the evil one who
desired and tried so hard to make us give up. Little did the prince of lies and
deceit know the giant and holy army that was behind us. Thanks to all of you,
we fought many battles against Satan. And
it is safe to say he did not win this time and we are going to stay extremely vigilant
of his presence and whereabouts for the next. We are going to make certain we walk in prayer,
and we will be calling on all the angels and saints to walk with us for the
days ahead.
Despite the hardships, struggles,
and toil of this past year, I have never felt so alive and close to Jesus as I
have this year and I found this from Saint Ignatius of Antioch that I would
love to share with you. “Now do
I begin to be a disciple of Christ, and care for nothing in this world, that so
I may find Jesus. Let fire, or the cross, or wild beasts, or the breaking of my
bones, or the cutting of me to pieces, or the shattering of my whole body, yea,
all the tortures of the devil – let them all come upon me, only let me enjoy my
God.”
~ Ignatius of Antioch
Eloquent speaker (I Think Not!)
I must share with you an interview that Gabriel
and I were asked to do for a wonderful series called Mission Connect, produced,
and aired with Shalom World!
I must say I can relate to Moses as he pleaded with
the Lord for him to send someone else because he had never been an eloquent
speaker. Of course, what was asked of me is not anything close to what the Lord
asked of Moses, but in the same sense I can relate to being “slow of speech and
tongue”.
However, I felt I needed to trust the Lord and
rely on him to speak the words he wanted me to speak. So here you have it, our
interview.
I must say
that I am so very moved by the editing and the pictures that Shalom World gathered
from our years in the mission field. So many of the pictures I had forgotten
about or wondered where they got them from.
Gabriel did such a wonderful job of singing at the
end! Praise God. I can only pray that the discomfort I experienced doing this
interview helps lead others to the foot of the Cross. For those of you who have
been there, you will never forget your transformation or how Jesus pierced your
heart! I desire that everyone finds their way to the foot of the cross and that
in some way this interview can aid in that mission!
But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither
in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of
speech and slow of tongue.”
Exodus 4:10
Santa Maria Magdalena’s Home
It is such an honor to share with you the
following update.
The final touches are being done on the home and
God willing by the first of the calendar year we should be officially living
and serving in our new mission post!
With the 1st phase of the building
project coming to a close we now are looking to furnish the home with 30 bunk
beds, for the upstairs dorms, towels, sheets, and pillows, as well as at least
4 massive tables and chairs for the huge dining hall. Lastly, if you have ever
been to our Mission Base in Louisiana and have experienced praise and worship
nights or morning prayer at the big house we are in need of the same comfy
couches and chairs that invite people to sit and talk, to pray and bond together.
I am sure
Jesus has plans to move his funds to us in order to properly furnish the home
and if not, that is ok too, as our plans are not his plans so, we are totally
prepared for whatever it is he desires to supply us with.
Front of the community home/ The small porch you see is almost completed
side view of the home
This is a view of the main dining hall looking towards the back of the home
This is the main meeting hall to be used for fellowship, talks and morning prayer
Laundry and storage room
The Huge Kitchen
Back porch view/ it will have a balcony and a roof that will extend over the porch area
Official Opening of
Santa Maria Magdalena’s Home
Save the Date!
July 22, 2023
It is bold, I know to make such an announcement,
but it comes straight from my heart and is rooted in Prayer. A while back, I
read that the three ingredients to Christian boldness are Spirit-empowered
conviction, courage, and urgency. And well that explains it well.
I have the sufficient conviction
that these women deserve to be restored, to have dignity, and to feel love, and
so do their children. I have the courage
to face all the threats and opposition the devil or any human has to throw at
me in regard to helping these beautiful women and their children. I have more
than a sufficient amount of urgency, there is a fire under my feet and burning
within my heart to be Jesus’s hands and feet! The time is way overdue, and Jesus
wants to restore these women and break the chains of abuse and chains that bind
his creations. So, I ask how else should I act? But with Christian boldness!
Though we do not have any more funds left after
building the community home we are so ever confident that the Lord did not take
us this far up the mountain to desert us. He could not have started this
project and then pull out of it so near to the end! That is not how our Lord
works!
As I have explained before the Second phase of Mary
Magdalena’s home is to build the Chapel and the three smaller homes at the back
of the land. We have the design plans, and we have the estimated cost to build,
however, the challenge is that at this moment we do not have the funds!
We are
ready to get started when we return in 4 weeks, but we need to raise close to 50
thousand US dollars in order to do so.
I have nudged the Lord during my prayer time and
made it known that we have exhausted the funds he allowed for the community house
so, of course, I am confident that he knows. (As if I really needed to explain
it all, but of course, he likes to hear our needs and he loves even more for us
to ask him and call out to him.)
In the Gospel of Matthew, we can find that whatever
we ask for in prayer, we shall receive if you have faith” Matthew 21:22
We are hopeful that the chapel and the small homes
can be completed before the Feast Day of Santa Maria Magdalena as we have a
great desire to invite the bishop to celebrate the inauguration mass in the
Chapel followed by a humble dinner planned for the community in which the home
is surrounded by. Santa Maria Magdalena’s Feast Day is July 22. Hence that is
why I am sending the announcement to all of you as well. We would love to host
you on that date. We would absolutely be honored for whoever desires to make the
journey to come to Santa Maria Magdalena’s home and help us praise our Lord for
all the good he is doing, so please prayerfully consider taking us up on the
offer.
Again,
it is Bold to set the date, but so is our Lord! So, we are praying for yet
again for more miracles! We “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace”
(Hebrews 4:16)who then should we fear (Psalm 27:1)? Jesus did not die on the
cross to have us quivering in a corner because some human being might say
something mean or words of discouragement, or because lack of funds, or
sever a relationship, or even kill us (Luke 12:4). No! For Jesus has ensured
that, “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor
things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord”. (Romans 8:38-39)
What
else can be done? What more can be said?
To love Christ is to live with Boldness! Spirit-empowered
conviction, courage, and urgency! As our dear late director, Mr. Frank Summers
would often say we must preach with Parrhesia!
Pope Francis has on many occasions drawn attention to the importance of
the Greek word, Parrhesia. It is often translated as boldness, frankness, or
courage. The Pope explained that it is Christian courage which drives someone to
speak openly…. For example, in the Acts of the Apostles, it says that Paul and
Barnabas sought to explain the mystery of Christ to the Hebrews with boldness
and preached the Gospel boldly.”
The Catechism defines the term in this way: “Straightforward simplicity,
filial trust, joyous assurance, humble boldness, the certainty of being loved”
CCC 2778
It is my prayer that we may pray and preach with Parrhesia
so that we may lead these women to know with certainty that they are loved and that
they were created in his image! It is my utmost prayer that this boldness will become
contagious to you all!
May we have the confidence not to quiver in
fear in the corner. May we have the
confidence to be the hands and the feet of Christ to the poor!
If you have an overpowering conviction to help complete
the second phase of Santa Maria Magdalena’s home which consist of building the chapel
and the 3 small one-room homes, please do not be in fear of being bold with the
confidence that the Lord is giving you!
***Please send your donations to finish this
project by following the link provided below. Please add in the project name: Chapel/ small homes
Our goal is $50,000.00 to build the chapel and 3 long-term, small one room homes!
The Truck
You all made it possible to replace our old truck
with a new one. I can not tell you how much our lives have changed since we
purchase the new truck. Our time has increased abundantly; we can move faster
up and down the mountain and our weeks have been free of repair shops. We are
so grateful to all of you who helped make this possible. Thank you so much!
The old truck after prayerfully discerning what to
do with it, we felt that perhaps it could be still of use to someone. We
thought about selling it, but it just felt so wrong to sell it knowing all the issues
that it had. So, with a nudge from the Lord and wonderful mission partners who
made the original donation years back for the purchase of the truck, we are
happy to say the truck has found a new family to serve with.
Meet Jose and Giovanni and their 5 children. They help
Father Robert in and around the large 238 pueblo Parish and have been leading
different ministries for the past few years. The only thing is they never could
serve as a family because they only had a motorcycle. And though Peruvians are conditioned
to carry all sorts of things on a motorcycle and are even very good at fitting
large numbers of people on them it was just not at all possible for all 7 to
fit on one motorcycle.
They are so brave to carry so many things and even large amounts of people on one moto. This picture though I had to share
We are so happy to be able to give them the old truck so
now they can serve as a family. Jose is confident that he can keep up with the truck’s
ongoing problems and we will continue to pray that the truck will be held together
by the Holy Spirit.
We are stateside for 4 weeks!
A Short visit to the states indeed. We arrived a
few days ago for a few different reasons.
One major reason
to make the trip was to be able to attend Family Missions Company’s, Year in
Review! Which is a time of fellowship with other missionaries who serve in different
parts of the world, but also a time to reflect and process the past years in
the mission field. The week and a half are packed full of fun, talks, prayers,
and rest of course. So, we are looking forward to it!
We also are stateside because Gabriel is in need
of major dental work, and he will be having a few different procedures done while
we are here in Louisiana.
Unfortunately, not all of the work can be done at
the same time so we will need to return once again for the last procedure
sometime in the near future.
Our return to the States is something that saddens
me when I think of the poor whom we live among. We will never truly know of their
suffering! We often use the term that we live in solidarity with the poor, and
we do to a certain extent, but it is times like this that makes me ask and
question myself about how much do we really live in solidarity with the poor.
As missionaries, we have the ability to get on a plane to seek rest and medical
care. Making me realize how our two worlds are nothing alike and that we could
really never ever really live in complete solidarity with the poor! I am ashamed
to admit that I can escape such dreadful and hopeless economic conditions and I
desire to live a more humble and poor life and ask all of you to please pray
and intercede for us.
With that said,
I also must remember that God has sent us to journey with our friends in Peru and
they need our help. We have the ability to relieve many of their sufferings and
to help them find comfort in Christ!
I am so thankful for the family who purchased are airfare
back to the states and more than grateful for all the Doctors that are donating
their time and services to help Gabriel! Please keep Gabriel and his medical team
in your prayers for the next few weeks!
Visiting Lotus House
On our way in from Peru, we were blessed to visit
and learn from a huge and outstanding woman’s shelter in Miami Florida called
the Lotus house. Walking the halls and listening to the list of endless possibilities
for all the women and their children who seek refuge within the home, gave me
an immense feeling of affirmation and confidence that Jesus desires the same in
Peru for his beloved women there. The abundance
of blessings such as food and funds, clothes, and donated services such as
tutors, social workers, counselors, and Doctors seemed to be so plentiful at
the home. It was a true sign of God’s
love and mercy.
Maritza’s Court dates
You must all remember Maritza. I am so blessed and
honored to say that we have leaped a huge hurdle this year. Though it has been
slow and a bit painful we have officially been able to work the slow and red
tape riddle path to her applying for child support. Unfortunately, we have only
managed to get it for one child, and it is our plan that we start for her
second oldest child upon my return. It is a process that makes little to no
sense to me whatsoever. I must say my American brain does get in the way 100%.
I cannot understand why we must apply separately for all her children in which
will take years to complete. But with the help of God, we will succeed through
it all.
I indeed realized that I struck a nerve with the
father and his extended family when they found out we prevailed and won the
court case. It was a bit of an uneasy feeling knowing they were talking about
me and the times they were brave enough to confront me about my involvement.
However, I quickly gained my confidence, and words were provided to me by Jesus.
All I could say to them is I came to serve the women and their sweet children.
I was sent to help them find dignity and love which is found in the Lord! I am
here and I am not going to go away! If it makes you mad, then perhaps you need
to reflect on your own assault and abuse towards the women I am here to help! Jesus
loves them and they have a right to be loved and that is all I am doing and so
should you!
Online court appearances! Thanks to COVID
Fully Alive
It is always a blessing to call Father Robert or
Father Einer out to one of the Pueblos we serve in order to celebrate Sacraments.
Though this year the Lord asked me to step aside from teaching and preparing the
youth and adults for sacraments. He made sure I was included, and he filled my
heart with two new God Daughters.
Mallory and
Sarah did an outstanding job leading the hand full of children in Cajaruro and
we had just three in Paraiso that received baptism and one that received her
first communion. It is always such a
gift to see the pueblos come alive through the sacraments!
Saint Irenaeus said that “The glory of God is man fully alive.”Saint Irenaeus said that “The glory of God is man fully alive”. I feel
it is obvious to see this transformation when reflecting on these photos of my
new Godchildren and their families!
Antonella, my new Goddaughter, her mother on the left and her grandparents
The group of children who received 1st communion this year in Cajaruro
Antonella's baptism
Baby Jaritza Baptism and her mother. Baby Jaritza's parents
just received the sacrament of marriage last year!
Gabriel and Father Einer
Thank you for taking time out of your day to read our humble but glorious update!
I pray
that during this Advent season we can find time to take a step back from the
noise of the world to reflect on how we together can be instruments of peace,
love, and healing. And may our hearts desire to love like Christ! Amen
With Love
Karen and Gabriel Del Castillo
Please pray about if Jesus is asking you to partner with us to help complete the second phase of Santa Maria Magdalena’s home
We desire to build a chapel and the 3 small one-room homes.
***Please send your donations to finish this project by following the link provided below. Please add in the project name: Chapel/ small homes
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