Roller Coasters & "We're Not in Kansas Anymore"

The following e-mail was received yesterday:

Well, I got through the first week  of training. Not gonna lie--it is kinda tiring. My new comp is Elder Clemens. He is from Kansas. He´s a pretty cool kid. He already has a good base of Portuguese down. The tiring part of training is that I have to do everything--from finding people, to teaching, to asking [for] food at the supermarket...haha. But surely he will come along and learn. 

It´s been interesting to see someone start on the the mission that isn't yourself. This place is completely different than where he is from. (Well, you´re "not in Kansas anymore"...haha.) Reminds me of my first days here--getting used to the sun, teaching, all that stuff. 

This week was a little difficult. We are trying to find more people to teach. Many things fell through too, and yesterday we had a big downer. A person that we have been teaching for a while said he didn't want anything anymore. Of course I knew why...I asked him if he prayed to know if these things were true, and he said no. I told him he won´t know until he asks, but he just refused and said it wasn't his time. I left feeling very angry and sad. He has no idea what he is giving up. All he had to do is ask God if these things are true--something so simple...but [he refused] to do it. It´s his choice though. Sad, but there is nothing I can do about it. He had his chance. 

Luckily though, later that night we had a great lesson with a member's mom (who is not a member). She was a bit difficult, but we were able to have a debate about things and got her to accept a baptismal date. Now she just has to have a response from God.

A mission is a roller coaster of emotions. It can go from very sad to happy in a matter of hours...or sometimes weeks. All just experiences though. Hope all is well.

--Elder Castagno

Training Other Missionaries

 The following e-mail was received today:


Well another transfer has come and gone. For the most part it went by really well. My time here with Elder Rocha was great. I learned a lot from him. The other night President called...and said that he wants me to train! The next two transfers, I´ll be training a brand new missionary fresh from the MTC. I´m not sure what to think...excited but nervous at the same time. At least I´ll be staying in my area. I´ll receive my new companion tomorrow. Elder Rocha will be training too...but of course in another area. It will be an interesting two transfers for both of us. Makes me remember of when I first got here to Fortaleza. I knew so little. I've learned a lot, but still feel like I have much to learn. This next transfer is already the last transfer of Elder Pili, my trainer. Six weeks and he´ll be home. He´s still in my zone so i´ll still be able to see him every week. 

This last week went by really well. We started teaching a family that is really liking the church. They aren't married, but we can help them with that. They are very humble people. They were basically a blessing that just showed up to church. Also, we had two baptisms yesterday--two friends of some of the members that we have been working with for a little while. Everything is going well. Just nervous for tomorrow. Things will go well. Hope that all of you are doing great.

With love,
Elder Castagno

Family, Faith,...and Horses!

The following e-mail was received today:

Well another week has gone by here on the mission. This next week is the last week of the transfer. I´m guessing that me and my comp will stay, but we´ll see. 

Earlier this week we had leadership training in Aldeota. It´s the center of Fortaleza where the mission office is. A bunch of things were said. Missionary work is changing. President had a meeting with some of the area seventy. They said that now is the beginning of when the church will grow the most in all of history--here in Brasil and also the world. For this to happen, we are to find and focus on families. Our missionary purpose is now "achar, ensinar, resgatar"--which means to find, teach, and save. Baptism is still important but not necessarily number one on the list--which is strange, but things change. We are going to be working with a bunch of members and non-actives to find these families. But I do believe that the church will truly grow this way. The family is the basis of this church. Without our families, we cannot have eternal joy. . .  For that I can say that I love my family. All of you. On the mission I've truly learned about the importance of the family. Day by day we´re trying to bring this same happiness to other families. 

Never give up!

This past week was a bit tough. Wasn't necessarily very many people to teach. Juggling two very large areas is difficult at times. At the end of the week we had a blessing though. The whole day the Lord answered my prayers almost instantly. We found several people to teach and the whole day just...worked. Something that doesn't always happen. I've been pushed several times to the barrier of just wanting to give up....but I knew it was just another trial of my faith and that if I stayed strong 'til the end, things would turn up. And it did. 

On a crazier note, the other day we were walking to an appointment and we almost got ran over by some stray horses. My comp jumped over a fence, and I ran the other way. Luckily they calmed down and then we scared them off to the other direction. Have a great week!
 
--Elder Castagno

Faith: "Easy, right?"

The following e-mail was received today:

Hello once again! Well, it hasn't been too long ago since I e-mailed, so there isn't too much news today. But I can sure say that I can finally see some blessings after a long struggle these past two weeks with finding people to teach. We've really been trying to have a good group of people to teach, but there just has been no one. I wasn't sure what to do anymore. We used all of our resources, and we were out of ideas. I just put faith in the Lord and told Him that I needed some help. It worked. Yesterday during church, about ten members came up to us giving references of people that we can teach. People that were family and friends, and they offered to come with us! Also, there were members that brought their friends and family to church that weren't members. A miracle! Now we have a great group of people to teach. All we needed to do was to prove our faith....that´s just how it is. For sure was a great testimony builder. 

Nephi, ancient prophet from The Book of Mormon

Not sure if I said this in one of the other e-mails, but I relate this experience, and the mission as a whole, like Nephi´s experience in the beginning of the Book of Mormon. When he is sent out to get the plates. He didn't know how to get them. He even failed the first few tries, but he didn't give up hope. He had faith in the Lord, and the Lord basically delivered the plates into his hands. He knew he wouldn't let him down. If the Lord commands us to do something, there is a way. Just show faith, and the Lord will do the rest. Easy, right? Sometimes not so much. But the more faith we show, the easier it is to trust in the Lord and not to worry if things will go right or not--because eventually they will. 

 Other than that everything here is going fine. Raining a lot. Enjoying it though. Wish all you guys a great week.

With love,
Elder  Castagno

Week of Carnaval--"Satan won't stop, so we can't stop either."

Carnaval Musicians

The following e-mail was received yesterday:

(VERY modest Carnaval costume)

Sorry everyone for the delay! This week was Carnaval here in Brasil--a huge party that lasts for a few days. Everything was closed for about a week...so it´s been hard to do just about anything. Everyone went to the beach, so it´s also been difficult to teach people. I always seem to run into some type of trial. At the moment we have no one to teach. We have been trying to work in both of the wards, but there are no references...and the people that we talk to on the street don´t want everything. Really nothing is working at the moment. But I just have to keep on going. Satan won´t stop, so we can´t stop either. 

I am very thankful for my companion. How it makes a difference to have a great companion. Sure the work is very difficult at the moment, by my comp helps me stay animated and happy, so all is well. It´s been raining a bunch lately--giving us a little break of the sun, but not of the heat...ha. Lately I've been learning a lot about the nature of God--what He is like and who he is. It is something very interesting and something that everyone should try to do. The more we learn about Him, the better we can become--and also trials and life seems a little easier. We can be in a very difficult moment in our lives but still have gratitude for all of our blessings. Hope that all of you are well. 

 Sending my love,
Elder Castagno

The Sunshine After the Storm

The following e-mail was received today:

Well, I have some interesting news this week. This last week I have been through a lot. I've prayed a lot and have really depended on the Lord to help me. I was destined to do what I could to make these six weeks the best I could make out of them. [My patience was tried, and I did my best. Some things happened], so [my companion] got transferred out. And now I have a new companion who is awesome! . . .

My new companion is Elder Rocha from São Paulo. He is really cool. He has about ten months on the mission. He was home for the last five months though because of a knee surgery. Now we can really concentrate on the work at hand. I´m excited for these next weeks. Yesterday we had a baptism. It was a kid from a recently baptized family. It was great to see the family united together to see his baptism. We were supposed to have a few others, but sadly they fell through. This week we are going to do our best to help them. 

 I learned this week that the Lord will give us trials of our faith from time to time. He does this so we can grow. If we just have it easy, we won´t learn anything. If we support it, well then the blessing will come. It´s a promise. Whenever there is a storm there will always be flooding after...but then after that the sun will shine through. Love you all and until next time...

Elder Castagno

"I don't think I've prayed more in my life than this week."

The following e-mail was received today:

So this week was a tough one. One of those weeks that you look back on and say, "Man, that sucked." But also one that you learn a lot from. So within this week I had to be worrying about my area, my district, [among other things.] At times, [my companion] wants to do things way different than the way that I do things, so we end up hitting heads at times. 

 

 I can say that I gave it my all this week. Trying to find news, talking to everyone . . . I had to rely a lot on the Lord. I don´t think that I've prayed more in my life than this week. As always, the Lord pulled through. I did my part, and He did His. 

We talked to many recent converts to try and find references, and I did my best to invite everyone to hear a message. Also, I put in a lot of faith. In the end it worked out. We were able to teach a good handful of people and had two baptisms yesterday . . . Other than that I did some interviews for my district and will do my first training tomorrow. 

I've really learned a lot about faith this week and about how much God loves us. He´s helped me so much this week--it´s amazing. And I have a firm testimony that He will never give us more than we can handle. If it gets to be too much, He´ll fix it. We just need to show our faith and willingness to obey and serve. 
 

Still hotter than fresh baked cookies out here.

With love,
Elder Castagno