Merry Christmas!!!

We had a ward activity here and it was funny, haha. It was awesome!

So this is us missionaries in the ward. The little guy by me is Elder Gomez from Oaxaca. The big Santa is Elder Herd from South Jordan, same as my companion. They went to school together, actually. It's us four in the ward.

 

Note from Chuck:  We got to Skype with Gabe on Christmas Eve. It was wonderful.  He is so happy, so strong, and doing really well.  He loves his mission and feels a great responsibility to shine the light of the gospel in a dark and dangerous city.

A screenshot from our Skype conversation

Choir of Angels

Hey, Everybody -

 Aahhh, man, this week has been soooo amazing.  I'm just filled with the spirit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The choir was the best thing I've ever done!! It was huge!!!!  We were on TV here in Mexico!  And the newspaper.  And we got 1800 REFERRALS!!  For the mission!!  It was the best.  I just about exploded from the spirit.  I haven't felt the spirit so strong.  Singing in front of tons of people with our missionary army, singing the truth to everybody!!  It was so legit.  We had videos and stuff as well, like "He is the Gift" and "Because of Him" and lots more. It was sooooooooooooo awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

My new companion got to be in it and he loved it! His name is Elder Medeiros! haha he's from......... South Jordan, Utah!  He just barely finished his training.   So he's pretty new, but we get along soooo well and teach really well together. He's awesome.  I love him, haha. 

In just our area we have also reached like 15 references, not including those from the choir. And we have a bunch of new investigators. This week we're gonna be soooooo busy, but I'm so excited!!  More than a thousand references for the mission!!  It was the best experience of my mission.  I wanted to ball like a baby.  I know God lives. there's no way that I just felt a little good.   I felt the spirit testify every time.  It was AHHHHh.  I'm like we're just a bunch of angels singing in this dangerous city.  This is what the people need to see and hear.  I am sooo glad I was a part of that amazing experience!  I still feel the spirit sooooo strong!  It was like a charge up, haha.  Oh, man, I just about died from the spirit. It helped me as well have a stonger testimony.  I know He lives.  I will NEVER deny that. Everything is getting much better.  I'm really, really happy. Lots of work but that’s ok.  Here are some fotos of the place where we sang, on the  outside. As well as our ward mission leader and some of his kids and the other elders in our ward, but my old companion is on the left, the really dark one in front. 

 

 

 

 New companion! My suit is big for me, hahah.

I hope you enjoy the fotos. It was an awesome week!

From Chuck:
One of the moms of a missionary found a video online of a Mexican TV station covering the concert.  Click here to see it.  Also, here is a screen shot Kathy took from the video. See Gabe, second from right in the back row.

Baptisms and Pictures

The people we're gonna baptize are two guys. One is 17 and the other is close to 30.  Their girlfriends are of a family here that are active and they're very curious!  Very!  And they're coming with us to the concert!  And they do everything, haha.  It's cool.  We get along with them well. Their names are Marcos and Christian.  They're cool.  Also, I'm gonna send pics this time, haha. Love you dad!

I'm too hot for this swing!

This is our church

Our House

The white elder, it was his birthday so we had cake at a family's house Mhmmmmm..

Christmas Choir

 I'm doin' awesome.

The ward here is awesome!! There are 4 missionaries here in the ward. We have found so many new investigators. We also set 2 baptismal dates.
  

It's still warm here. It gets cold in the night a lot, but I'm staying warm.  We don’t have a heater in our house but we're gonna get one soon, I think.
  

So were gonna sing in a choir here in a place called El Paso del Norte, Juarez.

This is the place where we are going to sing.

It's gonna be so big and we know what we're doing.  It's soooo coool!!!  There's gonna be like more than a thousand people there.  Also, we're gonna watch some videos.  Maybe you have seen one on lds.org.  It's the new video in Spanish.  It's called "El es la Dadiva".  In English idk what it is - like "He Is the Gift".  And we're gonna watch "Because of Him".  This will be the 12th of December.  SOOO EXCITED!!! So that's a little bit of what’s going on here.  Were singing, all of us missionaries, like 100 companionships, haha. But yea, I love you!!

Transferred After All

Hey, how y'all doin?  SO we had transfers, well, more transfers.  We transferred our area!  I'm no longer in Caseta!  Due to the safety problem. It's getting pretty bad there. They took us out.  I'm in an area called Tierra Nueva 2 with the same companion.  It's pretty cool and there is a ton of work here.  I feel good here. My companion and I are doin' good.

Thanks so much for the birthday package! It was amazing!! Our house here is a lot cooler. We've got a couch as well, and a cool lamp that has a little waterfall thing.  I'll take a picture next time, haha.  So basically I've got to start over here. It's a good area and, well, we're gonna see what happens.  But yea, things here are good.  There are 4 of us in a ward, 4 missionaries, and one of the other missionaries is from Utah.  He's funny.  He has 3 weeks in the mission and it's so weird for him.  I'm helping him with his Spanish.  Of the 4 missionaries here I'm the oldest with time in the misson.  Haha, yea, its pretty cool. So in Caseta they just took us out, so we left the investigators and everything.  Kinda sad, but it's for the good.

So how's everybody doing!??  How's the cold over there?  Here it's so cold, and it's dry air as well, haha, but we're warm.  Well, I gotta go.  We didn’t get much time today but next week I'll remember to bring my camera, haha.  But have a great week and stay warm!!!  Love you all!!

Elder Castleton

Birthday Pictures

My birthday was pretty cool. The mission mom gave me a bunch of stuff and the kids, they gave me a big cake as well! And they gave me some cologne.  It's the blue bottle right there.  They're awesome!

This family is awesome as well! The mom is miembro but the rest of the family aren’t. We're teaching them and we go to their house to eat sometimes, haha. Their last name is Loera.

 

In this foto the mountains are Juarez and El Paso. We're pretty far away, haha.

 

Brown American

Hey! So we had transfers and my companion is Elder Cruz, haha.   He is pretty cool.  He is from Chiapas, Mexico.  It's the very bottom part of Mexico.  He has barely completed 13 months in the mission. He reminds me of Hector.  He acts like him, but as a Mormon, and his expressions are the same, haha.  He speaks another dialect.  It's so cool, haha.

We have also had a lot of meetings this week in Juarez and some with President, which were pretty awesome and way powerful.  We're receiving more help here as well. There are so many missionaries and sister missionaries. It's funny cause the Americans come to me and start speaking Spanish, but it's funny because they're from the MTC and they ask me where I'm from and I act like I don’t understand because of their accent.  Then some begin to laugh with the other Americans and I'm like "Just kidding, man, I speak English. I'm from Utah!" and they're all like WAHHHHH WOOOOOAAAA haha. It's funny because that’s the last thing they expect from a brown elder like me. haha.

The other Mexican elders here say I know like 90% Spanish.  Some say it's from like 80 to 90-something % Spanish, haha.  I am getting better.   But nah, it's awesome here. I feel better.  Idk, just havin' hope and doing everything possible to be the best missionary that I can be.

We're singing in a choir for a stake meeting and we sing with the sister missionaries and some of the youth that are from the stake.  Oh, man, it's pure power!  it's so awesome.

I hope you're all doing great!  Did you have a good Halloween?  I didn't even remember it was Halloween until we got home from the reunion with our president.  Haha, I totally forgot. Well, I hope you have a great week, you all. Also, keep studyin' and prayin'.  I pray for you all.  Have fun!

Love,

Elder Castleton

New Companion

Transfers are tomorrow and my companion Elder Hernandez is leaving here and I'm staying again!  Haha, I won't be training, but my companion has less time in the mission than me so I'm still senior companion.  I will be here past Christmas,  I think, haha.  His name is Elder Cruz. Or in English, Elder Cross.  He sounds really cool.  I don’t know him but the other elders say he's legit and he speaks Maya.  I think he is really like pure Lamanite, hahhaha.  It's cool.

It's getting a little cooler here.  It's colder here in the Valley Caseta than in Juarez. 

I know God lives. I know Jesus is our brother, our older brother, and Oh, man, have a felt the spirit testify so strong. I have seen many and wonderful things here. I have had experiences that have changed my life. I know that the spirit world is here and I have a jist of what it's like, as well as what we will do there. I have seen the power of the Priesthood in the mission a lot. I know it is here again on earth. You really gain a testimony when you can heal the sick and perform miracles. I'll tell you all these experiences when I'm home, but He really lives and is there. I know you know, but I want you to know that I know. I know he lives and loves us. Once we comprehend that he loves us, we will continue doing the things that are right. Nothing on this earth will make me fall. I will never deny the truth or go astray from it. I have chosen to follow Christ. And Christ I will follow through out all of this life and the next life, as well as follow our Father in Heaven. He lives.  I'm so grateful for the restored gospel in my life and the lives of my family and friends.

Elder Castleton

Healing

Hey, thanks everybody for all those replies and comments. I love you all. I actually gave a talk in church yesterday and oh, man, it was powerful.  It was about the conversion that we have.  It was awesome.

This week also went better. I’m focusing in who I can be here as a Preach My Gospel missionary, and how I can help the new missionaries, because there are so many new missionaries. Nothing can stop me now. I'm doing a lot better.

I'm learning a lot and I have a story.  Remember when i was sick?  Well, it was for a couple days and idk why but we didn’t even think of giving a blessing.  But I asked the 3 other missionaries if they could give me a blessing, because the pills and meds just weren’t working.  So my companion and the other two elders gave me a blessing and in about 10-15 minutes I was back to normal.  I was healed.  A week before when my companion was sick I gave him a blessing and and in about 20 mins he felt better.  His temperature was at 40.  They said it was dangerous and he was really sick with lots of things but it was a testimony that God loves.  I learned that.  He loves us, and if we have faith in him and act on that faith everything is possible.  Faith and hope and charity, oh, man, so powerful those are.  I know the priesthood is here on the earth again.

There are so many stories I wanna share with you all, just I'd rather tell you in person. Through email it's harder.  But I'm doing better and I feel stronger spiritually.  I've gotta be an example here for these missionaries. I just love this work. Well I got to go.  I didn’t have much time but I love you all. I hope you can have spiritual experiences every day.  Also find someone to help as well and to preach this amazing gospel. I love you all.

Elder Castleton

He Is The God And We Are His Children

This week was pretty good in teaching but lots of things happened here with the cartel.  They shot some police again and a few other people, one of which was our investigator.  So it was sad.  He was innocent.  They just shot him.  And now his wife and baby girl are alone.  We're gonna go see how we can help them.  But we were right in the middle of the police and the other people, and it was horrible and just ugly.  There was tons of cops and soldiers and federales, which is like SWAT.  We were traveling home from one of the towns and, ahh, guns firing and everything.  It was horrible but I felt something...I felt calm and peace in the car.  I knew everything was gonna be OK.  I could literally feel the Holy Ghost telling me that it's OK, and I was gonna make it out safe.

I testify that God lives.   He's watching us and he knows what we're going through. The Holy Ghost is really the comforter and helps us so much in our lives.  We're protected a lot.  There are angels with us.  I testify of that.  I still can't comprehend how bad it was here and, well, they're still here.  It's calmed down but it still happens and it's really ugly and a horrible situation, knowing that, man, this is where it ends. This is the time where I leave, but no.  I have faith and I know the good that happens and I look forward to the future because that is faith. I know He lives. Things in this life we will face are hard and challenging, but if we're strong in the gospel and we keep every commandment and we obey, He will protect us and help us.  I have seen things that you can't imagine, the worst things, but it's OK.  I just keep swimmin'.  Keep goin'.  I like the scripture, D&C 136:31.  You will have to read it.  I don’t know it in English but I love it.   It's true and I testify this is the work of God and He lives.  He is the God and we are His children.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

D&C 136:31 -  My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom.

Picture Day!

More pictures from Gabe.

Some flowers that I've made for the people

This is Juarez and the moon!!  We are by the border.  The yellow lights in the distance are El Paso!  We are leaving the chapel to go wait for the bus to Caseta.

This lady is basically American.  She served a mission in Texas and speaks English and always makes us food from the US.  She's awesome!  She's like an American grandma.  haha

This is the lady that you send the packages to - Maribel.

FOOD!

This family are our investigators.

Members

This family, the dad speaks English.  He's so cool.

This family are recent converts.  They're awesome!

This is Alex and he helps us with the youth.  He's a good Mormon boy, haha.

This is our little district, but today there are gonna be new elders and yea, its cool. haha

It was this little girl's birthday in the ward and we went to her house to celebrate and also it was our day to eat at their house. She is so funny! haha