New Area

Hey, everybody -

So I'm in a new area its called Aztecas.  My companion is Elder Caal.  He's from Guatemala.  He's pretty cool and very funny.  He is very, very tiny.  He's the tiniest guy in the mission, I think, but he's like a ball of muscle, like Spencer Tuckett.  It made me think of him, haha.  I like it here, actually.  The house is a lot bigger.  I like the area and the members. I actually don’t have much time to write now.  I have a lot of stuff to do as a district leader.  I'll send fotos next week so you can see it all, haha.  I'm like on the mountain of Juarez, kinda, so we can see the whole valley of Juarez and El Paso.  It's soo cool at night time.  The area is big, as well, and we're walking a lot, and I have to walk slower cause my companion can't keep up, haha.  I take big steps and he's running, almost, with his little legs, but he's so cool.  Sometimes it's hard to understand him cause the Spanish from there is a little different in a bunch of words.  But I'm learning a lot more now, haha.  Well, I love you all and hope you all have a great week!  Be Good!

Elder Castleton

New Assignment

Hey you all!

So we got transfers, haha. I am leaving Tierra Nueva. :(   I loved it here, but it's all good. My companion will stay here.  I’m going to a new area called Aztecas. I am going as a district leader.  Actually this is a big deal.  Down here it is. It's hard to become a district leader here, because they have to be 100% obedient and in a lot of things I'll tell you when I'm home, but I've been 100% diligent, so Pres sees that and now I'm a district leader.  He says if there are bad district leaders then the whole mission will be bad.  I feel ready for this.  It will be interesting.

My companion's name is Elder Cal, I think. He's from Honduras or from Guatamala, from what I've heard. This will be an adventure. I have a ton a stuff to pack, haha.  Also, there are not so many elders here that have a lot of time in the mission.  There's a couple generations before me and in a couple months I'll be one of the oldest generations here.  I will probably be a zone leader before I go home.  I don’t wanna be an assistant, though.  They do sooo much work here. They hardly teach at all.  And they are always running, busy, busy.  District leader and zone leader sounds good to me, ahha.  Yea, the members were soo bummed that I'm leaving.  They are good people.  I'll miss them but I'm so ready for this opportunity.

How's it all going over there?  It also sounds like I'll be coming home the 19 of August. I am having a good time here. I love teaching now and talking to the people, showing them the love that I have for them.  Thank you guys for your support and love.  Also for the gifts you send.  I share the fotos of you guys with the members. They wanna see what Alpine is like.  I don’t know if you guys wouldn't mind taking some fotos of Alpine and also views of the lake and the mountains.  Idk if it is snowy there or not.  Maybe in the spring. haha.  Also I have to say, I handed out some glow sticks to little kids in the church and more came and I'm like "Oh, ok, I got a couple more."  Then all of a sudden a huge stampede of kids came running AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!  I want one!!!!  I want one!!! I want one!!!  They were all pushing me over and attacking the bag.  I about wet my pants from laughter and my companion was like laughing and it was just funny.  Here those don't really exist, but they love them a lot!!  Like it fascinates them so much.  They all wanted one, but i didn’t have enough.  There was like maybe 60 kids.  There were too many, but yea, it was funny.

We also activated a family this week and they came and their son passed the sacrament.  It was awesome, and there were also 2 goodbye farewells yesterday. it was interesting, haha.  They're different here, haha.

Yea, well, thanks so much.  This week was a pretty good week. I made some amazing hamburgers with my companion and we about died because it was so good.  I couldn’t move, either.  they were huge burgers but so good, and yea, I about wet my pants laying on the couch cause i had to go potty but couldn’t lift my self up, hahaha.  Pretty strange but good week. Hah, well, I love you all. Hope you all have a great week!  Be good!

Elder Castleton

Love

Hello everybody!  How was your week?  So there is good news and bad news. The bad news is the boy Marcos, his parents don’t want him baptized.  But he still comes to church and does everything, so that’s all good. Also, we did have a baptism.  It was another investigator.  We just thought maybe he wouldn’t be baptized, and it was good. We had 3 baptisms yesterday. 1 from our ward and 2 from the ward of our other companions.  Their ward's called Independencia and ours is Tierra Nueva. So either way it was cool. The boy that got baptized, his name is Aaron. And yea, he got confirmed a member yesterday.  It was pretty awesome.  We're gonna set another baptisimal date this week as well. haha.  So everything is all good.

My camera died and I forgot the charger so i don’t have pictures. The thing is I'm gonna change areas, haha.  My companion is gonna train, so we have been going to some meetings for that.  Actually we have to go to one tomorrow.  So were gonna have transfers but I think, I don’t know, but I might be a district leader.  I am not sure yet.  So all is well. haha.

How is everybody doin?  i see Suzy is like a star over there!  Congrats Suzy!!! I'm proud of you!  Daria, that sounds awesome and fun to have another friend around.  Kendra and Graham,  I'm coming back for that asphalt pie....and Graham, you still have a forest beard?  Soo, that's how you get the ladies, right?.... OK, I see how it is... Eva and Big J, keep up the preachin, your planting the seed as you serve and love your neighbors.  The best thing you can do is love them.

Study about love in the scriptures, all of you, please, haha.  It's deep... haha. Lots of times we talk about love but we don’t love to a degree that changes ourselves first. I have learned about that this week.  Think about this: IF WE REALLY LOVE JESUS AND OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WE  WILL OBEY THE COMMANDMENTS........That is the secret to everything.  If you don’t got love you got nottin. haha There's this kid that says if you don’t got J's you don’t got nothing, meaning Jordans, the tennis shoes, haha.  So I say if you don’t got love, you got nothing.  Well, I invite you to test yourselves.  Do I really love Jesus?  That I can say it to his face? Do I love my neighbors and the people that surround me?  Those kind of questions we need to ask ourselves.  I know God will always help us if he sees us loving our brothers and sisters. 

Love you all so much.  I pray for your safety and for guidance.  I will talk to you all next week! Have a fantastic week!

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!!