"short term fun is Long term guilt."

Wow does time fly!

This week was super rejuvenating! We buckled down and really made the changes necessary in our area. Sadly that meant letting some people go for a time. Unfortunately once we give our brothers and sisters the best opportunity to accept the gospel they still have their agency to accept it or not. We will be there when they are ready and the spirit beckons them to come home. 

Let's talk about Heber! Progressing super well and he's at church for the entire block every sunday. We have been having lessons with him at the visitor's center and he loves it. Just a special feeling being on temple grounds. We were super excited about this weekend to be able to set a baptism goal for him, but he left saturday and didn't come home all night and wasn't at church :(( He hadn't come home yet! later on we were heading home and we were impressed to visit his home. He had gotten home a just few minutes prior and he wasn't doing so hot. We talked some things over and let him rest because he wasn't all there. But hopefully this week will be a recovery!

Angelo!!!!!!!!!! He's so ready. He has some commandment issues that we talked over...luckily he isn't breaking them he just didn't understand them fully. So we went to the VC yesterday and had a lesson with him and spent 3 hours! He just really opened up. We ended giving him a blessing for strength and a kneeling prayer. He felt great and said he'd go home and pray again for the 23rd of this month. We are super excited for him. He is already teaching his friends! How awesome is that. He's going to be the solidest-est ever.

We had the chance to attend 2 baptisms this week. They are the best experiences anyone can have. The spirit that's felt at such a sacred service is undeniable. 

My studies have been focused in the Doctrine and covenants. There's a lot that focuses on Light and truth. Read D&C93 this week and send me some thoughts :) It jumps around a bit but it also talks about family :)

Quick thoughts from John Bytheway

There are easy ways to get out of bad choices...not easy to get out of the consequences.

Short term fun is long term guilt. So we must practice short term discipline for long term happiness.

What a blessing this gospel is in our lives! As we tailor our lives to meet God's will there is true joy! Heavenly Father doesn't give us commandments to make us miserable...he gives em to keep us and our families safe. How great is His love for us!? 

I love you all. Thank you for listening, well reading...well if you did...haha tahtahfornow!

-E. Castellanos

p.s. read Jacob 3:1-2 if you can :)

busy week........it was kind of disappointing

So super busy week and it was kind of disappointing. We finished off the month and our Zone didn't do so hott. E. Cavazotti and I spent the night calling every area and seeing how we could help, then developed a plan to meet with each area and help out. There's a lot of changes coming especially with our interviews with president this week. I am excited to see what is to come! Super short today but we are running around. Promise more next week!

Miss and love you all mucho!

"In Him we find refuge. In Him we find love...In Him we find peace."

Hello!

Welcome to another episode of my life as a missionary! :O crazy, no?

This week was super amazing and filled with miracles!

So we put Angelo on date for this upcoming Saturday. He is doing everything right! He is reading the book of mormon and the bible together and watching all the D&C videos and praying and coming to church ad he's just perfect! haha I a so sure he can make it! He already has a testimony of the truthfulness of the book of mormon and says he can't wait to go out and share with others what he has learned. Ah.!!

Another miracle, we were at the visitor's center with the familia mendoza on saturday and a big family walked in. A sister greeted them and then called e over because they were from Quiché, Guatemala! Mis paisanos! haha but I talked to them and found out they were i our area. The father said he was not a member of the church "yet". ;) so we showed them around and set up to come back sunday. So we went bac and showed them God's plan for family. Everyone was in tears. Heck, I was in tears. We bore testimony of eternal families and what it meant to each of us. It was amazing! we had to leave for sacrament so we left the sisters with them for an hour. But we came back and they were gone :( worst part is we didn't get any of their info :(( so we are really praying they will come back. 

We had a spanish conference yesterday afternoon as well and Elder Wade from the area 70 and our mission president was there and it was just so great. The spirit radiates from Elder Wade! We discussed making our sacrament meetings of a greater quality for investigators and how we can focus on retention. Some things to reflect if you can provide aid in a spanish branch near you. It should be one culture, one people, one family. Be sure the branches are a part of the stake. Make sure the stake auxiliaries are doing their part in attending regularly and providing support. Members should be working WITH the missionaries to fellowship. In teaching, their should be at least one family present - when attending church, EVERYONE should fellowship. They should feel loved the moment they walk through the doors. As soon as they are baptized and receive the gift of the holy ghost increase their learning. Give the RC lessons. Give them a purpose! A sense of belonging; of being needed. A calling should be delegated not long after baptism. Train our members in all these aspects. Turn to preach my gospel for aid. It wasn't given to us to just keep around o.O

Lastly, my temple trip this morning. Wow. I love this gospel. I rejoice in the promises that are made in the sacred temple of the Lord. I am grateful for my family and the fact that we can be together forever as we diligently strive to live true to all of God's commandments. I am grateful for our prophet who leads and guide us in these latter-days. I testify that he is a man called of God to minister unto the entire world the truth. I testify that the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is God's kingdom restored on the Earth today. I testify and bear witness that this restored gospel is true happiness - that through modern revelation we can have the guidance to have Christ-centered homes and return to live in the Heavens with our Heavenly Father and all of our family. I love my Savior! I know that He lives! I know that he knows us each personally, and has suffered every negative moment of our lives. In Him we find refuge. In Him we find love...In Him we find peace. May we always turn to Him and live faithful to the covenants we make or will make in the future. I love you all. You are always in my heart and prayers. Til' next time!

With all my love,

-Elder Castellanos

P.s. I took up soccer. Who knew it'd be fun xP

"Heavenly Father truly knows me...personally...and he knows us all. If we align our will to his will he will raise us up!"

Oi minha familia! Como vai??? Eu esto falando muito portuguese con meu compa. Okay maybe not that much, but I learn a couple phrases each day! haha Well as you learned last week I'm in st. george serving with E. Cavazotti. We oversee 13 companionships with recently added Mesquite! Yeah...nevada...crazy huh? Exchanges will be fun haha But i love the area because we get to work closely with president and the assistants. A lot of work to do though. By far the most tiring week of my mission thus far. o.O but way fun! Super excited for things to come. So we got a shiny new grey jeep. :D Andrea must be clenching her teeth. haha it has like 600 miles on it o.O but anywho...our area is huge! we cover our whole zone in spanish. So it's all of st george and neighboring cities plus mesquite. "Everything the light touches is our kingdom. Super fun though. E. cavazotti is a stud. Such a great example of what a leader should be. 

Updates: Zuly the chapina in Price got baptized saturday. super nice! Sad i missed it but she was able to make those covenants with Heavenly Father which is the best part. her sister is lined up for next weekend with her kids. E. rodriguez continues to rock it. No doubt he wouldn't. Our zone found 47 new investigators this week. 47 brothers and sisters ready to hear the gospel. What a blessing.

Im so grateful for my mission. So grateful for this gospel. Grateful for all the support I have. It's the best decision i've made in my life. Heavenly Father truly knows me...personally...and he knows us all. If we align our will to his will he will raise us up! I know it's true. I love my savior with all my heart. I love my family...all of you...all of those people in my mission. Keep on keeping on. Miss you dearly!

-Elder Castellanos

"...remember the great love Heavenly Father has for you. It's INFINITE!"

Hello, Hello!

So transfer calls came in Saturday night and straight from President Center. I quickly passed the phone to Elder Rodriguez for him to hear the news, but he passed it back to me because President wanted to speak to me. Here I am freaking out -_-" He said changes would be made and he'd be moving me from all the way north to all the way south. Drumroll.....summer in St. George! Ahhhh!! It's going to be hot o.O haha I'm stoked though! I will be serving as a Zone Leader in the St. George Central Zone working in the St. George Spanish Area with Elder Cavazotti. He is from Brazil and way awesome! We've been able to meet on several occasions for conferences and transfers. I'm just so grateful for the 6 months i've spent in Price. President wasn't kidding when he said it needed work. It was white-washed just a transfer before I got in so we were pretty slow but now we are seeing the fruits of our labors! Nick Thomas was baptized this past Saturday and it was amazing! All of his wife's family came down and most of his. He still has a sore spot with his mum for joining the church so she didn't attend but it was still an amazing service. Zuly and her son Josue are to be baptized this upcoming Saturday. Shannah Megan and Shawn are to be baptized on the 19th and Orfa, and her 2 daughters are to be baptized on the 26th. I told E. Rodriguez to send me the pictures so I can photoshop myself in haha The Lord's work is a marvelous work. The true gospel of Christ brings miracles into the lives of our brothers and sisters. Let us be true to our faith and serve our lifelong mission to share with others the wonderful blessing we have. It's no secret! I am really blessed for all the support you all give me. I love you all and I have you in mind each and every day. We're off to a lesson but always remember the great Love Heavenly Father has for each and everyone of you. It's infinite!  Try to imagine it...I dare you ;P Love and miss you much!

-Elder Castellanos

"hope we are all seeing miracles in our lives!"

Hi! Sorry super late but the fhc is closed so we had to go to a members home and they only have tablets so I can't write much :( I read all your emails and saw the pictures. Sounds like its been a blast! Scout looks awesome! But I would've preferred a husky. Shame about the water on dads car and Suzy's. How is dahli doing?? How are GMA and aunt enjoying themselves. Hopefully not too big of a headache or stress for mom. I love you all so much! What's new???? I haven't gotten sick. We have 6 baptisms maybe this Saturday. I haven't gotten the box. Maybe tomorrow. I got hurt a bit last week working out at the park. Got a nice bruise on my leg and I was limping for 2 days haha all healed now though. We had a visit with our mission president which was super nice! He wants to put e. Rodriguez and I in leadership next transfer which is scary. Everyone thinks I'll be a zl but I doubt it. I'm hoping for DL in this or another area. We will see! Our Guatemalan sisters should be baptized Saturday! So excited! Oh! Remember Jarret!? We found him! Haha he has been out for a month and has been going to church. Different stake now so we can't teach him but he is on the right path so its all that !matters! I'll try to get a computer later for pictures! Hope we are all seeing miracles in our lives! If not, take a deep breath and smile....it's a blessing in itself. Transfers are next week so I'll update what happens! I love you all!