Note from Argentina

***** NOTE: HERMANA CASTILLO'S P-DAYS HAVE CHANGED TO MONDAYS!!! *****

So it rained for the first part of the week. It just poured and poured! It was funny b/c we were up to our ankles is water in some areas, and in others, my comp and I both lost our shoes in mud. They broke, so we took them in this week to get fixed. lol It was funny! Then, when it stopped raining it was scorching hot!!! It has almost been unbareable, but we make it. My clothes are drenched at the end of the day and we look really gross. lol Oh, our New Years was amazing! Wow, I have never seen fireworks like this before! We went on our roof at 11.45 and the fireworks were all over the city. You know all the fireworks that are illegal in every state beacuse they sound like a war is going on and make a lot of messes? Well, they are allowed here. lol It was amazing! For a full hour, we had the whole cities for miles around doing fireworks and all sorts of things. The had little floating hot air balloon looking things all over for wishes. It was awesome!

Ok, next, pray for Damian and Andres. They are the kids I told you about that just became members a week before I got here. Damian is 10 and Andres is 15. Their father is a good for nothing bumb. Andres works all the time filling up tires and cleaning windows on people's houses. I want to help them but I don´t know what to do. We bring them food about every other day and members invite them over for lunchs sometimes, but pray for them that they can get out of their bad living situation. The bishop wants to adopt them, but the dad of the kids said no. We think it is beacuse then he would have to work to feed himself. See, his kids wouldn´t be there anymore to take care of him and so forth. Bum. I am sooo angry with him. I really want to punch him, but i won´t. But if he ever gave me the chance, well man I sound like a mean missionary. I'm not, I'm just passionate. lol

So next, I have come to terms with my illness. I am just going to be sick my whole mission, I know it. I drink a half of a bottle of Creme de Bismol a day and it helps, so its not soo bad, but all the food is not good for me and the ONIONS! Oh the onions! I have been having some serious issues with that, but you can't say no so i have lost 6lbs. I think from all the heat here and the walking it's great b/c then I can eat more lunch.

OH so here's a really random story. My comp and I were contacting people and we came across two people making out under the tree. We figure ha why not?! lol So we aproach them and start talking and end up teaching them lesson 1 and lesson 2. In the middle of lesson two when we were talking about the Atonement, the guy starts crying. UMMM?? It was a little random. His name is Dani and he is 25. We stopped and asked what was wrong. Then, he sobbed harder and told us this story. When he was 16, he and two of his friends broke into our church (the church my comp and I are at). He waited outside as a watch while his friends went and stole a ton of things. Afterwards, his two friends were arguing about who gets what and he started to wonder if robbing a church was right. Then all of a sudden, his friend pulls out a gun and shoots his other friend and kills him. He watched the whole thing and didn´t know what to do. Well, the guy that shot his friend was caught and sent to jail and is still there. Dani said that he knew that God had punished them for stealing from Him and he was going to live with it for the rest of his life. He never stole from a church again, but he steals from other people. (I don´t know the logic, but there you have it) So anyway, he was crying because when we were talking about the Atonement and how you can be forgiven, he said that he knew that God had sent us to him at that moment to teach him these things and to forgive him. That after all this time, he can now be forgiven. (wow...) So he invited us to his house and we met his family and set up a time to meet with him tomorrow. He is really excited. I am really excited. So anyway, that is a way cool story I thought I would share with you.

The people here have gone through so much than we ever dream of and have seen so many horrible things with their government, in their homes and just everyday living. I admire them for their courage to live and their effort to make this world and this life better for everyone.

So another cool story. This Sunday was Fast & Testimony meeting. Well it was Damian's first time in this type of a meeting and he came over and grabed me and said, "Will you help me bare my testimony?" Well, I was nervous as all get out b/c of my Spanish!!! So anyway, I walked up there with him with him pulling me all the way up there by my hand wanting to sprint to the speaker. lol It was cute! Everyone had a good chuckle out of it. It was a great experience for me to help him give his very first testimony and then afterwards I bore mine. I was already up there so why not?!

Man, I love it here! Even with all of the humidity, crazy men, GIANT SPIDERS and crazy dogs, I love it and I wouldn´t change it for the world. Dear elder me and I will keep in touch. I am sorry I wasn´t able to reply to anyone this week, but I love all of your letters and I love all the stories.
Love
Amanda


Haley and Ammon,
I love you guys so much and miss you like crazy. I hope you are happy and doing well. Make sure you guys pray for me and play nice with each other. Oh, and tell Daddy he is a weenie tadepole. Give your mom and dad big hugs and big kisses for me. I love you very much and think about you all the time.
Love
Aunt Amanda

***** NOTE: HERMANA CASTILLO'S P-DAYS HAVE CHANGED TO MONDAYS!!! *****

Stories of the Week: SPIDERS!!!

So, the story for the week is about spiders.  Yep, that's right, the thing
I hate most in this world next to Satan himself. LOL  So I have been
feeling great this week.  I am pretty much over the bad food problem,
I only have to use the bathroom every 2-3 hours instead of every 15
min. LOL  So, we are studying in our pention and I get up to go get
my laundry from the line hanging out in the sunroom. I look up and
there is this huge spider.  Well, I heard they were big, but I hadn´t
seen one yet, so if you take your middle and thumb finger and put
them together in a circle, that was the spider.  I am gossed out
because it is huge and has a giant white back. I didn´t know why it
was so ugly, but there you go.  So, I knock it off the ceiling and it
drops.  We scream, of course because its a spider, and then I take
the broom handle and squish it.

Well this is the nasty part, it made a huge crunch noise, squirted
juices and THEN a hundred babies started to run from it!  It was
pregnant!!!!  Now we were really screaming, stomping our feet
everywhere trying to get them all, crunch here and crunch there.  It
was so nasty! I mean REALLY NASTY!  My comp ran into the kitchen
and vomitted in the sink and I started gaging.  Oh, I hate spiders!!!!

After we cleaned everything up, we left the pension for an appt. with
an investigator. On the way, we had to go through some pretty tall
grass about waste high when we came to a little clearing (we were
walking in really lucious areas for creepy crawly things and snakes....
ewww) I saw somthing drop right in front of us off of a palm looking
tree. I got closer and screamed again and jumped back into my
companion knocking her into the mud.  (Woops on my part, sorry)
But I had a good reason. On the ground was a GIANT MUTATED
SPIDER! It was the size of MY FIST!!!!!! It was giant and brown and
it just ran away into the grass.  The same grass that we walk through
almost everyday!!!! AWWWW, Ya it's nasty and I hate spiders!  So
that is the story for the week.

Oh yeah, Mom, the scripture that I like is Alma 26.22. It's how to be a
kick butt missionary.  I love you all soo much and I know this work is
amazing and what God wants us all to do.  We are all missionaries.
Be that example to everyone.  Read Alma 26.35-36.  I hope we all
feel this way!!!!  I love you all and think about you all the time every
second of my day. After all, am I not doing this to bless families!! And
you are one of my biggest drives to work hard and diligently.  I want
others to have what I have and to experience the joy, happiness and
peace of mind that this gospel gives!!!  3 Nephi 18.20-21 Keep me
updated on everything! Send pics.

love you
amanda

REMINDER:  MY EMAIL ADDRESS HAS CHANGED! (see previous post)

New Life in Argentina - New Email

Hi All,
Please pass this on to everyone that I have a new email address: lamascastillo86@my ldsmail.net. I gave the wrong one. Sorry about the typing it is really different. The keys are missing and everything on the computer is in spanish. I need to learn spanish computer lingo! LOL OK, so I get to write on Tuesdays around 5.30 my time so if you want to talk to me then you can when you get on the same time. Next, I think I only get dear elder two times a week maybe only once but I still love it so ya keep them coming! Alright, the good stuff. I am serving in Tucuman. We are on the out skirts of the city and it is super poor, but I love it. It 110´ right now with a high humidity so I sweat more than when I ever played soccer. It is sooo green I love it soo much and my area is mosly dirt roads with random rocks. It rains somedays so then it is really muddy and stinky from all the trash that people leave in the river because they can´t aford to pay for trash pick up. LOL So the language is coming, I understand about half of it sometimes more if the person is drunk then they talk slower. LOL And I speak a ton with the kids because their spanish is simple and with the adults, well I speak about half as much as I understand. LOL So the area is really really poor. Most adults don´t have teeth, meaning they only have a few left in random spots. People dont have places to wash clothes so they wash in the sink when they can afford soap, therefore, people tend to be a little more dirty, but the thing is I really don´t care. They are soooooo sooo nice and so willing to talk and to just invite you in, and take care of you and give you anything they have. It's funny everyone thinks I am from Argentina, but from the more wealthy parts because I am tall, I have nice clothes, and I have white teeth. My comp is from peru. and she is 4.3ft LOL She is super skinny and dark as all get out. LOL We look so funny together but people love it. LOL Oh by the way being here a week outside all day and all night I am way tan already by next week I will look like a black child. It's crazy!

So let me tell you a few funny things. It seems like I always do something rediculous...lol..so we are eating lunch with some member...(which we do every day and they are huge meals...huge....but we eat at 7:30am. a small meal and then lunch with memebers at 2:00 and dinner at 10pm..our hours are from 7:00am to 11:pm because of ciestas and late partying) anyway we are eating and its me my comp the husband and wife and their kid..well i am feeding the kid while everyione else is jabbing away..all of a sudden the kid is blowing his lips back and forth and shooting food in my eyes....i clean them and he does it again this time im blinded and im freaking out, he got a ton of food in both of my eyes and its not clean food nor is his mouth and now i can´t see. the first thing that runs through my mind is , ¨ great im going to be blind forever¨ so i need help i can´t see to clean my eyes out and nobody at the table even noticed that im blind, the kid is laughing uncontroable...hahaha...well im ok.lolnext we are at a other members house and is cooking hot outside and they ask me the regular questions and then they ask me if i ould like some water, i say yes and then they ask if i am hot, my reply was (mind you the whole family is there 4 kids and the parents all kids my age and older) si, estoy caliente...well that was the wrong thing to say.....in spanish that means ¨yes i am sexy, not yes i am hot¨ i should have said si, tengo calor....lol..well the whole family just looked at me everyone stopped what they were doing and there was that awkward pause for a few seconds and then a roar of laughter....lol...ya i didn´t know what was going on until they started explaining it to me...lol....so ya....oh ya my comp just reminded me about xmas....you can send stuff though the pouch but it is better to send me cash... well i have to go but remember about xmas calling on the 23 some time so keep your phone by you .... oh ya i have my first baptism this week from someone we met this week my first night contacting and within this week we taugth him all the lessons and he accepted to be baptised.....ya.....!!!!! this sat!!!! i am sooo excited..... oh ya what do you do with the dogs there are a hundred and one out here and they are mean....my comp and i were walking and went around a corner into a dirt ally was were we were going to teach an investigator and it was packed full of dogs....about 15. they are everywhere and most of them are mean. anyway as we were walking they started to growl and then it was all really fast two dogs left the pack and ran for us we would have run butr i think we were too scared, i kicked the one that ran for me and nailed it in its head it flew back and wimpered off, but my comp was not so lucky. she is so small and these dogs prob weigh as much as her. it bit her arm and she fell on her back with the dog still on her by the time i realized what had happend and kicked the other dog off her is was a little to late. she now has 16 stiches in her arm and it is infected. we had a horrible experience with them but i don´t know what to do with them, they are everywhere. i only wear my big solid black shoes now incase i need to kick some more things.(don´t worry it protects my toes...lol...) so anyway i have to go!

Love you tons!
I will call you soon!
Love amanda

Letter from Mission President

Today, we received the following letter from Amanda's Mission President in Salta, Argentina:

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ULTIMOS DIA

To the Family of Sister Amanda Castillo

Dear Missionary Family,

We are excited to have Sister Castillo in the Mission Argentina Salta! She has just arrived and is in the process of recovering from a long trip. We wanted to let you know she arrived safe and sound and has been assigned to her new area in the mission. It was such a pleasure to spend some time with her and we look forward to working together for the rest of her mission! What a blessing this is to us!

Thank you for your love and sacrifice that has gone into getting this special missionary to our mission. She left here today excited and with one of our very best missionaries. We only assign our best as trainers for our new missionaries!

Thank you again for sending this wonderful missionary to us.

Our best wishes,

Pres. Dan Northcutt Sister Cynda Northcutt

Adios MTC

I leave Monday morning at 5am from the MTC to head off to
the Salta, Argentina Mission.  I fly for 24 hrs. and I have a bus
ride for 13 hours.  That's a long time, but I have a lot of
layovers.  Excited to get to talk to my family with my calling
card during those.

Don't forget that if you're going to write or send me something
(which I LOVE), you'll have to send it to my new Argentina
mailing address.  (NOTE:  Dear Elder has their pouch letters
to Amanda free.  You can donate to them if you'd like.)

Sister Amanda Micaella Castillo
Argentina Salta Mission
Los Eucaliptus 75
4400 Salta
Salta
Argentina

Getting Close

**NOTE: Amanda is expected to leave Dec. 14th for Argentina.**

So this is getting down to the wire of my stay...so a few updates
on what is going on here. 1. I found the coolest girl here about 4
weeks ago and I am positive she was sent into my life! She is
amazing, like the Carissa away from home! 2. I am going to meet
with the Consul from Argentina this coming Wednesday.  YA! So
let's pray that my visa went through and he is going to sign it.. 3. I
will be sending things home very soon. 4. I went to the doctor
today for my update. The fracture is still there but my pain went
away, so he is clearing me to go as long as I don't mess it up.  I
have another check up before I leave. 5. The Dear Elder printer
was broken this week so if you sent letters this past thanksgiving
and this week I  never got them so I'm sorry.  Send more!  LOL
6.  I almost punched my companion but I just smiled and said
that's great Sister and I'm so excited for you.  LOL  Long story,
but just so you know I could take her!!! ( BIG SMILE) So anyway,
that's not really Christlike love but the second part was so I
consider myself a good person. LOL

So I am getting really excited to go, I am really antzy to leave yet I
am nervous about the language. I can't believe how much we learn
here in two months! It is more that what people have learned in
Spanish classes for 6 years.  It blows my mind!

For Haley and Ammon:
Hey guys!  Hows it going?  Man, I miss you soo much! I can't believe
it's been two months since I have seen you. ONLY 16 more and I will
be home. Don't worry it will go by really fast. So, I am sorry I have not
written as much as you wanted, but I will work on it. When i get to
Argentina it will take a long time for mail to get to you. Ask Mommy
and Daddy why!  But anyway, how is it going?   How is school? Have
you guys done anything crazy fun? I miss you sooo much and am
doing my best to be a great missionary for you!!!!  Write me and
send me pictures of you guys playing and having fun. Remember to
always be nice to each other or I will be very sad. Pray for me that I
will be safe and that I will be a good missionary. And tell Daddy to
write me...tell him he is a weenie tadpole!

Well everyone i have to go ... I love you so much and think about you
all the time.

Love amanda

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone!!!
Well I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving!  So Thanksgiving was
fun!  We had a full day of relaxing and devotionals. Elder Holland came
and spoke to us and so did Elder Oaks.  It was amazing!!!! I loved
every bit of it and we got to do humanitarian projects.  I loved it!  So I
have been doing great! I am getting a little nervous now because we
should get our travel plans this week!!!! I can't wait! I am soooo
excited!  Pray that my visa went through!!! Hopefully I will be in
Argentina for X-mas! Life is great!  I have not been sick and that is a
miracle since everyone is getting the swine flu and other random things
that cause you to be in the bano for ever.  So I took off my boot today
to see how I would be and I feel like I could fly! I hate the thing with a
firey passion of a thousand suns...lol..that's a lot!!! It slows me down in
sports and is really obnoxious, but I am doing great! The doc should
get the X-ray scan thing back this week and tell me what is going on,
but I am very certain he will say I am fully healed....lol....I'm just a
fighter!

SO thanksgiving was really weird without my family. I was wanting to
eat all day long, watch fun movies, play cards and sing with everyone,
but I know you guys were having a blast and I wish I was there with you
to celebrate it. But I was there in spirit!  Te agradecido por mi familia!!!
Mi familia es muy importante em mi vida!!! I love you all so much and
hope you know that you are in my prayers always and I talk about you
to everyone all the time.  Well, I have to go.  Thanks Josh and Lindsay
for the X-mas gift.  It is awesome!  I love the snowflakes!  Why is it that
the woman always write more than the boys!!!! My own blood only writes
a few lines. lol Sisters teach my brothers how to write meaningful letters!
lol  Well, I have to go. I love you all!

love amanda