Transition Time

Hi everyone! :)

Milwaukee Summer Project ended this past Thursday. We had a Project Retreat at the Dells to celebrate what God did this summer in the city of Milwaukee. I am not the same person I was 7 weeks ago when I came on Project. I am so thankful that God brought me and 9 other students together this summer. We grew together as we shared the love of Christ in Milwaukee. It deeply saddens me that we are no longer together, but thankfully in Christ there are no good byes! :) I look forward to seeing how God uses each and everyone one of us as we go back home and return to our campuses this Fall!

I moved into my first apartment yesterday. My future roommate and her family offered to help me move since they lived nearby. My family came later in the afternnoon to visit. As my family was getting ready to leave, I began crying uncontrollably. I didn't want them to leave. I didn't want to be alone. I felt like everyone was leaving me. Thankfully, one of my close friends spent the night with me to keep me company. It was good just to talk things out with someone who knew exactly what I was going through.

At our last Weekly Meeting, our Assistant Project Director Kara told us that the transition would be hard and gave us some advice. I didn't anticipate it being this hard. I'm slowly trying to go back to the way things use to be. I feel lost right now. I constantly remind myself that there is a God who loves me and who will guide me during this time.

Today, I was able to feel at peace about where I'm at right now. I returned to Straightway Vineyard as planned to once Project was over. As Pastor George contiuned preaching about God's love, I began tearing in my seat.

1 John 4:16 says,

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

God is Love. God cannot stop loving. God cannot change His heart. God loves us more than what we can love ourselves.

God will never stop loving us! His love is beyond measure!

I needed to be reminded that God's love will never change! God will never walk away from you!

God's love simply amazes me!

This song expresses the desire of my heart and is my prayer.

After the service today at Straightway, a woman named Joanna (a member of the church and part of the worship team) came to introduce herself. I quickly found out that she was a student at Marquette many years ago. Her and husband Sunder invited me to have lunch with them. I ended up going with them and their baby Anaya as well as their friend Dan for some Indian food. It was such a blessing to have meet both of them today! It just amazes me how God is always looking out for His children. I felt loved this weekend in way that I never had before by my roomie and her family, my family, my close friend Anna, and Joanna and Sunder. I experienced the love of the Body of Christ.

As always, I have a few prayer requests:

1. For my team and I in our transition time. For us to continue being bold and courageous and to do God's will. I've learned this means being outside of your comfort zone. For us to be find comfort in being uncomfortable.

2. To be able to love my roommates well and the people on my floor. Our training for Global Village, starts in 2 weeks. I will be living on a floor with international students. One of my roommates will be from China! :) Also, that I would be able to share God's love with them.

3. To be an integrator and to apply what that I learned this summer this coming Fall. That I would not be afraid to challenge myself or other people around me.

4. For physical and soul rest - This summer has been very exhausting between working full-time and Summer Project. I hope that these 2 coming weeks will be a good time to rest and process through everything God did this summer.

Thank you for your generosity both prayerfully and financially to support my ministry this summer! Expect a newsletter in the next week or two to read some stories about what God did this summer on our Project.

In the meantime, feel free to watch this short video of our ministry summer:

Once again, thank you! I look forward to seeing how God continues to work in the city of Milwaukee and on Marquette's campus this Fall!


With joy,

Rosa Castillo

God's Love

Hi everyone! :)

I hope this post finds you all well! :) The theme of my post for this week is God's love. 1 John 4:7-21 has really been on my heart because it talks about God's love for us and how we should love others.

God showed His love for us by sending His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him! He sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. These verses really stand out to me because it is how God showed and proved His love for us!

Today we visited Straightway Vineyard. To my surprise, the topic we discussed was God's Love.

John 13:34-35 says,

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Personally, I cannot say that I fully understand what the phrase"God is love" means. In all honesty, I don't think I've ever truly experienced God's love. I have experienced bits and pieces of it. The reality is that God's love is more deeper than our understanding. In order to experience His love, we have to go to places that we have never gone. We have to be willing to take risks to try to be like Him. Coming on Milwaukee Summer Project for me was a bold step in faith and obedience of what I felt God was calling me to do. We have to be open and willing to do what God has called us to do.

We need to be a particular person. We need to be like Christ. We need to be imitators of Him.

We need to love others! The Greek word agape comes to mind. It is a complete, unconditional, pure, sacrificial love. As Christians, we need to commit ourselves to God and loving other people. This should be our priority and everything else should come second. 

Pastor George said, "We need to fix our eyes on sacrificially loving others." This means doing things that make us uncomfortable. It reminds me of the 3rd of July. As a Project social, we went to Bradford Beach to have a cookout and watch the fireworks to celebrate the 4th of July. We had decided that we would be handing out free water bottles and Bibles as an Outreach. When the moment came to go for the Outreach, I didn't want go. I was tired and just wanted to rest. My peers encouraged me to go sharing and so I did. I was so discouraged the whole entire time. At the end, one of my peers and I encountered a young Hispanic woman. She was a young believer and just really needed encouragement in her walk with the Lord. She felt alone in her walk with the Lord because her family was constantly criticizing her. She was the only one in her family to be a Christian. I was able to share my story with her and encourage her. We ended up praying for her and I hugged her at the end. She was definetely a divine appointment.

Pastor George posed a question towards the end of the sermon:

Are you willing to love people despite what it feels like or what is costs you?

At this point, I brokedown in my seat. I will admit that I struggle loving my parents because of everything that has happened. I continually have to forgive them for what they've done. I am only able to forgive them and love them because of what God is doing in my life. He continues to heal my heart as I allow Him to go into unknown places. The pastor at the end asked for those who were in need of prayer to go up. He prayed for us to be able to love others sacrificially and to be able to continue to serve the Lord out a heart of love for others.

I ended up talking to him after the service was over. I shared with him my story and he prayed over me. I am learning to be more vulnerable with people. I am planning on returning to Straightway Vineyard once Project is over as he is covering a series of God's love and continues to challenge his congregation. He told me his wife is leading a Women's Group and they are talking about God's love as well. I hope to attend the small group called "Crazy in Love" after Project is over. The church seems to be a good fit for where I am at now spiritually and plan to continuing praying about whether I should make it my home church. I definetely felt welcomed and loved today.

I am on a quest as I made a commitment to the Lord  to be single for an extended period of time so that I can experience His AMAZING and ABSOLUTE PURE LOVE on a deeper level!

I LOVE THIS SONG! :D ENJOY!

Remember, God loves you! :)

As always, a few prayer requests:

1. That I would find JOY in serving the Lord! I feel like I'm running on empty now and need to continue serving the Lord well. This coming week is our last full week of Project.

2. For my quest with the Lord in being single for an extended period of time. That I would be able to draw closer to Him and experience His ABSOLUTE PURE LOVE on a deeper level.

3. That I would be able to love others SACRIFICIALLY and that I would put everything else second including my feelings and emotions. 

4. For God to continue healing my heart and that I would allow Him to go continue to go into the unknown places and areas of most pain.

Thank you everyone for your continued support and prayers! It means a lot to me! You are all such an encouragement and blessing to me! :)

With joy,

Rosa Castillo

A Woman's Heart

Hi everyone! :)

Lately, I have been learning a lot about the heart of a woman. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." I have read this verse so many times in the past. I knew intellectually that it was important to guard your heart. It was not until recently that I began to understand the importance of guarding your heart. God knows that our heart is the core of who we are. It is where our creativity, courage, and convictions come from. Also, it is the source of our faith, our hope, and of course our love. This "wellspring of life" is the very essence of our being. Our heart as a woman is the important thing about us. As a woman we long to be desired, to be pursued by one who loves you, to be someone's priority.

This past Sunday night, we had a Women's Night. We talked about purity in four different areas which are physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. I personally struggle with guarding my heart. On Sunday night, I was convicted that I continually invest myself emotionally in relationships with guys. I had been praying about committing myself to being single for at least a year and focusing on my relationship with the Lord. Getting to know the Lord on a deeper level and continuing to fall more deeply in love with Him. I made the commitment and promise to the Lord Sunday night after the event. I desire to continue being a woman after God's heart.

Last night at our Weekly Meeting, our speaker talked about our identity in Christ. The message was incredible and something that I needed to be reminded of. There is a God who loves us and desires to have a relationship with us. We can know who we are in Him. He talked about how sometimes we can lose sight of our identity in Christ because of the enviroment we may have grown up in. It's hard to believe that there is a God that loves you when you never felt loved by your earthly Father. I constantly have to remind myself of who I am as the daughter of the KING!

Some truths and verses to remind you of who you are as daughter of the KING!

• You are God's possession. 1 Peter 2:9-10
• You have freedom in Christ. Romans 8:1-2
• You are sought after, pursued, romanced, the passionate desire of your fiancé, Jesus. Isaiah 62:1-5
• You are united with the Lord and one with Him in Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:17
• His thoughts of you are precious. Psalm 139:17-18

I hope that this post encourages many of you! :)

A friend recommended that I memorize this verse:

"We have a young sister, and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar." Song of Solomon 8:8-9

I really like the imagery and contrast of the wall and the door. The wall symbolizing her strength in God and her patience to wait on God to show her the proper man. The door paints a picture of a woman who does not know how to guard her heart. She will let anyone come in and out. My desire is to continue guarding my heart and to wait on God. My committment and promise to the Lord to be single for a year is something I will not do lightly. This idea of bringing people alongside you is emphasized in this verse. My accountability partners will  help me in keeping me accountable as well as the ladies in the my Action group. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for me this coming year! :)

As always, a few prayer requests:

1. For my 1 year committment and promise to the Lord. I know it's not going to be easy and that temptation will come.

2. For strength and peace to get through the next 2 weeks. Project ends in 2 weeks, but I have a lot to get done between now and then. That I would not worry about everything that needs to get done, but that I would completely surrender it to Him.

3. For my roommates in the Fall. I will be doing a program called Global Village which is Marquette's program for international students. I will be living with 2 other Marquette students and an international student from China! That I would be able to love them well and that I would be able to share God's love with them. Also, for opportunties to share the Gospel with people in the program.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and encouragement! It really means a lot to me.

With joy,

Rosa Castillo

P.S. Check out this song! I love it! :)

Time of Reflection

Hi everyone! :)

I hope everyone is having a Happy 4th of July! :) Lately, I have been doing a lot of reflecting and a lot of things have happened this past week and a half. Two Sundays ago, we went to visit a church called City Brook Church. We had been told by the Project Staff that they would be having their first baptism as a church. When we arrived we were given a warm welcome by everyone. The service itself was non-traditional. The people being baptized were given their testimonies. As they gave their testimonies, I cried uncontrollably in my seat. I could see their brokeness and sinfulness and how God had redeemed them. It gave me a lot of peace about presenting my testimony at our Tuesday Night Weekly Meeting. I was nervous because it was my first time presenting my testimony to a large group, but I remembered that it wasn't my story. It was the story that God was writing about my life pointing back to His story! The bigger story! It was really cool to see how God worked in that and how He uses people to show himself through them. I felt at home at City Brook Church! I had been praying for so long to find a home church in Milwaukee and I finally found it! God definetely answers prayers in His own timing.

Also, the Project Staff left this past weekend. On Saturday evening, we had our Transition Banquet. We were able to share together what God had done these past 3 weeks. The Project Staff announced all leadership positions for our Project. In a Project of 10 students, everyone is a leader some with more than one role. I am the Memories Coordinator :) If you are wondering what that means, I am responsible for capturing the memories of our Project. My responsibilities include writing a newsletter for our Project, designing & ordering Project T-shirts, and taking and ordering a group picture. I am excited to be able to serve God in this capacity as a leader. I am learning how to follow others which is different for me because I am so use to leading, but I am excited to see how God uses everyone in their leadership position and how we all continue to grow. At the end of Banquet, we were praying and when we closed our eyes the Staff left. As I saw them walk out, I began crying. I was sad because they were leaving. I didn't want them to go, but they had to. It's been hard without them. We are figuring out things for our own. It's a learning experience.

This past Saturday, we visited a church called Liberty and Truth Ministries. The pastor talked about the myth of self-sufficiency. Growing up we are constantly told that we need to be able to take of ourselves. Change is an important part of the Christian life. We are changing all the time. I believe we will all be challenged to change in the next 4 weeks that remain of Project. The pastor defined self-sufficient as being able to supply one's own needs without external help. We cannot be spiritually self-sufficient. Self-sufficieny is a myth. No one is self-sufficient. You always need someone. God does not want us to insufficient either though which means that we cannot function by ourselves. God wants us to be God-sufficient and interdependent of other believers. God wants us to be sufficient in Him. The pastor talked about the idea of a thorn. Situations that make you cry out out God and that help you be God-sufficient. It is the thorns in our lives that make us realize our need for God. Lately, I have been looking back at all the events in my life and I am thankful for the thorns that God has put in my life. It is the thorns in your life that cause you to turn from self-sufficiency to God-sufficieny.

On another note, my discipler Heather Schneider has been a tremendous blessing to me! She has pointed out things that I have been struggling with that I did not realize. I have been hidden them in the depth of my heart. A prime example would be my parents divocrce and my relationship with my earthly father. Both of which have affected my relationship with the Lord and my relationship with others. Two Saturdays ago at our Women's Event, I was finally able to bring some of the hidden things in my heart into light which had been causing me a lot of pain. I truly believe that this a summer of healing for me. Just being able to focus on my relationship with the Lord and growing in my understanding of who He is. Finding my significance in Him and nothing else. My discipler challenged me to pray about committing myself completely to the Lord for a year and being content in dating in Him for at least a year. It is something that I have been praying about. As much as a I desire to be in a relationship, I do not think I am ready for it now and think that a lot of healing needs to happens before that. I believe that if it God's plan for me to be in a relationship that He has someone hand picked for me. He knows me better than what I know myself. For now, I am dating the Lord and being content in that.

As always, a few prayer requests:

1. To find physical and soul rest in the Lord. Lately, I have been really stressed with work and Project Stuff. I'm always exhausted, but lately more than usual.

2. For me and my team for us to continue to serving the Lord well with this summer. For us to be able to love each well and for us to be able to speak truth to one another.

3. For God to be continually glorified by our Project

Thank you everyone for your continued support and prayers! It really means a lot to me! :)


With joy,

Rosa Castillo