Into Uncharted Waters

Well, I’ve been home for two months and it’s been such a sweet blessing! I’ve been able to catch up with so many people and spend time with family! I’ve been able to rest, reflect, and to sit with the Lord! I’ve gotten to share stories and testimonies not only with people I know but also with strangers! Overall I’m truly just grateful to be home and to have a season of much needed rest! I’ve had many people ask me if I miss the race or if I’ve had a hard time adjusting and while I truly thought I would it’s been such a smooth transition and I’m so thankful for that. Now don’t get me wrong I do miss my friends but the Lord prepared me well for that season to end and to walk into this new one. Gods timing truly is perfect and I feel truly content with where He has me right now!

Now I hadn’t really thought about or planned on writing anymore blogs once I got home so you might be a little surprised by this one (honestly I am); but I had a friend ask me if I planned on continuing to write blogs and that got me thinking. The whole reason I was writing blogs was to share about the things the Lord was teaching and doing in and around me, sharing testimonies of His goodness. Then I realized something, just because I’m home certainly doesn’t mean that God is done teaching and refining me but rather the opposite. Gods hand is in and over every part of our lives working for our good and His glory, we walk as living testimonies to His goodness. So if God is still working, moving, teaching, and refining why wouldn’t I keep sharing that. I also realized that while I don’t necessarily love writing blogs it helps me to really process what I'm learning and create a space to remember the things God is doing. The very word testimony itself means to do it again so by sharing testimonies of His goodness it invites God to do the same thing in other’s lives. My hope is not that lots of people will read these but rather to honor and remember the things God is doing in my life. I’ve learned a lot in the Old Testament about how important it is to remember the things God has done and said. So now that I’ve shared why I’m writing this l wanna share a little bit of the vision God’s given me for it. 

Over the last few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about what life looks like now that I’m back and what it looked like before I left. What things are truly important and God is asking me to invest my time in and what things He's asking me to leave behind. Before I left for the race I felt like I was looking into the complete unknown and walking into uncharted waters and in a way I definitely was. The thing that I didn’t realize until a couple of weeks ago was that really the entirety of our lives is uncharted waters. God has a plan and He knows what will happen, but we don’t even know what tomorrow will hold. We move little by little through the unknown while standing on the firm foundation of who God is and His character. He's taught me a lot about the beauty and joy in the unknown and in trusting Him. So as I continue into the uncharted and unknown my hope with continuing to write is to share the things God teaches and reveals to me about everything from who He is and His character to what community and abiding in Him looks like; to share the ways that He’s moving here and now in His people. I'm not sure how often I'll post (I guess as often as God gives me something to share) and I’m not promising that everything here will crazy good or extremely interesting, but it will be genuine and authentic!

Now I don’t know what all that will look like but I’m sitting with an expectant heart and with eyes focused on the Lord as I continue into His plan. Our culture is really big on having a set plan and knowing exactly what’s next but God has been showing me so much beauty in the slowness and the waiting. There’s no pressure or hurry in His plan simply step by step walking with Him. There's no mistake or misstep that He can't fix, and there is so much peace that comes from slowly and faithfully following after Him!

Hopefully this has helped to explain the heart and purpose behind this blog and behind its new name “Into Uncharted Waters”. Also since I’m no longer on the world race I’ll be moving all my old posts and posting all future ones to a new site which you can find through this link: https://intounchartedwater.blogspot.com. 

I wanted to end with a quote that I began my first blog with, it's from one of my favorite songs Captain by Benjamin William Hastings “Through waters uncharted my soul will embark. I’ll follow your voice straight into the dark” These words are just as true today as they were nine months ago. Though the future remains unknown I will still follow His voice through it. Straight into the dark and into the uncharted ahead! Thank you for taking the time to read this and for following along with where the Lord has taken me! I pray the Lord blesses you! 

Emilee Castro 

Destruction, Rebuilding, and Redemption

This past week we went back to North Carolina to do a week of domestic ministry. I think this past week was honestly one of my favorites on the race for a lot of different reasons!

For those of you who might not know or remember back in September my squad started off our ministry in Black Mountain North Carolina. During our time there Hurricane Helen came through and caused a lot of damage to the area. My squad and I were actually caught in a landslide and the building we were in collapsed. There’s a lot more that goes into this story and day; if you want to read about that you can go back and read my blog all about it. While my squad went through a lot that day so many more people and homes were affected and weren’t as lucky as us. We got blessed with the opportunity to go back this past week and help with the disaster relief.

We started off the week by actually getting to go back to the sight of the landslide. Seeing all the destruction and damage put so much in perspective for me and gave me so much gratitude and thankfulness to the Lord! We got to hear testimonies from some of the guys that helped to come rescue us and learned so many more little details and miracles God did on that day! We also got the chance to share our testimony with two other squads and to worship on the very ground the enemy tried to destroy us! There was a lot of redemption on that day but that’s not where it stopped.

For the rest of the week we got the opportunity to help rebuild some houses. Most of the week we got to work at the same house and do lots of demolition. I honestly love doing manual labor! I love getting to drive back to base at the end of the day and know that I completed something and helped someone. We also got to hear testimonies from so many other people affected by the storm which was so sweet!

One of our last days there we got to help with an organization called the dream center. We paired up with one of the teams from another squad and helped get supplies to hand out to people. In the afternoon we got to go deliver beds to people who have never had them before. To end our day we went to a park and got to hand out pizza and hangout with some kids from the neighborhood. It was honestly one of my favorite days of ministry from the race!

This whole week was filled with so many sweet little moments and sweet ministry! This week was also filled with so much sweet redemption! While our squad went through a lot in the landslide it was so redemptive getting to not just go back but to help others who were affected by the hurricane. God gets all the glory through all of it! You can see His hand in every little thing, His protection is so evident!

There truly was no better way to end our ministry on the race! To come full circle and end where we began, to see redemption brought to such disaster! It all points back to my redeeming God!

Here’s the link if you’d like to read my first blog about the landslide, it has some really cool testimonies from that day. https://emileecastro.theworldrace.org/post/my-god-protects-and-provides/

Thank you for reading and for following along and supporting me throughout this whole race! I think this will be my last blog but I hope to have an open house to share more stories in person when I get home!

Sincerely,

Emilee Castro

Wreckage from the landslide

Favorite day of ministry

Demolition/ministry work

Gratitude, Worship, and Laughter

Since it’s illegal to evangelize in Indonesia our ministry looked a little different. The majority of our ministry was helping to set up and establish a community center for one of the local villages. We started by going into the community and inviting people and then began classes. The main classes that we helped teach were English and Brazilian Ju Jitsu. It was super sweet getting to see the center grow with more and more kids.

Towards the end of our time there I also got the opportunity to teach some music classes. I had a lot of generous people donate money to help buy instruments and supplies. Though I did’t get to help teach music a ton I got to be a part of the beginning and help set it up for the future. I know the Lord is going to continue to do big things through the community center!

The days that we weren’t teaching classes we spent getting to go out and meet people. I got the opportunity to meet and talk to several different people. Though we couldn’t straight out evangelize we were still able to share our faith with others and talk about Jesus. We also spent a lot of time in intercession and doing lots of Bible studies and worship times.

One of the hardest parts from our time there was how slow ministry was to start. The country is covered with such a strong spiritual stronghold of oppression and sleepiness. We all showed up exhausted and had more time on our hands than we knew what to do with. As time went on I began to see how much of a blessing this time could be. More free time meant more time to be able to pour into the people around me and to spend with Jesus.

I spent a lot of time just sitting with the Lord in worship and in prayer. Sitting and listening to His heart, sitting in His presence. I let my focus turn back towards gratitude and that gratitude turned to worship. Now this sounds way easier than it was. Honesty, this took me a lot of time to really shift my heart and focus. Gratitude and joy are choices that you have to make. Choices you make regardless of the circumstances and what you might be feeling. One of the biggest things I learned in my time there was how to die to my flesh in every single way. Whether that’s physical exhaustion, your emotions, your personal time, your preferences, and anything else you can think of.

When you’re truly dying to your flesh then you’re able to walk in gratitude. To look to Jesus and worship Him despite what you might be feeling or facing. The Lord taught me how to walk in that kind of gratitude and turn it into worship! More than that He taught me how to have joy and laughter with it!

When you shift your gaze to gratitude and thankfulness you start to see things in a way the Father does. Instead of being annoyed by all the free time we had I began to see it as a blessing. To soak up all the deep conversations and time with community. I’ve been so beyond blessed to live in this community with these people and the Lord was giving me so much more time to love and know them well! Over our last few weeks there I got to really love and pour into my community! Our last few weeks were filled with so many little moments of joy and laughter!

I learned a lot in Indonesia and I would never take my time there back but I was ready to come back to America! Ready for domestic, ready to begin rapping up my time and head home! I thank the Lord for His sustaining power and for His goodness and love! I’ve loved and learned so much in my time overseas but I’m ready for a season of rest. This blog is rather late in coming so I’ll have another one soon about our final week of domestic ministry! Thank you so much for reading and supporting me!

Sincerely,

Emilee Castro