Happy New Year!

And no I didn't take this picture, but I'll take one like this one of these days.

I'm InDonesia ;)

Yes I know, the title's quite lame but I'm in a corny mood right now so I thought it would only be appropriate :) So if you didn't get it, I'm in Indonesia right now and I have been for a few weeks now. Ricky and I came over here to go to a friends wedding and work on some video stuff at the Adventist TV station here. The only problem was/is that the station is not even built yet- construction won't begin for about another month. So we've been working on projects where ever we are. We've also been tourists (strange feeling) and gone to several tourist hot spots around here. We went to an animal safari park (so awesome! go to drive next to lions and tigers with only the car as a barrier), a volcano, hot springs and a few other places. We really wanted to go to Bali but this unfortunately was not possible :( Its ok though, I've been having a good time here. OH, by the way.....MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! I hope you all had a wonderful one and will continue to enjoy the rest of this Holiday Season. Lets not forget the real reason for the season, though :) Thank you Lord for all the blessings You've given to us and for all our trials. Thank you so sending Your Son, we Love You. Amen

Pictures, pictures, pictures

You remember how 2 posts ago I talked about that trek through the jungle we went on? Well, here are some pictures from it.....finally :) This is just one of the many bridges that we crossed on our journey deep into the jungle :) The bridges also got narrower as we went along.....NOT COOL! LOL!

Ricky spotted this slithering creature just as we finished crossing a stream. Good thing I didn't grab onto it for balance over the uneven trail.

Guess what we did next? Yep, we sure did! But boy were our bottoms sore after.

SOUTHERN REPRESENT!

This picture is not from our trek but we did get to go to a falls similar to this one on the first day in. I just like this picture so I had to post it :)

Hey hey hey! So after having my beard for a good long time I decided to give it a trim. Here's one of the stages of transformation that my beard went through :) It went through some more but I wasn't able to bring those pictures with me :(

Just this past Wednesday I stayed by myself in the Karen Village (to work on some projects) while the rest of the group went out visiting a few other villages for 4 days. It was quite the experience and even though it was nice to have time to myself, I'm very happy (especially for my sanity) that everyone's back! I got really close to this mamma dog and her little puppies. They are so cute (yes, guys can say this word) and I named them all but the mother. The little buggers like to explore alot so I thought it would be suitable to name them after explorers- Magella/Maggie for short (she's a girl thus the ..ella not ...ellon) Christopher Columbus, and Ponce de Leon- the Fountain of Youth guy/ but I call her Pancha for short :)

Anywho, we've been pretty busy here besides that and we've also finished our first episode for Thailand- Missions Alive (the TV show we've been working on). I think Ricky did an excellent job producing this show! Well, thats it for now but remember if you guys want to ask me any questions, or want me to take pictures of something and post it don't be afraid to ask. I'll do my best to get it posted :)

Peace Out Homies
-this means "see you later" to those who have trouble understanding my jargon ;)

Little Break

Alright so check this out. After being in this little Karen village (Hoimanoon) for a bit, we decided to go exploring for a few days. We went on a 3 day 2 night trek into the jungle nearby. We also were able to ride some elephants :) It was amazing! even though we originally thought that it would be mostly in the elephants LOL! This picture is what it looks like most mornings in our little village. I almost feel as if I'm near the ocean, all I need now is some surging wave sounds and I'll be set :)

Extension

Connection to the World Wide Web!!!!! Yay! So today Ricky, Phoebe, Emily, Ying, Mew, Mem, Bee, and I all traveled to Maseriang today to get some needed supplies, to see Mew, Mem, and Bee off, and for Ricky and I to get our first extension on our Visas. I was pretty happy for this little break from our stay in the village. I guess I just like to keep moving, but it all depends on where I am. So our time in the village has been, for the lack of a better word, fun :) So not only do we have to learn Thai while we're here but when we go to these mountain villages we have to learn even more languages like- Hmong and Koren. Right now we are in a Koren Village and so far all I know how to say is Tablu Pa Do (Thank You) but these people are so nice that they try to understand what we gesture to them :) I actually find it quite fun to "play charades" to get across what we're trying to say.
I just want to say that you guys should also take the time to read some of my other friends blogs (if you haven't already been doing so). Even though I'm here working right next to them or at least in the same country, I still find out more things when I read their blogs and have really gotten a blessing from them.
Well I think I'll end with that for now but I just wanted to let you all know that we're still alive and that God's really blessing us here.

Leaving Once Again

Hey everyone! Tomorrow we are all leaving (together as one big group!) to the village that my group was originally going to- Maesariang :)
If this name sounds familiar its because Ricky, Rob, and I have already been there to do our first project. We won't be in the same exact place but about a half hour from there. We'll be there till December doing more of the same work we did in these past villages and hopefully we'll have internet access so that I can keep you all updated. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Thank you and God bless.

Ps. How you like my beard now!? :)

A Day Visiting

On our daily visits to the villages we saw many people who needed help. Most needed a change in diet others in lifestyle and still others needed to hear about Jesus.


Here is a shot of Nola (Missionary from Australia) befriending a little Hmong girl who seemed to be cared for by a lot of the villagers. That was real neat to see.



The following is a video clip of a senile woman who lost the use of her limbs because of muscle atrophy. She still, however, has the use of her vocal chords and seems to moan as a way of communication. We prayed for her and gave her son (who takes care of her) some different ways to bring his mom back to health. It's so hard for me to see this and try and give these people hope. I know it sounds very cliché to say this but really, the only hope I know we can truly give them is the hope that we have in Jesus! :)

Out in the Villages

Our first time away from home base for more than a couple of days was to the little nearby mountain village of Buakjan. Home to about two-hundred residents, Buakjan has a small community of about 30 Seventh-day Adventists and a nice little church.




The other group went to Panakuk but by the second week that we were out that group came and joined my group. We were all very thankful for that, things are just more fun with a larger group. And with this larger group were we able to go out in more groups to visit the sick and good news deprived :) On our visits we administered natural remedy treatments and shared with the villagers about God and all the advice He's given to us. It was so awesome to just go up to people's homes and ask if we could spend some time talking and sharing with them. If we tried to do this in the states I'm pretty sure it would be days before we'd find someone who would let us in, let alone have time for us. I must say that even though these people live in very primitive conditions, they picked a good spot to live as far as AMAZING views go! :)

Our First Project

Our second week here, we (Ricky, Rob, and I) were sent to Maesariang to shoot an interview with a very old gentleman who gave us a wealth of knowledge on the Karen situation.


I will soon begin work on the Karen Documentary that I've been put in charge of and this interview was a key part of the documentary.

This old fella (Phu Ta Mu) is 91 years old :) but is extremely young at heart and is in good shape for his age! His wife is the young girl with the pink shirt to the right of him (she's around 21!)

Maesariang is about a 5 hour drive from home base but the drive is pretty sweet, except for the fact that in order to keep cool we had to keep the back of the truck open and we got covered in soot from the exhaust LOL!


Poor Ricky got it the worst.

Nearby Town- Mamali

The closest town (shopping area) to us is called Mamali and its about a 15 minute drive. We go there when we need to get more food or other necessities.

Here's a shot of the inside of one of the markets, it stunk so bad in there- probably because of the rotting fish they have laying around LOL!

My favorite fruit is Mangosteen! (which also happens to be the name of my girlfriend Heather's sports team at Southern :-) Here's what one looks like.

My friend drew the logo for Heather's team and then I beefed it up a little in Adobe illustrator. So here's the final product. Hope you like it Team Mangosteen ;)

Morning Worship

Drinking Coconut Water

Around the Mission Training Center

Or as Phoebe calls it (The Ranch...but you have to say this in a very Montana accent LOL!) Here's a picture of Rob Dykes strumming some tunes while we get ready to eat.
Kelly McClug (a fellow NY'orker) is showing us how a person would receive a Russian Steam Bath and Melissa Miranda (our Mission Leader) is explaining how to give one.
Here's Sia Chi (probably not spelled right but sounds like it) keeping the grounds nice and trimmed. He's one of the Thai workers here at the MTC (Mission Training Center for those of you who already forgot :) and can speak a little English.

Here's Ying and Pastor Phamor giving a lecture for some class I'm sure which one. Pastor Phamor was teaching us in English and Ying was translating to Thai. Ying is going to be my groups translator when we go out to the villages again. This is a good thing because she speaks English well and makes great Thia food! Pastor Phamor is an awesome guy. He's done so much for us and has so much life in him. I think he's in his 60's but has the energy of a 30 year old LOL! He lets us come to his house (a 15min walk) to use the internet and just chill. He's very on fire for the Lord!

Here's a shot of the Boys Dorm- the place were I dream at night :)

Always Catching Up :)

So I'm sorry that I left you all hanging for more pictures and info on what has been going on here. We were split up and sent out to Hmong Villages up until today!(Hmong is pronounced Mong) and I wasn't able to explain what was about to happen before we left. So let me catch you all up to date and then I'll post some more pictures. So the two groups were all sent out about two weeks ago to two separate mountainous Hmong villages to share with the churches all the knowledge we learned during our intense Medical Mission Training...feww thats a lot of 2's LOL! Let me give you a little run down of the schedule of a typical day. 5am- Group worship, 5:45am- exercise or kitchen duty, 7am- breakfast, 9am- Leave to visit other villages, 1pm- lunch at village, 3pm- continue to visit and give health treatments (massage, hydro-therapy, etc...), 5pm- Go back to Main Village, 7pm- Eat supper (usually fruit or rice- something light), 8pm- Evening meeting (we usually shared a part of the 8 laws of health and then a Bible study) , 9pm- get ready for bed, 10pm- lights out, 7 hours later- Do it all over again! Needless to say we had quite the packed day :) We are now back at our original Home Base and are recuperating before we are sent out again but this time to farther villages and in three smaller groups. We'll probably be leaving in about 2 or 3 days so please to continue to pray for our health and mental well-being :) Until then I'll try my best to post pictures and video of the past month. I miss you guys and love to read the comments you all post, so keep them coming. I feel more connected to you guys when I hear from you :) Oh yeah the second week out the other group met up with us at the village I was staying at, so that was a blessing :)

Trip from the Airport

So we had to fit 11 people and their bags in the back of that truck and to top it off it was an hour drive back to where we were(are) staying!


Did you know that these Buddhist Monks are not allowed to be touched by women or else they will have to start over again. They also go into the city and eat only by being offered food and if they have not eaten by noon they cannot eat until the next day!

Catching Up

Hey everyone! I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a while :( I've (we've been) pretty busy here. For the first two weeks we have been doing Medical Mission Training, which has consisted of 1 week of health training and 1 week of Bible training. This is what our schedule looked like for the first week- wake up at 4:30am for kitchen duty (if you were on it), 5:30am personal devotions, 6:30am Worship, 7am breakfast, 8-9:30am Work Projects, 10am-2pm Bible study, Medical Evangelism, and Hydrotherapy, 2pm Lupper, (oh and for the first THREE DAYS we fasted on water and coconut juice), 3-4 pm work projects, 4-6pm free time, 6pm Worship and then lights out was at 9:30pm. So that first week our days were pretty full and the next week was even more intense! Even though at times I was frustrated with the lack of time for things I needed to do and for an actual break, I look back and appreciate all the training we received. The following blogs will be pictures of certain events throughout these past two weeks. I do want to add that there was some time for fun and the pictures will show that :) Oh yeah I also want to add that if you guys have any questions or have any thing that you want me to take a picture of please don't hesitate to ask. If I can I will and if I can't then I can't but I'll have at least tried :-)

Siberia

Here's what Siberia looks like now, I was kinda disappointed to see a lack of snow LOL!

Flight to Thailand

My flight was so long and adventurous! Let me start from the beginning. I started off at the Rochester Airport in NY but as the plane was beginning to take off down the runway a flock of gulls decided to get a closer look at the pilots! LOL They smacked right into the windshield! They pilots being cautious decided to go back to the terminal and have the engine checked out. If the mechanic found a dead bird then we would have been delayed a long time but thankfully, for us and the birds, no dead birdies were found :) This small delay however did cause me to arrive late to my flight in Dulles, Washington DC and I just barely made it on the plane. They actually had to reopen the door for me :) I'm so special, at least thats what my mom says LOL! So the bad part was that because I was late my luggage didn't make it on the plane with me :( It was ok though, I didn't need that stuff yet anyway. The next leg of my trip was the longest- from Wash. DC to Tokyo, Japan took around 13 hours! And the whole time it was sunny out so it felt like one extremely long day! I did sleep a little, read a little, and watched some movies several times over LOL! When I got to Japan I met up with Emily Yoder and Alison, other Student Missionaries, and we traveled the rest of the way together. From Japan we flew to Bangkok, Thailand where we spent the night at a really nice hotel (don't worry I stayed in a separate room than the girls). The only drawback was that I didn't know they had AC so that night I got accustomed to the weather change. In Bangkok and most of Thailand, if not all, dogs rule the streets! There are so many dogs that I thought we would for sure run a couple over! I guess they maneuver well around cars LOL! The next morning we ate a pretty simple American continental breakfast and then headed back to the airport. This was the last leg of our trip- from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is so different from Bangkok. Its more jungle and Mountainous than big city. Well I'm here now safe and sound and am staying at the Adventist Mission Training center about an hour away from the city of Chiang Mai. Thank you all for your prayers and support! I love you all and will post again as soon as I can. God Bless

Getting ready to disembark

Hello all! I just want to thank all those who made it possible for me to go and serve and for all your prayers and support. I know that God will bless :)
Love you All,
Brian Castellanos