More About the Castillo Family

Henry CastiIlo lives in San Jose with his family.  He is the oldest of eight children. HIs parents divorced when he was 12 and by the time he turned 13 he left middle school to work.  Henry always knew about Jesus, but did not accept Him as his Savior until 1997.

At 19, Henry married Yahaira, a great woman who had been serving the Lord at her church for years.  A year after they married the couple received their precious gift called Aaron.   After Aaron's birth, the Castillo’s began a new journey into a deeper relationship with God by serving in their church together. Henry started to teach Sunday school tand work on short-term projects in Costa Rica.  He also assisted in missions’ coordination and is currently a career missionary.  “I have been able to grow in a wide variety of ministries as I develop projects in Costa Rica and overseas as the coordinator for a multi-denominational staff,” said Henry.

Henry has an extensive education.  He is currently studying Organizational Psychology. Prior to that, he completed a certificate program in Pastoral Studies at the National Alliance of Protestant Churches. Henry also completed a program on Islamic Religion at FEDEMEC the national missions and has been trained by ISTL (International Sports Training Leadership) and ISC (International Sports Coalition) in evangelism and counseling.

Henry and his family and friends first started serving with their local church through evangelism; working extensively to mobilize the church to reach children, adults and senior citizens through a variety of programs and activities including the missions department.   “We started with Costa Rica and soon we were serving overseas, this included our neighboring countries Nicaragua, Panamá and Guatemala until we went to farther countries like Chile in 2008,” remarked Henry.  “In Chile I started a soccer team program for boys and girls at risk.”  Additionally the team worked alongside pastors offering their service in Sunday school, counseling and discipleship training on the Andes mountain range.  “We had the privilege of traveling long hours to reach small towns located in deserts in southern Chile,” added Henry.  “I had a fruitful ministry preaching, teaching and lecturing in youth conferences and churches.”  While in Chile, Henry and his wife opened a new, tremendous door in the therapy division in a jail facility where they developed ministry to youngsters fighting their substance addictions and women in need of counseling.

Henry is currently involved in two ministry areas.  He is serving with Transformacion, a ministry located in Guarari in the province of Heredia.  The ministry targets a slum community in extremely poor living conditions.  “There we serve the children through Bible clubs and a feeding program, we also offer the youth souvenir craft lessons and devote time to visit the families in their dwellings to offer counseling, prayer and hope,” shared Henry. In addition to the ministry in Guarari, Henry was recently appointed director for the new Christ for the City International (CFCI) Asociación Renuevos, outreach.  His work with Renuevos includes contacting governmental institutions and private business in order to request resources for CFCI ministries.  Henry also searches for candidates to participate in short-term mission trips to South American countries with CFCI bases.

Henry’s future looks promising as he continues to pursue a degree in Psychology.  Earning a college degree will open more doors to empower churches and organizations and help strengthen the methods used to reach the unreached.  “You may hear there is an abundance of churches in Latin America, but only a few of those many churches offer solid, sound training,” said Henry.  “Training is where I want to focus my work as we continue to reach nations in Latin America, Africa and Europe, there is a profound need for prepared people willing to invest their lives serving couples, youth, seniors and offering a sound missions perspective.”