Dear Ministry parters,
It is hard to believe that the middle of summer is already here. We are enjoying some nice hot humid weather here which is keeping me in shape for that trip to Asia Pacific coming up in September – yes, already making plans for heading back over!
Jeanne’s sister flew in from Ohio on Monday and will be spending this next week with mom Jackson. Jeanne and I enjoyed spending the 4th with them yesterday while my parents enjoyed a local parade in the little town of Comstock not far from where they live. Then our little town here is having its yearly celebration this coming weekend. I heard they saved all the fireworks till then so guess they will light up the sky on Friday evening!
On the Wana front we have been preparing for our big translation check in September. This will complete all the Old Testament Scriptures which we use for our chronological teaching lessons. We would also like to work on translating many of the Psalms but probably will not run that through the whole checking process as we have done with all of our translation up to this point.
We have also been working on “Old Testament – Life of Christ” lessons for new believers. These will be a big help to our evangelists who are reaching out to other villages and will give them some good guidelines to follow as they teach those who have just come to know the Lord. As all of you know computers are a huge blessing in this job but sometimes they feel like a curse as well. I was recently working on a long 15 page lesson and had it nearly finished when all of a sudden the file was deemed “corrupt” by my computer and it no longer wanted to recognize it or the many backup files…..I am sure you know that empty feeling you get when many days of work goes down the drain. Finally by accessing the cloud with Jeanne’s computer I was able to retrieve it to a limited degree where I could print it off and then had to retype it in a new file. That of course was a whole lot better than having to redo the whole lesson – thank you Lord!
I know you have been praying for little Kelvin who has cancer in his nasal cavity. His whole face had swollen so badly that he was hardly recognizable. His grandparents felt they should take him back to the village to die but Ron and Elaine, his parents, felt the Lord would have them continue to pursue the Chinese traditional therapy. We aren’t exactly sure what is happening but in the last couple of weeks his swelling has greatly reduced, he is starting to see light, and he is eating much better. In fact he is now even able to eat some normal food without it being pureed in the blender. We are not sure what the Lord has in store for Kelvin but we appreciate your continued prayers for him, his parents, and his grandparents, too.
We will also appreciate your prayers as I make plans for this next trip to Asia Pacific. My plans are to depart on September 6 and return back to the USA on October 20. While there I will be involved in the O.T. Translation check, Wana Bible conference, numerous consultant visits with other missionary teams, and also field leadership meetings. I will appreciate your prayers for the finances for this trip too as I trust the Lord for another $1500 for the trip.
Jeanne and I also want to take this opportunity to tell you how much we appreciate your part on our team and to thank you so much for your prayers. Thank you for your help in reaching the Wana for Christ and then seeing them equipped to reach out to others with the gospel.
Blessings,
Ed & Jeanne Casteel