Dear Co-Laborers,
Our last letter to you was dated May 7. We had no idea when we wrote that letter what the next day would hold for us as on the evening of May 8 we received news letting us know that my parents had both been instantly killed in a truck-car crash. Apparently, dad pulled out in front of the semi-truck at the intersection and was hit broad side. It still seems so surreal and we expect to wake up from a bad dream. In the midst of this tragedy we are so thankful to know that my parents both knew the Lord as their personal Savior and went hand in hand to be with the Lord whom they both loved.
We have appreciated your prayers for us during this time as we have been working through both their estates, preparing to sell their house and belongings, and dealing with the aftermath of the accident too. Neither Jeanne nor I have been down this road before so are navigating on foreign soil so to speak. We are thankful a wonderful lawyer from our home church who is giving us guidance and offering his help at any time. We would also appreciate your prayers for the truck driver, Mike, who ran into them. We know this has also been very hard for him and his family as well, and an image he will never be able to erase from his mind.
Before the folk’s accident Jeanne had already scheduled a hip replacement surgery as her right hip had been bothering her for a number of years. On June 18 she went in for this surgery and is now walking around on a brand-new hip! She is still using her walker much of the time, for security, but getting around quite well and now able to do much for herself.
May 15 – June 14 was the month of “Ramadan.” The country in which we work is nearly 90% Islam, so this was a big time of celebration for them as they celebrated “Idul Fitri” on the 14th and 15th. The kid’s schools have vacation during this time, so it is a time when our Wana kids and some of our co-workers head home to their respective villages to visit family and friends. This being the first part of July most of the kids are back in town now and ready to begin the new school year. We are having a large influx of our Wana kids attending school so are starting a new boys dorm this year. A Christian family in town offered a house to us for just the price of fixing it up and making it livable again. We are hoping to have it ready by the end of this week.
Our Wana team is working on some of the final corrections for the Phase 2 chronological Bible lessons which we have been translating into the Wana language. We are also working on another proof-read of the Phase 1 lessons as in working with these lessons we have found some spelling errors which we missed. Sometimes it seems like a never-ending job – albeit a rewarding one 😊. Along with this our co-workers Steve and Linda Rosengren will be here visiting in a couple of days and we hope we can make some plans together with them to get the Old Testament passages published and distributed sometime this fall.
Jeanne and I want to again take this opportunity to thank you so much for your prayers – Thank you for being a part of our team as we seek to spread the gospel in this needy nation.
May God richly bless,
Ed & Jeanne Casteel