Dear friends,

With this letter we trust you had a blessed Christmas and want to wish you a Happy New Year! Our family was really reduced in size this year but Jeanne and I enjoyed our time together and also spending Christmas Day with her mom at the care center. Geoff and Tina kept very busy with all the Christmas festivities of their church and friends there in Peru, South America. They were invited to eat Christmas Eve with some good Peruvian friends. As is custom with them they wait until midnight to eat so they can welcome in the Christmas day. This letter finds me home alone as Jeanne left for Ohio yesterday to visit her sister for a couple of weeks. Her sister, Janet, was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer and is presently in the middle of receiving chemo and ratiation therapy. We will appreciate your prayers for her.

We are continuing with our recovery and rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of the horrible earthquake. We will have to keep a mission office in the capital city as so much of our government work has to be handled there. Our mission home and office were ruined in the quake so we are purchasing a smaller house in the city which will serve as a office and a couple of guest rooms. Our plans are to relocate most of our infrustructure to a city on the eastern coast. Not only will this serve to get us away from a bad earthquake zone but it will also be more central to all of our mission works. We have two school dormitories in the capital city – we will will keep one of these running for this next semester but will be moving over half the kids to the eastern city where we have rented a house which will serve as a temporay dormatory until such time we can purchase ground and build new dorms. We are also wanting to purchase some ground to build a mission home/conference center which will replace our old mission home in the capital city. Along with this we are also looking to purchase a house for a mission office in this city as well. I must say it looks like an insurmountable mountain. I was reading in 1 Samuel 13 this morning and how the the Israelites, under King Saul, were distressed because of the strong Philistine army that was pressing down upon them. We trust we will have a “David attitude” and not a “Saul attitude” as we take on the challenge the Lord has laid before us, knowing that His grace is sufficient and he will lead us through it all.

Due to the earthquake, our publishing of the Old Testament Scriptures for our Wana tribal people had to be postponed. Our printer in town has his office up and running again so we are hoping we can get moving on this project once again. We are also finishing up a series of Bible lessons for new believers so are hoping these can be published sometime in the near future as well.

We will appreciate your prayers for my next trip to Indonesia – hopefully no earthquakes this time 😊. I am scheduled to depart on March 19. I am looking forward to another Bible conference with our Wana churches along with making consultant visits to a number of our other missionary works. I am needing to trust the Lord for $2,000 to make this trip so will appreciate your prayers for that as well.

Jeanne and I want to again take this opportunity to thank you so much for prayers for us and our ministry with the Wana people. Thank you for being a part of our team as we work together to see the gospel preached in the Asia Pacific region.

May God richly bless,

Ed & Jeanne Casteel