Dear friends,

With this letter the two of us want to wish you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! Someone said they wanted to uninstall 2020 and download the new version as the old one had a virus 😊. The past year has been a different one for all of us for sure and hopefully we will see a decrease in the virus and see things come back to some sort of normalcy. In the meantime we know that this virus has not hampered the Lord in what He wants to do. He is still the King of kings and Lord of lords and is still at work building his church.

We want to thank you for your prayers for us these past weeks in the wake of Jeanne’s mom’s homegoing. We know she is safe in the arms of Jesus, but she has been a vital part of our lives over the past 10 years, so she is greatly missed. For her funeral she had requested just a family graveside service which we did. It was small but just what she would have wanted. We enjoyed sharing stories of her, reading some encouraging verses, and also a time of prayer. She leaves a big hole in our lives but her example in the way she lived her life for the Lord will remain with us until the day we too meet back up with her in glory.

Our Wana co-workers living in town were so looking forward to Christmas this year. They along with most of our Wana school kids left the capital city the second week in December to go back to their respective villages. The really enjoyed being together once again with their family and friends as they gave special remembrance to our Lord’s coming to earth. I can’t help but remember back to the 1979 when they had a large gathering and feast to pay homage and appease the evil spirits. What a wonderful change the Lord has made in their lives as they have left that all behind to worship the Lord Jesus and to remember what He has done for them.

This Christmas we were able to send in 100 of the micro-SD cards with the recorded Wana Scripture on them. With the new “app” that has been developed they can put this SD card into their cell phones and as they listen to the recorded Word of God. They can also follow along with the written Words on their cell phone screens. It is exciting to us to have this new avenue with which to distribute God’s word, and a side benefit is it also helps them with their reading skills.

The Covid-19 virus has been on the rise in Asia Pacific as well. Things were starting to loosen up some but with the recent spike the government is tightening down on things once again. All the new restrictions are making travel within the province very challenging. As a result we had to postpone some youth and discipleship activities we had planned in Wana for this month.

We do want to take this opportunity to thank you so much for your prayers for us and our ministry with the Wana people. Let’s be in prayer that we can see some improvement in the virus situation this coming year. Needless to say, I am anxious to resume my travels to Asia Pacific once again. Thanks so much for being a part.

May God Bless,

Ed n Jeanne Casteel