Greetings All,
It is hard to believe that it is already September! We wanted to send a little email update on our family. Two weeks ago Geoff and Tina found out that Tina’s parents, Tim & Bunny Cain who also serve with Ethnos360, were sick with covid. Last week this led them to both needing to be hospitalized.
Update, 9/14/21:
The doctors did all they could but in the end it wasn’t sufficient and the Lord called them both home to be with Him. Tim passed away on Saturday morning, and Bunny passed on Sunday morning. They are now both safely in the arms of Jesus, enjoying fellowship with Him, and free from all this earthly suffering.
Tim and Bunny served as missionaries both in Columbia and Venezuela, South America, with the Puinave tribal group. They have quite a history as they were also a part of a hostage crisis back in the 1980’s when they and two of our pilots were taken hostage by communist guerillas, but later miraculously released. They continued to minister to the Puinave people as their team worked on Scripture translation and church planting amongst this group. We praise God for how He used their lives in reaching this language group for Jesus. In later years Tim and Bunny relocated to our Headquarters in Sanford, Florida. They helped out at Headquarters and Tim continued to make periodic trips to Colombia to help disciple the believers there. They were greatly loved and appreciated by all, and we will miss them dearly.
Tina has one sister, Cambie. Her and her husband serve as missionaries in Africa. Cambie was able to fly back to the USA 10 days ago and her husband and kids will arrive this evening. We will appreciate your prayers for them as they work through everything that needs to be done. A memorial service is planned for next Thursday, September 23 at their church in Sanford. Thank you for praying.
Asia Pacific has really been hit hard by the “Delta Variant” this summer, and with it, the province we work in has had lots of people who have contacted Covid. Many of our coworkers have had it and it has also been going through some of the Wana villages. The borders are once again closed and visa entry permits are not being offered at the present time, which has necessitated me postponing my September trip. We will appreciate your prayers for this virus to run its course that all of our missionaries can resume ministry in a more normal way. We are thankful for really good communication through “skype” and “WhatsApp” and with these tools, we are able to continue on with translation, lesson development, and even online teaching, but I am anxious to get back face to face with them once again!
We are thankful that the Lord continues to work in spite of the virus. Besides opening up new areas of ministry for us, as I shared in our last update, He has also made it possible for our literacy team to continue teaching literacy classes as well. Recently, a class of 4 middle-aged women finished the literacy course and received their certificates. I still remember the comment of one of the Wana ladies when upon the completion course she said, “I can now read God’s word for myself!”
Thank you so much for being a part of what the Lord is doing in our part of Asia Pacific.
God Bless,
Ed n Jeanne Casteel
Church Planting Asia Pacific
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