Category: Casteel News

Greetings All, Today we began evacuating our National Missionaries by the mission aircraft. We are hoping to get all of them and our dorm students out of harms way within the next two days. We have over 50 of our own Wana people included in the group being evacuated back to their Wana homeland. TheyContinue reading October 2018

Greetings all, I can’t begin to explain in this short email what the last 4 days have been like. First of all just to let you know that our foreign missionaries including myself were evacuated by military Hercules yesterday to a city to the south. Friday evening our time at about 6:00 an earthquake ofContinue reading October 1, 2018

Greetings all, We want to thank you so much for your prayers the last couple of days as I have been traveling. Jeanne got me to the airport early on Friday morning at our local regional airport. So nice to only have to travel 35 minutes to get there instead of going down to LincolnContinue reading September 22, 2018

Greetings all, Just to let you all know that I will be lifting off from Kearney, Nebraska enroute to Asia Pacific in just a few hours. My trip will take me from Kearney-Denver-Tokyo-Asia Pacific with about 29 hours from start to finish. Friday morning will come early as I have to check in about 5:30Continue reading

Dear Ministry Partners, Greetings from the two of us – it is hard to believe that the summer is now nearly over. September 7th would have been my mom’s 85th birthday. Been thinking of her today and thankful she is safe in the arms of Jesus and no more worries or cares which comes withContinue reading September 2018

Greetings All! This past week got a bit hectic with lots of things going on Asia Pacific Islands so I am a little late with this update on Neti. We want to thank all of you have been praying. It was feared she might have meningitis but the test came back negative for which weContinue reading

Greetings All, My it seems like the summer is slipping by quickly – won’t be long and autumn will be here. We feel blessed to have good communication via email, skype, Whatsapp, etc. etc. and have opportunities like this to keep you updated on our ministry with the Wana people of Asia Pacific. It seemsContinue reading August 2018

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, dadContinue reading July 9, 2018

Greetings all, Jeanne and I want to again thank you for your prayers this past month as we have gone through the loss of both my parents. So many of you have sent emails letting us know that you are praying for us and we appreciate this so much. We have so many emails inContinue reading June 2018

Greetings all, Jeanne and I just wanted to send out a short notice to you letting you know that both my (Ed’s) parents were killed in an automobile accident on Tuesday evening. I know that some of you are already aware of this. We will appreciate your prayers as we work through this and makeContinue reading May 11, 2018

Greetings All! Just to let you know that we returned from the tribe after a wonderful visit with the Saluan tribal people and their missionary team, followed by a Bible conference in the Wana Tribe where we have been serving now for 40 years.

Greetings from the Asia Pacific! My first week in Asia Pacific has gone well. I have been able to get around and spend some time with most of our missionary families living here in town, and some of us from our regional leadership team have been meeting as well.

Greetings All!

It is hard to believe that just three weeks from today I will be somewhere up over the Pacific Ocean headed for Asia Pacific! We want to thank each of you for your prayers as we have been preparing for this trip and for the finances involved. This trip is shaping up to be another busy one with a week long Bible conference planned the end of March with the Wana churches, and then along with some of our Wana church leaders we will be making consultant visits to 4 other tribal missionary teams – three of these teams have Wana missionaries serving on them, so we are excited about this!

Just 6-1/2 weeks

Greetings all,

We trust that the New Year has gotten off to a good start for each of you. Our month started off very cold with subzero weather and then a blizzard last week but we have since enjoyed some more mild weather for January.

Dear Co-Laborers,

Greetings from the two of us.  We trust that you have had a very blessed Christmas and that your new year has gotten off to a good start!  We were very blessed to be able to spend Christmas day with our parents.  We had a nice Christmas dinner here followed by reading the Christmas story together and then exchanging gifts.  We missed Geoff and Tina but enjoyed seeing some pictures from them as they shared Christmas with their little church in the mountains of Peru.

Dear Ministry Partners,

It hardly seems possible that it is already November and another trip to the Asia Pacific is already in the history books. We do want to thank you so much for your prayers for Jeanne and our parents as they held down the fort, and for me also as I was gone for over 6 weeks traveling and visiting different churches on our beloved island there.

Greetings all,

Sorry for being a couple of days late with this email. I am still in jet lag and trying to my act together. Just to let you know that my flight on Friday went great and everything was on perfect schedule. I was able to get through Customs and Immigration with no issues and landed in Lincoln, Nebraska 23 hours after departure from Asia Pacific which I think is an all time record. Jeanne was there to meet me and it was so good to see her after over six weeks of being away. We spent the night in Lincoln and then drove back home on Saturday.

Greetings all!

I just arrived back to town from being in the tribe for the past 3-½ weeks. I want to thank each of you very much for your prayers for me during this time. I also appreciate your prayers for Jeanne and for our parents as well. It was such a joy to be able to finally talk again with Jeanne as we took about an hour to just “catch up.”

Greetings all,
Our consultant team just returned from a consultant trip to the “Lauje” tribe on Friday. We had a wonderful time meeting with the team, the Lauje pastors, and a number of folks from the church there. It was fun to talk with them, hear their challenges, and help them with some of their strategy for the next few months.

Greetings all,

Just a note to let you know that things are all on schedule for my departure to Asia Pacific next week. If all goes as schedule this time next week I should be just an hour or two from my destination. Thank you so much for your prayers thus far – once again the Lord has provided the funds for this trip – PTL! Yesterday and today I have been trying to do my preliminary packing and get and idea of suitcase weights. I usually have a number orders for other folks so never quite sure where I stand weight-wise. I am allowed two check-on suitcases with a limit of 50 lbs. each. As it looks now I should squeak under those limits. 

Greetings All,

It is hard to believe that it is just six weeks before I will be departing again for the Asia Pacific Islands. I am looking forward to this next trip and the things that I will be involved in once again. One of the major things we will be doing is a final translation check on Old Testament Scripture portions from Exodus to the end of the Old Testament which go along with our Old Testament Chronological Bible lessons. We are anticipating this check to be about 10 days long so will appreciate your prayers for that and the final preparations for it.

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!

Greetings all,

Remember this man? This is “grandpa” or “Pa’a Judy” (father of Judy) who nearly died from a foot infection last year. He is now able to walk and is studying God’s word diligently – currently they are studying through the “Life of Christ” lessons with him. (Pa’a Judy is the father of one of our missionaries serving on Peleng Island. He had refused to listen to the gospel until this ordeal with his foot.)

Dear Ministry Partners,

Our last letter saw me in the final stages before departing to Asia Pacific. My how these past two months have flown by! We want to thank you so much for your prayers as I made this trip and for the six weeks while I was gone. The Lord took good care of each of us and nothing too much out of the ordinary happened while I was gone for which I was thankful.