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Prayer Letter Archive07-November-2005Dear Co-laborers, First we want to thank you for your prayers for Jeanne and I these past two months while I was out in Indonesia. I arrived back to Omaha on Tuesday evening Nov. 1. My luggage didn't arrive with me but we were able to pick it up the next morning at the airport and then drove on home. It is good to be back home with Jeanne after this long absence. When I arrived home I noticed a papaya sitting on the kitchen table. I wondered where she had come up with that this far from the tropics. She told me I had just come from the land of papaya and I was to keep my hands off that one - ha.
These last two months have felt like a whirlwind as I spent time in 4 different provinces in Indonesia. My first week was spent in North Sulawesi working with our Wana translation team and working on the preliminary comprehension check of the Gospel of John. From there I attended our field leadership meetings in Jakarta and enjoyed an evening together with our Indonesian sponsoring board. After Jakarta it was off to Central Sulawesi to meet with our Wana church leadership. Over twenty Wana folks braved the trip out to town which led them through the hostile Poso region where so much violence has taken place over the past 5 years. Most of our leaders were present and we had a wonderful time together studying from 2 Corinthians and also talking through different church related issues they are facing. It has been exciting to see them begin to take responsibility in working through church related problems on their own and not relying so much on us missionaries as they have done in the past. They know we are still there to help but have realized it is their responsibility so that is good to see. We need to keep praying for the situation in the Poso region, as just a week ago Saturday, 3 young high school girls were beheaded as they made their way to their Christian high school.
From Central Sulawesi my travels then took me to West Borneo where I would be working together with one of our church planting consultants. They were just beginning their field conference when I arrived so it was nice being able to take part in that and also see old colleagues whom I hadn't seen in years. After the conference had finished we then boarded our small mission Cessna airplane bound for the interior Semandang Tribal region where we would spend three weeks traveling to various villages and working with church leaders. It was a blessing to be with these tribal people. We enjoyed many teaching times together and on numerous occasions I was able to share with them and show slides of our Wana Tribal work - they really enjoyed hearing about their brothers and sisters in Central Indonesia! It was also a special blessing for me to be able to spend two days in the village of "Giet" and hear testimonies from new believers as this village has just begun hearing the gospel within the last year or so. Our trip did have to be interrupted for a few days as my co-worker, Ron Risse, was experiencing some heart arrythmia problems. We need to continue to pray for him as word came across yesterday that he is once again experiencing difficulties.
After 4 weeks in Borneo it was time to head back to North Sulawesi to finish the comprehension check on John. I had a full week there before heading back to the States. During that time we were able to finish the comprehension check and also had time to work on lesson development. Besides working on the chronological lessons our Wana co-workers are also excited about working together with us and our church pastors to develop some much needed topical lessons. All in all it was a very good and profitable trip and we thank the Lord for allowing us to accomplish all our goals we set out to accomplish. In all this we are constantly reminded that this job would not be possible without the great team we have here in the States. We want you to know that your help through your prayers and support are greatly appreciated. Serving together, Ed & Jeanne Casteel To see more pictures of this trip, visit the picture page. |
