Craig and Cheryl Cassel

The 4 C’s Nov 7 Update

craig_cassel — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:15:53 +0000

Family News

Cody began this school year at a local Christian School. He quickly adjusted to the social aspects with no language barrier at all. He loved it! After 9 weeks or so it became evident that Cody was not learning as he should. This was according to his own admission as well as our observations. As the principle so aptly put it, “The atmosphere of the school is not condusive for Cody to learn.” Because of this Cheryl has started homeschooling him again, along with Cheyenne. He is happy and we are glad to have him home again. We are thankful that his 8^th grade books never sold. God knew we would still need them. He sure looked handsome in his uniform though!

Ministry at MTC- Missionary Training Center

This week marks 16 years of ministry for us here in Indonesia. November 3^rd, 1993 we arrived in the capital city, Jakarta. After a few days of adjusting and meeting various people we flew to our next destination. On November 7^th we landed at our present location, which has become our “home” away from home for all these years.

We are full swing into the 2^nd 9 week session of the “Autumn” semester. This time I (Craig) am teaching the Gospel of John to our 1^st year students, James to our 3^rd semester students and NT Church Principles to our 1^st year Missions class. This is a total of 42 students, each at different levels of the training.

Each Wednesday Cheryl and I lead a small group of students in our discipleship class. On Fridays one of our staff guys is teaching on the family. All 42 students and 21 staff attend. On Wednesdays we go over the same lesson to help cement it. This give folks more opportunities for input and feedback.

Sports

Sports are a regular part of our week. Most times its an “internal’ thing with staff and students playing together. From time to time the teams don uniforms and play against outside teams in “friendly matches”. The ladies play soccer on Wednesdays and volleyball on Monday and Friday. This gives everyone some stress relief and just some good ole sweat and excersise.

Thank you for partnering with us in expanding the reach of the gospel. We are a team working together.

Craig for…

The 4 C’s

Craig, Cheryl, Cody & Cheyenne

Cheryl and the Ladies dressed to play!

Day of Prayer

craig_cassel — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:59:58 +0000

Each 1st Saturday of the month is Day of Prayer at our Missionary Training Center. Normally on Saturdays the students are doing physical work around the campus. On this day staff and students gather together for the morning. Time is spent in 4 different sessions praying for various ministries throughout Indonesia and beyond. Today the 1st hour was spent listening to a short devotional by one of our final year students. After this we prayed as a large group. In the 2nd session much time was spent praying for various countries with little or no Gospel witness. In the 3rd session we split up into small groups praying for needs of the students and staff of our missionary training center. In our 4th and final session one of our staff men shared on the meaning of communion or the Lord’s Supper. After some teaching and demonstrations we remembered our Lord’s death, burial and resurrection for our sins. We did this through song and partaking of the bread and drink representing Jesus’ body and blood. If you have a special prayer request you want us to pray for, just send us an email and let us know. We as a family would count it a privilege to take your need before the thrown of grace.

Praying together for the needs of Indonesia

Mid September Update

craig_cassel — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:21:39 +0000

Students getting a brush up course in Indonesian

Dear Ministry Partners,

Mid September is here and we only have two weeks left in the first half of the semester. In our last several updates we were able to share our student body with you. We are excited what the Lord is going to do in and through them over the next several years. Recently in our 1 John class we looked at what it means to “walk even has He walked” (1 John 2:6). The “He” is speaking of Jesus. What a challenge, to walk even as Jesus walked. As the Lord reminds you, we ask that you continue to pray for them and us.

We also asked you to pray for our financial needs concerning the visas needed for Cheryl and the kids. Well, God is answering and we had a gift of $750 come in August specifically for this need. Thank you for praying and don’t stop now. We know the Lord will answer as we all pray together.

We were also blessed with several days of house sitting again during our school break. This house is equipped with an in ground pool and great scenery. Tomorrow it will be time to come back to reality. Starting at 1 PM I (Craig) will be involved in 3 days of area leadership meetings. Pray as our team discuss church planting strategy for our area as well as a few administrative things.

Cheryl, Cody and Cheyenne will all be back to school after this weeks break. Pray for Cody as he deals with the challenges of being in an Indonesian Jr. High School. Pray for Cheryl as she continues to teach Cheyenne 3rd grade.

We will send out another update after our area leadership meetings are finished.

Craig for the ….

4 C’s
Craig, Cheryl, Cody and Cheyenne.

NEWS FLASH

craig_cassel — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:15:01 +0000

Dear Ministry Partners,

NEWS FLASH and thank you for praying. We asked you a few post ago to be praying for the Lord’s provision for Cheryl and the kids’ visas. We mentioned that the need would be about $7500. The Lord has answered your prayers. The answer has come in a different form than what we were thinking. He did not provide the funds for this need. You ask “Then how can it be answered”? Well, things in governments often change. In order to get all immigrations offices on the same page, they have decided to enforce the regulations on the books. Cheryl and kids will not be eligible for this 5 year visa until next year. So we have to do one more 1 year visa for them before they are eligible. Most likely we will not apply for a 5 year visa for them until mine runs out and needs to be renewed. That will be 2013. We hope to be able to save up for that over the next 4 years. Again thank you for praying. Now we just need the regular $1500 for this years visa. Pray that the Lord will provide for this as well.

Our Students Part 3

craig_cassel — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:05:17 +0000

Our 3^rd semester Firm Foundations class is made up of one family, Hengky and Meidy, four single men (Jackson, Leo, Mattias, and Lorens), and two single ladies (Ratna and Mini). Two other single men that started with this class are taking a semester to be discipled in the context of their local church.

Frim Foundation 3rd semester studying 1 John

Our remaining students are in their first semester of Firm Foundations. These are the new students that the Lord has entrusted to us this year. There are five families, six single men , and one single lady.

All totaled we have 42 students in 4 different classes. They are from 7 different islands and various language groups. Pray as we teach, study and learn together.

Our Students Part 2

craig_cassel — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 07:58:40 +0000

Dear Ministry Partners,

As I mentioned in Part 1, we want to spread this out over several days this week. Today’s installment is about our 1st year missions class.

Our first year missions students have completed the three-semester “Firm Foundations” course, followed by six months of ministry within their local church. All but two of their original Firm Foundations classmates have returned to continue their training. This class is made up of three single men (Brilly, Anskar, and Witro), and two single ladies (Rofina and Stelda). It has been exciting to hear about their experiences over this last semester as they were ministering in their churches.

Besides these five singles who started their training together, there is a family that has joined the class. Nomad and Fanty have just finished NTM’s flight training program in the U.S. They had begun training here at PPMMP several years ago, but were given permission to step out of the training temporarily to pursue the flight program. We are glad to have them back.

1st year missions class studying around the table

Pray for Visa process and Cost

craig_cassel — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:26:09 +0000

We want to ask you to continue to pray for our paper work. As I mentioned some time back, I (Craig) obtained my 5 year visa last September. We are presently in the process of obtaining the same 5 year visa for Cheryl, Cody and Cheyenne. The cost of 5 years is paid all in one year rather than spread out over the five. Pray with us for the Lord to provide the amount needed. We do know the Lord is able and understand that HE wants us to continue to trust in HIM for this provision. Thank you for praying and trusting with us. If you want more information please email us.

Our Students Part one

craig_cassel — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:56:27 +0000

Dear Ministry Partners.

This week we want to give you a glimpse of our student body. We will give you three installments this week so the updates won’t seem too long.

About our Students

Three families, two single men and two single ladies make up our Missions 2 class this year. They are actually transitioning from learners into missionaries! Pray that not one of them will be deterred from this goal. Right now they are learning how to use a computer before they begin studying culture and language acquisition. The Lord continually shows Himself faithful – for the last two years He has provided computers for our students to use. Last year the Lord provided just the right amount to purchase computers for the number of students in our class, and this year we have seen the same thing happen – seven computers provided. We will keep looking to the Lord and His faithfulness in the coming years to continue providing for this need. What a blessing these computers are! You can see them in the photos below:

The 3 families are 1. Rilly and Vonny 2. Niko and Jararing 3. Jerry and Femy and our two single guys are Sekry and Jessie and our two single gals are Deice and Elly

God provided these new small laptop computers

New Look For our NTM Website

craig_cassel — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:49:28 +0000

Recently NTM has upgraded our NTM website. Our personal website is now a blog site. We are new at this Blogging stuff so please be patient with us. We do hope it will keep us better connected to you and you to us. This first entry is just short and sweet with a new picture of us.

Here we are. God is Great, Cheyenne turned 8. Teenager in the house (Cody turned 13)

4th July update

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:00:00 +0000

Dear Prayer Partners and Ministry Friends,

Happy 4th of July greetings to all of you in and from the USA. This is a time we celebrate our country’s freedom of independence. Indonesia will be celebrating theirs next month. A little over 28 years ago in early 1981 I (Craig) was set free from sin and Satan’s power through the blood of Jesus Christ that He shed willingly on the cross. It was this act of grace and mercy as the once and for all sacrifice for the sins of the world. When I understood and placed my trust in the gospel message of Jesus dying on the cross, being buried and raised again on the 3rd day, I was set free from sin. Set free from its wages of death and separation from the Father. Now I live not in independence but in dependence on Jesus and His Word. I trust you have found or will find this freedom in Christ as well.

I would like to share some answers to prayer. Several months back we asked you to pray with us for the Lord’s provision for a car. Well we believe He has answered this prayer. We believe that the Lord has seen fit to not provide a car at this time. At least not a car of our own. It has been an interesting several months. Each month we budget a certain amount for transportation. This would cover car rental for Sundays or gas in cars lent to us. So far this has worked out fine. For the months of June-August a co-worker has loaned us his car. A couple of weeks ago we actually had two motorcycles and two cars. What more could you ask for. This week, one of the cars went back to its owner and the other is being used for a ministry trip. Never fear Under Dog is here. Well, no not Under Dog, but Wonder God!

2nd answer to prayer has to do with a vacation. The kids are done school and we wanted to take a little break, some place with a pool. Well man oh man did Wonder God do it again. Some friends went on a vacation for 2 weeks. They asked us to house sit while they are gone. So here we are, in their home about half an hour away from our campus. Cody and Cheyenne have their own rooms, we have the master bedroom on the second floor with a balcony overlooking the city. At night the city lights look to be their own galaxy. The house also comes with two maids, a floppy eared hush puppy dog named Mozart and a brand new pool. They even let us use their car with a cool zebra paint job. Nice! since the other loaner car is on a ministry trip. This first week of vacation time, Cody is at the Baptist Youth Camp with about 500 other youth. Cheryl and I did sessions July 1st on Love, Sex and Dating. It was a great time. Cody will join us next week here at our "time share".

3rd answer to prayer. We have been seeing a need in Cody’s life to be in a classroom situation. We looked into the possibility of him attending a Christian school in town. After several meetings and various letters gathered, we received the OK yesterday from the director of the school. The director said because we were missionaries he would go to bat for us and try to waive the initial fees of $300. This means we just need to pay for books and the monthly bus and school fees. Pray that this will come to pass.

I would also like to share a prayer request with you. It’s hard to believe that is been almost a year since we did our visa paper work. Well that time is coming up again. Last year I got my 5 year visa and Cheryl and the kids got a 1 year visa. This year we feel we need to get all of us on the same visa type and schedule. This will help with furloughs and traveling in the future. This means getting three more 5 year visas. This is equivalent to paying for all 5 years at one time. Pray for the Lord’s provision for these visas.

Thank you for ministering to us through prayer and giving.

Serving together with you,

Craig for …

The 4 C’s
Craig, Cheryl, Cody and Cheyenne

For those who would like to help click the link below

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