The Dean Family

We are very excited to report that we received our permanent residency today. This is very important to the ministry, as it would be difficult to stay in Russia without it. We are so happy that everything went through all right. Thank you for your prayers in this very important matter. Please continue to bring our name before the Lord in prayer as we strive to serve Him in Siberia.

We went in today to receive our Permanent Residency documents. We were told that there were a few documents that we still needed to obtain, as well as an added fee. Unfortunately we were not aware of the fee. I am planning to have everything ready by Wednesday. The good thing is that we have been approved, so it should just be a matter of time. We were all very disappointed though, we were hoping to have our residency booklets in hand today. Please pray that we can get the correct documents in a timely manner. Thank you for your prayers.

I wanted to thank everyone for praying for our permanent residency. I have written on several occasions about the importance of it to our work in Russia. Today I spoke with the office where we applied for our permanent residency and they said that all of our documents were ready. Later next week we will go to the office and receive our residency documents.

I am excited to report that we are seeing more progress in the Shila ministry. We have four adults who have been coming consistently  for some time now. One of the ladies invited her son, who is in his twenties, to come to one of the services. He has come to two services now and seems really interested in the lessons.   The services in Shila have taken the form of a Bible study. Missionary Duane Hearron and I teach the lessons together. Each of us give our thoughts on the subject, and then wait and listen to the responses of the people. By doing so we are making sure that the message is understood. When something is not understood we know to spend more time in that area. The services are held completely in Russian with no translation. By God's grace I have been able to lead the lesson.   At present no one has made  a profession of faith, but the people are progressing in their understanding of God's message of salvation; and they are engaged in the lessons (some even