The Dean Family

Vanavara Trip Dec. 2014 from James Dean on Vimeo . The trip to Vanavara went very well. We arrived back on Saturday very tired, but happy that the trip was such a success. I am thankful for friends like Oganes and Missionary James Pranger. We had a wonderful time of Christian fellowship and were able to accomplish much together on this trip. Conditions of the roads There are two routes,  a longer one and a shorter one. The longer one is made up of both logging roads and winter roads. The log roads are not bad to drive on, as they are well maintained so that log trucks can pass quickly. The winter roads are rougher. The shorter route is almost all winter road. While it is shorter, it is considerably rougher. I included a video of the trip. Building Earlier I wrote a about the building project, and what we hoped to learn from some of the local builders. As you may recall, we had hoped to be able to build on steel piling, as it would be much cheeper than concrete...

Today I will be taking another advanced survey trip to Vanavara. Missionary James Pranger, Oganes, and I will be leaving out on the winter road. Some of you may remember Oganes from some of my earlier letters. He translated for me on my very first trip to Russia, and accompanied me to the northern villages of Tura and Turahansk. He also heads up the village ministry in Atamanova. Brother Pranger is a second generation missionary who practically grew up on the winter roads, and knows the dangers of them far better than I.   A trucker who drives this road regularly said that the trip takes about 24 hours from Krasnoyarsk. This will be the first time we have driven the road. The purpose of this trip is fact finding. Specifically: What are the conditions of the road? We are told  that the road is rather rough, but how rough? To make contacts with truckers who could transport building supplies. Oganes has made contacts already with some drivers.    A better un...

Missionary Matt Northcutt and I are planning an advanced survey trip to the North. We plan to visit the village of Vanavara toward the end of this month (September.) Vanavara is located in the Evenk Municipal District, which is home to both Russian and Evenki People. The total population of Evenkia is 16,284 people. Vanavara represents 3,154 of the population. Vanavara is one of the three major support centers of Evenkya. It supports four other smaller villages. Also, Vanavara has a  Home for  the Elderly and Disabled, a Children's Rehabilitation Center, and a children's home. I first became aware of this village while I was on furlough. It was then that  I learned that one of the faithful church members from Krasnoyarsk moved to this village due to work. She is a single lady with no other believers with whom to  fellowship. Please pray for her as she stands as the lone witness in this village, and for Brother Northcutt and I as we seek direction from the Lord. ...

So far the U.S. economic sanctions have not effected our wire transfer to Russia. It has, however, effected some. My understanding is that a simple wire transfer to a Russian bank is not a violation of the U.S. economic sanctions, however it is scrutinized very closely. Because of this scrutiny, some U.S. banks have chosen to not process any transactions to the Russian banks listed in the U.S. economic sanctions. This is done as a risk management measure. This has left many missionaries in Russia and the Ukraine without money. Some have been able to rely on their credit cards, but it should be noted that Russia is very much a cash based society, especially in the villages.  Fortunately our wire transfer went through this month, but we do not know how long our U.S. bank will continue to process our wire transfers. One possible solution that we are looking into is opening a bank account with a German based bank that also operates in Krasnoyarsk. Such a bank would comply with a...

We had a wonderful week of VBS in Shila, with an amazing turn out! We registered  34 kids, which is an amazing number for our village. 23 of them were first time visitors. In addition to this, we had 2 grandparents and 1 parent sit in on some of the fun. This allowed us to get acquainted with them.   This week was also a great encouragement to our faithful neighbor, who spent much of her time giving out invitations and talking with parents and grandparents about VBS. It was such a great blessing for her to see the fruit of her labour.  Some of this week's highlights were: 34 New Testaments Handed Out! Singing! Games! Bible Lessons and Missionary Stories Snacks! Crazy Hat Day! Prizes! Medals 

Tomorrow we start VBS in Shila, the village where we live. We have spent the last few days getting the property ready, and making sure everything is in place. Today we transformed the garage into a castle, using the same props that we used in the city VBS. We plan to hold the lessons in the garage as it is much cooler then trying to hold it outdoors. The games and activities will be held in our yard. My heart was touched as I watched my neighbor, who has faithfully attended the services for some time now, giving out invitations to VBS and talking with parents and grandparents about the upcoming VBS. It is exciting for me to see her get excited about the work of the Lord. Please pray for us and the work in Shila, as the Sunday School attendance has been up and down lately. I am praying that VBS will help us to reconnect with some young people who have not been in awhile, and to bring us into contact with some new people we have not meet before.

VBS went very well in the village of Atamanova. We had a good group of kids. They had a good time in playing the games, listening to the stories and doing other activities. Most importantly, they heard the Gospel preached. Please pray for our church family that lives in the village of Atamanova, as they follow up on the children who came to VBS, and continue to hold a Sunday School in this village.