A year on the Island

The summer has ended and I find myself bewildered that it is almost Winter! Where did the days go! But here we are in November as our family can now look back on a year living in Nanaimo.

One way I could describe the last year is unexpected. Another way would be ‘hard but beautiful’. Lots of change both encouraging and lovely, and difficult and challenging. All in all, we sit around the dinner table and end up sharing what we are thankful for… and there are so much to be thankful for.

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The Jesus Van Summer Kids Program was a hit! We were able to go to two housing complexes and play games and hand out snacks to around 30 kids in all. We had a big BBQ at each place at the end of the summer, inviting all the families to come out as well. That was great to get to talk to the families and get to answer questions like “what does the ‘J’ in J-Van stand for?” Or “why do you all come out and do this?” Our team got to answer with telling them about Jesus and his love for them. 

I am happy to report that doors are open for us to continue ministry with these kids and families into the fall. We have partnered with a local church who does an after school drop in center and the kids who we connected with we can meet there and continue discipleship. Next week we have another BBQ at one of the complexes and our team was encouraged as they handed out invitations that people were very excited to see us coming back, not just in the summer but continuing in the year. 

Please pray for open hearts of the families and wisdom for us as we navigate sometimes tricky cultural situations, especially in the one complex that is mostly native residence. 

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For us as a family we have our own big news! We are pregnant with little ‘Dean Bean #3’!! Coming April 18! 

This has been exciting news for us and years in the waiting so we are so happy to get ready for our new arrival. The kids are excited and started helping out around the house more  ‘cause baby is coming!’ 

Dean Bean #3

The kids are loving homeschooling, even Emeth who doesn’t like a program. Matt is enjoying teaching (most days, haha) and we are thankful to be part of such a great homeschooling community that loves God and supports each other. 

Matt has also been getting more involved with YWAM  over the summer coming to meetings with the kids and ministry events. He is still settling into a role as it is tricky with the kids. But he is looking forward to ministry again which is exciting to see. 

I, Gillian, have been getting through the typical first trimester things as well and continuing with my part time job at Island Crisis Care Society and trying to also do my responsibilities with YWAM. with ICCS I am the manger of a ‘for-profit’ venture under their non-profit to generate money for their recovery homes, feeding-the-homeless programs, and job placement training. I manage an industrial kitchen were people can rent space to try or run their business out of, (eg. caterers, small bakeries, small restaurants, and cake makers) it’s stretching but much of it I did before in Germany as the kitchen manager there for 3 years. This is just a bigger scale. 

Even though God provided this job in amazing ways and we needed the income (life on the island is not cheap), it was hard to take time away from ministry to do it. We both feel God’s guiding in it but also see the need around us for evangelism and discipleship. But we are trusting God everyday, even having this baby is trusting him when it doesn’t make perfect sense. 

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We are looking to the future and praying into some big changes to come in the next few months. We think that getting Matt his permanent residency will be the way that our family can move forward in a healthy way. Pray for us as we find a lawyer that can help us, as we start that process and that all will go smoothly and quickly. 

So this is us, the Deans, adding to our family, balancing work, school, and ministry.