Dear Fellow Laborers,

April 2009

Praise the Lord for the exciting things that are happening in Russia!

Progress With Building Permits

The first documents that we turned in for our building program were accepted and now we have been approved to turn in our packet of plans for the general building permit. This will allow us to build the foundation, walls, roof, and other things without any problems. We will still need separate permits to connect to gas, water, and electricity. Among these, gas will be the most expensive. The time line, once we turn in the main packet of plans, will be at least a month before we hear back from the permit agency. Please pray that we will receive our needed permits by June.

Gathering Bids on the Foundation

We have met with two general contractors to get bids on the foundation of the building. Everything here takes a long time and answers regarding the cost of the foundation should take around two weeks to get back. Pray with us that we will make the right decisions regarding these important steps. We are planning right now on contracting out the foundation and the roof. In an effort to save money, we will build the walls ourselves along with most of the inside plastering, flooring, plumbing, wallpapering, painting, and ceiling work.

Getting Passport Taken Care Off

Our whole family had to take a 13 hour car ride to Saratov to show Austin to a Consular representative to get him an American passport, thus avoiding our family going to Moscow, a much longer trip. We were expecting him to write “child seen” on our application, and then I would take a trip by myself to Moscow to turn in the documents. Once we got there, the consular worker surprised us by offering to turn in our documents for us, saving me a trip to Moscow.

Yours in Christ,
Adam, Angela, Alex, Amelia, Alisa, and Austin