Taking the plunge!

It's been more than four months since I've posted, and as usual, it's because we've had a LOT going on. Now that we have some official news to share, it makes sense to sum it all up here. So, here goes...

We are taking the plunge and becoming missionaries!

I know what you're thinking... those guys? God sure does pick some characters to use as missionaries. Yes, I agree. The point is, of course, that it's about Him and not us. We're ready to be used more by Him to love the people around us. And this is a way for us to do it intentionally, tangibly, and hopefully, for the rest of our lives. I think many people feel the calling to go, but are comfortable in their lives and so it doesn't happen. We're ready to get uncomfortable (actually, we're already there!).

Details: We are joining Communitas in New Orleans, LA. Communitas is a part of the missions organization CRM. Here is the website to get more specifics on the mission and community:

http://www.communitasnola.org

It would be impossible to sum up the last four months of life in one blog post. And since we're moving in 3+ weeks, I won't promise to blog about it all anytime soon. Here are a few highlights...

1. We made a visit to NO in June for a week (with the girls) and LOVED it. We didn't have any expectations before we went (just wanted to check it out), but as we were driving away, we knew those were our people. We loved the people, the place, and the mission. It was actually really hard to leave. We arrived back home, sat down, and knew we were ready to leave Miami.

2. Much of July was a painful time of waiting to get an offer on the house, being unemployed (Melissa), being home full-time with the girls, and wrestling with God over the things He was revealing in our lives and character that needed to grow and change. I also decided to make an official career change to become a chef. This was another big leap of faith for me, and I'm loving it.

3. We got an offer on the house July 29th, and finally received approval from our bank to sell it (a short sale, unfortunately) on Sept 12th. It was a big blow to our pride to have to short sale the house, but we finally came to terms with it and realized that the people who love us will not love us less if our credit is bad for a couple of years. God certainly doesn't care what our credit scores are. And the point of selling the house is to get out of debt, so here we are.

4. As of this week we are telling everyone (including Nick's job) about our move. We plan to leave Miami on Friday Oct 15th. We are frantically selling lots of "stuff" and packing.

5. Nick and I will continue to work while we begin training with Communitas and start to raise support for our long-term goal, which is to do full-time mission work. The New Orleans Mercedes dealership is under-staffed, so they were happy to make him a good offer (blessing!), and I will start work at a restaurant in New Orleans in mid-November (double blessing!).

We could really use a lot of prayer as we are transitioning out of Miami and into our community in New Orleans. If you pray, please take a moment to bless us with a prayer. It is much appreciated! If you'd like to be added to our newsletter and/or prayer list, leave me a comment or send me an email: melmontero@hotmail.com.

And since no blog post is complete without a few pictures, here are a few to reward you for reading our LONG update.