The Mellettes: Clearly Directed

Thank you to all of you who prayed for Jerad and I this past week. We enjoyed a wonderful week of Candidate Orientation with FIM - Fellowship International Mission. http://www.fim.org/

It was encouraging to hear from other individuals and couples who also felt called to be missionaries. After more Bible education, one couple is headed to Guyana with their 3 daughters. This couple is just brilliant - he works for the federal gov't "optimizing" - he's got his Ph.D and she had a scholarship to Yale University....very intelligent people who are headed to a place where they will have to wash their clothes in the river & where food is terribly expensive because the soil is not fertile. It also has a great absence of male leadership.

The seasoned saint beside Jerad is serving in Argentina and

the couple on the right - the Christians - are headed to Guyana

Another couple is already serving an unevangelized people I had never heard of: the Basque people...right now they're serving in Boise, Idaho where the highest concentrated group of Basque people are inside the USA. They plan to return to the Basque country - northern Spain - in the near future.

Two other individuals - one seasoned missionary saint and one widowed lady who just signed up are both headed to Argentina. The seasoned saint has been serving God in Argentina for the past 23 years, but needed to change mission boards because her focus changed. For 21 years she worked with teens but as she visited another part of Argentina, the northern part, it became evident she was needed there, working with women. Her former mission board only worked with teens so FIM met her focus change and she's excited about returning to Argentina where she plans to build a very modest home (the size of our back porch). The widowed woman is signing up for language school and plans to join her new friend - the seasoned saint - in a year.

Then, there was us...the Mellettes. Jerad and I have been going back and forth for YEARS as to whether we should become full-time missionaries in Montreal. The need is so great, and it seemed so ideal for us. Jerad already knows the culture, the language and would have a ministry partner in whom he has a healthy relationship with: his brother. But, to move our family to such a godless place? Ugh. Gulp. Sigh.

Here's what we talked to the leaders at FIM about...the things we know about the province of Quebec:

It's ranked #1 in North America for
1. teen suicide

2. unwed live-in couples

3. divorce

4. abortion

Twenty percent of all books sold in Quebec are new age books.

There is less than 1 Christian worker per 11,000 people in the city of Montreal.

It is illegal to build a new Church building on the island of Montreal unless the property was already zoned for religious purposes. That's why it's so important to connect with an existing church in Montreal. It would be illegal to build a church or rent a store front to start a church there.

Before we ever even dated, Jerad and I felt the call to be missionaries. But, where? When? For how long? After much prayer, Jerad and I feel our direction has been clearly laid out and our vision for Montreal is to see trained Quebecers running a self-sustaining Church-based English youth work on the island of Montreal in La Salle.

Our mission: to evangelize teens and young people, disciple believers and train people through Grace Church of La Salle.

We are excited about this new step in our lives. We are now considered Missionary Appointees with FIM (Fellowship International Mission). We will now seek people who either feel the call to serve alongside us in Montreal or who want to support us prayerfully or financially. Jerad and I want to have 100 families or individuals commit to pray for us daily. It is a physically and SPIRITUALLY cold place to live and we covet your prayers!

If you feel the Lord calling you to come alongside of us in any of these ways, please let us know. It would be wonderful to got to Montreal in a year with a team of Christian workers!

Grace Church of La Salle