Non-Homeowners by Tuesday
We are thrilled to announce that the sale of our condo has finally been fully approved and finalized! After our closing this Tuesday (11/22), God willing, we will no longer be home owners! That is very good news for us because it releases us to make final preparations for our departure to Italy. One of the primary tasks we turn to now is obtaining our Italian visas. We are scheduled to apply for our visas in person at the Italian Consulate in Chicago on December 12th and hope to receive the visas 1-2 weeks later. As far as we can tell, this means our departure date will be sometime shortly before or after Christmas!
Our Support Status
While our support increased by 5% this past month, due to some budgeting issues we are still at 88% of our financial support goal. In addition to obtaining our visas, we need to raise the remaining 12% before we can leave for the field. In order to do so we need three more financial partners at $200/month (or six at $100/month, or twelve at $50/month) and we'll be fully funded! God has done amazing things through many of you so far to get us to 88% and we're trusting He'll work through others He has chosen to get us to 100% (please let us know if this might be you)!
Hello Kiddos
This month the theme on www.hellokiddos.net is "Where Do Missionaries Go?". We've posted several fun activities to engage the whole family in the world of missions. We hope you'll take advantage of the opportunity our website offers not only to help your kids connect with us and the faith journey we're on, but to broaden their view of the world and of missionaries.
We Plan, God Directs
Every time we've set out to write this update major things have happened that change our situation and require revision of the news we want to share! Our life has felt much like a rollercoaster with hills and valleys that cause us to scream in fright around one turn and delight the next. In the midst of the confusion this month we had an encouraging time visiting with Erika's grandparents who were missionaries for over 25 years. They charged us to remember that God will never give us more than we can handle and that faith is the most important thing we need on each step of this journey. We are (sometimes reluctantly) continually learning to trust God in various ways and on deepening levels as He directs us according to His purposes - even when it changes our plans (Prov. 19:21)! And we're finding it's easiest when we look at Him rather than at our circumstances!
Thank you for sharing this journey with us. God is faithful and He often proves it through you!
Grace and Peace,
Jon and Erika Tello
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Jon created this poster as a representation of the spiritual state of Italy and a visual reminder to pray for the people there. If you'd like own a print see our blog for details!
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This fall we visted Erika's Grandpa's farm to admire the landscape, painted with colors of fall (also pictured at the top of the email). You can see more pictures on our blog.
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