We pay homage to the myriad of voices we join. We confess the conflicting identities that we represent as well as the beauty and pain of our shared histories. We honor the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and the Mescalero Apache, two Indigenous tribes with roots in the area. We honor the magnificent heritage and heartbeat of our Mexican and Mexican-American neighbors, Chicana/o and Latina/o communities, African Diaspora, fellow El Pasoans – the blend of many families and cultural memories, and all who first inhabited the land where we’re invited to reside. We honor the wisdom of Abuelita theologians, artists, elders, Dreamers, faith leaders, and local residents in the Rio Grande District, as well as our sister-city neighbors across the border.

The El Paso–Juárez region is the largest bilingual, binational work force in the Western Hemisphere. This region is commonly subdivided into the Juárez Metropolitan Area (Zona Metropolitana de Juárez) in Chihuahua, greater El Paso in Texas and greater Las Cruces in New Mexico. The regional population is estimated at around 2.7 million.

We’re grateful to set roots here as we join a beautiful community of peace builders.

Open Process: The elders at Warehouse 242 led an open process with the pastoral team as we all began to discern the present-future together. This included discerning the reality of both the financial impact of COVID-19 and our sense of vocational alignment. We concluded that our sense of call remains at the margins as the Holy Spirit opened the way to join Abara Borderland Connections.

Sending + Receiving: We’re so grateful Warehouse 242, along with several Communities of Color, are affirming and sending us into the next chapter. God is always on the move long before we showed up. Local and global partnerships continue forward, and we will miss those we’ve come to love so deeply. In each of our transitions, we experienced being sent and received in community. We are individual participants as the community remains rooted and carries the work forward.

Local Confirmation: We don’t run from a place, rather, we walk in faith toward a place as that place opens itself towards us. Our decision was made in the context of a team and a community confirming our decision. We’re grateful to share that a diverse community spoke into our lives in making this significant decision to move to the border.

Our kids are well overall. We took a family listening trip together before making this decision, and the kids were able to meet some friends and see the region together. Our family shares a blend of natural emotions in this process. Several voices surrounded our family in discerning this decision, including licensed counselors, friends, mentors, and a spiritual director. Dr. Bob Lupton’s wisdom still speaks, “Never sacrifice your children on the altar of your mission.”

We concluded that life requires us to entrust our children, our future, and every detail of our lives to God as we attempt to say yes to the next moment. We trust that our family’s sojourn of learning to love God and neighbor are shaping all of us over time. Please join us in praying for all of God’s children, for this generation and the next, in cities everywhere and on the border.

Melissa continues her work with Desire Street Ministries in partnership with leaders in under-resourced communities throughout the Southeast and Southwest. On the border, she plans to focus on creative hospitality, assisting women and children, and writing.

Deepening Partnerships: Team Abara is working on the hopeful acquisition of property which could become Abara’s headquarters for all things - border encountering, peacemaking, archival storytelling, breaking bread and community-building - as we connect, learn and engage in the borderlands.

Hosting Leaders: Joining the Abara team to engage leaders across the U.S. through Border Encounters (listening trips). Our focus here is to invite leaders to come and see, listen and learn, and reflect on what the border can teach us.

Inspiring Churches: Inspiring faith networks on the border, on the block, and closer to home. Nate’s role includes speaking in churches across the U.S. Over the next 36 months, half of his energy will jumpstart a partnership with Abara - PC(USA) to create a full-time Presbyterian Border Coordinator role to sustain a future leader.

Melissa’s Spanish-speaking roots began during her years living in Santiago, Chile, and time spent in the Dominican Republic. While those cultural contexts are unique from El Paso-Juarez, she’s grateful for some of the familiar reminders of this beautiful place we call home.

Nate will enter a Spanish Intensive Program as a first priority. Nate is preparing for the gift of inter-dependence and friendship through translation when needed. Meanwhile, the team encouraged us to consider the many ways we can participate in English.

Our work extends across dividing lines, and Nate's full-time role with Abara isn't limited to any one denominational affiliation.

Longterm, We raise 100% of our financial support as a family of six. Half of our first year of salary and health insurance are currently covered through a partnership with PC(USA). This provides breathing room to sustain our family, and we are incredibly grateful. This partnership's goal includes building a sustainable church network over the next 36 months for a future local leader to lead forward.

Focus Circle: Please consider introducing us to 3-5 people in your circle to support the work. There is much work to be done, and we’re eager to listen, learn, and build relationships. We imagine Focus Circles where a handful of people, a small group, or a board focus energy, relationship, and funding in partnership with Abara.

Financial Partnership: We raise 100% of our financial support as a family of six, while partnering with local leaders of color to make introductions, increase our collective capacity, and expand the work of Abara Borderland Connections and affiliated partners.

Visit the Border (post COVID-19): Team Abara often hosts leaders from around the U.S.(groups of 6 or fewer) to come learn from local communities who have so much to teach us. We’d be honored to host you for a two to five day Border Encounter (aka “Border Listening Trip”) to immerse yourself in the realities of the US-Mexico Border as you Explore, Listen, Serve, and Reflect on the border, on the block, and closer to home. Learn more by writing to info@abarafrontiers.org

Imagine Together: Let’s dream together to deepen our partnerships, build capacity, and sustain the work as a whole. Short Story: Taking Flight: How an Abara Border Encounter Inspired Generosity in the Form of Airline Tickets for Asylum Seekers

Prayer: We’re praying for imagination, creativity, and new wineskins. We’re praying for open ears in an effort to be quick to listen and slow to speak. We’re praying for the conversion of the living church in the U.S., for resuscitation and awakening, for courageous response, common ground, and unified partnerships. We’re praying for ongoing repentance of (and lament for) our complacency, our complicity, and our segregated prayers that perpetuate our histories of pain, violence, suffering, racism, White supremacy and Christian nationalism. We’re praying for the good news of Jesus of Nazareth to permeate our lives with hope, healing, and wholeness as we attempt to love our neighbors toward beloved community.