Rose with a Mission

  For those of you who still follow this blog, the story with that guy is turning out so well.  We continued to date and get to know each other. In December Stewart asked me to marry him and I happily said yes. On March 25th, we got married. I'm so grateful that God gave me this kind and Godly man to walk by my side and for the life I'm getting to live.   My mission is still the same, I'm just doing it on a different mission field than I thought. I'm still seeking to love God and people. I'm still seeking to encourage those around me and be the servant God has called me to be.  Thank you to everyone who has loved and supported me on my missions journey. I'm so thankful for the adventure God gave me and for the people like you who cheered me on. Thanks for continuing to cheer me on in this new adventure of marriage.  May God continue to bless and encourage you.  Happily Married, Rose 

  I'm back and so excited to share my Tanzania adventures with you. Thank he first place we went was a town called Boyamoyo. Pastor Alfred (our main contact for this trip) and his wife Anna made us feel so welcome to the Amazing Grace Church and preschool. A few years ago he had a vision to build a church and preschool. With prayer, vision, and help from some American donors the church and preschool are thriving. The first day we were there, I got to experience my first African church service. I didn't understand what was being said most of the time, but I loved the worship music and dances. I enjoyed joining in and dancing to Jesus. The next day we jumped right into ministry. Half the team was working on helping Pastor Alfred clear land and put up a fence around the church and preschool. The other half of the team (myself included) spent Monday through Friday in the mornings teaching at the preschool. Whether we were playing games with the kids,...

  As you read this, I am somewhere between Texas and Tanzania! After 12 weeks of classes, preparation, and growth, we are heading to Tanzania to share His love! I'm so pumped.  Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my YWAM tour. That night I went home and applied for DTS and started packing. How much has changed. Now one year later I'm flying to Tanzania! Only God could have orchestrated such an amazing adventure.  On Sunday I was able to walk normally without pain for the first time in almost a month. New skin is forming and the wound has closed up. This is a huge praise Jesus! While I'm going to continue to monitor it while I'm in Africa, I'm so grateful to be this far in the healing process.  This week has been very busy with packing, prayers, team building, preparation for Tanzania, and preparing our hearts for the trip.  I'm so excited! This is going to be an amazing adventure and God and I get to go on it together! Since I'm not going to be updatin...

  It's hard and amazing to believe that I leave for Tanzania in 6 days! The closer we get to leaving though the more excited I get. God has been doing so much work in my heart to prepare me for going and living out His love to those we meet. We have audio Bibles and crafts and messages prepared, but the most important thing that God has been reminding me to take is a willingness to do whatever He says. Whatever that looks like, wherever we go, whatever we end up doing, I want to be open to what Holy Spirit is asking and follow His voice. Let the adventure continue! This week our leaders decided to have us spend the first three days remembering back over the last 10 weeks. What lessons did God teach us? What has been hard? What has been really good? What are you grateful for? I was so good to think about these questions and hear from classmates about what God has been doing in them. So many of our struggles were the same. So many of us were able to share what God is working on in ou...

  God did it! He provided for not only my Tanzania missions trip, but for all of of my teammates expenses as well! Yahoo! We serve a great and awesome God! We are going to Tanzania and I'm super excited!  We still need some money got the greenhouse and the church, but I know that God will provide.  Thank you for your prayers for my foot. It's still healing, but we are making progress.  This weeks topic has been Ministering in the Spirit. I love how rooted this week has been in the Bible anf how our teachers have cried when sharing stories about how Holy Spirit has moved in their lives. I've been encouraged this week to pursue God more and let Holy move in me more.  As we get closer to time to leave, we have been working hard on stories, skits, and songs for kids ministry. Whether I've been working on a parable, learning a new song, or playing a part in a skit I've so enjoyed working as a team. I'm so looking forward to doing kids ministry.  We fly out in 13...

  Hey friends, it has been quite the week for me. Yesterday was the three week mark until I leave for Tanzania and the one week mark that all of our funding is due. Where I am I at? I still need $1,628 to be able to go.  God is really growing my faith with this one. I'm having to pray and trust Him as never before. I don't know how that last part will come in, but I am looking to the One who owns it all and has promised me that I'm going to Africa.  Please pray about partnering with me in prayer and with finances.  Below is a video I created yesterday explaining the heart behind why we are going to Tanzania. This weeks topic in class has been Apologetic Worldview. Our teacher was one that we had had in DTS and so I was so excited to have him be teaching in my SOE. His teaching style is very interactive and he asks a lot of questions. I loved how he framed apologetics so differently from the way I've been used to thinking about it before. Apologetics is all about givi...

    Sometimes God blows you away with how He provides.  Over Christmas weekend I spent a lot of time praying over when I should go back to the school of evangelism. When was Gods best timing? January or March? Either was a good option, but I was praying that God would show me His best.  As I prayed I felt like God told me that if I got full tuition by January 1st, I should go. I laughed. With a week to go I was still about $2,000 short. I didn’t see a way to make it work, but I continued praying.  Within the space of a few days, God not only provided the $2,000 for tuition, but living expenses, and extra that I can save for the missions trip! God completely blew me away with how He provided and with how He led me.  Tomorrow we drive up to YWAM Tyler and I get registered for the School of Evangelism! Classes  start on Monday ! Never underestimate the power and kindness of our God!  I look forward to this next school and seeing how God moves in...

  Week 1 of the filmmaking course is complete! Wow! I had no idea at the beginning of the week what God had in store for me.  First off I had a great trip to the airport with my mom. I have the best family. They love and care for me when I'm at home and see me off with smiles to the airport.  My flight was smooth and I got a window seat!  When I arrived in Charlotte, I met up with my hosts and we began to make our way towards the JAARS center. They have been delightful. Retired missionaries from Cameroon with a lot of God stories to share, this couple has made me feel so at home. I'm thankful that I got to meet them.  Filmmaking class has been going amazing, I've been learning so much from this course about how to make a good film and how to tell a good story. I'm so thankful for people who will teach me the technical aspects of filmmaking. It's also been fun to collaborate with others to make a short film. We've been able to go through the process of filming an...

Today I'm cleaning my room, decorating for Christmas, and packing in preparation for my flight tomorrow! It's hard to believe that I'm flying out for a two week film school in a matter of hours. I've got my bags mostly packed and my boarding pass ready to go!  The last few days I've been getting more excited about this. When I first heard about this filmmaking course I thought that there was no way I could go. It was during holiday break. I don't have the money for the plane ticket. I'll only have been back from DTS for two weeks. And so my logic went on. And then God encouraged me to keep the option on the table. I had someone donate enough for me to buy a plane ticket. God provided me with a host home and transportation. Everything came together and I'm grateful God gave me the opportunity to get back into filmmaking.  I've been able to decorate a little bit more using things that I got during DTS. They are such an encouragement to me. ...

  Last Saturday I graduated!  I will be posting much more of an update later, but I wanted ya'll to know that we made it!  Marisa and I about to accept our diplomas

  Sundays lesson went so well. I'm thankful that God led me to give a very simple message to the middle schoolers. After reading about the temptation of Jesus, I talked about how because Jesus knew who He was He knew what to do. I pray that God takes the seeds planted and uses them in these kids lives. I'm thankful I got the opportunity to teach and just hang out with them.  That night we had a time of worship/prayer on the beach. You couldn't have asked for a better night. It wasn't too cool and the setting sun and clouds did a color dance that was beautiful to behold. God is so good. It was good to praise the Lord and pray for each other.  Early Monday morning the Panama team woke up to get on the road to the Philadelphia Airport. It touched me that so many of my classmates woke up at 5:45 AM to hug us goodbye.  Saying goodbye was hard. We have become so close over the past few months. They have walked this journey with me and en...

  I was so excited when we started out from Tyler. Even at 2 AM, I was so excited to begin the outreach adventure! It was so fun sitting with Marisa on the bus being excited for the new sights. It was Marisa's first time to Dallas. While I've been there many times it was fun seeing the city through her eyes. Full of wonder and fun. We arrived early and made our way through security. It was then that I started to feel bad. I didn't drink enough water the day before and it made me sick. I'm so thankful for the team I was with. Even though I felt awful, they took such good care of me. Marisa was my seat buddy and helped me navigate through the day. The guys on my team carried my bags. Joy (a classmate) prayed for me. Emily (my school leader) gave me a hug and helped me to calm down. And so many asked me how I was doing and just loved me even when I was feeling tired. Thankfully that afternoon when I arrived at our host home I was able to get some rest, water, a...