These past few months have been filled to the brim, but it has been beautiful to experience the rest and peace of God.
Over the past four months, Ximena has embarked on a new journey of translation. Our pastor, Sam Shaw, had filmed a bunch of short videos called Two Minutes of Encouragement that he had shared on Facebook right after the pandemic started. A local Spanish radio station saw these and asked him if he would record them for the radio station in Spanish. Sam was previously a missionary in the Dominican Republic and his Spanish is good, but he wanted to make sure that he was saying things correctly and not just "winging it." So Ximena started translating over 80 different messages for the radio! She spent hours and hours, listening and re-listening to each message to translate each one exactly as it should be. There were multiple times where she would have to call Richard over, because she didn't know how to translate certain idioms and we discovered that some are just not able to be translated!!! But boy did we laugh sometimes! She just finished this past week with a final translation of his New Year's sermon, which took her a few days to finish, but it was such a beautiful time. You can watch the sermon from our pastor about starting off the year in uncertain times...Ximena highly recommends it! (Click here) She learned so much being able to listen to those encouraging messages and really appreciated that time. But it was so great to click "finish" on that last one!
Richard was able to dive back into ministry with Orphanos, but it definitely felt more like an odd belly-flop at times. It really was a new experience to spend the beginning of his ministry time seeking God and committing that time to Him, over just diving into emails and to do lists, completing them in his own strength and wisdom. The idea of practicing the presence of God every minute is difficult and feels so awkward at times, but it has been beautiful to give in to what God sees as perfect versus what Richard sees as perfect. God has really been working on his heart to not just get lost in tasks, but to truly focus on relationships. Part of this has been a new dedication to taking a regular, weekly Sabbath, which is one of the 10 commandments our family would regularly break without even a thought! One of our sabbaths, we made Challah bread and began it with a few of the traditional prayers, which was a really intimate time. It takes a lot of work preparing for the Sabbath, but it is so rewarding to have time and space dedicated 100% to Him, instead of tasks that need completing.
It has also been a time to serve the community around us. We have had a lot of people close to us who have had COVID and so we were able to take meals and do whatever we could to make it a little less painful. One week, it seemed like everyone around us was getting sick (even our neighbors!), so Ximena even resorted to using a bucket to be able to mix enough food at once! We were also able to have a friend of Ximena's brother, Valentina, come to Memphis for Thanksgiving. She is from Colombia and has no family here in the US, so we had her join us in our "Ecua-Meri-Rican" Thanksgiving, because we had Ecuadorian food (Pork leg instead of turkey), American food (All Paula Deen sides...there's never too much butter!), and Puerto Rican (Alcapurrias and flan). Our "quarantine" friends, José Alexis and Yesica, also joined us, but we always forget to take pictures with them! (But we promise they are real!!!)
For years now, around Christmas time, Ximena will usually bake up a storm and share something with the people who we are ministering to, in ministry with, or are close friends. In Ecuador, this meant dozens and dozens of chocolate cookies, because that was something that you couldn’t get there. This year, she decided to make some homemade granola, which definitely was a feat! It takes a lot longer than cookies to bake, which meant that a whole day was spent baking and canning. The next day, the kids dressed up with their Santa hats and were the delivery elves, ringing doorbells and dropping them off. It was such a beautiful time to see some people face-to-face that we hadn’t been able to in months! Even if it was from a distance. It filled up our tanks, although we are so ready to be able to have regular face time with friends.
After having the big “Money Talks” with our older kids in Mexico last year, we have also been working with our two youngest kids, Santi and Lani, to divide out their money into spending, giving, and savings. It was really beautiful when they both decided to give 30% of their money to giving, which was even more than we were expecting! They both receive money from grandparents for birthdays/Christmas and have their side hustles taking out the neighbor’s trash and bagging leaves. This year, Ximena approached them with the idea to use their giving money to surprise a family at a grocery store by helping them purchase their groceries. We drove to a local store called Superlo and they started looking for someone they felt they needed to give their money to. Santi was the first one to see someone, but by the time he came to tell us that he felt it should be her, she had already disappeared. Then we were stalking this poor lady around the store! Thankfully, he was able to find her and share with her that he had been saving this money to bless her. She started to cry and share that she just lost a close family member to COVID and that this meant so much to her. Lani was next and was able to share the same message with another lady she felt led to give to, even getting a hug from her. Even as we were leaving, Ximena felt a similar leading to give to a young mom with two little kids, so we emptied our wallets and were able to bless her as well. The kids both shared how beautiful it was be included in the process of God blessing others through them, since it was all His money to begin with.
Right after Christmas, we headed down to Houston, Texas for a marathon fundraise (we’ll share about it in a bit!). While we were gone, God’s Room was still in good use! We were contacted by a missionary family (the Lamberts) who were on their way to their daughter’s wedding close by. So, the day we left, we stripped all the beds and made sure that there were enough sheets and towels for all of them to stay. They were able to spend a few nights, including New Year’s Eve, at our house and it is fun for us to see our house being able to be used for ministry, even when we are not there.
The reason we headed to Houston is that our Uncle Mark has been running a marathon or half-marathon for the past 12 years to raise money for our ministry. This year, Richard decided that he really wanted to join him in running the Houston Half Marathon on January 1st to ring in the New Year. Seeing how he couldn’t even run a mile at the beginning of the year, that meant that he had to do a lot of training starting back in May of this year. It really became a fun time over the summer to enjoy trail running and being in nature. But when the cold hit, it definitely wasn’t as fun anymore…especially the long-distance runs that lasted over 2 hours. But the day of the race made it all worth it! Uncle Mark shared that the first few marathons that he did, family and friends came out to support him, but over the years it became old hat and it was usually just him. So he really enjoyed having the extra company and having family come down to cheer him on too! They were able to finish in 2 hrs. 26 mins. with Uncle Mark encouraging Richard all the way across the finish line!
That race was very important, not only because of Uncle Mark’s dedication, but also because it was the only fundraiser that our family is going to do this year. Usually, every 2 years, we do the “Texas Tour” starting in May to visit supporters and speak in churches to raise funds. We decided this year to postpone that trip until 2022, which means that we won’t be able to see many of your lovely faces for another year! But thankfully, the marathon fundraiser was able to raise the funds that we use for ministry expenses (like community outreach, travel, God’s room, etc.) so that we won’t have to use our personal funds. We know that many of you gave to it, so thank you so much!!!
As this year came to a close, we were constantly reminded how we spent the end of last year, which was all 9 of us jammed into a 3 bedroom apartment in Mexico City...but we were all together. We missed it so much and all of our kids are already asking when we can do that again. But we did want to send you a quick update on each one of them and what they are up to!
Erick
He finished his Associates in Electrical Engineering and is working on his final thesis. He is planning on transferring those credits and completing a bachelors degree soon. We are so grateful for God’s provision, as we were able to contact a professor within the Electrical Engineering department at the university in Manta who is mentoring Erick and guiding him
through his thesis. Also, thanks to one of you, Erick’s final project was covered financially and he will even have extra money to purchase electrical tools to start working independently. Besides that, Eric got a job working at a local processing plant while he is in the transition!
Gustavo
Oh, Gustavo! Our boy is doing great. He is in love! We don’t know much about his girlfriend, but we were able to meet her via zoom and she definitely seemed nervous. She is a single mom and we were able to meet her three kids as well. They have some serious plans for the future together. At the beginning of December, they did experience a horrible car accident where the truck they were in flipped, but we are grateful to know that they were doing well, besides a few scrapes and bruises.
Inti
What can we say about Inti’s past year? It has definitely been one of watching how God is working in his life. Inti had a rough year this year, but thankfully things are getting better. He is very social, so having to endure weeks of being in his house was overwhelming and depressing at times. He was able to graduate high school and has exciting plans for the future. We are praying for God to be the One who guides these plans.
Leilani
She is a social butterfly and so has found ways to continue to connect with her friends. In the afternoons after online class, she will usually call up her best friend Erin on the phone or will spend time with her friend, Serenity, who lives across the street. She started voice classes a few months back with her voice coach who is in Mexico (that was definitely not something we would have even thought of before the pandemic!), so we can hear her belting out such classics like "Llorona" and "Once Upon a December" from her bedroom once a week.
Mayumi
This past year was a defining year for Mayumi. She decided to start her own business, while she continues to attend university. Actually she had tried a few different times, but there was always a lack of persistence on her part. This time, she moved back to Manta and started her own food stand (Thursdays through Sundays), selling hamburgers and wings. Mayumi is still together with her boyfriend, Adrian, who has learned how to win over Ximena’s heart.
Nico
Covid was a definite blessing for Nico. He was able to go back home (Amazon jungle), moving in with his grandma and continuing his college online. For those of you who remember, Nico needed to move to another city up in the mountains to be able to go to college (not his choice, but how socialized university works). It was cold, he didn't know anyone, the cost of living was expensive, and his family barely could cover the cost. So getting good, home-cooked meals and doing classes online has been heaven!
Santi
He has been doing much better with virtual school and really is a "pro" now at it. Santi absolutely loves when he gets to spend time with his best friend, Samuel, who lives on the next street over. When he can't hang out, Santi doesn't know what to do with his life! He just started connecting with other friends on Zoom and loves Harry Potter movies. He is growing up so fast!
Well, we hope that you had a great Christmas and New Years! Praying that God will accompany each of you and show you how to love those around you well. As it says in John, "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."
~The Roselands
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