Rosa

I promised when I started this blog that I would fill you in a little more on some of the people who attend the Río de Vida church, so I thought I would make good on that promise and start by telling you about Rosa. Doesn't she have one of the greatest smiles you've ever seen?!
We first made contact with Rosa around May or so of last year. For a short time, we were running a 30 second spot on a Christian radio program here in town saying something along the lines of, "If you need someone to talk to about your problems or you want to learn more about what the Bible has to say, call this number." She was going through a really hard time because of the death of her husband and was really struggling with depression, so she called the number and Sam answered. He invited her to cell group and she came that same week, along with one of her sons, Pablo Julio. You could see the pain in her face. They prayed over her that night and you could sense some of the burdens being lifted. She continued to come every week, asking for prayer for her family and soaking in the Word. Shortly after that, Summer and I began studying with her in her home and got to see first hand the changes that the Lord was bringing about in her. She was filled with such joy and a yearning for more and more. She would get so excited whenever she got a question right or captured an idea. It was definitely the highlight of our week. When we got to the end of the study, we talked about baptism. She said she was willing, but had some personal thoughts and ideas to work through first. We decided to let the Lord bring her to that decision, which he did back in March of this year. Larisa, whom I’ve mentioned earlier, was baptized and afterwards we asked if anyone else was ready to make the decision to put on Christ in baptism. She stepped forward and said, “Let’s do it!” There was much rejoicing that day!
She continues to grow in her walk with the Lord. There is now a cell group that meets in her house every Wednesday night, led by Adriana and José Luis. She has so many friends who live close by that she has been waiting anxiously to invite to a cell at her house. And because they have seen the change in her, they come and they come expecting. We are all convinced that the Lord is going to use her reputation and her zeal to bring about amazing things in the neighborhood of Prados Verdes.
If you were to ask Rosa what her prayer requests are, most of them would most likely be for her kids. Three of the five (including Pablo Julio) live in the US and she hasn't gotten to see them in years. She is encouraging them to seek out the Lord where they are, which they assure her they are doing. The other two live in Morelia. Enrique lives next door with his wife, Lupe, and their three kids. Esmerandi lives in Rosa's house, along with her husband, Christian, and four month old baby boy, Steven. Rosa struggles with how to be a good influence, especially for Enrique and Christian, who are probably the furthest from the Lord right now. She would ask you to pray that all of her kids come to know the Savior that has changed her life.
I hope you've enjoyed this look into the life of Rosa. I wish you could all meet her face to face. It is such a blessing to be in her life and to see first hand the way God is changing and molding her. There are so many more stories about her and I'm sure there are many more to come in the future. I would ask that you also pray for her health. She still struggles some with depression and also gets sick fairly regularly and the doctors don't really seem to know why. We want her to be with us for many years to come! And with a smile like that, can you blame us?