Rose Evangelism

Every weekend we travel to another city to partner with a local church and help and join in whatever the Lord is doing. It's a pretty basic drive to this city and every weekend we drive through the same small cities and villages. Often we see the elderly sitting on a bench watching the cars drive by and we have come to recognize some of the same faces at the same benches sitting and watching the cars pass. It has been a desire in our hearts to meet the people of these places but we haven't known how to begin. Two weekends ago as we drove by, the Lord impressed on our hearts to purchase roses for the elderly and tie a tract on the stem with a hand written note letting them know we have prayed for them that day. The next weekend we prayed, purchased 40 roses and attached the messages on the stems. We didn't know what to expect but God did amazing things and opened doors that we couldn't have accomplished on our own.

We explained that every weekend we pass by their town on our way to the city of our work and we wanted them to know that God loves them and that we prayed for them. My colleague Cassandra and I would hand out these roses to the grandmas and Micah and Ben would go with their daddy, Cameron to give roses to the grandpas. It was humbling to experience what a simple act of love could do and to experience the flowing tears on the faces of the elderly as they expressed their appreciation. One woman received the rose and began crying. She said "Oh I believe in Jesus and He knows how hard my days have been and I know this is from my Jesus! Oh my Savior!" She kept shaking her head in disbelief at how sweet God's love is for us and continued to say Thank You to God as we walked away.

Another woman who received a rose wouldn't stop hugging us and gave us a huge bag of cookies and candies. She explained how lonely she was and said that she would forever keep the rose and the note to remind her of that day. She told us about her son who lives in the capitol city of Sofia and asked us to meet him. She has already arranged a meeting between our family and his and this person of peace is opening doors in our city that we might otherwise not have ever walked through. We have committed to visit her every weekend on our way to the city we work in. Both my colleague and I were effected by her tears and deep appreciation for a simple act of love from God. On a humorous note, one elderly woman in a wheel chair had been sitting under a tree. Her tire was stuck in a large hole in the ground. She gladly took the rose from me but then asked me to get her out of the hole. I pushed her to the point of freeing the wheels and she then commanded "PUSH ME!! FASTER! FASTER!" Confused by the command I began to push her a little further and she continued pointing her finger in the direction she desired to go and saying "PUSH!! PUSH!! FASTER!" We didn't get far before a little old man step out of a house and said "Where are you taking my wife?" I then realized that maybe this act of kindness was actually turning into the escape of the captive granny and I was indeed her get away vehicle. The grandpa and I talked a little bit and then I waved at my grandma fugitive and she reminded me to come back soon (maybe for round two of the fast and the furious escape plan) lol I'm not sure where she planned to go but she was looking to roll away with my help. lol

The boys on our team also had great experiences and spiritual conversations with the elderly men. It was exciting to see my boys experience how acts of love can lighten the face of those they encountered and how love in action is the best way to open a door that invites the message and hope of Christ to enter in. If my kids could choose any job on the planet at this moment, I think they would be convinced that this ministry is in the top 10 as the grandmas and grandpas loaded us down with candies and cookies to show us love in return. My boys enjoyed the trip and were very full by the time we arrived to the city we work in. This is a ministry that we do plan to continue as we saw that it was effective in broad seed sewing and has now given us persons of peace into small villages and cities where we had no contacts. God is amazing and obedience to Him gives us such an amazing adventure to enjoy.