“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” Isaiah 6:8

          Isaiah was a chosen prophet of God who was touched by God in a special way.  Isaiah did not feel up to the task that he was asked to accomplish.  However, once he was touched by God there was no turning back.  God purified Isaiah’s unclean lips and prepared him for the task that laid ahead.  Once Isaiah was touched by God he was a changed person.  Isaiah was ready to serve in any capacity asked of him.
          Being His child is truly a life changing experience.  We find this to be true every day of our lives.  Stacy and I often talk about where we were 20 years ago, and where we are now.  We see that our lives are a work in progress.  We are always changing and striving to draw closer to Him in everything we set out to attempt.  None of our time in Kenya or Madagascar would be possible if He did not first reach out and touch our lives with His presence and His desire for our lives.  Since He has touched our lives, we seek ways that we can reach out to others, touch their lives, and draw them closer to our Father.
          We continue to reach out and touch lives as He reaches out to touch the lives of those we come in contact with on a daily basis.  We reported recently about the group of seven that came to Madagascar with World Wide Youth Camps.  They did a tremendous job reaching out and touching the lives of the Malagasy people.  We continue to hear about how happy the Malagasy that attended the daily teaching are, and how their lives were touched in a special way.  The Malagasy people were touched by the dedication of the volunteers from America and by the outpouring of love they received in July.
          The July 2006 World Wide Youth Camp Vacation Bible School will be remembered for a long time because so many lives in Madagascar were touched with His word.  But not only the people that attended the classes each day were touched.  While the World Wide Youth Camp volunteers were touching lives in Madagascar, they were also being touched by Him and His work in Madagascar.  We recently received an e-mail from one of the volunteers.  Mark Upton related to us how his life was touched by their visit to Madagascar.  He states:

“The last time I "felt" something like this was when I was a senior in high school. I had always planned to be a doctor. Nothing else was ever discussed. I was an excellent student in maths and sciences. My interests had developed hours of training in firstaid and knowledge of biology. I even had a school in Louisiana offering to pay full tuition for me to study at their institution. But, one day I got this feeling that being a doctor was not in my future. I felt that preaching was the path for me. Well, here I sit...after 25 years in the pulpit having another "feeling" about my future.”

          Even after 25 years of serving the Master we can still be touched, as Mark was touched by the Master.  We thank Mark for allowing us to share his thoughts with you.  We are happy for Mark and his family and we pray that God will lead them to an even more fulfilling life than the life they have already experienced while preaching in His Kingdom.  We can not know what God has in store for us each day.  Even after 20 years on the mission field the Rosie family never ceases to be amazed at the way God is working and touching not only our lives, but also the lives of those we contact daily.  What we do know is that, if God is touching our lives and He is the One that is in control, we will always have a full and rewarding life in service to Him.
          We want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who are making our experience in Madagascar possible.  We thank you for your concern and daily prayers to the Father who is guiding us in His Work among the Malagasy people.  We would ask that you pray without ceasing for all of the World Wide Youth Camp volunteers who served Him in Madagascar.  The Father has touched all of them in a special way.  We ask that you especially pray for Mark Upton and his wife Miriam as they are feeling His presence in their lives.  They were touched by Madagascar and His work among the Malagasy people.  Pray that the Lord will guide them and strengthen them for what is ahead in their lives.  Pray that they can serve Him mightily and rely on Him for their daily needs as they seek out His will for their future.
 

Marriage Classes
          The marriage classes with the two couples continues to progress.  We are finding it easier to discuss marriage and the family each time we meet together.  The two couples are starting to open up more and are actually asking for help and guidance with some of their every day marriage and family problems.  We continue to stress the need for the two couples to be good examples to their families, the Betikara Lambs and the congregation at Ambohimarina.  We are looking forward to next year when we can start talking, teaching and preaching about marriage with the whole Ambohimarina church.  We are seeing many areas that will be good to discuss in the new year with everyone involved.  Please continue to pray for us as we study.

A Volunteer’s Particular Talent
          Danielle Allen has been with us for the last month.  She came to serve as a volunteer at Betikara.  She has surprised us and touched us with her particular viewpoint and her particular focus as she works with the lambs of Betikara.  Danielle came to us with two goals, one of which she was not even fully conscious. She came to be a servant, she came to teach servanthood for the Savior’s sake, and we are totally impressed. 
          Danielle noticed immediately the particular dichotomy that exists at Betikara.  We have two disparate groups of children in our little flock of 34.  Fifteen of the kids are the oldsters.  They’ve been with us almost since the beginning of Betikara and they are almost all teenagers.  Nineteen are the new little lambs. They’ve hardly learned yet what Betikara is all about and none of them are teenagers.  These two disparate groups have the potential to form a split with a capital “s”.  But not if Danielle can help it. 
          She started with the teenagers, getting to know them and gaining their confidence. With much skill and calculation and with a tremendously big heart, she proceeded to teach the oldsters how to take the youngsters under their wings.  She taught them to be servants and she mended a weak spot before it could become a tear in the fabric of Betikara’s little flock. 
          As I said before, “We are so impressed!”  She came with the heart of a servant, she proceeded to teach half the lambs to become servants, and all this in one month’s time.  Danielle has two weeks left.  I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.
 

• Pray for the whole World Wide Youth Camp group of seven volunteers, especially for the Mark Upton family as they seek out His will for their lives.
• Pray for the Ambohimarina congregation as we continue to serve, study and grow together in His kingdom.
• Pray that the Lord will continue to strengthen our volunteer Danielle, and help her to find more ways to reach out to the Betikara Lambs and teach them how to love and support each other in their journey together.
• Pray for Kit and Havilah as they continue to mature and seek His will for their lives.  Pray especially for Kit as he is filling out applications to several state side universities.