Traveling to Cape Town, South Africa

Posted on September 21, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

We made it!

To sum up how we all felt Monday morning as we woke up I will quote Greyson. “Are we really moving to Africa today?!?! I can’t believe it.”

We started the day off with a drive to Atlanta, then took a 7 hour flight to London, toured London on a Big Red Bus, and finally took our last flight to Cape Town which was 11.5 hours. The journey went well and the kids did great! After all of the different travels this summer they are pro’s at airports, planes, and and getting around new places.

The kids wanted to share with you more about our journey so here you go…

To be continued…after some much needed rest!

VISA update!!!

Posted on September 5, 2017September 5, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

But you, O Lord, laugh at them;
you hold all the nations.

O my Strength, I will watch for you,
for you, O God, are my fortress.

My God in his steadfast love will meet me;
God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

^{Psalms 59:8-10}

It’s time to celebrate! The Rousehouse received our visas for South Africa this past Friday in Los Angeles! After our fourth visit to a South African Consulate office we couldn’t believe it when they handed them to us. I [Spanky] stood there and read them over and over just to be sure it really was the correct visas we had been fighting for, for more than 3 months now. It has taken months, many trips out-of-town, lots of unexpected expenses but more than anything, it has taken a toll emotionally and we have struggled to keep the course. God has once again proven His faithfulness, His presence, and His care for us through this battle.

Before sharing the joys of getting our visas in LA, let me catch you up on all that has happened over the past month quickly...

June 13th the Rousehouse heads to NYC South African Consulate to apply for our visas.
June 21st we get an email from the Consulate asking us to fill out an extra wavier form. No explanation as to why we need this, we were just told to fill it out even though we had all documentation they require for our volunteer visa.
July 30th, 2 days before our departure flights for South Africa, Spanky returns to NYC to hopefully get our visas and passports. He spoke with the consulate who made it very clear that he was not on our side and was intentionally delaying our process.
August 1st, we cancelled our flights and were not able to leave for South Africa like we had planned.
August 14th, Spanky returns to NYC for the third time this summer to get our visas but ended up leaving with nothing more than our passports. We were back at square one with the visa process.
We began pursuing every avenue through friends in South Africa, talking with other people who have been through the process, and our ministry leaders who were talking with am international consulting firm in South Africa.
We started the visa process from the beginning (paper work, background info, applications, etc) while working with this South African visa consulting company.
Planned our trip for all five of us for Los Angeles because we were advised that the LA office was much more willing to work with us to get visas and in a timely fashion.
Headed to the west coast on August 28th and were the first person in line at the Consulate’s office on Tuesday the 29th.

This has been a trying season in our life. Nothing like it to be honest. It seemed like the door to our dreams had been shut. We weren’t sure what to do and the worst part was not having a back up plan or a time line. We were sure that we had heard from the Lord and that He said He had good plans for us in South Africa. There were days that we struggled hard and had nothing else to do but hold tight to the Lord and His promises for us. Thankfully He never let’s go and is always completely in control. The Lord has used this experience to awaken us to His presence and power like never before!

We walked into the Los Angeles Consulate office, handed them our files and moments later were sitting in an interview room. The lady on the other side of the glass was extremely nice and made our kids feel very comfortable. She seemed ready to help us get approved for visas to South Africa as soon as possible and even better with no extra hoops to jump through. Once she found out that we were going to hang around LA for a few days this government official said she would do her best to get us visas in hand before we left town. We didn’t really believe her, after all that we had experienced from the NY office this summer this seemed crazy. Never in our wildest dream did we think we would leave there with visas last week.

On Friday morning we woke up and called three-times to the Consulate’s office. No answer! It rings three times and then hangs up on you, every single time. We decided that in faith, we were going to drive back to the office and ask where we were in the process before we left LA. Lara and the kids went to a coffee shop next door while I went up to check on everything. The lady at the front desk went to ask someone else behind the scene and came back to let me know that everything would be ready in 30 minutes! Nerves, excitement, and disbelief were all going through our minds as we waited those 30 minutes with sweaty palms and a shaky knees. “Was this really about to happen?!?!” Five minutes before the office closed for the day, the lady who did our interview a few days earlier came out with a handful of passports. Talk about my heart pounding out of my chest! The piece of paper that gives us the right to head to South Africa, the key to all of these plans of us moving, and the prize we had been working and praying so hard for these past few months was right in front of me!!! As the passport was opened and I read the phrase “3 year volunteer visa for multiple entries in effect September 1, 2017 to serve with East Mountain Leadership Development” and was speechless. I couldn’t wait to run out of there and show everyone.

I left the South African Consulate’s office praising the Lord and partially wondering if this was really true. I had all five passports and visas in my back pocket! As I saw my family standing across the street waiting on me by the car I could barely hold in my excitement. I decided to walk up to them with a somber look and an empty envelope as if things had not gone well. They looked at me waiting on some kind of emotion as I huffed and said, “I don’t know what we are going to do now.” I started to feel bad as I saw the kids faces turn towards disappointment. I then pulled the stack of passports out of my back pocket and yelled, “WE GOT THEM!!!! WE ARE GOING TO SOUTH AFRICA!” In the middle of the parking lot we jumped around and yelled with joy. We have been hoping and praying for this moment!

We walked through this trial, questioned lots of things, experienced an array of emotions, and felt bombarded daily with thoughts of fear and uncertainty. It is by the grace of our Father and His Spirit that we were strengthen to continue to stay the course. I saw my wife [Lara] battle through this well! We saw and felt the support of our family, friends, and ministry partners through this time more than we could have asked for and it kept us going day after day. And we believe that we saw the hand of God and felt His love wash over us over and over.

We may never know why we had to walk this path but we can trust that it is all part of the Fathers best plans for us! And now we are rejoicing in the fact that He has chosen to now give us visas to go love, serve, and care for those in need while leading people in a growing relationship with Jesus. He is also allowing us to go to be impacted and developed personally and as a family in ways we can only hope for.

When are we leaving for South Africa??? We just re-booked our flights (2 hours ago!) and will be heading out to South Africa on September 18th!

Please continue to follow our journey so you can keep us in your prayers and know how to partner with us further in this journey! To be continued…

Also, following along on Instagram and Facebook, we will regularly be posting pictures and stories.

https://www.instagram.com/spankyrouse/

https://www.instagram.com/lararouse/

https://www.facebook.com/spanky.rouse

https://www.facebook.com/lara.rouse.7

https://www.instagram.com/causing_wonder/ – Mac’s Instagram

Rousehouse Update July 2017

Posted on August 3, 2017August 3, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

Well, we are not in South Africa like we thought we would be right now. I was really looking forward to writing this newsletter from South Africa but things have not gone as planned…welcome to life in Africa!

Here are a few updates from our last months newsletter updates:

Visas to safely and quickly get here in hand

Quick update on what is happening: We were suppose to get our visas and leave on August 1st but towards the end of last week we began getting a little nervous since we haven’t seen them in the mail. It is normal for them to come last minute so until now we hadn’t thought there was a problem. On Sunday morning when Spanky was leaving Portland, Oregon (he was there with a buddy rafting for the week) we decided that it would be best if he flew straight to New York to visit the South African Consulate and try to get our visas in hand. We have called and emailed numerous times but never got an answer so hopefully an in person visit would help. After flying over night Spanky was able to be at the Consulate office before they opened on Monday morning. He was able to talk with the man in charge and get some answers, kind of, not really. He was told that they are waiting on some documents to be sent back from South Africa before we could have our visas approved. This was not the news we were hoping for but there was nothing else we could do therefore we had to cancel our flights until we have a better idea of when we would get our visas. We have been working diligently this week along with many other people here and in South Africa to get some answers and time frames of when to expect our visas. We are frustrated and a bit discouraged but we know that God is still in control just like He has been in every step of this journey leading up to this point. It is still a difficult time. We would love for you to be praying for the people making the decisions on our visas, praying that we get them soon with no more problems, and for us to remain positive and encouraged.

The closing and moving out of our house to go smoothly (Closing is July 11th)

We did close on our house and everything went really well! God showed Himself in this processes and we felt his goodness through it all. We could not have been any more thankful for the way this all went. We had some amazing realtors, wonderful couple buying our house, and a lot of help from friends and family during this time. Praise the Lord!!!

Packing essentials and things we will want in SA. We can only take 2 free bags each but currently have 5 extra bags ($200 each x 5 = $1000!)

We have sold and got rid of everything exce

pt what we have considered the essentials. We had originally thought that 2 bags per person was going to work but we miscalculated. We have 3 bags per person and I think we are done packing.

All of the goodbyes. There are many!

We have learned that goodbyes are hard so we have decided to say “See you later” instead. We have many people that love our family therefore we have had many emotional “see you laters” over the past month. We are pretty worn out emotionally but encouraged by all of the love and support. We have had some fun adventures and created some sweet memories over the past couple of months with all of you that we have been able to see.

Family prayer card

We value all of you who are continuing to prayer for us daily!!! We are learning that we are on a journey that the enemy doesn’t like and we need you to keep lifting us up! The prayers of those in our life is essential to our healthy, growth, success, and safety. PLEASE keep praying for us!

Prayer needs for August:

Visas to arrive quickly and with out any problems or complications
Contentment during this time of waiting
Protection against the attacks of the enemy. Evil is hunting us (our minds, hearts, relationships, etc) daily
New flights
Wisdom and peace to make the right decisions and move in the right directions
Pray that as a husband and wife we will draw closer together and encourage each other daily. Pray that our children will have an overflow of joy while we move from place to place.

If you would like to join our financial or prayer team you can check out how to partner with us by clicking here Partnering with us…. Thank you!

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

The Big Apple Adventure

Posted on June 30, 2017June 30, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

A couple of weeks ago we had to make a last minute trip to New York City to apply for our South African volunteer visas. Lara and I thought it was going to be just the 2 of us but it ended up needing to be all 5 of us. None of us had ever been to NYC so we were excited to see the city but nervous about the visa application process. We arrived early in the morning to ensure we could make it before they stopped accepting visa applications at 1pm. You should have seen us jogging from the train station, through the city, with bags in hand, in 95 degree weather, for as really long way. #touristbecrazy

We made it and only had to wait behind one person before it was our turn. Lara had done a ton of work to make sure we had everything they would ask for and had it in order which made the process a little more simple (not that there is anything simple when it comes to dealing with a government office!). She did ask us for a couple other documents but we were able to have them sent to us and printed at the local FedEx store (Thanks to all at East Mountain in South Africa for making that happen!!!). When we went back to the Consulate office the to deliver the documents you should have seen the ladies face. She couldn’t believe that we had gotten everything together and came all the way back to give them directly to her. Hopefully that helped us out some!

Now we wait. We have no way of knowing how the process is going, if we are going to get approved, or when our 5 passports may show up in the mail. So we wait and trust in the Lord to handle it. We are moving forward with everything else in life and planning on leaving August 1st!

If you would join us in praying that we would be approved quickly and receive our visas and passports promptly, we would really appreciate it! Be praying for the person that is reviewing and approving our application, that we may have favor with him. God has provided every step of this journey and there is no reason to not trust Him with too. He is faithful and trustworthy!!!

PS – NYC was awesome! We loved sight seeing, eating at cool local spots on the street, and meeting some people. It is a big city with tons to do so we will definitely need to go back and stay longer!

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Will you be a Finisher!

Posted on May 22, 2017May 22, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

Hear where we are in our fundraising goals and just how close we are to 100% of our monthly support raising goal! Will you consider a monthly reoccurring gift to support us? If so, please let us know at spanky.rouse@gmail.com or click on Partnering with us… to go ahead and sign up. June 1st is our goal date and we need your help to get there! #finisher

#allthingsaredying

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

Just in case you aren’t familiar with #Hashtags (please don’t call this the pound sign, your children will be completely embarrassed and call you old) they are a simple and fun way to label something, briefly explain your thought, or make a point. Our family plays this game where we have an entire conversation using only hashtags. Elly is the queen at using hashtags and she is hilarious!!! I should video one of these conversations for all to enjoy one day. I will try to keep that in mind.

Lara and I jokingly have a few self labeled hashtags that we are using in this season. When something happens instead of explaining how we feel or getting into a long story we just throw out one of the hashtags like #allthingsaredying. It’s a silly way to recognize the irony of what is happening and allows us to brush it off and laugh at things that normally would drive us crazy. Let me explain #allthingsdying so that you don’t get too worried about us. This one is actually a good thing that the Lord is using to move us on to the next season of life.

A few months ago we began noticing that random things around the house were starting to die on us. Mac even mentioned that it feels like everything is wearing out at just the right time. Just so you get an idea of what we are talking about here are a few examples from the past couple weeks.

Mac’s ipod…he accidentally put that one to death in the car door!
both of our cars began showing signs of dying in the same week – but were brought back from the dead
The A/C in our home – was dead but has new life
our cloths dryer – dead
the ice maker in our fridge – dead
my wireless earbuds – dead
our microwave is barley hanging on to life

We then came to the conclusion 3 weeks ago that we are going to need to sell our home, which honestly felt like a death to us. We love this place that God has blessed us with and didn’t want to give it up. Through listening to others, prayer and a lot of tough conversations we believe that this is His best plan for us. This was not an easy decision and we took a week to mourn our loss. Through this decision Lara began to recognize this theme of dying to ourselves. Dying to yourself and your desires hurts and isn’t all that fun but we know that we can trust the Father! If death is what He has for us then it must be the best for us! Dying to your old life gives birth to the new life and paves away for an abundant life. God doesn’t take things a way too be mean but takes them away because He knows what is good for us.

Through dying we can see He is faithful, trustworthy, present, for us, sovereign, loving, compassionate, mighty, glorious, gracious, and the list goes on. Dying is a necessity and dying is worth it because we get more of Him and His goodness he has stored up for us! Psalms 145

When you are going through a time of death (and you will) and you can’t see past what is happening right in front of you read and re-read what the Lord says in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you. They are good plans, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a future and a hope!” He never goes back on a promise either!

Did you know that your skin cells are constantly dying. In the next minute 667 skin cells will die and fall off your body, the next hour 40,000, over the next day close to a million cells die and fall off your body! That is kind of gross if you think about what happens to all of those that have fallen off your body this week alone. Where are they??? Back to my point, they have to die so new cells can grow. As skin cells grow and others die your body is able to heal it’s self, protect you from infections and viruses, and technically makes you waterproof (seriously, think about it). But none of this would be possible if your skin didn’t die constantly so that better, newer skin could be born.

What is dying in your life that God is wanting to use for your good?

What needs to die in your life to allow you to experience the abundance He has for you?

#allthingsaredying

Fundraising update as of April 1st

Posted on April 3, 2017April 3, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

I get the question all of time, probably daily, “How is support raising/fundraising going for you guys?” I am thankful that I have plenty of people who care enough to ask us how things are going but I really get tired, to be honest of answering that question. The good thing is God that is providing some amazingly, generous people!

I have recently gone to part-time hours at work so that we can focus the other half of our time on meeting with people for support raising and working on all of the millions of details that go into moving a family of 5 across the world. Knowing that I have the freedom to share my time allows me to have the margin I need. We are very thankful for this time UWM is offering me.

To answer your question you may be wondering, “How is support raising/fundraising going for you guys?”…

Short answer is, we are at 62% of our monthly needs and goals! This leaves us with a $3400 gap we are still working on. We have also had 35% of our set up cost donated already in special one time gifts!!! Lara and I are super grateful!

We have enjoyed sharing our story, passion, and vision for ministry and our family in South Africa with so many over the past couple months. Through this we have gained some great relationships with new friends along with new monthly financial supporters! We are thankful for these opportunities and people the Lord has been putting in our path.

Our goal is still the end of the summer so please be praying that the Lord will surprise us with irrationally generous people, churches, and businesses that would love to partner with the Rousehouse!

Thank you for asking the question! (wink wink)

Be still, Wait on the Lord, & Watch Him do it

Posted on March 30, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

godisdoinganewthing

For the past couple of years I have tried to pay attention to the themes I believe the Lord is wanting me to learn or hear from him. Last year, for instance, was “I am His beloved son”. Those lessons learned changed my perspective on a lot in life and I believe will empower me to run this race of life better, for sure!

It is now close to the fourth month of the year and I am just now starting to see clearly (clear as mud currently) what this years theme might be from the Lord. “Be still, wait on me (God), and watch me do it!” I like the last part of this theme, “watch me do it” but the previous two points frustrate me to be honest. Maybe this is why He has chosen to teach me about them.

Be still – In my personal experience over these past couple months I have since the Lord saying, “CHILL OUT! REST! Let me refresh you!” I love to rest and vacation but I think that there is a time and place for that. So when I hear this part of the my yearly theme (Rest) over and over it frustrates me. Most days I feel like I have 1 million things to accomplish therefore if I don’t do all that I can the world is going to fall apart, right???

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:10

Wait on me – Again not a topic that I excel in. I like action. I am a head down, check off the task list, don’t get in my way kind of person. This idea that I am suppose to not only be chilling with God but now I am suppose to stop trying to figure life out and make things happen makes me feel like I am going insane. I have crazy questions rumbling around in my head like, “How long do I wait? God are you paying attention to the time table I have set? How far behind are we going to be, if God ever shows up and gets started”. Don’t judge me I know you have all thought these same things before, I just said them out loud. **BTW, I think God is ok with us getting real and asking our stupid, off the wall questions. He may even enjoy it when we get this honest. What I perceive to be the real meaning for me behind “wait on me” is trust. He wants me to trust that He is good and in control as I rest in Him and wait.

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. Psalms 33:20

Watch me (God) do it – This one isn’t too developed in my head, heart or life just yet but I LIKE IT! I know that He likes to show off His glory and I believe that there is nothing too big for God to do. At least in my head I know these truths so maybe His point with this one is to get it in my heart. The thought I keep having is what is “it” and how big is He going to show up doing “it”? I’ll keep you posted on this one.

I know that my God is moving in great ways and I know that He deeply longs for me to trust him and let go of the steering wheel. The funny thing is, when I do the opposite of these three I don’t enjoy life as well nor do the people around me. I believe that the Father is trying to lead me in my life in such a way that I will thrive, be refreshed, enjoy the fullness of Him and be a blessing to all of those around me. What a surprise, He does know what is best for me (said with much sarcasm).

He is good and is pursuing us with a great passion! Let’s pay attention today to how He is working and loving us! Stay tuned. I know that I will have much more to learn over these next 8 months of 2017.

The Rousehouse is Moving to AFRICA!

Posted on February 2, 2017February 2, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

The Rousehouse has taken some big steps before but this may be the biggest one yet! We are moving to AFRICA!!! We are so excited to publicly announce this news as well as tell you a little bit about our story. So here you go…

Last summer our family moved into the neighborhood that surrounded Piney Grove Elementary, the school we had built a partnership with through Ridge Church and had been volunteering at for the past few years. We had no idea how the Lord was going to use that step of faith to call us to even bigger ones. We moved into the neighborhood because we loved the idea of our family living missionally beside these people we had been serving and fallen in love with. We loved the idea of our family being intentional about building relationships in a community of people that maybe didn’t look or act exactly like we did. We believe there is a great big God who is constantly at work in this great big world and by living our lives this way our family will be able to experience Him more and hopefully, just maybe, He would use us to bring others closer to Him. What a privilege!

Fast forward to this past March…

Lara and I had the opportunity to travel to Cape Town, South Africa to visit a missional community that I serve with at UWM called East Mountain. As we spent time with this group of people we saw something that sparked a passion inside of us. The excitement began to grow as we saw how they serve and support the local church and how they live in healthy community with one another. It was also very exciting to see how they are partnering with ministries in South Africa similarly to how we have partnered with Piney Grove. As East Mountain is serving alongside these national workers God is using them to grow His church, strengthen indigenousness leaders, and do good works while living in healthy community with each other. Lara and I have patiently been waiting for God to provide an opportunity for our family to serve overseas for a few years and through this trip He did just that. Our time in South Africa was awesome, simply because we heard the Father’s voice calling us to something amazing.

After a whole lot of prayer and discernment, we feel like this is how the Lord wants the Rousehouse to, “Live a life that is worthy of the calling He has graciously extended to you” (Ephesians 4:1). We feel like this calling is God extending His grace to us. It is a privilege to serve alongside the other missionaries in this community as well as be a part of how the Lord is building His church all over the globe, especially in Africa, a part of the world we fell in love with many years ago.

We have committed to serve in South Africa for 3 years on staff with
East Mountain. East Mountain is a community of people who love Jesus and are passionate about teaching, developing and empowering leaders. They accomplish this through one-on-one discipleship, training workshops, theological education, and spiritual formation as well as forming authentic relationships with leaders already engaged in excellent Kingdom work in churches, non-profit organizations, and schools. While we are there we will spend a third of our time doing a specific role/job, and third of our time will be spent serving as a family in one of these local partnerships, and a third of our time being developed ourselves as leaders and Christ followers.

Lara and I have been involved in missions from the very beginning of our marriage. We have served in Brazil, Panama, Uganda, our local church, and in our community, Piney Grove. Our whole family shares this love for people and we know that we were created to live our lives this way. By living in community we care for others and we are cared for, we disciple others and we are discipled, and as we serve others we are blessed beyond measure. We are super excited about the work God has called us to and we know He has not called us to do it alone. We are seeking a team of partners that will help with meeting our financial support goals, praying for us, and connecting us to others who may be able to partner with us as well.

There will be many stories and lessons learned that we will want to share here on our blog, we hope that you will stop by and follow us along the way! God is doing a good work and we look forward to telling you all about it!

If you would like to grab coffee, a meal, or simply give us a call to hear more please email Spanky directly to set up a time we would be honored to answer your questions and share more with you! spanky.rouse@gmail.com

You can also learn more about East Mountain at http://www.eastmountain.tv .

It is our desire to make an impact globally, serve locally, and invest deeply in God’s people and we would love to have you on this journey with us!

If you would like information on how to partner with us through sending us, praying for us, and supporting our family in this mission you can either let us know by emailing Spanky or clicking here.

2016!

Posted on December 21, 2016February 2, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

What a big year!

-2016 Summer Olympics screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-11-39-43-am

-Cuba, you can now freely (legally) visit this beautiful island!

– Zika virus outbreak stormed Latin America

-The Queen of England turned 90 years old

– US Presidential Elections…Oh my! 2016-election

– Syrian Crisis

-Hurricane Matthew 58615649_hm_queen_elizabeth_iiembargoed_until_0001am_gmt_sunday_february_12th_2012_first_use_on_the-large_trans5imstzwctiy5u7qsxwr4txprc0l9pb_vion6sux5xte

-Is the UK leaving the EU???

And so much more happened in 2016!

For the Rousehouse it was a big year too!

-Elly started Kindergarten

-Mac began middle school

-Lara and I took a trip to South Africa

-Mac made it to Africa for the first time!

-I was able to play a role in mobilizing/recruiting 61 new missionaries. PTL!

-Family camping trip for Fathers day

-I visited China for the first time

-Beach Vacation

-Family trip to Atl to see the Braves play one of their last games at Turner Field

-Spanky ran his first (of many) Spartan races! hoorah!

This past year also included some significant spiritual formation for both Lara and I. Both of us went on an amazing weekend with the Battle for the Heart where we have seen the Lord spark something great in us for Him and His word. We have seen the Lord grow our children physically, mentally, and spiritually this past year. We have seen our relational influence grow in different circles of life. Our fitness and nutrition has been on a good path where we have seen some wonderful changes and feel much better. We have heard from God in many ways and as a family have been seeking after His plans for our lives more intentionally.

This has been a memorable year for the Rousehouse! I know that 2017 will be even more eventful, challenging, and more rewarding than we can even imagine. I can’t wait to share more details about our next steps in this journey of life come January. Be on the look out because it is the biggest “MOVE” we have ever taken and we are super excited to share it with all of you!

2016 verse of the year is Psalms 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” This is one of the things that I believe the Father has been trying to help me understand. Be still, slow down, wait on Him, don’t try and make it all happen, rest in the fact that He has it all figured out, and enjoy His presence fully.

Faith

2 Corinthians 12:9

What a big year!