East Coast Mission Trip

     From September 28th - October 26th, Chad and I had the amazing opportunity to tour the East Coast with six young adults.  The main purpose of this mission trip was to host workshops for fellow young adults and train them.  To start out the mission trip we spent 4 very long days in intense training.  We worked from morning till night putting together in depth Bible studies, learning creative evangelism skills and discussing what the students could expect on the road.  For those of you who aren't quite sure what creative evangelism is, AIM uses the art form of mime paired with sign language, and drama set to Christian music to present the gospel. 
     After training camp, we headed out to our first stop, Blacksburg, VA.  There is an AIM team there that operates throughout the year.  We spent two days training them.  It was here that we presented the Bible studies we had put together during training camp as well as teaching them new songs.  From there we went on to Richmond, VA to host a workshop with a group that was interested in starting an AIM team.
     Another main purpose of the mission trips is to be servants where ever we go and to meet the needs of those we stay with.  We traveled next to Purcellville, VA and teamed with a local ministry there, Joshua's Hands, to host their annual Fall Festival.  We helped with setting up the day before and the day of, did two presentations, ran some of the games they had, and helped with clean up.
     From there we traveled to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, and finally ended in Washington D.C.  Obviously we filled the days in each place to the max but in the interest of time and length of this post I'll end with a couple more highlights.  In Pennsylvania, we got to work with a local AIM team there as well as spend a day at a local Christian retreat center doing some heavy outside labor for them.  In New Jersey, we hosted our largest workshop with 50+ students and got to visit the Statue of Liberty.  In Massachusetts we hosted a workshop with a brand new group to AIM and spent a day in Boston walking The Freedom Trail.  In Maryland we worked with a local mime troupe and finally in Washington D.C. we got to present directly in front of The Capitol as well as in front of the Jefferson Monument.
    Needless to say, it was a wonderful trip and Chad and I had the chance to grow right along side of the students.  We enjoyed getting to know each of the students on the trip and appreciated the opportunity to disciple each one of them.
    If anyone is interested in reading more about each stop and all that went on you can go to: http://aiminternational.org/trips/RoadReportEastCoast2011.pdf  It is a road report that is written by the students.  Also to view some pictures from the trip you can visit AIM's facebook page, just search AIM Around the World.

Merry Christmas

Once again this year has flown by.  Looking back to last Christmas, I knew that it would be a year of changes…little did I know just how big those changes would be.

     We spent last Christmas with Chad’s family and I enjoyed my first white Christmas.  Coming back to our home in Newport News we brought in the New Year together and looked forward to all that God had for us.

     Chad and I continued to work at the grocery store.  I got transferred to the produce department and although the work was a lot more challenging, I enjoyed the challenge.  We also found a church that we were ready to call home in February.

     In May we enjoyed a short visit with my family in San Diego and then celebrated our first year anniversary in June…and that is where the major changes start coming in.

I found a new job working at a child development center the end of July and looked forward to working with the children each day. Our next big change came right after it with the news that we were expecting our first child. =) Who knew staring at two blue lines could change one’s life so drastically.

Next came August with another opportunity for change.  We received a call from a couple that works with a ministry inviting us to join with them full time.  I had been a part of the ministry for the past 12 years and still worked some with them long distance.  They would be able to provide a rental house for us in exchange for me working with them full time…the hitch was it involved us moving to Branson, MO.  We spent a couple weeks in intense prayer and council.  During our prayer and research, we learned that there was a college with a master’s architecture program set up almost identical to the one that Chad was currently enrolled in.  We also learned that there was a certified architect in Branson who was willing to offer Chad an internship come the beginning of the year.  With the reasons above and with the fact that this position would allow me to work from home with the baby, we decided to take a step in faith and accept the offer.

     We arrived in Branson the middle of September and it was a whirlwind of activity as we searched for a house, received our initial training, and prepared to lead a mission trip across the East Coast.  About a week and half after we arrived, 6 young adults joined us on a 4 week mission trip.  We spent 4 days training them in creative evangelism and preparing them to challenge their peers towards excellence and then traveled for the remainder of the trip.  To say that we got spoiled with a wonderful group of young people would be an understatement.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time through the East Coast but were glad when we arrived back in Branson.

     Life has gotten into a little more of a routine now that we are back in Branson.  We will be spending Christmas with my family in San Diego.  Directly after Christmas, we will be spending a week in training with the AIM team in San Diego and then leading them on a short, one-week, missions trip up through Southern California.  Once back we will make a trip out to see Chad’s family and then settle in and await the arrival of our baby the end of March.

     Looking back on the year I would have never thought that we would be where we are now but God is good and in control.  We are excited by where He has brought us in such a short amount of time and look forward to this New Year…with its many changes and all.

God Bless and Merry Christmas,

Rosalie, Chad and Baby Pollock

Adoration Parade

So, one interesting thing about living in Branson is the random stuff you get roped into doing.

Branson really is a unique place with it's huge tourist attraction and yet you still get a small town feel. Another unique thing about Branson is as a city how open they are about being a faith based community. The founder of AIM, Jory, has had a burden to make sure that they are not only impacting people through the ministry of AIM but to make sure that their family is being intentional on shaping the community that God has placed them in. One way he has done this is by serving on the committee that puts together Branson's annual Adoration Parade. The whole goal of the parade is to keep Christ in Christmas.

This Sunday, Chad and I had an opportunity to help out with the Adoration Parade. We even got to open up the whole parade by being Mary and Joseph with our live donkey heading towards Bethlehem. It really was a neat experience to be a part of something fun and Christ centered as we approach this Christmas season.(...and just to make it feel like Christmas, it was appropriately freezing cold for this San Diegian)

Check out some of the pictures below (my favorite is of our donkey)

The First Post

So here it goes, the first post.  In pondering about this first post for the last few days, I have wondered what would be worthy of the "first post" title and even more where to begin...so here I am, sharing what is currently on my brain.  Hopefully in future posts I will be a little more organized...well, here's to hoping.  =)

I guess I will start with the why, why I have started this blog that is.  For those who don't know yet, my husband and I have recently moved to Branson, MO so that I can work full time with a ministry that I have been a part of for the past 12 years called AIM Around the World.  It has been a giant change for us and while we are still adjusting to everything, we know that we are where God wants us to be.  I have started this blog for 2 main purposes: 1) To share a little more of our lives now that we no longer live close to any of our family. 2) To share more with those who are interested about what we will be doing while working with AIM.

That has been our lives for the past couple months.  We did have the opportunity to lead a team of six young adults on a mission trip through the East Coast and will be leading another trip through Southern California the very beginning of next year.  I will share more on the East Coast trip in another blog.  For now I think that is about it.  I'll leave you with a picture from tonight of my husband and I enjoying our new home and the first fire of the winter.

Blessings,
Rosalie-Dawn