Shane and Becky’s Year of Adventures
2012
Greetings and Welcome, Family and Friends!
We are so moved to worship during this Christmas season, both to celebrate Christ’s birth and to thank God for the abundance of His blessings on us thus far.
Here is a recap of our blessed year of adventures in 2012.
Missions/Ministry Trips
This year was the year of TRAVEL! We brought in the New Year singing praises to God in Atlanta, Georgia (of all places). Our former national ministry supporters, the North American Mission Board, provided plane tickets, hotel rooms, and Passion Conference tickets for Shane and I and two students. It was an incredible opportunity for Shane and I both to grow in the Lord along side our students.
For Spring Break we took some BCM students down to Pearl, Mississippi to partner with a church working with ADORABLE inner city kids. VBS style ministry never gets old.
In June we went on the trip of a lifetime to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Door of Hope is a baby-rescue home; we served as volunteers there, providing care, cuddles, and lots of diaper changes for the abandoned babies.
This baby ministry doesn’t get very many male volunteers, so Shane enjoyed a week of hard labor, fixing baby gates, installing heaters, and moving furniture.
Becky was blessed to stay the whole month of June with her close friend Andy, and a former BCM student and now dear friend, Kylinn. The three fell in love 14 times over with each little boy and girl at the home. (Read more about our experience here.)
Glorieta, New Mexico was the next destination. Every year we travel with the Baptist Collegiate Ministries of Wyoming to this collegiate conference. This week provided some much needed refreshment, relaxation, and perspective for the coming semester of ministry.
As always, we have been active in traveling across our beautiful state of Wyoming, blessed to witness all that God is doing here. The BCM retreats, ministry conferences, and wonderful family times keep us on the road and loving it! Entertained by deep conversations and energetic laughter, our many road trips do more to grow our marriage than date nights.
Run…. Forest… Run
Becky started running a bit this year. In the Spring she and Shane flew down to Florida with the Congers (Becky’s family) where Becky, her mom Theresa, and her sister Hannah, all competed in Disney’s Princess 1/2 Marathon. It was an exhausting but MAGICAL day of running through the parks for 13.1 miles or so…. (it seemed longer). The family bonding time was irreplaceable. The following verse rings truer now than ever before:
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1, 2)
Becky also ran in the Dirty Dash in Billings with Andy, as well as in a few local races as well. (Never to win, just to finish.)
The every day stuff:
Ok, even though we collectively spent several months away from home this year, there were still plenty of experiences we enjoyed in our little home in Sheridan, WY. Shane and Becky began our 3rd year as directors of Baptist Collegiate Ministries at Sheridan College. God has been so good to us through this opportunity to lead college students to Christ.
Our main focus remains to help students grow closer in their relationship with Christ, whether they have started that relationship yet or not. We do a weekly Bible study with about 20 students on Thursday nights on campus, and a weekly dinner with about 12 students at our house on Sunday nights. Throughout the year we also do events and ministries like the Classy Black Dress Event, Spring conference, missions trips, Fall Retreat, Rake n. Run, movie nights, and an epic Christmas party which we are really looking forward to.
After 2 and a half years, Shane has really expanded his expertise as a minister to officiating a wedding.
In May, Shane officiated his sister marriage; Shane and Becky were also blessed to participate as the “wedding singers.”
In addition to directing a ministry, Shane is still working as a case-manager at NSI, a prep school for troubled youth. His job has provided him with great opportunities to pray for the young men he works with, and sometimes to share his hope in Christ with them. The company is very supportive of Shane’s ministry at the college and has been a blessing in their accommodation of the amount of time we spent out of Sheridan this year.
Becky taught as a substitute teacher for much of the year, and enjoyed getting to know the grade school kids all over the city. In November she resigned from that position and is now focused on writing and doing ladies ministry in the community.
In other (big) news:
We got a puppy!
Meet Mr. Darcy, our miniature Golden-doodle:
This pup brings so much joy throughout each day. It is amazing how much he grown since we got him in February (Mr. Darcy will celebrate his first Birthday this Christmas).
He has learned to sit, lay down, fetch, go to bed, do a Packer’s Touch down dance, and imitate an alligator. We are still working on having him do the laundry, but hey, there is always next year.
Also this year, we started building a house!
Becky’s dad, along with both Shane and Becky’s families, have undertaken the process to help build a home for the Rostys.
We are blessed to establish a firm foundation (both physically and spiritually) in Sheridan. We hope to move in by next Christmas, so we anticipate the coming summer to be many hours of house-raising. (Our pup thinks he can help too).
We also started a community worship band with several new friends in the Sheridan area.
Representing several different churches and denominations, we come together weekly to worship God together. We have led worship and performed a few times at various events and have even written a few original songs.
To God be the Glory….
It was a packed year. Overwhelmed with so many blessing from God, we cannot help but write about his goodness and extend our gratitude to Him. We also thank God for each one of you, and would love to hear how Jesus is working in your life.
We learn our lesson from Mr. Darcy this Christmas, to be Blessed (not stressed!) this season. Join us and enjoy each moment to the fullest….
We certainly love to!
Shane and Becky Rosty, and Mr. Darcy
Enjoyed reading your newsletter! Steve and I are soooooooo proud of you guys and everything that God is doing in your lives! Hope to see you and Mr. Darcy at Christmas. Sandy
Wow! You did do a lot this year! Love reading your blogs and seeing all the pics! Love you guys 🙂
Hi Rachel! I can’t believe all that God allowed us to be a part of. It was an amazing year (we are ready to slow down a little if that is what God has planned. Love you too.