Mark & Laura Rowdon
Mark and Laura are serving in western Japan with Sunrise Missionaries Peter and Wendi Thomson at FLIP Education Center. They are partnering with the Thomson’s in ministry with the education center, a church plant, and reaching the local community. Specifically, Mark is teaching English and helping Peter with new programs as the education center grows. Laura is working on the administrative and marketing side, while also concentrating on community outreach. Mark and Laura both have a passion for sharing Truth and encouraging others in their understanding of the Lord.
About Our Journey to Japan:
Mark and Laura’s relationship began in front of a port-a-potty (yeah, very romantic…) where Laura shared her heart for Japan and bringing freedom through the Gospel to the Japanese people. As she spoke, Mark recognized the Lord had given him and her a similar heart to bring freedom to those walking in shame. After dating three months in person, and then nine months apart while leading separate missions trips, they got married on a Sunday morning on a cliff overlooking Lake Superior. They spent their first year and a half of marriage in Minnesota, learning more about being married and working together to build a community.
In January 2020 they left their Minnesota life to pursue Japan, where they had the opportunity to work with Peter and Wendi for three weeks. While the pandemic has elongated their waiting time in America before moving to Japan, they are incredibly thankful for the way the Lord has lead them to partner with the Thomson’s as interns.
Our Values
Truth- Out of Truth flows an understanding of the world, situations, and people around us. Without it there is nothing that grounds, secures, or steadies your life.
Freedom- We do not identify as our shame or sin, but instead identify as Christ. We are not as good as the last time we___ [fill in the blank] but are called righteous —always—in the eyes of the Lord because of Jesus. Therefore, we value freedom: freedom to grow, freedom to see the best in others and to call them higher at the same time, freedom to be vulnerable and real, and freedom to not condemn.
Community- Friends, family, discipleship, mentorship, intentionality. We recognize we were never meant to do this life alone, and so we take time to invest into cultivating a community around us, and encourage others to do the same.
Love- We choose to see each other and others as the Lord sees them, even when it’s the hardest thing to do. Everything flows from seeking to understand how the Lord sees things. It was his nature to love and we now share in that nature.
About Laura:
Laura grew up in a small farm town in Minnesota, and yet still would pick a snowy day over any sunny beach day. As a child she had a fascination with languages, especially Japanese, which led her to study abroad to Japan for a summer in high school and college. At university she majored in Anthropology, minoring in Linguistics and Teaching English as a Second Language. Although she grew up going to church, her perception of God was that he was angry, uncaring, and wanted only perfection. While on a missions trip to Taiwan when she was 19, she saw through the Taiwanese church the love the Lord actually carries for His children.
After graduating college, the Lord led her to the World Race through Adventures in Missions where she did missions abroad from 2015 to 2018. During this time she saw Jesus’ deep love and forgiveness towards her and others. While working at the Adventures in Missions office, the Lord brought Mark and her together one spring day in 2017. Since then, she’s been incredibly blessed through years of marriage with him. In her free time she enjoys learning about random topics, long walks in the woods, exploring new running paths, and listening to jazz or early 2000’s music.
About Mark:
Born in South Carolina, Mark grew up in a nomadic lifestyle with his dad’s work in the Air Force. Eventually, his family settled down in Washington DC, where Mark went on to study Nursing in college. Looking back at that time, Mark recognizes that even though he was raised in the church, he identified himself by his shame instead of the Gospel of Christ. After graduating college, he decided to bike across the United States and read the Bible for the first time all the way through in order to understand Truth. On this trip the Lord captured Mark’s heart, and taught Mark about his sonship in Him.
Afterwards Mark was led to work with the World Race, and partnered in missions with them from 2011 to 2018. After marrying Laura in 2018, he began teaching English online, and found a new passion in using English as tool to share Truth. He’s excited to work alongside Peter, Wendi, and Laura to help the FLIP Education Center grow, and to reach the surrounding community. When he’s not teaching English, you can find him listening to political podcasts, watching random sports documentaries, baking protein desserts, or on a walk with Laura.
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