Rosa Lewis and Marisol Williams

“The Bible says where God decides to put each of us is where we’re meant to be,” says Marisol Williams (left, with Rosa Lewis). “If someone ever makes you feel like you don’t fit in, you don’t need to fret or doubt yourself. God has placed you there for a reason.”

Every few years, Salvation Army churches welcome new officers as their pastors and representatives. For the officers, it might be their first time in that new city or state, so they will look to the corps’ longtime members to get them up to speed on the active programs, ministries, and needs in the community.

Rosa Lewis and Marisol Williams, soldiers at The Salvation Army Rochester Temple Corps in upstate New York, have seen several leadership changes. Marisol, a former member of the Movement Church International in Brooklyn, N.Y., was invited to attend the Rochester Corps by her sister in 2008. One year later, Marisol became a Salvation Army soldier.

“My former church was very strict when it came to studying the Bible. We were required to take years of classes,” remembers Marisol. “Here, I like to tell new Army officers that I’m the corps’ hole-filler: If there’s a hole in the wall or in a ministry that needs to be filled, I’m happy to do so.”

Rosa became familiar with the Army when Captains Josefina and Rubén Rodríguez, former pastors at Rochester, visited Rosa’s mother, who lived next door to Rosa.

“My mother wasn’t even a member of the corps, but she had attended a few Sundays. The pastors still remembered her and came to see her when she was sick,” says Rosa. “I was trying to leave my house without them seeing me, but Captain Josefina spotted me. The next day, they came to visit me at my own house, and I became a Salvationist right there.”

Rosa says she has seen 12 changes of leadership at Rochester; Marisol has seen seven. The current pastors, Lieutenants Janet and Luis Menendez, were familiar with Rochester, but this was their first assignment as new Army officers.

“They needed a different introduction. They were new to being this town’s pastors, but not to the town itself,” says Marisol. “Every officer needs to be able to see their new ministry and be themselves within it.”

Volunteers and soldiers like Marisol and Rosa are crucial for a Salvation Army corps to run smoothly during pastor transitions. Even once a pastor has settled into their new corps, they still need devoted people in their ministry to step up when the officers are away.

“When they’re traveling on business, we stay in communication with them. They know that we are there to clean, teach, or preach if we need to,” says Marisol.

“Well, Marisol is the one who can do the preaching,” admits Rosa. “I get nervous standing in front of large crowds. What I love to do is teach others the Bible.”

When Rosa first began volunteering at Rochester, she mostly worked in the kitchen, not really paying much attention to what was going on spiritually at the corps. “I was filling every space I could to help, but I wasn’t personally filling myself with the Word of God. That changed when Marisol came to the Rochester Corps.”

“I believe that being able to help Rosa is one reason that God brought me here,” says Marisol. “I wanted to be there for her and others like her as they grow in their own walk with Christ. A good Bible study lesson focuses on the Word and how it is present in the person learning it. It’s molded to the people you’re teaching, because everyone learns differently. When you show the importance of making time at home to read your Bible and pray, the person you’re teaching develops their ‘personal God.’ Within that direct relationship is where God reveals His presence.”

Rosa says, “Sometimes we need to be spiritual leaders, or shoppers, or take after-hours calls from the ministry. But a church can’t stop running just because officers are learning something new or must be away. That’s the attitude we’ve maintained for every officer who comes to Rochester. We welcome them and love them all. But like them, we also come here to serve God.”