Joseph Rojas

Ok, this is not exactly the update we were hoping to make, but we know God is still in control.

As of right now, our bus is still in the shop here in Little Rock at MHC Kenworth. So far, they have treated us fairly, they gave us a service amount we agreed to, and we are praying everything goes smoothly from here. That amount did not include parts, so we had to purchase and pick up the parts ourselves.

Over the last few days, we’ve had people driving back and forth from Nashville, Houston, and Little Rock trying to get everything needed to keep this bus moving. Some of our crew guys were looking at 12-hour and 15-hour round trips just to get parts, but then some amazing friends of the band stepped in, picked up parts before places closed, met us partway, and helped shave hours off those drives. That kind of love is hard to put into words.

We also need to say thank you to the people who came alongside us financially. When we got the service amount, we honestly did not have the money to do it. But we also couldn’t afford not to do it. God used some incredible people to help us meet that need, and we will be highlighting some of those heroes in the coming days.

To give a little more context, this breakdown came after a very difficult couple of weeks. We had already paid thousands of dollars trying to get several issues fixed on the bus while still pushing through tour. Some repairs were done right, and some unfortunately were not. We’ve met some amazing mechanics and shops over the years who treated us fairly, did great work, and we still talk about them to this day. But we’ve also been in situations where, because we were stranded and had no choice, we were overcharged, charged for work that did not solve the problem, or left with repairs that failed almost immediately.

We are not saying that to complain. We know this comes with the territory when you live on the road. We just want you to understand what these past couple of weeks have looked like before we even got to this point.

The craziest part is that I had been sick for about two weeks, and the last few days got pretty serious. I have been driving the bus a lot during this tour, and there were times I had to pull over and lay down because I was so sick. On our way home after the last show, I started getting dizzy and knew it was not safe to keep driving. As bad as we wanted to get home and see our kids, we pulled over in Little Rock.

After that, the bus would not start. Our friend Trent, an incredible mechanic and just a stand-up guy, drove from Nashville to bring us a starter and help get us going again. The bus started, but once it built pressure, the leaks got worse. We thought about filling it with water and antifreeze and trying to limp the six hours home, but a few miles down the road the bus started wobbling badly. We pulled off immediately.

That is when Lori found Kenworth just an exit or two away. We limped the bus in with a major air leak, radiator fluid leaking badly, the engine overheating, and later found out the wheel had eight bolts sheared off. They told us the wheel was close to coming off. We had no idea it was that serious.

That was not luck. That was God.

We are grateful to be safe. We are grateful the bus made it to a shop instead of something terrible happening on the highway. We are grateful for every person who has prayed, helped, given, driven, picked up parts, encouraged us, and stood with us. WE WILL UPDATE YOU TOMORROW! Stay tuned!

That being said, we have a Recovery Event tomorrow in Paris, Arkansas, an event Saturday in Charleston, Arkansas, and Plano, Texas on Sunday.

We don’t know yet if we are rolling in on the bus, in rental cars, on scooters, or on 12 mopeds… but we will be there.

Thank you, Seventh Day Slumber family. We love you more than you know.

Our youngest son, Sage Rojas, has devoted his life to missions. For the past couple of years he’s been serving full-time, doing ministry all across the United States and overseas.

This past year has been especially difficult for us as parents because we’ve only been able to see him twice. When your kids grow up you expect them to leave the house someday—but it’s different when they’re literally traveling the world serving God and helping people.

He just returned home from being overseas for several months. While we can’t talk much about everything that happened, we’re incredibly grateful that God brought him home safely. There were moments that reminded us just how much we trust the Lord with our son’s life.

His mom and I, along with his brothers, are so thankful to have him back—even if it’s only for a little while before his next mission.

Sage doesn’t post a lot on social media, but he’s about to start sharing more of the journey and the work he and his team are doing. If you’d like to follow along and keep him in your prayers, that would mean the world to us.

As parents, we miss him deeply when he’s gone. But we’re also incredibly proud of the man he’s become. Watching your child give his life to serving others and spreading hope is something hard to put into words.

He’s made his mom and dad proud—but more importantly, we believe he’s living a life that honors God. Lives are being changed, and what he’s doing is echoing into eternity.

We love you, Sage. We’re so proud of you. 🖤