Born to migrant workers, Rose grew up feeling out of place in American culture and yet not fully comfortable in Mexican culture. By the time Rose went to high school, the discomfort drew her to a search for truth, which she heard and received at a Billy Graham Crusade. After high school, Rose married her boss and moved to San Diego county where she volunteered and served at her church. She taught school for several years before she and her husband felt called to the mission field. They eventually moved to serve at a Christian Bible college in Vajta, Hungary. From the outpost there, she and her husband went on many outreaches all over Europe and Africa. Currently, Rose and her husband live in Japan, where she is a teacher at the American base. Both she and her husband are also very involved with the chaplaincy on the base in Tokyo.