Thankful

We always share our ministry life with you, so this week, I thought I'd share the more personal side of our life with you.

Recently, my friend did a blog post of all her simple gifts; small things that give her joy. She unknowingly inspired me to keep track of every small or big thing that I am thankful for. So, this week, I kept a record of every thankful thought that came to my mind and found that I had a GREAT week, remembering my blessings and praising God for each one. I'm posting a few below. They are in completely random order. Some of them have pictures, some do not. Needless to say, this list is just a drop in the bucket. I hope that YOUwill be inspired to count your good gifts this week!

So, I'm thankful for:

my son Stephen who is so funny and "quirky", even when he sleeps! Yes, he really IS sleeping in this picture.

Laughter, fun and good food with friends.

Creativity! The kids had so much fun doing a graffiti wall in Andrew and Stephen's room on Friday night.

Do the numbers ring a bell with anyone?

Having my oldest son home from boarding school and hearing about the last term. Here he is with another one of our blessings, his good friend Reid.

The wonderful husband God gave me. We're coming up on 18 years of marriage next week and each year is better than the one before.

Dr. Grimbeek, the South African doctor who is making it possible for Stephen to have straight teeth!

New glasses so I can enjoy reading once again!

My neighbor ladies, Lidia, Laurinda and Joana! It's taken some time, and alot of hard work, but they are opening up to friendship with a white girl!

My friend Pam who is so good at remembering birthdays and anniversaries. Something I admire since I'm so bad at it! THANKS FOR THE CARD, PAM J.!!!!

Crazy, wonderful sons who love each other!

Amazing friends to "do life" with. This is my bible study group. We were celebrating a birthday.

They bring me so much laughter and joy.

Precious little girls who give me hugs and draw me pictures and stuff.

Andrew's amazing dorm parents, Nathan and Stacey. This is Stacey, his "mom away from mom".

COOL STUFF!

It's definitely been one of the biggest challenges of our lives but also one of the biggest blessings as well! The International Internship in Missions had it's first birthday in February. MozOvos, the egg business created to sustain the internship, will have it's first birthday on April 1st. When we get discouraged, all we have to do is LOOK BACK! God has done some amazing things in this year! The business has been a huge learning experience for us all, but we are seeing more and more eggs every day. We are becoming quite an "operation" as we supply eggs for many bakeries, cafes and restaurants in Maputo as well as to the U.S. Marines guarding the Embassy!

Here are the guys, counting eggs. The guy in the tie? Well, hens still need to eat on Sundays! It was Sunday morning and it was his turn to preach!

The other cool thing about our lives is helping these 9 interns find, define and then use the gifts God has given them. The fruit of this is lives being transformed. Not just their lives, but lives of those who need Jesus all around us. We are amazed every time one of these nine stand up to preach. We are amazed when we see young men they have been playing soccer with start to articulate their faith to their peers. We are amazed when we see the children in the sunday school class able to repeat almost WORD FOR WORD the bible story from the week before and what it means for them. Below is Luis who is very gifted with children. He teaches the bible story in a very simple and clear way and then gives the children a chance to tell the story in their own words. With him is one of the children, taking their turn to tell the story of Jesus calming the storm.

My Mozambican Wedding Story, by Lynne

I'm the kind of person who doesn't like the spotlight, not even for a minute. I like to "blend in". Though I like and enjoy people in small numbers, I'm not extremely social and HATE large crowds. Imagine my distress this past Sunday when, in an effort to be a part of the community in which we live, I attended the wedding of my next door neighbors. I was to be accompanied by several of my Mozambican sons, but they all bailed on me for various reasons, so, I went alone.

It started out okay. I sat and chatted with a group of women under the shade of a tree. It's hard to "blend in" when you are the only white person, however, and I was soon "promoted" to the table of the wedding party. There I sat with the bride, groom, matron of honor and best man...sticking out like a sore thumb! The meal went off without a hitch. I chatted with the matron of honor and we exchanged phone numbers AND THEN it happened! The gift giving part of the celebration began!

I've lived in Mozambique for 6 years now and I KNOW what this means: Each family group presents the gift they have brought with singing and dancing. I had brought a gift, but was the only one from my family group there. I CANNOT TELL YOU the terror that struck me when I thought about the possibility of presenting the gift, the lone white lady, singing and dancing? I looked for an escape but I was quite literally backed into a corner.(See the lady in the background with the yellow dress in the first picture? I was sitting in the empty seat next to her.)

It was then one of the neighbor kids approached me and asked, "Tia Lynne, are you going to give your gift alone?" "I don't want to", I told her, "what should I do?" "Come with me," was her response. She proceeded to round up all her brothers and sisters and relatives, about 20 people in all. Much to my relief, they let ME carry the gift and THEY did the singing and dancing. Just when I stopped shaking and sweating, IT happened: one of the girls grabbed me and, in moves that I can only compare to "The Funky Chicken", she demonstrated how she wanted me to dance. It was do or die! I can only say that I am eternally grateful that there was no video camera. My neighbors and all 150 of their friends and family, however, were delighted with my efforts! After all was said and done, I received lots of smiles and warm embraces. Hopefully, I opened the door of relationship just a little wider. I firmly believe in what our friend Duncan once said, "Belief follows belonging."

Do you think this is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he said, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some."? (I Corinthians 9:22) If so, I will say with him, "I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." (9:23)

The bride and groom are 60 years old if they're a day! They have many children and grandchildren together. Some are pictured below. In Mozambique, most young couples cannot afford to get married. The cultural mandates make a wedding financially unattainable.

Party in Heaven!!

Just a quick note to let you all know that you have 6 new brothers and sisters in Christ this week! 6 out of our 18 pre-evangelism/discipleship class members have made decisions to believe in Jesus and receive His gift of grace.

This is in the midst of one of our most personally discouraging and trying weeks ever. He is mighty to save us...our souls and far beyond!

Discipleship

We started discipleship classes 2 weeks ago in our 2 locations. The interns are teaching the classes and doing a great job. The books are simple and understandable. Last week, our lesson was on "New Birth". The verse we memorized together was John 1:12.

The discussion around "believing and receiving" Jesus went like this:

Artur: "Who here has received Jesus as Savior?"

The class: no hands up except those of our interns and my own. Dead silence

Artur: "It's a simple question; who here has received Jesus?"

The class: 2 tentative hands go up

Arture: "Katia, how do you know you have received Jesus?"

Katia: "Because I have done what the verse said, I believe in Him and I received Him and now I am his child."

Artur: "Manuel, how do you know you have received Jesus"?

Manuel: ""Because I prayed to receive Jesus and invited Him to be my Lord."

Artur: "Mama Ana, have you received Jesus?"

Mama Ana: "NO"

Artur: "Rita, have you received Jesus?"

Rita: (giggling) "No".

Artur: "Have you received Jesus?"

Fabiao:(eyes downcast): "No"

Artur: "Why have you not received Jesus as your Saviour?"

Mama Ana: "Because we don't understand it all yet."

It was that bold; that direct and a really painful interaction for my "oh so non-confrontational" ears to hear. It brought tears to my eyes to hear two twenty-something young people verbalize their faith and to know that, as we continue on, the others WILL understand and come to faith.

Thanks for sending the Schmidt's to Mozambique. The work we are all doing together IS so very important and life-changing.

2009 Internship kick-off retreat

All of our guys, joined with 3 friends from Lakeside Church in Folsom, California for our 2009 Internship Retreat at a beautiful spot in Chizavane, Mozambique. They camped for 2 nights. During the day, the studied, together with Pastor Jeff Kreiser, about what it means to have a "missional life".

Tim from Lakeside Church came along to give a series of guitar classes to the interns so they can lead in worship at church.

They enjoyed wonderful meals prepared by our friends, Fatima and Maria! These ladies made it possible for Lynne to stay home and recover from malaria.

Our friend, Jon, from Lakeside Church, led the group in several team-building excercises.

A great time was had by all!

This week in Mozambique:A photo review

Move in day for the interns and lots of work to be done.

We painted their rooms, so they all slept in our living room for 2 nights. 9 guys!

Moving everything back in

Washing all the dust covered dishes.

Setting up the kitchen.

Building a new table

Even the youngest of us were exhausted and ready for Mom's chocolate chip cookies.

Team

One of the things we have most loved about our time in Mozambique has been the sense of "team." We have had great team members to be sure! We

We were privileged to be a part of a great team for Jim and Corinne Thorp for several years and then with Ken and Arlene Flurry for 3 months until their recent departures.

We are privileged to work as a team with our interns in the start up and daily activities of the business and church planting effort.

We eagerly anticipate the day when our newest team members arrive. The young lady above, Honey Davidge, is our "newest" team member! Honey will be an invaluable team member as she comes to teach our son Stephen's class at the Christian Academy in Mozambique. WE LITERALLY CAN'T DO OUR JOB WITHOUT HER!!

Please pray for her to raise her support by late June! SHE IS VERY MUCH NEEDED HERE!!! If you would like to help her reach her goal for this one year commitment she has made, please contact Worldventure at 720-283-2000 and tell them you would like to contribute to the support of Honey Davidge. In doing so, you will abundantly bless the Schmidt Family and the work in Mozambique.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR WORLDVENTURE TEAM MEMBERS!!! They are all in various stages of support discovery.

Rob and Heather Blanks
Dave and Amy Terpstra
Dr. Brian and Megan Meyers
Honey Davidge

137!

137!

This is the number of dozens of eggs we need for the month of December to make budget at MozOvos! Will you please pray with us about these things?

1. 137 dozen eggs is needed to buy chicken feed and pay salaries.

2. The vendor that was providing us with hens went bankrupt, leaving us high and dry for the remaining 3,000 chickens he was to provide. This is a serious setback, but we keep reminding ourselves this is God's work, not ours.

3. Pray that we will learn the lessons God has for us to learn. That our faith will grow and as we pray together and see God answer, God will strengthen the faith of our interns as well.

WE EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD IN ANSWER TO OUR COLLECTIVE PRAYERS!

Crazy Story!

"TIA-This Is Africa!!!" A common saying for us. This crazy story will explain what we're talking about.

Daudi, the young intern from Mbezi Chapel in Tanzania, has had to overcome a number of obstacles to participate with us. It all started when he tried to get his passport in Tanzania and found out that he is not legally a citizen of Tanzania, though he was born there. Some issue with his grandparents and parents being from Mozambique and not registered in Tanzania. Obtaining Tanzanian citizenship seems impossible or at best, extremely difficult. He has been a man without a country, but was given travel papers by immigration in Mozambique to be in the country for 1 year. Daudi had to learn portuguese, live with people he couldn't communicate with and try to figure out life here. He has done very well and is adored by all of us.

Through some investigation here in Mozambique, we discovered that due to a huge number of unregistered births in Mozambique, there is a legal process for adults to obtain a birth certificate. So, on Thursday, Daudi signed his own birth certificate here in Mozambique! He is a citizen of Mozambique!

24 hours later, he was detained in handcuffs by the civil police who didn't understand the documents issued to him by Mozambique immigration. Thankfully, he was with another young man who was able to help him prove his legal status and he was released.

We live in a country that we often don't understand, the system often seems illogical and is so opposite to our system in the USA. For example, here, as in Daudi's case, if there's a question of guilt, you are "guilty until proven innocent."

It's no wonder we are so tired at the end of days like yesterday. We can only do this because God has given us such a love for this country and it's people.

Thanks for your faithful prayers for us.