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.

7 Reasons to Praise and Some Prayer Requests

Here are photos and a short bio of our much loved interns! Please pray for them as they take a break and return to their homes during the month of December. Pray for them to remain strong in their faith, to resist temptations and to continue with the spiritual disciplines they are learning. Pray for them to be salt and light in their homes and communities. All but Daudi plan to return for the second year of the program which means a great deal more leadership and business training and responsibilities for each. Pray for us because we will miss them terribly. Pray for the 4 new interns we hope to add to the program in January. Rafael is our youngest intern and is 18 years old. He came under recommendation of his pastor from the baptist church of Hulene. He is in high school. Rafael is very gifted musically and has been leading our worship services since the first Sunday we started the church.

Reginaldo came to work with us on recommendation of the national director of Youth For Christ, where he has been a volunteer. Reg is extremely quiet, hard working and studious. Reading is very difficult for him, but he doesn't let it stop him, even from reading aloud in church! He has a way with kids and all the children in the neighborhood love him.

Luis is from a town 1 hour north of Maputo and was sent by his church, The First Baptist Church of Maputo. He is a gifted servant of God. We have seen the most growth in Luis in the area of his preaching skills.

Daudi is from Mbezi Chapel in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Daudi had the most to overcome as he came here needing to learn Portuguese. He has done so well! He is a gifted drummer and has a very natural way of connecting with children. Pray for Daudi as he leaves us to return to Tanzania for a time. Pray for a godly wife for Daudi. Pray that we will be able to help Daudi resolve his citizenship issues. Right now, he is a "man without a country."

Jose Macuacua is from a small village outside of Maputo. His father is the leader of the baptist church there. Macuacua came to Maputo to live with family members and go to high school as his village has nothing beyond elementary school. Macuacua was painfully shy and stuttered severely when he came here. He has blossomed into a confident student and preacher of God's word. Pray for Macuacua as he returns to his village in December. He's looking forward to speaking at his home church.

Aderito came to us under the recommendation of his church Evangelical Church of the Grace of God. Aderito most definitely has the gift of evangelism. He passionately shares Christ with others and is a gifted preacher. Please pray for Aderito as he finishes up his school year and studies hard for his exams.

Artur was recommended by his pastor at the Baptist Church of Bagamoyo. He has served faithfully as a leader of one of this churches mission works. Artur is a natural born leader. He is also very insightful and we seek him out for advice all the time. He is passionate about God's word and is an extremely gifted speaker as well.

Many Reasons to Celebrate!

The problem with "blogging" is that some of us just aren't very good at it! :) We are now more than a month since our last blog and many, many things have happened. Good things and bad things. Today, we will choose to celebrate and praise the Lord for the good things. We'll give you "snippets" of our life this past 5 weeks.

Andrew-we were able to spend a week with Andrew in Kenya. He's doing very well in all areas of school life.

Stephen-Makes us laugh, has lots of friends who are here to play every day, is now the proud owner of 2 chameleons and 2 other lizards that look like miniature dinosaurs.

MozOvos-the egg business is doing well. Our "ladies"(what we call the hens) are producing over 60 dozen eggs a day. We are all working hard to sell them, get contracts with restaurants and stores, etc. We are still waiting on many more hens to arrive.

Ministry-always exciting! Yesterday, we had a unified service for the 2 congregations; the one that meets at our house and the one that meets at MozOvos. 71 were in attendance and it was a great celebration time! People came that we have been in relationship with for the many months we have lived at this location and it was their first time to come. Rui-the representative for our landlord, who comes to collect our rent each month. The auto parts shop owner from next door. Eugenia, the lady Lynne has made friends with, who works in a shop nearby. Many people who participate in soccer each week came as well. Our dear friends, Charlie and Angie(IMB missionaries), came and their presence was a huge encouragement to us.(They are the other white faces in the group photo!)

We'll try to write again this week and share some prayer needs!

In the meantime, enjoy the photos and short video of our celebration service! Both are poor quality due to the fact that our good camera has been stolen.

Pay close attention to the little guy in the red shirt! The people are singing "Our Jesus is Good."

A Life Story, from Lynne

Felismina, the girl in my story, is the bigger girl with the big, beautiful smile.  This was us doing the "Roo-chi-cha chant" at our vacation bible school.  Double click for a bigger picture.

I love Mozambique. I love the people. I love walking through the markets and talking to people. I love that we have neighbor children playing in our yard on the weekends. I love the noise of our interns practicing music for Sunday. I love the laughter of lots of teenaged girls when the Youth For Christ kids come over to meet on Wednesdays.

I love our life and ministry here...most of the time.

There are those days, however, when the strain of life here brings out the worst in me. Usually, it's after a series of events where I feel powerless to do anything or know that whatever small thing I do is just a temporary "fix".

Here's my story for this week:

Sunday a.m. as we prepared to greet people for church at our house, we discovered a woman lying face down in the sand outside of our gate.  We weren't sure if she was alive or dead, drunk or sleeping.  We decided to leave her be until after the service, thinking maybe, if she was drunk, she'd sleep it off and be on her way.  I had trouble sitting through the service and, actually, didn't make it to the end before I went back to check on her.  She was on all fours, trying to get up.  I called Rodger and he came out.  She was very old, very toothless, very spunky and didn't speak a lick of Portuguese but had alot to say nonetheless! :)  I ran to get her some water which she refused as she continued to talk non-stop.  Rodger went back to the service and I called a young man who was walking by to come over and translate for us.  She said she wasn't thirsty, she was hungry and weak.  I ran in the house, got some fruit and a piece of leftover chicken and knelt beside her in the sand.  I told the young man to tell her that we were not rich people but that we wanted to give this to her to bless her in the name of Jesus.  Well, I know enough changana(her language) to know that he left out the "in the name of Jesus" part, so I asked him to say it again! :)  She accepted and smiled a toothless smile.  My heart felt light at being able to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Fast forward to Monday, our day off.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and I was gathering up my bible study materials, water bottle, and chair to sit in the sun and enjoy my time alone with God.  About the time I was ready to sit down, my 13 year old neighbor girl came in.  A young lady who has been part of our neighborhood bible clubs.  Right away, I was feeling frustrated at the interruption.  She came to tell me that she was hungry and they had no food at their house.  I told her to wait and came in the house to talk to Rodger. 

The conversation was one we've probably had a thousand times before and went a little something like this:

Me:  "Well, once again, I can't even sit in my own yard on my day off without being interrupted. (Heavy sigh).  Felismina is here.  They have no food at their house.  What do we do?"

Rodger:  "Honey, if we start this, it will become a pattern that we can't stop.  Then where do they get food for tomorrow and then the next day?"

Me:  "I know, but I can't let that little girl go to school hungry."

Rodger:  (Heavy sigh). "give her something and tell her that you need to speak with her mother or father.  There are 11 people living at that house.  We can't afford to feed them all."

I put together some bread and butter and gave her some eggs.  I told her I needed to speak to her mother and sent her on her way.  My heart felt heavy, discouraged, annoyed...most of all, I felt tremendous guilt.  Guilt that my first response was about the fact that I was being inconvenienced. Guilt that, just yesterday, I was thrilled to be the hands and feet of Jesus, but today, on my day off, I didn't want to be. Guilt that I was about to eat leftover pasta and vegetables.  Frustration that we're perceived as "rich" Americans.  Frustration that there are SO MANY all around us just like Filismina and we could have a line at our gate all day every day of people needing assistance.  

At this point, there was absolutely no way I could concentrate on my bible study.  I told Rodger I had to get away and went over to the Flurry's house, knowing that they were not home and I could have some time to think.  I sat on their front porch and cried out to God about the condition of my heart.  I asked Him to remove my "heart of stone" and give me His heart.  I asked for wisdom and I asked for it IMMEDIATELY, before I had to talk to this child's mother.

He was faithful again and gave me an answer. " Help this mother start something."  

So, 1 hour later, with a heart that felt "right" again, I sat face to face with this woman.  I asked her questions and let her talk about why they have no food.  She said that she and her husband both need jobs.  I explained to her that we aren't yet at a place in the egg business to offer employment to others outside of our interns but that, as a family, we wanted to offer a gift to help.  We bought 15 dozen eggs for her  as "start-up".  I explained that she can sell them for a small profit, keep the profit, reinvest to buy more eggs to sell.  She was pleased and is giving it a try.  Please pray for her!

Please pray for us in these situations we face each day.  They absolutely wear us down when we try to handle them in our strength and that was where I was  on Monday.  

The truth is, we ARE powerless.

Please pray that we will CONSISTENTLY learn to handle these situation with the grace and wisdom that comes from God alone.  I am so glad His ways are perfect, trustworthy and true.

"WHAT?"

One of our son Stephen's favorite words is "What?"  Not a calm, cool response to his mother's call, but a screeching, face contorted "WHAT?".  Like what you would say if the Internal Revenue Service announced there would be no tax refunds of any kind this year for any American.

Well, it's what we heard from Stephen's mouth when he discovered that his father and the Flurry's were going to Mozambique Island for 3 days and we were staying home to have school.  Inside, I, too, was screaming, "WHAT?"

Here is a pictorial review of why this news evoked such a strong response from those of us who were being "left" behind:

The first few pictures of what we see and do every day in Maputo.

Now the "fun" starts!  Ken, Arlene and Rodger went on a vision trip to the island and to continue talking to the local leadership about opportunities for us there.
BEAUTIFUL VIEWS!
And AMAZING seafood! The big, blue fish is "papagaio" or "parrotfish".

Sacrifice

After we said our good-by's we cried a river all the way down the mountain. For the first time in over five years I feel like being a missionary comes with great sacrifice. This has been the hardest thing we have ever been asked to do. 

With that said. We still beleive it is right and good. God surprised us with Andrews good friend from Mozambique that moved away three years ago is literally living across the hall from him. They are hanging out together and both are already making friends, playing basketball, and doing ok.

Andrew said his room mate (10th grader) plays guitar so hopefully they can find some common ground. Always growing and being stretched. We are anxious to meet him and others.  We will be back in Kenya in October for mission meetings.  Afterwards, we are planning to spend a few days with Andrew during his mid-term break.

Andrew is living in room 6 of the Westervelt dorm. We really like his dorm parents (former military). They have two little girls and seem to really have a heart to minister to the guys. They spent quite a bit of time talking to us and letting us ask questions. We feel real supported and invited to participate as well.

We spent 1.5 days in orientation. It was so good and we left reaffirmed that RVA is one of the most special places on earth. We are so impressed with the wisdom, care and commitment to provide a positive, healthy and spiritual environment for Andrew.
I don't know that we have ever experienced such physical pain as we realize the hole Andrew leaves in our day to day lives. However, We believe in him and what God's plan is for him over these next years. Our influence is not lost. We have a pretty cool opportunity to begin to think differently about parenting and as to how we influence him. Actually, it kind of cool to be afforded the opportunity to look at parenting and influencing from a fresh and different point of view.We love you guys and thanks for praying for us. Andrew is in good hands. Stephen is really missing is brother. He had such a good time himself while at RVA. He said, "You can leave me too if you want". I know what you are thinking....All in good time. We still have two years before Stephen is slated to go.

Andrew would love to hear form you. His e-mail address is: aschmidt12@kijabe.net

Thanks for praying for us during this transition.

Love you all,
Rodger, Lynne and Stephen