Sahara Challenge training in Minnesota

In preparation for serving in a country that is almost 90% Muslim, MAF sent several families to a week-long seminar called the Sahara Challenge, or Crescent Project, in St. Paul, Minnesota.  The goal of the training is to equip us to be able to build bridges in relating to Muslims and sharing the love of Jesus with them.  We spent 6 very intense days sitting through a variety of seminars, from learning about the history of Islam, understanding the basics of how Islam works, learning about the variety of cultures among Muslims, understanding the New Testament in relation to how Muslims interpret it, question and answer times, and a panel of believers who had converted from Islam to Christianity.  It was fascinating and a lot of information to take in.  Our minds were on overload by the end of the week, but we definitely feel more informed and equipped in our understanding of the religious culture we will soon be living in. 

We also were so encouraged and enjoyed spending time with some of our classmates from candidacy in January, as well as meeting a few MAF couples we didn't know who are heading to Indonesia or Central Asia countries.  Here is a snapshot of some of our time.

 We stayed in the dorms at Bethel University, definitely brought back college memories!

 Our classroom all day long

 Footwashing ceremony during our final send-off

 A group of us MAF couples headed to Indonesia

 Enjoying our small group meeting during lunch, yay cafeteria food!

 Tyler must have had a very deep thought going on there....

Deputation Trip and Crescent Project

We have officially "hit the road" on our first LOOOONG deputation trip as missionaries.  On May 23rd we loaded up the van (thankfully it didn't drag under all the weight) and drove 1,000 miles to Rugby, ND, where we have been living for the last several weeks as we visit churches, family, and friends.  We have reconnected with supporters, met with new people, shared at new and old churches, and generally been encouraged and strengthened in the confirmation of our call to serve with MAF.

 yup, that's a full vehicle

 at one of the rest stops.  can't beat western Montana for beauty!

 Overall the kids did really well on the 2-day trip to ND.  I did hang out in the backseat for awhile

 The boys had activity bags to help divide up their time, 3 bags for each day, with some new

and some repeated activities.  Yay for silly putty!

 Aaron and cousin Abigail, 6 weeks apart.

 We have spent LOTS of time at the parks in Rugby, trying to expend the boys energy during the days

 Gotta love the slides!

 Lunch/play date with my high school friend Kayla, who is such a blessing in my life

 I can't get enough of his silliness

She's all grins now and loves talking to us!  Wow, almost 3 months already...

 Family picture time...growing so fast

Right now we are in St. Paul, MN at Crescent Project, which is a week-long seminar about building bridges with Muslims.  We are excited to be here as it helps prepare us to live alongside and build relationship "bridges" to share Jesus with Muslims in our future home in Indonesia.


We look forward to sharing with you how God is working as we continue our travels over the next 6 weeks.  Already we are seeing our contact list grow, new partners in our ministry coming alongside us, and churches that have decided to partner with us.  Thank you for your continued prayers!

The Schmidt's

Forgotten...?

In case any of you were wondering (which I'm sure, none of you probably were!), we have not forgotten about blogging, but seeing as how it has never been something we do very regularly it has definitely been put on the back burner during this transition to 3 kids as well as preparing for our upcoming travels.

Speaking of forgetting things, I knew my memory was going before I had this baby, and now I believe that if I don't do something or write it down immediately, it does not stay in my head for more than 30 seconds, all thanks to these 3, beautiful kids!

I'll be honest; the transition to 3 has been difficult.  Ask Tyler, my moods have been up and down and some days I feel like I'm losing it.  But now as our littlest one is starting to smile and coo at us, we are reaping the rewards of the sweetness of being parents again. 

Thanks for sharing our joy, and if you think of us, please pray that we would trust God to bring all the pieces together as we prepare for our deputation trip to North Dakota and Nebraska for all of June and July.

Renae for the Schmidt's

New Addition!

 On Tuesday, March 26, we welcomed a precious new life into the world.  Jocelyn Diane Schmidt was born at 12:55 pm, after just a 3.5 hr labor.  Praise God for a quick, safe, healthy delivery.  Jocelyn weighed 7 lb 11 oz and was 20 inches long.
At just 2 weeks later, she already weighed 8 lb 1 oz and is quickly losing the "newborn" look!

Holding on to "things" lightly

Just the other night the boys were playing upstairs with a friend.  While we adults were visiting downstairs, we weren't worried about what could be happening one floor above us.  Unfortunately when we did go upstairs to see just what was going on, we saw the tv screen with several white marks across it, and realized the kids had been hitting it with the Wii remotes.  Even more unfortunately it was not just marked up, but the screen had shattered inside!  Though we do not know who initiated or how they got it in their heads to do that (we have never seen them try to do that before), it was a good time to talk about responsibility and consequences (for as much as a 2 and 3 yr old can understand).

Even though a television is a frivolous item, it reminded us about the importance of holding on to our "things" lightly.  We have not even begun the process of going through our things to prepare for Indonesia, so another blog on this might be forthcoming as we process through all the "things" we will be letting go of as we get ready for our travels overseas.  We are thankful that in Christ we have been given all things, even the mysteries of God, and as we pray for an eternal perspective on life we can let go of the things that tie us to this earth/culture.

"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth."  Colossians 3:1-2

Let the presenting begin!

 This week Tyler had the opportunity to share at our church's Awana program about his role as a missionary pilot to Indonesia.  He did a great job "flying in" for the talk with them and letting the kids pretend to be crocodiles, trees, and mountains that he had to fly over to get to the village in the jungle.  

 Anyone know where Indonesia is?

 Sharing with the TNT (3-6th grade) kids.  

Who doesn't love airplanes?!

What a blessing to share how MAF uses aviation to share the love of Christ.  Praying that the kids took away more than just "wow, airplanes are so cool!" and realized what a privilege it is that they are memorizing Scripture when many others don't have it in their own language yet. 

Our NEW Job

Dear friends,

Over these past two weeks we are getting settled back into our "home" (for now) and figuring out what a routine looks like for our family.  And no, we don't have it figured out yet!  If you're wondering, "so, what IS their new job?"  I will try my best to describe what it looks like as we prepare for this journey to Indonesia.

Tyler (and I) are doing "Ministry Partnership (MP)" full-time.  What that entails is at least 50 hours a week of various activities that involve the spiritual, relational, and physical aspect of actively raising a team of partners around us to financially and prayerfully support us in our ministry with MAF.

It can look like...
LOTS of phone calls to family, friends, churches, and even people we don't know.
Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.  Trying to keep track of what we've done, are doing, and need to do in the future is quite a lot of work.
Writing letters and emails of all kinds
Securing times to share our ministry with friends and at churches
Taking trips for the purpose of these speaking engagements and sharing opportunities (in the future)
And eventually, packing, shopping, prepping for the BIG move, including getting passports, visas, vaccines, etc...

Now for myself (Renae), I want to be a part of the MP process as much as possible, but my full-time main job is still being Mom and wife.  I am working at establishing a better daily routine for me and the boys, as well as getting Caleb used to his new "chore chart" and trying a few pre-school activities with him a couple times a week.  And, of course, I am feeling to "urge to purge", or, get organized and get rid of stuff before this new baby comes!  At almost 35 weeks I feel more than ready for the baby to come, but there is still a lot of organization to do, plus maybe gather a few girl clothes for our new daughter.  Not that she can't wear boy things...but...it IS our first girl.  :-)

There is a little snippet of our life right now.  Ask in another few weeks and it might look quite different!

Renae for the Schmidts

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."

Our dear friends Matt and Ellie leave for their final trianing

with MAF and then for Indonesia in a couple months!

Our last evening with them and the kids...if we don't

end up on the same base, at least we'll be in the same country!

We'll miss them greatly.

Aaron has always loved to kiss everyone...

maybe a pre-wedding picture?!