Ministry
Church Planting Class
Another church planting semester has ended. It was Chris’ 4th semester (the last semester didn’t count since we took time off after Yuna’s birth and therefore, didn’t finish it) and Anja’s 3rd semester. While Chris has been taking the class in the afternoon and preaching in English, Anja has been attending the evening class and teaching in Spanish. In this constellation, one of us is always able to take care of the kids, which helps a lot. The next semester is going to start on August 7th. Anja still has to finish her 4th semester and Chris, although being done with all 4 semesters, will continue to attend the church planting class so he can improve his preaching skills.
Chris’ class 
Anja’s class
Anja
Band
This month, one of the electro guitar players who has been in the worship ministry for a very long time, was promoted to worship team leader. I was assigned to serve with him and I must say, he did a very good job. He took it seriously and was there early to be able to practice with us singers. Unfortunately, the tenor singer came in very late due to traffic and we were not able to practice a lot together. That ultimately lead to us not being as in tune as we could have been and it sounded a bit off to me every now and then.
Kids Ministry
This month, some of the kids that got born again attended the New Believer’s Class, so we didn’t see much of them. One of those kids got baptized this month!
I taught the lesson on Mother’s Day and I thought I had everything prepared and ready. However, I did not expect to have an English speaker in class, which meant that the teaching part was double as long and neither did I expect the kids not being excited about the craft we were doing for their moms. I pre-folded the papers for the craft, but wanted them to do something too, since they are 9-10 years old. A lot of the kids did not finish their craft, which really bugged me because I had put a lot of thought into it. Oh well, you can’t always win. That day, we didn’t have any professions of faith either.
Front: I love you mommy (hearts in the favorite colors of the child and the mom) 
Inside: Thank you very much (the kid’s heart was read) 
Inside of the heart are things written the kids want to thank their mom’s for: loving me, making time for me, praying for me, cooking for me
The second time I was teaching, five kids raised their hands when I asked who wanted to be born again. However, two of them sat back down, asking “what is it about?” and another one sitting down again. So of the five, two gave their life to Christ and I thank the Lord for these two.
Fit 2 Serve
This month, I had to ask my co-coach to take over for me twice because I was sick and, unfortunately, we did not have a lot of people attending either. Three out of the four times, we were only three people in total and then the last time, we were five, two coaches and three interns from church. I am not sure what the problem is, but we decided to ask the Lord what we could do to get more people to attend. Let’s see what the Lord will tell us. Next month, we will have a special event and I really hope that it will help us to get some attention.
Coaches and interns
Chris
Lights
This month, my trainee engaged more and made very good progress. So far, that I could let him off the leash. By the end of the month, when our whole family was sick, he even replaced me. He did such a good job, that I felt a bit obsolete. But it’s good to know that there is someone who has the ability to jump in when it’s needed.
Now it’s time to look for another trainee and I already asked another intern if he would like to get trained on the lights.
Kids Ministry
The challenge is on. What will work with the kids here and what won’t? The first time I was teaching this month, I tried to engage the kids in a game we played with kids in Switzerland. To my surprise, they didn’t know it, but also didn’t really engage… Bummer! Must be a cultural thing. At least we had three professions of faith that day. Apart from failing with games, I try to do crafts with them that are connected to the scripture we read and that works better.
The second time I was teaching, I had a complete blackout just before class and didn’t even remember the name of our translator. However, I knew the topic by heart and the Lord helped me big time. After the class, I chatted quickly with our translator and mentioned that it didn’t feel great, but he was like: “Are you kidding? They listened like never before!”
Family
Airbnb
The month started very noisy. As we mentioned earlier, the next door neighbors had moved out and now, a couple of weeks later, they started construction work. They tore down the little roof on the backyard, removed all the tiles from the walls and the floor and made holes in the floor, so a lot of hammering, jackhammering and dust… Our entire backyard was covered in a fine layer of dust… As we learned a bit later, they are transforming the house into an Airbnb… We are not sure what to think about that, to be honest. That usually means that it’s very quiet in between and very noisy on the weekends… At least that’s how it is with the other Air BnB a couple of houses down the street from us.
Sick
It was another month of being sick. Ziva threw up twice, once in the office all over Chris’ office chair and the carpet and the second time when she was still sitting in her high chair. She was so tired, she even asked if she could go to sleep a couple of times. Anja was next. She was feeling very weak and threw up once during the night after having had stomach pain that had started in the late afternoon. When Anja was a bit better, Yuna threw up once, but seemed fine afterwards. The last to have problems was Chris and he was lucky enough to only feel a bit nauseous. Of course all of this meant that we were not able to go to church a couple of times, at least not all at the same time. However, this gave Chris’ team another opportunity to show that they were ready and apparently, they did a good job.
Chris’ Birthday
To everyone who contributed to make my birthay special, THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Just the day before my birthday, on Tuesday, Ziva threw up and since Anja was singing on Wednesday evening, I stayed home to take care of the kids. However, we wanted to celebrate on Thursday anyway because it’s our day off. Our friends let us know that there were packages waiting for us and I went to pick them up. They were the birthday presents, which had been ordered from our Wishlist on Amazon – perfect timing!
A short side note on the presents: I received an ice cream maker so I can make healthier ice cream with less sugar. Anja and I discovered that we can talk best when we eat ice cream together. In other words, the ice cream maker is also a contribution to our marriage. I also received a new phone case, a usb-c docking station and two travel mugs. Again, thank you so much for your contribution!
Yuna’s Mexican Passport
As mentioned earlier, getting a Mexican passport for Yuna has been impossible since there are never any appointments available in the entire state of Baja California when you look online. For those who are wondering why we are not getting a Swiss passport for her, we cannot get a Swiss passport without having a Mexican passport since Yuna was born in Mexico. That’s a requirement.
One evening at church, Anja ended up talking with one of her friends and mentioned the problem with Yuna’s passport. As it turned out, this friend had just recently had passports made for two of her family members! Of course Anja wanted to know how she did it. Well, she called the passport office in Rosarito at 6am on a Saturday. Apparently, that’s when they still have open appointments. Seriously?! However, this friend offered to call and make an appointment for us. So we will send her the information she needs and she will not only book the appointment for us, but also ask what all we need to hand in to be able to get a passport. Let’s pray all goes well!
Ziva
The funniest new thing that Ziva started saying is connected with her Mexican babysitter. One time, Chris got her a Happy Meal and the toy included was a Barbie with dark skin. Immediately, she said, “Barbie *name of the babysitter*”! It was hilarious! Of course she added other words to her vocabulary, such as “call Gwawin?” (call Granny?), ice cream, cream cheese, peanut butter, me help (help me), hungry too, guitar, go sleep, go walk, dusty, blocks, alright, okay, wait, where are you? and papapl (pineapple).
This month, one of Anja’s friends from the band brought some blankets that her daughter has gotten too big for. Ziva immediately opened the bag and took out all the blankets and snuggled up. It’s nice to have blankets that are actually Ziva’s size rather than adult size, which we had been using after she got too big for the baby blankets. Unfortunately, she still has trouble sleeping. She has been calling for Anja pretty much every night, wanting her to stay with her (probably due to her being sick).
I new coat 
Stickers! 
A hat 
I goofy 
I play Yuna 
I ball 
I play amigas
Ziva has been a good big sister by trying to keeping Yuna out of places she is not supposed to be. One time, she was pulling her out of the bathroom because she was trying to grab something she was not supposed to. On the other hand, she is trying to escape Yuna when she is touching her or grabbing her clothes, which is kind of understandable. We are praying for them to be able to figure out how to play together.
It was a delight for us to see Ziva play with two girls her age at a Marriage Fellowship dinner. They were running around, following each other, sitting on couches and behind walls together. Funny enough, they were born in July, August and September.
Talking about birthdays, Ziva’s birthday is coming up in July and if you would like to contribute something, you are welcome to do so. We have updated our Wishlist on Amazon so that whoever wants, can purchase her a gift. If you are not comfortable buying on Amazon, but still would like to give Ziva something, you are welcome to send us the money and tell us which item you would like to purchase and we can order it on your behalf.
Yuna
This little one has outdone herself this month! Yuna not only started to crawl, but also to climb stairs and to pull herself up and standing there for sometimes 10 minutes or more, trying to turn and hold on to something else! She comes to us, when we call her by name and also when she needs something, i.e. when she is hungry, tired or has a full diaper, which is really cute. We are also happy to report that Yuna finally stopped spitting up. There is the occasional drop or little amount, but it’s A LOT better and we are grateful for that – especially when it comes to washing her clothes 🙂
On the downside, she has moments when the only person she wants to be with is Mommy, which can be very inconvenient when Anja is in band practice or on stage singing. We also have had some hard times putting her to sleep. She would arch and try to move around or just want to be close to be to Mommy instead of alone in her bed. For this reason, she has now always one of Anja’s worn sweatshirts or t-shirts in her bed, so it smells like Mommy. Anja remembered that this would work with puppies, so we thought it might work with Yuna too, and it really does! Best idea ever! A good sleep for Yuna also involves a pacifier and a fluffy blanket in her face, or at least in her hand.
Prayer requests
- for general health as well as Chris’ and Anja’s backs and Ziva’s allergies
- for an appointment for Yuna’s Mexican passport and for everything to work out well
- for faithful attendees for Fit 2 Serve and for God to arrange circumstances so that people who want to attend can actually come
- for the kids in our class and their families to get saved
- for new trainees in the lights ministry
Support the Schmid Family – Reach the world
Would you like to support us financially? You can do so by:
- Monthly transfers or gifts over $1000: EGS (Electronic Gifting Solutions) Network with the comment that it’s for the “Schmid Family”
- Writing a check to “Calvary Chapel Rosarito” with a comment “Schmid Family” and send it to:
Mike Vincent
PMB W-304, PO Box 439016
San Ysidro, CA. 92143
Important: Please let us know that you sent a check!
- Buying an item off our Amazon Wishlist
For more information, visit the About Us or Become a Partner page.
