Ministry
Livestream (by Anja)
My second month with the livestream team was great! It really seems like they have adopted me as their oldest team member – yep, I am officially the oldest in that team! The next younger guy is 28 and the rest ist even younger. Due to me showing up every time, even on Saturdays, when we are not livestreaming anything, I have been able to get private tutoring by the team leader. He gave me more instructions for the position of the switcher on the job, he showed me how to prepare the lyrics for the livestream (I had only ever seen the finished version) and how to change the lense on the camera we are using for the videos (I always only used y compact camera or a professional video camera) and I could watch him film some sequences for the intro trailer for Today’s Good News.
The team members also seem to enjoy to ask me a lot of questions, for example about Switzerland, like, what is typical food in Switzerland? Are there any Mexicans in Switzerland? What do Swiss people think about Mexicans? How do you say … in German? Other questions are rather personal, like, what is your favorite food? What do you think about earrings on men? What do you think about tattoos? Where did you and Chris get to know each other? They really are a curious bunch, but it’s always fun to hang out with them, so even after I am done videoing the worship time and the camera is set for the sermon, I always go back to the studio to hang out with them.
Lights (by Chris)
The time of Christmas decoration has begun. With a small team, we worked out a plan for a nice Christmas lighting, which included the kids helping us by crafting stars in Sunday school. However, not everything was left to the kids and I found myself doing papercuts for the pillars on stage. The challenge was to adapt the template, that the graphic team had given me, so it would be big enough and also printable (pictures follow in the next newsletter).
Recently, I was offered the position of the leader of the lights ministry. During the Corona lockdown, most of the “light masters” had not shown up anymore and so it had been basically me doing the lights all the time. Now, that we have the new light controller, I needed to teach the returning helpers how to use it and so it kind of grew on me. However, I still had some questions which is why I asked for a meeting with our Executive Pastor. This is new ground for me and I am again looking forward to a task I have never done before.
Media Team T-Shirt
In the beginning of the month, everyone who serves in the media team received a brand new t-shirt. It’s not that you HAVE to wear the t-shirt, but you certainly can if you want to show that you are a proud member of the media team. On the front, you can see a cross that states “media team” as well as the different areas, that are a part of it, i.e. video, luces (light), sonido (sound) and diseño (graphics). In the back, you can see two hands raised to heaven with a cross at the center and the shortened Bible verse from Exodus 35:35 in Spanish. In English, it’s “And has filled them with skill to do all manner of artistic work”.
Church Planting Class
The summer church planting semester came to an end on November 30th. Since we had been slacking a bit when it came to listening to the 75 required sermons, we invested every free moment of the previous two weeks so we could catch up and we did!
This semester had been shorter than others due to the Corona virus, but we really enjoyed every single one of the 11 lessons we attended and we are grateful for the 11 times, we could receive feedbacks for the sermons we could prepare. Senior Pastor Mike Vincent seems to be pleased with the both of us, since he told each one of us how great our spouse is doing. Anja even had to preach her last sermon in front of him. Overall, Mike was very pleased with her performance. He liked Anja’s joke and the story she shared as well as her confidence. Mike also said that she knew what she was talking about and that he thinks that Anja has a gift for teaching. Anja’s area of weakness is her “nerd-syndrom”, i.e. she is preaching more to the head than to the heart, so she needs to work on adapting her sermons to the audience and their needs.
To celebrate the end of the semester, we made a little freeze challenge video. Check it out: https://fb.watch/2k1R2iTuUk/
Family
Provision (by Chris)
God has us, as a family, in a very specific place. We are still looking for supporters and this leads to circumstances where finances are getting tight. However, He reminds me over and over of His promises for us and that it is important that we are fully dependent on Him. One time, I was coming before Him with my anguish because I wanted to treat my wife for lunch, but didn’t really have the money for it and He promptly responded. That day we got invited even twice (lunch and dinner) and I was just amazed of how much He loves me. Another time, I was again asking for provision, not knowing how to pay the babysitter on Monday and He told me in advance not to worry about it. And just in time, we received some money.
It is somehow easy to forget the good things of the past when the present doesn’t look nice. In all these moments, God reminds of how faithful He always provided for my needs in the past. That just also highlights the importance of keeping His word in mind: Deuteronomy 11:18 Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
New Glasses
Since we were able to sell our US car, we had enough money for Anja to finally get a new pair of glasses. She had hers for over four years, which, apparently, that is a lot of time. Anja didn’t know that, but she could tell that someting was not right anymore. Her eyes were hurting a lot and she was not able to see as clearly as before anymore. After all the tests, the optometrist told Anja, that her eye sight itself had gotten better, but that the angle of the astigmatism was different.
While we were at the optometrist, we also wanted to know if Chris needed glasses as well since he had been complaining about headaches and dry eyes. As it turned out, he has astigmatism and does indeed need glasses. Since he is working a lot in front of the computer and with lights, they also suggested for him to get glasses with a blue light filter, to protect his eyes.
I (Anja) like the design of the glasses, but my eyes had a hard time adjusting. I had a hard time focusing, my eyes hurt and in general, I couldn’t really say that things had improved. So we decided to go back to the optometrist to talk with them about it. This time, there was another lady there and she made me redo all the tests, but came up with the same result. She then explained to me, that, if you had your glasses for a long time, it would take 2-3 weeks for your eyes to get used to the new glasses and that the symptoms I was experiencing were normal. And Indeed, after that time had passed, I no longer had these problems.
For a long time, I (Chris) thought I had perfect sight. So it took me a while to realize that I needed glasses. When I finally got them, the result was like day and night. It is like seeing the world in HD again. Where I before could read a sign, now I can see sharp edges and more defined colors. I can’t believe that I waited for so long to get glasses!
Thanksgiving Dinners
Thanksgiving is, unlike in Switzerland or in Mexico, a very important day in the States. So our American friends ended up inviting us to their thanksgiving celebrations. On the 20th, we were pre-celebrating with the one family who we usually hang out on Friday evening. They had invited other Americans and so we ended up hanging out at their place, most of the guys and the kids outside around the bonfire, and the rest of the guys with the ladies and the baby inside.
On the 26th, the actual thanksgiving day, a friend and CCR Pastor invited us, along with other Americans to his place. When we arrived at his house, we saw some burned items sitting in his garage and wondered what happened. When we entered the house, we noticed that it smelled very smokey and when we arrived at the kitchen, we saw that the counter was burned down, the ceiling lights melted and the windows cracked. As it turned out, the day before, his cleaning lady had put hot ashes from the stove in the trash and it had caught fire.
Our friend had left the house at 4pm and returned at 10pm. When he had opened the door, a gush of hot air came gushing out and he heard the windows crack. He ran around the house to open all the windows to get some air in and then ran inside to extinguish the fire and outside again to get some air again. It took him about an hours until he was able to see something and look for his dog. He was sure that he had died, but when he opened one door, he felt something at his leg, and it was his dog, Armani. He fur was blackened on one side, his eyes all swollen and his tongue sticking out, but he was fine. Despite all of this, our friend decided to host the thanksgiving dinner and we were able to enjoy all the amazing food he had prepared.
Ziva
Again, Ziva has developped new habits and made progress in many areas. Funny enough, she enjoys going to the playground again where she enjoys climbing the climbing wall, being in the swing and playing soccer. She also still likes to run down to the gate where she waves at the guard, wants to play with the water (which she is not allowed to do) and look at the dogs who live down there. Along the way, there grow some dandelions and Anja showed her how to blow the parachutes off, which she tried to do immediately. However, she just made the blowing sound, but did not let any air out, so the parachutes remained 😀 It was very cute though!
Ziva has started to take us by the finger and lead us to where she wants us to be. For example at night, when she wakes up because she is hungry, she leads Anja to the stairs, where she is usually being fed (we don’t have space for a chair). And she knows exactly what she wants and what she doesn’t want. What she always wants, is to wave at people. One time, when Anja picked her up from childcare at church, Ziva realized that there was a staircase behind her, so she turned around and started waving at the people who were coming down the stairs. She also likes to fistbump people and they enjoy fistpumping her, once they get what Ziva is trying to do. She also immediately starts to wave when you say “bye-bye” or “goodnight” or when you ask her, if she wants to wave.
I sit on chair 
I being cute 
I blow dandelion 
I watch video 
I kick ball 
I climb
Last month, Ziva was climbing the chairs in the living room, this month, she started to climb the chairs in our dining room, and she has fallen with them and off them already a couple of times. However, we now need to make sure that we remove everything that’s fragile or that could make a mess when it falls to the floor right after we leave the table.
We thought Ziva was going through a sleep regression when for a couple of days in a row, she would wake up crying, wanting to drink at least twice a night. It was impossible to just hold her, all she wanted was to get Anja to the stairs so she could drink. Then, one night, Ziva was already asleep, Anja touched her head to see if she was warm enough and realized that Ziva was hot. When we took her temperature, it showed 38.6 degrees celsius and we decided to take her to the hospital. It turned out that Ziva had a virus infection which had caused an inflamation in her throat and was painful, of course. The doctor prescribed her pain meds that were also anti-inflamatory and a second medicament against the virus. After only three days, Ziva was good again and she went back to her regular sleep pattern, with one night feeding.
Weather
It has gotten colder here, too. Just when we were able to buy Ziva some warm pajamas, the temperature fell below 11 degrees celsius at night! It is quite a lot when you consider that the highest temperature was 24 degrees celsius! Also, the houses in Mexico are not insulated and have no central heating. Chris was able to make some improvements in order to keep the cold air out, but it is not really warm.
At the same time, the fog started to come in from the ocean and it got very humid. We noticed that in the morning, there was a lot of condensation on the window panes. Shortly after that, we discovered that our suitcases, some of the clothes, both of which were in our closet, and the walls had gotten moldy again! So we decided to air out the house during the day, when it was the warmest and to switch on the heater, especially upstairs, where the mold had appeared. Chris also took time to remove the mold from the walls and to remove the moldy items from our closet.
Prayer Requests
- That we can find more people who are willing to support us financially
- A solution so Anja can do graphics
- Healing for our backs
- Ziva’s health
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!
For more information, visit the About Us or Become a Partner page.
