My name is Katlyn Schmitz and I have been asked to help fill in and write some blogs while the Carson family is busy with added responsibilities of building the new team house. So I’d like to start with who we are and why we are here and how we’ve been connecting. Joshua Schmitz my husband has known Kit and Ream for many years and originally help Kit a lot as the orphanage was being build. Last year Joshua and I in making some changes to what ministry we would be working with considered the Carson’s working in Takeo. Amazingly that was a year ago already. I am a full-time mother of 3 and I’ve been tasked with Event Coordination but spend a lot of time with the older girls. Joshua has been tasked with Project and Mission coordination. Currently Josh is teaching a lot of English classes at the school and teaching bible to students and teachers.

One of the reasons Joshua and I fell in love with this ministry was the vision and the stewardship of that vision. There was order and discipline and growth. God was clearly in it. This wasn’t a ministry built on a whim but rather a confidence in God to fulfill His plans and promise. One often looks at a ministry and feels awestruck. To see an orphanage in the middle of a village filled with joy filled faces and stories of redemption. To see a place where God is so obviously working. But what many don’t see from the outside, is that ministry, as joyful as it can be, is also painful. It hurts deeply to choose over and over again to keep your heart open and tender even if that means having it broken, tested, pushed and then asked to give more. Kids are kids no matter the country and teenagers are teenagers. Now imagine those tricky normal phases they go through being extremely heightened with backgrounds of abuse and neglect, and raising them can get harder than you can imagine. Also keep in mind that you have 34 of them. Being that we are here long term and building relationships with the kids, we got to see first hand the heart behind this ministry. I was humbled to be a part of the behind the scenes, deep, heart-wrenching part of ministry… the deep heart-wrenching part of a family. I sat and listened to Kit, who is for many of the kids here the only dad they have, come up with every option he could think of in hopes of leading his “daughter” here in the right direction. I sat and listened as he came up with different solutions by asking what he would do if his biological son was in the same position. I listened as he acknowledged the weight of his decision and its ability to determine her whole life but also the grief, that at 18, the decision was hers. You see, in ministry, as parents, in any position of leadership, we can only love and pray and give what we can in hopes that they will take hold of it all and surrender to God. It takes courage to pour out love knowing that some day these kids could choose to walk away from it. And to do that for 34 plus kids takes not only courage but also a deep faith in God and His relentless love for his children. During this incident I hugged and prayed over a weeping and exhausted mother of 34 who like so many mothers had given chance after chance and so many “this is the last time” warnings. I stood awkwardly with nothing to offer and then I saw her do something that so clearly had been done time and time again. She took a deep breathe as if to gather herself and breathe in all the promises she’s held to over the years and a calm and a strength came over her as she headed out to face whatever came next. I share all this with you because in the midst of all these posts about a team house being built, the school expanding and new ministry it may be easy to see it as an organization… a great organization, but an organization nonetheless. It may appear to be run by “directors” or “overseers” working towards growing their organization. I was humbled and encouraged and I hope you are also, to know that this is a family, run by a mom and dad who after 9 plus years here as missionaries could easily be desensitized and calloused to the heartache of ministry but instead have chosen time and time again to hurt deeply in order that they also love deeply. We are honored to be a part of this family and are excited for the season God is bringing this family into.

https://joshuakatlyn.wordpress.com/