CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

 

Joshua can’t wait to see family at Christmas!

Joshua Yelling

Joshua has recently figured out how to vocalize at a loud volume.
He especially likes to do it early in the morning.

Costa De Pajaros

This January I will be going with a team of students from Wheaton Academy http://www.wheatonacademy.com/

To Costa de Pajaros, a small village in Costa Rica. THere we will be building a high school for students there to attend. There are currently only 4 classrooms and they need 8. We will build 2 as well as repair the first 4.

Map of Costa de Pajaros, Costa Rica

View Larger Map

Fwd: Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Here are a couple photos of our little turkey.

Christmas List

My Christmas List:

 

-My Bible Rebound - $

- A new Bible

-iTunes Gift Certificate - $

-Nintendo Wii - $$$

-Laptop - $$$

-Video Camera - $$$

-Air compressor attachment for filling tires with air - $

-Kelty Baby Backpack - $$
(http://www.shopkeltykids.com/Kelty-Baby-Carriers/Kelty-Baby-Backpacks/index.cat)

 

 

Joshua is excited Video!

Fall Photos

Family...

Joshua continues to grow... crazy how they do that....

Here are some photos... also on my blog page (http://matteolt.blogspot.com) I posted a couple of videos.

Fwd: Photos for Grandparents

Cant believe we are past 3 months already... Look how Joshua has grown!

Joshua First Flight and Back again

Friends & Family,

Joshua went on his first airplane, check that first 4 airplanes, in the last couple of weeks.

We flew out to South Carolina with the LeaderTreks staff.

We had a real blast relaxing in the afternoons, and planning/meeting all mornings for a whole week while we were there.

Joshua did stick his feet in the ocean, with the help of dad.

Here are a couple of photos.

No Cubs Tickets ;(

I sent out a call to many friends and family to help me buy Cubs tickets for the NLDS today.

I personally called some where in the area of 30 times and sat on the website "waiting in line" for over half an hour...

 

I know my Phil, Ligaya, Fran, and my wife all tried diligently as well... but no luck.

COUSINS!

As you can see from the photos... Corban Hemje, Brayden Hemje, and Joshua Schulte are all best friends and cousins.

New Pics of Joshua

Tree Down, Electrcity Out!

On Thursday at work Peter ran into my office and said look out side!
We looked and saw this huge black cloud coming at us.
Withing 3 minutes it was pouring and wind was whipping more than I can ever remember seeing.

I looked out the front window of the office and saw our huge dumpster blowing down across the parking lot!

I came home to find our huge tree blown over in the back yard and NO ELECTRICITY!
We went without Electrcity for 30 hrs!

But we made it out alive.

Boat Ride

Kristin and I went to visit her old roommate Emily and her new fiancee Christian in Indiana a couple of days ago and Joshua went for his first boat ride. Despite the crying that happened while strapping on the life jacket as soon as the purr of the motor fired up and we got moving... he loved it!

Ali, Tim and Marcia Bohlke stopped by for a visit last week!

With Glove #2

No Pacifiers Here

Joshua does not seem to like pacifiers. The only thing that will pacify him is some more milk or... dad's finger.

Sleeping is what we do best

Dozing on Dad

Napping on Mom

Joshua's favorite thing to do righ tnow is sleep.

As Big as...

Dear Uncle TJ...
You wondered how big I am... turns out I am as big as a baseball glove.
Joshua

More Photos

Joshua napping at the hospital.

Cuddling up for a nap on dad.

Napping on Mom's shoulder.
Chilling at the hospital.

Joshua Timothy Joins the Ranks

Today (June 28, 2007)

Our Son Joshua Timothy Schulte came into the world.

Joshua-Named after the Joshua son of Nun from the Bible, and also shares the namesake of Jesus Christ- Jeshua (in Hebrew) for Deliverer. Our prayer is that Joshua would bring deliverance to those who do not know Christ.

Timothy-A namesake for Kristin's father (Timothy Peterson) as well as Timothy James (Uncle TJ) Schulte and Timothy Bohlke (Uncle Tim)

Moments after birth

Mom and dad celebrate together!

Dad displays the first diaper change. Mom revels in the wonder that God has brought.

645 Students

A different Summer

Work here in the LeaderTreks office instead of overseas has definitely been different. It's a bit quite around here (there are only 2 of us in the office) but we have been very busy.

Even though I am not face to face with students as they build churches or orphanages I am getting to play a powerful role in the lives of students as I help youth pastors get resources they need to develop students in their ministries. In the past two weeks I have helped provide Student Leadership Studies, devotionals, and Spiritual Gift assessments for 645 students!

That was definiltey encouraging to realize that even though I am not face-to-face with students, I am providing resources that are growing leaders.

Baby Vote

We have no idea if we are having a boy or a girl.
What do you think?

Vote to the Right ---->

Running a 10 K

I ran a 10K recently here in the area... I ran The Run for the Animals in Wheaton on June 2nd.

I was excited to run it in only 55:28. Average of about 9 minute miles. I felt very good about it. I am training to run a half marathon in August with a team from my church. We run together every Saturday morning. It has been a great connecting point already.

Here are a couple of pics... you can see how great my pregnant wife looks!

At the finish line with hubby// At the finish line with another pregnant friend from church.

SHARKS!

My wife and I went on a "baby moon" over spring break.

(A baby moon is your last trip before you have a child.)

We used some airline vouchers and flew to Miami for a cruise. While we were there, I went on a Shark Dive with Stuart Cove's dive shop in Nassau Bahammas.

THis is a picture from that dive! You can see my legs at the very top of the picture. It was SUPER wild and awesome. I would highly recommend it to all you SCUBA divers out there.

20+ Sharks are in this photo!

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

If you have ever been on a LT trip or have ever talked to a student leader from one of our trips, it won’t take long for you to find out that the phrase “I don’t know, what do you think?” Is one of the most commonly used phrases by our staff. It’s frustrating to students to hear it, but it is one of the most empowering phrases you, as a youth worker, can use.

Student: “What songs should I play for worship tonight?”
Youth Worker : “I don’t know. What do you think?”

Student 2: “How many pancakes should we make for breakfast?”
Youth Worker 2: “I don’t know. What do you think?”

Student 3: “How do I recruit people to come to our outreach event?”
Youth Worker 3: “I don’t know. What do you think?”

Students have developed a mindset that there is only one “right” way to do things. We live in such a performance-driven culture that they believe that if they don’t do things right the first time, that they are an utter failure. So they are constantly asking adults around them how to do things right so they don’t fail.

Over the years we have found that by empowering students to make real decisions and using that simple phrase, “I don’t know, what do you think?” Students are empowered to influence the project and each other. And when students feel that sense of having decision making power, they begin to see that they can lead effectively.

This is a common problem in businesses around the country. A friend of mine works for IBM and he says they have an initiative of “lowering the center of gravity”. This means that they are empowering people at lower levels of the company to make decisions.

Why is it important for students or employees at IBM to be able to make decisions?Let’s consider your past in answering this question:
-When your senior pastor told you that you had to move youth group to Wednesday night instead of Sunday, how did you feel?
-When your mom made you take out the trash now, not five minutes from now, how did you feel?
-When your spouse demanded that you cancel a social event you had planned, how did you feel?

Diminished, disrespected, devalued? Likewise, when a student comes to you to ask a question, the majority of the time they have it figured out in their head already. So if you answer their question, and it’s not the answer they were thinking, they have proven to themselves that they are a failure. They knew the songs they picked out for worship wouldn’t suffice.
Empower your students, next time one of them asks a question about their leadership role say,

“I don’t know. What do you think?” And I guarantee that they will feel empowered to influence others.

Half Way

Half way!

Last week marked the halfway point to us having a baby!

Doesn't my wife look beautiful?

And 2 Become 3

Exciting news in the Schulte household—Kristin is pregnant!!! This summer (July 7th) we will welcome our first child into the world! It is an exciting time for us (and our parents as they become Grandparents for the first time).

So far the pregnancy has been smooth with no bumps or bruises on the way. Last week Dad (that’s kind of scary to say still) heard our baby’s heart beat for the first time. Kristin has been feeling very healthy and everything seems to be progressing well.

You can definitely pray for us as we go through this exciting and very life changing time of welcoming our first child into the world.

Student Leadership Podcast

This month I am featured in the Student Leadership podcast that we produce for youth workers. You can watch it for free on our website>> or you can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes >> I will be featured equipping youth pastors with skills and knowledge they need to develop future leaders of the church many times over the next year.

Happy New Year!

As of yesterday I arrived in Costa Rica for another great opportunity to come alongside what God is doing here. This time we are partnering with a local youth ministry, La Roca, and building a basketball court and playground area.

La Roca is located in a very poor, drug infested area, and there is literally NO open space at all, except for this small piece of property owned by the municipality. The municipality, doesn't have the money or the resources to make this area a safe area for children to play.

Enter La Roca and LeaderTreks. La Roca has had a desire to convert this piece of ground so that they can continue to have a greater impact on the community, but again no resources. LeaderTreks is bringing a group of 16 students and 2 staff to dig out this very unlevel ground, and lay a basketball court that will be used to play basketball and a local soccer game called "Futbol Cinco". We will also construct a Sandbox and do some repairs on La Roca's building.
It will be an intense 2 weeks of work as there is MUCH construction to do and a VBS outreach to run.

Please Pray for:
-Endurance of the American students and myself
-Open hearts to hear what God has for the 60+ children that will come to VBS
-Growth in the lives of the students who come to serve