Faces of Calvary: meet Kezia & Timber

Each month we highlight two women of the Calvary Congregation. This is a fun way to get to know them better. If you see them around church be sure to say hi to them! You can ask Kezia about her favorite dessert Bom Bocado. Maybe Pastor Tim can make it for us. And Timber has a fascinating vision for an Eden Café, that she would like to discuss with you.

Meet Kezia Schutz

Tell me about your family?

My husband Steve and I have two children, Gabriela, who is 13, and Lucas, who is 11. Both Steve and I grew up in traditional Christian families, but the biggest difference between us is that I’m Brazilian, and Steve is American. Steve went to Brazil to spend some time in Campinas, São Paulo, where I was working on my PhD, to help his high school youth pastor turned church-planter build a new ministry in several of his churches. And eventually, as way leads to way, we met through one of Steve’s Brazilian roommates who attended my church.

We came to the United States, specifically Rochester, Minnesota, where Steve is from, in July 2006. The weather was warm, and the summer enjoyable, but nothing could have prepared me for the miserable winter weather. Nevertheless, we have been here ever since. Despite some challenges, we find it very rewarding and definitively a blessing to be a family that belongs to two countries. We get to speak both Portuguese and English, enjoy the best of both cultures, and the highlight of our year is our (mostly) annual trips to Brazil.

Share a core childhood memory and a bit about your younger years and places you’ve lived.

I grew up in a family of nine kids, and I’m the second to last. I learned a lot from my older siblings and have many fantastic memories with them; we are very close in age and are pretty much each other’s best friends. We went to a Christian private school that ran from kindergarten to 12th grade, so we were in the same school together for many years. My favorite childhood memory, however, is of the Easter Holiday. My city, Recife (pronounced Hĕ-sĭf-ē), would put on this big theatrical show of the Passion of the Christ in the middle of the city. My whole family and church friends would go. Each scene was performed in a different location, and we would walk from scene to scene together. Thousands of people from all over Brazil would come to watch it. The scene of Jesus ascending into Heaven was always my favorite.

What’s your favorite time of day and why?

My favorite time of the day is the morning. I always wake up full of energy and breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.

Share one thing that you love to do that you get to do nearly every day

I love taking care of my family. I work part-time during the week, but on the days that I’m home, I love waking up early and preparing a special breakfast for my husband and kids before they leave the house for work or school. 

What’s the best dessert you’ve ever had?

The best dessert I have ever had is a Brazilian dessert called “Bom Bocado” (Good Bite). It’s a custard made from shredded coconut, parmesan cheese, flour, milk, butter, sugar, and eggs. It’s served with whipped cream and a strong cup of coffee.

If you had one extra hour of free time a day, how would you use it?

I would probably try to spend the extra time on a phone call with my family in Brazil – there never seems to be enough time to connect to everyone there.

What are some of your hobbies?

I have always enjoyed reading, but one hobby that I have acquired after meeting my husband, and one I have fallen in love with is hiking, even during the winter, surprisingly. We are regulars at Chester Woods Park and Whitewater, but we have visited many others up and down the Eastern side of Minnesota. National Parks have also become a treasured destination. While my husband likes scenic overlooks, to me the most rewarding hikes are the ones that lead to waterfalls, my favorite of which is the Bridal Veil Falls Trail in Yosemite National Park.

Do you have a favorite bible verse?

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” Psalms 139:23-24

Meet Timber Ashby

Describe yourself in 5 adjectives.

Loyal, flexible, relaxed, not-competitive, easily humored (hence my husband Ben & his jokes)

Share a core childhood memory and a bit about your younger years and places you’ve lived.

I grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina with a big family. I have four brothers and one sister, and my family is growing with two baby nieces and a nephew. When I was in the fourth grade, my parents moved us out of the city to a piece of land that we always called “The Farm” even though we didn’t farm anything or have animals. We spent a lot of time outside, exploring and driving old cars around the fields (my eleven-year-old brother taught me to drive when I was thirteen!)

During the summers, my siblings and I operated a “family business,” aka the “Snack Shack,” at our community pool. I spent many hours making grilled cheeses, serving ice cream, and playing cards and ping-pong. When I graduated high school, I moved just a few hours away from my hometown to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Tar Heels!) I moved around during my college summers, living in Chile, D.C., Wyoming, Vietnam, and Kentucky. After graduating, I came back to the Chapel Hill area where I ultimately met my husband Ben, who was attending grad school at UNC at the time. We got married and stayed in North Carolina while he finished school, and then we made the move to Rochester!

Describe your average day

I spend my weekdays teaching math and special education at Kellogg Middle School. When I’m not at school, I spend time with my husband Ben, who is in his first year of residency. We enjoy staying active together, either by running or cycling or strength training. I’m not a competitive person but I enjoy the challenge of trying to keep up with him! Most recently, we have enjoyed going to a group exercise class together (shout-out to fellow Calvary member, Josh, who leads the awesome cycle & weights class on Sundays). I also help part-time at a residential home for adults with disabilities. My mundane joy is grocery shopping. I love it and probably spend far too much time wandering the aisles.

What are you most passionate about?

Passion is a word that intimidates me a little, but I would say that God has given me a specific desire to support adults with disabilities, in some form or another. For a while, this passion took the form of my job. Before moving to Rochester, I worked for a non-profit organization that offered affordable housing for adults with disabilities. It was purposefully located on a sustainable farm, so I spent quite a bit of time growing vegetables, pulling weeds, and chasing chickens with my friends who had disabilities. The shared work of tending the land together held so many valuable lessons. In God’s timing, He called me from that job to public education and I now currently teach special education. I hope to continue to find ways to serve, but more importantly, just be friends with individuals with disabilities.

If you had no limitations, what would you do with your life?

I would open a sandwich & salad lunch spot that employed adults with disabilities. At this cafe, the team would bake our own bread for the sandwiches as well as use hydroponics (a growing technique that grows veggies in nutrient-rich water instead of traditional soil) to grow fresh lettuce & veggies for the salads. My hope would be to cultivate a space where adults with disabilities could proudly utilize their existing gifts while also learning new skills such as how to grow fresh hydroponic produce and how to put it all together to make a tasty meal.

I think calling it “Eden’s Cafe & Bakery” would be a meaningful connection to the story of the garden of Eden. In Eden, God provided healthy food in abundance and He created human beings in his image (how cool is that!) In the garden, people were meant to thrive in communion with God, each other, and the earth. “Eden’s Cafe and Bakery” could be a small slice of God’s intended glory for creation. Anyone at Calvary want to help start this with me?