Enough Already

The snow may be deep, our snow blower may be broken, we may lose Emma in a snow drift...but, we can look at it all with the hopes that next winter we won’t even see a shovel, or a snowflake, or need heat in our houses, or...the list goes on!

I know, we wrote that we were dreaming of a green Christmas, but white is certainly better than brown.  At least that’s what I was telling myself 2 feet of snow ago.  This is ridiculous!!!  I feel like sending our friends in Guatemala a postcard that reads “Wish we were there!”

For those of you who don’t live in NH, or New England in general, count your blessings.  This has been a crazy winter (before it was even officially winter.)  It all started with the Ice Storm back on December 11.  50% of NH was without power for days, and some still are.  We, thankfully never lost our power, so we opened up our home to our cold, powerless, friends and family.  That was actually lots of fun.

Abigail and Emma had great fun playing with their friends.   Abigail, not used to playing with boys that much, adjusted well ... actually she still did the things she normally does, she just changed the wording.  For example, we didn’t eat Magic Fairy Wands (breadsticks) we ate Knight swords.  And we didn’t play dress-up, we played “The Knight Saves the Princess.” 

Needless to say, Guatemala’s warmth is looking really good right now - but we sure are glad to be home for the holidays!

Kernels and Cookies

Earlier this week Emma decided to mix her chocolate pudding, corn, and cheese pizza all together.  Oops, Mommy forgot she had never fed herself pudding before (unsupervised.)  I was listening for problems, not watching for them...Abigail’s laughter alerted me to the situation.

Some of you may remember the exploding popcorn bag incident.  Well, the kernel art pictures have arrived!  Can you guess which one is Emma’s?  She mostly wanted to eat the kernels, crafts aren’t yet her thing.

Thanks to the ice storm thing we are having, we had a family night in.  We decided it would be a good idea to start our Christmas baking.  

It took a little while, as the recipe was already packed away - 

glad to finally locate that box - but we managed to bake 4 dozen butter milk cookies tonight.  

It was truly a family affair.  Emma thought she was the queen of the kitchen, and she was only a little upset that she didn’t have her own apron. Abigail was really excited thto use her own rolling pin that Grammy and Grampa got her last year. (We don’t roll things often!)

Time Wanted

26 hour days would be good. The web site is on the list of things to do, it's just not as high a priority as so many other things. Lately our top thing has been taking care of the children. Go figure. If they could cook their own food, drive themselves to school, etc...we would have so much more time (HeHe...)

Please pray that Joy gets enough time to practice for her upcoming performance. 9 days to go, and she still hasn't learned all the music. (Shh...maybe no one will notice.)

In the 21st Century

Keep your eyes open...We will soon be moving the blog to our new website. Wow, it feels kind of official like to have our very own website. It is currently under construction, but visit www.eisnersinguatemala.com sometime soon. It will have all the information about Third Culture Kids and much much more. (I wonder if I can find a way to put a fun trivia game on there or something. I bet Ken can.)

Flesh and Blood

We had a great weekend in Maine. The people in Rangely were very nice, and it was nice to give our first presentation on Third Culture Kids.
We went to Gordon early for our class Monday so that we could have dinner with a real life, flesh and blood Third Culture Kid. Sam is South Korean, raised in Germany, and currently at school in the states. He is the head of Mu Kappa, an organization for Missionary Kids, and is going to get us in to be able to talk with them, and hear from them - not just a book. We are hoping to be able to establish some relationships and even have some up for the weekend. Most of them don't get off campus on their breaks.
I got to use my 1 Korean word that I had learned, and Sam confirmed that learning some Korean would be a good way to reach out and show that I care. (We'll let Ken learn Spanish first!)

We just made a new purchase tonight to help with the new TCK angle of our ministry. So many people have questions, we thought a website would be the best way to condense our information. So coming soon will be www.eisnersinguatemala.com.

Light Dawns on Marblehead

We've got it!!!!! Until now, we had a job title, description, whatever you want to call it - but didn't really feel settled in it. Then, Joy stood at the polls with Susanna Groen (holding signs for her Dad - who unfortunately lost), and Susanna started the ball rolling. She was telling Joy about a book she was reading called Third Culture Kids, which relates to the work we are going to be doing. So, Joy asked to borrow the book. After only a few pages it clicked - The Eisners are (drumroll please......) *TaDa* Missionaries to Third Culture Kids. It's perfect and it is exactly what God has called us to.
Now, some of you are saying - What on earth is a Third Culture Kid? Here it is in a nutshell.
A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is anyone who has spent a significant part of their childhood living in a culture other than their parents'. The TCK builds a relationship with both cultures (or all if there are more than 2), but doesn't really feel like they belong in any of them. They get their sense of belonging from being with other TCKs.
DingDingDing - went the bells in our heads. That is who we will be working with. We won't be working only with Missionary Kids (MKs) as 1/4 of the kids at our school are not MKs. A Third Culture Kid is anyone who spent that time in another culture - children of businessmen, diplomats, military, random people who just want a warmer climate - and those are the kids that go to Christian Academy Guatemala. They are our mission field!
So, when you tell others about our ministry (and help us to spread the word!) please tell them - The Eisners are raising support to begin their new service as Missionaries to Third Culture Kids. (Just make sure you know what a TCK is for when you get asked!)

CAG - almost desparate

I just got off the phone with our recruitment director at CAG. Boy, do they need Kenneth.
Unfortunately I was calling them to give them our next target leave date - which is June. However, I was also calling to let them know that we are going to try to fly down for at least a few days so that he can put some band-aids on their computer system.
Please pray for us as we make this decision, when to go, where to leave the girls, etc...
We have found (Thanks Bambarino) some really cheap tickets, so please pray that the price will still be there when we have decided on a time.

The kernel art is done - and so are the camera batteries - so keep staying tuned...

Danger...

There are some things I am going to miss when we move to Guatemala. I used to think our popcorn popper was one of them. (We always pop popcorn when we watch a family movie.) Now, I have rediscovered the wonder of stove popped popcorn - and no, I don't mean Jiffy Pop. So, last night I was preparing to feed the new addiction...I brought the pot and bag of corn over to the stove (where I had sort of noticed Ken heating some noodles) and set them down. As soon as I sat the plastic bag of popcorn down (literally, like not even more than a second or two time delay) I realized that I had done so on Ken's recently used burner. I quickly grabbed it and pulled it off the stove - and as I did the kernels flew all over the place. Just that fast the bag had completely melted onto the burner. Thankfully I was able to rescue some of the kernels and feed the addiction.
It also led to some great family time as we crawled around trying to rescue the kernels from the floor. We didn't want to use the dirty broom in case they were salvageable. (Thing is - we have a dog, those of you who also have a dog know that no matter how often you sweep - there is always dog hair on the floor. I'm often amazed that the dog has not gone bald.) Abs and Mommy would get a nice little pile, and then Emma would try to help. Her version of pushing kernels into a pile was more like, well, scattering them out of the pile and laughing. At last she acquiesced to holding the bag open and we were able to finish the job. So, later this week the girls will be making some popcorn kernel drawings - a nice cheap craft that for some reason we have never done. See, God is even in the little things.
So, next time you go to set a plastic bag down on a stove - think DANGER and then think of me crawling around on the floor, and check the burner first.

We have been doing a lot of interesting reading for our class. A book recommendation for all of you is - Six Dangerous Questions to Transform your View of the World by Paul Borthwick. It has been very challenging to us (more so Joy who has actually finished the book.) One of Joy's favorite parts of the course has been the geography portion. My, the world has changed in the last say 2 decades since I had to learn it the first time. I now know where every country is in Africa though, and South/Central America, soon I will even know Asia and Europe. (There are sure a lot of new Stan countries...maybe we could just lump them all together and make a new continent called...hmmm...Stan.)
One of the other things our class has been concentrating on is the Unreached People Groups of the world. Soon we will be adding a daily prayer section to our blog. Those of you who check it regularly, I would encourage you to start praying with us for these people. If you have any interest in seeing more than that you can check out the website www.joshuaproject.org

Well, I still have about 100 pages of ancient missions history to read, and less than an hour to do it, so I should be going. Or, maybe I should catch up on thank you notes - yeah, that sounds like a better idea...ancient history isn't going to change much before tomorrow.

Stay tuned for kernel art....

Been a While

Sorry it has been so long...I will think of something interesting and creative and write about it in the next couple of days - when I'm not studying.

Skewing the Age Range

I'm quite sure that I have never skewed the age range in a room quite so much to the older side. My first trip to Gordon was eye opening, my eyes kept popping open thinking - "they look 12." The student I was eating with kept chuckling, and then pointed to someone and said "He doesn't look 12." I turned to see one of the cafeteria workers who was there when I was in school. Just for the record - campus workers don't count!
Feeling old was only solidified when after three hours I couldn't remember certain world capitals, like, say - Baghdad. (Sorry Dan.) I did manage to get some of the continents right on that part of the quiz though. (Who gives a quiz on the first day of class!? - oh, me...). Then there was the student next to me who asked "Was this building here when you were a student." Now, with many new buildings on campus this was not a total shock - but we were in the library building. It doesn't even look new!
Other than feeling closer in age to the prof than the students our class is going well. We are auditing, so we don't have to do all the work. (Thus we will not be writing the 25 page research paper!) We would still like to do as much as we can though, so we have been studying a lot. One of this weeks books is Six Dangerous Questions to transform your World View. So far a very interesting, and thought provoking read.

Geese, Bagpipes and Soccer

Can you guess what they all have in common? (Think about it, really, don't just cheat and read ahead.) This is that sentence where you are expecting to find the answer, but I'm not that silly! Come on, I'm a teacher. You will just have to be patient.
We are still hoping to be in Guatemala this December, and we have just learned that if we can get there a house may be available for us. That is exciting, but we are trying to remain calm as we know that God's timing doesn't revolve around a house. In the meantime we are continuing with our life here in New Hampshire.
This past week Abigail started Pre-K at Seacoast Christian School, where until this year I was a Spanish teacher. She was very hesitant, and clingy, when she learned that I wouldn't actually be staying at the school with her. She did much better at saying goodbye on the second day of school though. We'll see how tomorrow goes.
Have you figured it out yet? I know, it was a hard one. They are all things that can be found at Gordon College. What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Nothing. (Though I do often wonder what the price of tea really is in China.) It does have to do with our ministry though. Kenneth and I begin taking a class about the history of missions on September 8, at - you guessed it - Gordon College. We are very grateful that the professor, Paul Borthwick, is allowing us to audit the class. Thankful partially due to the saved money, but also due to the reduced work load. I can't even begin to imagine trying to take the class for a grade with the life that we have right now. In the first two weeks alone there are 3 books to read. Yeah right! I could barely do that in college, before children, and I'm a fast reader.
The class looks as though it will be very interesting and informative, which is exciting. It's not the date night most people look for, but hey - you gotta' do what you gotta' do. Please pray that we will be able to absorb a little more information in these aging brains of ours. (That was for your benefit Dad.) Thanks!

I'm dreaming of a green Christmas

I just can't take another white one, it's so much easier to shovel rain. I remember being in FL once around Christmas, and my cousins were talking about going to the beach - that was so strange to a native New England girl. Now, it sounds delightful. Somehow when I grew up and had to shovel snow lost its allure.
All that is to say that we are hoping to be in Guatemala before Christmas. Our new target leave date is on (or the weekend before) December 1st. We would like to start teaching when school starts up again in second semester. Getting there at the beginning of December allows time for Ken to go to language school, and me to furnish the house. I'm hoping it won't take me a whole month to shop for furniture, but you never know. Maybe I will whittle some all on my own, or let the girls do it. (Wait - that could be dangerous.)

Our pastor recently said something about no longer using the term "raising" support, but yet "discovering" support. I really like that term. We know that God wants us in Guatemala and that he has the means to get us there. He is choosing to do that by allowing others to support us. We are praying fervently that all of our support will come in quickly. We know that there are many out there planning on supporting, that just haven't gotten around to mailing in their response card. It is reassuring to know that those people are out there, yet we can't figure their support into our totals until our agency has the paper in hand. They don't need the money until we leave (or leave our jobs rather), just the paper saying it will come. Please join us in praying that those people will send their cards in quickly.

Blessings. I'm off to keep up with my recent addiction, the Olympics.

New Leave Date

Well, we missed our first leave date of August 1st. We are going to be setting a new leave date, probably late Nov, after some prayer. Please pray that we will listen to God's voice in this. Also, please pray that we will start receiving more commitments for monthly support. Our up front costs are doing really well, but we really need those monthly commitments.

We were reminded of God's promises today as we saw two absolutely stunning rainbows. God is good!

Abigail starts school in four weeks. We can barely believe that she is old enough, but she is definitely ready. Joy hardly knows what she is going to do with herself while Abs is in school all day (twice a week.) Surely Emma will more than make up for the missing person!

Trust

Well, time for another step in living by faith. We learned today that CAG has hired someone that is already in Guatemala to do the high school chorus position. On the one hand I (Joy) am glad that there will still be a chorus, but on the other I feel as though I lost a job. Please pray that I can trust that God has a better plan for me than we originally thought. After an already disappointing week, this doesn't help my mood any. (At least I got those thank you's done today.)

At this point in time Ken's position is still available and they said they would have plenty of work for him to do as soon as he arrives. Gee, I wish we knew when that would be.

And you're a mom...

I was talking to a missionary friend the other day about the many things on my to do list for Guatemala. Her comment was "and I bet that being a mother to two isn't on the list." Good bet! I have discovered that it is extremely difficult to get anything done during the day as far as "missionary work" goes. Most of it is the other things I have to do, but I think some of it may be discouragement. Please pray that I (Joy) will be able to find a balance, and get done what needs to be without neglecting my jobs as a wife and mother. Also, that I would still find time to relax and just vegetate. Please pray for Ken as he is working 14 hour days right now, and is exhausted already after the trip we had last week.

On a happier note - Abigail took a nap today. She NEVER does that. It was nice to be able to just sit and watch a show that wasn't animated. (Of course I should have been writing thank you notes.)

It was bound to happen

Today Emma learned to take off her diaper. Unfortunately it went unnoticed for 2 hours.

Detours and Bible Trivia

Thanks for all your prayers. We arrived home safely late last night. We had quite the eventful trip home, compared to normal.
Ken's alarm...not loud enough, not working, not helpful
Emma's pacifier...mysteriously disappears causing a half hour "Great Hunt for the Pe-Pe"
Bible Trivia status...Joy winning
No pacifiers at the Big Stop Irving store - School books, snow globes, Tacky parking signs, OraGel, but no pacifiers.
Emma crying....finally sleeping
Bible Trivia Status....Dad winning
Lunch in Saint John, so we were a few exits early and had to navigate (without the GPS)
Emma has a reaction to the ranch dip she got all over her face - medics in restaurant say she's OK
(If I have to hear the My Little Pony song again, I might drive off the road - Thanks Mr Randolph for those videos)(Really, thanks!)
Bible Trivia status....tied
I-295 is shorter....unless of course there is that 20 mile detour onto a much slower road
BT status - Dad cheating...Joy bitter...Joy pulling it out for a win in the end - but good game Dad
Severe thunderstorm and driving rain - really couldn't see, moderately unsafe
Arrive home to discover that while our neighbors were gone for the weekend their small group completely redid their kitchen....Glad we didn't call the police when we saw strange cars and a trailer.

Unexpected trip...part 3

We had the funeral and reception yesterday. Grandad held up really well, but there were a lot of people around. Please pray for him as he starts to adjust to life without Nanny, and without as many people around to distract him.
We will be leaving Canada to travel home early Sunday morning. Next Sunday we will be speaking at North Berwick Baptist. While we were here we were asked to come back and speak at the church where Ken grew up, and also at the church of his great aunt. Speaking at churches in Canada is exciting, but where we have to travel quite far presents even more decisions to be made.
Thank you for your continued prayers. May God bless you today!

Unexpected trip...part 2

We went to visit Ken's grandfather today. It was very strange being in the house without Nan around. Grandad is absolutely lost without her - she did everything for him during their 63 years of marriage.
We have been trying to find the "silver lining" to this trip home. One of our first thoughts was that if this had happened a few months from now we may not have been able to come home. It will be nice, though under sad circumstances, to have Ken's brother and sister home. We haven't all been together for 3 years, and never at Ken's parents house. Abigail and Emma will be able to meet cousins and aunts whom they only know by name. Starting tomorrow we are going to have a very full house.
Thank you for all of your prayers, keep it up please. If your grandparents are still living, take time today to call them and tell them you love them!

Unexpected trip...

Yesterday afternoon we learned that Ken's grandmother had passed away suddenly. It was, of course, very shocking. Within 5 hours we, and Joy's parents, were on the road to Canada. We have arrived safely, but are exhausted. The girls did really well, though Emma woke up every time we stopped the car.
Thanks to those who prayed for our safety.
Please keep the Eisner family in your prayers at this sad time.
Will post more after a much needed nap.

Worry or Trust?

Many of us have heard this Bible passage a million times:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God.
I know it so well in my head, but it takes me time to remember it sometimes when I am stressed. At our recent orientation I heard a quote that really brings this verse home, and catches me -
"You cannot both worry and trust God. One of them has to go - you get to choose."
Whoo - now that really brings the point home.
This is an attitude that we are trying to cultivate as a family, no worry - just trust. Boy it sure takes the pressure off of us. It has been so nice to sit back, trust, and watch God do His work.
Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement. I encourage you all to take the above verse, and quote to heart. Which one will you choose?

The Lost Hath been found?!

Folks from all around the world -- oh, ok -- Dover & Rochester -- are telling us that our Ministry letters are (finally) arriving in mailboxes!

An answer to prayer!

Yippeee!

Uniformity or Unity?

For the past few days I have been thinking about this issue within the Christian church. Does God want uniformity? No - even amongst the disciples ministry was carried out in a variety of ways. Some of them were very direct about needing financial support from the other members of the kingdom. Some were not. Some had families, some did not. But all did great works for God, which he had prepared in advance for them to do.
Does God want unity? Absolutely. Moments ago I was reading Luke 11:17, also found in Mark 3:24-25, "Any kingdom divided against itself will fall." I am thankful that we don't have to worry about Christ's kingdom falling, but we should be concerned with division in it. Division among denominations is very prevalent in Guatemala, and I feel in the North American church. It would do us all good to remember that God does not want uniformity, but he does want unity.

So, when are you guys leaving?

Hmmm...That's a good question. "When God want us to" is the simple answer. As many of you know the school where we will be serving in our primary ministry is having new teacher orientation on August 8. We were hoping that God wanted us to be there for that, but apparently that is not the case.
We want to finish well here in the states, and thus Kenneth wants to give the 30 days notice that has been requested of him. It is also very important for us to visit his family in Canada before we move. Through prayer and consultation we are currently waiting until we have 75% of our monthly support pledged before we move on this.
So, at this point we will be leaving about 40 days after we have pledges for that 75%.

Thank you for caring about our family. We appreciate receiving encouraging comments from you.
Please pray that people in this area will receive their ministry letters soon. (Especially since we are getting ready to mail the next one...wouldn't it be funny if people got that one first!)

Frustrated!

We are getting a bit frustrated as it has been more that 2 weeks since our ministry letters were mailed and they still have not arrived here in NH. In TX they were told up to 2 weeks, but my dad's postal person said 8 weeks this morning. We may have to look into not using bulk mail next time, it just takes too long.
We have to remember, though it is not easy, that God will put that letter in someone's mailbox when they need to read it. From the human perspective we look at the fact that our first deadline for support is in a few days, and that is what keeps going through our heads.
Please pray that God will keep us stayed on Him, and that he will get us to Guatemala when He wants us there, which may not coincide with the time we wanted.

A Charming Morning

This morning we were blessed to speak at a local country church.  I think there were about 8 pews on each side.  We met many new people, and we hope that we were able to minister to them.  Kenneth preached (for the third time ever) about Being Extraordinary in an Ordinary World.  The main question he posed I will pose to all of you - What are you going to do with the life God gave you?  Are you going to live it for Him or for you?

Blessings to you this Sabbath day!

Ahhh...New Hampshire

We are finally home. We had a 22 hour day yesterday, and boy are we tired. Our flight was delayed first in San Antonio, then again in Chicago. Apparently pilots don't like to fly through severe lightning - praise God! Ken is working today, and I just picked up the girls and brought them home. It was really nice to be with them again!
Thanks to everyone that has been praying!

You know you're in Texas when...(Part 2)

...The parking lot of your hotel has 20 trucks (like, the ones you see in the commercials!)
...The dairy queen menu has a chicken fried steak meal.
...The specials are catfish and crawfish tails.

You know you're in Texas when...

The waffles are in the shape of the state of Texas - no joke, they really are.

Anyway, Day One of our orientation was intense, but excellent. It has been especially nice to put faces with names, and meet other people preparing to serve in Guatemala.

They really crank the AC here, which we expected, since it stays in the 90s well into the night. In fact, when we landed at 10:30 last night it was 92 degrees. Someone told me it would be a dry heat - they were wrong. It is really humid.

Prayer Requests - We are rethinking some of our strategy, pray that we would really listen to what God wants us to do...not necessarily people. (No big changes, mostly minor.)
Ken has to work tonight, while Joy is at the pool, pray that he will stay awake and be alert tomorrow as well.
We are so thankful for our family taking the girls. It has been so much easier. There is a family here with their two little ones and they can't both be in the meetings at the same time. We have found it a blessing to listen and then compare our thoughts after each session. Praise God that he has blessed us with loving family for our girls - even Snickers!

Here we Sit...

Well, at least the airport has wireless internet. We have been delayed thanks to some bad weather in Philadelphia....some guy just dropped a shot glass that probably cost 10 bucks, bummer.
Anyway, we finished our audio training and Ken is reading the book the agency assigned. I think I might play a game or something.

Orientation

Ken and Joy are heading to Texas tomorrow for our orientation meetings with CTEN. Joy's parents will have the girls during the day, and her sister-in-law and brother will have them at night. We are so blessed to have family that is able to help care for our girls! Please pray for the girls - that they would be well behaved. We know that they will be safe and well cared for.
Please, pray for our family as they are not used to having two little ones in the house. Please, pray for us as we try to digest all the information that will be coming at us.
We fly out tomorrow and come back late Thursday night. We will try to blog anything interesting.

Praise God for Health Care!

I am beginning to think that it is time for me to start renting out a room at our pediatricians office. We know that when we are in the center of God's will that is when Satan really wants to attack us. It seems that he has chosen the girls health, and ours, to be his method of choice.
Literally since the week we decided to follow God's call to Guatemala, one of us has been sick.

It all began with Abigail's chicken pox, and then her other chicken pox. Apparently the vaccine is only 90% effective. Hmmm...does that mean she is in the top 10%, or an overachiever, or both? The next big problem (at least that I remember) was that Emma seemed to have stalled in the weight gain department. (Great for my back, but not so much for her chart.) We had to have her tested for a variety of things. Turns out there isn't a test for just plain old stubborn. (Unless you count her genes.) As far as we know she is now gaining weight nicely - but still stubborn. Then of course there are the normal, wintertime colds, infections, viruses, etc...

Ken had a bout with some virus that caused him to take an additional 3 days off work, but claims that he is now on a "no sickness" diet. Joy had pneumonia and various other viruses, but escaped any major damage like broken arms. Praise God!

For the past few days Abigail has been complaining of leg pain, and limping around the house. Well, our plans for a nice relaxing day at the beach (as relaxing as it can get with a 4 and 1 year old) turned into a day in the radiology department at our local hospital. Though I am excited that we have a local hospital, and that is even has a radiology department that doesn't look like it escaped from WWII, it was a less than thrilling experience. Abigail had her hip X-rayed, but as far as we know there is no abnormality (I can hear snickering...I meant with her hip!) The doctor thinks that she has a virus that has settled in that particular joint. She reminds me a little bit of Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol. Bless her little heart she was still determined to play on the playground today.

Though the sicknesses have been annoying, we need to remember to rejoice in them. Satan will persecute us when we are doing the right thing....well, Nanananabooboo Satan we are still going to follow God. (I know, I just opened myself up for some kind of health disaster - remind me to rejoice when it comes!) I am very glad we have the health coverage and doctors here that we do. If any of you are reading, thank you!

Support Letters Mailed

Our letters were mailed out Monday, June 9 from Texas. They should be in your mailboxes soon. Thanks for taking the time to read them.

Update on our Preparations

We had our house on the renters market, did some showings, and thankfully none of them panned out. We have decided to wait until we are at 75% of our monthly support, then we will put the house back on. We didn't want to rent the house this month and then not end up leaving until December. We can live out of suitcases, but that would be really difficult on the girls.
We are very conscious of the fact that August may not be God's timing for us, even though that is when we are needed. Please pray that God will keep us patient as we wait for the "go" from him. For now our ministry is getting the word out about the importance of MK education and the situation in Guatemala.

Support Letters Finished

Our first newsletter has been sent to our agency and will hopefully be getting out to everyone soon. We will post when they are mailed, then if anyone wants one but didn't receive one you can let us know your address. These letters will be mailed every couple of months and will let people know prayer requests, support needs, etc...
The letters contain a response card that will allow us to know who is praying for us and supporting us financially. We really enjoy praying for our supporters and thanking them as well.

New Friends

Thanks to friends of ours from DBC, we met another family that will be moving to Guatemala this year. They will be living in our same town, and their kids will be going to our school! It was really fun to get together with them. We sat for a while and talked, it is amazing how similar our stories are. Abigail really enjoyed playing with the girls, who are about her age. Praise God for this new friendship!

Direction At Last!

For years our family has been praying for direction in regards to Guatemala. That direction came very clearly on our last trip to Guatemala. We were there to discover if LACES (Latin American Christian Education Services) and the Eisner family were a good fit. If you have read our previous posts you can see all that was accomplished on that trip. If you haven't read them, and are interested, we encourage you to do that.
Anyway, over the course of our three weeks in Guatemala we began to realize that working for LACES was not what God had planned for us. During the last week we made a trip to Christian Academy Guatemala (CAG) and realized very quickly that God was calling us to work there. Since we returned home we have applied to and been accepted at the school, as well as with our sending agency Commission to Every Nation.
We are currently in the crazy time of trying to raise our support, both prayer and financial. CAG would like us to begin serving in August of this year. At first we thought this task a little daunting, and I remember thinking "God - this wasn't the timeline I had in mind." Now, however, we are daily reminded that God is in control, and with Him nothing is impossible.
If you would like to learn more about our ministry, our story, and our prayer needs, please send an email to joyeisner@cten.org.
Also, if anyone is interested in supporting us financially, please go to www.cten.org

God still speaks! Praise the Lord!

Home Safely

We arrived home safely this morning.  Thank you for all your prayers.  We did have a massive delay in Fort Meyers, but they held our plane in Charlotte.  Our 1 and 1/2 hour layover became 30 minutes (and we had to clear immigration and customs) - but Praise God we made the flight.

We crawled into bed at 3:30 am, and the girls were of course up bright and early.  Joy has a call in to the doctors office here to get the girls checked out as they have both had gross coughs.  We also want to check the chicken pox issue before we have any company or go any where.  (In Guatemala they just go out anyway - but don't worry we are still American!)

Our Last Update from Guatemala

Well, we are getting ready to leave the school after our last day of working here. Kenneth has finished pulling wires, and installing 3 of the computers (and they are working.) Praise God!!
Becky and Joy designed the prayer card today and have come up with a plan to work together on it from many miles apart. At last all of the pictures have been transferred from one machine to another - there were over 1000 taken.

Tomorrow we leave for the states in the afternoon, but will probably not be in the school in the morning. We have extremely slow internet at home so will not blog from there. We are sad to leave, but know that we must for now.

We will post an update when we are home safely. We are due to arrive in Boston at midnight or so Thursday (well, Friday.) Please pray that the girls will travel well tomorrow, especially Emma with her ear infection. Also pray that there will be no delays, or that God will provide a better way home if there are. We are also praying that we will be able to bring Emma's seat on the flights, because she sleeps better in it. Please pray for safe travels to and from the airport for us and my brother.

Thank you for your prayers over this time, we look forward to seeing you and talking with you soon.

The Eisners

Trip to CAG

Yesterday we visited Christian Academy Guatemala for a tour. CAG is a school for missionary kids that our girls will attend if we move here. It is 78% MK's and then there is a 17% Korean population (many of whom are unsaved) thus making it also its own mission field. Everyone we met was very nice. The director took us to lunch, and then took us to see some houses in the area that are very inexpensive and very nice for a family.

These are some pictures of the school and grounds.


These are from Abigail's perspective.

Monday Update

This will be a quick update.

I realized that I had not blogged since sometime last week. I've been very busy with rebuilding the spare computers and have not had chance to check my e-mail let alone blog.

Well, so far of the five computers, three will be operational when I leave. One of the five has a faulty power unit and the other one -- the "old" one isn't really usable in any meaningful capacity. One of the computers will go to the psychologist and the other two will go to classrooms.

Friday morning Abigail was complaining about some new bug bites. I put anti-itch cream on them and thought all was good. When we got home in the afternoon Marisela noticed that Robert had the chickenpox. We checked Abigail out again and we figured that she had them too. Now, she has had the vaccination for the pox so we were hoping and praying that she would have a mild case. Robert's have crusted over so he is past contagion and Abigail has not developed any new ones at all. So, we are concluding that all is good.

Emma has developed another ear infection. We started her on omoxicilin and she is improving day-by-day.

Today we're off to check out CAG, Christian Academy Guatemala. We'll update you all on that later today or tomorrow.

That is all for now.

-knme

Our head in the clouds!

Literally, yesterday we went up to the school Chuchuca to take pictures and attend a pastors conference. Chuchuca is at 7,000 feet and COLD! The students had sweaters and gloves on during school - rememember there is no heat here. It was a great trip, we had awesome tamales for lunch, and now we will be able to have prayer cards for all of those students too. The driving was a little scary, we had about 0 visibility and there were still walkers and bikers on the road. Thanks to God we all made it back safely.
These pictures are of the clouds and the fire on which our lunch was cooked, oh - and a little girl named Dorcas (some of you will get that!)

Photo Organizing Done

At long last the pictures are all organized. It has taken 3 complete days to match up names with pictures but we are done. Amazingly with a school of 287 there are only 10 who need their pictures taken again. These are a few of my favorites.

Traveling a Bit

Andrew returned home safely last night, and is already in a flurry of activity. Kenneth is working on computers with Andrew today and they will be going to the airport in the capital this afternoon. There is a pastor coming from the states to do a conference in the mountains tomorrow. Becky's dad is also coming with the pastor so it will be nice to meet him. The men and Joy will be traveling to the mountains tomorrow. Joy will be taking pictures at the school in Chuchuca for the prayer cards while the men do their conference. Please pray for safe travel and that the picture taking will be well organized because there is not much time and there are many students.

Let the computer work begin...

So, I started the computer work this morning. The computers in the main office need some work. Of the six computers in the office, three are "relatively new", one is about seven or eight years old and the last twi are probably close to general failure. The three decent desktops are in desparate need of memory... d-e-s-p-a-r-a-t-e. One needs a new power unit. The components for these computers, if bought in the States would be about $180. We are going to see if we can cover some of these repairs from the surplus of our support.

Sadly, both Becky's and Andrew's laptops are nearing the end of their lives. I believe Becky's can be repaired... err... that is to say I believe its life can be extended with some repairs too.

Tomorrow I start looking at the five other computers they want setup. My quick assessment determined that these computers are about six to eight years old. I have been told that they all run and have already been loaded with software. I need to set them up and run the wires to network them with the rest of the system. I think this will be an exciting project.

More updates tomorrow.

-knme

Sunday Iglesia and Futbol

Well, Abigail had her first real bit of culture shock on Sunday. Church here is very different than in the states. We arrived at 9:30, when church started, and Becky declared that we were early. Even though the service starts at 9:30, people filter in till well after 10:15. The whole thing was in Spanish of course, and there was so much background noise that we got nothing out of the service. The pastor spoke for 45 minutes before we sang a song, and all the kids were still in the service. The good thing is that here that is normal and they are not expected to sit and behave like angels without talking. (Although the noise of the kids added to the already loud background noise of the town.) I figured that when it was finally time for the children to leave and go to Sunday School Abigail would be so excited - she loves it in the states. Well.....a few minutes after she left she was brought back to us bawling her eyes out. I think it all just finally hit her that she couldn't really understand what was happening and she was in a new place. Seeing her so upset about something she normally loves then made me start crying. It did get better though, I convinced her to go back to the room with me and then I stayed and helped translate the lesson for her. I probably got more out of that then I would have in the church. Emma did pretty well, and looked awfully cute in her "traje tipico" but even she got restless enough that Daddy took her out. No small wonder when church starts at 9:30 and gets out at 11:45ish.

After church we went to McDonalds for some good run around time. The McD's here has a good size play area with lots of tables for parents to sit at (not like that one in Portsmouth with 4 tables.) We enjoyed some caramel sundaes which you can't get in NH anymore. (Sorry.)

Then it was off to Joco-Fut a local futbol (soccer) and basketball place. That was a lot of fun. They had a playground with a sandbox, which mostly came home on Abigail. She was so dirty we carried her straight into the bathroom. I have never seen that child's feet so filthy.
Abigail and Joy played soccer on the girls team. Joy scored 6 goals and Abigail stopped 2 (mostly because one of the teenage boys had no mercy and kicked it right at her as she "helped" in the goal.) Boy, we were both proud of ourselves. The girls ended up winning the game - but we weren't playing the high school boys - no way, never, they are brutal and really good. The only downside to the afternoon was when Abigail sat to get dirt out of her shoes and ended up on an ant hill. They were biting ants, but praise God she didn't get any bites. That is extra good because all of her other bites are finally healing.

After the kids were all in bed Becky, Kenneth and I (Andrew is out of the country right now,) played a game that is new to us - Settlers of Catan. If any of you like that too we will have to set up a game night! We love it! We ended up having to play by the light of a lantern as we lost power last night, but hey - this is Guatemala. I missed the end of Extreme Home Makeover, but that's OK. The power eventually came back on enough that we had partial lighting, but not quite enough to run the refrigerator.

Things are going well here. I will probably not be teaching music, and if I do it will be very little. We are still very much in the huge process of taking pictures and translating stories for this years prayer cards. The hardest part now is figuring out which kid goes to which picture - they got out of order when being taken off the camera. We are down to about 150 pictures with no name. (Maybe more.) I have been naming them since 9 am today. they are cute, but now it is starting to get old - thus why I took a break and wrote this extra long blog.

God Bless and thanks for praying - we continue to enjoy getting your comments!

Saturday Update

Hi everybody.

We all had a good weekend. Well that is to say that the girls are still not sleeping so well. For example: Abigail woke last night around 11pm or so complaining that there were "too many ants to compromise with" and asking for help to "get her out of the ant trap" - try to figure that one out.

Saturday morning we had a private tour of the Finca Filadelphia coffee farm/plantation. Our tour guide was Pablo - owner of Kafes Guatemala, the American complany which exports Guatemalan coffee to the states and has pledged to donate 20% of all purchases to L.A.C.E.S. Wowzers! I had no idea how much work goes into prepping coffee for exportation. The Finca Filadelphia is 750 acres and covers some eight mountains at a variety of elevations between 2,500 and 8,000 feet above sea level. It was absolutely amazing. Joy has some pictures of the plantation on the other computer so we´ll update this post later.

After our tour we returned home to rest for a while and then headed back out to meet with someone Ken met at CSA (Christian Spanish Academy). Ron Harrington is a fellow Canadian (retired Air Force and RCMP) who, with his wife, now live in a retirement community in a Mexican town some 40km south of Guadalajara. They are Lutherin missionaries. Ron has spent the last five weeks learning spanish at CSA and his wife, Mary, will be joining him the middle of March to study with him. Ron was interested in what we were doing and why we were here.

Thanks to a random power outage our game of Settlers from Catan was played with lantern light (for some part).

Well, that about wraps up Saturday...

Miss everyone back home.

-knme

Luis Angel - Not so bad

OK - the situation with Luis Angel keeps changing, but sometimes only in what we are told. Yesterday I posted that he had a bone infection, because that is what the secretary here told us (and no, we didn't just translate wrong.) Really he doesn't, but they did move him to a hospital where they specialize in treating infections. He will be there for about a month undergoing daily cleanings to keep the infection from spreading. Then he will spend about 6 months in the other hospital. At least it is not a bone infection!

Luis Angel

We just heard from Glenda, and the new about Luis gets even more sad. They got him to the National Orthopedic Hospital early this morning, and learned that the infection has spread to his bones. They then sent him to another hospital in the city where they specialize in such infections. It is expected that he will be in that hospital 6 months. This is going to be very hard on him, and also very costly for LACES. God knows though and will fill this need I am sure.

Remember Junior?

Anyone from the Guatemala 2005 team should remember this child. His name is Junior and he has so many problems at home. His mother leaves at 6:45 am and returns at 9 pm from work. All the children have different fathers. She wants to do the best for her kids, but she can't. Right now his brother, Juan Carlos - whom the team met (he liked to ride Mike's skateboard), is missing. The children have to do everything for themselves, and his oldest brother works after school to make money to buy their food. They move from house to house, wherever they can stay for a time. No one seems to know what happens with all the money that his mother makes, because it really should be enough to help the kids more. The thing is, there are kids in this school with far worse situations than his. I am so glad to be a part of helping these kids have a better life!
By the way, Mike, the only reason Junior smiled here is because I told him the picture was for Miguelito.

Pictures

We can only post one picture with each post, so from time to time I will be adding some to previous posts, or just posting a picture and caption. Be sure to check the old posts for new pictures. We are enjoying getting your comments, sorry if we don't have time to get back to all of you. Thanks for your prayers!

This is Emma, Ana, and Abigail playing on the swingset. Emma thinks that this is the greatest thing ever!

Friends

The kids are definitely getting along well. Last night we had a little dress up party. The other day we had spiderman and Mary Jane. Too much fun!

Driving - Check!

Well now, that wasn't as bad as I thought. Yesterday when Becky and I, Joy, got back from the hospital she said - "OK, you take the car and follow me." Follow her, funny, but she wasn't joking. So I got my first crash course in driving Antigua style with no one in the car with me.

Some of you may be thinking - "What's the big deal?" Well, first off the stop signs are optional, it is all done by drivers hand motions and whether or not someone feels polite. Most of the cars have no brake lights, so you have no clue when they are stopping or turning. The streets are very narrow and normally there are cars parked on both sides, so it is a bit like an obstacle course. You can pass, or get passed, anytime you want. Oh, and the one way streets, well...those are apparently optional as well. Oh yeah, and there's this little thing of giant pot holes and random speed bumps, and big stone pillars at the ends of the streets to block off busses, and make life generally difficult. I am personally of the opinion that everyone in the car has to suck in and hold their breath in order to make it through the pillars without scraping the sides of the car.

But, God is gracious and we made it to school today with no accidents, and I wasn't even really that nervous. (Though Ken did say he thinks he lost about a pound fretting.)

What is a 'woot'?

Joy was truly baffled as to what 'woot' meant.  If you find yourself likewise confused see here.

Abigail's Update

Joy told me that she forgot to post an update on Abigail... and as I have the computer now I thought I'd do it.

Abs, and Emma, both slept very well last night.  In fact Abigail did not complain once about her bites.  And, to boot, Emma slept soundly between 11p and 5a.  Woot!

Finished my third day of Spanish.  I might get to take the Grado 'A' test either late tomorrow or, more likely, Friday.  I am a bit behind where I wanted to be but I feel that I am retaining more this time.

That is it for now.  Missing everyone!

-knme

Luis Angel Update

This is a picture of Luis a couple of years ago with a member of the DBC team that was here. Thanks Karen!

As of this morning there were various choices for the treatment of Luis. Becky and Glenda, the school's technical director, went to the capital this morning to visit the National Orthopedic Hospital. The decision has since been made, mostly due to the quality of care he will receive, to move Luis Angel to the capital city. The move will be done tomorrow early in the morning, which means that Ken and I will have to transport ourselves around the city. Time to learn how to drive like the crazy drivers they are down here.

Ken and I will be learning the ropes from Becky this afternoon, please pray that we are safe and that we have no accidents. Also, please pray for Luis - this is a big move for him, far from his family and friends. Pray that God will provide him with new friends in the hospital and that even at his young age he will understand that this is the best for him.

Luis Angel News

Since yesterday not much has happened with Luis Angel. The hospital has lost his X-rays but there has been no movement yet on his treatment. Please continue to pray for him. We are certainly thankful that he is in a hospital, but we are still annoyed at the classist/racist treatment he is receiving.

You want us to eat what?

OK - for anyone that is under the impression that we are vacationing, we had the "luxury" of eating pig head today. Ken didn't mind it nearly as much as Joy (and Becky.) It was quite the joke of the office amongst both Americans and Guatemalans. They are trying to run the food program by donations, and well, someone donated 5 pig heads. The taste was wonderful, Joy is not so sure she wants to know what the crunchy pieces were.

Yesterday when I (Joy) got home from working at the school the kids were out taking a walk with the helpers. I was shocked when Emma literally could have cared less that I was home. She made absolutely no motion of wanting to come to me instead of staying in Marisela's arms. As traumatized as I was this is actually really good because it means she is adjusting well. She has also started walking even more, though we didn't think she would have any need to with her three caretakers. Abigail and the boys play together very well and don't need much watching since the yard is totally enclosed, thusly Emma gets A LOT of attention and she is very much loving it.

Abigail did her homeschooling with Marisela yesterday and began learning the Spanish alphabet. I was very impressed with Marisela's teaching and would easily let her do it every day so that Abs learns even more Spanish. She came here to the school today and went to the kindergarten class. She lasted about an hour, until her bug bites started to hurt and she got frustrated not being able to explain this to her teacher. She did dive right in though, and I was saddened as I watched her walking away to her classroom holding the principals hand.

When I went home to pick up the kids for school Emma very distinctively said Hola to me, that was exciting. I am very pleased with how well both the girls are adapting.

I began the process of picture taking today and so far it is going well. There is a lot of translation work to be done, but it has been a very good way for me to learn some Guatemalan phrases. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for confidence in my Spanish, I am certain it is helping. Please continue to pray that we will make the time for both our family and our time with God. Please continue to pray that God will reveal to both us and the Lovealls if this is the place that He wants us to continue to serve Him.

We miss you all, but we sure are enjoying the nice weather, grass, and outdoor flowers.

Abigail Update

Greetings from Guatemala. Today I am writing to let everyone know that during the first couple of nights while Abigail was sleeping she was bitten by a couple mosquitoes. She has a number of bug bites on her legs, only her legs and did not have a very good night last night. We have switched from treating her with standard anti-itch cream with something a bit stronger and will also use some cortezone cream tonight.

Andrew and Becky say that this is fairly normal and is likely because of the type of jammies she was wearing (open at the ankles) and the way she moves around at night.

It is nothing to really worry about but please pray that she has a better night tonight... so we all can have a better night.


-knme

Happy Monday

Greetings from sunny and warm Guatemala. All is good.

The girls let us sleep in this morning (6:15am).

Yesterday we decided we needed to relax so in the morning we went to a water park and had some wet fun. It was our family, and the Loveall family and the Dempster family. The Dempster family is from Tennessee and is down here while they're going through the hoops of adopting a new baby girl. They're a very nice family.

When we returned from the park we went to a school football (soccer) match. That was a hoot. Afterward we went to the local grocery store to stock up on food and other essentials.

From Ken: Today I did my first morning at CSA (Spanish school). Tested into Grado 'A'. They're going to do a couple days of review and then let me take the test. If I pass then I'll do some work in the next grade level. Definitely had Spanish overload.

Had chance to look at some of the computers they want me to work on and surveyed the school and their current setup. Is going to be a challenge but should be fun at the same time.

Tonight we're going to go out and celebrate Nancy's birthday. Nancy is one of the other American missionaries working with the Loveall's.

Well, that is all I have to say so far... oh yeah, Emma took three steps for me today!!

From Joy: I have spent the day at the school with Becky. There have been a lot of people speaking very fast Spanish, but my brain is adjusting quickly. There is a 9 year old boy from the school named Luis Angel who is in the hospital recovering from an operation. He was born with a birth defect where his femur was outside of the hip socket, so the school paid for him to have an operation. This is very risky at his age, but Luis could barely walk. The operation he had put a pin into his hip and then he was casted. Unfortunately when the doctor took off the cast he also took out the pin, and come to find out, dislocated Luis' hip. Now he has an infection, and the doctors are basically giving the gringos the run-around. We went to the hospital this morning to get an update, but all they would say is that they have to wait for the infection to go away. Apparently then they will start thinking of a plan to help him. They blame the infection on the fact that he lives in a house with a dirt floor, but we think that the dislocation is what started the whole problem. They could have given him a preventative antibiotic, since they knew his living situation, but they didn't. Becky tried to help keep the wound clean at the house, but could not even touch him because he was in so much pain. They put him back in the hospital, where at least he has meals and a TV, but not the best medical care. After blaming all his problems on not keeping the wound clean, they called a few minutes ago to say that they couldn't clean it because he was screaming in pain. Apparently it is not customary to give a child a shot to help with the pain before such a procedure. So now, everyone in the office here is scrambling around trying to come up with a better plan to help Luis.

Please pray that things will happen quickly and that poor little Luis will be feeling better soon.

On our way to visit Luis this morning there was a young boy waiting at the door of the school to talk to Becky. He desperately wanted to study here, but they don't have any room, and his family didn't bring him in to register before the school year started. I was very close to tears as I watched Becky tell this child that he would have to wait to go to school yet another year (he is probably 7 years old.) This happens a lot down here. It is such a blessing to have Escuela Integrada here to help the 287 kids that they can.

I have started coming up with a plan for the music classroom, though I will have less time than I thought, as of today. Tomorrow I will be taking school pictures to be used for the new prayer cards and when I post this blog I will begin translating all their life stories. Pray that God would help this process to go quickly and that I would not feel pressured to get everything done. Pray that He will show Becky and I what are truly the most important things for us to accomplish while we are here.

The girls were great when I left the house this morning, Abigail really could have cared less and Emma was falling asleep. I am going to go home for the day, but will do another post if I learn anything new about Luis Angel.

Safe Arrival

Greetings from Antigua, Guatemala! We made it safe and sound.

Our plane was delayed in Boston by 35 minutes due to de-icing. This cut our change-over in Charlotte down from an hour to practically nothing. We basically deplaned and brisk-walked to the other gate and got on our connecting plane.

Through it all we are all doing well.

Everyone slept pretty good last night. The girls had us up at 6am (Central Time). Remarkably Joy was out of bed before me.

Abigail is in her own little piece of Heaven playing with Robert and Jonathan.

Well, that is all for now.

Missing everyone back home.

-knm/jr/ac/ebe

Updated Travel Info

US Air has slightly changed our flight info (from our earlier post).

Here is our updated flight info:

NEW ITINERARY:

US Airways 871 operated by US Airways
Departs Boston-Logan Int'l, MA (Boston-Logan Int'l, MA) on February 9 at 7:55 am
Arrives Charlotte, NC (Charlotte, NC) on February 9 at 10:21 am                          

US Airways 1806 operated by US Airways
Departs Charlotte, NC (Charlotte, NC) on February 9 at 11:30 am
Arrives Guatemala City (Guatemala City) on February 9 at 2:35 pm                        

US Airways 1807 operated by US Airways
Departs Guatemala City (Guatemala City) on February 28 at 3:30 pm
Arrives Charlotte, NC (Charlotte, NC) on February 28 at 8:06 pm            

US Airways 790 operated by US Airways
Departs Charlotte, NC (Charlotte, NC) on February 28 at 10:30 pm
Arrives Boston-Logan Int'l, MA (Boston-Logan Int'l, MA) on February 29 at 12:28 am 

Fully Supported

Wow!  God has truly shown us how amazing He is.

We are at 108% of our needed support.

We thank everyone who has financially supported us and continue to thank everyone for your prayer support.

We will be preparing prayer cards which will be available next Sunday at church.

Thanks again!