What Can I Give Him?

Twenty Years.  That is how long I have been directing my own choir.  Makes me feel old.

In that amount of time there has been one, yes one Christmas season in which I was without a choir. That was in 2013 when we were in the United States on another furlough that only God had planned. And here we are again.  Last year during the craze of the Christmas season I don't think I thought I would miss it all if I were not to have it...turns out I do.  Being a choir director has become a huge part of who I am.  I love it more than teaching piano, more than being in the classroom, even more than leading worship I think.  There is just something about it that only others who also love directing choirs would understand.  So watching someone else conduct tonight was hard, very hard (thankfully he did a great job so it wasn't also painful.)

Here's the thing though.  As much as I love being a choir director, I love being a mom and a wife more.  Last week and tonight I was able to just sit in the audience with my husband and watch my children perform, and not have the stress that goes along with getting the performance ready.  It was very different than working together as a family to put on the performance, but at least we are still together.

Please continue to pray for us as we adjust to this time in the United States.  It was unexpected, but very needed.  For those of you who are unaware we are here because of some pretty traumatic events that happened to us in Guatemala.  We are okay, none of us are physically harmed, but we needed to be in a safer place as a family for a little while.  We had to leave in the middle of a semester and as a teacher that has been very difficult for me to come to terms with.  I am so thankful though for a mission board and a home church who care enough about us to make the difficult decision that we would not have been able to make.

Please also pray for CAG and our students and friends there.  We know that some students are having a very hard time adjusting to a new director after having been with me for 6 years.  I am having a hard time adjusting to not having them as well.

And please, as we enter this season of Advent, remember just what Christmas is really all about.  It makes my having to leave Guatemala seem a lot less big to realize that Christ left heaven.  Heaven.  I'll say it again - heaven.  He left heaven to be born amidst a bunch of animals and all that comes with them, for me and for you.  He came here not just for Christmas, that was not the end goal.  Easter, or as I now like to call it - Resurrection Sunday, and his eventual return - all of that entered the world on that one night (which probably was not so silent when you think about all those tourists in Bethlehem) so many years ago.  If He can leave all of that for 33 years, I suppose I can leave Guatemala for a little while if that is what God has asked me to do.  What is he asking you to do that maybe looks just a little bit smaller now in the perspective of the reality of Christmas?

One of my favorite pieces of the Christmas season is not one that you would find in many hymnals, I am not even sure where I first learned it.  The title is "In the Bleak Midwinter."  Some days I feel like that is where I am right now, in the middle of a bleak Midwinter.  But the song is not about sadness.  Read the lyrics below, please, and meditate on what they mean to you this season.

 In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, 
earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; 
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, 
in the bleak midwinter, long ago. 

2. Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain; 
heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign. 
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed 
the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ. 

3. Angels and archangels may have gathered there, 
cherubim and seraphim thronged the air; 
but his mother only, in her maiden bliss, 
worshiped the beloved with a kiss. 

4. What can I give him, poor as I am? 
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; 
if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; 
yet what I can I give him: give my heart. 

Urgent Prayer Request

Dear support team,

We need your prayers! Tonight as we were returning to our car from a birthday party in the town of Antigua we were robbed. The man only got away with Ken's wallet thanks to friends of ours who pulled up in the scene as it was happening. The husband of the birthday girl jumped out the window of the car and joined Ken in trying to chase him down, but they were unable to catch him. 

We feel that is probably for the better as they were so amped up they could have seriously harmed him and they we would have to live with that, and live in another country. Please pray for us as we go through the aftershock of what could have happened and as we try to cancel all the credit cards and get him his new licenses and such. We are thankful, so thankful, for God's provision and protection and covet your prayers for continued protection over our finances.

Summer Update

Wow, another summer in the books. Hard to believe.

Our summer was pretty eventful, even though our main ministry is "offline" during that time. Joy and Sara flew to New Hampshire to attend her neice's wedding. While there they tried to meet with as many supporters and friends as possible. It was a fairly jam-packed three weeks - but we're thankful for all they were able to accomplish and thankful for all the love and support they received while there.

While that was happening Ken, Abigail, and Emma remained in Guatemala... doing? Not much, actually. The kids continued their summer studies and Ken continued part-time with C.A.G. Abigail and Emma attended a week-long camp for missions kids shortly after Joy and Sara returned.

Near the end of July our family got in the van and drove eight hours to the rural community of Nebaj - the same community Joy and the C.A.G. choir visits each year. Joy started work with one of the local church leaders in assisting them in crafting and creating worship music in their own native tongue - Ixil (ee she al.) This was a great time in a different region of the country.

After returning we started to gear up for the return to school. Teachers and staff reported back on August 3rd and we've been going ever since. The air and atmosphere surrounding the start of hear has been positive. We're encouraged by this and feel this is going to be a great year.

Abigail enters seventh grade, Emma fourth, and Sara Kinder.

Taco Night Coming Up! - June 4th - see you there!

Hey there everyone!

Joy and Sara are presently in New Hampshire! We would love to individually sit down with everyone and catch up but due to time restraints that simply is not possible. So on June 4th, at 6:00 p.m., Dover Baptist Church will be hosting "Taco Night & Ministry Update Night."

We invite everyone out to eat some good food and hear about the Eisner's ministry to third culture kids at Christian Academy of Guatemala. There will be opportunity to win some prizes as well...

We ask that you RSVP online via our Facebook event.

Hope to see y'all there!

Blessings,

Update from Nebaj

Greetings from Guatemala!

Some of the adults who are with the C.A.G. Choir posted the following snippets to Facebook:

Yesterday was a full day for the choir. In the morning Joy Wilson Eisner led a singing workshop for the Nebaj choir (our kids helped teach), they sang on the Ixil radio station (that can be heard online all over the world) and they performed at the Iglesia Emanuel with their choir. -- Candy Siklosi

Another shared this:
The choir trip has been amazing so far. We've had amazing opportunities to connect with the Ixil choir which was formed after our last visit to Nebaj. The church service last night was beautiful. Several of our youth shared their testimonies and preached, and then prayed for many, many people who came forward for prayers. We have five more opportunities to share today and tomorrow. Please pray for us as our youth have a unique opportunity to share the reason for the hope the have with the youth here, many of whom feel alone, desperate, and hopeless in light of their circumstances. Parents, I love your kids! They are all healthy and doing well, and taking care of each other. -- Jessie Larimer

There are some videos as well - which I have reshared on my Facebook page.

April Update - only a month to go!

Yikes!

It is April 23rd - that means in one month school will be done. I cannot believe it! That will mark the end of our seventh year at C.A.G. We continue to thank God for each and every one of our team members who have faithfully supported us over the past seven years.

It dawned on me (Ken) recently that this year's graduating class is the class I started with when we arrived in 2009. Wow - time flies.

Yesterday was a busy day. Joy and her choir students departed C.A.G. for the city of Nebaj in the Quiche area.

This is the second trip for the choir to the Nebaj area. They will be performing many concerts both live and on the local radio station. Also this year their local missionary contact, Mr. Mike McComb, requested they do a series of choral workshops for the locals. The choir group was very excited to return to Nebaj.

They left C.A.G. at about 8:30 a.m. and arrived in Nebaj at about 5:30 p.m. Joy said it was an uneventful trip - which is a blessing.

Last week our little Sara decided it was time for a new dew... yup she cut her own hair. As it turns out she might have a future in hair dressing as she did a pretty good job at keeping it straight. Unfortunately she cut a lot off the left side and only some off the right. Last night we got her "evened up" with the thanks of our local hair-dressing-friend, Jen!

Thankfully curls are not all gone... but it really was time for a trim.

Also this past week Emma participated in the Elementary drama production, "Where the Wild Things Are." The show was done entirely by the Independent Study Drama class (three seniors) which was co-coordinated by Joy.

Where the Wild Things Are Cast (Emma front right in Pink)

This coming summer Joy and Sara will be returning to New Hampshire for three weeks (May 25th through June 16th.) She will be attending her niece's wedding and also hopes to meet with supporters. Right now we are hoping for a dessert night or pot luck event held in Dover. We hope to have more details about this in the coming weeks.

Well, that about wraps up another update.

Blessings and thanks to all!

-knme

Blessed Semana Santa

Oh Semana Santa - how we were so glad to see you come... now we are sad to see you leave.

Happy Easter to one and all! Last year at this time (almost exactly) we were in attendance at the Union Church of Guatemala Son Rise Service on the C.A.G. campus. This year, with no Son Rise Service, we took our time getting ready for our Easter service. The Easter Services was really nice. Worship and message were on point. An afternoon of final resting before the final push of the school year.

Easter 2016

I stand amazed that one of the most difficult things for us to accomplish has been to get a "nice" family picture. I've been trying to remember about every Sunday for the past month. Well - finally this morning we were able to accomplish the task.

Just before Semana Santa began Emma had an unfortunate incident with her roller blades and her soccer ball. Apparently, as the story goes, Abigail thought it would be great fun to play soccer whilst wearing roller blades. Needless to say it was not successful. She fell and hurt her wrist. Nothing serious, praise the Lord, but since the pain had not subsided by later that evening we decided to err on the side of caution and took her to one of the ERs in the city.

ER in Eskala Mall

She was a real trooper. Personally speaking the best part of the evening was when the doctor asked her if she wanted her pain med orally or by injection. Unsurprisingly she took it orally.






Backing up to before that Abigail sang a solo at the Middle School Banquet. She sang "Ever Be" and did a fantastic job!

Tuesday we will say goodbye to Joy's father. He has been with us here since the middle of November. It has been tremendous having him here. We will miss him and hope he will have safe travels back to New Hampshire.

Before signing off we wanted to say a heartfelt "thank you" to everyone who continues to support us (prayerfully and financially.) We continue to feel as though we're in the center of God's will here. None of what we do would be possible without our awesome team. Thanks to one and all!

-knm/jr/ac/eb/sje

Calling our Prayer Warriors

Good evening,

We would like to ask that you join us in praying for friends of ours here.  A close relation of theirs was severely injured in a horrible accident today.  

Please include them in your prayers.

Thanks,

AnotherMonth Down

A pleasant evening to everyone!

Had some free time so I thought I would take a few moments to share how January has come and gone... And I can't believe it is practically gone already!

We were very sad to say goodbye to Jon, Cheri, and Ian on New Year's Eve. We had a great time with them and are very thankful for them choosing to spend their holidays with us here. So far, seven years into service in Guatemala, and we have always had family around for Christmas (whether here in Guatemala or in the States.) We are very thankful for this!

Emily was able to stay with us through the middle of January - and that was also incredible. She was able to serve with us at C.A.G. for a couple of weeks. She even got to share a training session on "Technology in the Classroom" with the entire teaching staff!

We had previously posted about the mudslide near our area... and how it had affected traffic. Well in anticipation we moved our school start time to 7:30 - hoping we would be ahead of the traffic... well, that was epic. Not the good kind either.

Well we re-evaluated the situation and will start school later starting next week. There were some families in our school who were getting up at 4:00 a.m. to be to school by 7:30. Other families were forced to cut out youth group, Bible studies, and other activities because there were getting up so early. That is not what we, as a school, want to promote. We're hoping this change will help.

January is almost gone which means February is just around the corner. That means our anniversary is too. Cannot believe that 14 years has past. What a ride! I want to be the first to wish my wonderful wife a very happy anniversary! I love you!