Giving Thanks in ALL Things...

"Water is Life"...I'm not sure this is an official Malawian proverb but every Malawian that I've ever spoken with about water says these exact same words.  Living here in Malawi I've come to believe this statement more and more.  We regularly go for days without a drop of water.  We have buckets and tubs all around our house filled at all times with water "just in case".  We don't have a "tank" like most people do because we are only in this home on a temporary basis so we didn't want to pay nearly $1000 for a water tank.  Therefore, when the Water Board stops sending water through the pipes (for seemingly unknown reasons) then we are without water completely.

Over the past few months the water outages have gotten much much worse.  You may remember some of our posts from a month ago when we arrived home from the States and went for days without showers because of the water problem.  And we were all sick with a flu-like virus on top of that. The rumor at that time was that the power was out because they were afraid the reservoir would run dry before rainy season.  So they were conserving water.  Well, this past week was probably the longest and worst water outage to date.  We had not one drop of water in our home for 4 days.  And did I mention that it's hot here!?  And muddy!?  My kids love to play in the dirt and mud so we ALWAYS need to have some way to get clean.  Well, this week we got clean by using baby wipes all week long.  The rumor this time was that too much rain came too quickly so they couldn't clean the water fast enough. hmmm....

Something happens to my emotions and attitude when I have no water.  An anxiety that I've never felt creeps into my body and won't let go.  Electricity I can handle.  Really, we just light some candles and enjoy a little peace and quiet. But water??  No, I will never be able to get used to not having water.  J is crawling all around right now. He never stops except to sleep.  And no matter how clean you think your floors are when you see your 11 month old with dirty knees and feet you realize all of the unseen dirt that lingers.  Baths are a must!

But the longer the outage went the madder I got.  I mean I seriously prayed and tried to remain calm.  What are you trying to teach me through this Lord?  Why must we endure this?? How much more can I handle?  Then, Friday night (on day 4 of no water) I got onto Facebook and read of the unfolding news in Connecticut. There was my answer. My lack of water seemed so trivial, so silly.  I was focused on what I didn't have and not focused on the blessings that I DID have!!!!  After crying over the tragedy and pleading to my Lord that we are ready for HIS return....I thanked HIM that all I was having to endure was lack of water.  I mean, how simple of a lesson is that??  Yes, I thanked God for the trials that He has chosen to give me because I will gladly endure this than have to live through what those 26 families in CT are having to go through.  So now, as I sit without power I'm again thankful. Thankful that my children are all currently playing Barbies and Superheroes together on the floor of our living room.  I choose to give thanks in all circumstances (even if I'm a little too stubborn to learn that lesson sometimes).

And you know what?  At 2 am that very night/morning the water returned.  After praising God for the blessing I have and going to sleep dirty, sad, but thankful...He brought the water back.  Yes, I got up at 2 am and took a nice long shower. Then I spent an hour refilling every water bucket in our house since we are never sure when the water will go out again.  Lesson learned?  For now, maybe.  But I know I'll regress and He will have to be patient with me and teach me yet again.  He still has so much left to teach me.  I'm only scratching the surface of my training.  Thank you for your patience with me God!

Water pitchers waiting to be refilled.  You can see the very last of our filtered water left in the bottom of our filter.  We have never gotten this low on water before. 

Empty water buckets beside the kitchen sink.  These are usually filled with water for cleaning dishes and mopping in case there is no water.  These are some of our "just in case" buckets which are usually full. 

Water came on for 30 minutes on Friday afternoon and we frantically began washing dishes and filling buckets.  

We even put these buckets out to catch rain water from our roof.  We could at least use this to flush our toilets. 

"On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."

(John 7:37-39)

Jill

Praising God through Dance!

This whole week has been quite busy getting ready for the ABC Christmas performance that ended the school for the year.  The girls have been beyond excited about performing their dances on stage.  There has been a count down in our home for weeks now!  The more they practiced the more excited they got!  Finally the blessed day arrived!  Of course, Jeremy was busy much before Friday setting up sound for the event.  He and CJ (his right hand man) were up at the gym until 12:30am Friday morning. Then we all had to be back at 7:30am for dress rehearsal.  After practicing all morning Jeremy and CJ were back at the gym at 2pm for final prep.  We arrived at 4:30pm since I was backstage mom.  What a busy day!  And of course, the worst part of being married to a sound man...after the performance the real work begins!  So here we are tired and hungry and we still had to wait for all the sound equipment to be put up.  But I'm not complaining.  It was a great night and the girls danced so beautifully!  They couldn't have been more perfect!  I have video I'll try to load soon.  We're so blessed to have two great ballet teachers from Ballet Magnificat here this year to teach the girls.  This is the same ballet company that AJ took from in the past.  What a blessing to have the opportunity to learn under these beautiful ballerinas.  To God be the glory!

A night of praise to our heavenly Father!  Merry Christmas from the Kyser family!  

There will be a day with no more tears...

I watched my beautiful 5 year old and 10 year old dance their hearts out for Jesus tonight!  Around the same time on the other side of the world parents were finding out that they wouldn't be watching their babies come home from school today.  I cry for this broken sinful world.  I ache for the pain and suffering.  My heart screams for our Savior to return NOW!  For we are told that "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4 ESV) Please Jesus, heal our broken land!

New ministry news!

Guess what!?  Because you are all amazing and faithful readers of our family blog you will be the first to know our exciting news!  No...we aren't pregnant!  ;)  Our new friend, Paige at www.southerncreativedesign.com and the amazing people (Chad and Jenny) at www.digitizemymsg.com are currently working on a website for our ministry!  It should be up and running in a couple of months!  Yes, I will still have a blog and keep everyone up to date on the latest ministry news!  I am so excited I can hardly stand it!  God has truly blessed us and this ministry this year and we can't wait to see what He has in store for the new year. I will tell you that there are many "newsworthy" announcements to be made over the next few weeks.  So make sure you check the blog frequently to keep up to date.  For now, I'll leave you with a scripture message that the Lord showed me this morning:  "Do not love the world or the things in the world...For all that is in the world...is not of the Father but is of the world" (1 John 2:15-16). Instead, pray and "seek things which are above...set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth" (Colossians 3:1-2).

Is God calling you to teach orphans in Malawi?

It's a bold question.  It's right to the point.  Is there a knot in your stomach, like the kind of knot that you get when you know the pastor's sermon that morning was directed straight at you?  Is God calling you to teach at an orphanage in Malawi?

Rainbow is in need of a couple of teachers to teach younger elementary children at the school that they have started.  These children were brought out of the government schools in an effort to provide them with a superior Christian education.  The school they were attending had no supplies, no books, and one teacher for 200 children.  It was laid upon the hearts of those at Rainbow to provide our own school for our children.  

We now have a school.  We have 50 beautiful students who want to learn so badly that they want to do school on Saturdays.  We have only one teacher though.  The children are only able to attend school for a couple of hours a day because Karen (the teacher) is trying to teach so many children at so many different levels.  She is an amazing teacher and a joy to work with.  But she needs help.  The children need help.  Are you the one He is calling to help Rainbow School?

If you can't give up your time to come and teach will you pray about helping in other ways?  The orphanage really needs a playground.  Will your church or group pray about providing a playground at Rainbow?  The school needs curriculum, books, supplies, etc.  Will you pray about raising money this Christmas to help the orphanage with some of these needs?  We are working on a sponsorship possibility as well.  The details are not worked out yet but please begin praying about sponsoring a child at Rainbow.  

God is doing amazing things at Rainbow and we are very excited about some of the new things "in the works".  Please pray about being a part of this ministry with us.  If you feel led to help then contact us.  Your money can be sent through us at this time.  We already have had a couple of churches raise money for specific things at Rainbow.  Those projects are currently being worked on to improved the lives of the children at Rainbow.  Maybe God has laid something else on your heart that you want to help with.  Please let us know.  We know God is at work.  We just want to make sure that you know how you can be a part if the Lord leads you.  

During this Christmas season please remember these beautiful children whose sole Christmas gift last year was peanut butter cookies that Karen made for all of them.  She said they couldn't have been happier!  It really puts things into perspective, doesn't it?  

God bless,

Jill

Happy Thanksgiving America!

Life continues as usual here in Malawi.  We are now settled, over our horrible sickness that kept all of us down for nearly two weeks, and we're back to "work".  Jeremy is at the clinic during the day while juggling the many different ministries that we are a part of during his off time.  He is currently installing solar panels on top of one of the E3 structures at Gusu.  In the next few days they will hopefully be able to get the electricity powered up and the solar panels running.  These solar panels will power the water pump as well as provide electricity to the E3 training center.

Two nights ago we had some major rain here in Lilongwe.  Malawians are very sensitive to changes in the weather and they feel that this rain was the official beginning of "rainy season".  The very next morning we received a phone call at 5am from Pastor Nasson at Rainbow.  They were ready to begin planting their fields.  The gamble with the weather is that there is no irrigation for watering the crops here in Malawi.  So the entire country is dependent upon the rains to water their crops.  There is a saying here that is so true, "water is life".  No water, no crops, no life.  Pray for a rich and healthy rainy season and a bountiful harvest at Rainbow and all over Malawi.

Jill and the kids are hard at work homeschooling again.  We're really enjoying being back on our schedule and having some good quality time together.  AJ and CJ are really excelling in their schoolwork and SM is quickly learning her ABC's and 123's.  We do a lot of subjects together as a family.  We enjoy learning together and growing closer at the same time.  We thank the Lord often for HIS mercy and grace in our lives and HIS call for us to return to homeschooling.  What a blessing it is!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in America.  Thanksgiving is not something that is celebrated here in Malawi (or any other country for that matter).  But we, as a family, have taken strides to make sure that we don't let this day go unnoticed.  We've been discussing the blessings that the Lord gives us daily, how to praise God for those blessings, and how to make sure we notice all of the gifts God gives us.  We've done art projects each day this week that focus on Thanksgiving (thank you Pintrest).  But still, tomorrow will come and we won't be with our loved ones sitting around a table carving a turkey.

Holidays are hard.  Being away from home is hard.  Missing our loved ones is hard.  But we will "give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." (Psalm 107:1) We have so very much to be thankful for this year.  To list the many blessings would be impossible!  Praise God for His gifts and blessings in our lives!  And thank you, Lord for the miracle in Joshua's life as well!  What a testimony to HIS grace and power and love and protection over us!  "[We] will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness" (Psalm 145:7).

Happy Thanksgiving America!

Back in Malawi

We've made it safely back to Malawi after a very long few days of travel.  A week ago today we left our home and flew out of New Orleans headed for Washington, D.C.  We had to spend the night in D.C. so that meant that all 6 of us and our 3 carry-ons and 9 pieces of luggage had to catch a shuttle in the cold of D.C. and head to a hotel.  We made it without any hiccups and were thankful for a nice bed to sleep in and a nice hot shower.  Little did we know how long it would be until the next shower.

Friday morning we got up and headed to the airport very early.  We had no problems and made it to our gate in plenty of time.  The flight that morning was our big one.  We flew from Washington, D.C. to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  It was a 14 hour flight.  We were very blessed that the seat next to Jeremy and CJ was empty!  So J had a seat that he could sleep in and sit in.  God pays such amazing attention to details!  The people sitting behind us even mentioned as we got off the plane that we had amazing children.  I think they were surprised at how well our children did on the flights.  But I wasn't surprised at all.  We do have amazing children!  And when you put a personal t.v. with videos, music, t.v., and movies in front of them they are happy for hours!!!

Poor AJ started feeling bad the morning we woke up in D.C.  Her throat was hurting and she ran a fever off and on for the next couple of days.  She was pitiful!  Once we made it to Lilongwe (after more than 30 hours of travel) we quickly found out that the water in the city is non-existent.  I'm not sure about anyone else, but for us after traveling for three days in airports the first thing you want to do is take a bath.  That was not going to happen for us! The water never came on on Saturday.  And Sunday it finally came on late that evening for less than 1 hour.  It was just enough time for the kids to take baths and Jeremy to get a shower.  But just as mom got in the shower....no more water.  It would be another two days before I got a shower.  Yes, gross.  But we do live in Africa.  This entire week we have gotten water for only one hour a day (and that's usually around bedtime, thankfully).  Power is one thing that I have learned that I can live without.  We barely even flinch when our power goes off anymore (and it goes off at least once a day....today it's been off more than it's been on).  But water....that's not something that I can ever get used to not having.  Remember that bug that AJ had on the plane?  Well it's now been through every member of our family.  It's very hard when your babies are sick and you can't cool their temp down with a cool bath.  Or when one of your babies throws up and you can't bathe her to get her clean.

It's been a hard week of adjustments and sickness.  But we are thankful that we're on the mend and getting better "pongono pongono" (little by little).  We miss our friends and family.  We miss the easy life in America.  We miss running water and electricity.  But we know that the Lord has a plan and we pray that each trial we face will produce in us a result that is pleasing and glorifying to the Lord. Hopefully tomorrow we'll all feel well enough to get out to Rainbow.  We miss those kids!