WaWa from Malawi, Africa! ( That means hello). Muli bwanji? (How are you?) Hope everyone is doing well! I can't believe we have been in Malawi for a little over a week already! It is crazy how fast time flies. We have had a wonderful first week! We wanted to share some pictures with you. This past Friday was a very busy day. We played with the kids and ate lunch with them- nsima, slaw and beans. It was delicious! Then we went to the market with our team to buy items for our upcoming relief trip. Driving here is very different not only do you drive on the other side of the road but there are people and bikes all over the road as well. I am glad I was sitting in the back seat and not driving yet ; ). We ended the day watching our nephews and the Esther's House kids play soccer.  We  made some new friends too!

We wanted to THANK YOU for your prayers and support! Without you we wouldn't be here. We are so grateful to be involved in this ministry and begin doing the work God has called us to. Please continue to pray for us as we transition into our ministry and lives. 

To follow the latest updates on our work in Malawi visit www.facebook.com/puremission.

We are currently busy preparing for a Flood relief trip this Thursday to a village that is 80% Muslim. We will be distributing maize, beans, rice, sleeping mats and blankets. We will also be building a church/ feeding center there. Titus, David and Casey along with our staff at Esther's House have been busy loading the truck with supplies. The concrete bags alone weighed over 100 pounds. We are looking forward to our trip in just a few days. We would appreciate your prayers as we provide the villagers with basic needs and share about the love of Jesus Christ. 

If you would like to partner with us please visit www.purecharity.com/fernsformalawi. All gifts are appreciated and are tax deductible. Zikomo (Thank you)!

Kids playing with rocks. I love their uniforms!

Waiting for lunch

Pictures from the market....

                                  

                                                     Football Practice

The kids from the village love posing for the camera! :)

       

Lining up for lunch

    

                                          

Football Practice- favorite past time in Malawi

Lasts....

The past few weeks we have been experiencing a lot of "last moments" for at least a little while. Can't believe that our time in Africa is almost here! We have captured some of our favorite "last moments"...

We moved out of our apartment on March 31st. We have loved living in Franklin, TN. Our jobs, church family and friends have been such a blessing to us over the past 3 and 1/2 years. Sunday the 29th was our last day with our precious church Family, Hope Church Franklin. They made us feel so loved. They made a prayer board for us, and our pastor even painted a picture for us- so thoughtful!

We had the best surprise last week! Our friend Erica had a secret t-shirt fundraiser for us to help us reach our launch goal! So thoughtful! We love these shirts! This was a wonderful blessing and great encouragement to us!

We have spent the past 2 weeks visiting family and saying goodbye. Here are some pictures from our visits!  We fit in a lot of activities with our families and definitely enjoyed many " last moments" together! We have loved having quality time with  our family! 

Next time I will be blogging will be from Africa! YAY!

We are very excited! We bought plane tickets! YAY! In 35 days we will be boarding a plane headed to our new home in Malawi, Africa. We cannot believe that this is actually happening! Over the past 7 months, we have been meeting with family and friends to share about our heart for the people of Malawi and it is very exciting that we will be calling it home in less than 6 weeks. We are very grateful for everyone who has prayed for us and supported us. Because of you we are one step closer to our goal. We are almost fully funded! :) We have currently raised 73% of our monthly budget.  Please visit www.purecharity.com/fernsformalawi to join our monthly support team. 

We got a very surprising phone call on Wednesday. Titus' mom needed to have an emergency quadruple bypass. So all of Titus ' siblings drove to Atlanta to be with their mom. Praise the Lord her surgery went well. Needless to say it has been an emotional past few days. She was released from the hospital yesterday. Thank you for praying for her. She has such lovely friends, who brought us delicious food, we were blessed by their generosity.
 

        

 What a blessing in disguise! Since we were in Atlanta visiting Gloria, Dwight wanted us to speak at his church, International Bible Church. Since it was last minute no one knew we were visiting at the church. They are the most loving and friendly church. We instantly felt like part of the family. Titus and I shared about the ministry God has called us to in Africa. We were so encouraged when they blessed us with a generous donation! We love how God meets our needs. We were now at 93% in our launch and 67% in our monthly. 

So I wanted to update you on an amazing story from Malawi, hop over to my sister's blog to read about how God showed up mustardseeds: Immeasurably More {Malawi Monday}. 

What a great week!  We headed to Arkansas last Monday with a U-haul trailer to pack and send a container (via boat) to Malawi. We shared the container with another family who is going with us to work at Esther's House Orphanage. The shipping company was suppose to come on Thursday, but they had to reschedule. However, it ended up being a blessing in disguise. Titus and I were able to talk at Shiloh Christian, where I went to high school, and share about our journey to Africa. Then the National Jr. Honor Society presented us with a check to help us move to Africa! What a wonderful surprise and a huge blessing! Love how God works!

So thankful that my mom came to help us with the yard sale on Saturday and help us pack the rest of our belongings for Africa. Not sure how we would have gotten it all done!

Here is a picture after we loaded 2 families belongings, a few things for a missionary family already in Malawi, and a medical tent onto pallets and shrank wrapped everything. We are grateful for the warehouse that we were allowed to use and the boxes, pallets, and shrink wrap that were donated.

The container is here! It was suppose to come on Thursday but ended up getting to Arkansas on Sunday. Just so grateful that it arrived and for everyone that helped load it! :)

Container halfway loaded

This is the Martin family. They are going with us to Africa. We are so grateful for them!

Update

We have had several people ask us for an update, so here is what we have been up to this week.

 On Thursday, my coworkers threw me a going away party. It was so sweet! These signs are adorable! They had cupcakes with maps cut into hearts! They even gave me a tub filled with some necessities... deodorant, candles, and sunscreen :)

This past Friday was my last day at school. We had Multicultural day where families from our school represented the  continent they are from. It was so neat. I got to represent Africa. It was very special sharing with the kids where I was moving and the people I would be working with. My sweet friend Erica made this beautiful Africa sign!I will definitely miss my students and coworkers!

On Saturday we had a garage sale to sell the rest of our furniture and belongings we aren't taking to Africa. It was a very cold day, but God definitely blessed us! My friend Jordan, let us have the yard sale at her house. She was such a blessing bringing us coffee and hot soup! We sold almost every single item! IT WAS AMAZING! It is very nice to have those items gone.

Yesterday and today Titus, my mom and I  packed items for our container to send to Africa. We are taking a U-Haul tomorrow to Arkansas. We will spend the next few days packing and loading our container. It will leave on Thursday. We are very excited to get one step closer to Africa. We will post before and after photos soon of all our packing :)

We have had a busy few days! I promise to update again soon.

 

We want to say THANK YOU to everyone who supported us during our Ornament Fundraiser. We are so grateful for your generosity! We had 50 ornaments taken! WOO HOO! Thank you for all your prayers! We really appreciate. We are feeling so blessed and it was a great way to bring in the New Year! Happy 2015!