Women's Week at the Seminary

This past week I had the privilege of teaching a session for some of the wives of the students that attend the Baptist Seminary (this is where Joseph will start teaching in February!). Following the conclusion of every term at the seminary, there is a week long women's session offered for the students' wives. Their 5 days of classes include Bible, a craft time, and an assortment of other "fun" things for the women to learn and keep busy with all week. I was approached by Martha, who is the principal's wife, and asked if I would lead a session on nursing. I said yes, and then wondered, what in the world will I teaching about nursing? Not knowing exactly what would interest the women and how best to prepare (due to lack of books...I definitely did not lug my heavy nursing school textbooks to Africa!) I went with what I know best: pregnancy and labor and delivery.

I decided to break down pregnancy into the 3 trimesters and talk about what is expected/normal during those times and when a pregnant women should seek medical attention. Well the whole "3" trimester thing didn't quite translate and neither did talking about the specific weeks in pregnancy, so I scratched those and months of pregnancy and that was better understood. I was surprised by some of the questions the women had, and I was encouraged by how many questions they did ask. To be honest, some of those women have probably delivered more babies than I have (side note: I never had to deliver a baby by myself at work. I was always lucky enough to have a doctor present!) So that being said, I enjoyed their input on the subject matter. My favorite question of the afternoon was, "When do you have to stop being with your husband?" To which my response was that it is fine to have intercourse with your husband up until delivery if you are having a healthy and non-complicated pregnancy. This response created quite a bit of laughter because I quickly learned that most of these women's cultures dictated that their husbands must not sleep with them after 7-8 months of pregnancy. It was interesting having all the women in the room go around and say what town in Malawi they were from and what the normal practice was in their area. Needless to say, I was a little surprised by the question at first but it was fun just rolling with it!

The next week long session for the wives will be held in March, and I have been assured by Martha that the women will have a lot more questions, so I will have to come back! I look forward to going back and getting to know the women a little more. I was a little limited this time due to the language barrier, but I tried my best to speak Chewa and that's all I can do for now! I am encouraged by how much Chewa I can hear and understand, but it is still a struggle speaking.

Here I am teaching, and Martha is translating for me. 

Women's Gathering

Today I had the privilege of attending a women's prayer gathering in a village church outside of Lilongwe. I attended with another M here and it was such a great experience. When we pulled up to the gathering spot it was a little structure that had no roof or walls but the Father was present! The women in the Baptist churches here in Lilongwe will gather on Thursdays to have their prayer meetings. After me and the other M were greeted and thanked for coming the ladies began singing and reciting scripture. (Side note, never until coming to Malawi have I had someone kneel in front of me while greeting me. Talk about a huge sign of respect. Although I do not feel as if it is deserved on my part, I am blessed to take part in a normal cultural practice here.)

When the women and children were finished singing, my friend gave a Bible study over the passage Luke 13:10-17. After about 5 weeks of language study, I was so excited to hear and understand Chewa, albeit a small amount. It was still very encouraging to follow some of the study and the responses from the women in the gathering.

During the gathering we took a moment to pray for the sick in the group, I had the privilege to lift up a couple of children who were not feeling well. Yes, I did pray in English but the beauty of the Father is he understood what I said even if most of the women in attendance didn't!

Before leaving the village we went to a woman's home who couldn't make it to the prayer meeting because she had just got home from the hospital. She was very sick with abdominal pain and we were told that the doctors believed that she probably had "cancer of the womb". It was hard seeing her in so much pain and knowing that she will most likely not be able to get any treatment for her illness. We lifted her up to the Father knowing that He is the great physician and He can comfort her best in this time of need.

Today was a great day! I was so encouraged and inspired by the ladies that I met and their love for the Father. I was also so thankful to see some Malawian culture up close and personal out in the village with the people.

Our House!

Since we had not posted pictures of our house up until this point, we thought that now would be a perfect time to do so. This is because the month of December is the International Mission Board's promotion of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. 100% of all the money collected through the offering ends up in the hands of missionaries like us all around the world.

Your giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering enables us to study language full time, have a vehicle, and help train the next generation of Malawian pastors through seminary education. Because you give, we also get to live in a beautiful home for at least the next three years of our term. It has been a wonderful blessing!

We have been able to add a few personal touches to the house. Here are a few of the Christmas decorations that we put up today!

We want to say a big THANK YOU for your gifts toward the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering! If you attend a Southern Baptist church, you can give through your local church this month. If you do not and would like to give, you can click here to make a donation online. Thank you so much for supporting us, both with your prayers and with your giving!

30 firsts in our first 30 days

1. Driving a stick shift 

2. Opening jam with a can opener

3. Seeing live goats strapped to the back of a bicycle

4. Going to a market to buy produce

5. Having someone work in our home and on our property

6. Stockpiling on milk just in case the grocery doesn't have it the next time(s) you go

7. Having to give Hudson a bath EVERY night because he is filthy :)

8. Driving on the left side of the road

9. Going to three different grocery stores to maybe get everything on the list

10. Sleeping under a mosquito net

11. Drying laundry out on the line

12. Making rice and beans 

13. Getting my first ticket :)

14. Watching Hudson bounce around like a rag doll strapped in his car seat while driving

15. Attending a four hour long church service 

16. Sweeping and mopping the floors daily due to all the dust and dirt

17. Soaking my veggies and fruit in a cleansing solution

18. Putting on a vehicle wheel lock to deter theft 

19. Paying for internet by the GB and having to keep track of how much we use 

20. Having a guard at our home
21. Receiving almost daily promotional texts from our cell phone provider

22. Having AT LEAST one lock for every door in our home

23. Having one designated outlet to plug in all our American electronics

24. Hudson having a nanny

25. Buying electricity at the gas station

26. Filling up with diesel fuel

27. Having our power go out at least once a week

28. Hearing the call to prayer at least once a day

29. Paying for everything in cash (side note the largest bill here is 1000 and that equals about $2.20 U.S.)

30. Using the metric system... kilometers, grams, liters and celsius 

Pelekani Pelekani

This past weekend we had the opportunity to attend a Malawian Engagement ceremony. Our language nurturer invited us to come to her husband's family member's engagement ceremony. She told us it would be a great way to see some Malawian culture, and she was right! The ceremony was scheduled to start at 13:00, and there was a very scheduled program detailed out to about 17:00. Luckily we arrived at 14:00 and the program still had not started (we were the first guests to arrive!) Somewhere close to 15:00 the event started...we are learning African time! The ceremony started with what is called Pelekani Pelekani, which is the giving of money or fundraising for the couple. This is most literally "making it rain" as is said in American hip hop! This went on for the next 1.5 hours....until we left! Talk about shaking the crowd down for all they have! During this time, the DJ's play different music and people were encouraged to come to the front and dance and throw there money in a dish (or on the ground) for the couple. Essentially this is the gift giving tradition. Unlike in America, there is no gift registry system here, so they have their own system of giving their money to the couple.

The Pelekani Pelekani in action

Family pic at the engagement ceremony

Some of the men dancing in traditional dress of their tribe

We had a lot of fun watching people dance up to the front and then dance around and give their money to the couple. We even got to see some traditional dress and dancing from some men from the groom's tribe. Luckily our language nurturer and her husband didn't feel like staying for the rest of the program or we would have been there until well after six, but we did enjoy what we got to see of the program.

We then had the pleasure of being invited over to our language nurturer's home to enjoy tea with her and her family. She was so kind as to even make us cake to enjoy with our tea. This is the first tea time we have shared with a Malawian family and it was a very enjoyable experience. We look forward to doing this many more times in the future. We also feel so blessed with the language helper God has provided to us. She is excellent at helping us understand the Chewa language and culture and as an added bonus she is very funny and helps our sessions go by quickly!

We cannot believe that we have been here for a month tomorrow. We are adjusting day by day to new and different things/struggles, but the Father is faithful and we cannot complain! We also are so thankful to have hired a day guard/gardener and a house helper. We are blessed to be able to have some people help us in and around our home so we will be able to focus more on ministry. We are hoping that it will be a partnership with language acquisition, us helping with English and them with Chewa. Our house helper speaks no English, so although it will be a struggle, we are looking forward to figuring things out together!

Below are just some pictures and their descriptions since that last blog post.

Mommy and Hudson hanging out on Saturday morning

Hudson is feeding himself, quite messily also :)

Homemade bread! 

H. Playing in his toy bin, look at those footie PJ's :)

Daddy and Hudson enjoying a craft fair in town last weekend

H. enjoying tolerating Halloween

We love the market, all this yummy produce and the
basket for $9

The Futbol arena that is being constructed just outside of town

Homemade pizza night was a success!

Muli Bwanji!

Muli bwanji- how are you...and the common greeting in Malawi. We may have only been here two weeks, but we quickly caught on to this word and its meaning is here.

Life here in Malawi is going well. We have been staying busy by moving from the guest house at the mission into our home for the next three years. Our home is lovely and we are blessed that we get to call it ours for the time being. Pictures to come of the house...I haven't got around to taking any yet.

These are all the keys that came with our home.
Joseph got the job of finding all the keys a home! Needless
to say every door has at least one lock :)

We are still attending the driving school of Kody, ie our Logistics Coordinator. Joseph should be cleared to get the keys to our truck here soon and we are very excited about that. We are thankful that our team members are gracious to drive us where we need to be, but independence is always welcomed!

We have officially started language study and it sure does make our brains tired! We are doing a form of language learning called GPA. For the first 100 hrs of our training, everything is in Chewa and Joseph and I do not speak. We just point to what our instructor tells us to or do what she says, like jump or walk or sit...you get the idea. The idea of not speaking for the first 100 hours is so we can be exposed to a lot of vocabulary in a little bit of time and there isn't the pressure of pronouncing things correctly at this time--just listening and associating the Chewa word with whatever noun or verb we are learning at the time.

These are all of our vocab words after two days.

 This past Sunday we visited another church here in the Lilongwe area, and we really enjoyed it. This church was a lot more rural than the last one we visited but the people seemed to just have such a passion for the Lord there. Our supervisor, Jeff, preached and the pastor of the church interpreted. It was nice to understand the sermon! We also had the privilege of going to the front of the church to be introduced to the congregation and Joseph gave the benediction at the end of the sermon.

Today I got to go down to one of the markets in town with the other "M" wives to purchase some
chitenje material. This is the cloth that women wrap around as skirts, or carry their babies on their backs with. It can also be made into shirts, dresses, curtains, napkins or whatever else one may need. I was able to get three different beautiful prints all for a great price. Each print came measured in 2 meter quantities for $3! I will make sure to get a picture with me in my new Chitenje's :)

Below are just some random pictures since the last blog update. Enjoy!

Any fruits and veggies that we do not peel to eat, we
soak in this solution to kill any bacteria that may be lingering

This is a giant termite colony!

Out on a drive, going through a small village

This is out near the Kamuzu Dam, outside Lilongwe

Hudson came to join us after our first night in our home

I made crocodile tail for the first time. I wasn't a fan but
Joseph didn't mind it.

This little cutie before church on Sunday, and yes he is wearing
seersucker :)

Hudson turned 9 months old yesterday! Look at those teeth. 

The Warm Heart of Africa

We have now been in Malawi for 5 full days! It is amazing how fast time can fly by when you're adjusting to a new language, culture, and maneuvering through jet lag! It has been such a great transition so far, and we are blessed with a wonderful team here.

Our travels to get here went very smoothly! Hudson traveled so well and even slept a lot for us on our long flight. We did cut a couple of our connections close but He was faithful and got us through! We arrived in country Tuesday at 12:30 Malawi time, which is 6 hours ahead of EST.

Since our arrival we have been enjoying spending time with our team here. They were so gracious to stock our refrigerator with some essentials for us as well as provide meals for us our first few days here! What a blessing to arrive and not have to think about meal prep for a couple of days.

Right now we are currently staying in one of the mission guest houses. This is because we need to learn how to drive a manual transmission as well as drive on the other side of the road prior to moving into our home. Our home is a little removed from the other teams members, so they don't want to seclude us there before we get the keys to our vehicle!

I got the chance to go to one of the markets in town with one of the other M's and it was fun! I was amazed at the variety of different produce. All the different colors of the fruits and vegetables were beautiful (alas I forgot to take any pictures, next time!) The Malawians loved little Hudson and kept commenting that he was such a beautiful baby and that he was healthy, ie. chunky! :)

Speaking of Hudson, being a favorite, he was well loved today in our first church experience. So much so that one of the lady's in the church came up, tapped me on the shoulder, and gestured to hold Hudson. Next thing I know he's in the back of the church being held and is dancing along with a group of women and children. He enjoyed tolerated it for a little while but then started crying and was immediately brought back to me. Needless to say our first church experience will be very memorable for me!

So below are just some pictures from our first days here. To be honest, I have not been the best at getting a whole lot of pictures...but I promise to get better!

We are loving it here so far and seem to be adjusting to the climate and culture fairly well so far! I will just leave you with a few random things we have stumbled upon so far here that are different from the States. Jam comes in a can, so once you open it you just have to put the rest in a tupperware and place it in the refrigerator. Not all toilet paper here has perforation between sheets...needless to say a lot of TP can be wasted in the process of trying to tear the paper when you don't realize it isn't going to just tear on its own!

Our family at a place called Four Seasons (not the hotel). It was very lovely
and I would enjoy going back sometime!

We went out to eat with some of our new friends and
order a quesadilla, otherwise know as a pizza folded in half as
described on the menu!

Me being overwhelmed trying to navigate our first real
grocery shopping trip.

Our humble abode for now

Travels to Florida and Alaska!

In the week and a half since we wrapped our time at orientation, we have been traveling! We wasted no time with starting our travel plans. We flew out of Richmond the afternoon of our commissioning service and headed down to Florida for my cousin's wedding.

It was so nice to spend time with my dad's side of the family down in Florida. We haven't had the chance to see most of them since our wedding (three years ago!) It also was great for them to all meet our little man for the first time. He was a hit! We were also able to spend time with my parents one last time before our big move. It was a wonderful visit and a great chance to enjoy them in person for awhile.

Saying goodbye to my Grammie and Gramps.
It was great hearing some of their stories from
their time in Taiwan.

A group picture with my parents before we took
them to the airport.

After saying goodbye to my parents and dropping them off at the airport, we left and went north up to Ocala to spend a couple of days with Joseph's Grandpa and Grandma that live there. It was great to spend some time with them. We enjoyed seeing them love on their first great-grandson, and it was also fun playing cards late at night with them!

Little man with Grandma Sue

Little man with Grandpa Veres

After leaving Florida, we flew back north to Virginia and were at Joseph's parents place for a whole day before jetting our way northwest to Alaska to visit my sister who just moved there this past month. Wow, what a wonderful trip! Alaska is GORGEOUS! The views were stunning and being able to spend time with my sister one last time before we leave was such a great treat! We appreciated her hospitality so much and H enjoyed his Auntie time.

Some different sites from our trip

Clare, H and I on a hike

Family picture with gorgeous views!

Commissioning Service

A couple of weeks ago we wrapped up our time at the ILC, and we finished out our time there by being commissioned to go to the field. Wow! What a wonderful and special time for our family. It was so great to have all of our orientation class get to come together and reflect back on our 9 weeks of training and then collectively, as a group, be "sent out" to the nations.

We were lucky to have some of our friends and family from Lynchburg and Roanoke come out and participate in the service. It was such a blessing to feel their love and support for sending us out.

We also want to say thank you to all of our friends and family that were supporting us from a distance. We are so lucky to have all of your support during this time in our lives. We are truly in awe of the kind words of encouragement and the prayers that have been lifted up on our behalf.

As we reflect back on our time at orientation we are blessed beyond words by the people we were able to meet and the relationships and friendships that were created. Although we may never see some of these brothers and sisters this side of heaven, we are blessed to have shared life with them and minister alongside them around the world.

With Joseph's mom and dad, G-pa and G-ma and aunt

A group from FBC

Our pastors from GRBC

Field Personal Orientation (FPO) half way done!

Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

It is absolutely mind blowing to me that we are already half way through with our orientation. These past four weeks have flown by. Our weeks are packed full and there are many exhausting days but it is all worth it. 

A typical Monday-Friday around here looks something like this

0700-0800 Breakfast
0800-1200 Classes and small group time
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-3:00 More class time
3:00-5:00 I pick up Hudson from "school" and spend time with him until dinner and Joseph sometimes has more afternoon classes
5:00-6:00 Dinner
6:00-8:00 Free time/ play with Hudson/ do assignments/ exercise etc... 
8:00- 9:30 Hudson to bed and then a little bit of relaxing before bed.(Yes we go to be early!)

Then repeat!

We love getting to know the people we are living with and training alongside of. So many wonderful believers disciplining us and worshiping alongside us. We are blessed to have wonderful quad mates and although we have only known each other a month, we are certain we are building some life long friendships. 

We are praying that we keep up endurance and can keep pushing through this next month and soak in all of our training. We do not want to waste any of this time/opportunity that we have been given to be well prepared to head off to the field (Malawi).

Here a few pictures of happenings since our arrival to orientation.

Hudson turned 6 months old!

Hudson on his first day of "school"

Crazy hair after bath time

Fishing down by the lake

Sitting in a "big boy chair" at the cafeteria

What a blur!

Sorry it has been so long since our last post, but boy oh boy have we been busy!

Since our last update we have done quite a bit of traveling! We finished up our last couple of weeks in Texas with my parents. It was so wonderful to spend almost the entire month with them! We were spoiled, and Hudson loved the time with his Nana and Grandpa! 

After leaving Texas we hit the road to drive north to meet up with some of Joseph's family in Gatlinburg, TN. We were so blessed and surprised by how well Hudson did on that road trip. We were able to make an 9.5 hour road trip in only 11 hours with a 5 month old!!  PTL!

View from our cabin in Gatlinburg

Gatlinburg was very fun. We enjoyed the Smoky Mountains and time with family. After we finished our time there, we headed up to the Lynchburg, VA area to spend 10 days at Joseph's parents. Unfortunately his dad was out of town while we were there so we missed time with him, but grandma didn't mind having Hudson all to herself!

Family day at the pool

We left Lynchburg and headed to Cedarville, OH. We were able to spend the afternoon with some of Joseph's cousins and his great aunt from Indiana! It was so nice to see them and catch up since we hadn't seen them since our wedding. We also were able to stay with our pastor from college and his wife, which was a huge blessing to catch up with them! While in town, they were gracious enough to let us speak at their church and get some more prayer partners. Dayton Avenue Baptist Church was where we attend while attending Cedarville, so it was so nice to see familiar faces and catch up.

Makenna, Luci, Hudson, and Marissa

From Ohio we traveled up to the east side of Michigan and spent time with my grandparents. It was wonderful to see them with Hudson, they loved their great grandson!

At Bronner's Christmas Wonderland

After the east side of the state, we were able to travel to the west side of the state to spend time with our dear friends, the Millering family, to celebrate with my childhood friend Denee and her fiancé Sam for their wedding. No matter how much time we spend apart we are able to just pick up where we left off from and it was just so great to be together! It also was fun seeing all our babies together!

It has been a whirlwind these past weeks traveling around the United States seeing friends and family but we wouldn't have it any other way!! But now our time of traveling has come to an end for a little while as we are in Richmond, VA  area for our 8 weeks of training with the IMB. Please pray for us during this time as we will be very busy attending classes and preparing to move to Malawi! 

I think that is all for now!