Our ship hasn't come in - yet
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
A couple of weekends ago, we noticed this container ship in port. We started to wonder if this might be the ship that was bringing our crates. It turns out that it was not the ship our cargo is on. It looks like our crates are in Sydney Australia and are due here March 25th.
We are waiting for some paper work from the shipping company and then we will have to take it to a number of government offices to get clearance to take it off the wharf.
The crates left Detroit just before Christmas, so it should arrive just over 3 months from when we packed it. It will feel like Christmas when it arrives!
posted by Martha @ 7:57 AM
Sarah's 10th birthday
Monday, February 26, 2007
Today is Sarah's 10th birthday. It was extra special to be able to celebrate it with our missionary family today. This photo of Sarah with all her missionary 'aunts and uncles' reminds me of this promise that Jesus gave:
"
Of course there are the real aunts and uncles in the United States, but it's a blessing to have Australian, Dutch and Finnish ones as well to help fill the gap on special days like this one.
Labels: Family, Special People
posted by Martha @ 5:30 PM
Common Sunday Scene
Sunday, February 25, 2007
This is a common Sunday scene - a family walking to or from church. It always encourages my heart to see people on their way to church on a Sunday morning.
posted by Martha @ 9:33 PM
MK Blessing
This morning our group gathered for a worship service. At the end of the morning, our director talked about his experiences as an MK (Missionary Kids) and how special his missionary 'aunts & uncles' where to him. Then he asked the kids to stand in the middle of the room where we gathered around them and laid our hands on a kid that was not our own. We spent time in prayer for our MK's. It was a special time and we trust that the kids felt honored and blessed.
Labels: Ministry
posted by Martha @ 3:28 PM
Coming Alongside
Saturday, February 24, 2007
This is Joshua Lui, a national Bible translator from the Western part of the Solomon Islands. Joshua is the chairman of the Solomon Islands Bible Translation and Literacy Program (SIBTLP), a group of Solomon Islanders dedicated to Bible Translation and Literacy. Joshua is currently translating the New Testament into his mother tongue, Simbo.
This afternoon Joshua gave a biennial report for SIBTLP at our conference. We are very blessed to work who have the dedication to help bring God's Word to their own people. Often they work alone and their efforts are not always understood or supported by people in their community. 
After each personal report, we all gather around the person or couple and spend time praying for them, their family and ministry. It's truly a blessing to be surrounded by friends and colleagues and be lifted up before the throne.
Labels: conference, Ministry, Special People
posted by Martha @ 4:58 PM
Conference
Our biennial group conference began last night with a dinner and games. We also took time to celebrate the 4 Solomon Islands language groups who received a New Testament in their own language since our last conference two years ago. One of languages is the Sa'a Language of South Malaita Island. Here our director, who was the advisor to that language. shares about the dedication service in December of 2005.
I've never translated a Bible verse in my life, but I couldn't help bursting out with singing the Doxology at the end of our time celebrating these New Testaments. Isn't God good let us be a part of the awesome task of giving God's Word to people in their heart language?
Labels: conference, Ministry
posted by Martha @ 4:33 PM
Parliament update
Thursday, February 22, 2007
A few days ago we asked you to pray for Friday's upcoming vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister. This afternoon we heard that the motion was disqualified. You can read the news from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation below:
Motion of no confidence disqualified
In Solomon Islands, the opposition's notice for a motion of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has been disqualified. Speaker of Parliament, Sir Peter Kenilorea says according to legal advice the notice he was given failed to meet the seven-clear days required for it to be moved. Sir Peter says since the government had already moved the motion to end the current parliament sitting this Friday, there would be no time to move the no-confidence motion.
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/pacbeat/stories/s1853520.htm
posted by Martha @ 7:17 PM
Conference - Feb 23 - March 2, 2007
The last week or so Tim has been busy helping to prepare for our mission group's biennial conference which begins on Friday. All of our members here in the Solomons will come together for 7 days of meetings which will include spiritual 'retreat', team reports, prayer and several days of business meetings.
Tim is the head of the 'Advisory Committee' for our group and has been putting together the agenda for the business meetings. This is a critical time for our group as we look for new ways to approach Bible translation in this country. Traditionally we have had missionary-translators who have come from their home countries and worked in one language group until a New Testament translation is completed. A slowing trickle of missionary-translators, and new computer and translation resources are challenging us to explore new strategies for helping to bring God’s Word to His people here in the Solomon Islands.
One exciting development in the past few years is the number of Solomon Islanders who are interested in doing translation themselves instead of waiting for a missionary- translator who may never come. These dedicated men and women are eager for the Scriptures in their mother tongue and want to learn to translate. While this is great news, we don't have the personnel needed for the checking and editing of the translation before it goes to print. We are looking for ways of encouraging these national translators while ensuring quality Bible translation at the same time.
Please pray for a fruitful week, good discussions and God's clear leading in our planning.
Labels: Prayer Request
posted by Martha @ 6:47 PM
Prayer Request
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The Solomon Islands is an independent country under a parliamentary democracy. It is also part of the British Commonwealth.
Last week and this week, parliament is meeting here in the capital city. The primary task at hand is to pass the annual budget. However, last Friday the opposition party put forth a 'motion of no confidence' against the prime minister which is due to be voted on this Friday. If the motion is passed, the prime minister would step down and another member of parliament would be elected to that position.
There has been much political turmoil in the Solomon Islands over the past year. In April 2006 when a new Prime Minister was appointed, riots errupted and wide spread damage occured with a large part of Chinatown here in the capital city. More recently there have been some diplomatic issues between the Solomon Islands and Australia which have caused tensions.
Would you please pray that there will be peace this week in the country and that God's will be done.
Labels: Prayer Request
posted by Martha @ 10:22 AM
Broken Resolution
Saturday, February 17, 2007
I haven't written a blog for a few days because we have been pretty busy and then when I had time to write, the power was down.
After such a crazy year in the USA of traveling, we left feeling pretty worn out. I made a promise to myself and some friends that I would concentrate on getting the family settled and the house in order before I jumped into ministry. This week some cracks in that resolution began to form.
Just before we returned to the Solomons, we read in an email that the Solomon Islands Pijin Bible is due to be launched in July 2008. Some people in our group were talking about the event and how it should be celebrated. It was suggested that the Matzkes take this project on. I felt my resolution start to crack.
The Solomons has about 65 different languages. Solomon Islands Pijin is a trade language that has developed as a means of communication between the various languages. It is spoken widely around the country.
Our group is working hard to help translate the New Testament into a number of the indigenous languages but there are many languages still waiting. But for those who don't have any Scripture in their own language or for the people who only speak Pijin, the Bible in Pijin is a milestone. The Pijin New Testament has been available for a number of years, but except for Genesis and Psalms, the rest of the Old Testament has not been published.
One of the challenges to the acceptance of the Pijin Bible is that while Pijin is widely accepted as a spoken language, many Solomon Islanders are not excited about reading it. It is our hope that good publicity will help people welcome God's Word in Pijin.
For a long time I have thought that a Pijin section in one of the English newspapers in town would be an interesting way to promote Pijin reading. Stories from the Old Testament could be included in serial form along with other interesting features. We could have puzzles for the kids and coloring pages.
My resolve cracked further as I picked up the phone and called Elizabeth, one of the reporters that I know at the newspaper. She asked about my year in the USA and what was happening in our mission group here. When she asked, "Are there any new projects you are involved in?" I couldn't resist taking advantage of that open door.
I talked to her about my idea of a once-a-week Pijin feature in the paper. The reporter got excited about the idea and promised to help set up an appointment with the editor for me in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure where this will lead, but I am really excited about helping promote the Pijin Bible. Please pray that I will have creative ideas that will be accepted by Solomon Islanders and help them welcome the Pijin Bible.
Labels: Ministry
posted by Martha @ 5:55 PM
You know you live in a small place when...
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Tim left this morning to stop in at a literacy workshop in town and to run some errands. Shortly after he left, I remembered something I needed to tell him before he went to pick the girls up at school.
We got a cell phone this week so I thought I'd give him a call. Three times I got a recorded message from the phone company that the call couldn't go through. I called the phone company and they told me he must have the phone turned off. Rats!
Then I remembered that one of the errands was a stop at a hardware store for paint. I called the hardware store and asked for the warehouse. When the clerk answered the phone I explained I was looking for my husband. "Have you seen a white skin man, balding, mustache, wearing glasses and buying paint?" I asked.
"No" said the clerk. "There was a guy in here earlier, but he was with a woman."
"Well" I said, "if you see a man like I described, can you ask him if his name is Timothy? And if he says yes, please ask him to call home."
Ten minutes later, the phone rang and it was Tim. Even though Honiara is the capital city, it still often feels like a small town.
Labels: Daily Life, Honiara
posted by Martha @ 9:11 PM
Green Suede Shoes?
One of the things that often doesn't fair well in the tropics is leather. Three weeks after our arrival, Tim's leather shoes are covered with mold! I wiped the mold off one of the shoes so you can see the contrast. In the closet you can see a pair of leather slippers and sandals. They don' t have mold on them. Some types of leather seem to grow mold easier than others.
Most of the time we wear rubber flip-flops outside and are barefoot inside.
Labels: life in the tropics
posted by Martha @ 9:29 AM
We all scream for ice cream!
Monday, February 12, 2007
When we were in the USA, friends introduced us to
"Coldstone Creamery Ice Cream". We aren't sure if they did us a favor or not, because we got hooked! At one store we saw a poster that said something like, "Real friends don't let their friends eat store bought ice cream." We chuckled at that, because here in the Solomons, friends who eat at our house are never served store bought ice cream!
We have a hand crank ice cream machine and Tim has ice cream making down to a science! Tonight was his first time to make ice cream since we've returned to the Solomons.
Tim makes a cooked custard type ice cream which we refrigerates for 24 hours before he starts cranking it. He usually cranks the ice cream at night when the outside temperatures are cooler. When the ice cream is finished, he stores it in our deep freezer until it's ready to serve. Tim makes the ice cream ahead of time so it has time to firm up before we serve it.
The girls love when Tim makes ice cream and have talked about falling asleep at night to the sound of dad cranking the ice cream in the carport below the house as they dream about the delicious ice cream they will eat the next day.
We are preparing for our Valentine's Party on Wednesday night which we host each year. This year we are having a scaled down party and only serving dessert instead of preparing a formal sit down dinner for our guests - we have hosted up to 22! Next year we'll do it up big again, but for this year, our friends will be delighted to savor Tim's ice cream again after a year's absence.
Labels: food
posted by Martha @ 9:14 PM
What's Cookin'?
This morning you would have found something interesting in my oven. No, we aren't going to eat it. It's 'indicator silica gel'.
In the tropics, it can be a challenge to take care of cameras and binoculars and keep them dry. If they are left in a humid environment, a fungus can start growing on the lenses which 'eats' into the protective coating. While the lenses can be cleaned professionally, the lenses are never the same afterward.
We attempt to keep our cameras and binoculars safe by keeping them in an air tight box with the silica gel beads in a sock. When this type of silica gel is dry, it is blue. As it absorbs moisture, it turns to a light pink. Occasionally, we take the silica out of the box and heat it in the oven to dry it out again. That's what I have in my oven this morning.
Labels: life in the tropics
posted by Martha @ 9:17 AM
A New Friend
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Today at church I got to meet my namesake, Martha! Isn't she cute? Her mother is Priscilla, my friend that taught a number of women to read here in town. We also worked with Priscilla to help her produce a reading book in her language of Baelelea. Martha is a little over one year old. The Pooh bear was one of Sarah's stuffed animals which we gave to Martha this morning.
Labels: Kukum Campus Church, Special People
posted by Martha @ 2:41 PM
Saturday Night Cacophony
Saturday, February 10, 2007
It's 8:30 on Saturday night. I wish I had a way to record the sounds resonating around the valley in which we live. In the distance the beat of a bass drum playing at a hotel disco vibrates through the air.
Across the river a pastor is leading a church service with lots of loud singing and shouting followed by a sermon. Words are lost in the distance, but the intensity is clear in the high volume.
Somewhere across the river, women's voices can be heard singing in harmony - from the style of song it's clear that they are Anglicans.
Soon we will retreat to our bed with the ceiling fan humming and rattling at the highest setting, as much for trying to cover the noises of the night as for the cooling affect it has on our bodies.
Labels: Honiara
posted by Martha @ 8:34 PM
Market
Friday, February 9, 2007
Note: Sorry there haven't been any new blogs for a few days. I was ready to write up my market trip Friday morning, but the power was out for a while. Then when I had power Friday night, there were technical glitches and the photos wouldn't load. I hope you enjoy a trip to the market...
After I dropped the girls off at school, I headed to the market to stock up on fruits and veggies for the weekend. I came home with a loaded market basket and then some more. I thought you might enjoy seeing what I bought.
One woman had lots and lots of 'bushlimes' which are a small lemon/lime type fruit. Bushlime juice is very refreshing! I bought 80 bushlimes at a cost of $20 (less than $3.00 USD). When I got home I put them in a bowl and poured boiling water over them. This softens the skin and makes them easier to juice. Later I juiced them with the juicer attachment on my Kitchenaid Mixer. Then I poured the juice into ice cube trays to freeze. Later I put them in a plastic bag or container and keep the bushlime cubes in the freezer for making juice quickly and easily.
I bought a few small tomatoes. In the market, they are placed in little piles worth $1.00
($.20 USD).
This is a small pumpkin. It cost $10 ($1.40 USD). We enjoy baked pumpkin.
Emily requested some guavas. This is a pretty good sized one. I hope she likes them - I tend to buy them ripe and the girls like them a bit green.
This bundle of greens is called "Chinese broccoli" and it does taste a bit like broccoli. It takes 3 bundles to feed our family and each one cost $6 (almost $3.00 US). Usually we chop it up and cook it in a little water with chopped onion. Yum.
Sometimes we can find green beans, but more commonly we find these 'long beans' in the market. I don't like them as well as regular green beans, but they are OK. You may notice that the bundles of vegetables are wrapped in a leaf to keep them together. What a great bio-degradable way to package!
This unusual looking vegetable is actually the flower of a type of grass! The outside of the rough husk is covered with tiny hairs that can stick in your skin. The part that you eat is the white flower inside the husk. 
When it is steamed and served with a cheese sauce on it, it almost tastes like cauliflower. This bundle cost me $8 (a little over $1.00 US)
There were lots of pineapples in the market and the one I bought cost $12.00 ($1.70 US) and it is sure to taste much better than ones you can buy in a grocery store in the USA!
I bought this chicken from a woman I know who was selling chickens in the market. It weighs a little over 2 pounds and cost $50 ($7.15 USD). Chicken is expensive here because all of the feed is imported since there isn't any grain grown in country to feed chickens.
My just for fun purchase was the flowers. Saturday is the best day for finding flowers at the market, but I lucked out with these two bundles (which included some orchids) for $10 each ($1.40 USD).
My last purchase was a watermelon. I'm terrible about picking out good ones, so I enlisted the help of some local women in the market to help me choose a nice one. It worked because it is a nice red color inside and tasty, too!
Labels: Daily Life, food
posted by Martha @ 9:24 PM
Fresh Water!
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
It's 4:00 Wednesday afternoon. It's been overcast all day and it finally started raining. This should be rainy season in the Solomons, but this year there hasn't been much rain.
We've had some light showers over the past few weeks but today it was a heavier rain. After the rain fell for 5-10 minutes, I went outside and connected the downspout to our fiberglass rainwater tank. We usually wait to connect the downspout to the tank until after the rain has washed the leaves and debris off the roof and out of the gutter. That way we get much cleaner water that we don't need to filter.
This water tank supplies our drinking water which we carry up to the house in containers. There is town supplied water with pressure in the house, but we never drink that as it can't be trusted to be potable. The tank has screens over the openings in order to keep the tank from becoming a mosquito breeding ground. (Finding mosquito larvae swimming in your drinking water is NOT nice!)
We are thankful to be drinking the rainwater again because it is so clean tasting. We could taste the chemicals in the treated tap water we drank in the USA.
Labels: drinking water, household
posted by Martha @ 4:03 PM
Taco Bell Solomons Style
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
We had some wonderful meals in the USA and especially enjoyed Mexican food. However, Emily and Sarah have been looking forward to eating our homemade Mexican meals that we enjoy here in the Solomons. Eating Mexican food here takes quite a bit more work than in the USA. 
First we start with pinto beans. We buy them at the bulk store in town. They have been in the freezer for about a week to kill off the extra 'protein'. (weevils)
The beans are washed and then put in a pot of water that is brought to a boil. Then the heat is turned off and the beans left to soak for a while. If I plan ahead, I do this the night before I want to cook them.
After the beans have soaked and swollen a bit, the water is drained off and changed with fresh water. (This is supposed to make the beans less 'gassy'.)
The beans are put on to cook again with lots of onions, garlic and some beef boullion. They cook and cook and cook all day and occasionally water is added to keep them from boiling dry. A pressure cooker speeds up this process, but mine isn't working. However when our crate arrives at the end of February, I will have a new one.
When the beans are soft, we mash them with a potato masher in a cast iron skillet with a bit of oil and fry them.
Meanwhile the flour tortillas are in process. The flour is sifted for weevils. Then I mix flour, baking powder, salt, oil and water together in my Kitchenaid mixer. The dough is formed into balls and left to sit for 15 minutes.
Then the dough is rolled out into tortillas that are cooked on a cast aluminum griddle on our stove. This process works best with a couple of people working together. Tonight everyone was helping and it all went much faster. I forgot to take a picture of us eating our bean burritos, but they were tastier then Taco Bell!
Labels: Daily Life, food
posted by Martha @ 7:49 PM
School
The girls are enjoying being back at Woodford International School. Last Friday during assembly, Sarah's class sang a song about hats. Since returning to the school this year, there is a new 'no hats, no play, no fun for you today' policy. The kids are required to wear the school hats during recess and when playing outdoors for PE class. Many Australian schools have this policy since skin cancer is such a problem there. (Emily and Sarah are NOT impressed with having to wear hats!) As you can see, there is a school uniform as well.
The school is made up of children from many different nationalitites. In this photo of Sarah and her class, you can see Sarah, her Australian friend, Ela, a Korean classmate and a Solomon Islander.
Labels: Woodford International School
posted by Martha @ 9:24 AM
Routine - a Tuesday in Honiara
Our daily lives are starting to develop a bit of a pattern. We wake up about 6:00 am. The girls are pretty independent in getting ready for school, which is great. They sometimes need help making their school lunches as it is much more challenging here to find things that are quick and easy to throw together for lunch. I've been making bread in my bread machine, but the girls aren't real impressed with my attempts at making a healthy whole wheat bread. The recipe isn't quite right and the bread is pretty dense! Lunch meat is very expensive here so it's usually tuna, cheese or PB&J on the bread.
Tim faithfully makes me a cup of coffee to get me started. While that is going on, I check my email and Skype.
Emily feeds the dogs and Sarah, the cat. Emily is responsible for preparing the food for our pets. As dog food is expensive here, Emily cooks a big pot of rice in the evening. Tim mixes a small amount of rice with a little canned dog food which Sarah feeds to Slinky in the evening and the morning. The rest of the rice is mixed with part of a can of dog food and Emily gives it to the dogs in the morning.
Tim and the girls leave for school about 7:15 with a stop on the way to pick up the Solomon Star, (www.solomonstarnews.com) the local newspaper. They arrive at school about 7:30, which gets Emily there in time for the morning exercise routine in which the kids in her class are expected to participate. Motivation is high to arrive on time because if the kids don't complete the exercise before school begins, they have to do it during their morning break time when it is much hotter.
After dropping off the girls, Tim heads to our office to attend the morning prayer session with our collegues. After that, Tim will meet with our director and another colleague to discuss our upcoming group conference at the end of the month. During our group conference, all our teams in the Solomons will get together for a week of spiritual feeding and group business.
In between meetings, Tim will be working on email and making plans to meet with one of our national literacy collegues, Francis who happens to be in town this week from the village.
Another house project he is working on is to put in additional power outlets. Since we have had a number of walls removed due to the termite damage, we are taking advantage of the open framework and adding the outlets. Most of the rooms in our house only had one outlet and that doesn't provide enough for clocks and other appliances. Imported Australian Power outlets a cost almost $25 USD each unless we are willing to put in cheaper ones that are made in Asia.
I'm continuing to work on cleaning the house. The curtains all need washing and some of the bed linens as well. I haven't tackled washing the walls and ceilings which also needs doing to remove mildew stains. (See photo at right.)
This afternoon I am hosting the expat* ladies Bible Study. The group hasn't met since late last year, so this is a chance to get together and catch up with each other. We'll also be discussing what we would like to do in terms of a Bible study this year. (*expat - short for 'expatriate', a person who lives outside their native land. Our group is made up of members of the diplomatic, business and missions communities around the capital city.)
At the moment, I am waiting for the guys with the termite baits to arrive. We can't hear the termites in the floor anymore. We aren't sure what that means - probably that they have moved on to some other spot in the house. We hope that we can find a place where they are active to place a bait. We have spotted termites outside the house which we will also target today.
This evening the girls' school is having 'Meet the Teacher' night so Tim and I will attend that. Most nights we are home and enjoy playing games and reading which has been nice.
Labels: Daily Life, Woodford International School
posted by Martha @ 8:01 AM
A Quiet Sunday
Sunday, February 4, 2007
It's Sunday morning and I am home alone. We were ready to leave for church when Tim went to find one of the neighbors to sit at the house for security while we were gone. Tim didn't find anyone, so I stayed home. I find it hard to sit through a church service and not worry about what is happening at the house if we don't have anyone watching things.
We have a fence surrounding our house with barbed wire at the top. Our two dogs provide a certain degree of security, but not enough to keep someone out. At night, a security man watches our house and the one next to us which belongs to our mission group.
If there is no one at our house during the day, we stop at the neighbors and ask someone to come watch the house. When we return home, we pay them according to the time we have been gone. The neighbors are happy for a little extra income and the peace of knowing the house is being watched while we are gone has been great.
I guess I'll have to wait until next week to meet baby 'Martha' at church.
Labels: Daily Life
posted by Martha @ 10:29 AM
The Networking Begins
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Some of you may remember our friend Margaret. She is one of the three Solomon Islanders who went to Papua New Guinea for training as literacy trainers. Currently Margaret is coordinating literacy projects in her home province for World Vision. Margaret is in town and today came up for a visit. Margaret was looking for some reading materials in several different languages and wanted to know if we could help her out. Tim will work to find materials for her project.
This afternoon while we were meeting with the Montgomerys, we received a phone call from a man who attended a literacy workshop Martha taught a few years ago for the Baelelea language. Frank said the churches in his area need help in setting up literacy classes for women and he told the women they needed to contact our group. We'll see where that leads.
Frank also shared that there is a strong interest in literacy in the area and that many have asked for copies of the reading book we trained the teachers to use. It sounds like we need to consider a follow-up workshop in that area.
posted by Martha @ 8:53 PM
New Blood
For years we have been the only literacy team in our group here. We are excited to introduce to you, Robin and Lee Montgomery and their three kids who came to the Solomons last year while we were in the USA. The Montgomerys are working on the island of Isabel, gaining experience in literacy among the Zabana people.
This afternoon we sat down together over iced coffee and chocolate chip cookies to talk about literacy and bounce around some ideas. It's lots of fun to have someone doing the same type of work and to plan some projects that we can do together.
posted by Martha @ 6:01 PM
