The beating of the church drum at 6:15 AM announced the new day and called people to the morning prayer service at the Anglican church down the hill from the house. We didn’t get up for the prayer service, but lazily stayed in bed for a while. The kids started stirring and chatting and soon we were all enjoying freshly made doughnuts that Robin had made.

This morning we took a walk to one end of the village where the local primary school is located. We were able to meet with the school headmaster and chat about a pilot program that we would like to see introduced at the school. This program, similar to another one that we have developed, would teach kids to read and write in their own language before learning English. The headmaster was very receptive to the idea and when we are assured of the funding of the project, Lee Montgomery will be able to introduce it to this school.

As we walked through the village, we greeted those whose houses we passed. We were met with smiles and welcoming remarks. The village stretches along the narrow strip of land between the lagoon and the steep hills behind. The houses along the water’s edge are built on stilts over the water and often have a wooden plank or logs that make a walkway to the house. Crocodiles are common in the waters around the village and sometimes they swim under the houses at night and make their presence known when they rub up against the posts, making the house shake.

Around many of the houses we saw wooden dugout canoes; some in small sizes suitable for a small child, typical sized ones that would accommodate one or two adults, and even some huge ones that are twenty-five feet long and are used for carrying cargo, passengers or fishing nets. Out on the water we saw some children and adults out fishing in their canoes.

Along the coastline we saw wooden pigpens on stilts over the water. This provides a sanitary spot for raising the pigs, although on rare occasions a crocodile manages to knock down the pen and enjoy a pork dinner. We saw a couple of outhouses similarly located on stilts out over the water with a narrow wooden walkway up to the door.

One of our last visits was to the new church building that is waiting to be dedicated at the end of the year. The front of the church is covered with narrow panels of beautiful hardwood inlaid with mother of pearl designs. It’s neat to see the church decorated in a local style with local materials.

After lunch we headed out to the other side of the village. We hiked to a part of the village that was high on a hill and had a nice view of the passage below. One of our stops was to visit the head chief of the village to let him know about the workshop that we will hold next week. Another stop was to the home of a friend of the Montgomerys who will be taking us out tomorrow in his motorized canoe to an island where we can swim, snorkel, fish and picnic.

Tim had been planning on making a trip to Kia Village on
Isabel Island to help our literacy colleagues, Lee and Robin Montgomery run a teacher training workshop. Since it is Easter break for the girls, we decided to make it a family trip. We have been watching the shipping schedule and found out that the ship would be heading out Wednesday night. We don’t have internet access here in the village, but can send an email out via radio. So these entries will be posted by a friend in California.

We went down to the wharf shortly after 5:00 pm as the ship was due to leave at 6:00 pm. We carried our luggage on board and spread out the sleeping pads on the floor of the first class cabin. (Picture a 12′ x 12′ room with 13 spaces marked out on the linoleum floor for the passengers. One big advantage is that the cabin was air conditioned – when the ship was underway. The rest of the time it got pretty stuffy!) We piled our cargo on one side of our assigned spaces and spread our floor mats over the rest of our spaces. Because there were only 3 cabin spaces left when we bought our tickets, Tim ended up with a bench down in second class. (No air conditioning, but the open windows brought cool breezes and the bench was padded and long enough to stretch out on!)

On the Estrella with friend, Grant Bruner.

A corner of our cabin aboard the Estrella.

The wharf was full of people, and boxes and cargo waiting to be loaded onto the ship. Six o’clock found us still at the wharf, with the loading process still in full swing. Sometime later, an announcement was made that the ship was ready to go and the last passengers scrambled on board and those who weren’t passengers got off the ship. We pulled out from the wharf and anticipated enjoying a beautiful sunset as we headed out of Honiara. But instead of proceeding on our voyage, we pulled up to the refueling wharf! A fuel truck on the wharf then pumped diesel fuel into the ship’s fuel tanks while we had to enjoy the sunset from the stationary ship. Finally, at about 7:25, the ship left the wharf and we were on our way. The twinkling lights of Honiara shrank behind us as we traveled into the darkness ahead.

Once the ship was on its way and the air conditioning kicked in, I settled down with the book I was reading. Another missionary kid, Grant, is traveling with us to visit the Montgomerys as well. He and the girls sat up at the prow of the ship for quite some time, enjoying the cool breeze and the adventure of plowing through the gently rolling sea.

The self-inflating sleeping pads we travel with provide a comfortable place to sit and sleep. The rush of the day had left us pretty wiped out so we quickly settled down and were soon sleeping. The throbbing of the engine below us and gentle movement of the sea rocked us to sleep. Every once in a while, the heat seeping up from the engine below woke me. Feeling like a meat patty on a grill I’d roll over and fall asleep again. Occasionally another passenger would walk in or out of our cabin disturbing my sleep or the air conditioner would drip on me.

Around 2:00 am we reached the southern most tip of Isabel and the ship reached the first port of call at about 4:00. We woke up around 5:00, thankful that we had slept most of the night and we tried not to think about the fact that we were still not half way through our journey. Daylight found us off shore of one of the many villages where we would call in throughout the day. Cargo and passengers were transferred to the ship’s dingy and taken ashore as they would be at other ports of call along the way. Every time the ship stopped, the air conditioning stopped and the cabin would get warm and stuffy. As the ship got underway people would settle back down and go back to sleep.

The rest of the day we spent sleeping, reading and standing on the deck of the ship enjoying the view. On one side of the ship was Isabel Island and the other side the sea stretched before us reflecting the blue sky above like an impressionistic painting. In some ways it was nice to be able to relax and enjoy the view without worrying about any emails that needed answering or anything else we ‘have’ to do. Relatively speaking, one couldn’t ask for a more pleasant ship trip here in the Solomons.

At one point I realized that my sister and brother-in-law are on a Caribbean cruise this week. What very different experiences we are having! They are feasting, while we eat crackers and room temperature water. It would be a successful trip in my eyes if I drank enough water to keep hydrated, but not too much that I would be forced to use the ‘squatty-potty’ toilet on the ship.

The ship’s crew had told us they expected to reach our destination of Kia around 6:00 pm as there hadn’t been a lot of cargo to unload along the way. The sun began to set and a beautiful twilight evening descended on us. We sat on the bow of the ship and watched the trees and details of the island shoreline melt into a purple silhouette against the sky. The sky above became inky black dotted with pinpoints of stars. Far from any lights, the stars formed a wide streak of white lights.

Outside the wheelhouse, a crew member stood with a large hand held light that he used to scan the water way looking for reflectors that mark the inside passage to the village. The ship continued to slowly move through the waters making slow turns in response to the reflectors. Occasionally the light would illuminate a village house along the shoreline on the outside of the village. Soon we saw the wharf ahead of us, and our friends the Montgomerys waiting for us. We pulled in about 7:30 pm on Thursday night – 27 1/2 hours after we boarded the ship.

We grabbed our luggage and walked up to the Montgomery’s house where we enjoyed dinner and showers before heading to bed.

The girls have finished the first ten week term of the school year, which means they have a two week break. They are enjoying the break from school and we are enjoying having them around.

Tonight we are all heading out of town to visit friends, the Montgomerys, who work and live on another island. You may remember that Lee and Robin Montgomery are the new literacy team in our group and currently they are working in the Zabana language on Isabel Island.

Lee has been working on producing a reading primer (beginning reader) in the Zabana Language. Tim will help Lee with a final editing check on the primer and then we will help the Montgomerys to run a teacher’s training workshop to train teachers to use the reading primer. The Montgomerys have not been involved in a workshop of this type before, so it will be an opportunity for us to help them through their first workshop.

We will board a ship here in Honiara late this afternoon. We are fortunate enough to have 3 tickets in the ‘deluxe’ upstairs cabin – which means we will have space on the floor of an air conditioned cabin which should allow us enough room to stretch out and sleep. The cabin has space for 13, so we will be sharing that space. I made a last minute decision to join the family, so we probably won’t all be able to be in the cabin. Tim may end up in ‘Second Class’ which means sitting on a bench for the entire trip. We should arrive in the village of Kia tomorrow evening after about 24 hours on the ship. A pile of books will come in handy to pass the time!

While in Kia, we should be able to send out some updates by email to be posted on the Blog. We would appreciate your prayers for a safe and productive trip. Pray that the girls have fun as well.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

We have just returned from an Easter Sunrise Service. Our church holds this service each year at the American War Memorial perched high above Honiara with a commanding view of the sea. We had over 100 in attendance this morning which is great for an event that was scheduled for 5:00 am. (In typical Solomon Islands time it actually started at 5:45 am.)

Tim was asked to preach the message at the service this morning.

Afterward we enjoyed hot cross buns and coffee together as we enjoyed the fabulous view from the memorial.

It was a blessing to again be with some of our favorite people to celebrate Easter today.

Yesterday afternoon I spent running around town with our director and his wife. We had some money that had been donated for tsunami relief so we were buying things to send out to our friend and national translation colleague, Joshua Lui. The supplies are being sent to Joshua so he can distribute the items to people in his community on Simbo Island who are in need. Simbo Island was one of the hardest hit areas.

We bought pots, towels, machetes, files to sharpen machetes, kerosene lanterns, vinyl bags for people to store their meager belongings, diapers, buckets, spoons, bowls, etc. One storekeeper donated some soccer balls so the kids would have something to play with. On one hand it felt good to be able to help purchase these items, but also humbling as I thought about how much we have and this would be all that they would own. Ouch.

Some have asked how they can help with the relief efforts. Contributions can be made to Wycliffe – designated ‘Solomon Islands Tsunami Relief’. Our group will purchase needed items that will go to the people affected. The contact information is as follows:

Wycliffe

PO Box 628200

Orlando, FL 32862-8200

Or by calling: 1-800-992-5433

Or online at: www.wycliffe.org/give

Thank you.

We are overwhelmed by all the love and concern of so many family members and friends regarding the earthquake and tsunami here in the Solomons. As many of you know by now, we felt the earthquake here in the capital city, but the epicenter of the quake and subsequent damage occurred in the western part of the Solomon Islands.

A couple of hours after the earthquake, I was in the market. I noticed there was a lot of commotion in the market and an unsettled feeling. Suddenly I realized that many people were looking out to sea and pointing. When I asked a woman what people were looking at, she told me a tidal wave. The sea was almost flat calm, but there was a small steady wave that came to shore with a ‘hissing sound’. Later we heard that it was only about 6″ high.

Of course the real story is out in the Western Province where they are assessing damage today. There are lives lost and many left homeless.

One of the islands hit the hardest was Simbo Island. If you have been following the blog, you may remember an entry called, ‘Coming Alongside’ on February 24

https://matzkemission.com/2007/02/coming-alongside.html which featured a picture of our national colleague, Joshua Lui.

Joshua is from Simbo Island and had just returned to the Western Province after attending a workshop here in the capital city. He was in the city of Gizo at the home of a relative when they noticed the water rising and quickly ran for higher ground. We are thankful that Joshua and the family members with him were unharmed although Joshua lost his bag with his belongings.

Our group here is taking up a collection for Tsunami relief which we will give to Joshua so that he can show Christ’s love to those in need on his island and the surrounding area where people are suffering. If you would like to contribute to this fund, please contact us for details.