Yesterday (Monday) turned out to be a bit of a blue Monday. It wasn’t just the gray clouds and lack of sun that made it feel that way. When Tim was in town running errands, he pulled out on to the main road and was hit broadside by a car. Tim is fine, but our new (to us) vehicle is damaged and will have to spend time in the repair shop.

We are thankful that Tim and the other driver were unharmed, but we are pretty discouraged about the vehicle being damaged. At the moment we have use of one of the vehicles that our group owns.

The police are investigating to determine who is at fault in the accident. At first glance, it appears that there was probably fault on both sides. We do have insurance – so that’s good news, though we are not sure yet just what it will cover.

Thank God with us that no one was hurt.
Please pray for a speedy repair of the vehicle. Our experience with car repairs here has shown that it can take a while to get all the parts and for the car to be returned to us.

As you might expect, we have a lot of bananas in the Solomon Islands. What you might find surprising is that there are many many varieties available. Some bananas have to be cooked, others can be eaten right off the hand and some can be either cooked or eaten fresh. Some bananas are tiny – 3-4″ long and others nearly a foot in length.

Yesterday as I walked through the market, I saw a type of banana I hadn’t seen before so I decided to try them. As you can see they are a bit red on the outside, but the flesh has a red tint as well. They are very tasty bananas.

When we are in the USA we don’t eat many bananas because they tend to be rather tasteless and disappointing to us. The variety of bananas sold in the USA were probably chosen because they ship well. Bananas here are tree ripened and we’d have to say they taste much better as a result!

Last Saturday when we went to the beach, Emily and her friend Grant found coconut which had begun to sprout. Emily and Grant got excited because it holds a special treat.

They took a bush knife (machete) to the coconut to get through the thick
fibrous husk. They hacked at that until they could peel the husk off the shell.

A final ‘whack’ and the shell splits open. Inside the shell is a pithy white flesh which is the ‘germ’ of the coconut seed. The kids love to eat this slightly sweet treat which is called vara.

One of the things I find most rewarding about my work here is the opportunities to connect people who have the ability or opportunity to contribute to a common goal. A couple of weeks ago, I was able to do just that.

Over the years, I have had considerable interaction with the Literacy Association of the Solomon Islands (LASI), an important partner in our literacy efforts. One name that stands out in LASI is Sister Eremina, a Catholic sister who has worked for many years teaching people in her home area of the Kwaio speaking part of the island of Malaita.

About a year ago, Julie, a young American woman, joined our SITAG team as a Bible translation advisor. She was assigned to help with the Kwaio translation project and has made incredible progress in the past year.

So when I saw Sister Eremina at a LASI workshop where I was doing some consulting, I decided that I had to help connect her with Julie. So Julie and I headed over to the workshop toward the end of a morning session and stayed for lunch. Julie and Sister Eremina had lunch together, talking in the Kwaio language the whole time.

What is really great is that the Gospel of Mark is almost ready for publication. So Sister Eremina can make use of it in her literacy classes. At the same time, Julie will get some input on the translation from people from the opposite side of the language area from where she lives. Julie’s translation work will provide Sister Eremina’s new readers with God’s Word on which to practice their reading skills, and Sister Eremina can be a valuable resource and advocate for the translation program.

I love making connections like this.

On my March 17th blog, I shared about my dream of having a weekly Bible page written in Solomon Islands Pjijn in the local national newspaper. I had talked to a reporter friend at the newspaper about the idea and she promised to talk to her editor about it.

This morning I received a call from the religion editor at the paper asking to know more about the idea. My friend Robin who is helping me with this project happened to be at my house, so we jumped in the car and went to the newspaper office to present our idea. The editor had already agreed to the concept and we have been given permission to deveolop a full page in the paper each week that is written in Pijin and features a reading from the Pijin Bible. The page will also have questions about the story, picture, puzzles, weekly Bible verse and a devotional written by a local pastor. What potential it has! Praise God with us for this open door. Pray for Robin and I as we work to develop this project.

When taking down the laundry, I noticed there was something in the pocket of Emily’s shorts. As I went to see what it was, it moved and made a hissing sound. It was this rhinoceros
beetle and it didn’t want to leave Emily’s pocket.

These harmless insects are fairly common here and we often see them in our carport at night. Sometimes they get flipped over on their backs and can’t get upright again. When they are disturbed, they make a loud hissing sound.

Today is Sarah’s 10
th 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:

“

And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.

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.