Driving in the Solomon Islands is a funny situation.  With less than 100 kilometers of paved roads, there isn’t far to go, but we still need a car.  We have been watching this website: www.japanesevehicles.com for cars that would meet our needs.  We have been looking at smaller cars with 4 wheel drive.

Yesterday we found a 2004 Ford Escape with 52,000 miles that had been reduced in price by $1100.00 US dollars and is now  $3900.00. It looks like a perfect car for our needs and have committed to purchasing it.  After the money is transferred from our bank to to the company in Japan, they will prepare it for shipping to the Solomon Islands.  The costs for shipping and insurance will be about $3000.00 USD.  When it arrives in the Solomons, we will pay duty and ‘goods tax’ of at least another 10%.

In our last newsletter we mentioned the need for funds to cover the cost of the car.  If you feel led to make a contribution, you can follow this link www.wycliffe.org where you can give a tax-deductible gift.  If you would prefer to make a contribution by mail or a phone call, further instructions can be found on the ‘participate‘ tab above.  Gifts need to be designated for ‘Tim & Martha Matzke’.

Purchasing this car is another step forward in our return to the Solomon Islands and the opportunities awaiting us there. We are grateful for the support of our friends like YOU!

Our latest newsletter is available here: Matzke Messenger – March 2013 as a PDF download.

I should be packing my bags to go to Detroit where Tim and I will be attending a missions conference at my home church. But I have to stop and share an amazing story.

We are continuing to make plans for our return to the Solomon Islands in the middle of the year. We are excited about going back and the wonderful opportunities that await us. But this week we were reminded of what it is going to take to get us there.

Our monthly financial support is a bit short. But the big items God needs to supply are our plane tickets, money to cover shipping some household goods and the purchase of a vehicle. As we added up our estimate of what we will need, it was a bit sobering. How in the world is that going to happen before the end of June?!?

That night we went to church to attend the Wednesday night dinner and go to choir. After the dinner, a friend asked us about how we get to the Solomons. We explained the various routes and what we were thinking. Then he asked, ‘But you don’t really care HOW you get there, right?”. We admitted we had our preferences, but when push came to shove, it doesn’t really matter.

Then our friend asked, “What if I could get you there or part of the way with my frequent flyer miles?” We were floored. Before we could even let people know about our list of outgoing needs, God was providing.

This afternoon our friend booked the three of us tickets to Auckland, New Zealand where we will visit friends. From New Zealand we will fly to Brisbane, Australia.  So all we need now is to pay for airfare from Brisbane to Solomon Islands!

We didn’t NEED to go to New Zealand, but we were hoping we could. Now God has provided a way – free of charge and before we could even ask. Isn’t that just like God?

And last week he provided someone to house sit our house sit our house in the Solomon Islands. We had just found out the renter was moving out when someone approached us with a temporary housing need for their son and daughter-in-law. Again, we were amazed that God provided before we could even ask.

As we continue to make preparations for our return to the South Pacific, we thank God for his confirmation of our plans through these encouragements.

There are a lot of smiles at our house today.  The long awaited day for the removal of the braces has arrived.  After two years Sarah no longer has braces.  Yeah!

Sarah and I have known about the appointment for some time, but we kept it under our hats.  This morning I picked her up from school and took her to the orthodontist’s office.  Afterward we stopped by the office to surprise Tim.  As Tim looked at Sarah’s beautiful metal-free smile, he broke into a smile.  And I got teary-eyed.

When we were told 3 years ago that both girls needed braces, and not just for cosmetic reasons, we had no idea how we would be able to pay for them.  We moved ahead in faith and trusted God to provide.

Friends donated a car to Wycliffe in our name and the proceeds from the sale of the car were almost exactly what we needed for Emily’s braces.  We have been making payments on Sarah’s braces month after month and have always had enough. God has been faithful even when we couldn’t see a way forward.

Sarah isn’t the only one smiling today.  What’s not to smile about?  We have a God who delights in providing for his children – even straight teeth.

Before…

and after…

You can read about the education initiative in which Tim served as a consultant here:

http://www.sil.org/sil/news/2012/timor-leste-mled-project.htm

The latest Matzke Messenger is out. You can download it here:
Matzke Messenger Christmas 2012

Well, after a very full two weeks here in East Timor, which followed two weeks spent in 3 Australian locations, and two weeks before that in the Solomon Islands, it’s time for this traveler to head home.  The suitcase is packed, I have a 5:30 AM taxi call at the hotel front desk, and I’m charging up my Kindle.

Every stop on this trip has been different.  And every stop has been strategic.  Here in East Timor, I feel like I could have easily spent another two weeks, with all that is going on.  The implementation team takes off in a couple of days to do teacher training in the three areas where the pilot project will be implemented.  There is still material that needs to be polished up and finished.  (it will probably be printed ‘as is’ and polished over the next couple of months.)  But we got a lot done.  And I feel that my being here made it possible for them to at least be minimally ready to start classes when the school year begins in January.

I’m so glad I came.  But it will be good to get home too.

As with many hotels these days, the hotel where I am staying here in Dili, East Timor serves a complimentary breakfast.  Now East Timor is at a crossroads between Asia, the Pacific and Australia, and the hotel restaurant is run by ethnic Chinese.  So what would they serve for breakfast?

Well as is typical, it’s a breakfast buffet.  And there is bread (and a toaster), margarine, jam and peanut butter for those who like that.

There are also corn flakes and milk.

And on my plate you can see the following:

scrambled eggs

fried rice (with some egg and vegetables)

stir-fry fish and vegetables (sometimes it’s a different stir fry meat, other times it’s been cut up chicken breast patties, or battered chicken wings)

stir fry chinese cabbage (or some other similar vegetable)

stir fry bacon and vegetables

a small spring roll

and what is supposed to substitute for sausage, which is more like a hot dog.

In addition there was stiff fry tofu in a sauce

and various fruit pieces (orange, banana, apple today)

And the coffee is excellent.  With East Timor’s Portuguese heritage, they serve excellent coffee here.

Anyone for breakfast?

Over the past couple of days, the team has been working very hard to write small story books for children just learning to read.  The goal is to get as many as 80 small books produced in each of the three languages of the pilot project!

I have been helping them to understand more clearly what makes a good small story book, the type of story needed, the type of wording needed, the type of illustrations needed.  With people from the three languages working together, they can often share story books between them, adjusting the wording or illustrations slightly to fit their specific situation.  Over the past two days, they have prepared drafts of over 30 stories so far, to add to the more than 20 that they already had!

from Tim…

On Wednesday of last week, the multilingual education team held a stakeholders meeting to report on the project so far, share implementation plans, and present important multilingual education concepts.  People from various non-government organizations attended, as well as educators and representatives from the Ministry of Education.

Ester explains a foundational concept to the group.

I had been working with them all of Monday and Tuesday to finalize the program and help various prepare their presentations and practice them.  And they all did very well.  All of the presentations and conversation was held in Tetun, one of the official languages of East Timor, so I was very much the outsider for the day.  I was able to have some of the discussion translated for me so I could follow some of it and occasionally contribute to the discussion.  But the day very much belonged to the team.

Ana does a teaching demonstration.

Afterward, I heard reports that several of the participants felt they had learned a lot, saying that they had not understood before what the multilingual education program was all about.  But having learned more, they now feel it is a good idea!

Now we just have to get everything ready for classes to start early next year…