Monday was the opening of the general meeting of the Solomon Islands Bible Translation and Literacy Partnership – a fellowship of our national Bible Translators. Twenty translators from around the country are gathered for this event.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Derek Sikua came for the opening which was a great honor. In this photo, Tim is showing the Prime Minister the new piece of property that our group was recently able to purchase with the help of Wycliffe Associates for the building of a new training center for our national translators.

A few blogs ago, I mentioned that we sent a Pijin Bible to Queen Elizabeth. Recently we received this special thank you note from Balmoral Castle. Pretty cool!

In case you can’t read it, it says:

Dear Mr. Matzke

Thank you for your letter of 4 August enclosing a copy of the Solomon Islands Pijin Language Bible which I have passed to The Queen.

Her majesty has asked me to thank the Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group, the Solomon Islands Christian Association and the Bible Society of the South Pacific for sending her such a thoughtful present. I am sure that the Pijin Bible is a very fitting addition to this year’s celebrations of the 30th Anniversary of Solomon Islands Independence.

The Queen has further directed me to send her good wishes to you and to everyone at the Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group, to which I would like to add my own.

Congratulations on a remarkable Achievement.

Yours Sincerely

Edward Young

The Deputy Private Secretary to The Queen

This morning I dropped Tim and our new colleague, Karen, off at the wharf. They are heading to the island of Malaita where Karen will be staying in a village for five weeks as part of her orientation. As director, it’s Tim’s responsibility to get her there and make sure she is settled well.

Karen is from Australia and has been to the Solomons many times. She is a elementary school teacher, but became trained as a literacy specialist so she can train teachers and help produce literacy materials. We are thrilled to have Karen as a part of our group!

In early December we are looking forward to another new addition to our group – The Choate Family from the USA who will be working in translation. We will be busy with helping them get oriented to life in the Solomons when they arrive.

This week the churches and government of the Solomon Islands presented a Pijin Bible to visiting Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester. I was talking to one the aids that travels with the Duke and Duchess and mentioned that they should really take a Bible back to the Queen. Queen Elizabeth is the patron of the British Bible Society and earlier this year the society raised a lot of money to help fund the printing of the Pijin Bible so it can be sold at an affordable price here. (The Pijin Bible costs about $9.00 USD.)

Today a Pijin Bible and a letter to the Queen went on their way to London with the diplomatic mail bag. It will be exciting to receive a letter back from Buckingham Palace!

This morning we went up the American War Memorial to attend the ceremonies marking the 66th Anniversary of the Landing of the US Marines on Guadalcanal. Lots of VIP’s attended, including the Prime Minister, Dr. Derek Sikua and his wife, Doris. They happily agreed to have their photo taken with Emily and Sarah. Mrs. Sikua noticed they were all wearing red and black!

The Sikuas are just as nice in person as they look in this photo!

This afternoon we attended the garden party for the Duke and Duchess. We even got a chance to very briefly chat with the Duchess. Later we attended a special church service where the Duke was given a Pijin Bible as a gift by the Governor General.

We are greatly encouraged that church and government leaders recognize the importance of the Pijin Bible.

The Duke and Duchess seemed genuinely interested in the Pijin Bible.

Later the General Secretary of the Solomon Islands Christian Association read a letter from Buckingham Palace with a congratulatory message from the Queen.

This afternoon we headed down to Prince Philip Highway (the main road through town) to wait for some special visitors to drive past. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester have arrived for a short visit in recognition of the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Independence. The Duke and Duchess were here 30 years ago at the first Independence Day. We did get a brief glimpse of them as they drove past.

As you can see, Tim and I received this invitation to attend a special party given by the Governor General (head of state) to meet the Duke and Duchess. Now all we need is a crash course in protocol!

An organization called, “Faith Comes by Hearing” has recorded a dramatized version of the Pijin New Testament. The audio Bible is available in a special solar powered box called a Proclaimer which will be distributed around the Solomon Islands.

Solomon Islanders who have heard the Pijin New Testament on the Proclaimer are very excited about this new tool.

The Pijin audio New Testament is available online as a free download. You can hear a sample or download the entire New Testament for free. Choose Pijin from the pull down menu and click on this link to hear a sample or download the entire Pijin New Testament!

Faith Comes By Hearing.com

Tim is in the far east of the Solomon Islands in Temotu Province to attend the launch last Sunday of the Natqgu New Testament. This translation has been in process for more than 30 years and is a real accomplishment. 1000 copies of this Bible were printed and about a third of them have already been sold!

We were excited when Tim was able to get on a flight on Saturday to Temotu Province because there had been some issues regarding no aviation fuel being available in the province. Tim was booked to come back on Monday but all flights were cancelled until a ship arrives with more aviation. A ship finally left today (Wednesday) and should arrive sometime tomorrow which makes a flight possible on Friday. Tim is booked on that first flight back and we are looking forward to having him back in town again.