Over the past few months, I (Martha) have been privileged to be serving on two government committees.

One is the National Trade and Agriculture Show Committee. The government has 4 stated goals for the National Trade Show – one of which is to help our group launch the Pijin Bible! The Trade Show Committee has agreed to designate a large area of the show grounds as the “Year of the Bible Area”. Inside the special area there will be a stage that is the same size as the Show’s main stage. This special stage will be used for Christian activities all day long for each of the 8 days of the show! Each evening we will show a Christian movie. Christian churches are busy planning how to best use this time and space to spread the Gospel.

There will be a prayer chapel at the show grounds, with people praying throughout the day and evening for the Solomon Islands. Nearby will be the ‘House of Hope’ where a team of pastors will be standing by to talk to people who have a concern to share or just want to talk to someone.

A special stall will be set up where we will have a display about Bible translation. We hope that this will encourage people to get interested in Bible translation in their language.

The Solomon Islands Government is paying for the construction of all of the Year of the Bible area of the show.

I’m also on the national committee that is planning the 30th Anniversary of Independence of the Solomon Islands. The Pijin Bible launch on the 6th of July is being considered a part of the national celebrations. The government is financially backing this launch as well. We are overwhelmed by the amazing support of this government.

It’s interesting being on these government committees. In each meeting I attend is opened and closed with prayer – something that wouldn’t happen in the USA these days!

One of Sarah’s favorite treats from the market is pomelo – a close relative of grapefruit. The other day I bought this one for her which you can see is nearly as big as a basketball!

Pomelos have very thick rinds – this one was about 2″ thick. Inside the fruit is yellow or pink and tastes similar to grapefruit, although often they are not as juicy or sweet.

This pomelo cost $10 Solomon dollars which is about $1.25 US. We have seen a big increase in prices at the market. Some produce has doubled in price over the past few months. This is partially due to a lot of rainfall which ruined some gardens and a big increase in the price of rice which is largely imported.

This morning our family had the privilege of going to the National Parliament to witness the swearing in of our friend Matthew is was just elected as a Member of Parliament. The swearing in was extra special because Matthew took his oath holding the Wala New Testament, which he helped translate and which was just launched on Palm Sunday.

Prime Minister, Dr. Derek Sikua, is seen in the photo sitting behind Matthew.

As part of the Year of the Bible, the Solomon Islands Government is sponsoring twice daily 2-minute Pijin Bible readings on the national radio station which broadcasts throughout the Solomon Islands. We thank God for this opportunity!

Download the first Reading for Wednesday, March 5 (mp3 – 2MB)

Recently when we went to the Prime Minister’s office to talk about the government’s involvement in Year of the Bible, one of the things we asked for was for the government to sponsor twice daily 2 minute Bible readings on the national radio station. The Prime Minister agreed and we have been talking to the radio station about what time slots were available for the Bible readings. At first, it looked like we might be able to have time slots right before the news begins, but other sponsors have those times.

Today the radio station sales department informed me that we will have a time slot right after the morning news at 7 am and after the Pijin news in the evening! These are GREAT time slots when lots of people all over the country will be listening to their radios. We praise God for this wonderful opportunity.

The Solomon Islands’ 2008 Year of the Bible was officially launched on Sunday February 24th. You can read more about the celebration on the Solomon Star newspaper website:

http://solomonstarnews.com/?q=node/16999

There is also now a website for Year of the Bible – www.YOTB2008.com to keep Solomon Islanders briefed on what is happening this year.

Thursday morning I walked out the door and found this python coiled up on our carport floor. It wasn’t moving and I assumed it was dead, but hey, I’m married to a science teacher and clearly this was Tim’s domain! Tim checked it out and sure enough, it was dead probably thanks to our cats.

The good news is that there are no poisonous snakes on this island and in fact this was only the 2nd or 3rd snake we have seen in the 10 years we have lived in the Solomons.

This afternoon a team of three from the British and Foreign Bible Society climb on a plane to make the long journey back to London. They have been our guests for the past week and it has been fun to show them the Solomon Islands and help them to get more than 25 hours of raw video. This footage will be edited used to produce dvds telling the story of Bible translation in the Solomon Islands. Some of it will be used at a youth convention in England to raise funds for publication of the Pijin Bible.

This week didn’t go as we thought it would – I (Martha) came down with malaria and a stomach flu which meant Tim had to take them on one trip. Later in the week we were not able to go to the western Solomons as planned because of flights getting canceled. The entire week has been gray and rainy, but we hope that the video they captured will tell the story well when they get back.