Friday Favorite Five

This is the technology version of Friday Favorite Five.  Don't laugh, I'm slowly learning more about technology and how to use it!

1) I'm super excited about the Coral Sea Cable System coming slowly but surely to the Solomon Islands.  You can follow along with the progress.  We will certainly be keeping our eyes on the exciting developments.

2) Persuasion podcast has become my go-to for thoughtful listening when the kids are outside playing and I'm chopping veggies in the kitchen.

3)  Zoom.  Our Friday began with a meeting of our SITAG (Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group) colleagues from around the world.  I can still hardly believe that this actually worked!  True, "your internet is unstable" did pop up from time to time.  But I was reminded that one of the best parts of this job is the AMAZING colleagues.  People I trust, people who love Jesus, people who have become my adopted family.  Hearing their voices and briefly seeing their faces from places like Dallas and Brisbane...just made me fall in love with what we do all over again.

4)  Continuing the technology theme..."Tips for the Tightrope of Social Media" really struck a chord with me.  Written with ex-pats in mind, this sentence caught my eye: 

"Overseas workers walk a tightrope of daily social media use. This tightrope can be uplifting and fun. It can also be scary and devastating." 

 Good reminders for me as I easily and quickly get isolated in my own cultural setting.  I would love to hear feedback about social media and how you perceive what we do through the lens of the social media platforms we use as we live life in a fishbowl.

5)  Partners in Bible translation.  What does this have to do with technology, you may ask?  Everything!  Technology is not only changing the face of Bible translation, but it is also making more partnerships possible.  This morning, after our Zoom meeting, we walked down the hill to our regular morning tea break.  However, today we had ice cream and prayer (the perfect combination for encouragement, IMHO) for the departing Jesus Film team that has been working with several Solomon Island languages for the last five weeks.  One day, we hope that Lavukaleve will have the book of Luke completed so that we can also show our friends and neighbors the Jesus Film in their heart language.

One of our favorite ways to serve SITAG is to pick up incoming (or drop off outgoing) colleagues at the airport.  After lunch today, our family drove along the bumpy roads (weaving around the dogs looking for a cool place to lay) and finally made it to the top of the airport to cheer for one of our Canadian translation advisors.  That doesn't have anything to do with technology, but it is a great way to finish up our first week back in the Solomon Islands.