Kwaio New Testament Arrival

 

Yesterday afternoon, all of SITAG anticipated the Kwaio New Testaments clearing customs.  Several us met down at the wharf a little after 1 o'clock to cheer and celebrate.  The paperwork was done, and we expected that things would go smoothly and quickly. 

Wrong.  Bumps in the road kept jolting us, like the crate (think railroad car) holding the New Testaments being in the very middle of a whole stack of crates and the customs office closing at 3:30.  Finally, even after paying for an hour's extension, the final hurdle of finding the cashier, who had already gone home, couldn't be overcome.  So we dragged back up the hill weary and disappointed.

 

But today, Lamentations 3:22-23 rang so true for all of us at SITAG. His mercies DO begin afresh every morning!  We heard the truck arrived (decked out in balloons from a just-arrived-care-package from a bloggy friend), and ran to join the jubilant party.

 

 

Loved the grin on sweet Ilyn's face as she read the Word of God in her own language.  She keeps SITAG running smoothly from the office and has put lots of time and energy into the New Testament.

 

 

One of our colleagues made a yummy cake to help celebrate.

 

 

A priest from the Kwaio language group prayed and thanked God for the New Testament's safe arrival, and then he pulled out one of the books and read from John 14:6.  I have to say, I did cry.  This is why we are here.  This is why we live so far away from our families, even though we miss them terribly.  This is why we live in a place where malaria and tropical ulcers and infections seem to blossom overnight and the internet runs so slowly it feels like dial-up from the 90's.

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."  Isaiah 55:10-11

Katherine's Favorite Baby

Meet baby Muna, a beautiful little girl that lives just on the other side of the church from our village house.  She was born a few weeks before we arrived in Marulaon last November, and she quickly became Katherine's favorite baby. 

 

Muna's mom, Sugan, introduced me to the wonders of infant potty training.  When you keep your baby so close to you all the time, she explained, it's easy to know when they need to go to the bathroom.  Now that I'm back in the land of the internet (slow is better than none!), I looked up "infant potty training", also known as "elimination communication".

 

 

According to one of the articles I found, "Infant potty training mimics the time-worn practices of women in parts of Africa and Asia, where mothers often carry around their undiapered babies. These moms manage to avoid being soiled by their bare-bottomed children by learning to anticipate their elimination needs: When a mom notices a signal or pattern that suggests her child is about to relieve himself, she holds him away from her body."

 

Sounds difficult from a Western perspective, but I've seen it firsthand when we were in the village.  In the middle of Evening Prayer, Sugan pulled off Muna's pants, squatted her on the edge of the wooden bench, and Muna took care of business on the easily cleaned up concrete church floor.  This happened so many times, I finally approached Sugan one morning at market and asked her about it.  To my surprise, I learned that most of the babies in the village are trained the same way.  Sure saves time and energy on washing diapers by hand!

Honiara Woman's Daybook

Just for today...Monday, February 3

On my bookshelf..."Abba's Child" by Brennan Manning

One of my favorite things...watching the Super Bowl live this morning with my family and our American colleagues.

 Renee Fleming is one of our favorite opera singers, and it was certainly a treat to hear her sing "The Star Spangled Banner".  Watching everybody stand for the singing of the National Anthem made me so thankful that our kids were able to experience a tiny piece of our passport culture today.

Can you tell for which team each of these guys was cheering?

Crafting in the kitchen...Katherine and Sarah made a chocolate, banana, and graham cracker icebox cake for Katherine's night in the kitchen tomorrow.  We're loving the no-bake-desserts for our hot and steamy climate!

Pondering these words..."Satan's desire is to keep us away from communion with God.  He doesn't care how he does it.  God's intention, on the other hand, is to use spiritual warfare to draw us into deeper communion with himself....God desires to use the enemy's attacks to remove the obstacles between ourselves and him, to reestablish our dependency on him as sons and daughters in a much deeper way."  ~The Sacred Romance

From the learning rooms...Sarah and Benjamin are finishing up their research papers.  Benjamin chose to champion natural gas as the best fuel source and Sarah chose to write about the benefits of coconut oil.  She found a technique called pulling, so she and I have been "researching" with our coconut oil first thing each morning.

Remembering...my sister's birthday today.  Missing special events really makes me homesick!

A peek into my corner of the world...over the weekend, some of the SITAG "uncles" played a game with the kids that was like capture the flag.  The goal was to extinguish the other team's fire, and Aaron got to be the fire "keeper" for one of the teams.

Sweet Sabbath

"We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds."  Psalm 7:1

 

 

Only a year ago, we were celebrating a sweet sixth birthday in Texas.  God continues to pour blessings into our laps, and today we gathered again with SITAG friends to celebrate God's "wonderful deeds" with a belated seventh birthday.

 

 

The children running around SITAG are some of our best gifts, and they bring us so much life and joy!

The Finish Line

"The Finish Line - 2014 Edition" was just released by Wycliffe.  This publication "highlights unique needs and struggles of Scripture translation projects that are nearing completion".

 

 

 Scripture nearing completion is always exciting, but it's especially exciting when people you know and love are involved in the process.  Our dear friends have given themselves to the task of translating the Kwaio New Testament, and this year on April 19th, they plan to put precious copies of God's Word into the hands of Solomon Islanders.  Would you consider praying for them and for the other language projects that are so close to the finish line?

A "Normal" Day

 

People often ask us, "What does a normal day look like for your family?"  Today, I started school with the kids around eight o'clock as Aaron left to go pick up a family from the village.  Their language group is on Guadalcanal, so instead of taking a ship, they can ride in a truck.  But they also have to ford rushing rivers during this very rainy season. 

Sarah made a very cute chicken pot pie with heart-shaped biscuits on top to welcome them back to Honiara with a good lunch (yay for "no math Fridays" for Sarah).  After we enjoyed cookies and fellowship, I headed over for an afternoon of committee meetings while Aaron tagged and finished up school with the kids.  While I was plugging away remembering how to input the books from the Educational Research Center into the computer (which also included drinking coffee, munching on snacks, & spending time with my colleagues), Aaron left to take Caroline down to the wharf to catch her ship to return to her village.  We both returned home around five o'clock.  No day is ever the same for us here in the Solomon Islands, and we love the little mundane things that make up our "normal" days.

Sweet Caroline



In 2009, Caroline became our Solomon Islands Pijin tutor after Barbara left to attend school in Australia.  She is a JOY and works now in literacy with our friend, Karen.

 

 

Since December, she has been traveling around the United States and Australia sharing about Bible translation and literacy in the Solomon Islands, but she finally came back to the Solomon Islands this week.  We missed celebrating her birthday in December, so tonight we had some belated birthday cake and ice cream while we looked at pictures from her trip.  So thankful for this sweet friend!

USS Kidd

What began as an article in the newspaper ended up as an amazing field trip today.  The USS Kidd stopped to refuel in Honiara.  So some of us made cookies and some of us made banana bread just to take down as a small thank you to the men and women who serve our country aboard the ship. 

We were told no tours would be scheduled, but we still went down to see the ship close up. Fast forward a couple of hours and throw in a very generous executive officer & commanding officer,  and these pictures tell the rest of the story... 

 

They found our village on the charts!

Honiara Woman's Daybook

Just for today...Monday, January 27

 

On my bookshelf..."Hercule Poirot:  The Complete Short Stories" by Agatha Christie.  Sarah and I are reading it together at night.

 

Pondering these words...wise thoughts from other women experiencing similar circumstances, like living with a foot each in two different worlds and feasting on God's Word in your heart language.

 

Hearing...pounding rain.  Tis the season.

 

Crafting in the kitchen...Aaron had peanut butter banana smoothies just about ready when I came in from walking this morning.  And tonight we'll be enjoying this funny looking fish he found at market this afternoon.
 

 

One of my favorite things...the handsome guy holding the fish above.

 

A few plans for the rest of the week...loads of meetings this week.  Part of life in Honiara.  But when the meetings include coffee and cookies, along with good friends, we get a lot accomplished and have fun doing it!  Friday's meeting is working on adding to our new computer "card catalog" system in the Educational Resource Center.

 

A peek into my corner of the world...Sarah made delicious lamingtons minus the vegemite this time) to celebrate Australia Day yesterday.  We're missing our Aussie friends!

 

Sweet Sabbath

"Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new..."

~John Donne

 

Within twelve hours, I discovered both the moving poem "Batter My Heart" and Gerald Finley (one of our favorite baritones) singing "Batter My Heart" (from Dr. Atomic by John Adams).  The Lord knew I needed the reminder, just like the children of Israel needed Jeremiah:

 

My friend, Kayla, is learning how to make pottery & sent me this picture not knowing that God was working on my heart

 

So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.  Then the word of the Lord came to me:  "Oh house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?"  declares the Lord.  "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."  Jeremiah 18:3-6

 

Thank You, Lord, for sending sweet reminders like poetry, music, friends, and, most of all, the Bible to teach me about Your faithfulness.

Time for School!

In the Solomon Islands, schools will be beginning a new school year on Monday.  Most of the SITAG national staff have children who attend school, so we gathered this afternoon to pray for each of the students, their schools, teachers, and families.

 

SITAG also presented the students with some school supplies.  For the students that don't live close by, the parents stood in to represent their child.  We're really thankful for each of these families!

 





 

The house smelled good when we returned from the gathering because I left lemon honey chicken cooking in the crockpot.  We found the recipe in "Sonlight Cooks" (have I mentioned how much I LOVE our curriculum?!?).  Since whole chickens aren't cheap here (between US $11-12), it's a special Friday night treat to share chicken with friends who are coming over for supper.  I loved reading all of the comments last weekend about everybody's weekend activities, and I'm looking forward to whatever this weekend brings!

 

Lemon Honey Chicken

1 lemon

1 whole roasting chicken, rinsed

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup honey

 

Pierce lemon with fork.  Place in chicken cavity.  Place chicken in slow cooker.  Combine orange juice and honey.  Pour over chicken.  Cover.  Cook on low 8 hours.  Remove lemon, and squeeze over chicken.  Carve chicken and serve



Morning

The town was glad with morning light; places that had shown ugly and distrustful all night long, now wore a smile; and sparkling sunbeams dancing on chamber windows, and twinkling through blind and curtain before sleepers' eyes, shed light even into dreams, and chased away the shadows of the night.  ~Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop

At six o'clock this morning, we discovered that friends coming back from the village were ready to be picked up at Honiara's wharf.  Aaron and I quickly woke the kids, grabbed some bananas, and drove down to welcome back our dear friends.  The morning was bright as the sun came up, and we knew that whatever troubles they had experienced during their eighteen hour trip would now "wear a smile", especially since we also brought a press of coffee down to the wharf.

There are big ships and small ships.  But the best ship of all is friendship. 

~Author Unknown

 



Research Papers

Sarah is working on a research paper about the advantages and disadvantages of using coconut oil.  Because we live in the Solomon Islands, coconut oil is easily and cheaply available.  In the midst of Sarah's research, she discovered some recipes, one of which she tried immediately so she could experience the benefits of coconut oil herself.  Chocolate Almond Bark is a new family favorite, and it's fun to share, too! 

 

Chocolate Almond Bark

 

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup virgin coconut oil

1/2 cup pure honey

1 cup of crushed almonds

 

In a saucepan, combine cocoa  powder, virgin coconut oil.  Melt on low heat, stirring continuously.  Add honey and stir for 1-2 minutes or until combined.  Remove from heat.  Let cool for 1-2 minutes.  Add in almonds.  Line a 8x8 glass dish with parchment paper.  Pour chocolate mixture into the dish.  Put into the freezer for 30 minutes (or until hard).  Remove from the freezer, break into squares, and enjoy!  Store in the fridge, otherwise chocolate bark will melt.