Partners in the Gospel,
It's been a little while since I've updated you all. That's mostly due to my attempt at saving money on our internet usage. When we last "spoke", the majority of my team was packing up to leave for Malaita. Now they're back and into the swing of things here. So I'll tell you a little about my week here in Honiara and then the next few days since then.
When they left, it was lonely and quiet around here. When we got back to the house Monday evening, I wanted nothing more than to call up someone on our team and tell them all about our day. But I couldn't. It was hard to adjust to a big empty house at first. James and Karen Ashley (Uncle James and Aunt Karen... everyone's related here. :P) would come pick us up at around 8:30 each morning and we would go to the language booth by the museum. We selected a different word or phrase each day and wrote it in English on the white board. People would come by, attracted by our huge, colorful maps of the Solomon Islands and the Pacific area, and we would talk to them. We would ask where they're from, what language they speak, and if they would help us by writing the word or phrase in their language on our board. We're also keeping a count of how many different languages are represented in total. I think we're up to about 130! Occasionally we have someone come by who is a potential translator for his/her language group, which is quite exciting. The coolest part to me has been how interested the people are in our board. They love to stand around and look at all of the languages that are represented each day. James and Karen enjoy sharing about linguistic phenomena and they really capture people's attention, especially Uncle James. We usually stay at the booth until about 5:00, but take several breaks to eat lunch, go to the bathroom, or whatever. I enjoyed the new semi-freedom and the experience of apprenticeship under these great missionaries while our team was away.
One day, I got to go watch a consultant check of the Kwaio New Testament. The Pierce's, with whom we played games one night, have been working on this translation and were on the last leg of the process. During a consultant check, a Biblical consultant reads over the back translation (from local language back into English) and provides comments and concerns about meaning and comprehension. The translation is read through with two native speakers present, one of which has no prior experience working on the translation project. Once everything is corrected and approved by all the right people, the final draft is sent in to be printed. We got to see the book of Romans get checked and then the process was complete. They hope to have it finished and dedicated next year! Praise God!
On Saturday, the rest of the team returned. The three of us cooked a nice, non-local style meal for them upon their arrival: shepherd's pie. They arrived around 7:00 pm and it was a most joyous occasion with lots of squeals and hugs. They all took showers, did laundry, and then we sat down to eat. After dinner, we had family time and shared about our week. I couldn't help but feel like everyone else had much more exciting experiences than we'd had. They had been living in villages without running water, sleeping under mosquito nets, bathing in rivers, and building relationships with locals. Nonetheless, it was great to hear their stories and how the arts workshop had gone in Auki, the capital of Malaita.
Sunday morning, we went to the church that Lee, our main leader attended when he lived here. It's a foursquare church, which I had never heard of before. The service was wonderful. They sang a lot of very simple but very long songs. They had a lot of contagious joy in their worship and everyone was so very kind and welcoming to us. Our group performed two songs for the congregation and Lee gave the sermon in Pijin. Afterward, we got coconuts to drink and played with the kids in the yard.
Sunday evening, we had a big party to celebrate American Independence Day. All of the American missionaries at SITAG came over to our house and brought food and meat to barbecue. The Ashley's brought a big American flag and we hung it on the wall. During the festivities, I took a moment to step back and just observe this amazing group of God's servants, coming together to fellowship under our common nationality. It was beautiful. After dinner, we went outside and did "fire swingers". A fire swinger is a rope with a small wire cage tied to one end holding a bundle of steel wool that is drenched in kerosene and set on fire. You hold the other end of the rope and swing the thing as fast as you can in a circle and sparks fly off. It's actually super cool and would be way dangerous in dry areas. Good thing the Solomon Islands are far from dry! Overall it was a much needed day of fun and relaxation.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week have been the same as last week for Kit, Candice and I. We've been going to the language booth each day and talking to people and recording language data. We don't actually have set roles. All three of us take turns doing all the tasks. It definitely takes cooperation and teamwork.
The last day of the festival is Thursday. Next week, Kit, Candice, and I will get our village experience. The whole team will go to a church in a village near Honiara called Gilbert Camp. Then they will leave us with a local family. It's actually the household of our housemaid, Rosina. She is a sweet, sweet lady. Her husband, John Mark, is the pastor at the church we'll go to. The three of us will live in Rosina's house with her family until Friday. I plan to learn so much during that time.
What's been hard:
- remaining united as a team despite the daily separation and varying experiences
- being at the booth 9:00-5:00 almost every day
What's been great:
- telling people I'm from America and seeing their faces light up
- telling people I've been here for two weeks and hearing them say how good my Pijin is!
- just how nice Solomon Islanders are
- hanging out with the other missionaries here at SITAG and gleaning from their stories and experiences in the Solomons
- having Malcolm come back to Honiara and stay with us! (he lives in Malaita)
Answers to prayer:
- a great time in Malaita for the rest of my team and their safe return to Honiara
- a successful workshop and good feedback from participants
- comfort and ease talking to people at the booth... not at first, but it came with time. :)
Prayer requests:
- We have two quite sick team members: Candice and Lee. Candice has been sick for days, we think it's a bad cold. Lee came down with flu-like symptoms today (Wednesday) and stayed in bed much of the day. Megan is also experiencing some symptoms of illness.
- spiritual warfare in general... pray against influences of Satan on our health and attitudes about what we're doing here
- my upcoming village stay!
Sorry this email is so long. Thank you, and to God be the glory!
-Lauren
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