happenings

Hi! It's a hot Saturday morning. Well, Saturday mornings are always hot. They feel hotter than other mornings, but I think the issue is that we take it a bit slower on a Saturday so then we notice the heat more. But I've got a little retro kind of desk fan blowing at me so I shall survive!

We've had a busy week this week because we're planning to go to a village next week for two weeks, so there are lots of jobs that we needed to complete before going. Jair has been getting busy fixing cars and a motorbike. Repairs are often put on hold until he can find the part so he finally found some parts and got cracking! Today, as you see in the photo, he's been pottering around on the deck we're building. It gets rather warm inside so we're looking forward to relaxing in the deck which will catch a bit of the passing breeze! Note the old rusty ship piston Jair is using as a pillar for the deck. It was a mission getting it in cement because it weight at least 250 kgs!

This week I ventured out into the wild by myself - well, not into the wild, but out of the relative civilisation of Honiara, and I wasn't by myself completely either! I had to go to a village about 45 minutes drive away, through the palm oil plantations, and then through some other bumpy dusty roads and villages to a place called Bemuta. I've been organising for a team that is going to do a children's program there so I had to go in and bring a letter to confirm it. I didn't quite know the way, but between Florrie, who came with me, and me, and any locals we could find wandering around, we managed to find it. Remind me next time to check the petrol level before I leave. I got to close to the village and noticed we were almost on empty! eek. But we made it home alright.

We only stayed at the village for a short time, just chatting, but it was really tranquil out there. It's that kind of moment that you can't capture on camera. You know, sitting on this wooden bench on a verandah, watching the pigs snouting and scuffing in the grass near by, the variety of butterflies flitting from tropical flower to tropical flower. Seeing wild parrots chasing each other overhead.

I couldn't quite get over the butterflies. They were just so beautiful. Like there was one that was probably the size of my hand, if it flattened out its wings, or even bigger. It was a deep, dark blue colour with a cream coloured body. The thing that amazes me is that very few people out of the 6 or 7 billion people we share planet earth with get to experience beautiful butterflies. It's like tropical fish. You don't realise how many beautiful fish there are in the sea until you put on a mask and snorkel and find some reef or a shipwreck and see for yourself, nemo and all his cousins, angel fish, sword fish peering at you, dark purple fish (I mean, have you ever seen a dark purple fish before?), and fish that a sparkling dots in the big blue ocean. And yet very few people see them. Partly because few people live in places where the sea is teaming with beautiful fish, and those that do live there rarely have masks and snorkels!

And yet, God made all these beautiful things, butterflies and fish, that nobody ever sees. Who knows what else is out there whose beauty only God sees?! It simply astounds me that there is so much beauty that is there just for the sake of being beautiful! All these thoughts tumbled in my brain as I sat there on this wooden bench enjoying the butterflies in the distance.

So, as I said, we are going out to a village next Tuesday. It was going to be yesterday but we had to change the date. We're very excited about going, but then there's a bit of nervous anticipation as well. I mean, life will be very different there. For example, missionaries talk about having three weights - your back at "home" weight (which is the highest), then your town weight in your host country (which is lower), then your village weight (which is even lower). It's so hot here, and you sweat so much and use so much energy to just do normal activities, that I'm already very skinny (again!) so I don't know how I can lose any more! It's not that they don't feed you enough in the village, but that their way of eating is so drastically different from ours. However, we want to experience village life, so rather than taking our own supplies of food, we're going to suck it in, ask for another coconut if we're really hungry, and eat what they eat!

I've enjoyed having my hair in small plaits all week - it is cool (in temperature) and solves the problem of my hair molting

But we're quite excited about going as well. Everyone we've talked to who has ever been there (locals that is) say it's a beautiful village - right by the sea, it's a sand beach with surf (which is surprising in this country) and you eat turtle meat. So, it'll be an experience.

The purpose of going is to experience their way of life, to do what they do, eat what they eat, live where they live. There's a temptation to go into this kind of venture thinking, oh I can do this for them, and repair that engine and teach them this, but we want to avoid that. We're

aware of the fact that we need to be the ones learning from them about their culture, their language, their way of life, rather than be the ones

who are experts. To be able to bond with the people of this country, we need to live as they do, if only for two short weeks. When you rely on your own confidences and competencies you will not bond with the host people. In fact they will be shy of you even more.

So you won't hear from us for just over two weeks. We plan to come back on the 22nd of June. Please pray for safety, but even more than that, that this village stay would be beneficial for us - learning their way of life and language, and growing in understanding and love for the Solomon Island people as a result. a flower I would love to pick, but it closes when picked!