Notes from the Solomon Islands!

By: Karina Mason

Dates: July 2 – August 26, 2008

July 10, 2008

Today Bro. Maetala baptized a lady in the river! Her name is Elsie and she has a son named Jason. Two men were also baptized last Tuesday. I asked Bro. Maetala if they baptize people often here and he said yes that it is the only way! I agreed!

Yesterday I went into town and was able to purchase an internet card (you have to buy one in order to use the internet here) and then in the evening went to the Solomon hotel to post some pictures on myspace.com and e-mail people. I was able to talk to my brother Raymond (it was about 2 a.m. in TX) because he happened to be up when I was on the myspace.com. That was SOOOO exciting!

The beds we purchased for the Maetalas came today. There is a bunk bed, a twin size bed, and a crib for the nursery. The total amount for the three beds was 2715 Solomon dollars ($362 US) and they are made of solid wood. Originally I had only planned on buying the bunk beds and the twin bed but when I talked to the Maetalas about it after they purchased the beds they mentioned that they had bought a “cot” for the church nursery as well because the people who sold them the beds offer it to them for only 500 Solomon dollars (about $66 US). That was a VERY good price so they went ahead and got it. When I saw the receipt for the total cost it was less than I had expected for the two beds so I told them to go ahead and add the crib onto the amount as well. They were VERY excited about that!

It is amazing how the people here get so excited about some of the simplest things. They appreciate small gestures that many people would just expect. Today I brought out some of the chocolate I had brought with me (I’m a chocoholic!) for Loate and Mary Ellen to eat while sat in my room and read some of the books I had brought with me. They were really excited and you could hear their gasps when I brought it out. I don’t think it is as common place for them to have chocolate as it is for me!

The electricity and water are both off again today. Yesterday they were off almost all day. I don’t see how people can live in a place where the electricity and water are so undependable, especially in this heat! Thankfully there is a breeze outside and so it is not as hot as it could be. From everything I have read June through September is their winter months where it is supposed to be cooler and milder weather. I’m glad I came now rather than at another time!

I am making a list of the stuff that the church here needs. Some of the things include tracts (with the plan of salvation, ect.), Bibles (with the doctrine in the back. You can get them from the Pentecostal Publishing House), and fencing to surround the church property (about $7000 US). The fence will protect the items stored here on the property from theft as well as provide a sense of security for those who come to visit (like I am doing right now!). They have a middle aged gentleman, Bro. Silas, who lives on the church property in the building that the group from Missouri built and takes care of the property (i.e. cutting the grass, being a watchman, ect.). They asked him to make sure everything was safe for me while I was here, so he walks around sometimes at night making sure everything is safe.

The Bibles here cost about 200 to 300 Solomon dollars per Bible (about $27 to $40 US) which is about the salary of a full month for a person working here. Bro. Maetala said that they really need Bibles. He requested the ones with the doctrine added in the back so that they will be able to read it whenever they need to.

The people here work so hard! When Bro. Maetala called a work day on Monday and Tuesday people showed up with machetes to cut the grass and to make the grounds look presentable for the crusade they are holding this Friday, Saturday, & Sunday nights at 6:30 p.m. Not many people have lawn mowers here and those who do have them have to buy the gas which is VERY expensive. (I think Bro. Maetala and I figured it out that it is about $10 US a gallon for diesel here – which the church truck takes - and not very much cheaper for unleaded!). Bro. Maetala has to fill up the church truck almost every day. Right now the Maetalas live on the other side of town from the church but hopefully they can get their house finished soon.

7:00 p.m.

Today we went to the trade show and saw all the booths they had set up. The trade show comes once a year in honor of their independence. I think it lasts about 2 weeks. Today Bro. Maetala took Patricia, Loate, Mary Ellen, & I to the bank so I could get some money out and then we caught a bus to the trade show. The “buses” are really just vans that seat about 20 people when crowded in! It was quite an experience but I have lived to tell about it! J Loate said that she, Mary Ellen, & Travis take the bus to school every day so they know all about how to use them. It is a good thing because I would have been VERY confused if I had been by myself!

The trade show was neat. We got to visit a lot of different booths. The ones I like the most were the RAMSI (the military, of course!) and the police booths. RAMSI is a collection of militaries that came together to help keep the peace in the Solomon Islands after the problems they had in 2004. Right now they are trying to help the government here become better and educate the people. I got a few pamphlets that they had set out for free. They are very interesting and explain a lot about what RAMSI is all about. There are a lot of Australian military personnel here.

I felt weird at the trade show because there were hardly any Caucasian people there and a lot people stared at me. Even Mary Ellen, Loate, & Patricia mentioned it several times! I felt more at home over by the RAMSI booth because the Australian soldiers are also white and I didn’t feel so out of place or conspicuous! Most of the people here are black or islanders that are tanned. Another thing that people here seem to find fascinating is the fact that my hair is long. Evidently their hair doesn’t usually grow very long so they really like my hair. I usually keep it up here because it doesn’t get as dirty and also doesn’t attract as much as attention. I told Mary Ellen that it was a good thing that my hair wasn’t down at the trade show or there would have been even more people staring at me! She immediately said that I should let it down but I didn’t!

Almost anywhere I go here I seem to attract a lot of attention. Part of it may also be that I am clearly from America and not Australia. The accents definitely set us apart! All an Australian has to do is open their mouth and, as the people told Peter in the Bible, their speech betrays them! They have very unique accents! I told Sis. Maetala that by the time I leave here I may talk more like an islander than a Texan. It’s amazing how quickly you can pick an accent!

I took a lot of pictures today but when I was experimenting with my camera I accidentally deleted all of them! I was not very happy with myself because it had the pictures of the baptism on it still. Oh well! Hopefully they will have another one soon and I can take some pictures then!

Right now the musicians are practicing for the crusade this weekend. Because all of the windows are opened and the church is right next door, I can hear them very well. It’s a good thing they can sing well!

I showed one of the girls here some of the pictures from our church and our house and she was shocked. Most of the people here have not seen buildings as big as our church and they are still amazed that people have such large homes!

The electricity is finally on after being off all day and the water was on for a short time so I was able to wash my hair. The water just quit working a short while ago so we may be out of water for another long while! I wish there was a way to get a dependable water system out here and water! The location of the Maetalas new house is very good because when we are out of water they have water. That helps a lot!