August 23-24, 2015
Dearest Friends and family
WE
ARE BACK HOME
We have arrived back home in Vanuatu. It wasn't pretty nor was it quick but
we are back. (6 hour layover in LA and almost a 10 hour layover in Fiji)
We arrived at Tulsa airport with 17 bags. Yes, we had some clothes (since I am back to a 32 inch waist and the pants over here would not stay up) but mostly replacement items we lost in the cyclone; kitchen utensils, phones, parts to repair things damaged in the cyclone (lawn mower, motorbike, truck), lots of Gatoraide and Poweraide powder (because the bottles are VERY expensive over here and I sweat a lot), paper towels and toilet paper (to pack around stuff), a new weather station to replace the one blown away, some DVDs, lots and lots of pads/diapers and lots of medicines, crayons (10 boxes I bought the last day that Walmart had for 50 cents a box), bush knives, gloves, storage containers, US flags, scatter rugs, small flashlights, new hardhats (found in the recycling center in Joplin), boots (gumboots as well as military style), mw popcorn, body wash, cereal, 12v water pump, wall clocks, sheet sets, spices, raisins, Apple computers, Apple key boards, Apple mice, multimeters, pillows, some candy and lots of books.
Southwest Airlines in Tulsa helped us out again by shipping most of the bags
at no extra cost. When we got to LA it took four baggage carts to get all our
bags to the International terminal which is about 1/2 miles from the Southwest
Airlines arrival terminal. We left two carts at the arrival terminal with the
baggage people and took the first two to the international terminal. I then
went back two more times for the other carts while Kathy stood guard over the
carts. It was sunny and in the mid 60 so it was good exercise.
Once we started at Tulsa airport and we arrived at our house in Eton village, Vanuatu it was over 36 hours on the road, in the sky and in the airports. (11:30am Wednesday - 12:30pm Thursday Joplin time - 5:30pm Friday Vanuatu time)
When we left Joplin it was raining so we had to put a tarp on four of the duffel bags on the top of the car. When we went to the airport the next morning it was still raining so I made two trips with the baggage. When we landed in Port Vila it was sunny and the temperature around 80. Today the wind is roaring, cloudy skies and the high was 75 and the low last night was 68. The cold wind is coming out of New Zealand where they are having SNOW.
When we landed in Port Vila we made it through immigration and customs with no hassles or charges. We had three baggage carts overloaded. We were greeted by Stephen, Goman and Moses and they thanked us for bringing the sun as it has been raining off and on the past week. Our truck was back in the village with a funny noise coming off the front left brake. So Stephen loaned us his truck and we loaded the bags and stopped by the grocery store to get the essentials before heading on out to the house.
The first night Kathy crashed early but I stayed up getting some of the bags unpacked before giving it up. I have learned that the longer I can stay awake the first night the better I can get back to local time. We are 17 hours ahead of US central standard time. I woke up wide awake about 4:00am but willed myself to stay in bed until 6:00am. The landscape is recovering from the cyclone but it still looks like a bomb went off. There are no coconuts and this is not good for a culture that coconut is a main staple of their food preparation (and for my chickens).
A
NEW FRONTIER
A new morning and I am trying to be optimistic. Last night we found the water
pump to the house was not working and even though I put the new switch on it
in the dark with a flashlight it still did not work (so no pressure in the water).
I also found out the float in the toilet was not shutting off (glad the pump
wasn't working now). I had to run a new power wire to the pump and replaced
the float in the toilet first thing. There are many things still not right due
to the cyclone that I did not know about before we left in May. The water pump
electrical wire obviously had a weakness in it somewhere and finally with the
wind blowing broke. Several places in the ceiling required additional caulking
and the front door will have to be replaced as I had to kick it in right after
the cyclone.
Saturday I worked on the truck for several hours and was able to change out the front left brake pads. I had brought back some replacement disc brakes pads but they were not the correct ones but I was able to locate the replacement pads I had brought in the container when we brought the truck over. The rotor is in bad shape but it will have to do until I can get Jason to ship me a replacement rotor.
We always have ant problems here but usually can keep them in control by spraying continually. But since we were gone for three months they have come back and I am spraying. As I was typing this ants have been running around on the computer keyboard as well as on the desk top. I will have to look around and find out where they have made a nest and SPRAY. I also had an ant running across the lens of my reading glasses after I put them back on. The ants are also back in force in the kitchen and any food not cleaned up will be covered with ants in record time. Again I have to find where they are coming from and SPRAY.
The propane gas line to the stove was leaking and I had to fix that before Kathy could cook her breakfast or BOOOOOOM!.
We still had the 7 laying hens but there were also 5 of the while chickens that should have been eaten. There has been no chicken feed in country for over 6 weeks so Rebecca and Juju have been feeding them whatever. I let them out of the coop and let them free range. The white birds will be gone in the next few days so we can clean out the coop and order new day-old chickens. We heard the chicken farm is back in business but we might have to get our new chickens from New Zealand. We need to build another coop at the school and get some chickens for there as well.
The solar power system has been underpowered the past few weeks with cloudy skies and a bad regulator so we will have to use the generators for a few days to charge the batteries enough to give us battery power all night.
I tried the "reasonably new" microwave last night and it would not turn so had to take it apart and oil the small turntable motor.
Since we live in the tropics we have wood mites which bore and eat plywood and softwood and the droppings are EVERYWHERE. I guess I will have to get the SPRAY out this week.
SERVICES
Sunday morning and we attended services here in Eton. It was good to be with
the brethren as they welcomed us back. There are several new faces in the crowd.
After services it was announced that as we and another family were planning
to eat together (as was our custom before we left) and everyone was encouraged
to go back and bring their lunch to the building. We had a very good turn out
and it was great sitting around catching up just talking and eating
Building supplies came in right after we left but then ran out just as quick. Rebecca's house has not been finished because they was no exterior cement board. Goman went in on Saturday and brought me back several sacks of chicken feed that had just come in and found out the cement board is in stock. So tomorrow (Monday) we will go to town and get the cement board and start getting the exterior walls up for Rebecca so we can get the interior walls up this week. Rebecca had been staying in our house while we were gone.
FIRST
FULL WORK DAY BACK
Monday, the first full work day back was a wash. The repaired brake job was
not repaired after all. When I drove it the brake pads REALLY heated up. I had
the use of Stephen's truck so I took the rotor into town to see if I could get
it machined down as a temporary fix. After running here and there I found a
place, the Toyota dealership, that said they could do it in 2 hours. When I
went back in two hours they had not done it because it would have been out of
spec. I told them that was the least of my worries so would they go ahead and
machine it. They did in an hour. When I brought it back and installed it I found
out the caliper was binding up thus locking the brake and ruining the rotor.
So I spent three hours sanding down the caliper to get it so it was free in
the bore. Another part to replace!
While in town I bought the eternal cement sheets we will be using on Rebecca's house and loaded them into the truck. I also renewed the newspaper subscription to get it delivered to our house every day. (It the small things that make life bearable here.)
I have found out the the solar system is not working properly. We have been having good sunshine the past two days but the batteries are not charging. It looks like I am going to have to rebuilt it.
Onward
and upward!
Thank you so much for all of you who are praying for us, supporting us and
have contributed to our needs. God bless you! Thank you for your prayers and
fellowship!
Thank you Lord for healing and providing what we need!
Grace & Peace
Tobey & Kathy Huff
Ph: (678) 596-4821 (Vanuatu) We do texting.
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PS A cyclone relief fund has been set up at our sponsor and Jason can give instructions if anyone wants to wire TT money straight to our bank account there.
Contributions for the Huffs, the
Bible school and the Scholorship fund can be sent to:
Huffs/Bible School
c/ Mt Hope church of Christ
2830 Mt Hope Rd
Webb City MO 64870
or
Jason Huff
2730 E 24th St
Joplin MO 64804