JANUARY 1987

Dear Brethren;

Greetings and love in the name of Jesus Christ.

SOUTH ISLAND TRIP
New Zealand is no different than Papua New Guinea when it comes to the months of December and January. These are the summer months in this part of the world and everything practically closes down during this time for everyone to "pursue happiness in the sun." Terasa took her final tests the first week in December and Jason finished his classes a week later. I have always been one to stay far from the maddening crowds and so our family along with the Mesas took off in early December for a trip to the South Island of New Zealand. Most Kiwis begin their traveling after Christmas so we hoped to be back home before the natives hit the roads.

New Zealand is made up of two major islands, North and South. The majority of the people live on the North island with over 25 % of the total population living in Auckland. The South Island is considered by the North Island as their country hillbillies. In fact it is very beautiful and very sparsely populated. The sheep outnumber the people even though there are several good sized cities. It amazed us how many of the residents of the North Island have never been to the South Island. During our trip we were able to see: active and dormant volcanoes, geysers, glaciers, fjords, glacial and crater lakes, caves, high mountains and lonely coastlines.

We traveled from Tauranga down the length of the North Island where we boarded a ferry at Wellington which took us to Picton on the north of the South Island. From there we traveled down along the west coast and back up along the east coast. One of the first things we bought were fishing lines so that we could enjoy the unlimited fishing prospects along the coast as well as the many rivers which were 'said' to contain hungry trout. During the whole 10 days not one trout sacrificed itself on my hook or Jab's or Jason's. Jab, Jason and Becky caught some fish off of the wharf in Nelson the second day of the trip but nothing else was caught the whole trip until Jab caught a cod off the wharf in Timaru. There were times we would be whipping along the road along a lake or river and we would stop to try our skills to no avail.

We, as Paul, tarried for seven days so as to meet with the brethren at Troas we tarried two days in Nelson to meet with the brethren there. We knew there were no congregations on down the west coast. After worship on Sunday we loaded in the car and made our way down to Greymouth, a coal town. This was the only day of rain we had on the whole trip. From Greymouth we traveled to Lake Wanaka. On the way we stopped at Franz Josef glacier for a look-see. From Lake Wanaka to Queenstown (tourist trap deluxe) and then on the Lumesden. In Lumesden Jab, Jason and I tried our skill again for trout in a river pool where they were "just waiting". They are-still waiting, we just spent the afternoon talking to the cows and trying not too step in their back-talk.

From Lumesden we traveled to the very tip of the South Island where you can look out to the South Pole (can't see it but you can look). From the end we began our trip up the east coast from Invercargill, thru Dunedin, a University Town. Dunedin to Timaru on the Christchurch. We spent two days in Christchurch seeing people we had known from Tauranga. The motel we stayed in had a satellite receiver disk and we were able to see Armed Forces TV broadcasts of several football games while we were there. We worshiped with the brethren in the Garden City congregation. Both times we worshiped on the South Island the congregations were having a fellowship meal.

From Christchurch we drove back to the ferry in Picton. We arrived early and instead of having to wait until 7:45 that night to board the ferry we were able to get on the 2:30 ferry and thus got back onto the North Island and Wellington before dark. The ferries carry the vehicles (cars, trucks, boats, campers, rail cars) down below and we had chairs and lounges upstairs for the 3 hour trip.

We spent the night just outside Wellington and the next day drove back up the center of the North Island toward home. We drove by Lake Taupo and because it was too windy to do any trout fishing decided to go on home that night. We arrived back home December 23rd. That gave Kathy the 24th to stock up as most of the shops were closed from the 25th-29th.

SUMMARY: In the 12 days we traveled 2300 miles. We were glad to be home.

Since we arrived back the Mesas have spent much time down on the wharf here in Tauranga fishing. They are catching quite a few in fact. Most of them are small and I think they are still in school.

Please remember our needs in your continued prayers. (Personal support, printing equipment, and The Mesa's support). The Fiji students of the Bible school returned home over Christmas to follow-up Bible Correspondence contacts and the Fiji Islands were lashed by Cyclone Sally last week. Pray for their safety and return to school later this month.

Thank You for the letters we received. (especially those with checks) and we will answer them as soon as possible.

the Huffs