February 1988

Dear Brethren;

Grace and peace to you. We always thank God for all of you mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in Jesus.

VISITORS FROM AFAR
The middle of last year Andy Scott wrote us from Papua New Guinea and asked if it would be all right if they stayed with us for a few days on their way back from the States to PNG after furlough. At that time we said sure love to have ya and filed the letter away with the flight number and date. Well on the 15th of January Mike Austin (administrator of the Bible College) and Ray Tonkin (Mike's father in law and student in the college) were to take a flight to Fiji to visit with Ledua and Sera and Josua. They were the Fiji students who graduated last year from the Bible College and returned home to begin a work of following up the World Bible School Bible correspondence course students in Fiji. I decided to check my file as to the Scott's arrival and lo and behold they were coming from Fiji on the same flight that Mike was leaving on. The Scotts had spend the night in Fiji. So Kathy and I borrowed a van from one of the local members and took Mike and Ray to Auckland International airport. Auckland is about 120 miles from Tauranga. We waited for the Scotts in the arrival area and they finally drug themselves out the door from customs. (They weren't the last ones out but real close.)

Andy, Catherine and their three girls and Kathy and I hopped into the van and headed back to Tauranga. On the way back we stopped for petrol and Catherine headed across the street for a cup of tea from one of our numerous tea houses. The girls had changed so much. We made good time back home and Andy and I were able to get into the tail end of the Twilight Golf Tournament. This is where we play 10 holes of golf with stableford scoring. We didn't do too good but we had fun. After playing, the girls (our wives) joined us at the club house where we enjoyed the Club House Barbecue for dinner.

When the Scotts first got to our house Jason was sitting down and when Catherine came in he stood up to greet her and she couldn't believe he just kept "coming up out of the chair". Terasa wasn't home and greeted them later.

We had a really good visit with them and were sorry to see them leave after only 4 days. We were able to catch up on what is going on in PNG and let them know what our plans are for the future.

FIJI TRIP
More on Mike's trip. The Otumoetai congregation who oversee the Bible College and the Bible Correspondence work in Fiji is also overseeing the work of Ledua, Sera and Josua as they follow up the over 2,000 people we now have on correspondence courses. Mike made this trip to liaison with the congregation in Lautoka where our workers will be working from. This congregation has expressed and desire to help support these workers and have even provided a house for Ledua and Sera. Mike brought back a very encouraging report. This base in Lautoka will be where most of the outreach efforts originate. We are planning and praying for a National Bible School in July where we hope to bring together a goodly number of Correspondence students for further in-depth face-to-face teaching. Plans now call for me to go to Fiji in March or April to organize and finalize plans for this school. We are hoping to take senior students from the Bible College and hold classes for men, women and children. PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS EFFORT!

PRAYERS ARE WORKING
From the very beginning when we first tried to move here to New Zealand we have had troubles securing visas. We have asked and continue to ask for your prayers in this area. Last year when our passports were stamped for the last time with temporary visas we were told to re-apply for permanent visas after the first of the year.

The New Zealand government issues an "Occupational Priority List" periodically listing those occupations which have a clear need for overseas recruitment. Their new list came out in January 1988 and is an answer to our prayers. When we first applied to come in 1985 we were denied entry because we applied to come in as a missionary/printer and at that time the NZ government didn't deem that occupation as priority. Guess what is on the new list? Not only is Offset Printer priority now but I could also apply to come in as: Teacher-Private School (Bible College); Electrical Appliance Service Person; or Electrical Engineering Technician (Micro computer). We have applied under Teacher/Printer for the Bible College and the local immigration office was more than helpful in processing the forms. They see no problems and we should hear something within 6 weeks.-PRAYER STILL WORKS - KEEP IT UP!

SCHOOLS START BACKUP
The first week in February all the schools began again. The Bible College started back up with a total of 11 full time students. Jason and Terasa are back in uniform and back in classes. This term will be the first time I will teach in the Bible College. I have a class on printing with the First year students and will be teaching Romans to the Second year class. Larry Deason was to have taught Romans but will be unable to do so this year. I am looking forward to the challenge. Usually any class I teach I get more out of it having to study for the preparation needed than the class gets.

PRINTDATE 1/88: During January I was able to get another of our presses ready to go. This gives us 4 Multilith 1250 presses. I also printed over 112,000 pieces. When Andy Scott was here he asked me to reprint a booklet for Papua New Guinea which I am in the process of re-typsetting. We will probably have to reprint the World Bible School #1 book soon due to the large demand we have received from Fiji. The most recent advert in the Fiji Times resulted in over 200 new requests in just over a week.

FUNDS STILL SHORT
Over the past few newsletters we have ask for your continued prayers in regard to our financial situation here. Over the past year we have lost 32% of our support and the value of the New Zealand dollar against the American dollar has risen 24%. To give you an idea of our costs the following list has been prepared.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR FINANCIAL NEEDS!

If you, your congregation or you know of a congregation who can and might help on a monthly basis (or a one time contribution) please work on it for us.

Your servants in Christ,

the Huffs