Dear Brethren and Friends;
Greetings and Peace in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
After three weeks of packing we put the containers on the wharf in Lae on the 12th of June. We stayed in the SIL flats for a couple of nights and then we moved back into the empty house and slept on an air mattress. Velma let us use the refrigerator at the Missionary centre. It was kind of like camping out. The 14th I preached for the English congregation. The rains which had held off while we were packing the container returned the last week we were in Lae. We left the country on June 19th. We arrived in Cairns, Australia and were met by Ron Doyle. I was asked to preach Sunday. On Monday afternoon we flew on down to Brisbane. Elaine Leggatt picked us up and we stayed with them. Sombo called from Port Vila saying that the visas were approved and that they would be waiting for us at the airport when we landed in Vanuatu. We left PNG in sweltering conditions and the temperatures in Brisbane were close to freezing, so we rescheduled our flight to Vanuatu. We did some last minute shopping with Elaine running us around. We had to buy a new bladder for the waterbed (the other one split when I started to drain it), bought an air mattress and a couple of lawn chairs as we would be moving into the empty house in Port Vila.
We arrived in Port Vila at 11.00pm on June 26th very mild (almost cold) and no, our visas were not at the airport. After looking for over 15 minutes the immigration man finally gave us visitor visas and told us to go to the town office on the morrow to straighten it out. (We have done such and found out that about 90% of the visas are done this way.) Sombo Dowara and group met us and drove us to a motel for the rest of the night. The next morning Sombo drove us around to the real estate agent for the key to the house, to immigration to straighten out the permits, the bank to get a checking account and back to the airport to pick up the unaccompanied baggage. We bought a small ice cooler and ice as we didn't have a refrigerator in the house. Over the weekend we found out that the house did not have a solar hot water unit or for that matter any hot water. A small wall mounted gas water heater on the bathroom wall supplied hot water on demand, but it required gas and the gas shop was closed over the weekend. Let me tell you that water were cold!!!!
We worshiped with the Port Vila brethren on Sunday. We took the bus. There are small 15 seater buses running all over town from 5.30am-10.00pm everyday. It only cost 70¢ to go anywhere. Presently we are worshipping in a building across town which belongs to the Agape Holiness Healing church of Vanuatu. The son of the 'pastor' was converted by Sombo just recently. His group worships on Saturday, so he rents us the building the rest of the time.
First thing Monday I went down and bought gas for the hot water, took the papers down to the shipping agents to clear the containers (which had arrived on Saturday), also met with the bank manager. The containers were delivered to the house on the 2nd of July. I started unloading the urgent items first: Cheerios, washing machine, refrigerator, stove, dishes, waterbed etc. On July 6th I went down and bought a small used Nissan truck. I paid just under what I got for both of our vehicles in PNG. ($3500) Doesn't look too flash but it has the heart of a tiger. Was nice to have wheels again!
By July 13th I had arranged enough to actually find things and use the office. Phew! The ole muscles were hurting from unpacking. Some nights we just drooped (correct word) into bed too exhausted to sleep. We found out the fuse limiter for the house would not allow Kathy to cook on the stove at the same time as I was using the photocopier. So after I paid more deposit money, the electric company came by and increased the fuse limit to 25 amps from 15 amps.
The weather has been absolutely fabulous. It does get into the 80's during the day but down into the 60's at night. We get the odd rain shower but the sun comes out quickly again.( My, look at that odd rain shower go by!)
Some of our new experiences: local radio and TV - 90% French speaking; satellite TV with no ESPN but Malay, Indonesia, Egypt, Spain, France and Philippine speaking channels; Bislama is just that much different than Pidgin English that we struggle to find the right words sometimes; living right across from an all night gambling-drinking club; how we are told everything will get done tomorrow (but tomorrow is not on anyone's calender); the multitude of hidden charges we pay every time we have to do something with the government; the waiting in lines every time we have to do something with the government (only to be told it was the wrong line); over three weeks to get a phone connection; having to have money wired in as checks take up to three weeks to clear; humidity under 85% most times; lack of mold & mildew on everything (nice); being able to leave things out and see them there the next day(nicer); being able to walk around at night(nicest); etc, etc, etc, and new life experiences continue every day.
On the 9th of July Sombo, Shem (local man whom Sombo is training) and I had our first coordination meeting. We planned a booth at the National Independence celebrations July 28-31th to hand out tracts and sign people up for WBS courses. The show booth went off very well, even though we never did get an official schedule of what was to occur. This is the first time the brethren have ever done anything like this. We manned the booth for two days from 8am - 7 pm. We handed out over 20,000 pieces of literature. (The week prior to the show I typeset and printed over 15 new tracts which we gave out along with others we had in stock.) We have over 15 WBS courses as a result and a handful of excellence contacts for further study.
Sombo Dowara has done a good job getting the brethren in Port Vila together and helping them become more of a fellowship. He has a number of good studies going on. Sunday August 2nd we had worship on our verandah (10 Christians, 25 total) with a BBQ afterwards, then singing, a class and then a cup of tea with banana cake. It was around 3pm when they all left. It was an excellent time of fellowship. We decided that Sunday nights will be Fellowship time with games, videos and just good ole fellowship for the next few months. After a couple of weeks of Bible Trivia on Sunday nights I was asked to teach a class on Old Testament History & Geography. (We have a laid-back style of teacher which has resulted in many visitors.) So I am now teaching a Sunday PM class on OT History as well as a Weds night class on Denominational Doctrine. I am translating my Pidgin courses from PNG into Bislama. I am still putting songbooks together with music in Pidgin/English, Bislama/English and Fiji/English. I am also putting together the first courses to be used in a Basic English Correspondence Extension School which I hope to launch later this year.
In my spare time we have gone out to Eton village (30 miles from Port Vila on a VERY unmaintained road which means you seem to travel 35 miles because of the travel in and out of potholes) to help build their new meeting place. Some of us helped them put up the framing and rafters. They decided last year to move the meeting place off of the current ground because of conflicts with the local land owners and crowded conditions. The current building is surrounded by a private primary school, private housing and a saw mill company. The new ground had been given to the Eton congregation by the Morris Felix family and is just down the road. They hope to put the roof and siding on in September.
The more time I spend in mission work the more I realize it is a maintenance type work which takes 24 hours a day and not a bi-yearly birthing process. I feel sorry for missionaries who do not live with the people they are baptizing. Kathy and I continue to see this work in the South Pacific as a long term maintenance work which has been hurt to a big degree by the baptizing of scores of people who were never integrated into the fellowship of the body of believers. Evangelism needs to be tempered with fellowship. The island cultures are family oriented and we have been taking individuals out of the family units and expecting them to survive and thrive outside of any interacting group. If we are going to take someone out of a live interacting group then they are going to have to be put into a live interacting group to survive. Not unlike a newborn coming out of a living womb to a living interactive family unit. (The same principal works throughout the world as well. Perhaps that is why we have so many baptized persons returning to the world.)
We realize that we are going to need help with this work. The workers that we need are already here but we are going to have to assist them in order for them to remain for at least another two years. The Dowara family, who are Papua New Guinea citizens, came here in October 1996. They have two teenage daughters and a younger son. For over a year they lived and worked with the brethren at Eton village to strengthen them in their walk for the Lord. Earlier this year they moved to Port Vila to assist in getting the small loose-knit group of believers on a more stable footing. Sombo Dowara is a true evangelist. He has done a good work in Port Vila but it is far from over. He is working with a local man named Shem and is training him. The Dowaras are scheduled to go back to PNG at the end of this year. Because Kathy and I will possibly be out of Vanuatu for 10 months (Aug 99 - June 2000) it is imperative that Sombo remain here and help the brethren in their growth and maturity in Christian service. We feel any withdrawal of support services for the local brethren within the next two years would be detrimental to the present and future spiritual maturity of the brethren here in Vanuatu. (Perhaps much like taking away the proper food from children who are just developing minds, bones and their permanent teeth.) With this in mind we are in the process of trying to secure travel funds which would enable the Dowara's to go back and visit family in PNG and take a much deserved holiday (it will have been two years in September).
We are also in need of additional monthly support for their maintenance while they are here in Vanuatu. The housing and living costs here are high because it is a favorite holiday destination in the South Pacific. The Dowara family were able to keep living costs to a minimum in the village where they lived in a local native material house. When they moved to Port Vila earlier this year they had to begin paying monthly rent on a small two bedroom house they are living in. This is costing them $250 per month out of a monthly income of just $500. They currently are receiving support from a number of Australian congregations who have supported them over a number of years. The local brethren have paid the Dowara's yearly work permit fee ($400) but the Dowara's have paid their children's school fees of over $1,000 per year. The Dowara's have a small Toyota truck which is necessary for the fulfilling of his responsibilities (throughout the island) which was purchased by the Australian brethren but Sombo has to pay the maintenance costs (which can be very high with the poor roads we have here and the high cost of parts) and yearly registration of $250. If the Dowara's were to return to PNG they would not have the housing costs, school fees and truck expenses and could survive on the current level of support they are receiving.
The Dowara's work permit for Vanuatu expires October 15th this year. The local brethren and ourselves have asked that the Dowara's consider remaining in the Vanuatu work until Oct 2000. They have said yes but in order for that to become a reality we have to raise their current level of support at least $300 per month and raise $4200 to pay for their roundtrip tickets to PNG for a family reunion and break. The local brethren here have committed themselves to: (1) payment of the work permit renewal -$400; (2) and $1,000 toward the travel fund needs. They have been real good about providing garden produce to the Dowara family as well. Plans call for the local brethren to start supporting a local fulltime worker in Port Vila in 1999.
Sombo and I work well together as we compliment each other in our Spiritual gifts. He is an evangelist - I am a server. It is therefore imperative that we secure the necessary funding in order for this family to remain here in this vineyard for the Lord. This is one of those opportunities that come around very few times in a lifetime and we are asking your help to make it a reality for the glory and work of the Lord.
Please pray for this need!
In Christian service.
Tobey & Kathy Huff