June 24, 2014
Dearest Friends and family
AT THE HOMESTEAD
We bought Kathy a vehicle this past month so she would have transportation other
than the pick-up truck to go to town and women outings. It is an older KIA Sportage
4WD. It has a goodly number of dents and abrasions on it because the young lady
that had it had a hard time parting it in their parking spot which had concrete
walls. It has a Diesel engine. (I still plan to try and fix the Opel Vita we
bought for her two years ago and then will sell it.)
It was good we had the second vehicle. I had been hearing noises from the back brakes on the truck and decided to check them one afternoon. It was good that I did as on one side the springs holding the brake shoes tight had disintegrated (from the salt water bath they had received when the truck came over in the container). I decided to go ahead and change out the brake shoes (as I had brought some in the container with me) but had to use Kathy's vehicle to go to town and find some replacement springs. I finally found some as the Mitsubishi dealer and was able to get the truck back on the road.
To keep both vehicles out of the rain I build a car port off the side of one of the containers.
I also built a shelter
behind the containers to give me more workspace out of the elements.
Storage for the motorbike also.
The smeller was the feller
this time.
I have mentioned that from time to time we have rats in the laundry room and
the ceiling of the house. We keep poison bait out for them. Well, earlier this
month after hearing rats in the ceiling a couple of nights it was then quiet.
The bait we use makes them want to find a water source so USUALLY we don't smell
dead rats. Even if they die in the ceiling the smell never comes into the house
but can be smelled outside, downwind. Well, I was catching a waft of something
rotting when I would sit in my chair in the living room. After a couple of smelly
days I finally found the feller up on the verandah roof just outside my window.
We have seen bigger ones out in the neighbors yards!
SCHOOL PROPERTY
I mentioned last report that we finally have the fence up on the school property.
This is how it looks going through the brush. We have to get in and cut the
brush back but we have been having rain and it is wet. I will also be laying
out the buildings we hope to have.
NEW CHICKEN HOUSE
What's a chicken house without chickens. We bought 25 day old meat birds the
day we sent the last report out, on our way home. They turned 4 weeks old last
Friday. When I went in and took this picture on Sunday morning I asked them
all to smile. Now I know how frustrated my Dad was when he tried to get our
whole clan to smile for Christmas pictures.
The feeder tray and water tube are made from PVC piping. (We don't have an Atwoods
or Tractor Supply here!) That is grass clippings on the floor as I could not
source any sawdust before we started raising them. Every night I go rake it
up against the wall and they scratch it down the next day. (Keeps them busy!
Idle claws the devil's workshop and all!)
Garden
We have been eating from one of our stocks of bananas, I picked two large cucumbers
today (many more coming out), we have the new bean plants putting out flowers,
we have 7 more pumpkins growing, the tomato plants have tomatoes, we have broccoli
and cabbage all over, the peanut plants are in bloom, the spring onions are
EVERYWHERE, but the peas have not put out flowers, the corn is tasseling at
2 foot, and the carrots just do not do well at all.
Tomatoes with PVC piping for support.
TEACHING
This past Sunday I had been asked by Colan to teach at Epau so we loaded up
with Morris and Rebecca and headed up there. I still do a lot of teaching at
Eton.
Me
teaching at Epau
The congregation there was started many, many years ago when Morris baptized a man named Arthur. Earlier this month we heard that Arthur had been to Port Vila for removal of his prostate. Morris wanted to go check up on him as Arthur had been back home for a week or so.
Herein lies a story: Arthur is in his late 70's and he was having problems with his prostate. So he went to the doctor and they scheduled surgery on an enlarged prostate. I asked him what tests they did and he said "none, other than a digital exam". I actually found out that he was going to have surgery before they did it but did not get to talk to him before they did it. I thought it was kind of unusual the quickness of the prostate removal.
The local hospital received new surgical equipment which allows them to do prostate removal without the large cuts but more than the DaVinci procedure that was done on me. When I talked with Arthur Sunday we compared scars and he said he did not have the side effects that I had (good on him). It seems his prostate was enlarged (typical of most males over 50) but here it is cheaper to remove the prostate rather than putting him on medication to help shrink the prostate. There was no cancer just an enlarged prostate. WOW! I guess someone needed experience on the surgical equipment. Arthur was sent home three days after the surgery without any medication!
OUR MEDICAL BLACKHOLE
Since we got back, Morris has been having enlarged prostate problems and his
doctor allowed me to give him some of the medication that I had left over when
I had an enlarged prostate. This is very helpful as the local pharmacy does
not carry this type of medication anyway.
Also women who have had hysterectomies are given NO medication afterwards. Many women here have facial hair due to this. Health facilities are a joke here!
BIRTHDAY BOY
Morris had his 70th birthday this past week. He had been building a building
(for the past two years), which he plans for a cultural house. It will also
be used as a community hall, classroom for teaching, a cafeteria for the local
school children for lunch and hopefully a tea house for tourists to show them
some of the local culture. He had been very concerned for many years that the
local children do not know their heritage nor do the they know the local languages.
Morris is hoping to have classes for both.
We finished the building on his birthday (June 20th) and he had a dedication and village celebration for his birthday on Saturday. My contribution was a half wall serving-counter to separate the kitchen from the other room and a counter-sink unit. Family and friends from far and near came to celebrate with food and the giving of gifts to Morris.
The Cultural house
Morris before the dedication
all the family women folk were dressed in local style dresses, including Kathy.
Birthday cake
Morris with two of his sisters
Receiving gifts of calico (material).
A 20# yam that was given as a gift.
Rebecca (Morris' wife)
We ate high on the hog.
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!
Thank you Lord for healing and providing what we need!
Grace & Peace
Tobey & Kathy
Huff
------------------------------------------------
Contributions for the Huffs and the Bible school 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