June 6, 1975

 

Dear Beloved in Christ;

 

As promised in last months report I am going to let you know how our campaign into the Sina-Sina tribe of the Eastern Highlands went. We went with 16 students from the Lae Bible School and Ray Lock, Rick Niland and Joe Cannon. We left Goroka May 5 and returned May 12. We drove to the village of Kumogoko which located three miles off the highway in the bush. Joe and I were the only two with four wheel drive vehicles (plus 2 regular 2 wheel drive vehicles) and we pulled Ray and Rick through the mud and over hills. We arrived at Kumogoko at 7pm. We reworked one bridge before we could travel over it. Only two weeks previously a police car had gone over the side.

  KUMOGOKO BRIDGES

We unloaded our vehicles and nettled into the "haus man" (common village house for travelers) for the night. We were able to hold worship around 8:30 to about l00 people. That night the village fleas and lice welcomed us also.

 

Tuesday May 6th saw us split up into 4 groups to go out into the surrounding bush and preach to villages. I was assigned 4 students and we spent the next two hours climbing up, over, around and across mountains and streams until we arrived at Kiri. We spoke to 46 people. We then returned to Kumogoko. That evening before dinner we held worship and I spoke to 93 people. After dinner Andy Scott spoke to 75 people.

 

Wednesday morning we held services at 7:00am and had 160 present. After worship we loaded up the cars and headed out to the Highlands highway. We arrived at Bil and Dumun (20 miles up the road) in time for lunch. Bil is located right next to the highway. After lunch we split up into groups again and preached in different villages. We stirred up a hornet's next !!!!

 

Thursday morning the Lutherans came fuming in and took us to village court. This court is when both sides come together and air their grievances to the people for their consideration. Their grievances were : we hadn't ask them before we came (the village elders had asked us to come), we were stealing their converts; we didn't have a headquarters or a hierarchy. They were quite willing to yell charges but didn't allow us much time for answering. We had about 200 people there listening. God's Word prevailed again - two souls were added to the kingdom immediately following this court.

 

Friday morning found 8 more souls wishing to put their Lord on in baptism. This day was also spent in going to various villages and preaching the Good News of Jesus.

 

Saturday morning saw one baptism. Joe was able to preach to around 200 people who gathered at the market a short distance from Bil. That afternoon we were denied access to several villages because of the Lutheran strength in this area. We were welcomed in the maJority of villages as they were wanting to hear the Good News.

 

Sunday morning Joe Cannon and I loaded our vehicles with cargo and students. We were going to Kumogoko while Rick and Ray stayed at Bil and Dumun for worship, Joe and were together because we both had four wheel drive(I am using John Wallace's) vehicles which was needed for the Kumogoko road. We had 155 present for worship. Ray and Rick had an additional baptism at Bil.

 

About 5:00 pm while Joe and I were resting there came shouting from the river about 100 yards away. Some children had been playing in the river and one little 18 month old girl had been washed down stream. By the time Joe and I got to the river the little girl had been under water for about 2 minutes. Our of our students was able to catch her body as it came by and we immediately began mouth to mouth. After several anxious moments she began to spit and sputter. She was blue (literally) from lack of air and the cold mountain water (about 5O degrees). We took her to the "haus man' where they soon had a fire roaring. We continued pumping her lungs for about 30 minutes. Her grandfather kept heating up banana leaves in the fire and pressing them on her face and arms until she came out of shock and began to cry. We wrapped her up in towels and took her to the "haus sik" (hospital) at Chuave , six miles away. They kept her overnight for observation so we returned to Kumogoko. After we returned the Luthurans asked if it would be alright if they worshipped with us. We held a worship service. The grandfather of Margerate is a head Lutheran of the village and her grandmother is a Seventh Day Adventist. The Lord has provided this experience as an open door.

 

Early Monday morning we met Rick and Ray on the Highland's Highway. We all drove to Goroka where I saw them off on they continued back to Lae. During those eight days there were 2,764 in attendance for services. The Gospel was preached in the valley, on the mountain top, in the market place, from house to house both privately and publicly. 14 precious souls obeyed the Gospel.

 

It was nice to get home again. Once a month we go to Kumogoko and Bil and hold worship services with them. The other Sundays Andy, Joe, Rick and Ray take turns. The 25th of May our family went up and spent the night and help worship services with them. The villagers were happy to see me again and they were overjoyed to have our children there.

 

Christmas is here !!!!! We received all but six of our barrels (they are due June 10th). It sure was nice to get our visual aids and our own household goods. When we opened the lids we could just smell the Joplin air come out.

Please remember these new Christians in your prayers as the Lutherans are exerting a lot of pressure on them.

 

Your servants through Christ

 

the Huffs