March 2009
Dear Friends, Brethren and Family
Ni Sa Bula from Fiji land.
MORE SHOCKING WEATHER
We have had a rather dry month since we wrote last. We have received only 210
mm (just over 8 inches) of rain. This has still left the ground rather soggy
and my having to mow the grass frequently. Since Saturday night Fiji has been
socked in with a low pressure system which is presently and is forecast until
Wednesday to drop large amounts of rain. Flooding in low laying areas is predicted.
If you are interested here is the website for our weather. (http://metvuw.com/forecast/forecast.php?type=rain®ion=fiji&noofdays=3
) Services yesterday at Sabeto were not held because of flooding.
Saturday night when the wall cloud of the front moved through our area it brought
a rare tornado through our property which in less than 5 minutes tore metal
roofing from around the back of the house and sailed it into the shed in the
front yard and then tore over 10 limbs off some of the coconut trees. When I
say tore I mean tore! The green branches where shredded where they had been
attached to the tree. Since we have the louver windows open most of the time
to let breezes come through the house through the windows the winds roared through
the house, slamming doors, stripping pictures of the grandkids off the refrigerator,
snatching plastic bags and food off shelves in the kitchen and carrying them
into the hallway, picking up papers laying on my desk and flying them I know
not where. It was an exciting few minutes. Kathy was still shaking 10 minutes
later.
INSECTS AMUCK
The first week in March Kathy called me into the kitchen for a surprise. Since
we moved into this house we have tried to impress on the local population of
ants that we are the dominate occupants of this house and that they were not
welcome INSIDE. Much spray has been used in persuasion. When Kathy went to get
a dishtowel out of a drawer in the island unit I had build and which we brought
over to Fiji with us, she disturbed a large nest of ants in the drawer under
the dishtowels. We had noticed a few ants on the top of the island in past days
and had sprayed where we thought they were coming from. We were wrong! The drawers
had been build out of 1/2 inch plywood and there were some holes in the wood
where the ants had build a nest in the plywood itself but they had outgrown
it and had moved into the drawer. Ants are definitely persistent. However they
are now dead! We also have spiders here which are as big as a hand span and
can leap. They are fast. One ran along the wall last week next to Kathy's chair
and when she saw it she was GONE - the TV remote was airborne and she was out
of that chair. I trapped it behind a knick-knack unit with spray and then used
a fly swatter for the "coup de finis". And for the rest of you bugs,
"you want some of this, come get it!"
I finally took the time to clean out the shed and the container after the flooding.
The shed had a few rat friends which were encouraged to find new domiciles.
After they left I foamed up the places where they had gotten in. I knew that
we had gotten water into the container but "thought" that most everything
was up off the floor on concrete blocks. The water had dried up leaving a film
of mud which was now dirt. However there was a box with some paperback books
which I found in the back of the container that were waterlogged still because
THEY WERE ON THE FLOOR! I now have a path to the back of the container and "everything"
is up off the clean floor. I even hung the metal kitchen cabinets that I acquired
from Jerry and Pat Carpenter when we built them new cabinets when I was working
as a cabinet maker. Some of us are slow learners.
MORE DESTRUCTIVE WEATHER - LIGHTNING!
A week after I sent the last newsletter we had a lightning strike just above
our house at 9:40 pm. We had been experiencing some rain but there hadn't been
any thunder close to us all night. Just out of the blue BOOMMMMMMMMMM! The clap
of lightning was like a 500 lb bomb going off. Everything went black except
the local LPG gas place across the road and the petrol storage areas down the
road because they have generators. I called the electrical people but they didn't
show up until 11:30pm (so they say). We had already hit the bed. When they came
back the next morning the fuse holder from the top of the pole outside our house
was laying on the ground about 40 feet from the pole.
Here is what it destroyed: (so much for the surge protectors I was using) the
power supply for my 17" powerbook; the power supply for the 17" studio
monitor; a weather station transmitter (I just got); the broadband router, the
small TV in my office; the sky TV decoder; the sky TV LNB on the dish. I ran
around a full two days getting replacements for the Sky Decoder and the broadband
router. The Sky TV people came out to replace the LNB on the dish. I could not
use the 17 inch laptop (which is my main internet machine) until I got a new
power supply which I had to order from Hong Kong. I also lost the ethernet boards
on two other computers, one replaceable (PC), one not - Mac Mini (my main work
machine). A gracious (fellow Mac) brother in Dallas is sending me a new and
faster replacement for the Mac Mini. I learned from last month when the Hard
drive crashed to back up all work, and I have!
PIGS AMUCK
We have a revisit of the neighbor's pigs this past month. I AGAIN reported
it to the police and they talked with the owner. I then went out and bought
proper pig wire which I have strung around our property now. A couple of weeks
after this I found out that the three pigs which had been getting into our yard
had been taken care of by local village people. It seems the pigs were caught
and one was cooked and eaten while the other two were sold. The young lads from
the village have been charged by the police but were let off with the minimum
of hassle as the pigs owner had been warned about locking up his pigs. It is
wonderful how the Lord continues to straighten out our situation which we give
to Him in our prayers! The recent classes I have been teaching from Romans 12
definitely have new meaning. This is where Paul tells us that Christians refuse
to "pay back" (Romans 12:17-20) and that good overcomes evil (Romans
12:21). I had to just chuckle and pump my fist when I heard what had happened
to the pigs! The pig owner is still very cordial to us when he sees us. A soul
to teach!
JOYS OF AGING!
It is such a joy being 60 years old now. After you've had chickenpox, the virus
lies inactive (dormant) in your nerves. Years later, the virus may reactivate
as shingles. The reason for the encore is unclear. But it may be due to lowered
immunity to infections as you grow older. Shingles is more common in older adults.
"They" say, avoid stress, which can worsen pain. People who are receiving
medical treatments, such as steroids are more likely to develop shingles. Most
people develop shingles only once, but recurrences in other areas are possible.
I now have the shingles on my back. I can only surmise that it was brought
on when I received steroids for the allergy to mango juice along with recent
dietary products, a local citrus punch drink I like a lot. I had started drinking
it again and then the shingles broke out. Memory recall reminded me that I had
experienced a similar outbreak last year but not as severe about the same time
I got the mango rash. (Again a slow learner!) Ever try to keep dry when you
have to change shirts up to 6 times every day due to proliferous sweating? I
have to keep myself from leaning up against door frames and scratching my back
like a cow. Moooooooooooo!
BIBLE CORRESPONDENCE COURSE REQUESTS STILL COMING IN
We are still receiving new requests on a daily basis for the Biblical Correspondence
Course we have been advertising in the Fiji Times. This is not the World Bible
School. We are advertising for WBS but those requests are being dealt with directly
with two congregations there in the USA. We now have 29 students doing the courses
here in Fiji. One is already on the 4th series of lessons and two are on the
3rd series. There are eight series of 5 lessons each in the first BCC.
I am also working on other courses which will be offered toward an undergraduate
programme of the school with the awarding of a Diploma from “The Christian
Institute of Biblical Studies”. CIBS is registered and recognized in both
the US and Fiji at this time as a qualified school of Biblical Training. My
training and education is in “Religious Education” so I am trying
to put it to good use.
BEING USEFUL WHILE WAITING
Because we are not building and working full time with a located Bible School
with full time students at the present time here in Fiji we are pursuing the
work in another direction as well as the BCC work. We are also making ourselves
available to congregations throughout Oceania if they would like for us to come
and teach any of a number of series that I have prepared. We have some free
air miles on Air Pacific/Quantas that we can use in our travels. I have taught
several series at the Sabeto congregation here in Fiji. One of the series is
“Understanding Your Spiritual Gifts” which I have also taught in
congregations in American Samoa, PNG, New Zealand and America (3). Another series
is “The Christian’s Personal Life” and the current series
is “Climbing on the Altar” Romans 12-15:13. It is a study in understanding
about being a Spiritual Sacrifice (Romans 12:1,2). We are trying to understand
and practice that worship is an existence (lifestyle) not an event. I also have
a series on the Christian Family which teaches the Biblical prospective of God's
desire for the Christian Family.
LIFE HAPPENS
With the mango allergy, the flooding, the lightning, the pigs and now shingles
someone called me "Job" the other day. I told them, "no Job,
just Tobey and life happens". It just seems to be that more life happens
around me! "I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me."
Thank you for your prayers and your finances.
Your seed-sowing brother and sister.
Tobey & Kathy