March 2010
Dear Brethren, Friends and Family
Ni sa bula.
The month started with another water leak. This time it is just before
the water meter and I have put a repair on it so the water is only dripping.
It is a metal pipe which rusted through. We are still awaiting the water
people to come and fix it properly.
In February I went into the immigration office here in Lautoka and
put in the renewal for our visas. They were due to expire March 8th. As of today,
March 28, we still do not have them.
The nights got a bit cooler for a while and we did not have to use
the air conditioner every night.
As you know we had a cyclone hit the northern and Eastern islands of
Fiji this month. They are estimating over US$20 million damage. Over 400 houses
were damaged or destroyed. I am not surprised of that many houses been destroyed
because many of them are clapped up corragated sheds which have used no building
codes in their construction. Here in the West we were spared.
When it was first announced on Friday, March 12, all the schools were
dismissed country wide before lunch and there was panic in the streets. The
first winds did not come ashore until Monday in the very far North. Sunday night
we had a power outage for 3 hours. Sunday night a curfew was put in place 10pm-7am
with no busses or taxis operating. So Monday, the weather was just fine, nobody
could go to work because there was no transport and all the schools were closed
and public servants were told to stay home until after the cyclone passed. By
Tuesday morning good sense prevailed and the curfew was lifted for the Western
and Central province when it was evident that we were not going to be affected
by cyclone Tomas but everything was still closed until Wednesday. Overall here
at home we did not even get any rain and the wind gusts were nothing but normal.
I did have the sand bags stationed around and the shutters ready to put up.
Better safe than sorry.
I called immigration the 19th asking about our visas and was told they
could not find the paperwork. I called again after the weekend on the 24nd and
they said they had the paperwork but the officer who had to sign it was in a
meeting. I called again Friday the 26th and they said it would be sent to our
PO box next week but they would send a letter of surety.
In the meantime we have a three week trip starting Monday (March 29th)
with Kathy and I going to Papua New Guinea, Australia and Vanuatu before returning
to Fiji. We are going on a teaching trip but will also be trying to recruit
Bible students for our extension program of The Christian Institute of Biblical
Studies which I head up here in Fiji.
Kathy is speaking at The PNG Ladies Workshop which is being held on Tami Island
where Jab Mesa is from. We fly into Port Moresby then fly over the mountains
to Lae and take a boat out to Tami. We will be in PNG a week, a week in Brisbane
visiting with friends and changing planes and a week in Vanuatu where I have
been asked to speak nightly at the Eton congregation.
Since I was not sure the visas would get here or a letter of surety
from immigration I went ahead and booked our trip to American Samoa*
(as an outgoing ticket so we could at least get a visitor visa back into Fiji
as a backup option). As an American I would not need a visa for American Samoa.
To visit Fiji you can get a visitor visa on arrival as long as you have an on-going
ticket. If you have a work permit visa you have a bond (equal to a return fare
ticket) in the bank with the government but you only have to have a one way
ticket to Fiji.
Well, we did get the surety letter faxed over late Friday afternoon
(just before government worker shutdown for the weekend) which is a letter from
immigration letting immigration in other countries know that we are not required
to have an on-going ticket to get back to Fiji.
* The trip to American Samoa is for the
Annual workshop there where Kathy and I will be speaking in early July before
we come back to Fiji and then back to the States.
As I was checking my laptop computer in preparation for our three week trip the hard drive crashed so I had to put another hard drive in and reload all the files I had on the old drive. (Sounds so easy and quick but anyone who has had to do this knows the frustrations.)
The server (fiji.com) I had used for a number of years to post our
website was shut down this past month because of hackers and misuse on the part
of other people. So I had to find a new host and post our web site to that site.
<http://www.dthuff.byethost16.com/Index.html> There are a few teething
problems with some of the files not opening like they were created but basically
it is usable for right now. For those who have asked, I also intend to load
the site with all the newsletters from our first years, 1975-2001 tastefully
called, "The Experiences of a New Guinea Piglet". Joe Cannon was the
"New Guinea Pig".
Daylight saving time finally goes off this weekend. It has been a farce
here in Fiji being this close to the equator.
I am working on Course 17 (of 32) for the Bible Institute curriculum.
Josua returned from the North Island on the ferry yesterday with the
younger two children. He said the main problem after the storm is getting a
constant food supply as most of the crops were destroyed. Much of what he grew
on his farm was lost also. The government is getting rations in place to take
care of this and are looking at the long term help as well.
Thank all of you for your prayers and support that allow us to work
in the lives of people here in Fiji and the South Pacific.
Your seed sowing workers in the Kingdom.