March 2012

Dear Friends, Brethren and Family

Motorcycle BIG hic-ups
As of March 12 my XF-150 ZH motorbike was no longer operating.

This was Monday and I was planing to go out the the village and pour a concrete slab for the laundry room on the back of the house there. When I got on the motorbike to go get the daily paper one of the back tyres was flat. I took it off and took the tube out. It was an old Chinese tube and the rough roads had just beat it to death. I took the tyre to the tyre place and bought a new tube and came back and put the tyre back on the bike. I loaded the bike with what I needed for the concrete work and headed out to the village. I was driving on the highway at 70 kph (less than 50 mph) and got about 5 kms out and ...... the engine suddenly lost power and then quit. It only has 3100 kms on it. I maintain it (yes it had oil). I do not do excessive speed. It would not turn over so I had to have Kathy come and give me a tow me back to the house with the car.

After we got back home I loaded everything in the car and went out and did the work and came back. Before I left, Kathy asked if I was sure I wanted to go out and wouldn't it be better if I stayed at home and chilled as nothing seemed to be going right today.
After coming back I took the head off the engine - here are the pictures.

The piston disintegrated and lodged in the cylinder head.


The cylinder head is damaged as well.

The small end of the rod is not repairable.
I have written to the company in China but do not hold out much hope. There are no dealers here in Vanuatu and the dealer in Fiji no longer sells them.

Well the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. We do still have the car and I can still borrow Steve's truck if I need to haul something to the village.

Life continues!

As of March 15th my XF-150 ZH motorbike is operating again. When I talked with a motorcycle shop here in town they had two of their quad bikes blow their engines this past week as well and they filled up at the same petrol station I did. Did I mention the engine suffered the problem less than 5 kms from the time I filled it up? It seems that the local suppliers might have gotten some aviation gas (much higher octane) in the tank that was used to transport the unleaded fuel. Might be good for a V-8 but a little one cylinder 149 cc engine just explodes. Any compensation here for that - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I was able to buy a new 149 cc engine for 50,000 Vt ($550). Surprise of surprises!!!!! All the Chinese motorbikes all have basically the same style engine. Of course it was not a straight forward change out. The starter motor I had had a different gear. So I had to trade the old one for a new one.

Then after I got everything back together I could not get a spark to the spark plug so I had to take the gas tank and seat back off and trace the wiring. The wiring coming out of the new engine had the same plugs as the old one so I had plugged them back together. After an hour or so(and gallons of sweat) I finally noticed that the 6 hole plug coming from the engine really only had 5 wires that connected. The blank hole on the new plug was different than the blank hole on the old plug. So once I moved the wire to the correct hole it connected to the wire going to the coil and spark plug. We have spark!

When I test drove the bike I had no power so I went back home and found that the spark plug connector was broken and I had to go buy one of those as well. The only thing that I could not find here was an exhaust gasket but I was able to make one from gasket material until I can get the proper one. (What's a little noise amidst a lot of noise!)

The second trial trip was a winner and the bike is back on the road. Life continues!!!!!!!!!

Efate Song Book
After the three days of motorcycle repair and prolific sweating I was able to get back on the computer. (Our humidity is never below 70% and the temps are high as it is summer here. We have had to use the bedroom A/C a couple of nights so we were not sleeping in sweat.) I was able to do the final work on a language song book in the local Efate language. Morris and Rebecca had a copy of a small book printed in 1971 by the Presbyterian church with several hundred songs (no music) translated into the Efate language. The Efate language is the local language of the island where we live. We were able to isolate 54 songs that we know in English and to which we have the music. The brethren at Eton Village will now be able to sing songs in English, Bislama and Efate. When we get back Morris wants me to work on a Efate language primer with him. He is concerned that the Efate language is not being learned or taught to the younger generation.

House
We are still waiting for the trees to be sawmilled into lumber. (The company will get 50% of what they mill for their payment. So they had to cut down twice as much tree as we would need for the house.)

March 9th Kathy and I with Morris took a ride up to the farm to see if the trees had been cut down yet.  They had been but the sawmillers haven't done any work yet. Thankfully the cattle on the property were not hurt in the felling of the trees.

With Kathy leaving Tuesday (March 20th) I HOPE the lumber will be available later this week so I can get on with the building and have the house at least enclosed before I leave in six weeks.

The farm road as seen through the front windscreen

White trees #1 and #2

Hardwood and the stump

The Lord continues to provide
I will be able to buy two interior doors and two exterior doors we will need for the house. I have also bought the toilet and all the bolts, metal plates and cyclone strapping that I will need for the metal roof (which I think we have enough money for) and trusses.  I also have nails for the air nail gun for putting together and up the frame and ceiling panels.  If we have the funds we will be putting cement clad walling on the outside instead of wood with masonite or plywood for interior walling.

Travels
Kathy is in full pack-up mode - getting her stuff packed so she can leave here next Tuesday (March 20th) for Wally land (Joplin here she comes!). This will be the longest (6 weeks) we will be apart in 43 years of marriage but we did not have funds enough for her to go back for her mother's 85th birthday and her come back and then go back with me in May. I know I will be busy but she is my help-meet I will miss her muchly! Pray for us!

She has also been boxing up what I will not use and I have been boxing stuff as well and putting it all back in the containers. The containers will be moved out to the house hopefully by mid April. The rest of the stuff in the house (frig, bed, cabinets, etc) can be trucked out as I clean up and move out before the first of May (when I leave here). I hope that as the lumber gets milled I will be spending most of my time at the house in Eton but coming back at night to clean up (hot shower), rest and reclothe for the next day. There is no water at the village house yet and electricity is by generator.

Our plans are to be in the States until August 16th when we are booked to fly back home here to Vanuatu. I have Veteran medical work to be done, Kathy needs a physical and both of us need dental (my denture and front chipped tooth; Kathy lost a crown last month).

We really need your help again: if you have or know someone who has a vehicle (hopefully fuel efficient because we will be traveling around) that we can borrow or rent real cheap from March to August please email me (or Jason@ j13huff@yahoo.com); especially we need your prayers!

Counseling, chatting, reading, sharing ........ being family
Last week I finished teaching my series on "Paul's Letters" at Eton. This week I started my series on "Spiritual Gifts in the Body". I have six Sundays left before I join Kathy in Los Angeles, California for the Pepperdine Lectureships.

Financial Needs
As you have read moving here has been expensive and living here will be expensive. We still need to increase our monthly support $500-1,000. If you can or know of someone who can help this need please pray about it and let us know so we can come visit with them.
The house we are building right now at Eton is a temporary house so that when we get back in August we will be out in Eton and not paying rent here in Port Vila ($900-1300 per month). We are trying to keep the costs down but make it livable. It will also let us start some Bible classes (using the Eton church building) and to get the ground cleared and the building started for more permanent buildings for the Bible school we have planned down the road. We have been able to do quite a bit so far on the house but to finish it (inside walls, plumbing, wiring) and paint the interior KATHY needs $15,000. (Some of you want me to tough it out but Kathy deserves a more livable house.)

Please pray about this and if you can help please send it to the address below or write my son Jason (j13huff@yahoo.com) and he can give instructions on how to wire the funds directly to our account here for faster access. The quicker I get the funds the quicker I can get the house finished here. Any excess funds will be in account here towards the further school buildings when we get back.

Additionally some of the needs we have as we move forward on the school property: house ($35,000), guttering, water tanks and pumps ($1,800), a solar hot water unit ($2,800), a bigger generator ($5,000), a solar/wind power unit ($2,500), septic system ($1,200), a classroom ($12,000), a student duplex ($15,000).

Thank you so much for all of you who are supporting us and have contributed to our needs. God bless you!

Your seed sowing workers in the Kingdom.

Tobey & Kathy

Contributions for Huffs and building the Bible school, vehicle and house can be sent to:

Huffs/Bible School
c/ Mt Hope church of Christ
2830 Mt Hope Rd
Webb City MO 64870

or

Mailing Address:
PO Box 3229
Port Vila, Vanuatu
South Pacific

Ph:
(678) 710-1617
(678) 22-418