Dearest Friends and family

I forget that not everyone is on Facebook and I have been posting updates. So here is what has been happening.

MEDICAL UPDATE

I have been to the VA doctors so often that I think I should have my own parkingp lace in Mount Vernon, Fayetteville and Little Rock. We are trying to find answers to the many ailments which have beset me since I came back last May. I was on 100% VA disability after my prostate removal in 2013 and the after effects, then in 2014 they wanted to drop me to 0% because my records showed my prostate was improving (?) and I did not come back for an appointment. We finally got a doctor in Vanuatu to state that I was not getting better and they only dropped it to 30% and after we came back in 2016 we were able to get it 60% when the VA doctors noted my IC condition was not getting better but worse and they prescribed that I go back to condom catheters when I am up and working and more pads. That is where it is right now.

I started PTSD counseling in November due to flash backs and other things so I had a VA required evaluation a week or so back and the doctors have recommended my VA disability be moved back to 100% due to my not improving but getting worse "after prostrate removal" and due to chronic PTSD. I might hear something in a couple of months. Until then I have been doing odd jobs for family and friends to pay the bills. The Lord still provides! I might not be paying $700 a month for generator fuel now like in Vanuatu but the electric bills of over $350 for January and also February were just as much a shock as the sub 0 temperatures. I am more than ready for warmer temperatures!

I have been seeing a rheumatologist in Little Rock who diagnosed me as having Spondyloarthritis. Because I also have epiretinal membrame (ripple on my left retina) and stage 3 kidney disease I could not take the best recommended medicine to help stop the advance of the arthritis so they put me on sulfasalazine which I had a life threatening reaction to. As for pain I am off gabapentin as it did not help the pain and I was having mood changes. I am awaiting the VA's approval of Lyrica for the pain and Humera for the arthritis relief.

The VA still does not see any direct connection to all the autoimmune symptoms I am having because It does not fit their parameters that the veteran has to have Type 2 diabetes to show agent orange even though my record shows they took my prostate due "to agent orange exposure". Go figure!

I had to go to the Little Rock VA for two appointments Monday. One was a MRI of my pelvis for the Spondyloartritis which took an hour and then they shot a dye in my arm and another three pictures. I have had multiple x-rays of my feet, hands, neck and pelvis and they all show a host of spurs. Then a consult with the dermatologist who diagnosed my facial rash as three types of rosacea (most people have only one type at a time but not me). So I have an antibiotic pill and an antibiotic gel to take now. They also took samples of four questionable moles on my back, froze four places on my hands and face and then took a hunk out of a lump I have on my head which is a result of when I drove a lemon tree thorn in my head when working on the school property. When I went to Dr King, who saved my leg from ecoli in Vanuatu, he tried to dig the out but I was bleeding too much so he just dosed it with antibiotics and put a band-aid on it. They now want to know if it took a mole in with it that is causing infection. I should know in a few weeks if they will have to do further excisions of the moles and the head.

Since we moved Kathy's mother to assisted living we have moved to a larger abode outside of Joplin. It is a property that is owned by one of the people I picked up walnuts for last fall. Their daughter was living in it but moved and they offered it to us. It is just the freeway ( I-44) down from where Kathy's mother is, has another bedroom, more storage and a workshop and more acreage. It is out in the country. I am hoping to get a 20' steel container (when I have some funds) so we can move the stuff we have in storage closer to the house so it can be used. We feel at home as it has a well for water and internet has to be through satellite (Hughes net) and mobile phone service is sketchy at times. We found out it has a dead mouse in the heater vent in the kitchen last night (we have the smell but no sight of the dead body yet) . We also do not have trash pick-up, so I burn. That appeals to the pyromaniac in me!

VANUATU

We still keep in contact with the brethren in Vanuatu.

We recently received good news that Stephen Felix was appointed to be a judge on the Vanuatu Supreme Court after being the chief magistrate all these years. He wrote to also say that he has been attending services in the village since we left to help the church there.

Here is a picture of the family: Rose Hanna, the three girls and Stephen. Hard to believe this is the single, young lad we brought to New Zealand to Bible school in the 1980's.

We are hoping to continue to provide funds for the operation of The Christian Institute of Biblical Studies as Goman and others carry on that operation. We have received funds to provide travel so that Kathy and I can teach there later in 2018 but still need monthly funding for the school if you can help.

Thank you so much for your support of the work we have been involved with and we pray that you have been as blessed as we have been.

There have been some of you (and you know who you are) who have sent funds for our transition back and we thank you so very much. If some of you still want to help you can send funds Mt Hope. We appreciate it!

God is good!!!!!!!!!

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 and fellowship!

Thank you Lord for healing and providing what we need! Continued prayers for Kathy, especially, as she helps with her mother and her worsening dementia.

Grace & Peace
Tobey & Kathy Huff

Ph: (417) 396-6443 (NEW JOPLIN NUMBER)
------------------------------------------------
Contributions for the Huffs and the Bible school can still be sent to:
Huffs/Bible School
c/ Mt Hope church of Christ
2830 Mt Hope Rd
Webb City MO 64870
or
Tobey & Kathy Huff
1501 Euclid Ave
Joplin MO 64801
PH (417) 396-6443