April-May 2017

Dearest Friends and family

April Rains
I mentioned in our last newsletter that we had over 26 inches of rain in April. There is a lake in the middle of our island and it not only filled up it overflowed on the road in several places into Port Vila. It took over a week before they quit flowing across the road.

Just prior to us leaving we ate lunch with Goman and Ure and Stephen and RoseHanna in Port Vila.

Goman, RoseHanna, Ure and Kathy

We boarded our plane in Port Vila on May 1st and spent 2 days in Fiji seeing some friends we had known there. This is Makika who lived down by the marina at Vuda Point where we lived. A very dear sister in Christ.

As we were leaving Vanuatu a cyclone developed and tracked down West of Vanuatu. I left Goman to look after our house and stuff and he said they had high winds and lots of rain (AGAIN) but no damage. It was a surprise cyclone as it is out of season. Kind of glad we were not there as we had been through enough. He said we ended up with 76 chickens from the 178 I hatched.

Well we arrived back, but lost Kathy's carry-on bag in Los Angeles. When we boarded Southwest to Tulsa via Denver we were on the last group in and of course every clown had multiple, huge carry-on bags and there was no space left in the overheads so they took her bag at the door and checked it. We were late leaving LA so when we got to Denver and asked for her checked bag they couldn't find it and we had to hurry to the connecting flight with the assurance they would go find it and get it on the plane......SURE....! We did complain to a (jerk) Airline staff at the gate that the bag had her medicines in it and his reply was "you should have kept it with you....REALLY "she did have it with her until YOU took it away because your passengers were bringing more than the ALLOWED carry-on and you were not policing it." DUH! Well, when we got to Tulsa guess what (don't get ahead of me here), the bag was not there but a message was that it would be delivered the next day.....(and) two days later she finally got her bag at 5 pm.

May 11th we traveled to Coker Alabama and Jackson Davis graduated 2nd (Salutatorian) out of his 2017 class of 105. He had already received several awards and this was a surprise to all of us because we know he had just been pipped for Valedictorian. We are so proud of him.

Jackson with his mother (our daughter) Terasa

I performed the wedding of Luke and Ragan on May 13th. I was very short and sweet. They were celebrating their honeymoon at Disney World.

Luke and Ragan Archer


Our Mother's day photo (first time in 25 years with both kids):
(back l-r) Me ("Moses"), Harrison Davis, Kathy, Jonah Huff, Taylor Davis, Terasa
(Front l-r) Jackson Davis, Morgan Huff, Mel Huff, Truman Davis, Bonnie (Granny) Haynes Kathy's mum, McKinley Davis, Jason Huff

SEASONS
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a t

After 42 years it seems our time for living overseas as missionaries has come to an end. There are a number of factors that have brought us to this decision.

1) The reason we went back to Fiji and Vanuatu was to establish The Christian Institute of Biblical Studies for the teaching of God’s Word and training of Christian brethren in the South Pacific. As of this moment and 11 years, that has been accomplished. It does not mean we could not have stayed and worked but things have changed in Vanuatu which meant I was doing more of everything else than just teaching Bible and I can "do life" back here. We had initially intended that we would have boarding students at the school as well and local brethren. However the reality was the Vanuatu government came out with new education regulations earlier this year which would have made it very difficult for us to get visas for overseas students and the local brethren do not have the time to spend daily in a classroom as they have to work their gardens and earn money to support their families. The school will continue to operate under the direction of Goman on an abbreviated schedule with more technical training offered with shorter Bible courses. This will allow us to teach the young generation. We are going to adapt an external extension course of study which will allow students to take courses even though they cannot attend full-time classes. I can do that from here and take yearly trips back to teach on-campus courses of a special nature.

2) Our health has not improved in Vanuatu. The people of Vanuatu burn wood to cook their food and burn all their trash. This includes plastic, batteries, etc. The toxic smoke in the village has not helped Kathy and her breathing problems.

My health, what can I say. I have just been to the VA and here is their assessment of my health. (First, let me say I personally feel in good health for the age I am. But I am aware that they shoot horses!) I have to be scheduled for cataract surgery on both eyes, the right one being urgent; I still have chronic renal impairment (less than 40% kidney action); the carcinoma behind my left ear has to be excised and see if it is melanoma; I had x-rays of my right knee which I damaged in Vietnam because it had been having some issues of late; I have some other tags and moles that have to be burned off; I have to be evaluated for hearing loss which was documented in my separation physical but never compensated for and look at treatment options for the auto-immune deficiency I have due to agent orange exposure. The VA is happy that I am closer for their treatment.

3) Kathy’s mother lives in Joplin in her own apartment but she is 90 and getting where she is needing more help/assistance and we feel this is a time we can assist her.

Because of these health treatments, the fact that The Christian Institute is in place and I can do my part from a distance and Kathy’s mother's condition has brought us to this point where we will be staying in Joplin for the foreseeable future.

With this decision we have asked our contributors to consider their present contribution until the end of 2017. I have assured Goman I will continue his salary with the Christian Institute as long as I can. This will also allow me to make a two week trip back to Vanuatu to print the Bislama song book and to pack our 20 foot container for shipment back here. I will do this when I have sorted out my VA appointments, before, after or in between. These tickets have already been bought. Kathy will stay here while I am doing this,

Many of you know that the only retiremnt we have is Social security and that amounts to less than $380 monthly for both of us. I do get some VA compensation but not enough to survive without other employment and they have a habit of chopping it if they want to.

Our son Jason and his family are moving to Searcy in June and we are helping them move. We have located a small 1 bedroom, one bath over/garage apartment here in Joplin for the short term not far from her mother. Moving in with her in her senior low cost apartment would have been a real hassle.

I will probably be looking around for employment for after the first of the year which could be a variety of skills. I would like to teach Bible at Harding or another school but will have to see if anyone wants me.

I plan to talk with all contributors personally in the near future as VA appointments allow me to explain more clearly our re-settlement back in the States and our future role with The Christian Institute of Biblical Studies in Vanuatu.

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.

If you can help financially in our move and transition back to the USA we thank you so much in advance. If you know someone who would like to donate or sell cheaply a motor home, either tow or drive I am in the market for such as it would give us something to live in on the road if situations change here with her mother. We have already been able to buy a used car for Kathy and a used Dodge Ram for me so we have transportation.

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

Onward and upward!
We especially want to thank all of you so much for praying for us, supporting us and have contributed to our needs so we can do what we are doing. God bless you! Thank you for your prayers and fellowship!

Thank you Lord for healing and providing what we need!

Grace & Peace

Tobey & Kathy Huff

Ph: +678 596-4821 (Vanuatu) We do texting.

Thank you for your prayers - God hears!

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Contributions for the Huffs, the Bible school can be sent to:
Huffs/Bible School
c/ Mt Hope church of Christ
2830 Mt Hope Rd
Webb City MO 64870

or
Jason Huff
2730 E 24th St
Joplin MO  64804
(417) 396-9122
j13huff@yahoo.com

Tobey & Kathy Huff
1501 Euclid
Joplin MO 64801
(417) 396-6441
dthuff@joplin.com