May 20,1974
Dear Brethren In Christ;
Praise the Lord, all nation;
Laud Him all peoples
For His mercy is great towards us,
And the truth of the Lord is everlasting
Praise the Lord. Psalm 117
The Lord is great and powerful. He does have the power and concern to work all things out for our good, if we love Him and are called according to His purpose.
We believe the Lord is working in our plans for preaching the gospel in New Guinea.
We wish to express our gratitude to the church at 4th and Forest in Joplin Mo. This congregation has taken our oversight and with whom we are presently working. Praise the Lord for people who are willing to step up and move out to save souls all over the world.
We have just returned from the second of our two trips trying to raise funds for our work in New Guinea.
March 20th-April 3rd: 1900 miles- Fort Worth and Abilene Texas. We contacted some 26 congregations and were able to talk to 7 of them about our work. Mayfield Rd. church In Arlington took up a special contribution of $262.36. Handley and Meadowbrook of Ft. Worth both send funds for our travel fund.
We were privileged to present our work at the Arlington preacher's luncheon and to the Brown Trail School of Preaching. We traveled also to Abilene for three days where we spoke with Wendall Broom: Missions Dept. A.C.C.. We also had a reunion and visit with Joe Cannon, missionary to New Guinea, who is presently raising funds to return to the New Guinea in June of this year.
Our family would like to extend a very special thanks to Bro. and Sister J.R.Hicks of the Glen Garden congregation in Ft. Worth who so graciously opened their home to us while we made contacts in the Ft. Worth area. God bless you both richly. May we all seek to be as sacrifical as these two.
HOME
After a two week rest in Joplin and tying up of loosed ends we loaded our car up again with clothes, highchairs and toys and departed again. This would be our second missionary fund raising journey.
SECOND JOURNEY
April 18th-May 1st: 1670 miles-Dallas, Rockwall Texas, Shreveport La., Vicksburg Miss., Tallulah La.
Because of the lack of accommodations in Dallas (knew of no brethren with whom we could stay) our stay was very limited. Of the congregations contacted during this whole trip we were only able to show our slides of New Guinea to one congregation. We were able to attend the Dallas preacher's luncheon and spoke to several preachers and elders about our plans and needs. We left Dallas and stopped in Rockwall Texas to spend the night there with the Ned and Betty Martin. The Martins have had fellowship in our work since the time we were collecting used postage stamps to go toward our travel fund while in school. This was the first time we had spoken and discussed the New Guinea work in person. The following morning we headed for Shreveport La. and stayed with the Jim Stamatis family, who were in school with us at Sunset School of Preaching. While there we also spoke and discussed New Guinea with Flint Garrison who plans to go to New Guinea after his discharge from the USAF next year. Pray for the Garrisons that God will raise up congregations and elderships to be able to help them fulfill their desires to serve God in New Guinea.
We then went to Vicksburg Miss. and were able to speak at Tallulah La. of our plans and needs.
After being gone from home so long and the children having been exposed to Chicken pox (which they now have) we decided to return to Joplin and work around this area for the next several months. This will also allow us the opportunity to get to know this congregation better.
Because of the lack of definite contacts with elderships and congregation the "trip type" of fund raising takes about 48% of the raised funds to had 52%. But brethren this was the only thing left for us to do. We did not have all our monthly support (and still don't) and the bills were stacking up faster than we could pay. We have written letters until our arms are about to fall off. These letters were to congregations who know us and who have said "yes we are interested". We have not even received the courtesy of a "NO".
Our future plans call for a departure of around Sept. 25th 1974, even though we are still lacking the necessary funds to live, work and travel to New Guinea.
The first two weeks of June will be directing VBS's here in Joplin and the area.
The third week in June Kathy and I will be counselors down at Green Valley Bible camp in Arkansas. The rest of June and the first week in July I will be filling in for our local evangelist, Hilton Terry while he is away holding a meeting. At present we are trying to set up appointments for preaching (morning) and showing slides (evening) in July and August with interested congregations. We are available for showing presently on Weds. evenings and some Sunday evenings.
In our travels we have met many fantastic people. 'The lord has blesses us richly through them. Thank you each one of you for all the help you have given us.
The amount of work we will be able to do will depend upon your willingness to help. Please consider this an opportunity to have fellowship and a part in the work of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to people who have never heard of Jesus. Do you want to help?
If so, write a note today and let us know. You will be helping to buy Bibles, print tracts, provide transportation, purchase radio time and outfit patrols into the bush were the name of Jesus has never been proclaimed and many other things. We will not be able to do these things unless Y 0 U decide YOURSELF to help . Pray about it! Then please act real soon.. The Lord will bless you richly in your generosity.
In His service and to His glory
The Huffs
PS Because of the cost of raising funds by going on trips with no definite commitments we will be setting up appointments for July and August with interested congregations. If you would like to view the work and give your evangelist a day off give us a call and we will be glad to preach the morning lesson and then show our slides during evening worship period. Please give prayerful consideration of this work. We are still seeking monthly support, working fund (monthly) and travel funds.
God, will bless you in your generosity.