May -July 1993

Dear Brethren & Friends;

ISLAND TRIP
During the months of April, May and June Kathy and I did the usual things we do around here trying to keep things together with the printing work and our outreach work. We were in communication with the brethren in Papua New Guinea and had tried to get hold of a brother in Honiara, Solomon Islands. We were unable to get hold of Bartholemeu Nysa at the Honiara Hotel. We scheduled our trip into PNG and Solomon Islands for the first twelve days of July.

We booked a special flight with Solomon Airlines which allowed us to fly thru Honiara (Solomon Islands) and then on into Papua New Guinea. We tried to stop over in Port Vila also but would have had to spend 7 days which we did not have at the present time. So we stopped over in Honiara for two days where we were able to visit with several of the students we have on World Bible School courses. There are a number of Christians in the Solomon Islands but they live on islands several days boat ride away. Two of the students are security guards at the Honiara Hotel where we stayed. We are praying that next trip we will be able to get out to the islands and visit with the brethren. We see a definite need for leadership training and the need to get at least one of the brethren trained here in New Zealand to help the local church to achieve maturity in the Lord. (We left New Zealand with a temperature of 32 and landed in Honiara with a temperature of 85.) Kathy and I talked with government offices about starting a business there but decided that it is not likely in the near future. When we were clearing customs they had a fight in the customs hall and the next day when we went to the newspaper office to check if our advertisement had been printed there was a guy in the office there trying to get the editor to fight with him over a difference of opinion in an editorial - shades of Papua New Guinea.

Flying the island route meant that we were in smaller planes and thus when we landed in Port Moresby we cleared customs within 10 minutes. We checked into our ongoing flight to Lae and met with Les Williams. We dropped off some English Chorus books we had printed for them and some tracts and World Bible School Courses.

LAE - We were back and it was good to see the smiling faces of Jab, Becky, Abraham and Tobey Mesa. Jab was recovering from his accident - he is able to walk but still has limited use of his right hand. Phil Lifsey had gone to the Waria Valley to talk to the brethren about the recent passing of Reg Coles. Reg served in Lae as well as the Waria Valley - the Lord's Servant was called home! Reg was English and he and I always had this thing about tea and iced tea. One time he brought me some iced tea - tea sprinkled on top of some ice cubes. When Reg and Ruth first moved out to the Waria valley (in the mid '70's) they did not have a refrigerator (no power ) so Kathy and I gave them a small kerosene refrigerator we had bought for village work but were not using at the time. It made the cutest little ice cubes which I said could be for their iced tea.

It was good to be back in PNG and renew fellowship with the brethren. I spoke at the Pidgin services that Sunday morning. I spent time with the local leaders talking about problems they were having and offering whatever advice when asked. They are having to learn to do the work without a large number of missionaries and less funds. They are doing a good job of it. They still need national men trained in Bible skills higher than the Melanesian Bible College can provide. The Melanesian Bible College in Lae is doing a good job of training local brethren to teach and serve in leadership positions in the churches throughout PNG. The school is overseen by a School board and the daily running is done by John Kerenga and Jab Mesa. John was baptized after a village training school which Andy Scott and I held in Chimbu in the 70's. He moved to Lae after that and attended the first Lae Bible School taught by Joe Cannon. We talked to him about coming to New Zealand for two years of school to further his skills and knowledge so as to do a better job there in PNG. He and Jab both expressed their dream to have more English classes for brethren there, but John feels inadequate at the present time. Lord willing John and Rose will be able to come to Bible College for the 1994 session.

We made a trip up to Goroka and met with the brethren there as well. Johnathon and his family are doing well. All of his kids have grown up. The church is doing well. The Wednesday night we were there the brethren in West Goroka met at one of the brethren's houses. We were full. We were very encouraged by their maturity. We were encouraged by them as well as others to finish my commentaries in Pidgin English and to come and hold leadership training courses next year. The next day we drove, up to Dumun (where we picked up Yusi's wife to take back to Lae with us) and dropped off Mialmel. He was going into Bima Piau and spent some time with the congregation. They recently had a split in the church with two brethren running for the same council seat. The warring sides had split the church building in half with one group getting nine pieces of the roofing iron and the other getting eight. Sounds like the brethren I knew! Our last few days in Lae I was asked to speak in chapel at MBC. I was able to spend time with Phil Lifsey and also Yusi Miopa. These talks as well as talks with Les Williams have renewed my resolve to make more time to finish the Pidgin commentaries and the Leadership Training Correspondence Course.

After Lae we spent the night in Port Moresby and had a good talk with Les Williams, Goman Mesa and Andrew Jackson. Les is doing an exceptional job with the Ela Beach congregation (2 baptisms that Sunday morning, 5 the previous week), Goman is working with a new congregation at 13 mile and Andrew is doing an excellent job at the Morata congregation. After this trip it is obvious why the Lord did not allow us to sell the printing business. We have been asked to print a Motu version of the World Bible School Course for the Moresby brethren. We have also been asked to print more material for the Melanesian Bible College.

THEY'RE COMING BACK!!
That's us - we're coming back this fall. Due to the work load we have here we will only be there for a limited period of time. Kathy will be coming back the 31st of August and I will be coming back the 14th of September. We will be returning to New Zealand on 12th of October. We need to touch base with you who support our outreach work, see our kiddos and share our future dreams of our work and the work here in the South Pacific.

After our trip through the islands (we came back through Honiara, Port Vila, spent the night in Nadi Fiji and stopped over in Tonga before getting back home. We left temperatures in the 90's and came back to temperature in the 30's. For ten days after I had the worse case of flu I have had for many years. I was on antibiotics. I thought that I might have had typhoid which they had an outbreak of behind the church property in Lae while we were there. But only a super case of flu which I then shared with Kathy who is just speaking to me again.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Please continue to remembers us in your prayers as we prepare to come back there and as we look to a greater involvement in leadership training in the Pacific islands. This will only be possible if we can obtain more monthly support to allow us to be away from the printing work for greater periods of time.

In Christian Service,

the Huffs