Volume 5; No.12                                                                            December 1982

Dear Brethren:

Greetings from the USA. Well, as I write this report we are back!

TRIP BACK
We departed from New Guinea Nov. 17 th on the long trip back. We first stopped off in Manila where we visited with Ray & Helen Bryan long time missionaries in the Philippines. Having left PNG with a total population of 3 million and landing in Manila with a population of over 5 million was mind boggling, to say the least we felt that all 5 million were driving on the road from the airport.

MISSIONARY WORKSHOP
After Manila we traveled to Hong Kong to attend the Annual Southeast Asian Missionary workshop. Hong Kong has over 9 million peoples. The workshop was held on the island of Lantau just off the island of Hong Kong. From Hong Kong we had to take a ferry (45 mins) to arrive where we were staying. We were able to spend a week of fellowship and spiritual feasting with brethren of like mind and vocation (not vacation but VOCATION!). During the afternoons we were free to take the ferry back into Hong Kong and shop (oh, did we shop). In the evenings we ate at different restaurants and finished the night with devotions. One night we ate at the Peak restaurant and another night we ate on a cruise boat as it toured the harbour.

There were 102 in attendance from: Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, PNG, Australia, Philippines, Taiwan, India, and USA.

RED CHINA TRIP
After the workshop we went on a three day, two night tour of Canton China with a score or more of the other missionaries. Now that was an experience. At first when our plane landed I thought we were lost because there really wasn't much RED in evidence, mostly olive drab and grey. But we were THERE as there were little RED stars EVERYWHERE. As we were on a tour group we received the royal treatment, air conditioned buses and the best hotels (they even had a phone in the bathroom). We were GUIDED on our tours. The first thing which one notices is the oldness of everything. Even the new military trucks look old because they are patterned after WW II style trucks. Manual labor is the norm, bicycles are everywhere. Trucks and cars are evident but in the minority. Gardens are planted everywhere. We toured a commune, a silk factory and a jade factory.

In Canton there are only two Christians. As the government is very repressive toward religion we were not able to meet with them on the Lord's Day while there. We did not want to get them into hot water with the authorities. Even in the hotel we were not able to meet in worship as an entire group. We had to break up into three smaller groups and worship in separate rooms. Even then we had to sing and talk in low voices. One never knows what is taken for granted until it is no longer available.

We boarded the express train in Canton and breathed a sign of relief once the train crossed the border (barbed wire and guard towers) back into Hong Kong.

We spent another night in Hong Kong and then flew to: Taiwan, Los Angeles, Denver and Tulsa. We arrived 1:30 Dec. 1st.

FUTURE PLANS
Our plans (which I will expand on next month) call for us to put the children in school in Joplin until May next year and then to return to PNG in June. we can be contacted through: (417) 6244016.

PRINTING ACTIVITIES
In November I finished off what needed to be printed while we are on leave:
BOOKS:
200/43pp
200/ 30pp
300/ 16pp
BIBLE CLASS MATERIAL 56,100
HANDOUTS 16,630pp.
TOTALS 130,030 sheets
The total for 1982 in the printing is as follows:
BOOKS: 1500/550pp -KONKODANC
BCC: 95,300 lessons
CLASS MATERIAL-160,290 pages
CLASS HANDOUTS: 35,130 sheets
TOTAL: 1,587,570 sheets of paper
3,175 reams of paper

I think I will have a nervous breakdown now that I have time!

Your servants of the Cross

the Huffs