October 21, 2012
Dear Friends, Brethren and Family
On the way home..........
We are sitting here in the Air Pacific lounge in Nadi waiting
for our late morning flight to Port Vila. (7:06 am Sat, Oct 20th)
I had another random drug wipe down
leaving LA yesterday. Kathy thinks it might be the woman who said I had
a knife in my bag when we came back through LA in 2001 but she was proven wrong
and did not take it well. Kathy thinks my nickname is now "random
drug wipe" and there is a picture of ZZ Top - Mistaken identity.
Full flight last night (10 hours from LA to Nadi Fiji) and not a few people
do not know the courtesy of air travel. Got in Fiji at 4:45 am (Saturday,
we lost Friday)) - I slept, fitfully, most of the way. Breakfast was a
box breakfast with a tub of blueberry yogurt, a tub of orange juice, an Oats
and honey bar and a Banana nut muffin. I sent it back and drank water
with my thyroid pills. Kathy was able to sweet talk the stewardess out of two
cream cheese rolls because she cannot eat citrus nor anything with nuts.
Rain forecast today and the rest of the week in Port Vila.
During the long wait in Nadi Fiji I found out the plane we are taking on to Port Vila is a 44 passenger turbo prop - not even a jet - 2 looooong hours! From huge 747 to a small puddle jumper - I hope they have floaties! Here is their stock picture but the real plane looked a whole lot more worn - inside and out!
Arrival in Port Vila, Vanuatu
Well when we arrived in Port Vila they were in the middle of a rain squall and
the pilot lost sight of the runway so we did a loopty loop up and out to sea
again. After about 30 minutes he tried again and was able to come in under
the clouds and get it set down to the applause of the other passengers (I had
already told him I had experience as door gunner in Chinook CH47 coppers if
he needed me).
We disembarked in the rain and walked to the terminal and cleared immigrations only to be waiting for our bags for about 15 minutes. Then someone from the airlines said we needed to clear customs and pick up our bags out in the terminal??????? Only there were no bags to be picked up by over half of us. The bags were never on the plane for some reason. Kathy and I waited over 7 hours in the lounge for our flight from Fiji to Vanuatu and had seen our bags go out to the plane loading area on a trailer. However there were 3 JET planes that had left before ours: one to Singapore, one to Auckland, New Zealand and one to Sydney, Australia. You pick which one they got thrown on because the guys here have no clue. Kathy and I had been in the same clothes for 37 hours and were not cheered to find that all our clothes and toiletries were somewhere else. Another hour and our clothes could walk for themselves!
We were told if the bags are still in Fiji they could come on tomorrow's flight - if they were in Singapore, Australia or New Zealand all bets were off when they would show up (could be the middle of next week or later). The airline does not help you get replacement clothes or toiletries (since you are not allowed to carry them on board), they just said they would send an email and find out where the bags are and call us.
While at the airport I was able to recharge
the sim cards for our phones we use here so we had communication to call Stephen
and he came and picked us up and drove us to a motel in town where we will stay
for three days until we see what we can get done on the village house to move
in while I finish it. He loaned us his truck as the motorcycle has a flat battery
and it is rainy. We went over and saw Rebecca and Morris. We then went to the
store and bought groceries and some clothes and clogs to replace what we don't
have use of right now. No hair dryer (for Kathy) and other sundry things.
Kathy was able to borrow a dress from Rosa Hannah to wear tomorrow. I
might be able to get into the container in the village tomorrow after the church
gathering to see what clothes and other things are accessible.
Oh, it is such an adventure when you travel Air Pacific! But we are glad
to be home.
7:21 pm Saturday night - after everything else we experienced yesterday an earthquake came and went right through the room we are staying in - wow!!!!!! Not enough to knock us off the bed but a "welcome home buckaroo!" tremor.
Early to bed
early to rise
We are 16 hours ahead of Joplin time. We went to bed around 10:00 pm and made
it all the way to 3:45 am before we woke up. Snoozed until 6:00 am before getting
up. We are back in the land of 12 hour daylight mostly. 6:00 am - 6:00 pm. There
has been a light rain most of the night with thick cloud cover.
Since this is Sunday we will get around and eat before going to the store for
something for fellowship lunch at the village, pick up Morris and Rebecca,go
to the village and worship with them there. This afternoon I will try and find
an internet connection to send this blog before it becomes a tome.
Lucky us - Vanuatu is also in election/campaign fever. However since TV is limited here and expensive, the political parties have a different way of getting their message out to the public. They plaster their posters on any flat space they can find and they hire trucks of supporters to go around and honk their horns and broadcast over portable PA systems - who they are and what candidate you should vote for. Some of the groups can have as many as 10 trucks in a convoy honking and making noise while driving around town and the neighborhoods. It gets old real quick, like a the TV ads there in America. Unfortunately here you cannot turn the sounds down or off. You should hear the racket when two opposing parties of supporters cross paths - well maybe you shouldn't. We are hoping the noise level will not be so overbearing in the village.
Sunday service at
Eton Village
Sunday services went good. We picked up Morris, Rebecca and some of the kids
and drove out to Eton Village where the house is. I spoke and then we had lunch.
Kathy got to go inside the house for the first time (which has a lot of ants
in residence because nobody has been spraying - that will change).
I opened up the containers and got a few things out for immediate use. We sat
around and "storied" (talked) and then drove back to town. No rain
in the village.
Motorbike being
cantankerous
I found out that one of the wires to the battery on the motorbike had broken
off so they had not started it for awhile. I fixed that and then the battery
was weak so I hooked up a charger for awhile.
Bags in country
I found out that our bags were supposed to come in this afternoon. On the way to the airport I checked the mailbox (which nobody had checked since we were gone) and found it full. At the airport the bags were indeed there and I had to go through customs before I could leave. No problem - I took the bags back to the motel and was rewarded with a smile from Kathy, The bags had gone to Suva, Fiji, Brisbane, Australia and back to Port Vila. It will be nice to have a change of underwear and shorts after over 60 hours. I bought a new shirt last night to wear today. Our laundry had been done while we were gone to the village so Kathy would have some clear, dry clothes IF the bags had not come.
I took the truck back to Steve's house (as he needed to go out and have a talk with the farm workers on their cattle farm). When I tried to start the motorcycle it almost started but the fuel is old and I can smell the lacquer before the battery ran down again. So I will have to drain some tomorrow morning and try to start it again. After that I will have to re install the seat for Kathy before we ride it together. Steve said we could have the use of the truck and we will take him up on that with all the rain. He has a government car as he is a chief magistrate.
Today is ending better than yesterday and the Lord is still in control. Thank you for your prayers and support and I will keep you informed as to the progress of the house and when we can move in after we re-assert dominion over the ants and spiders.
This is our plea
(still) (a new way to help without cash, see #2)
For forty years we have tried to share with people our dream
of "Church Planting, Leadership Training and Bible Training in Oceania".
Various places have demanded differing roles in our work (Papua New Guinea,
New Zealand, Vanuatu, Fiji). The current location is Vanuatu and the role is
still the establishment of a located Bible Training facility to train and equip
brethren from the island regions of Oceania to teach and train their own language
groups in the Bible and Bible living. We are not trying to establish a preacher
training school. We are planning to train and equip brethren in the Bible and
trade training (mechanics, woodworking, sewing, village bread baking, etc) to
help them support themselves when they return to their home islands.
This is a plea:
we need your help with finances to establish this facility.
#1 - Can you personally help us with a one time financial gift of $50 or
more? Can you personally help us with $25 a month for a least a year? If
enough of you gave $25 per month for a year this would give us funds on a monthly
basis to build monthly. Will you PLEASE?
I have had some ask how they can help financially on a monthly basis so I have attached an Autopay form which will allow you to have funds automatically deducted from your bank account and transferred to the school bank account. It can be stopped at any time on your part. Simply print it, fill it out, sign it and mail it back to the addresses supplied or scan it and email it back to me.
We have received some help and now have some funds in Vanuatu for a generator. Thank you so much!
#2 - Another way to give:
(without cash)
In our journeys and talks with people, many have said they want to help missions
and especially help us build and operate The Christian Institute of Biblical
Studies in Vanuatu but have no cash to give.
If you have RMD (Required minimum distribution
for over 70 year olds from their IRA) whatever is donated is tax free.
(Example: if the government requires you to withdraw $10,000 from your IRA (whether
you need the funds to live on or not) whatever you donate you do not have to
pay tax on- whatever you keep you have to pay tax on. If you donate $5000 and
keep $5000 you would only have to pay tax on $5000.) If you have other retirement
funds (SS, etc) that you can live comfortable on then a RMD withdraw might put
you into a higher income bracket that would mean that all you were required
to withdraw might go toward taxes. Aught not to be, but that is the tax
code.
If you have some stock (ie Walmart, Lazyboy, Apple, Microsoft, etc) and cash it out you have to pay 15% capital gains tax on the difference that you paid for it and the price it is worth today. If you don't want to pay 15% capital gains tax you can donate the stocks or again if you just want to donate some non-producing stock, your donation (the current value of the stock) is also not taxable.
Win - win! You don't pay tax (legally) and the Bible School gets built.
So we have set up a brokerage account with the bank that has our school account. It will be in the CIBS name with proceeds going into that account after being transferred and redeemed. This is just another way to help those of you who want to help missions but have no cash to give - you can give and lessen your tax load (and keep the cash in your hand).
It was also explained that if the Bush tax cuts are let to lapse then the capital gains on stocks after December 31 will be 28% just like ordinary revenue. So you might want to review your stock portfolio by the end of the year and see if you can get a better deal donating.
If anyone reading this would like to transfer IRA (RMD) funds or stock to this account (which will directly benefit The Christian Institute of Biblical Studies in Vanuatu) you need to talk with your broker and give him this name and number:
United Missouri Bank (UMB)
300 Grant St
Carthage Mo 64836
A/C# H8P033855
DTC# 0226
At the end of the year you will receive a letter of tax deducible donation from us.
#3 - School facilities NEEDS:
(1) A congregation who will accept the challenge of sponsoring
the Bible School. This would include majority (but not necessarily total) support
of the school, help in planning, raising of funds, oversight of and the implementation
of qualified personnel to operate and run the school.
(2) Finances - (for a five year period, at the end of
which we hope to have established crops which will provide for the future operating
expenses); this in itself is a unique objective of the school as compared to
others who have to continue to solicit support from outside sources.
a. $125-250,000 (for development on the property, structural building and furnishings)
b. $3,500 per month (staff salaries, student and operating expenses)
(3) Prayers -
Thank you so much for all of you who are praying for us, supporting us and have contributed to our needs. God bless you! We look forward to being back home soon and sharing with you what the Lord is doing through us. Thank you for your prayers!
Your seed sowing workers in the Kingdom.
Tobey & Kathy
Contributions for Huffs and building the Bible school, vehicle and house can be sent to:
Huffs/Bible School
c/ Mt Hope church of Christ
2830 Mt Hope Rd
Webb City MO 64870
Mailing Address:
PO Box 3229
Port Vila, Vanuatu
Ph: Mobile: (678) 594-7248