NOVEMBER 1, 1986

Dear Brethren;

Grace and Peace be with you from our Lord Jesus Christ!

WEEKEND BIBLE CAMP

The first weekend of October the congregation here had a weekend camp. Over 130 of us were able to spend Friday night, Saturday and Sunday morning together in fellowship and Bible Study. This camp was located about 2 hours drive from Tauranga just outside the town of Rotorua. Known by some as ROTTENrua. There is a large concentration of geothermal activity with a very dense smell of sulphur in the air. Hence ROTTENrua. The camp had a large number of youth activities which kept the youngsters busy during activity times. There was a lake with canoes and tyre (tire for us Yanks) swings and a large paddle boat which invariably was shoved off by little youngsters who were incapable of operating the paddles.

I think you should be proud of me. I didn't try to prove anything to anybody this time. I played some volleyball and the pool table kept playing me. In reality I was trying to recuperate from having to spend the night in bunk style beds. The camp had a few cabins with regular beds but at least Kathy and I didn't get assigned beds in the open dormitory like some people. Our room was bad enough. Honestly it reminded me of cell-blocks I have seen (though I have never been in- looking out before). The window had bars on the outside, the door had a small piece of frosted glass which had been scratched like someone trying to escape. Everyone was assigned duties from helping in the kitchen to setting the tables and general clean-up.

We rented a van so that we could provide transportation for the Mesas and Ledua and Josua (the two Fiji students). Actually, looking back we had a real good time.

A TRIP THROUGH HELL'S GATE

On the way back to Tauranga on that Sunday afternoon we stopped at HELL'S GATE, a geothermal area just down the road from the camp. None of us had ever been inside one of these places. After paying the entrance fee we took the tour through the thermal areas. There were bubbling mud pools, hot spas, steam vents and the like. The walk took us about 45 minutes and all along Abraham (Mesa) kept looking for the Devil. He was sure he saw the wicked witch of the north but I think he was mistaken. It was the witch of the east. The Mesas and Ledua and Josua were enthralled by the whole place.

BUSY TYPESETTING AND PRINTING
This past month saw the launching of two new periodicals. One is a monthly called "THE COMMUNICATOR" which is 12 pages of articles, charts and puzzles used to 'inform, edify and unify the Church' throughout the South Pacific. We are mailing over 1,000 copies. These are going to Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Korea, Singapore and elsewhere. We also began publishing a Quarterly for the Bible College as an information paper for recruiting new students and informing contributors of the College happenings.

These new publications are in addition to existing printing for the Bible correspondence program and the local church needs. The Bible Correspondence program has over 800 students from Fiji. In the normal running of the presses I had to completely overhaul one of the presses this month. That was fun but essential in order to have two operating presses.EXPANSION OF OUTREACH

One of the most needed things in our work at the present time (other than needing $10 million) are funds to enable us to travel out into the region and assess the needs that we can help meet from New Zealand. One of the primary goals of the Bible College is to provide adequate Bible training to native men of the various islands who will then go back and teach their own people and ground them in the truth more perfectly. The day of the missionary seems to be on the wane and one of the solutions is a 'circuit riding type' missionary. That is: a qualified missionary (not a novice) who could travel to various islands and spend sometime with the brethren and help them with their problems.
The island of Fiji does not have any full time missionaries at present. A family was suppose to arrive this year (they had even gotten their visas even though it is hard to get visas) but at the last minute could not secure support and thus are not coming now. There are over 400 Christians on Fiji most of whom are in small congregations. The people are searching for truth as evidenced by the Bible Correspondence response. One of the students presently attending Bible College here is returning home over Christmas to get married before he comes back to finish his studies. Much interest have been shown from the Fiji brethren with the materials we print here and I had hoped to go over with Ledua when he returns home. My main objectives were to talk with the brethren about their personal needs from the print shop and try and schedule some 3 day seminars for those people in the various areas on Bible Correspondence courses. These seminars would be used to answer questions they have and to teach those who have requested baptism the way more perfectly. In a lot of ways the people of Fiji are a lot like the Papua New Guineans. Of course these dreams hinge on money of which is in short supply. At present we are still trying to support the Mesa's (Thank you to those who have sent their one time help for this need!) and ourselves from the support which we still have.

The College has a plan of one day sending teaching teams to the island nations where the church does not have full-time missionaries. Also into areas where the church does not exist but interest is high for such.

The round trip ticket to Fiji would cost $500 per person. I thought that if we could get sufficient money Kathy would be a great asset on this trip as well. The kids would stay here and finish school and start their summer holidays. We would probably be gone 14-21 days, but it all needs finance.($ 1,000) CAN YOU HELP?

JASON SHIPPED OFF

Just last week Jason got out of school a day early and took off for a youth camp on the South Island at Nelson. Mike Austin, one of the instructors at the Bible College was a speaker and having space in his car took Jason along. There were some 35 kids at the camp and Jason said he had a real good time. When ask some of the new people he met, he named more girls than boys (as per norm).

The weekend Jason was at camp was Labour Day Weekend for New Zealand. This was our time for going onto daylight savings time. See this is our Spring and your Fall. Therefore the time different between the USA and New Zealand changed by two hours (you went back one hour we went ahead one hour).Please continue to remember our needs in your prayers: Mesa's support ($500 p/month), our support ($800 p/m), trip funds ($1,000), printing equipment. Also the hundreds who are on Bible Correspondence throughout the Pacific island nations.

May God continue to bless your labors for His Kingdom,Your servants because of the cross,

the Huffs