Dear Friends and Brethren
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who brings us into each new day for opportunities to share His great and wonderful news of salvation.
Again I have been less than forth-coming with our reports via tree bark. I had good intentions of writing but, but, but - sorry! Since we talked with you via newsletter we have moved again. Not because we wanted to but because they sold the building to a company who is remodeling it and making the apartments into offices. Oh,we miss the harbor views! We lived there for 5 months. It was very convenient for walking to town and the post office.
After looking at what was available we finally settled in a 3 bedroom, cement block, galvanized iron roofed house out by the airport about 5 miles from Port Vila town (so much for the afternoon walk to check mail). It is an older (let me tell you older) house with yard space and large verandas. It will cost us just under what we were paying for the apartment ($342 per month). We are now living about a quarter mile from the airport, the international jets take off just over our tree line. It is a more rural section (slums, what a challenge) which includes but is not limited to: a dirt access road with meteor craters as pot holes; packs of dogs which roam (I have a slingshot which I will use for readjustment behavior); three neighbor’s cats who think our yard is a cat litter box (ditto the slingshot); cockroaches the size of small mice which fly; rats (I watched a rat run out of a housing area across the road into the vacant lot next to us); trillions of ants (most of which live in our house and think they own it); thousands of spiders (1/2 inch to 2 inches across) who have spread their webs across all and any open spaces and over the tree tops; chickens scratching around (One hen was found roosting in the flower bed just outside the living room window in a clump of overgrown weeds, she gave birth to 11 little chicks and then left. How rude!); an avocado tree hanging over our house from a neighbor’s vacant lot which drops unripe fruit onto our galvanized roof every time a breeze blows; two neighbor’s across the road who obviously do not have volume controls on their stereos as everyone in a 1,000 yard radius are the beneficiaries of their lack of musical taste (no country, ha!).
We put down the deposit the last week of October and when I came home one afternoon (two days before we were to move) Kathy had received a call that the local landlord had decided not to rent to us because he didn't think it was fit for white people. When the local owner showed us the house he told us everything that was wrong with it trying to discourage us. After talking with him he said OK and said we could trim a few things that were overgrown (a virtual jungle). He was also not sure he could get the house fixed up before we moved in (he didn’t, let me tell you and at the rate he was moving would never have ). I talked with him and he understood that we are not looking for a perfect house. He did have his wife’s uncle attempt to repaint the entire inside and outside. I use the word ‘attempt’ because the old fella had bottle thick glasses and was trying to paint with just a roller and in areas of the house where the lights did not work. I assured the owner that I would replace the hot water heater and fix up what he couldn't. So he said OK again, we could move in. We did!
I had to arrange to change the electricity, water and telephone over (which meant we would be several days without communication). The shipping company was to move the container (which I had been loading since the last week of October). It is a lot easier carrying everything down three flights of stairs then it was carrying it up. My back felt like someone has been hitting it with a 2 X 4.
The guys helped us move stuff out of the apartment on Thursday the 5th of November. We slept in the apartment one last time on Thursday as it had hot water and we had services on Thursday night. (On Wednesday I had sprayed and set off roach bombs in the house we were moving to for ants and roaches and when I went back Thursday morning there were about 200 large, large cockroaches doing leg pumps to the sky. We seem to have gotten most of the roaches except the one which ran up Kathy’s leg on Friday night as she was getting ready for bed. Yikes! He's dead now!!!!!)
I had to go see the container people and remind them they had promised to shift the container earlier that week but I did not see it at the house yet. I have to remove the front gates and posts from the ground as the container truck is about 2 feet wider than the existing opening. The container finally arrived on Saturday morning and after trying for 2 hours to put it in the yard they had to settle for the edge of the moon road until they could get a forklift here to lift it up and over. As it was, they managed to smash and destroy the hibiscus hedge which was the front fence. The container has since been moved into the yard and we replanted the hibiscus hedge.
Many things have kept me busy since the move: there were no towel racks in the bathroom; I replaced the small, wall mounted, on-demand, hot water heater but then had to fix a leak in the pipe in the cement wall which had been soldered; we found that the toilet pipes had been leaking for some time (which accounted for the swamp smell and rotten wood); we found a pipe leaking underground outside the verandah wall (afternoon on Saturday when all stores are closed here, from which to buy repair parts); the drain pipe under the kitchen sink was not hooked up properly and so had been leaking for some time which rotted out the wood (when I tried to repair it the pipe going out of the house to the soak hole outside broke and I had to repair it as well); a pipe inside the cement wall to the shower faucet was shown to be leaking and after chipping out the wall and trying to solder it, I had to replace two copper joints, I have left the hole open with a drain tube [to lessen infection] and can live with the small drip, drip at the moment; most of the door and window frames have been shown to be just a shell of their former selves and now the abode of trillions of ants (which are undergoing re-adjustment training with spray and for the more persistent - death); all of the walls and ceilings and around the windows had to be chalked as ant residue was filtering down through the cracks onto the floors; the floors are a montage of small ceramic tiles, chipped large lino tiles and bare cement; the hedges were 10 feet high in front and along the sides; there are no square walls anywhere in the house; I had to install six new light fittings and repair another three; the iron roof was leaking in several places; the back fence is non-existent and the side fence have major holes (so much for security). I have changed the screening on the screen doors and all of the windows. There is light outside looking thru the doors now. I can see now why the owner would think that it was not fit for a ‘whiteman’. Forget the ‘whiteman” I don’t know how anyone could live with the filth that this house exuberated. The owner has since come by and seen the house on the outside and he was amazed at the difference we had already made. Well dah, - soap and water, pruning and a lot of chalking does wonders! When they cut the vacant lot next to us recently (three foot high grass) they killed 13 snakes.
Did I ever tell you that Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides) used to be joint-run by France and Great Britain (until 1980)? This meant that for years (and still) plumbing, hardware, electrical, lumber etc was supplied in both French and British/Australian metric sizes and the two metric sizes are not the same. I found this out when trying to fit the new French water heater to existing British copper pipes in the house (I had to grind the copper tube down until it fit into the heater outlet pipe. On the inlet pipe I used a compression ring and lots and lots of thread tape. Hey, it works for me!) The drain pipe in the kitchen was French metric but someone had tried to heat-shrink British metric to fit it. HAH! There are no such thing as a correct reducer or convertor here. What joy!
In November and December we hosted the monthly fellowship luncheon at our house after services. There were mats and chairs set out under the trees. Refreshment was provided as we have two coconut trees in the yard. Gomon Mesa climbed one and cut off a clump of coconuts for everyone to enjoy. The kids had plenty of trees to climb around in and Bobby Dowara was at the top of the leachy tree getting that fruit for everyone. We have a number of banana trees and pineapple plants throughout the yard. We also have two large grapefruit-type trees, several avocado trees and a sop-sop and breadfruit tree.
Kathy is getting the house squared away. I built her shelves in the kitchen. The cabinet doors which were hanging broken have been removed and curtains hung over the openings. We do have an abundant of “granddaddy long legs” which seem to be immune to spray but die quickly with a fly-swatter. The stereo is hooked up in the living room and the shelves, furniture and family photos have been arranged. My office is neat and clean as per its occupant! NOT! (Its functional!)
In the move the truck’s water pump started leaking profusely and I had to replace it (I got the replacement from the States). The (original) lower ball joints and front suspension had to be replaced also. When I turned in the keys for the apartment, on my way out of the agency, I stepped on a rock and twisted my left ankle pretty bad. The swelling finally went down but there is a weakness there now. Other than the normal scratches, contusions, bruises, nail punctures, bug bites, stubbed toes, jammed fingers and etc from moving we are in ‘great” shape.
We had a visitor in December from the island of Tanna. His name is John. John was staying at Black Sands where Yusi has been studying with a number of people. It seems John is a worker for a Pentecostal group in Tanna which has recently split from the mother church over a pastor power struggle. The group he is with calls themselves “The Christian Group” and they have been praying for God to show the proper way He would have them serve Him. TALK ABOUT PROVIDENTIAL! Shem, Sombo and Yusi spend several days of study with him before he returned to Tanna. John had graduated from the Assembly of God Bible College here in Vanuatu but the more he studied the more he commented that he had not been taught much of anything Biblical at the College and felt that God was answering their prayers. He has gone back and is to call us after he has talked with his group. We have agreed to send someone there for a week or so of teaching when they are ready. The work which we had talked about on Santo before has cooled off a bit because of landowner unrest in the area so it may be that God is opening up yet another door at this moment. Shem Gabriel a Port Vila member, who recently returned from Melanesian Bible College in Lae, Papua New Guinea, is planning on making a trip to his home island of Ambryum in late January. It has been 13 years since he lived there but he has lots of family there and owns land where he could build a house and plant a garden. If his trip is successful then he would plan to move there, plant the church and work with them. He has no source of income here in Port Vila and few job prospects. Please pray for these areas as well as Black Sands.
Shem’s sister Nanette was baptized last month here in Port Vila. There are many other studies continuing. I finally got the Bislama Bible on computer and paralleled it with the NIV on CD. I finished my classes on Sunday and I am still teaching the Book of Acts on Thursday night. We are struggling with one of the new Christians again. Simon is not attending and complaining that we preach the Love of God but do not practice it. His idea of how we should practice it is that we will pay his children's school fees this coming year and give them money every week to help them pay for bus fare around town. (He is a kava drinker and spends anywhere from $15-20 a week on drink.) He and his wife have large gardens and before becoming Christians he went and did anything he wanted on his own funds. His wife, Sara, is being kept from attending services and if she says things he doesn't like he beats up on her.
I need to ask for your prayers for Eton village. They represent the first Christians here in Vanuatu but unfortunately have shown the least growth. Even though we had a recent reconciliation the brethren are still struggling with some unresolved issues of a worldly nature. Three of the members are now selling kava (a local intoxicant which 24 months ago the congregation agreed they would not be involved in the making or consuming of such), one man recently got drunk and smashed his house up, another prominent man refuses to repent of stealing village money and refuses to honor agreements he has made with the brethren to reimburse the congregation for things he has possession of which belong to the congregation. Most of the members don’t have any idea of what Biblical correction requires and it will be hard to put it into place as it is very foreign to their custom ways of family and village interaction. Kathy and I are making plans to start going out to Eton on Sunday AMs to help in their teaching program. Other Sundays Sombo, Yusi and Shem will be travelling out to teach at Eton. Please pray for them and us!
The first board meeting of the Bible College - Fiji was held in Suva Fiji on December 8th. We met and the following men have agreed to serve on the Board of the newly named school: “The Christian Institute of Biblical Studies (Fiji)”. Semisi, Josua, Jerry Soko, Bimlesh, Tobey & Eli Fong. Josua had been seeking out possible sites for the school and found a place with a house and acreage near Nadi. He and I looked at it but we still have no funds (6 acres + house = $40,000). There was another attempted coup before we went but the country was stable. We still very much need your prayers for a sponsoring congregation for this Bible School as well as finance to build and sustain the school until we can plant and begin to harvest cash crops. While in Fiji was were able to meet with the newly formed Nadi, Fiji church. These are brethren from the Nadi area who were baptized after Josua and Tom Tune taught them. Tom had been in Fiji getting his boat repaired.
Until when. I am finally getting the ants down to a manageable level. Remember God has placed mankind in dominion over the insect world and they have to be reminded of that from time to time, WATCH OUT FOR THAT COCKROACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In Christ
Tobey & Kathy Huff