April 2009

Dear Friends, Brethren and Family

Ni Sa Bula from Fiji land.

ANOTHER MONTH IN PARADISE - ALMOST FLOODED AGAIN!

I had to take Kathy into Lautoka last month to the dentist to get a crown put back on that she had lost when trying to chew some of our "tender" beef. I think it cost $15.00 to get it cemented on. She didn't follow my suggestion that I just super glue it on, smart woman! We are still in cyclone, rainy season so we had much rain the last weeks of last month and the first week of this month. One Sunday we had to hold services here at home with Malika because the area at Sabeto, where we worship, was flooded. In fact on April 1st (no joke to us) we received over 5 1/2 inches of rain in a very, very short period of time and the water level in the yard was within 3 inches of the coming in the back door again. The ditch that the sugar cane company dug out down the side of the rail tracks next to our house has no exit for the water to go out and so is just backed up again. I went down and talked to the chief engineer the next week and they are supposed to fix the drain properly. Cyclone Lin developed from this system when it went north through Fiji and then it moved back southeast away from Fiji not inflicting anymore damage, as an answer to our prayers.

POWER OUTAGES

We also had 5 mini power outages since last month. These are outages of less than 3 hours but more than 30 minutes, usually right in the middle of the greatest composition of my literary career. Then when the power comes back I forgot what I was writing about. The seasons are changing with dry season coming in and the last few night have been cool with the temperature getting down to 75. Brrrrrrrrr!

NEW FAMILY MEMBERS

One of the Christian ladies, Malika, found a puppy in the bushes up by her house that someone had thrown out. She brought it to us. It was not even 4 weeks old so we nursed it. Her name if "Peanut" because she is brown with a black face. A few days afterwards we went into Nadi and picked up a beagle type puppy. The family had 8 puppies and were trying to find good homes for them. His name is "Bully" because he bullies Peanut around. We took them to SPCA and got them their shots and they are supposed to be de-sexed the next clinic the SPCA holds. They get along great together and Bully is a great watchdog in that he barks at "anyone" who walks by the fence and growls at anyone other than us who comes in the yard. I'm waiting for the neighbor's pigs to try and get in the yard the next time.

FIJI CONSTITUTION ABROGATED

And then the fun began: In Fiji there was a military coup in Dec 2006 with the military overthrowing the elected members of parliament and the military has been running the country since. The commodore put himself in as the interim Prime Minister. Things have been running as well as can be expected when a non-political man, a "lifer" military man is running things. The two local newspapers have both had editors expelled from the country due their reporting on the current situation in Fiji and the troubles that were happening. The properly elected government the military overthrew had filed a law suit against the current government and on the afternoon of April 9th the appeals court gave a decision that the current government was illegal. The commodore said he talked with the President about the situation and that the country would be lawless if the appeals court ruled against the ruling military government but he "would return to the barracks and let the President appoint an interim Prime Minister to set the country back to proper elections". However Friday night, April 10th (Good Friday), the constitution was abrogated by the President and the commodore was put back in as the head of government. All the judges were sacked. (One way to get rid of people who made rulings you don't agree with.) Anybody appointed to public service positions prior to Friday were set down which included the Police Commissioner and the Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank, only to list a couple. In fact April 14th the Federal Reserve Bank was surrounded by the military, as seen from pictures on Australian TV via satellite. The mandatory retirement age for government workers has been set back to 55 because the military had deemed it so before and then it was overturned by an appeals court which ruled that 60 was a good age to retire. (All rulings of the appeals court since Dec 2006 are null and void now.) We are now under a 30 day Public Emergency Rule which includes total censorship of the news. Any foreign resident who speaks out against the government is taken to the airport and put on a plane back to their home country. There is no news on the TV or newspaper except what the military wants people to know. There are a lot of rumors going around as you can imagine. 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Here was a letter to the editor in Wednesdays paper: (It got past the censors!)
Dear Editor
The world and Fiji just celebrated a weekend we call Easter. It is about a loving God who sent His Son as a sin offering for an undeserving world. In the letter to the Romans, Paul did not write people living in a democracy with constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms. He did not write people guaranteed religious freedom. He wrote people living in a thoroughly pagan environment without our concept of rights or freedoms.
How were these Christians to conduct themselves in that environment which, at best, was suspicious and, at worst, was physically hostile? They were to be model residents. They were to be in subjection to rulers and officials who honored the gods. They were to understand this basic truth about officials in the Roman government: Rome's rulers and officials were in positions of authority by God's will. God's intention for such rulers: "Use your power and authority to oppose evil and support good." (Romans 13:3,4) When they did this, they were God's ministers. God puts in place and God removes.
In a city that controlled the Mediterranean basin [and beyond], in a city devoted to the gods, in a city whose rulers had little or no conscious knowledge of the living God, how were Christians to conduct themselves? They were to live as law abiding residents who respected the government and its officials. They paid their taxes. They observed appropriate customs. They gave respect to those who were to be respected. They honored those who were to be honored.
Paul gave them two reasons for being law abiding, responsible residents. They should be such residents for (1) the sake of consequence and (2) the sake of conscience. To be less than law abiding, responsible residents asked the government to regard and treat them as people who did evil. First, if they did evil, the government rightfully punished them for the evil they did. Second, if God placed government authorities in their roles [this was not a democracy], opposing them was opposition to God's sovereignty.
Let's not oppose God by opposing those He has put in positions of authority, pray for the leadership of Fiji.
Dr Tobey Huff
Vuda Point (I have received positive feedback in the community)

FIJI UNDER MILITARY RULE

I understand the military mind set because I served for 5 years before sanity prevailed. The military mind-set is "I said it - do it, no discussion required or wanted." Politicians on the other side understand that they don't always get their way and have to compromise sometimes to get things done. Politicians also develop thicker skins when they receive criticism because they have to recognize the tax payer is in reality their employer and the tax payer have the right to express their views.
Overall there is peace in Fiji. (We have the home invasion robberies and the robbing of the service stations and stores from thieves with pinchbars, sticks and rocks but we had that before. At least guns are not used here in robberies.) There are no military nor police check points like previous coups have had. The tourists are still coming. (John Travolta was here over Easter, whoopee.) The people here are basically laid back (like Vanuatu) and just want to be left alone as long as they have food (and kava), shelter and school fees for their children. Even though there is journalistic censorship we still, at the moment, have the internet operating.
The government devalued the Fiji dollar this week to help lure tourists here and to help the exporters. However it will eventually mean that everything will go up 20%+ and the poor will just get poorer. There is no way they can give stimulus checks to everyone because very few pay taxes and they don't have the funds anyway. Australia and New Zealand are saber-rattling and threatening to get Fiji kicked out of the Commonwealth and from the South Pacific Forum. They already have already withheld aid and have had a visa ban on anyone who had family in the military. (Again they are trying to dictate to a military-mind which will not be bluffed. Not gonna work people, he is more stubborn than they are. It will be the Fiji people who bear the brunt of the sanctions.) It is a time when people are looking to someone bigger than themselves for help - we are offering Jesus.

EXTENSION BIBLE TEACHING PROGRAMME

Even though it is very unlikely that we will build a located boarding Bible School here in Fiji in the near future due to the financial drought of available funds being felt throughout the world to build such a school, we have never the less started a Extension Bible teaching Programme which will offer undergraduate courses toward a Diploma in Biblical Studies. (However with the devaluation and the prices not having caught up yet it will require 20% less funding than we were asking for earlier. $100,000US before was $155,000Fj now it will give us $229,200Fj. Cheap at twice the price! Maybe this is the time the Lord has been preparing for?)

This Diploma Course is in addition to the "Studies in the Scriptures" Bible Correspondence course we are already offering. The SIS course now has 40 students. So far I have 3 of the under graduate courses finished and working on Course 4. There will be 10 courses in the series which are much more comprehensive then the SIS course. I intent to start offering the Diploma course after I get Course 4 formatted in the next few days. I can work on the other six courses as the students take the first four.

I am still teaching at Sabeto on Sunday mornings which allows Josua to travel to other places to help the brethren on the weekends if needed. The Vanuatu brethren have expressed an interest in us coming over the middle of the year to hold special classes.

And that is what we do to keep occupied in our spare time.

Thank you for your prayers and your finances.  Please continue to pray for funding for a Located Bible School here in Fiji and our personal support which continues to chip off with the worsening financial situation in the world, however with a 20% chip back this month with the devaluation, thank you Lord.

Your seed sowing workers in the Kingdom.

Tobey & Kathy