February 28, 2016
still hot and humid
Dearest Friends and family
TROPICAL CYCLONE WINSTON
Around the 8th of February TC Winston developed Northeast of Vanuatu. It was
a small cyclone and tracked far enough off our East coast that we were not affected
by it or disappointingly, even received any rain from it. It quickly tracked
South and then turned back to the Northwest were it went into Tonga waters and
developed into a Category 5 cyclone (like Cyclone Pam last year}.
February 18th
The cyclone then headed back West and was forecast to
go South of the Fiji Islands.
However it stayed on a Westerly path and ended up going through the passage
between the North and South islands of Fiji.
February 20th (cyclone - green spot passing through Fiji
It hammered Fiji in a bad way and at this time they have 41 confirmed dead and there are smaller islands they have not even been to yet to assess the damages. Whole villages were wiped out as well as their gardens. Some of the worse hit areas was where we used to live. We have not heard directly from any of the brethren but have seen on Facebook many of them are safe.
February
22nd
After hitting Fiji the cyclone was still bearing down on us from the East (like
a bullet) even though it was forecast to turn Southerly before it got to Vanuatu
landfall. We were starting to get wind and rain squalls so I was making sure
everything was nailed down again and secure, replaced the cyclone shutters on
the house that had rotted and Kathy was packing up the pictures and stuff in
the house in preparation. So far the cyclone had not been the most predicable
so we were expecting the worst. I was able to have internet connection so I
was the village contact (as compared to the village idiot) as to what was happening
and was updating them hourly or as many of them dropped by the house for updates.
Kathy had just replanted flowers lost in cyclone Pam and was sure that this
cyclone was coming to wipe the new flower plantings out!
February 23th
Around noon February 23rd we heard that cyclone Winston had indeed made a turn to the South and from then on it was relief on our collective part. One category 5 cyclone is enough in one lifetime without two in two years. We could have used the additional rain but did not need the winds. The cyclone then went South and finally turned North after it passed New Caledonia and died out East of Australia. Thank you Jesus!
We did have high seas with Winston pushing so close and two places close to the village here had water and sand flood the road. Some of this can also be contributed to construction firms taking large trucks of the beach sand for works in town, dah.
looking out to a wild sea and cyclone Winston to the
East
CIBS BUILDING
Goman is still working on the kitchen and toilet for the students and we hope
to have it done in March. It just takes time, time and time and a half.
kitchen and toilet walls
THIS 'N' THAT
We used the larger generator on Friday night for showers and shut it down and
went on battery power for the night. We need the larger generator because we
have an on-demand electric hot water heater. (A solar water heater would be
nice but $5000 is a bit much for us!) We do not like cold showers at night no
matter how hot it gets in the day time. Then Saturday I started it up to use
the pump to refill the water tanks and there was no electricity being generated.
These are times that try men's souls!
I will have to go to town this next week and see if they have a replacement
alternator for the generator and see if I can save money by fixing it and not
have to buy a new one.
I have been working on restoring a 20th century secretary desk that was eaten by white ants. The desk belongs to Douglas Patterson who allows us the use of his internet connection when we are in town. His mother and father brought it to Vanuatu when they moved here from Scotland. It was an antique. His mother recently died and after the cyclone the desk was in pretty bad shape. I had already repaired an antique top cupboard that was ant eaten for them. It has been a challenge to rebuild the desk not having the type of wood they used originally. We are hoping it will look, on the outside, basically the same but the the drawers will all be new and with new drawer slides for better access. The ant damage was wide spread but I have been able to save some parts (3 of 4 drawer fronts, the drop down front) as well the cubby holes and small drawers. I was also able to salvage a number of square hand-made nails used in the original building of the desk. Pretty cool! I am trying to match the stain colors but it is hard when the original was all inlaid and overlaid veneer and I am using solid mahogany. But it is almost finished!
WATER PUMP FOR THE PRIMARY
SCHOOL
I was asked and I attended my first village-wide meeting this past month. It
was a full day affair. Usual there is more talking than anything being done
(which I why I have not wasted my time before.) However this time I was there
to say we wanted to help the Primary school doing this drought period. The school
was supposed to start the 8th of February but the day it was to start they figured
out they had no water so could not have school. They have known since last year
there was no water but did nothing about it. The village water system is not
working and we have had no rain (up to this point) to catch roof water so where
did they think the water was going to come from????? (No forward thinking on
the part of the local or government school boards. Many rural schools could
not start throughout the country due to lack of water.)
filling water tanks
Kathy and I through the congregation decided to donate a well and pump to the primary school so there would be no future problems with water and thus no school. There was also need for the teachers to have water as most of them live on the school grounds and they were having to go down to the river to bath and get water all the time because of dry water tanks.
We contacted the man who have drilled our new water bore and he gave us a very, special deal for the school. So the day after the meeting he came with his crew and drilled the new bore. After the water cleared we filled up all the water tanks around the property. The wives of some of the teachers were so thrilled they took buckets of the new water and poured it all over themselves, taking a shower with their clothes on. The next day Goman and I build a cement foundation around the base and after the weekend I build a pump house to protect the pump and bore hole.
The following week after we drilled the well we have rain showers (from cyclone
Winston) for several days which filled up water tanks across the village as
well as topped up the school tanks. At least they now have a water supply when
the rains don't come, again.
This help was also possible from all of you who contribute to the work and needs we have here, thank you!!!!!
That Sunday we had visitors from the village come to services for the first time!
MEDICAL
We went back to the doctor about Kathy's ankle and saw a specialist visiting
from New Caledonia. He did an ultrasound and immediately found that she HAD
broken her ankle bone. He then did an x-ray and verified it. He then pulled
up the first x-ray that was done and said the Female French doctor should have
picked up the break the first time. So he referred up back to the original doctor
and we made an appointment with Dr King who was the doctor who saved my leg
from infection a couple of years ago. Dr King was also surprised the other doctor
missed the break but since it was over 12 weeks and the break was starting to
heal, the only thing we could do is use the ankle brace when needed and let
it finish healing and the swelling SHOULD go down.
It is getting better, some days, and hopefully the swelling will go down and the discomfort will ease.
THE DODGE RAM 2500 TRUCK
Goman had to tow the truck back from his house after it would not start one
day. I worked on it a full day (Some days I am just slower than others.) I traced
the fault to the fuel pump not pumping, again. To get to the fuel pump one has
to remove the back bed which I did. I then proceeded to change out the fuel
pump with a spare I had brought over with the Dodge Dakota. Not a direct change-over
so I did some modifications. When I put it back in the tank the fuel gauge was
not working so I had to do more modifications. Back into the tank and reinstalled.
The fuel pump quit working again but the gauge was working. I finally found
that one of the plug-in leads was not making contact so I had to make modifications
to the plug-in and then it worked. I tested the pump I had changed out and it
worked so the problem was a bad plug-in all alone, Oh well, I still have a spare
fuel pump and a whole new resource of knowledge the next time, if I don't forget
before the next time!!! I put the pump in, put the bed back on and the carry
rack, bolted it down and Goman is using it again while he gets his KIA's starter
motor changed out. (I am getting too old to climb under trucks!)
WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE
It is hard to believe that 45 years ago Kathy and I were in Okinawa with the
USAF and Kathy had just given birth to a healthy, bald headed, baby girl who
we named Terasa. She, of course, is now married, has a full head of hair (unlike
her father who is now bald headed) and has 6 children of her own. Happy birthday
darling!
41st ANNIVERSARY IN MISSIONARY
WORK
This month marked the end of 41 years that we have been involved in Oceania
missionary work. As I looked through the newsletters in our first years it makes
me tired thinking of what running around we did then. In 1975 our family was
involved in patrols into new areas in PNG where the church now exists. Try to
visualize Terasa as only 4 years old and Jason not quite 2 years old.
The sacrificial lambs being welcomed by Joe and Rosa
Belle Cannon in Lae, PNG - February 1975
Many things have happened that we thank the Lord for and thank Him for allowing us to be involved in His work.
I think back how that in 1976 Andy Scott and I bought a mimeograph machine with which I printed a sermon outline book of Joe Cannon's while living in Kundiawa. I think back on the patrol into the Rokamunda area in 1978 with Joe Cannon and wonder where I came up with the energy to clop through those rain forests and swamp with leeches at 12,000 feet (of course I WAS younger then but not necessarily wiser!!!!).
Rokamunda patrol
We have never looked back. Of course we are saddened as to the number of brethren whom we taught who are no longer faithful to the Lord. But we rejoice with the number who are still faithfully serving the Lord. Gee, 41 years is so long yet so short. Only the Lord knows how many more years!
Onward and upward!
We especially want to thank all of you so much for praying for us, supporting
us and have contributed to our needs so we can do what we are doing. God bless
you! Thank you for your prayers and fellowship!
Thank you Lord for healing and providing what we need!
Grace & Peace
Tobey & Kathy Huff
Ph: (678) 596-4821 (Vanuatu) We do texting.
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Contributions for the Huffs, the
Bible school, the Scholorship fund and/or cyclone/drought relief can be sent
to:
Huffs/Bible School
c/ Mt Hope church of Christ
2830 Mt Hope Rd
Webb City MO 64870
or
Jason Huff
2730 E 24th St
Joplin MO 64804
(417) 396-9122
j13huff@yahoo.com