VOLUME 7; NO. 4                                                                                                      APRIL 1984

Dear Brethren;

Greetings from here

DO I REALLY FEEL THAT OLD!
Due to lack of space last month I was unable to share with you one of the things which happened to us during our sojourn on Bali, New Britain. This part of the world has always been easily persuaded to the 'cargo cult' movement. This was the first time where we were directly involved in them.

'Cargo cults' are chiefly religious movements, but not solely. They exhibit belief in the imminence of a new age of blessing, symbolized by the expected arrival of a special "cargo" of goods from supernatural sources. Tribal divinities, culture heroes, or ancestors may return with the cargo, or the goods may be expected to come through white foreigners, who are sometimes accused of having intercepted material goods intended for the natives. If the cargo is expected by ship of plane, impressive wharves or landing strips and warehouses are sometimes built in preparation, and traditional material resources are abandoned- gardening ceases, and pigs and foodstocks are destroyed. Former customs may be revived or current practices drastically changed, and new social organizations initiated. All this preparation announces the radically new age, thought to be inaugurated probably by cataclysmic events that will destroy the old order and bring a paradisal plenty, together with freedom and justice that may involve the reversal of the positions of white foreigners and natives. The political implications and economic loses connected with these mass movements led colonial authorities to repress them. They may, however, be understood as the expression of traditional millennial ideas, often revised by the eschatological teaching of Christian missions and encouraged by the material wealth of the whites, which native ignorance interpreted as simply coming from supernatural sources overseas.

We look at some of these beliefs and laugh but to the village where we stayed they believe. No matter how much we discussed that we were not their ancestors returned from the grave some still believed we were. Here they are on an island with very little money and fewer worldly goods and here comes a troop of whiteskins with the world. I mean who else has as a house (tent) that you can take everywhere. And did you see all the bags of food they brought? -%nd I'll bet they have a thousand different changes of clothes? (We really only had 5 changes, but that was several more then some of them had.) Becky's dad was finally convinced that we were who we were. But the talk around the rest of the island was that we were his ancestors come back to bless him with material wealth. That's what made it difficult when we wanted to show our appreciation of their hospitality. If we gave them things then everyone was right, if we didn't then we were ungracious. Jab didn't help matters any by bringing his father-in-law a new coleman light, new shoes, etc. Many times this concept of cargo cult does not become evident in the lives of some people until after you know them for a while.

Example: There are some who have been baptized and attend for a while but when they request new clothes/Bibles/etc. which are not given they quit coming. We have even been called on the carpet here by some of our local evangelists who ask, "When are we going to start receiving the money that is being sent to us from the USA?" (They think the funds we receive for the work here is to be distributed directly to them.)

This is a very hard concept to unteach here, but is it really any different from the millennial teaching as taught by so-called Christian missions in the states who proclaim "a time is coming when we will get it all, materially."

NEW JAIL MINISTRY PROGRAM ALMOST STARTED
As the month of February ended we saw Jab in jail in Mt Hagen. He had driven the truck up there to pick up a printing press that a firm was giving to us free. Just outside Mt Hagen the police had set up a road block to check car registration and the like. They booked Jab on four violations. His license had expired, bald tire on the truck, no class 3 license, the name of the church was no written on the side of the outside door. The first I heard about this was where I received a call from Paul McAnnally. I briefed him on the legal aspects of two of the violations and he went down to talk to the police. Paul was able to get two violations dropped and Jab was remanded to his custody until his hearing the following day. (So much for his quick trip up and quick trip back.) Jab was eventually fined for no license and the bald tire. (Both his fault.) We finally welcomed him back the next day and unloaded the presses into the workshop. I told him over the phone that he could always start a new jail ministry there in Mt Hagen. NO FUNNY, NO FUNNY!

I THOUGHT THAT IT WAS THE BIG ONE
Having gone to Lae to haul back 2 tons of paper and then to Mt Hagen to haul back two floor model printing presses I really thought the big one was happening. Treatment had been given for what I was now hearing- lack of power, shortness of breath, etc. So exploratory surgery was performed. The treatment had done its job. The problem: foreign particles in a restricted place. Oh, what am I talking about? the bus of course!

When I returned from leave last year I brought back a case of Slick-50 teflon treatment for the vehicles. Past problems have been with the burning up of the bearings in the buses and I figured this would fix that problem. But when Jab pulled in with a load of people for Thursday night class I thought I heard the piston rods doing a hula dance inside the block. (Who said they could only do the samba?)

All I could see was $$$$$ for replacement of the engine. Fearing the worse I did an autopsy on the engine. The Slick-50 had done its' job- no congestive bearing failure, the teflon was fine. Doing a head scan the problem was located a metal washer had somehow been sucked into the #1 cylinder and since there was no room for it there the piston was in the process of forcibly trying to eject the washer through the cylinder head. No go ! The washer was obliterated but not before doing grievous harm to the piston itself. A piston transplant was performed and the patient has recovered to serve another day.

During the course of the repairs of the engine Jab's brother, Goman and myself experienced one of those 'once in a lifetime experiences'. (One is more than enough.) After putting the engine back together and prior to re-start the engine was washed off with solvent. Just a Goman turned the key to engage the starter my eyes saw the spark plugs still out, my brain said STOP, STOP, STOP but by mouth was too slow. Goman turned the key: a spark traveled through the ignition system, from the plug wire to the engine block WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH! We had flames everywhere. Both of us had gotten turned around and movin'' and groovin'' out before the flames could do us grievous body harm. I ran to the printroom around the corner and grabbed the extinguisher, ran back and put out the raging inferno. The fire was contained in the grease pit under the truck and on the engine itself.

Goman was wearing shorts and lost all the hair off his legs and a couple of small burns. I thought I escaped untouched but found out later that the singed hair I had smelled was not just Goman's. Terasa asked me after supper, "What happened to the back of your hair?" What little I have had been singed. Shades of Michael Jackson!

THAT AND THIS
During the last two months I printed over 40,900 sheets which include reprints of two teacher's manuals and two books.
During March, Paul McAnally from Mt Hagen held a Gospel Meeting for us here in Goroka. We averaged 127 over the five meetings. We had two baptisms and two restorations. Paul's family and two new workers Laura Ogle and Katherine Broom also spent the week with us.

Monthly averages for the congregation in March were: SUNDAY: 92 w/ 44 Christians THURSDAY:91;CONTRIBUTION: $90.

Until next month please remember us in your prayers

the Huffs