May - June 1994

Dear Brethren & Friends;

Greetings in the name of the Lord!

It was just the other day that I wrote you the last newsletter (or so it seems). But in reality it was 61/2 weeks and over 9,000 miles ago. We have been extremely busy visiting with the brethren in the Solomon Islands and visiting and teaching the brethren in Papua
New Guinea.

SOLOMON ISLANDS
I left New Zealand May 19th and spent 2 days in Honiara. I visited with a local man named Simon P T Lida. He coordinates the Honiara church and the scattered Christians in the Solomon Islands. Randy English from American Samoa visits from time to time and Simon and I talked of ways to help the church become better established. I also met with Bro Barthemeu Nysa and Bro Taiwall. The majority of Christians are located on the Reef Islands, just off the Santa Cruz Is. I was scheduled to go out there on my way back through on June 28th. The Reef Islands are a 3 hour flight from Honiara and a 4 hour motorized canoe ride from Santa Cruz

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
I left Honiara and arrived in Port Moresby on May 21st. To tell you the truth it was like coming home. The only difference was the lack of reception. There are no full time missionaries in Port Moresby now and due to a lack of communication my 5 hour layover at the airport was spent sitting under a shade tree out in front watching the local attractions until my flight to Lae left. I really enjoyed the higher temperatures as New Zealand is just going into winter.

I was met in Lae by the Mesa's and it was sure good to see their smiling faces. On Monday May 23rd I began teaching in the Melanesian Bible College. I was teaching two courses of 1 1/2 hours each in the mornings. My first course was Old Testament Survey (01 Tesamen Surve) and the second course was Scheme of Redemption (Plan bilong God). Because both courses taught similar ideas the first week, I changed the courses to Mon-Weds-Fri and Tue-Thurs. This helped the students keep from being too confused. I started with 19 students but finished with 18, one had to go home because of a death in the family.

I was very encouraged by the desire of the students to learn. With a selection process now and not just anyone and everyone the quality is very evident One of the students Jona is the son of Pita & Gine of Goroka. We worked with them in Goroka and were there when Jona was born. It was exciting to see Jona in class and learning the Bible. He has the potential to come to the South Pacific Bible School here in New Zealand in the next few years. It was good to get back into teaching mode and especially in Pidgin English.

My second morning reality of PNG set in. I usually have cereal for breakfast and so I went to the store and bought Cocoa Pops, Frosted Flakes and Honey Smacks. I mixed them up and put them into snap lock bags. That morning as I poured the cereal into a bowl I noticed ants crawling out and along the the rim of the bowl. So I allowed a bit of time and all the ants (I hope!) to hop out before I poured the milk on and ate breakfast. (I obviously had not gotten the bag sealed.) I relearned that the ants and bugs in PNG do not overlook human forgetfulness.
One of the teachers at MBS is a man named Miamel. He was a 12 year old boy from Bima Piau when he was baptized in Goroka in 1978. He and I had a lot of memories to catch up on. He asked if I would go to Bima Piau with him the first weekend I was there. (Kathy was due to come in to Lae on June 2nd.) I gave a test to my class on Friday morning and he and I caught a bus up to Dumun. We arrived at 6:00. We spent the night with Lendo, a friend of Miamel and the local evangelist The next morning Lendo tried to take us into Las Wara (formerly Bima Piau) but a tree across the road prevented him from driving all the way in. We asked the two men sitting on the tree if they would cut it up and move it and they said, "sure for $6.00." We offered to do it for free, but it was their tree and they refused. "Besides on Monday the government vehicles would pay $500 for passage." Miamel and I walked the rest (4 miles) of the road in and spent the night in the village. I asked Lendo to go back to Kundiawa and get the police out but he said it would cost $30 to get them to come. (Some things never change.)
Sitting in the village and looking out over the valleys and mountains brought back many memories. This was one of the first congregations we helped start in May 1975.

They have had their ups and downs but are now meeting again with the help of Miamel and Lendo. I visited Mai's grave. (one of the first converts) When we bedded down that night in Are's house (another of the first converts) offered me his pillow. I kindly declined, as it had about 3 generations of grease on it. We slept on a wooden platform (no mattress). After having small cockroaches crawling on my hands, face and into my clothes I finally sprayed and sprayed a circle around me on the platform. I had to shift position quite often with everything going dead because of the hardness of the platform. Talk about a long night. I'll bet there were more than 24 hours that night! It was good to worship with the brethren that night and the next morning before Miamel and I walked back to the main highway and caught a bus to Goroka and to Lae. (The tree had been moved.)) They have had several recent baptisms and are growing spiritually. Sunday night I considered the 3 inch form mattress in my room in Lae as PURE LUXURY. Monday morning, back to class. In the afternoons and evenings I worked with Jab and taught him how to use the Apple computer I had brought over for his use.

Andy Scott was in PNG for a month visiting around with the brethren the same time we were there. It was good to see him and catch up on his family.

I picked up Kathy at the airport on June 2nd and we spent the rest of our time in Lae (until 22 June) teaching and visiting the brethren. On June 22nd we traveled to Popondetta where we stayed with Tim & Rose Titipu. We knew them from Goroka days. (It was his car which took out my front two teeth.) We had not seen them for over 11 years. They own several general goods stores and a bakery there. It was so good to see them. They will be in the States in August for a wedding the same weekend Jason is getting married.

From Popondetta we traveled back to Port Moresby. The next day (24th) we stayed with Jab's brother Labe and went to the airport to see Kevin and Tammie Dye who arrived for a two week visit with the brethren. They were as surprised to see us and we were to see them. They will be coming thru New Zealand in July on their way to visit the Cook Islands. I will go up that night and talk to them about our and their future plans.

On Sunday, June 25th we worshiped with the brethren at Morata in Port Moresby. Again we are encouraged by the growth and maturity of the brethren. Even without missionary personnel they are growing.

From church services Tim & Rose Titipu (who had travelled to Port Moresby on business) dropped Kathy and myself off at the airport for our flights. I flew out on Solomon Airlines to Honiara, Solomon Islands while she flew out on Quantas to Brisbane and then to Auckland the next day.

I had scheduled a trip to the Reef Islands in the Solomons to visit with the brethren there. BUTTTTTTTTTT.... while I was in PNG, Solomon Airlines had one of their airplanes repoed by the bank and they had rescheduled their flights both domestic and International. This rescheduling meant that I could not get out to the Reef Islands (1 flight a week) and back in time to make my New Zealand connection without a week lay over in Honiara. I neither had the time or money for such a layover and thus after two nights flew back to Auckland a week earlier than I had originally planned. Before I flew back though I dropped off a packet of Pidgin Song Books. World Bible School Courses and tracts to Simon and the Christians in Honiara. When I found out that I could not get out to the Reef Islands I was disappointed but couldn't help but think of the time Paul was forbidden to entire a region by the Spirit. Why was the Lord closing this door at this time?

Kathy came to the airport with Malcolm and Ngaire Maclean to pick me up on Tuesday June 28th. I left 85-900 temperatures and returned to 32-40 degree temperatures.

STATESIDE TRAVELS
Kathy will be leaving July 6th to return to Joplin and I will be arriving July 26th. Jason is still planning on an August 6th wedding. We are scheduled to be there until Sept 2nd. We hope to visit all of our supporters and bring you up to date on our future plans. We are still trying to selling the business. But please understand that we will be keeping some of the printing equipment to enable us to continue printing for the mission work. We have a new direction that may see us returning to live in PNG and be available for specialty training and helping the Bible College set up an English curriculum.

Because of our desire to be more actively involved in outreach work we will be seeking additional support for our needs. Please remember us and the needs in your prayers.

Your servants because of the cross of Jesus

the Huffs