Post on 02-Jun-2018
8/10/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1956 SAfrica
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Soi i th f r i ca
^ P o r t
ShopiyfeoneLS
October 1956
iOien we
a rri v e d in
Africa
in 0ec6mber o f
1953 on e
o f our g r e a te st
desires was to learn one of the native languages. But i t was
no t
u n t i l
Augat of 1955 that we found a
retired Swedish
Zulu Blissionary who
would
tea ch u s. e had been studying on
ou r own
and getting
help
in corrections
from Snooh Zobolo e have found
that i t
has taken us a long
time to get
a hold on the language while trying to leam and carry on the work at
the
same
time.
However
since
January of
this
year
we have been
teaching
ou r lessons a t the Hative Sunday School in Zulu. I do no t need an i n t e r
preter now when carrying on an ordinary conversation e are looking
forward to the day when we ca n teach and preach without full written
lessons. Even the fact that we have been w il li ng t o learn
t h e i r language
and ca n
now
ta lk
with
than
when we meet them has been a g r e a t
help in
th e w o r l o
Each year we spend much time
in
traveling and
visiting
the churches
Since each man
usually
has
several
stations they a ll cone tegether in one
place
when
I have
made
arrangonents with the Minister
to
come
to
hi s
area.
If
X spend two days
w it h t ha n
I
generally
preach
either
three
or four times and the interpreter a t
least
two This past year there have
been few problems to
settle
so t l a t most of the d scussions^when we have
no t been in
the
services have been either i n the scriptures or
in
things
tha t w ill aid them in doing their work
In
the past
year
I have visited
30 of
th e ministers
and
their
congregations Some of them I have been
wi th
seve ra l t ime s
This year
in
the building program we have built th e church at
Klersdorp At tWs present time
we
are busy on the minister s
hone
at
Klerksdorp This
will
be the first such home
that
we have
built.
Because
there
is such a
shortage
of homes for
the
Native
people
the
location Superintendent
made
us proaise
that
we
would
build a
hmae
there
in th e new location as soon as the church was bAilt before he would
give
the minister pennission to live there.
e
have on hand now .ne drawing
for the
church at Middleburg Cape
Cod willing
we should
like
to oegin
shortly after the beginning of the new jfear
e
are waiting now for the
xown Council there to approve the blue prints. Also
we
have redrawn
the
plans for the partly finished building at East London.
This
work shall
also
be ccmpleted early in the next year we have other applications
which have been made saae of these we should be r ec ei vi ng o ef a- e
too
long
They
are only
now
being held up awaiting the approval of the
Native Department. For all these we are
going
to need help especially
since there
has been a very bad famine
in
many of
t he native
areas and
they
shall
not be able
to
carry as
much
of the load as they did
last
year
There has been a change in th e
laws
on the Reserves i n regard to
c h u r c h s i t e s The o ld law
s t a t ed
tha t a l l
churches m us t
be f ive
m i l e s
from every other church. The new la w
s ta te s th at
the
church
seeking
a s i t e must have 100 members over
th e
age o f 15 year s who a re r e sid en t
w i t h i n
a
ten
m i l e r a d i u s . This h as
opened to
us many
a r e a s
tha t have
been closed to ou r having
church
b u i l d i n g s .
T h e
o r a n c e
was i
8/10/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1956 SAfrica
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1956 Gonferencd was he ld from th e l8 t o f March
t o
th e th
of April a t
the
War Ifsmorial Hall
in
Lamontville Location
in
Ourbano
This
Conference was
very
well
attended
cmd was a
great
inspir tion
to
the
brethren One of
the high
l ights of the meeting was a
specia l
program which the
African
Brethren had prepared
for
the
leaving
of
the Randalls for
the i r
furlough
a t home. Max Was
presented
with a
book
of
l e t te rs which
had
been
wri t ten
by the
Afr ican Minis ters
Also
they had
invited
two of the local Choirs
to
sing for
the
occasion
The
1957
Conference sha l l be meeting a t
CraAff
Reinet frms the
16th to
the
30th of January. The theme
for
th is meeting i s ^Christ
the Answer . Messages shall be
brought
by
four of the Missionaries
and
by six of the
African Ministers
From the 1st of January unti l
the
middle of October, 869 baptisms
have been reported by the
native
men. The church at Mo 2 Location in
Himberley
is
the only church which has a
baptistty.
Most of the rest
follow
the
plan
of the whole group going, singing,
to
the river. There
af ter
one or
several speak, exhorting those
who
a re p re sent ,
one
of the
elders
does
the
baptising. After
this
service
is
finished
some
one
will
again speak to
them
especially urging any
who
not have accepted
Chr i s t t o do so
0^ tp.s ye^,.w^l8fart^
nearest our The aii^Adance