Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1959 SAfrica

8/10/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1959 SAfrica

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1 January 1959 ;: ,JAN 91913

Dear Friends in Christ :

s =s :s .Te.n: *mnn-t-Vi Niok QwenesVia,

This has t ru ly been the Minister s Traininghas heen helping Brother nie to make bricks forSchoolat ^tL Pl^r^hfrl the sdhoolshall be.the first buildings on the Pl^ ^ ^3^30 spont a little time^ngTttlSn C^dTlL^^P^râdrfor^tstest.

Just before Christmaswe ^B^fj,g^that^tlmothe ;;and It has rrfodôn. Weare right on the llO,faithful l i/ly:? ^.fhavfsom; to go yet.000 mile mark and s t i l l hav^ souu u e. j

Wo made 10,000 brick for use weU. .now we are making t and then d\^gjthe di r t

Wehadmade

the aslng or started It an^Wout from the inside^nd ^Xthe Inslo and leave . along fine until I told ^hoy oculd work all morningthe dirt under the i t qct over new years. I -nd build up the casing and âvo S 3 j^t ^wont off to do dig out tho sides toafter they had o-ton dugout a'oout 3 foot down - ^lot tho casing down. Only tooy ^ straighten _ .and t t i l t e d on one side g gf gun bricks andi t i t broke to pieces. So wo f :p casing. But tho .

roto;?f:fo ,...i t

for a bit to bog what hc.ppons.Th o people a t

to work. 1 went *I went back on Saturdayblocks and put down, the c.on'o'blocks on two sidos. Whenand build the corners ^ thev had gotten another builderI went b0.ok again on Tuesday they gixto help and one of the ^1 walls around the building,hours we had put up ato blocks which are lef t thiswehope to use P f wth makemore blocks for thobSi?^l.jf bti toL^^brto-g the-^llsUPto sevenfact.

w hada mostsnjo^ble ^g ând^whata\loetho morning was the Pnl^ ^.g take thelot we had received. ^gj. o had not given them theirthings to the native 9^11 -gggaugeof tho rain. Wehadthings on Suuday fer Ctol.tm.s â real crowd on ^nrlotn s cj aisappolnted In gif t s ffor gifts and sweets U had plenty. The s.for thanks to many fpgfoh but thoy were all very hsweets however did not qit t the chicken on tooookhappy. After wearrived homeWj^Put 3^.^ finishedand then had Just a sa-idwi$oh same. Jotofld^looked

11 1


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QS'irGmoshapreached two Sundays ou t at ^nvutshinlm 1 f i r s t Sund.-y one of the local pollonanade the good confession and was baptised. They have Tverv

^ ruml^ a r ^n valley. Ihe streaa runs between two quiteo t h e r s ide I s a rook pool aboutfour feet across and 12 feet long. It has a nice gravel bottom

and looks alnost like i t had been prepared Just for that use.

to fret before Christmas we wont out to Zobolo s2^ f ant from one of the sheep which we hr.dthere 7rt ^ e ^ hOuse. WhilehereMrs. Zobolo dressed the l i t t l e twins and brought themtL i tf^ k '- hold the little gm ^d^kndm ^hnn h d e S ^he difference in then for theThe 3 f lhs more like a boyjhe i i y i e girl was so datotv and ^sweet, Her skin was lighterthan the boys. They said S^ srijy3.-d;'l)u^ thegirl, but Ilrs. Zobolo didn t thlhif to part with heronly one. The other 2 children are boys too. Vemlta Nicholson).'

=,ee If ^ ' Mqanduli and Tgono toee if we can about finish up the work in those two places.

problla^'tLrer Elizabeth to see about athen g tting, excited and we t e l len we arc too busy to ge t exolted yet .

t h i s nonth th e Native g i r l who has been5 I T I She took sick inctober and Just seened to keep going down hill . Thev said

^ g ^ s s that i s the b e s t way to ^

Some one broke In the school building in Kinberlev.i-hf? floor and wrote on the walls. Tooktheir feet and broke the typewriter-that was there and tore

2 books- Since this is not the f i r s t t ine

movL to this sider J W :P^âyerflâs,,iy.e,,npve on i n t h elast fuw months of wDrk here before Di^h

Forward ing AgentN rs . E d . Widl imd .133 W. Wil l iams S tAlber t Lea, Ninn,U n i t e d S t a t e s o f

Yours t h r u C h r i s t theSav io rThe N ichoi sons,Marburg Ridgeôr t Shop stone. NatalS o u t h A f r i c a


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IffEWa-WITH THE NICHOLSONS N SOUTH AFHIGA

Soofi news fo r us i s that we know for cer ta in t ha t we areconii^ home for we have received the check from Mrs. Widlund to payour fares . While not- enough had yet come in to cover the fu l l amountshe .1^ arranged for the money to be sent to us until the other come^ n after the money arrived there came a le t te r from th^M^ppixig Oompany saying our fares must be paid within the month. Wehave not done so yet but shall be doing so shortly.

We are s t i l l moving along In overdrive trying to get a l l thet h i ^ s done that we want to do before- we have to leave. t seems likemost of our working days have to be l6 to 18 hours long.

of January Brother Enock ôbolo and I went down in tothe iranskei. Uur f i r s t stop was at Mqanduli and though they had been

ra in i t l e t up for the three days tha t we vjere there andwe built, the walls up to the top of the windows. Iôw they can run theconcrete l i n t e l sand; then f in ish up the res t of the work. I have notgeard how they are coming. n Saturday, the lOth, we went on to Port

lizabeth where we had an indaba on Saturday and Sunday, t washoped that Max Handall would be there bu t he was unable to comehowever, while here I found that the Pernbertons of Southern Rhodesiawerecoraing to vis i t in our home for a short time. On Monday thenI wmt back to Tsomo showed the folks how to put the windows to putin the windows for the i r-bui ld ing made arrangements for the timberfor the roof and went to Butterworth to meet with the Pembertons, Thenext day, af ter carrying, for more business I returned home with them,fv M stay in the franskei for another week but believethe Native folk are gett ing along well with the work l e f t for them,we grea t ly enjoyed the stay of the Pembertons

Back home we have- been pushing on with the work out at the place_^her-e the school will be. t seems sometimes that we do not get much

done^fast, but we can really see that we are getting along in the pastlew aays since we are now up to the windows. Phe work should speedup now unt i l we have gone by them. Not only have I been helping tolay the brick I can almost averPge one a minute, but I have to stopand drive the truck back and forth to where we had made them. -Îsonave to take time to get water and tlie work of gett ing things andtaking them out to where we are working. I have a native builder, whois a groat help. He knows well how to build as long as someone isnear to watch and t e l l him when things must be done. But he seems toforget what I have told hira, i f he has to go very long before he doesthe task . We hope by the end of nest week that we sha l l have the roofo n

The building a t Invutshinl i s moving along. The folks have been^king blocks la tely Iney s t i l l need something over 500, Pheir problem is that so many work that they cannot work on their blocks day byday. f they could work for three days straight they would ha.ve themdone. We rejoice that Brother Ben Songo minister of th is congregationwas allowed to return home from the hospi ta l the f i r s t of thi.s-mctnth.--He is s t i l l taking some medicine and says his legs bother him some.

27th Brother Zobolo and I went to Zululand for three dayswe had a very h t t r ip but a very good one We were only that


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Already vie are in the process of packing things we want totake, the things to be left and selling some of them. hope vies h a l l n ot have too much of a l a s t minute ru sh .

We have one two-week t r ip to take In February vis i t ing thechurches. The church In Klmberley has asked us for a one-weekmeeting before Conference the f i r s t of April

The other day, Steven was down to the ocean, swimming with someof his friends. They had been surfing in on the waves and decided togo back to the swimming pool. One boy wanted them to come and swimwith him up the channel but the otherssaid no^ , He turned back upthe channel, the other boys going in closer to the beach. One boy won the beach, when he noticed that the f i r s t boy ssamed to be int rouble. The he saw the f in of a shark. He shouted to the bpys.They came out right away. They saw then, that the f i r s t boy washaving trouble and saw blood in the water. The boys helped him outan d found the shark had taken h is leg off below the knee. He is inSandra s class a t school . He i s ge t t ing along f ine so f a r

We have our summer schedule which is wellfilled with camps.The time is a l l f i l led with the exception of two weeks, from thef i r s t of June to the middle of August. In fac t I am not cer ta in i fI sbai l be able to spend the two weeks tha t have been p lanned to bewith my parents in Edmonds Washington, for their for t ie th weddinganniversary. This reminds me of what a Swedish man said the otherday. o said the Swedish Church gives their missionaries l8 monthsholiday a f t e r seven years but in that 18 months they expect them to

do 2 years work.Butwerejoice, for the service that we have in the LorAnd we well understand t ha t tuere oometh a grea t day of r e s t for a l lwho a r e v ic to r i o u s i r i t h C h r i s t

Ve are looking forward~^?0 seeing-many-of- yjsu face to face whenwe a r r i v e b a c k i n A m e r i c a

Yours f o r C h r i s t i n A f r i c aForwarding Agent i The Alvin Nicholson FamilyMrs. Ed Widlund Box 219133 W Williams Bort Shepstone, NatalAlbert Lea, Mim. South Africa


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NEWS WITN TOE NICHOLSONSIN SOUTH AFRICA

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2 March 1 9 5 9

Cree t i r igg t o a l l . T his should be th e l a s t News L e t t e rwhich we s h a l l be wr i t i ng to yo u from here a t P o r t Sheostone, are hcpir^ to get one done fo r April , but i f so i t shal lhave to be done a t Kimber ley.

The f i r s t half of the month was mostly spent in pushingth e work a t Umzurnbe where th e school fo r ^ a t i v e Minis te r s s h a l l be,The building Is almost completely done now except for the door-.nd wmndows which n ee d g la ss The man i s Plas t e r ing th e placea b t h e p r e s e n t t i m e .

On the l 5 t h of February a n the family went to Durban forûr f i r.a i serv ice with the church t he re . On the l 6 t h I withLôck Lobolo, l e f t for Umtatawher^J we had sorvldes that night,hno n e x t day we sav/ t h e vjork t h a t had boon done on t h e c h u r c h a t .iqanduli an d went on to Idutywa. Wednesday we stopped fo r a shortr ime at Tgomo and then on to Stutterheim where we met with Mr and

Mrs. Max -ândail and John Kernan,

This was real ly the beginning of our preaching tour. Gladys,John and I spoke while I'tex had four weddings. He had one moreth e n e x t morning . S t S t u t t e r h e i m we s t ayed a t the home o f a manwho h as a sa w m i l l . On th e 19th we came back fo r s e r v i c e s a t Tsomo.I t was the f i r s t time fo r the others to see the dhurch bui ldingt h a t i s going up t h e r e . I vjas hoping t h a t they would have th e wai l s -

done. But because of much ra in i n January they were behind. ButI think tha t the vjork i s now completed. We also spoke fo r thorn onth e morning of th e 20th before we wont on to Idutywa.

At Idutywa t h e r e had been seven bap t i zed befo re we a r r i v e d .We had bo th a f t e r n o o n and evening s e r v i c e s and t h a t l e f t u s f r e efor an early s t a r t on to Mqandvili, At Mqanduli we had two weddingsfol lowed by the four messages in the af te rnoon . The wai ls to thec h u r c h b u i l d i n g h e r e a r e a lm o st c om p le te d. The ma n who was t o d el i e v e r t h e i r cement l::^d no t brought i t to them, so they wi l l be avni le in getting: the r e s t of the v^rali done and the roof on, buttney are -going to have an e x c e l l e n t bu i ld ing .

Sunday morning we le f t early for Lusikisiki, which was thel o i i g e s t d r i v e t h a t we had t o make be tween c h u r c h e s . Our f i r s ts t o p h e r e was a t Q a u k e n i . We a r r i v e d a b o u t t h e m id d le o f t h eaf te rnoon and thu bre th r en were not sure t h a t we were going t omake i t . held services here on Monday morning as well. They .have a new church s i t e and are get t ing things in hand for i t s .fencing,-From Qaukeni we went to Mount Bleak which i s also in the same area .These folks have Just completed a building for the church serv ices,-but i t i s a t th e Kraa l o f the min i s t e r. Max has a por tab le taperecorder and^^some good recordings were made by three of Mcosini sdaughters.. Tq see them you would never guess that thoy are ag oldag they a re , but even fo r bein^- small there i s nothing small aboutt h e i r v o i c e s . They had t ho ug ht p er hp as B ro th er R a nd al l WQiild comew i t h h i s a i r p l a n e so had p u t up a c l o t h f o r him t o t e l l t ie d i r e c t i o n


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back w ith th e Randa l l s when they went . t was a help f o r Zobolowas s i c k f o r a few days and t h e peop le en joyed having ano the r o ft h e A f r i c a n M i n i s t e r s t o v i s i t them a n d p r e a c h a t n i g h t

A t P u f f a d d e r we had t h e l a r g e s t o f t h e c o n g r e g a t i o n s t og a t h e r dur ing the week. So l a rg e was t h e group t h a t l i k eNgi jenyeni before them, vie had to preach o u t of door s . Mrs.Soianl haa. prepared a number fo r th e Choir to sing fo r theM i s s i o n a r i e s

Thur,sdpy found us in the ^ i g t r l c t of Bizana v/i th AshwellBukuia, ^ he church a t Qungobe was completely f i l l e d Ourl odg ing for tw o days in t h i s a r ea wag provided by one of thel o c a l t r a d i n g s t o r e s I t was so c loso to where we were vrorkingand such f i n e h o s p i t a l i t y Fr iday a t Kwotshubi s we f i i r s t hadtwo weddings, then two sermons followed by the other two t t e tn igh t . Kwetshubi has himself made a bui lding for th e use oft h e chu rc h a t h i s home. Wq have a ohiur ch s i t e I n h i s d i s t r i c twhich the c hu rch has r e c e n t l y f enced and a f t e r h a r v e s t t ime s h a l lb e g i n t o make th e b l o c k s f o r i t

Saturday wo came back to Por t ^hep stone and went to see howwork vjas progress ing a t Unizumbi. men had gone from work b e f o r ewe a rr iv ed th ere , Sunday we were a t I n v u t s h i n i with Be n Songoand h i s p e o p l e . Many of th e f o l k s from 2 ob olo s p la ce had comed i r e c t l y to the church m ee tin g, w hile a bus load came from Gci l ima .How we wished t h a t t h e b u i l d i n g h ad b e en c o m p l e t e d , f o r we a g a i nh a d t o m e e t o u t i n t h e s u n a nd i t vras t h e h o t t e s t d a y we h a d h a d

i n our t o u r What a f i n e meet ing we d id have , however. Befores e rv i ce s we made some record ings with th e Sunday School Chi ld ren ,They t hough t i t was a r e a l t r e a t The w a l l s of th e church bui ld inga t I n v u t s h i n i a r c comple tec^ b u t t h e y a r e wai t ing f o r me t o he lpthem w i t h t h e r o o f . We are h op ih g~ to do th ls ~on Wddne s d a y

The ^ .nda l l s l e f t fo r home t h i s morning, taking with themt h e l i t t l e b l a c k a n d w h i t e do g w h i c h we h a v e h a d a l m o s t e v e rs i n c e we have b e e n h e r e Now we m u s t b e g i n t h e p a c k i n g i ne a r n e s t f o r we h a v e j u s t o v e r two weeks l e f t b e f o r e we s h a l l beo n o u r way t o K i m b e r l e y f o r t h e Meet ing w i t h t h e c h u r c h and t h eA f r i c a n C o n f e r e n c e

Yours i n G h S t s t i a n l o v e .Oi r A m e r i c a n A d d r e s s w i l l b e The N i c h o l s o n sc /o Guy Howard Box 219Eft. 2 Box 18 Por t Shepstono, South AfricaHuroibi, S. Dak. orc / o M r s , ^ d Widiund133 N. Wil l iams S tA l b e r t L e a , Minn ,


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APp w

IN iivÛTH jUi iaC^ ^

2 8 t J i M a r c h 1 9 5 9

Greetings to a l l . ^^ are w riting th i s l a s t News -t-etter toyou from Mimberley, We are writ ing a few days ahead of timefor the -Annual Conference will be beginning on ^ ednesday the

f i r s t and v/e knew t h a t we have l i t t l e t ime t hen to g et t h i s

l e t t e r done,

I t is_ needless to say tha t th is past month ha s been verymuch on th e busy s i d e , îght a f t e r th e f i r s t o f th e month web e g a n t o g e t t h i n g s s o r t e d o u t f o r p a c k i n g and t r y i n g a s f a s tas we could^^to f in ish up the building operat ions th^ t were s t i l lgo ing on. e have been ve ry har/oy. t h a t th e neoole I n v u t s h i n ih a v e b e e n a b l e t o do s o w e l l on t h e i r b u i l d i n g . I ha d t o s e e t ot h e o r d e r i n g and h a u l i n g o f some m a t e r i a l . Also t h e y a sked t h a tI come to help them make th e roof t r u s t s . v.ent out th e Saturdayf o l l o w s i n g i n t h e a f t e r n o o n t o g i v e them a b i t more h e l p andf o u n d t h a t t h e y h a d mos t - o f t h e r o o f i n g o n o n e s i d e d o n ewe h e l p e d t hem a n d j u s t b e f o r e d a r k t h e a sb e s to s r o o f i n g w as onwith the exception of the ridging and some na i l s , h nextmorning when we came fo r ûnday ^choo l , hen ôngo t h e m i n i s t e rasked i f I would not come beck again a t ,1 p.m. fo r they wantedt o have s e r v i c e s in t h e nev/ b u i l d i n g . Nyen though t h e r e wasno g l a s s i n t h e windows and t h e r i d g i n g was n o t y e t on a n d o n l yp a r t o f t h e p l a s t e r i n g was done and t h e f l o o r n o t y e t pou red ,t h e r e were over 75 people ga the red f o r t h e s e r v i c e . And t omake i t even a g re a t e r d ay fo r th e f i r s t s e rv i ce s i n the b ui ld in gtw o came and made th e good confessiofa. They a re working veryh a r d now t o h a v e t h e work on t h e b u J l d i n g l l done when wer e t u r n s o t h o t v/e m ay h o v e a b i g s e rv ic e t h e r e on t h e 1 2 t h o fA p r i l , which w i l l be our f a rev /e l l s e r v i c e v;i th them, haveb e e n v e r y p r o u d o f t h e work w h i c h t h e y h a v e d o n e .

A l s o e x c e p t f o r a l i t t l e b i t o f work t h e b u i l d i n g w h i c h h a sb e e n bui l t t Umzumbi i s f i n i s h e d a i s o we h a v e h a d w o r d f r o mt h e l awye r t h a t t h e l i t t l e n i e c e o f l and w h i c h we need i n t h eNat ive a r e a s h a l l l i v e l y be ours s h o r t l y .

Gn the lOth and 11th of March, Aôck ôbolo an d made at r i p to -Escoort and Chieverly fo r our l a s t time ou t . hadtv/o good meet ings i n t h i s a r e a , his i s a new area where workh as been begun s i n c e we came t o ôu th *^frica.

One of th e men has r ecen t ly s e n t in h i s r e s i gna t i on fromthe minis t ry. l was sor ry to see him do t h i s fo r I s t i l l f e l tin t ime he could do very good work. Nis b ig ge st t ro ub le hasb e e n j e a l o u s y was n o t w i l l i n g t o go t o t h e o l d e r men a nd a s ka d v i c e and h e l p o f them, and some t imes when he h ad a s k e d f o rh e l p w it h some o f h i s t r o u b l e s a f t e r a s o l u t i o n h ad b e e n workedo u t a n d a g r e e d t o h e would c h a n g e and t r y t o work some P l a no f h i s own. Now a t l e a s t u n t i l ^rother S t a n l e y can have somen e w m e n t r ined t s c h o o l w e s h l l h a v e t o a s k o n e o f t h e o lde rm e n to t a k e u p h i s w o r k f o r a w h i l e a g a i n .

Some of o u r t h i n g s we have s o l d o t h e r s have b een packedand l e f t fo r th e S ta nle ys . But because we did not l i k e to l eavea l l o f th e t h i n g s a t th e fa rm we have s t o r e d them w i t h s e v e r a l


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a t about 6 fo r we olanned to drive on another 8^ miles andcamn fo r the night , ût as we were Returning to the car, , ê rn it a misjudged th e curb and f e i l sora in ing her ankle .Because t swe l l ed so qu ick ly we went a t once t o t h e ou tpatient department of the hospital where they -^rayed i t andthen wrapped i t fo r t was not broken. or tuna t e ly t hasno t given her very much pa in , though she i s g r e a t l y handicappedin get t ing about , stayed t h a t n igh t a t Bietermari tzburgand came on to h-imberley on Sa tu rday,

We have been hatfing a good meeting here i n îmbefleythough the attendance has been very small . However th i s i sa very new work and has very great opportunities,- ûr attandeneeh a s been g r a d u a l i n c r e a s i n g ^ven t h i s t ime we do n o t havet h e t ime t h a t we r e a l l y need t o g i v e . to t h e m e e t i n g

H.obert ^ H l l s and I have been t o Wa^-j-enton to check andsee t h a t th ings were In order fo r Conference t h e r e .Brethren have, been doing very wel l , - -Iso we have orderedmost of the, food, ^ he largest item to be ordered was the bread -of which .we are gett ing s ix dozenloaves a day. hey have ones t e e r o r d e r e d f o r .meat and f o p r s h e e p t h i n k p e r h a p s t h e ys h a l l have to g e t more meat than t h i s

A f t e r t h e a nn u al C o nfe re nc e i s f i n i s h e d we s h a l l r e t u r nt o Bor t Sheps tone to f i n i s h g e t t i n g our t h i n g s i n o r d e r, payingoff the bi l l s , etc, so tha.t we shall be ready to go to Bnrbanon t h e 1 4 t h a n d b e l l r e e d y t o s l on t h e 1 6 t h

We w i l l w r i t e you n e x t t ime from -^êr ica .

ôurs in Christ,

Bhe Axvin Nicholson ^-amilyBox 219

forwarding Agents ôr t ^hepstone, NatalMrs, -Sd Wfciiund South A f r i c a1 3 5 W. Wi l l i a mÎbert i ea, Minnesota


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. fv .-v.:, Iov;a

Dear Christ ian ^ricnAsi

Grcctin,:^s in J:eus nanK. This l e t t e r cores to you from Afoerica thist inEi and how we arc en jo yin g :xctinf^ old f r iends a^âin and socin ,^ ourfa'-îly. Alvin has been in three camne and Vcrnita in one in S Da'e* Promnow on v/c wi l l be t raveling together in t i r rcniainin^r cara-eg of th e sumnEr.

fc are rojoicine; in the fact th at John Tarl: has nccce tcd C hrist ash is Saviour and Was baptized a t R\ron church on Sunday, the 21st of June.He attended CaRip with Vornita and n^de the Good Confession there- I t washis f i r s t time as a camper. H: just turned vleven the day af ter wc landed New Yo r k

Since Icavin^r Port She-stone, we have had word of a ter r ib le floodthat caRK to the ûth Coast. The old bridge at Port Shcpstono v. as Washedout and both approaches to the new one also. The elect r ic plant and sugarmill were badly dama.pcd also. The tov.-n was without lights fo r aÊut a weekand without water fo r two weeks- ^rc have not had any word as to how theChristians fared- Tc have been praying for them and ask that you do also-

Vfc had a very enjoyable trip over. The ocean just could not have boonbetter and wc were no t bothered with very much seasickness. *?eewere throeWeeks on the ' 'inohcster Castle and this v;a,s the ship we enjoyed the most- Jc met other missionaries, wc were freer an the shi^ was no t so big and wohad more dock spacc. ''c were six days in London and as wc were favoredwith six days of sunshine, wc filled the days full of sightseeing- yc saw'icstmlnstrr Abbey, St- Paul* s Cathedral, Houses of Parlimont, changing ofthe guard at EickinghaRi Palace, the Tower of London and London ft-idge- Hoal o'saw the guard pract ising for the Clucon's birthday- He stayed in amissionary hoi: there and enjoyed i t very iR jch. The. trip from Southamptonto New York was taken in the nueen ?4iry- I t too : us five da:vs to make thetrip and was very smooth. I t was cold so that we could not s^cnd Ruch timeoutside. I t was a joy to finally sec the Statue of Lib-rty, though i t warfoggy and w could not sr c i t very clearly- 'k stayed with the Vaughn Elliots

' iff New York and enjoyed i t very much. They arc fine people- - -

I t Was wonderful to see our parents and brothers and sisters again-Five years makes chan-cs, but i t did not seem to make so '.luch chan-c in them.The chan' c comes mostly in the children. It has been wonderful to meetold friends and make new ones in the camps and church-s- The fellowshiphas been wonderful. He are in Sutherland in a camp at the present tinr.HciE at Sutherland, wc have noticed the cban-ee, for bhildrcn that wc had in

Sunday school classes have now -raduated from able collcc and some arcg e t t i n g marr i ed .

He ask your 'Prayers for the Christians in Africa, for the mlsEionarics,for the school as i t is Put into action, and for us as v.-c travel amon~ thechurches, and make our final decision as to our return to Africa- Our olderchildren will be staying here in Arrrica to f in ish their education- I t isa hard th ing to do to IcaVc them.

Jfey God bless and guide cach of you is our prayer. Thank ynu for yoursupport, prayers, and for making i t possible for us to have this furlought i R E .

-- - - ^ Yours i n C h r i s tAlvin Vcrnita Nicholson ?3 familyRt. 2 Bas 18


10/12

QCT 5 1953S u t h e i l a n d , l a ,O c t o b e r 1 , 1959

Dear Chris t ian ^ riends,

Greetings in Jesus name. This nev/sletter comes again fromSutherland, where we are making our home. unt i l we are ready to sa i lb a c k t o A f r i c a , VJe moved h e r e t h e i s tp r e t t y wel l s e t t l e d r \fe have ren ted a

c h u r c h h a v e l o a n e d u s t h e f u r n i t u r e t oTh e c h u r c h h e r e a l s o h a d a f o o d s h o w e rgra te fu l i e have been here fo r about

of Septembei j andhouse and t h e p e o p l eu s e un t i l o u r re turn

f o r u s . f o r w h i c h wet h r e e w e e k s now, b u t

r no wXf r o m t he

to f r i ca

a r e ve ry

A l v i n

has been home only about 5 days dur ing t h a t t ime-

as sne naa gecmeury . Sreve xa ci xj. uarLXiighas had algebra and bookkeeping because he s ta r tedf t f r i c a . John i s i n the 6th grades James i s makingn e i g h b o r h o o d .

Our t r ave l s t h i s month included a t r i p to Vi/or th ington , wherewe stayed four days^ f>aribault, wnich v/as our f i r s t ministry, andLitchfieldj v/hich v/as our second, also spoke at the MinnesotaBible college. Alvin traveled alone to Gering, Nebraska, for themissionary Sally there and ^unday September 20th, spoke at theWestside Chris t ian Church in Kansas City Ko, -his church alongwith the Humansville church have been sending support fo r Sandra.I t was wonderful to meet with a i l of these people and i t has indeedbeen a blessing to us. wish to express our thanKs to thesechurches for the i r hospitality, and for the opportunity to t e l lo f th e work i n South f r i c a .

We plan to return to South Africa in June of I960, ^his willallow the ch ild re n to complete the i r year of schooling here andthen begin the second half of their school year out there. Beforewo return, we need to raise living link support for one adult andone child, also, would l ike to have ^^100 a month more pledgedtoward our general expenses v^hilo out on the f i e ld .

Wo are fin ding th-e fellowship vrith the people here in thechurch a rea l blessing. The children arc so happy to bo with theyoung people o f the chu rch .

a f reshman t a k i n g geometry a s het h a t

f r i ends

May God b less an d guide yo u each one.p r a y e r s and help

V/e a p p r e c i a t o y o u r

F o r w a r d i n g A g e n t :Mrs . Ed, V/idl.uTid13.3 W, ^ i l l i amA l b e r t Lea , Minneso ta

Yo u r s i n t h e M a s t e r s s e r v i c e ,

Alvin r ^ e r n i t a Nicholson fami lyB ox 21.VS u t h e r l a n d , l a ,


11/12


12/12

5 6 - 3

SUMMARY O F T H E W OR K 1 95 9

A brief survey again of the country of SouthAfrica: It is one sixth the size of the United States, with a population of 9, 000,000 native black) Africans, 2, 000,000 coloured,

J and 3 000 000 white or European. To designate the colored people they are mixed black^ and white Chinese Indians from India Malayans and others of that skin color. Church

of Chris t are spread over a great area of South Africa.

The beginning of 1959 saw a tour made by Alvin Nicholson, John Kernan, and Maxand Gladys Randall, of the churches in the Pondoland Area. The tour ended at Imvutshini,the first of March, with a big meeting of al l the churches in the area. A recording was

^ made of the children singing such choruses as Nci-Nci-Bo or Joy Joy Joy and Ohlakanphileyo or The Wise Man Built His House . It was quite an experience fort h e m to h e ar t h e i r own v o ic es f or th e f i r s t t i m e

A church building was started in 1958 at Imvutshini near Port Shepstone. It was completed just before our return to the United States. The natives themselves did most ofth e work with Alvin a s the overseer. T he n at iv e women car r ied a l l the w a te r t ha t was

j used in making the block on their heads from a stream down the hill. They also helped\/ carry the blocks which weighed 18 pounds apiece. A new building was also completed

at the new site fo r th e Minister s Training school at Umzumbe, north of Port Shepstone.It is now in use as th e first session of th e school opened February 2. Dur ing the tourof the churches some work was done on the two buildings at Tsomo and Mqanduli. Thosebuildings should b e f in is he d by now.

In November of 1958, an evangelist ic meeting was held for the European church inCapetown. Again the last of March, a meeting was held in the European church in Kim-berley, with Alvin doing the preaching. After the close of this meeting, we attended the

^ Conference at Warrenton north of Kimberley. One of the highlights for us was whenthe Africans came bringing gifts for us a yellow and brown Basuto blanket and an aircase for Alvin. A tea s et and 20 pounds money) for Vernita. A skit was given by thewomen before they brought t he g if ts .

^ In April, we sailed on the Winchester Castle from Durban for our first fiMough.We went to England spending five days in London then sailing on the Queeh Mary forNew York. By the time we arrived in New York in May after a month onboard sMpwe were glad that our journey had ended. It was good to see our loved ones and friendsagain .

Our furlough has been spent traveling throughout the United States telling of the workin South Afri ca. The summer was spent in ten youth and missions camps. During mostof this time, the family traveled together. When school started in September, the movewas made to Sutherland, Iowa where a house was rented and the furniture loaned by thechurch people. The work in South Africa has beenpresented in churches in South DakotaMinnesota, Iowa Nebraska, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky. Atripis planned now to Oregon speaking for churches along the way then into California andb a c k

We have applied for sailing back to South Africa via the South African Marine line, afreighter. A date has not been given as the schedule was not made up beyond June 10th.W e d e s i r e t o s a i l t h e l a s t of J u n e

/ Over 1000 baptisms have been reported for 1959. Word has come thatBro. LebramfJ 4 Solani, a minister in the flagstaff district has passed away. Some have said that witch

craft might have played a part in his death. His is a great loss to the church for he wasa good minister and adds to the great shortage of ministers.

The first term of th e Minister s Training School at Umzumbe was opened on Feb. 2.We have not heard how many men reported to take studies. The Stanleys have been livingat North Shepstone since October. Bro. Stanley is in charge of the school. Anotherbuilding has been built since their return to the field from furlough.

Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1959 SAfrica

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