Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1970 SAfrica

8/10/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1970 SAfrica

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N E W S W I T H T H E N I C H O L S O N SVol. 11 , No 1 February, 1970

D ea r f r i e n d s .

Here we a re back i n Afr ica once aga in . The month o f January was j u s t such a busymonth t ha t we did not get a l e t t e r w rit te n to you. Christmas was r e a l l y a happy time witha l l o ur fa mil y gather ing with Dick, Sandra an d Valer ie a t t h e i r home Our family ha dgrown by f ive s ince we ha d Christmas toge ther i n 1964. After Christmas we took a t r i p tobe wi th o ur f a m i l i e s around New Years . My mothe r (Alv in f s ) came back w ith us so we couldbe t o g e t h e r f o r t h e s e l a s t fe w weeks .

From the 8th u n t i l the 15th we were busy ge t t i ng t hi ng s r ea dy an d packed i n th e pickup . The church a t Li t ch f i e ld , M i nn es ot a g av e us a 9 cubic foo t deep f re eze to br ing backwith us. a l so received 58 toward the e l e c t r i c t y p e w r i t e r.

Th e 14th , we had d i n n e r wi th John an d C h e r i which wa s o u r l a s t t ime with them. Th e16th , we l e f t Dick and S a n d r a s . That night we spen t with Steven an d Rosa l ie an d l e f tthere Saturday morning, the 17th, an d headed fo r St . Joseph, I l l i n o i s . This was the worstda y o f t ra ve li ng because in I l l i n o i s , snow f e l l on the roads t h a t ha d been made s l i c k byan e a r l i e r r a i n . Here, i n a very s h o r t t ime were tw o i n c i d e n t s e i t h e r o f which c ou ld h av eca us ed u s a ba d a c c i d e n t . F i r s t , a pickup coming toward us skidded down th e road towardus before going i n th ^ d i t c h . Next a highway t ruck with a b ig snow p lo w w en t o ut o f co nt r o l vdiile t wa s j u s t ahead o f us an d crossed th e road an d h i t th e bank with i t s plowt he n tu rn ed around so t h a t th e back en d was r e s t i n g a g a i n s t th e bank. thank God f o rHis p r o t e c t i n g hand .

At S t . Joseph , we were gues t s o f th e Lloyd Evans f ami ly a t I l l i n i C h i l d r e n s HomeSybi l i s th e forwarding a g e n t f o r t he S ta nl ey s, From Monday evening u n t i l Thursday morni n g , we s ta ye d w it h t h e Glenn Wat te r sons a t Bloomsburg, Pa . G l e n n s home wa s a t Sutherl a n d , Iowa. He was a l r e a d y i n th e m i n i s t r y b e f o r e we a r r i v e d t h e r e . (Monday evening, wes ta ye d w it h th e Sam M i l l e r s i n H a no ve rt on , O h io , then on to th e Wat te r sons on Tuesday. ) spoke Sunday evening a t S t . Joseph an d Wednesday evening a t Bloomsburg. Thursday wed r o v e o n i n t o Ne w Yo r k w h e r e we w e n t t o t h e E l m e r F a u s t h o m e . He s d i r e c t o r o f G o YeChape l . spoke f o r tw o churches on Long I s land on Sunday.

Ho w o f t e n w e h a v e b e e n t h a n k f u l f o r t h e t e n d e r c a r e o f C h r i s t i a n f r ie n d s V e m i t a

c am e d own with a very ba d co ld o r f l u a t Bloomsburg. Sh e g o t some medicine from th e doct o r b e f o r e l e a v i n g Bloomsburg, b u t was no t r e a l l y up u n t i l Monday morning th e 26th , vdienwe l e f t f o r South A f r i c a . Both t h e Wat te r sons and F a u s t s w en t b ey on d th e c a l l o fduty to h e lp u s .

Fr iday, we had g o t t e n t he p ap ers f o r th e pickup an d Monday morning, we de l ivered t toth e dock. There , we found th e a g e n t should n o t have l i s t e d th e t h i n g s i n s i d e o f th e campe r . T he y w or ke d to make t so we would n o t have t o pay f or t ra n sp o rt in g t h i s an d k e p t merunn ing from o f f i c e to o f f i c e . I wa s a f r a i d t h a t we m igh t b e l a t e a t t h e a i r p o r t . But wea r r i v e d i n t ime an d s h o r t l y a f t e r 12 :30 P.M. , en te red ou r p lane and j u s t a f t e r 1 :00 P.M.took o f f f o r South America and then A f r i c a . F l y i n g t ime t o R io was j u s t o v e r 9 h o u r s andfrom t h e r e to Johannesburg j u s t ov er 7 .

could n o t g e t a p l a c e on th e t r a i n ( p a r t l y because o f tw o t r a i n wrecks on th e l i n e )so B r o t h e r Bob M i l l s drove us down on F r i d a y. Tha t n i g h t we s t ayed wi th t h e S t a n l e y s andSaturday found t h a t th e fo lk s were out o f o u r home. g ot th e beds r eady so we cou lds l e e p i n o u r own home t h a t n i g h t .

A t f i r s t , we found t h e w e a t h e r v e r y h o t h e r e , b u t a r a i n h as c oo led t o f f some. twa s v e r y good t o be w ith t he A fr ic an b r e t h r e n a t schoo l on Sunday an d back t o s c h o o l f o rth e f i r s t t e a o f t h e o pe ni ng t er m . w i l l b e s t a r t i n g o ur te ac hi ng s h o r t l y .

PLEASE NOTE: Because o f h e r i l l n e s s , Mrs. Widlund asked us t o g e t someone e l s e t ot ake t h e work o f Forw ard ing A gen t. Sand ra w i l l do t h i s f o r u s . So a l l shou ld no w be addressed to Mrs. Richa rd Hansoh. 16642 Gannon Ave. W. , Rosemount, Minn. 55068. do n o thave words enough to express our thanks to Mrs. Widlund f o r th e wonderful he lp she hasg i v e n t o us f o r 17 y e a r s . We a r e so t h a n k f u l t o God f o r t h e wonder fu l way He h as s pa re dh e r . Sh e h as tw o kinds o f l ukemia . A y e a r ago t h i s month she wa s n ot expec ted t o l i v e .Sh e i s now back a t h e r o ld jo b a t s c h o o l . Sh e i s n ot c ur ed , f o r sh e must t a k e medicine y e tand have h e r b lood checked each week an d see th e d o c t o r a t Roches te r every month o r two.

But th e d oc to r t h e r e says she i s a l i v i n g m i r a c l e .


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There were a few o f our own personal th ings we sen t back by post so t h a t we m ig ht h av ethem shor t ly a f t e r we a r ri ve d h er e . I have of ten h ea rd p eo pl e there speak of t he v er y h ig hcos t o f mailing t h ings , an d i n a sense i t i s t rue . Bu t to send a 20 lb . bo x of s h i r t swould c o s t about 8 .00 from th e mid-wes t . I am su r e t h a t one could g e t 30 s h ir t s i n sucha box. That means th e s h i r t s c o s t o n l y about 27 cen t s each . Even with a l i t t l e d u t y he re ,t h i s makes them p r e t t y cheap s h i r t s fo r o u r fo lks he re an d they do apprec ia te them. Eveni f yo u could g e t only t h r e e s u it s i n th e p r i c e p er s u i t would no t be unreasonable .

At th e en d o f 1969, one o f t h e churches d ec id ed t h a t they would t r a n s f e r t h e i r helpto t h e i r min i s t e r who i s going to th e m is si on f i e l d . This l eaves us sho r t 25 a month ofwhat we supposed we had f o r o ur work h e r e on t h e f i e l d . I s t h e r e a church t h a t would l i k e

to t a k e t h i s p a r t for. us? Yours most s i n c e r e l yA l v i n N i c h o l s o n

Dear f r i e n d s .

We are glad to be s e t t l e d once again a t home. That i s p a r t i a l l y s e t t l e d . Today i sthe f i r s t f u l l day I have ha d a t home. Outside the study, i n idiich we ha d every th ingpacked , I have e v e r y t h i n g p r e t t y w e l l in o r d e r .

James has been o u t f i t t e d an d i s back i n school. He i s in th e same c l a s s again . He

he w s goingaroundmutteringin a strangelanguage e h d an assignmentin oral frikaans an d was to t e l l about h i s exper iences in America. So fa r they have not ye t cal ledon him so he has more chance to f ind th e r i g h t words.

Yeste rday, we had lunch i n a Durban H ot el w ith a man from Cherokee, l a . A l v i n methim when we were there l a s t September. He also invi ted a couple from I l l i n o i s to e a twith us . We were with the Stanleys as well . He was with a tour group.

Two a re i n t e re s t ed i n a c co rd io n l es so n s . I hope t o s t a r t with the music again t omorrow an d wi l l see who i s in teres i ted iro sewing. I s there anyone among o ur r ea de rs whohas old typewriter books? We have two 20th Cen tu ry Typewri ti ng (Elemen ta ry Co ur se ) S ou thWestern Publishing Co., Lessenbeprry Crawford 6t h edi t ion and 5t h edi t ion, completec o u r s e . We w o u l d l ike m o r e o f e i t h e r o f t h e s e .

Our thanks to a l l who gave us so lovingly of the i r hosp i ta l i ty while we were in th eStates . I t was a real jo y to be in so many homes and to be with ou r children. May th eLord b le s s yo u a l l i n your se rv i ce fo r Him.

FORWARDING A G E N T:

M r s . R i c h a r d H a n s o n

16642 Gannon Av e . , W.Rosemount , Minnesota 55068

NEWS WITH THE NICHOLSONS

Mailed b y . . .

Firs t C h r i s t i a n C h u r c hCamp P o i n t , I l l i n o i s

Re tu rn R e q u e s t e d

Yours with C h r i s t i a n love ,V e r n i t a

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Non-Profi t OrganizationU.S. POST GE

l.^ lj P IDCamp P o i n t I l l i n o i s

Permit No 7


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N E W S W I T H T H E NICHOLSONSVol . 1 1 , No . 2

Greet ings i n C hr is t, de a r f r i ends :

March , 1970

Well more and more we ar e beginning to feel like we had never been away from home. The work is justwhirling about us on every side. I have been away to th e Transkei fo r one weekend. Las t weekend we wereou t to Gcilima. went out about 10:00 a.m. so we cou ld be in plenty of time, but they did no t s tar tservices unt i l nearly 11:30, when we went to th e stream fo r a baptismal service. When we returned to th e

churchy I p reached af ter which we had th e ommunion Service. They had given us te a before the serviceand brought us food a f t e r we had complet ed th e services . took th e minister and his wife to anothertown so they could have serv ices there on Sunday night and in a nother area on the way back on Mondaywere also given two pressure lanterns that need repairing and la ter we will take th e s co ot er f or repair.

At school , I am teaching c las ses to th e advanced class and f inding i t a r ea ljoy. gave Pastoral Problems and Preaching. In Preaching we a re t ak in g abook chapter by chapter and preparing sermons on each chapter and discussing themin c lass . In th e f i r s t year c l a s s i s Andrew W Calver t CJr. ) . He i s a th i rdgenerat ion preache r, and we ar e rea l ly happy to have him in school . BrotherQwemesha had his grandfather as his m in is te r and says th i s young man looks j u s tl i ke him. Hi s own f a t h e r i s q u i t e a good-sized man.

ANDRHW tLVLVLRT

A recen t event in our l ives i s th e a r r iva l o f th e pickup an d th e t hi ng s packedin i t . I t ha s been pushed in a b i t on on e s ide , bu t nothing t h a t did much damage.I know that i t i s going to be a great help to us in t r ave l ing . There i s p le nty o f

t ravel ing ahead o f us: March 13-15 , Cradock, 400 miles each way March 22-25,Kimberiey, over 600 miles each way 5 March 27-30, Stut terheim, 350 miles each way.

The Stanleys are planning to return to the States about th e 3rd week of July. know tha t many ofyou shal l enjoy having them with you while they are back in America. This wil l bring to us both extrawork and expenses as we have more respons ib i l i ty for the school w hi le t he y are gone.

I t i s so good to have the e l e c t r i c t ypewr i t e r to use, but we do no t have a transformer in th e studyso have to us e i t on the dining room t ab le a t th e present t ime. The deep freeze i s w or ki ng a nd wil l be abig help. By buying a ha l f sheep, we can save 9 cents a pound over buying other meat by th e pound. NickQwemesha gave us some pork when he butchered and he and I have already gone ou t and bought two weanedpigs . These weighed about 45 pounds each and cost us 8. 54 e ac h.

Please f r iends, when you move t ry to send us your change of address , fo r to have the papers re turnedt o us , cos t s h a l f as much as to send them to yo u fo r on e yea r, an d we f ee l t h a t t h i s i s a waste which weshould not have to s t and . Se nd a ny c ha ng e o f address t o : Madison Park Chr i s t i an Church, 215 North 25th

Stree t . Quincy ^11

A ll o f th e used c lo th ing i s p i l e d i n th e s tudy a t th e presen t tim e, bu t we hope to get some of i tpacked so t h a t it ca n be sen t ou t . We would r at he r t ha t th e folks ha d i t so t h a t they could us e it a to n c e . We know t h a t t h i s c l o t h i n g i s going t o b r i n g jo y t o many h e a r t s .

A1 Zimmerman of Capetown an d Li l a McKey of Chicago, I l l i n o i s weredays an d we c e r t a i n l y d id enjoy t h i s t ime very much.

h e r e to v i s i t w i t h u s f o r t h r

February was th e d r i e s t February fo r t h i s area s ince 1941. They have had enough r a in so t h a t th eSouth C oast looks very nice, bu t they are hoping tha t t h i s kind o f weather does no t keep on . I r ea l ly sawm o r e r a i n t h e w e e k e n d th t I w a s i n t h e T r a ns ke i t ha n w h e n I h av e b ee n t h o m e .

Severa l more have sa id t h a t they w i l l be presen t in school ne xt te rm. Pray with us t h a t they s h a l lbe ab le - to come. Pray fo r the Youth Camps as th e churches make p re p ar at io n s f o r them. A Preaching an dTeaching meeting i s be in g p lan ned fo r Pondoland dur ing May Pray t h a t many may a t t end , an d t h a t th ec l a s s e s s h a l l s t r e n g t h e n t h e b re th re n i n t h e i r s e r v i c e f o r t h e i r Lord .

Thank yo u a l l so much f o r your help an d p r a y e r sth ings have no t worked out as we ha d planned or hoped,hand o f God an d see where He ha s b le s sed an d helped us .

Without you , we could do n o t h i n g . A number o fb ut i n a l l when we l ook ba ck we see th e guid ing

For t h i s we t r u l y g iv e t ha nk s.

Yours i n Th e L o r d s S e r v i c e



16642 Gannon Av e . W.Rosemoun t , M i n n . 5 50 6 8

Th e N i c h o l s o n s


4/24

Dear F r i e n d s A p r i l 1970

Tomorrow is the 8th of April and i f a l l goes as hoped, we ar e going to pack c lo th in g f or th e Africanmin i s t e r s . Since we r ec ei ve d t he th ings from Durban, we have only packed two sacks o f c l o t h i n g . I t i s sohard t o work in th e s tu dy o r t o f ind a ny th in g w it h a l l o f th e c lo th ing s tacked everywhere, so we want t og e t t on i t s way so i t ca n be used an d so we can have th e space .

Last S a tu r da y e v en i ng , I took t h r e e o f th e men from school out t o th e Gcil ima C i rcu i t t h a t they mightshare with those people th e Gospel. e hung a s hee t up a t th e s ide of on e o f th e rondovels and using t ha tfo r a s c r e e n , I showed s l i d e s from A me ri ca a nd two f i lm s t r i p s Because o f th e number o f p eo pl e, th e s e rv i c e s fo r th e n i g h t ha d to be held o u t s i d e . Verni ta , James an d I re turned f or s er vi ce s on Sunday morning.This s e r v i c e wa s h e l d i n t h e t r e e s nearby. I preached an d B r o t h e r Geldenhuys l ed t h e Communion S e r v i c eJames sang fo r them b efo re t he s e rv i c e was c losed . We stopped a t home fo r a few minutes before ta kin g th es tudents back t o school an d then to t he S ta nl ey s fo r evening s e r v i c e s .

Th e weekend o f t h e 1 5 t h , I took B r o t h e r s Geldenhuys an d Tshafu tha back t o Cradock, r e t u rn in g a ls ot h r ee s tudents t o Queenstown, who could n ot do th e work necessary fo r school . Saturday evening an d S un da ymorning, I preached fo r th e church . S e v e r a l hours were spent on Saturday t a l k i ng with th e e l de r s as theycame t o v i s i t with th e min i s t e r. e t a l k e d over th e work s ince we ha d been away an d made f ut ur e p la ns .

The 22nd, four men along with B r ot he r S t an l ey an d I l e f t fo r Kimberiey. e di d not get there un t i lin to the night . Monday morning there was a t ea ch in g p e ri od a t th e Kimberiey church fo r minis ters presentan d in the afternoon and evening, th e Conference Committee ha d i t s meeting. e l e f t fo r home a f t e r th es e s s i o n on Wednesday. We were glad Brother Ntoni had come t o Kimberiey so we did not have to meet himWednesday night in Bloomfdritein which would have meant tha t we wouldn t have been liome until fhursday aTmT

Friday morning we l e f t for Stutterheim to take George Fuphi and his wife home, as they are in schoolf o r two t e rms . A number o f s t u d e n t s went with us as w e l l as B r o t h e r Zobolo. Some o f th e s t u d e n t sstopped a t th e ir homes along th e way. Because of the drive they le t me o f f from preaching on Friday nightbu t I di d preach on Saturday night, Sunday morning and afternoon. While a t Stutterheim, we stayed withfriends. Members of their family, whom they were not expec t ing, came to v i s i t and we heard much Afrikaans.We g r e a t l y enjoyed t h e i r h o s p i t a l i t y an d we ha d some new d i s h e s to e a t as w e l l .

e are no t expecting to do quite so much traveling during this month. But l ik ely in May will begoing ou t a number of times. Brother Ntoni wants me to go to Graa ff Reine t and Brother Mtshayi sa to Bar-berton. Both are a long ways and in d if fe re nt d ir ec ti on s. There is a problem at Graaff Reinet thatBrother Ntoni would l ike fo r me to ta lk with them about. Brother Mtshayia wants me to se e and check th eproperty that they have bought at Barberton. I t seems to me they have done ve ry well and more than that ,they a re a lr ea dy f i l l i n g th e bui ld ing.

I t is really good to have four of the min i st er s in school this term. I am teaching homiletics tothem and to the first year class. I know some in the first year class find i t a bit deep, but we areduplicating the material so are sure as we go on, they will see more clearly where we are going and why. y par t i a l knowledge of th e language makes me want to know i t more perfect ly when I teach these classes .

e just bought a radio and stereo phonograph. e have been enjoying th e Good Twins and th e SchieldSisters as well as records we had before. e do thank you so much for your pr aye rs , and so may the Lord sbless ing and guidance r e s t upon you a l l

Yours i n Hi s S e r v i c e

T h e N i c h o l s o n s

EWS WITH TH E NICHOLSONS

Mailed b y

r s t C h r i s t i a n C h u r c h

Camp P o i n t I l l i n o i s

R e t u r n R e q u e s t e d

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B o : : 9 o 3

J o l l o t I l l i n o i s 6 0 4 3 4

Non-Pro f i t Organ iza t ionU S PO.STAGE

PAID

Camp P o i n t I l l i n o i sPermit No. 7


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Vol 11, No 4 June, 197

Dear F r i e n d s ,

So we have a l l been counted; however, we have been counted twice. received theforms from the American embassy in Durban and then they came with the papers for SouthAfrica. have fil led them in and they will now return and ge t them.

I am making two long t r ip s th is month to take the ministers back to t he i r homes.The f irst is to Barberton and this is new to me I do not really know how BrotherMtshayisa got th e work started there, but i t has gone very well. In fact , a man iscoming from Germiston to school next term and la ter will be coming to be the ministerat Johannesburg, a f t e r which Mtshayisa wil l move on to Barberton.

On the other t r ip , by making a bi g swing I can take three of the men to v i s i ttheir homes and churches. I t will be a weekend when we w il l tra vel nearly 16 milesbut will take at least four days. Also some of them have bought some things at schooland we wil l take these things home for them, otherwise there wil l not be room when wet a k e t h e s t u d e n t s home a t t h e end o f t h e t e r ra .

are s t i l l suffering fo r lack of rain. Often i t looks like rain is right hereand then i t just goes away Even the animals in several of the game parks are suffering because the rivers have dried up. Here now they are pumping with si x pumps out ofthe one r iver into th e dam where we get ou r water.

William Tusha, who was a minister when we came to South Africa, was ki l led th ismonth when his car l e f t the road and ro l led severa l hundred f e e t down in to a r i ve r. Achi ld and one e lder were k i l l ed with him and one so n and two others werehu r t .

One of the young ministers has been very discouraged much because the people havenot been paying him as they had promised but also because of problems that had risenin th e work. He is living in one of the newer townships that have been establishedsome miles outside of a town and therefore many of the people are only home on weekendsand do not always come home every weekend.

attended a meeting where an elderly minister spoke on th e Indigenous BantuChurch. He i s pr inc ipa l at an A fr ic an Tra in in g School as well as ed ito r o f an Africanpaper. He said the Bantu Churches very def in i te ly have t he i r own charac ter i s t ics . Hes ta ted one o f the problems today was tha t o f th e Amadoloze. This i s the ances t ra ls p i r i t s . When someone dies they have to k i l l an animal. He sa id , Yes, t he C hr is ti an ssay we do not worship our ances to rs , but do t h i s because o f those in our fami l i e s whos t i l l practice i t . But said th e outsider seeing them do i t s t i l l believes that theybelieve in i t . I t i s also t rue tha t they wil l boycott those who do no t do i t . aresure that we have people who do th is today as well. hope there are ot her s who haver isen above i t . This they do in t he i r own homes and at the time they se t for them

selves, so we can never know who follows i t or who does not, unless we ge t someone tob r i n g a l l t h e t a l e s .

f ina l ly got the b i l l for the duty on th e clothing we brought with us . I t seemsthey were a b it hard on us, bu t when we see how much i t has helped th e Africans, we areglad tha t we have i t . Duty came to j u s t over 150.

A WORD FROM VE RN I TA. . .Alvin wrote the above before he l e f t for Barberton at 4:30 A M on F ri da y. B ro th er

Mtshayisa was with him. had ra in on tha t day from a ro un d 1 0: 00 A M unt i l in thenight, I don t know how much fel l but everything here had a good soaking. Probablywasn t enough to do any good in the catchment area though. At l ea s t I f e l t r e l i e f tha twe ha d t ha t much to h elp o ut.


6/24

Work at school goes on as usual . The students t ry to get us to unders tand Afrikaansas well as Xhosa but regrettably we remember l i t t l e . Two progress slowly on the Accor-dian. They have had their f irst simple hymns John and Andrew find i t hard to pract icejust as others do but I hope new songs have added inspiration. The music class halearned a couple English songs which they si ng w ell. One i s from the choir music tha tbeing s e n t out fo r our use .

Some sewing materials would be a big help to us.We

can use scissors, needles wgive each new student a packet) pins, patterns pajamas, dresses, blouses, s hi rt s, s ki rt s,children s clothes , thread of all colors, bias tape and buttons.

We have opened a white European Sunday School f or c hi ld re n at Umzumbe Town HallWe thought another group was going to join us but didn t want to travel so far. Our besattendance has been children so far. I teach the Junior class and lead the openinexercises or play th e piano whichever is most necessary.

us tha t we may be led. of th e Holy Spir i t in the work to bdone appreciate all that you have done for us, and are doing for the Lord s woh e r e

P r a y e r f u l l y yours .

T h e N i c h o l s o n s

A l v i n Ve r n i t a James

FORWARDING AGENT:Mrs . R i c h a r d Hanson16647 Gannon Ave. , W..Rosemount, Minn. 55068


Mailed b y

F i r s t C h r i s t i a n Church

Camp P o i n t , I l l i n o i s

RETURN REQUESTED

\

M i s s i o n Secv ic s s

B o x 9 6 8

J o l i e t l l i n o i s 6 0 4 3 4

MR. AND MRS. ALVIN NICHOLSONP 0 B o x 2 1 9

Por t Sheps tone , Nata lS o u t h A f r i c a

Non-Profit OrganizationU.S. POSTAGE

1 .6 i f PAIDCamp P o i n t I l l i n o i s

P e r m i t N o. 7


7/24

T h y word i s a l amp unto myfee t , and a l ight unto my path .

P s a l m s 1 1 9 : 1 0 5

SOUTH^a F R i C A N

TO R C HKimberleyB ib le C o ll eg e

/Por t Sheps tone

ope Towrt London

Volume 21 Second Quarter 1970 Number

A Quick Jump . .Returning to the field after a

fur lough is a lm os t l ik e taking a quickjump into t he w at er for a swim. One iss ta rt ed b a c k i nt o w or k f rom th e m o m e n t

of r e t u r n B u t w e t h a n k G o d f o r t h i s

opportunity to serve Him.Dtiring the month of March, we

t raveled over 3,000 m iles and wereabsent from home for 12 days. V e sa wfour make the good confession, onereturn to th e church, one move hi s

membership a nd e ig h t baptized. Besidesthis, eight were baptized at one placein the morni ng b ef or e we arrived.

Two trips were made to take minist e r s w h o a r e in s c h o o l b a c k to t h e i r

churches so that they would no t haveto be gone for such a long time. Onetr ip was made a t Easter weekend, sothis gave us a longer time. Becausewe drove down on Friday, they did notas k us to preach that night , but somestudents from school were present tohelp them. We preached Saturday night,Sunday morning a nd S un da y afternoon.They had longer services than this onSaturday night , and both Sunday morningand evening had street preaching. Westayed with friends. They had relativescome to visit that were not expected,so they tried t o t ea ch us Afrikaans, asthat is the home language for most oft h e m

It is a pleasure to be back teachingschool once again. It is good to havea l arge r n um be r of th e older ministersback for extra work. Alvin is t each ing Fundamentals ofTeaching and Hom-i l e t i c s

by Alvin and Vernita Nicholson

This part of the country is undergoing a very dry spell. There has beenl i tt l e r a in since we returned home. Theysaid it was the driest February since1941. Ye t at school our garden is goingvery well because we have been ableto ge t a pump and water from the spring.

T he p ic ku p an d contents arrived ingood condition. Many things are alreadybeing put to use an d the used clothingis being sent out to the minis ters . Th ep ic ku p s ee ms so wide. D ri vi ng on theleft-hand side of th e road is takingsome getting used to . Th e peopleenjoy it because of its sp ac e an d wehave enjoyed it s easy ride and thef a c t t h a t i t w i l l t r a v e l a t a m o r e c o n

stant speed than the P eu geo t. Onet i r e h a s b e e n b l o w n a n d a n o t h e r h a s acord break w hi ch g av e it an ai r bubbleboth outside an d inside. We h av e pu ttwo t ruck-type t ires on th e back.

M I S S I O N H A P P E N I N G S :

Alvin p r e a c h e d at the Mpumlo

church at Lusikisiki on Saturday night.They cont inued some hours before theyretired. When I returned on Sundaymorning they said the church wouldlike to discuss a pr obl em. During thed i sc u s si o n s e v er a l o f th e w o m e n w e r e

sit t ing on th e ground in th e m idd le ofthe building. One of them was restinghe r elbow on th e g ro un d a nd he r headon he r h an d . S he went to s leep an d felloff her hand.How glad I was it was notfrom th e upper window.

After on e serv ice , th e ministerbrought a ti n of amahewu to drink. Thisi s s o u r m il k a nd c or n m e a l . S o m e d r a n k

from the tin, as it is t he c us to m of thpeople in the reserve, but one askefor a glass. The local minister said I t says He took the cup. Th e othereplied, I se e in the pictures thathere are cups. Bu t the Scripturessa y cup, replied the other. Thepictures show many cups, was thanswer. Who made the pictures, saith e minister. I don t know. Labafana(those fellows), pointing to Alvin and

meaning the white man. And theynever put us in an y of them. Thus wathe joking from a minister from the cita n d o n e f rom th e r e s e r v e

NOTE: Today, April 15, word war e c e i v e d o f th e d e a t h s o f tw o o f o u

m en in a c ar a cc id e nt Wi l l i a m T u s h a

was the minister at Mossel Bay anl e a v e s b e h i n d a w i f e a n d s e ve ra l c h il

dren. He had been in the ministry forabout 20 years. Amos Nxosha wa s aelder in the nearby chii rch of George .


8/24

South A f ri ca n To rc h

Bible Training School

Teachers at the Bible TrainingSchool, Umzumbe. Left to right: A. Nicholson, N. Qwemesha, L. Stanley, J .Labata la .

T he r e a r e t i m es w he n i t s e e m s a s

though we move backward r at he r t ha nforward, and the past term has beensuch a t im e. Two students in particularwere brought to school against ourbetter judgment and in the end they,a iongwith another,had t ob e s en t home,as they were unable todo the work. Onemore student is very questionable whenit comes to ability and may have to bereturned if he does not do better duringthe next quarter.

On the good side, the son and grands o n o f a n o lde r m in is t e r a r r i v ed inschool and has been a very good st udent. Especially have we been pleasedwith his willingness and ability. Hehas only the equivalent of an eighthgrade education, but in ability to standup and express himself, I believe he isth e b e s t t h a t we have e v e r had in

school. I spoke to his fa ther a weekag o an d l ea rn ed t ha t an older marriedbrother will be in school next year. Iurged them to come several years ago.The wife is a nurse. In this term juststarting we have two more ministers inschool who h av e already proven thems el ve s a s capable leaders. This always

helps th e s ch oo l a s a whole.One man, Robert Geldenhuys, with

considerable experience has undertakento do many of the odd jobs around theschoo l, which have been continuallypushed into the background for lack oft ime . He has c leaned th e d oo rs a ndrepainted most of th e ones on the dormitory already. Within the next couplew e e k s a l l s h o u l d be d o n e . In t h i s l andwhere it is so hot and dry, paint peelsvery rapidly and wood warps quickly.As an example, we have had to paintthe floor in our new pickup two times(in parts 3 times in the past months

by the Lynn Sta nley s

since it arrived.Even now large cracksh a v e s t a r t e d t o f o r m . R o b e r t h a s a l s o

finished p ut ti ng a ceiling in the dormitory and is building a storage room atthe school. He is capable an d ca n betrusted to go ahead on his own.

A g as st ov e has been given to theschool by the Polo Road Church in CapeTo w n a n d w hi l e no t u s e d a l l th e t imeye t hasbeen a real help to t he c oo k. Wehave tried to improve th e food furnishedto give a better die t. Even now it is notthe best diet by our standards, bu t wea re t h a n k f u l t h a t w e h a v e b e e n a b l e t oimprove it .

M e e t t h e S t u d e n t s

by Lynn Stanley

This year we have several studentsI would like to introduce. Every studentin. school has p oi nt s w hi ch se t himapart. These ar e exceptional.

Andrew C a lve r t is th e so n of amin is te r and also the grandson of oneof th e ear l ies t ministers . Bro . Qwemeshasays that he is the picture of hi s grandfather wh o w as Bro. Qwemesha s ministe r 25 y ea rs a go . Andrew j u st c e le b ra t edhi s 21st birthday. He is a little man,about 5 4 in height and weighs about12 0 lbs. He is perfectly at home on hi sfee t and speaking. He has taken par t intwo debates at the school. Recently hef in is he d his army t ra in ing and servedas a cook while in th e army. He is aColoured (of mixed blood so is requiredby law to take military training. He isAfrikaans by b ir th , b ut speaks Englishfluently. He always dresses n ea t ly a ndkeeps himself clean, which is notalways true of the African. Hi s home isin Beaufort West, not far from CapeT o w n

Robert Geldenhuys is also a minist e r s s on H e h a s b e e n a m i n i s t e r hi mself for n ea rl y 2 0 years, is married an dh a s s e v e n c h i l d r e n O n e o f t h es e h as

b ee n g iv en to an older brother and hi sw ife w ho have n o c h i l d r e n o f t h e i r own .H e i s a l s o a C ol ou re d a nd h is home

l anguage is Afrikaans, though he toois at home in English. All his work inschool is done in English, which makesit much easier to check and gi ve himhelp. He is 45 years old and wants hisson, now complet ing his high schoolwork, to t ak e B ib le Tra in in g. His wi feis looking after th e home and helpingw it h th e c h ur c h w h i l e h e i s in s c h o o l

S e co nd Q u ar t er 1970

He will be staying till July. He hasstarted his second year at school.Because of his higher standard of living (from the Af ri cans ) he finds it verydifficult to get along on the help weare able to give for work around thes c h o o l

Four s t u d e n t s a t School . L e f t toright: Simon Mtshayisa, James Ntoni,

Robert Geldenhuys and AndrewCalvert. mon Mtshayisa comes from

Germiston, just outside Johannesburg.He is married, bu t he and his wife haveno children of their own, so they haveadopted two. He worked in an AfricanChurch of Chr is t from 1944 to 1958 .T h i s is no t t he c hu rc h, a s w e know i t

b u t a n A f r i c a n s e c t H e f i r s t c a m e in

contact with our church through takingth e c l a s se s offered by Bro . Robert Millsan J came to the Bible Train ing Schoolin i960. L at er t ha t same year he wentto Nigel to look after the church there.In 1964 he went to G e rm i st on a n d hass e r v e d t h e r e e v e r s i n c e H e o v e r s a w

building of a c hu rch bu ild in g ab outthree years ag o and th e congregationhas purchased quite a bi t of buildingmaterial, h opi ng to erect a parsonagel at er t hi s year. The mission will helpw i t h th e c o s t o f e r e c t i o n o f t h i s h o u s e

James Ntoni comes fromMiddelburg,Cape, and because of th e fact that hew a s bo rn t h e r e w a s a b le t o m i n i s t e r t o

t he gr oup w he n the former minister wa sfo rced to leav e b e c a u s e o f inf lux co n

trol. His background is the DutchR e f o r m e d C hu r c h w he r e h e w a s a n

active member for a number of years.After examining the Scriptures closely,following the hearing of the New Testament position, he was led to acceptChrist as his personal Saviour andcame to s c h o o l w ith h is w ife in 1966 .Because of the moving away of manyof the congregation, he has been leftwith a very limited income. He is alsoa competen t dr iver and is trusted withthe driving of mission vehicles as th eo c c a s i o n d e m a n d s . He h as se r ved th eMiddelburg church for the past twoy e a r s


9/24

S e co nd Q u ar te r 1970 South A fr ic an Tor ch

Observatory Church, Polo RoadYou can see one of the young men from the church, Raymond Espin,

putting some final touches on the renovations to the front of the church.Jimmy Solomon not only is busy with the work he ha s started in Penlyn

Estate bu t assis ts with the Observatory congregation as well. He teachesthe s en io r class , is Sunday school super intendent , is on the board, andpreaches when the need arises.

f r j - - Uv. M

The Jimmy Solomon Family Hazel, Jimmy, Lynn, Karen and LomaLast year Jimmy and Haze l moved into their new home in Penlyn Estate .

Here in this Coloured development Jimmy and hi s family planned to begina new work. They began by making calls and getting acquainted with theirneighbors. B ec au se P en ly n Estate Is new there ar e few churches close tothe area, so there is real opportunity here. In past articles you have readabout t he progre ss t ha t has been made.

Th e Sunday school that is held on Sunday af ternoons ha s grown to ol arge for their home. Plans have been submitted to the council for a two-room building to be pu t up in the back yard. They need the room to grow.

Thursday evenings they meet with a fine group of young people. Noneof these young people have surrendered themselves to Christ so there is an e e d t o w in th em

Thus this home is b ei ng u se d to witness for the Lord. How is your

home being used?

Tr a v e l N e w s

by Lynn Stanley

Th e Stanleys have reservations tofly out of South Africa on July 20 andhope to arrive in Minneapolis on July

22. Actually, we have reserved round-trip tickets but may change thesebecause we do not know j us t w ha t wew i l l f ind w h en w e ar r ive in A m e r i c a .Lynn s father has made progress sincehis heart attack bu t is st i l l receivingcare and is in need of surgery beforehe ca n go to his home. Probably hew i l l n e e d c on sid er ab le c ar e a ft e r th a t

As soon as we can, we hope to arrangespeaking dates, but during August atleast we plan on being in Minnesota.As it is possible tha t at least one ofour sons, and perhaps Brian Guy andhis wife, will be returning to SouthA fric a a bo ut t he s am e t ime w e would beready, we have considered returning byb oa t r at he r t ha n flying.

At the present time we know of 6 00 ready for our travel but know thatour one-way fare will be 2,000. Wework and pray and have faith t ha t t hemoney will be available when it isneeded the l at te r par t of June. We willbe flying by way of Luxemburg andIceland, as we have found i t the cheaperroute. Larry will be staying in SouthAfrica to complete his high schoolt ra in ing and will be following us inD e c e m b e r. It w a s a d i ff i cu l t d e c i s i o nto make bu t appears to be the wiser one.Debbie would much rather stay in SouthAfr ica to cont inue he r e d u c a t i o n and tob e n e a r h er f r i e n d s S h e Is a n x i o u s t h a twe not be away long enough to put herwa y b eh in d, especially with her la ng u a g e s

i Tlie od o-fLsds II ll I w[ tliUou.. rtio5H4If I T

S ou th A f ri c an TORCH is a publicat ionof th e South A f r i c a n Church of ChristMission, an d is published four times eachyear in February, May, August and Novembe r by M is si on S e rv i ce s A ss oc ia ti on a t50 9 West Jefferson, Jol iet , Illinois 60435.Second Class P o s t a g e paid at Jo l i e t ,I l l i n o i s

S e co n d Q u a rt e r 1970

Volume 21 Number 2


10/24

Page 4

and their Forwarding Agents

Mr. an d Mrs. Alvin Nicho lson

and FamilyP. O . B ox 219

Port S h ep s to n e, N a t alS o u t h A f r i c a

Forwarding AgentMrs . R ic h ar d H a n so n

16642 Gannon Ave., W.Rosemount Minnesota 53068

Mr. an d Mrs. James Solomon Bethesda, Quartz StreetPenlyn Estate, Lansdowne

Cape Town South Africa

Forwarding AgentMr. an d Mrs. Da n Doty

307 South Congress

Polo, I ll inoi s 61064

r and rs Darrel Stanley140 Ringwood Drive

Pinelands, CapeSou th Afr i ca

Forwarding AgentM r. an d Mrs. Dona ld B a r n e s

R o u t e 1

Lyle, Minnesota 55953

r and rs Lynn Stanleyand Family

P. O . B ox 219

Port Shepstone, NatalS ou th A f ri ca

Forwarding AgentMrs. Sybil Evans

B o x 1

St. Joseph, Illinois 61873

South African Torch Second Quarte r 1970

N E W S F R O M W Y N B E R G

Last yea r Darr el and I decided thatwe would answer the call for help thatcame from the Wynberg Church. DonPat t i an d Chrissy Hart were due to

return to the States on furlough. Thiswould leave the small congregation withno leadership. So for the past year wehave tried to help. Now it is almostt im e fo r t he H a rt s t o r e tu r n . T h e re w e r e

only three of them w hen th ey left, bu tl i t t l e M e l i s s a M ar i e w a s bo rn on Va l e n

t ine s Day so now there ar e four. Weknow th ey ar e a nx io us to return to thework here. This means another changefor us. We have rented a h ou se a nd purnew address will be 140 RingwoodDrive, Pinelands, Cape, S .A ., a ft er t hefirst of May. We plan to continue help

ing the Wynberg congregation and to bean encouragement to the H ar ts , e ve nthough it means a bi t of a drive for us .Our new home will be only three an done-ha lf mi les from th e Medica l School,so this will be a b ig t ime- save r forD a r r e l .

This past year h as b een a time ofjoy for Darrel especially, as he wa sa b l e t o - se r-ve -as -a -min i s t e r of t he -Gos-pel as well as a student of medicine.He w as a bl e to gi ve the spiritual curesfor the needs of the congregation as hestudied the phys ica l cu res .

We thank each of you who especiallyremembered us in prayer this past yearwhile Darrel wa s carrying a doubleload. Please continue to remember us ,that we might be of greater service herein Cape Town.

Darrel is looking forward to Julywith great ant ic ipat ion and not justb e c a u s e h i s mid-term e x a m s w i l l b eover. He has the opportunity of takinga trip to v i si t s eve ral areas of missionwork here and in Rhodesia. JohnFulford who is from Cap e Town and

R E TU R N P O ST A G E G U A R A N T E E D

B O X 3 6 8 . J O t I E T I I U I N O I S 6 0 4 3 4

by Anne Stanley

preaches for the Observatory congregat ion, is du e to return to th e States then d of t hi s y ea r. So that he c an b et te rreport on the work here, he plans t

spend a month visiting various missionaries. J oh n a nd Louise h av e tw o smalgirls and a trip of this type would betoo much for a ll of them. Knowing thathis type of trip would give Darrel ac h a n c e t o s e e so m e o f t he m e di ca l m issions work John invited him to goa long . Lou ise and 1 will remain behindto take care of things here and keepeach other company.

This trip will no t o nl y p ro vi deD ar re l a nd John w it h v al ua bl e knowledge of various aspects of missionwork in southern Africa it will give

t h o s e v i s i t e d a n a d de d b oo st o f e n c o u ragement. 1 know Darrel will have lotto pass on to you w he n he returns.

March brought Darrel and me a timeof special joy. We had always hopethat some of my family would be ablto visit us . And then my youngestsister and my great-aunt asked if thecould come an d see us. Natural ly wequickly answered them in the affirmat iv e. T he y arrived on March 5 and werewith us unt il Apil 2.

With the help of our friends we were

able to show them many of the sightsCape Town an d th e surrounding countryside. Poor Darre l missed m any of theseexcursions, a s he w as in c la s s .

I t w a s a r e a l b o o s t t o u s t o h a v e

them here and to talk about family newsIf an y of y ou ha ve family who ar e oth e mission field do tr y to visit themNot only will it be a time of joy anexcitement bu t you will go home wita greater knowledge of the di ff icul t iesa n d th e r e w a r d s of m i s s i o n w o r k . T h e n

you ca n p ut t hi s knowledge to work inyour home congregation.


11/24

Vol. 11 No. 5

Dear F r i e n d s


J u l y 1970

You talk of how hot i t is and we just now are thinking of how cold i t is. Whileat camp in Pondoland i t rained and turned cold. I only had on a tee shirt shirtslipover sweater button up sweater a coat and another coat and then sometimes wasn o t t o o w a r m .

It is too early in the month to have yet received the financial report fromSandra for last month but she has said that we have received money from severalchurches for V S and some extra from others and how thankful we are for this. Weknow that our expenses will be larger with the greater responsibility at school. have spent much more fo r t r a v e l as weil

Our camp in Pondoland last week was a good one and fa r bigger than we had anticipated. Because only three of us were going from Port Shepstone we took only onepickup. Lynn Stanley had told the ministers he would help some of the students sincecamp was a t L u s ik i s i k i which i s south o f where most o f the churches are lo ca ted .But he never guessed how many would appear. When the count was completed after fourtrips he had hauled more than 90 people. For Saturday we had hired a bus to takemost of them home but the rain made i t impossible for i t to get into town Thus

af ter several t r ips we finally made our way home. There were more than 100 studentsat camp. I also had opportunity to teach some of th e adults pres en t. I just wish wecould have had more classes for them. Well really I did not se t the teaching butanswered thei r questions. I was chapel speaker and there were 22 who confessedChrist during the week. We just finished our camp here Darrel Stanley and JohnFulford were here from Capetown and helped with classes. There were 52 present whicha l s o s e t s a n ew r e c o r d .

On th e evening of th e 3rd we had an American supper here in honor of th e Stanleys. This for th e most par t was or is a gathering of missionaries and we had agood evening...visiting singing looking at two films from the American Embassy anda Bible m ess age by John Fulford.

Vernita and 1 took th e students home who went as far as Middelburg Cape andthen went on to East London to see the Kernans. This was also to talk about plansfo r the new church building in that area. Just today I received the si te plan andsize of blocks to be used so I must do a bit of figuring to see how many brick weneed and send for th e plans for th e building. Later in the month th e Kernans wereup this way and we a l l enjoyed fellowship together.

I have been busy getting material for some of my classes in form so i t can bemimeographed to make i t ava i lab le to th e students an d make th e work e a s i e r. I s ha l lalso be teaching a class on th e Holy Spi r i t and that material wil l also have to bemimeographed. I t will be a bit easier with th e machine at our home while th e Stanleysare in America. Stanl eys l eave for America on th e 20th of July. Larry will be coming to s tay with us u n t i l school i s ou t in December

This le t ter was started before the long weekend during which there was a camp atEscourt District . There were both adults and children fo r this camp with about 40 ina t t e n d a n c e . I t i s th e f i r s t t ime on e has been h e l d in t h i s a r e a .

Wednesday the 15th both of us will go to Graaff Reniet for a meeting with th echurch there and will bring s tudent s back when we return. School star ts again on th e21st. Much i s wrought by prayer and we as k tha t you remember us much as we work andt e a c h i n t h e s c h o o l .

FORWARDING AGENT:M r s . R i c h a r d H a n s o n

16647 Gannon Ave . W. n t n i M i

F o r C hr i s t i n A fr i c a

A l v i n Ve r n i t a N i c h o l s o n J a m e s

P . 0 . Bo x 219P o r t Shepstone Nata lS o u t h A f r i c a


12/24


Vol 11 No. 6 August 1970

Dear F r i e n d s

Greetings in the wonderful name of our Saviour. We rejoice anew to be in Hisservice. Alvin turned this letter over to me He has found his time pretty welltaken up School progresses quite smoothly even with our ineptness at some of theseunaccustomed tasks. We find we are very forgetful . Does someone have a remedy for^hisT^Jj^in turned the half century mark today and maybehe thinks this is the reason

Minister George Fuphi passed away suddenly in July. He had just returned homefrom two terms of school when he suffered a brain hemorrhage He was in the home ofan elder preparing to go out for services in another place when he suddenly began tofeel dizzy and was taken to the hospital where he died within a few hours.

n There ara


13/24

The students of Dakota Bible College have been helping us this year through theirFaith Promise gif ts . One of the Sunday School c lasses at First Church in LaCrosseWisconsin has been helping monthly and we have just received a l e t te r from ClearmontMissouri that they will be helping us monthly. ow we thank each of these groups fo rth is he lp .

We extend ou r thanks as well to th e Cherokee Iowa Church who remembered usespecial ly on Mother s Day and Father s Day.

We have purchased two new speakers to be used with the P.A. system. These willbe used with th e car battery.

One Sunday morning during the holiday time when we were not quite so hurried asusual we were outside enjoying the lovely sun and looking over our flowers. 1 saw apurple flower on a red rose bush and started to pick i t wondering what a purple flowerwas doing on a red rose bush. s I touched i t , i t came alive and to our surprise anddelrglrt i^t wasabug^ It wasaTTeovered wirth~Truffied purpTe~andr lavenderfri^TlsI couldn t believe i t . I intended to hold i t and bring i t in the house but Alvin saidi t might bite so 1 left i t . have since found out that this is a species of praying mantis which dresses to match the flowers of the bush in which i t makes i t s homeand this one made its home amongthe purple lavender and white flowers of the yesterday today and tomorrow bush which is just next to the rose bush. It had strayeda l i t t le. They only wear these fri l ls when they are small and when full grown shedthem and become the green long legged insects that sometimes invade the house andc l i n g t o t h e c u r t a i n s

May the Lord continue to bless and guide you all in all areas of your life.

FORWARDING AGENT:M r s . R i c h a r d H a n s o n16647 Gannon Ave. , W.Rosemount, Minn. 55068


Mailed by

F i r s t C h r i s t i a n C h u r c h

Camp P o i n t , I l l i n o i s6 3 2 2 0

Return Reques ted

Yours with Chr is t i an Love,

THE NICHOLSONS

A l v i n Ve r n i t a and Jam es

3P 2\97Q

M i s s io n S e r v i c e s

B o x 9 6 8

J o l i e t l l i n o i s 6 0 4 3 4

MR. MRS. ALVIN NICHOLSONP 0 B o x 2 1 9

Por t Sheps tone , Nata lS o u t h A f r i c a

N o n -P r o fi t O rg an i z at i onU S POSTAGE

1 .6 t PAIDCamp P o i n t I l l i n o i s

P e r m i t N o 7


14/24

NEWS WITH THE NICHOLSONSVol. I I , No 7 September, 1970

Dear h r i s t i a n Fr iends ,

Greetings from South Africa. We are rejoicing because most of South Africa ha s

received rain. But East London received too much. They had about 20 inches. TheKemans were here the Sunday before. We have t r i e d to ca l l them but o f c ou rs e c ou ldnot ge t t hr ou gh b ec au se te lephone se rv ice was broken.

School i s going on very well. Now that we are gett ing used to seeing to many newmatters i t is easier, though i t i s always a rush in th e morning to get there fo r theearly class. But I will sa y tha t we do sometimes have to change th e class times al i t t l e b i t We general ly ca l l th is running on African Time for few of t h e i r se rvices keep r i gh t with the clock.

we nave been having a found w Tth colds, but certainly glad that they have no tgone in to the f l u , for many have had i t very hard. One of the A fr ic an n ur se s told methat 29 African men had died in the male wards at Port Shepstone Hospital from flu.

Mrs. Songo, the minis ter s wife at Invuthini , was in the h os pi ta l f or a few days.The h o s p i t a l was so crowded t h a t she was in the Indian sec t ion and in one room somewere on the f loor. They are building new hospi ta l areas here soon. But the numberof Africans through natural increase and the fact that many more now go to the hosp i t a l has pu t g r e a t s t r a i n on i t s f a c i l i t i e s

This l a s t month 1 also had to make a t r i p to Hibberdene to take one to the ho spi ta l . She was so weak tha t she could hardly walk. So often th is i s th e case. Theya re very s ick befo re th ey eve r go to see th e doc to r.

We have gotten the speakers fo r the P. A System and now want to put i t in use.

The end of th is month we shal l be driving down to Capetown for th e Annual Meetingfor the churches. We will have a load, because we shall be taking several of the menfrom school with us. One man a t l eas t , w ill re turn with us for the l a s t term ofs c h o o l

There i s a great shortage of cement jus t now We had hoped to do some work atsch oo l, bu t have no cement. Nomazele wanted cement an d th e block machine t o do somework on t he i r church a t Lusikisiki , but we cannot get cement. Most of the buildersare gett ing about ha l f of what they need and they get f i r s t chance. I t may be th ef i r s t of next year, when a new plant comes into operation, that th e supply will catchup w i t h t h e demand.

Since wri t ing the above, 41.vin has ha d to go to the Doctor. He has ha d -stomach^ ^-^trouble for about three weeks, so thought i t was time to get help. Doctor said the^

medicine he gave was moon medicine. Expensive enough

The s tu de nt s a pp re cia te th e cupcakes and extra dishes prepared for them. Theirdaily menu i s Samp and beans with some meat, r ice and vegetables, f ru i t when i t isavailable cheaply and j e l lo on weekends. They love sugar and anything sweet. Thechief s son asked me to bake th e cake t in ful l of cakes for his family. I will th isn e x t w e e k


15/24

James ra n in some of the spor t s day races. Came in second in one helped histeam come in f i r s t in a re lay and came in f i r s t in one and l a s t in t he h ur dl es . Sayshe needs to be f i t t e r to endure th e 800 meter ones ar e fast converting tometers grams and so on . I must confess I am glad they s t i l l wri te f ee t poundsand miles i n paren these s as I am often confused by such measures yet.

I t is hard to believe that the school term is jus t three weeks from finishing.I was s t i l l thinking in terms of j u s t s tar t ing

appreciate your prayers and helpyour hearts with Hi s glorious Spi r i t .

so much And so may the precious Lord f i l l

FORWARDING AGENT:


16647 Gannon Ave . 7

.oso: o u n t i n n 5S06u


Mailed byF i r s t hr is t ian C h u r c h

Camp P o i n t I l l i n o i s6 3 2 2 0

R e tu rn R e qu es te d

Yours i n C h ri st ia n Love

TH E NICHOLSONS

A l v i n Ve r n i t a a nd Jam es

o \^C. ;

M i s s i o n 3 9 r v 1 c 2 sB o x 9 6 3

J o l i a t I l l i no i s 6 0 4 3 4

MR MRS. ALVIN NICHOLSONP 0 B ox 2 1 9

P o rt S h ep st on e N a ta lS o u t h A f r i c a

N o n- pr o fi t O r ga n iz a ti o nU . S POSTAGE

1 6 ^ PAID

Camp P o i n t I l l i n o i sP e r m i t N o 7


16/24

T hy word is a lam p unto myfee t, and a l i g h t unto my path .

- P s a l m s 1 1 9 : 1 5

SOUTHâ F m c A N

TOiftHjKimberley L > Bible College0^. J

P o rt S h ep st on e

John Labalaln, a leachcr al iheBible Training School, married MayvisMadlala a local girl on theSlh ofJuly Volume Mr Stanley performed the ceremony.

Cape Town Ê o s t L o n d o n

T h ir d Q u ar te r 1970 Number 3

PONDOLAND CAMPThis makes th e fourth c am p h el d in

the large African territory, known asPondoland. S t ri ct ly speaking , if is nzone in bet^^n_reâl JChosa and Zuluêrritorv We have six minisrers :|ndprobably thirty preachi ng. pointS_in_Jthe-a r e a B e c a u s e o f d i s t a n c e an d t h e

small size of many of these groups,Bible knowledge ha s also been scarce.Most g ro up s h av e no Sunday schools-There ha s been a marked improvementin what the young people know of the

Bible in r ec en t y ea rs . Unfortunately,o nl y t hr ee of the si x l o ca l min is te rshave shown much interest in camp.

This year it wa s decided to holdc amp in a place somewhat removed frommost of th e groups to g ive encou ragement to this and nearby congregations.To help with the transportation I agreedto h a u l s t u d e n t s f rom o u r e n d an d to

return to pick up a second load. InsteadI h a u l e d four l o a d s a t o t a l o f a b o u t

ninety-two campers. We hired a bu sto return them to their home; bu tbecause of rain on Thursday and Fridayth e b us c ou ld no t make it, and I ha d totak e th e group back.

This has been our largest camp inPondoland and was about equallydivided between fi rs t and s ec on d y ea rcampers . Bro . Nicholson, Bro. Labata laand I helped with th e tea ch in g. Weattempted to introduce new classesth is year to widen our instruction aswell. There were twenty-one responsest o t h e i n v i t a t i o n a t t h e c l o s e o f th e

camp, with th e baptisms to be carriedo u t in t h e h o m e c h u r c h e s O n e w a s a

so n o f o n e o f t h e c h i e f s

by Lynn an d Lucille Stanley^ An unusual experiencecame our

way during the week. A family nearbycame Wednesday e ve ni ng a nd asked ifI could bring the body of the motherwho had passed away in a missionhospital fifteen miles away. Thefamily evidently had little informationbu t were going to meet us th e nextmorning at the hospital. When Alvinand I arrived at the h os pi ta l t he nextmorning, there was no one there tomeet us ; an d th e hospital refused to

le t the body be moved without a coffin.D i f f i c u l t i e s a l s o a r o s e b e c a u s e t h e

n am e w e h a d w a s n o t t h e s a m e a s t h a t

of the body. Just then a telephone callcame explaining that the family hadmissed us , would we buy a coffin atthe nearby t rading store, and the familywould meet us on th e r et ur n tr ip . Wepurchased th e c of fi n, l oa de d th e bodya nd m ad e ou r wa y to camp, s t i l l withoutmeeting th e family. This wa s only ashor t d i s t a n c e from th e h o m e an d ayoung man directed us. We ha d missedthe family, because of a misunderstandin g as to where we were to meet. Whenwe arrived at the home, they were g ladto se e we had purchased a coffin; now,w oul d we take them to th e hospital topick up th e body We explained that weh ad a lr ea dy done so . Alvin wa s asked ifhe would hold the funeral the next day,which he did with th e local minister.

We l ea rn ed a no th e r i nc id e nt a f te r

we had returned home. A boy hadr i d d e n fo r s o m e d i s t a n c e o n t h e o u t s i d e

of the canopy of th e pickup a nd hadeither jumped or fallen off, i nj ur ing

himself b adl y. Neither Alvin nor I hadb ee n a wa re that anyone had been out

side the truck; for we had seen themai l s af ely ins ide before get ti ng into thet r uck o u r s e l v e s We under s t and t h a t hewill live; bu t we do no t know howserious the injuries were, nor how oldth e bo y w a s .

It was a cold an d wet w eek du ri ngth e Pondoland camp; and the last daywas especially tiring as Lynn transported campers to their respectiveh o m e s o v e r th e w et P ondo la nd r o a d s

He arrived home ab out 11: 30 Saturdaynight, had a full Sunday and on Mondaybegan the Umzumbecamp. After keeping

going for four days, he was ordered tobed by the doctor, and* si x days laterhe is stil l there. He go t up awhile onS at ur day and a gai n on Sunday to takecare of th e marriage of John Labatala,a t t h e s c ho ol He will be unab le to

assist in the weekend c amp at Estcourtbeginning on Friday. This is a newarea for a camp, an d we were anxiousto s e e w h a t c o ul d b e d on e W e a r e e v e n

(Continued on page 2

tM

Pondoland campersre^ceiving their food.


17/24

Page 2

AT R ERTONby Alvin Nicholson

Because I had p r o m i s e d th em i n i s t e r s I w o u l d t a k e th em h om e o n c e

during each term of school many tripswere made just recently. This made itpossible for them to se e thei r fami l iesa n d to v i s i t th e h u r h e s B r o .

Mtshayisa from Johannesburg askedthat I go to Barber ton to visit that congregation. He had asked several timesbut I had not been able to go. Thereha s been a question concerning thechurch s i t e t ha t n e e d e d a t t e n t i o n

What a blessing it was to visitthese brethren. All things were readyon our arrival and having lef t home at4:00 a.m., it was good to have a cup oftea. We had wanted to be there early

in t he a ft er no o n wi th t ime to s e e th elocation officer. We stopped to se e twoof the elders before arriving at thehome where Bro. Mtshayisa wa s tostay. It was not long before the folksbegan to come to greet us and talk.

Brother Mtshayisa had w or ke d w i thso m e o f t h e s e f ol ks b ef or e he cam e to

work with u s . Later he wrote th e on e-who was leading them and-talked ofGod s plan for His people. Th e manasked for more i nf or ma ti on ; b ut B ro .M ts ha yi sa p re fe rr ed to vis i t them.After their talks he was asked by that group to minister to them. T he ir l ea de rw as o ld a n d w an te d to r e t i r e to S w a z i

land. He sold the church his home^church building and o th er h ou se s t ha twere on the p lo t. They have almostc om pl et ed p ay in g for it now. Theymade a payment of 140 the weekend/we were there. /

The church has tried to get this^building recognized as a church site;but now they have been told to applyfor a church site. This present buildingis too small. There were 150 present

Barberton church building

South A f ri ca n To rc h

V ,'3

M i n i s t e r s home a t Barberton

at our visit an d the bui ld ing was jam-packed. It will be a blessing for themto have a l arge r b ui ld in g built. Th epeople were h ap py t oo ; for t hi s p re se n tbuilding ca n then be used for a house.

Barberton is a very pretty town;Lut the thing which I found interestingw a s th e c ab le t h at r a n o v e r th e t o w n

carrying asbestos from high on themountain down to the railway. It wasmy first visit to the town and broughtme very near to Lourenco Marques aplace we hope to visit on e day.

ON SUND YSby Vernita Nicholson

th e coming of winter to SouthA fr ic a t he p oi ns et ca s b la ze over the

h i l l s of N a t a l an d th e Kaff i rboom t r e e sflare out with their orange bird-likeblossoms. The poinsettas grow to theheight of sma ll t re es here and are oftenused as hedges around homes. Th eb lo ss om s a re often as large as hugeplatters. Th e aloes have raised theirflaming torches as if they were ancientrioters lighting their way in protest ofc ur re nt l aw s an d p rac t ic e s. The se ar ea dr y climate plant bu t grow well hereon the coast as well. T he l ov el y scentof th e yesterday toda y an d tomorrowb u s h e s u n d e r th e w arm w in te r s un f i l l s

^ th e a jx ^^ Th e rain came to b l e s s th earea and new growth bursts through thes o a k e d s o i l

With school out ou r ac t iv i t ieschange; an d we have enjoyed th echange. Our Sundays have been spentin d iffere nt a r e a s fo r s e r v i c e s OneSunday we were invited to meet th ec h i e f of t heGci l ima a r e a . T he se rv iceswere held outside hi s home afterwhich many gave short speeches. Thechief himself spoke; Alvin wa s givena brief time, and t hen an offering wastaken for the chief. His subjects had

Third Quarter 1970

purchased an automobile for him andthis gathe ring was chief ly to show hisgratitude. After his acceptance wew e r e i n v i t e d i n s i d e h i s h om e for t h e

sumptions dinner. There were some 20of us seated around an L-shaped table.Th e chief himself di d no t ea t with usno r d id h is w i f e M ost o f t h e o n e s a t

t h e t a b l e w e r e l o c a l s c ho o l t e ac h e rs

Another Sunday we were invited toInvutshini for services. Th e LynnStanleys as well as John F ul fo rd a ndDarrel Stanley^ attended. Bro. Songotold us th at t he y w an te d one of us toteach th e Sunday School class ; bu tsince we were so many Europeans an dI wa s the on e designated to teach Iwanted an interpreter. No one outsidethe m inister and his w ife wanted todo it, so the local teacher taught theclass after all . We thought sh e did a

good j ob. T he c hi ld re n recited for usa few of the memory verses they hadl e a r n e d lv i n w as to h a v e b e e n th e

preacher; but since John Fulford wa svisiting he asked him to preach. Afterthe Lord s Supper, and offering wa staken for th e fa re we ll g if t of th e Stanleys. This wa s quite an enjoyablet i m e . T h e l o c a l u m t h a k a l h i w as t h e r e

and he gave h is offering with quite aflourish as di d many others. It wa sreally a happy time with much singingAfrican dancing and hand clapping.Ann Kernan gave her offering with an

appropriate dance and pleased th e f r i c a n s m u c h

P O N D O L A N D CAMP

(continued from page 1)more concerned because much of th enecessary preparations for our departure are still undone, and it is worryingus to se e the time going by so quickly.

We ar e scheduled to fly fromJohannesburg via Trek airlines on the20th of July. We will go immediately toMinnesota to see Lynn s father. Th el a s t w o r d w e h ad a bo ut h im w a s t h a t h e

had had to return to the hospital followin g a ba d spell .

Late N e w s

Just as this is ready to sendw e h a v e r e c e i v e d word t h a t B r o .

George Fuphi minister at Stutter-heim, ha s j us t p as se d away. Web e l i e v e i t w a s a h ea rt a tt a ck

Mr. Fuphi and hi s wife were bothin s c h o o l l a s t te rm. We ore a llsaddened by this report.


18/24

Third Quarter 1970

TOUR LUXby Darrel Stanley

B ac k a bo ut t hr ee m on th s ago, JohnFu l fo rd a sk ed i f I wo ul d b e i n t e r e s t e d

in making a tour of some of t h e m i ss io nf i e l d s i n s o u t h er n A fr ic a w it h h i m . H i s

furlough i s du e in October of this yearand he wanted to better acquaint himself with what is going on. This tourw o u l d i n c l u d e t he t hr ee a r e a s of m e d i

ca l work in Rhodesia an d so appealedto me from this point of v ie w. Th e planw a s to s e e th re e c en te rs o f w o r k in

South Africa and twice that many inRhodesia. We would try to cover asmuch of th e work in each area as po ssible, visiting t he m is si on ar ie s andsharing with them in whatever waypossible.

I am writing at the midpoint in th ejourney; and certainly it ha s been ajoy to meet so many workers for theLord and to share in their joys andplans. have been put to work quiteoft en , too. In Por t Sheps tone we helpedou t with the y ou th camp for our Africanyoung people. While in Johannesburg,John was asked to speak at the Craig-ha ll Park Church . I wanted to v i s i twith th e Beit Stree t congregation, somade my way there. No one knew thatI was coming. The first thing they saidwa s Hello. Immediately afterwards itwas, Of course, you did bring a se rmon, didn t you? I had, and I spokefor them that evening. At Mashoko,John and I were both asked to tellabou t th e work in Sou th Africa. I t a lkedabout th e African side and John told ofthe work among the white people.

The trip so far ha s pointed out threefacts quite clearly to me. 1. Ther e isno area that is free from problems.Satan i s busy at work trying to teardown that which Christians ar e attempting to do. 2. Much is being done forth e R e s t o r a t i o n Move me n t i n s ou th er n

A fr ic a t od ay. Th e work is varied; it isdeveloping steadily. 3. Finally, I haveseen over and over the ric h fellowshipof God s people. If this is a foretasteof heaven i tself , then I know that tha ti s w h e r e I w a n t to b e . C h r i s t i a n s h e r e

have the greatest thing in th e worldgoing for them and they really want toshare it . Ca n th e same be sa id of you?

South Afr i can Torch Page 3

A LIGHT BURNS BRIGHT

It h ad t ak en a good hour to se t upthe room for showing a filmstrip forchapel at the Umzumbe Bible camp.T h e w ind o w s h ad n o c u r t a i n s an d i t

took a lo t of improvising with moveableblackboards, r eed m at s an d a varietyof other o b j e c t s John Ful ford hadintroduced th e filmstrip, one in a seriesby Dr. Paul White, former missionaryto Tanganika , aboiit the Jungle Doctor.As 1 flipped the switch on the projectort h e r e w as a f l a sh a nd th en d a r k n e s s Itw a s n t a rea l s er io us s et ba ck as i t

was only noon. We could come backthat e v e n i n g and have chapel then.T h a t i s w h a t w e d id .

We borrowed a projector from B ro.Nicho l son and s e t o u t to s h o w tw o

filmstrips that evening. Near the endof the f i r s t film Bro. N i c h o l s o n sprojector bulb gave up the ghost aswel l . Bro. N i ch o ls on f el t it w a s co inc id en ta l. T he bu lb w as o ld an d h a ddied a natur al d e ath. Luck il y, this timewe were sufficiently fa r en ou gh alon gwith t he f il ms tr ip to just tell th e restof the story and le t it go at that.

Friday morning we planned on twochapel services to allow for the extrafilmstrip. We came armed with one bulband the promise of more coming when

we went out to camp. When th e nextb u l b w e n t o u t in th e midd le o f t h a t

filmstrip, we knew something waswrong. An investigation disclosed thatthe generator from the electric plantwas producing 275 volts instead of therequired 220. It was apparently due tosome new belts recently put on the

Lynn Stanley, Darrel Stanley andJohn Fulford. Taken while the menwere at Port Shepstone helping with

the youth camp of the area.

by Darrel Stanleymachine. That was soon rect if ied, anew bulb p ut i nt o the projector and oursecond c h a p e l service went alongw it ho ut a ny hitches.

Camp this year was held at theBible Training School. There wereabout 45 campers this year and chapelservices usually included some localpeople, bringing it s n u m b e r up tob e t w e e n 60 and 70 e a c h t ime . T h e

local minis ters each taught a class andeach of the four miss ionaries presenttaught a class, making a total of fourclasses to each first an d second-year grades. Th e s ec on d-y ea r gradesar e for those who ha ve b ee n in campthree years or longer and they make a

more advanced group to communicatewith. My own class wa s on the beginning of the Church of Christ, from thefirst few chapters in the book of Acts.There was good response from th eclass and a quiz at the end showed afair degree of comprehension. All inall the camp was very enjoyable thisyear. I was asked seve ra l times whereinkosikasi (the young woman w as . Iexplained that Anne had stayed hometo keep Louise Fulford and her twodaughters company while I made thetrip with John Fulford. I know Anne

missed being with the campers as muchas they missed her.

T he r e w as a l e s s o n fo r a ll o f u s in

th e burned -ou t b u l b s I f w e a r e no t

connected to th e ^ source of powercorrectly, we w il l no t be able to shineas we ought. Perhaps it was an expensive lesson from the point of view ofprojector bulbs; but then who canes t imate th e value of these youngsouls? Three girls s t e p p e d out tor ec e i ve C h ri st a s t h e i r S a v i o r We t r u s t

that as they are now c or r ec t ly l in ke dto t he s ou rc e of power their l ives mayshine out b ri gh tl y and clearly to thosewho ar e in their community.

South Af ri can TOR C H is a publ icat ionof the South A f r i c a n C hurc h of ChristM is si on , a nd is published four times eachyear in February, May, August and November by M is si on S er vi ce s Association at509 West Jefferson, Joliet, Illinois 60435.Second Class P o s t a g e paid at Jol ie t ,I l l i n o i s

Thi rd Quar te r 1970

Volume 21 Number 3


19/24

Page 4

S ou th A fr ic an TORCH

Published quarterlyfor the following:

MISSIONARIES

and their Forwarding Agents

Mr an d Mrs. Alvin Nicholsonand Family

P. O . Box 21 9Por t Sheps tone , Natal

S o ut h A f ri ca

Forwarding AgentM r s . R i c h a r d H a n s o n

16642 Gannon Ave., WRosemount, M i nn e so t a 5 50 68

Mr an d Mrs James Solomon Bethesda , Quartz StreetPenlyn Estate, Lansdowne

Ca|>e Town, South Africa

Forwarding AgentMr an d Mrs Da n Doty

307 South CongressP ol o, I l li no i s 61064

r and rs Darrei Stanley140 Ringwood Drive

Pinelands, CapeSou th A f r i c a

Forwarding AgentM r. a n d Mrs . D o n a l d B a r n e s

R o u t e I

Lyle, Minnesota 55953

r and rs Lynn Stanleyand Family

P. O . B ox 219Por t Sheps tone , Natal

S o u t h A f r i c a

Forwarding AgentMrs Sybil Evans

B o x 1

St . Joseph, Illinois 61873

South A f ri ca n Tor ch

H E L P E R S

Sandra Stoffberg an d Keith Rossouwar e two young people from th e PoloRo ad congregation who have beenass is t ing the Solomon s in their BibleS c h o o l w o r k .

Sandra and Keith are both 19 yearsold, they also have the same birthdate September 5th. Sandra isemployed as a cashier in one of thelarge department stores. She comes froma family of eight children. Her f at he ran d mother pius a brother an d s is terhave a ll made d e c i s i o n s fo r C h r i s td ur in g the current minis t ry of BrotherJ oh n F ul fo rd .

Keith is employed in the capacityof accountancy. He comes from afamily of three chi ld ren . Kei th is theonly born-again Christian in th efamily He is most enthusiastic about

hi s faith in Christ, and is quite capableas a young preacher. Both he andSandra have been a great help to usTheir faithfulness is most encouraginga n d c o m m e n d a b l e

TRAINING S C H O O L DUTIES

With th e Stanleys return to Americafor f ur lo ug h, t he operation of th e Ministers T ra in in g S ch ool fa ll s to us.While we regularly teach in th e school,we do not have the work of seeing to

R E T U R N P O ST A G E G U A R A N T E E D

BO X s J O L I E T l U U I N O I S 6 4 3 4

the operation of it Quite a numberhave said they would be at tending thisterm, but it remains to be s e e n ho wmany arrive. We will make a trip to th eCape the 13th for a meeting and thenalso pick up those students wh o desireto retur to school. We as k your prayersfor us as we undertake this that it mayb e d o n e w e l l

Alv in a n d V e m it a N i ch o ls o n

T h ir d Q u a rt er 1970

Some youngpeople gather where thebeginners class is held The beginnersare usually still doing some colouringwhen th e other c l a s s e s ar e dismissed ,it serves as a good place to have achat after Sunday School

^

Tent se t up for the mee t ing onPentecost Sunday


20/24

NEWS W ITH T HE N IC HO LS ON S

V ol. 1 1 , No . 8

D e a r C h r i s t i a n F r i e n d s

O c t o b e r , 1970

On th e mission f i e l d we are always behind a l i t t l e on th e th ings t h a t happen i nAmerica. So Hazel Widlund had already passed-aw^Y and was laid to res t when th e wordcame to us . I t is impossible for us to e xp re ss b ur appreciation for her love and helpthroughout th e years t h a t she labored wi th us in t h i s work o f th e Lord. Her f a i t hwhi l e we were home wa s wonde r fu l t o behond, f o r she knew t h a t t h e L o r d s c a l l could

come an y t ime an d t h a t whi le h e r disease was a r r e s t e d she was no t cured . So shewaited on th e Lord wi th happy f a i t h

The 25th o f l a s t month we loaded the pickup with students and the Zobolos anddrove t o Por t E l i zabe th . There were e i g h t i n a l l bes ides we t h r e e Th e C h r i s t i a n sa t Port Elizabeth ha d arranged sleeping accommodations fo r them. One s tu d en t r et ur ne dto her home from there , an d we picked up the wife of another, so we s t i l l ha d a f u l lload. Saturday night , we were in Capetown. After finding t he p la ce s for those whowent wi th u s , we had to hunt a l i t t l e fo r th e Zimmerman home s ince we had f a i l e d t oa s k fo r e x a c t d i r e t i o n s

Sunday morning, we at tended serv ices a t Bel lv i l l e . Sunday evening we showeds l ides a t Wynberg and then went to Polo Roads fo r the l a s t te a with the Fulfords before they flew to A us tr al ia and f i na l l y to th e Sta tes fo r fur lough. Monday was r e s twent f i sh ing with Gordon Nelson an d caught two sand sharks . Tuesday 1 used the p ickup to get supplies fo r the Conference and t ranspor t them to th e p la ce where the meetings would be. Wednesday morning began with committee meetings and these continuedu n t i l l a t e af ternoon. TTiat n igh t , 1 ha d the opening message on Abraham The an o fFai th . Thursday morning i s the time of co llec ting ta ble moneys an d building ande v a n g e l i s t i c funds. Since t h i s i s a l l brought i n smal l change i t takes some t ime tocount i t There was a change in the program t h i s year. The sermons were o nl y p rea ched a t night and on Sunday morning. Classes were held for the minis te rs and the othermen present . The group also decided tha t for th is coming year they would offe r helpto four men who might want to come to scho ol, b ut could not fo r they had no way fo rt he i r famil ies to be supported. This amount wil l not be to ta l ly adequate, but wi l l

g ive them h e l p .

The las t Sunday evening we showed pictures and spoke for the church a t Polo Roads.They have been sharing t he i r missionary giving with the school in many ways an d j u s tnow are helping with a fund to bring water to th e school .

Monday an d Tuesday, we r eve r sed ourevening. School s t a r t e d th e nex t day.

d i r e c t i o n s and a r r i v e d a t home on Tuesday

The drought in our area i s ce r t a i n ly broken fo r the t ime be ing . I t has beenraining o f f and on fo r the pas t two weeks, but t h is l a s t nigh t has been pouring down.In th e f ive days we have been back , we have had near ly 5 inches o f r a i n

e would l i k e to express our thanks fo r the wonderful way yo u haveing us in our l abors fo r the Lord. Pray fo r u s. e need i t badly.

been s u p p o r t -


M r s R i c h a r d H a n s o n

16657 Gannon A v e W.Rosemount , Minn. 55068

Yours i n C h r i s t

A l v i n Ve r n i t a N i c h o l s o n James

P 0 B o x 2 1 9

Por t S he ps to ne , N a ta lS o u t h A f r i c a


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NEWS WITH TH E NICHOLSONSVol. 11, No. 9 November, J970

Dear F r i e n d s

Summer draws near for us here in South Africa, but good ra ins are continuing tof a l l and we are very happy for t h i s change.

are one shor t in school from l a s t term, as on e man who ha d planned to come didnot make i t but 1 think i t wi l l be b e t t e r i f he makes h is s t a r t in the new year withthe other students who will be coming for the first time. e are getting quite anumber o f requests fo r nex t year and hope t h a t most o f them sha l l be able to come.

Last weekend Nick Qwemesha, Enock Zobolo an d 1 went f i r s t t o Eas t London an d t hent o S t u t t e r h e i m We m et w it h B r o th er Kernan an d some o f t h e b r e t h r e n f rom E a s t LondonSaturday noon and t h a t n i g h t we were presen t fo r the e ve ni ng m ee ti ng s a t Stut terheim.The brethren sa id services would s t a r t a t 9 p.m. Someone asked i f i t would not beposs ib le to s t a r t e a r l i e r and a f t e r some discussion among the men, they sa id theywould s t a r t a t 8. were presen t a t 8 but se rv ices r ea l l y got underway a t 9. But,Sunday morning they s t a r t ed services on time and we were able to get s t a r t ed home sot l iat our arr iva l a t Port Shepstone was about 9 :3 0 a t night .

DC i 7

Instead o f having t e a fo r t he s tu de nts a t th e beginning o f t h i s term, we had abraai barbeque). Larry and James played and sang with the guitars and we looked a tpic tures . Yes, t he s tu de nt s had to answer t he i r 25 questions. One student got thema l l r ight . I t i s not very often t ha t t h i s happens. I t i s always with a good Bibleknowledge.

Veriii ta and Ilrs. Qwemesha have t rans la ted a Christmas pageant in to Zulu and thestudents are working on the songs. This is the f i r s t time tha t we h av e t r i ed anythingl i k e t i s

Fina l ly, we have the l i gh t plan t running again, but when school i s out 1 must dosome more work on i t Mostly i t i s to rep lace some b o l t s t h a t a re worn out an d on ecanno t t i g l i t e n t l i e n u t s a s one w ould l i k e

i.;0se of you who l ive in the north do not understand much about t e rmi tes , but theyare ba d for wood in houses once they get s t a r t ed . At th e beginning of 1969, we had aman come t o give us an es t ima te . ITie p r i c e seemed h igh , b u t we knew t h a t we must getr ic i o f them. We h ad t o c a l l him back a s e c o n d t i m e and h e h ad s a i d t h a t h i s work wasa l l guaranteed. Now we f ind tha t he has gone ou t of business and the termites ares t i l l in business . had Pest Control come. They have opened a branch in PortShepstone and t he i r method i s certainly bet ter, bu t to do th e part of ou r house whichhas concrete floors will cost almost 170 They have to drill holes around the wallsof all the rooms that have concrete floors and inject f lu id into the soil underneaththe f loors. One door trim ha s been so b ad ly e ate n by the ants tha t we are going toniiave tochangeit n thereareacoupleofotherplacesthatarebad woulnotwant tiiem to g e t i n t o f l o o r j o i c e s o r th e f l oo rin g o f th e o t h e r rooms. As some havesa id , you never win for losing. But, th is i s one of the problems with homes in warmanu sandy a r e a s

very much covet your prayers , t h a t we have s tr en gth fo r the many t a sks we wouldl ike to do . Tiiere are a number of churches t ha t we have not yet v i s i t ed . have twot r i p s planned t h i s month and these wi l l perhaps be o ve r b ef or e yo u receive t h i s l e t t e rBut, we hope to have a weekend t e n t meeting a t the c lose o f November.


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School w i l l f i n i s h t h e 9 th o f December I w i l l t r y an d v i s i t some ch u rch e s as Ir e t u r n home from taking s tu den ts to t h e i r homes. Next y e a r not only would we p lanmore meetings in the t e n t fo r Fr iday Sa tu rday a nd S un da y bu t we a re making planst o t a k e t h e w h o l e s c h o o l o u t f o r a w e e k w it h t h e t e n t We w o u l d t e a c h o u r c l a s s e sin th e af ternoon an d preach ing a t n igh t

The f i r s t week in January we have been i n v i t e d to Johannsburg to he lpt h e i r youth camps.

w i t h o n e o f

FORWARDING AGENT:


16657 Gannon Av e . WRosemount Minn . 55068

NEWS W ITH THE NIC HOL SON S

Mailed b y . .

i r s t C h r i s t i a n C h u r c h

Camp P o i n t I l l i n o i s

6 2 3 2 0

Yours With C h r i s t i a n Love

TH E NICHOLSONS

A l v i n Ve r n i t a a n d Ja m esP 0 B o x 2 1 9

Por t Shepstone Na ta lS o u t h A f r i c a

M i s s i o n S e r v i c e s

B o x 9 6 3

J o l i e t I l l i n o i s 6 0 4 3 4

N o n P r of it O r g an i za t io nU . S POSTAGE

l 6


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Vol. 11, No. 10 December, 1970

D e a r F r i e n d s

We wanted our l e t t e r to be on time for Christmas but n ot u nle ss the brethren a t^ Madison Park Christian take some of the i r valuable time we shall be even late for

wishing you a Happy New Year. We do hope that you a ll have had a most wonderfuJC h r i s t m a s

Af w trials have which Tiav?^dethis letter late. n the Afternoonof the 5th of December^^terrific hail storm hit/our area. The stones were so big thatthey came right througfNi^ae>. ^bestc^s^.roorraESi^ d5roke28 out of 32 panes of glass on thewest side of ou r house. The water running in through the holes in th e roof causedpar t of the ceil ing to come down. There was two inches of ra in in the f i r s t two hoursof the storm. One builder has estimated damage to the house at 1400.00. Whatevercos t the re i s wiULJ^Le born by the j .nsurance. -

The storm hit at 4 p.m. I had only shortly come into the house and gone to theporch when Larry Stanley came in putting on a dry shir t . I t then s tar ted to hai l a tf i rs t slowly, but the stones were quite large, most of them being like big marbles;then the big ones hit and started coming through the roof. Vemita called to say thewindows were going. James was in bed with a temperature of 102. We were busy fo r thenext while moving beds, desks, books and the works. The living room and dining roomwere not too badly hit so we could put pans under the holes in th e ceiling where wewere le t t ing water through and take most of ou r things there. Vernita and James hadto go to sleep with the neighbors for two nights.

Sunday morning while i t was s t i l l raining, I went to the roof to put some plasticand tar over the holes above the living room I slipped and hit the edge of the pail sohad to have jUjrfte st i txhes on th e chin jus t to th e l e f t of the mouth.

Now that th e house will be a mess for sometime, we are going to do some otherwork t ha t we h av e w an te d to do fo r some t ime. When the house wil l be back in orderagain i s hard to say.

The same day as the storm, th e six year old nephew of FnnnV 7r>|^r>ir>.. ac killed by-ningwhile asleep on the sofa. I t did l i t t le damage to the house and i t is not

~Tcnown how g o t i n t o the house t o h i t him.

There have been^,iiakesL--yerywhere. A 12 year ol d boy was brought to Owemesha shome some four hours after he haid been bitten He died while laying on the living roomfloor. I f they had brought the boy at once or asked for a car or ambulance, he couldhave lived. Nick fe l t so badly about i t and he said the people seemed to care sol i t t le . Then we found one in the toilet for the kei. Two days later I was shuttingthe door of a garage at school, when I felt something hit my arm. Looking down therewas a snake with his head up looking at me. He had only brushed me as he f e l l . I amquite sure t -^t i t was a green mamba which is very poisonous. St i l l i f i t had bittenme I would have been at the hospital within a half an hour and probably only sick fora fe w days .

Now fo r ,side. The Sunday School program at Umsumbe went very well.The parents who came spoke many words of praise as to how their children enjoyed i tand how much they had learned. Our Sunday program for Invutshini and the closing program fo r the school were both rained out. All of the students have gone home or Ihave taken them home. We are hoping that eight of them will be back for the new year.I f anywhere near a ll come who have asked for entrance pa

Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1970 SAfrica

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