Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1977 SAfrica

8/10/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1977 SAfrica

1/16


2/16

J.

V

Dlaku

ministering at

Tsomo died week

before last .

ewas one who was

when

we

came

to South Africa.

Just

the end of

last

month he had turned

is work over to Brian Ngaca who was in school

las t

year.

May God r ic hl y b le ss and

keep

you.

FORWARDING AGENT:

Mrs

R i ch a r d

Hanson

16642 Gannon

Ave .

W

Rosemount Minn. 55068

NEWS WITH THE NICHOLSONS

Printed and mailed by

Madison Pa rk Ch r i s t i a n Church

215 Nor th 25 t h tr t

Quincy I l l ino i s 62301

You r s in Ch r i s t

Alv in

Vem i t a Nicho l son

Non Prof it Organizat ion

U. S

POSTAGE

Quincy

I l l ino i s 62301

P e rm i t

57

i r iss idn o3rv2.c3

Eo : :

1 7 7

i : i d

v


3/16

A l

NEWS WITH

THE

NICHOLSONS

VOL 18

NO.

2

April

1977

Dear Chr is t i an Fr iends

Thula benani

is the Zulu way of saying

Peace

be With You

(plural) .

As we wri te

th i s

le t te r for you th is month, th is is our prayer.

We

have

been

back

in

South

Africa

over

a

month

now

and

much

of

this

time has been

spent

in get t ing

th ings

ready

to ro l l

once

again.

I have spent qui te a few

hours

a t Zobolos helping them to get t he i r house f inished so they

could

move in

In fac t they

moved

in

before a l l

the work

was

done fo r thei r bedroom

on

the old house began to fal l down. When

they

moved in

the

house was finished

except

for

having

two windows in and

par t

of the

ridging

on the roof and

painting.

Our problem with

th e rid gin g was

tha t

fo r s ev era l

weeks

we

could not

get any in th is area.

How

wonderful

it

i s

to see them in a home where

you

know tha t

they

are not going to get

wet

or

it

wil l

not

f a l l down on them, _ ^

When

they have

concrete

f lo ors h ere , they

put

a

hard

surface

over

the

base

f loor . They

ask me

to buy

red, yellow, green and b lack color ing which

they

put on and

mixed

into the

cement

so it was colored. They have

worked it

so they

have

a di f fe ren t design in every

room. Their

big job

now

inside

wil l be

that of

painting. They also have qui te a b i t of

finishing

work

to

do

out sid e but th is can be

done

as

they

are able. We also want to

make

built in

cupboards

for the house.

The oldest son of

the

Zobolos, A lpheus, has gone back

to

school

a t

the University of

Zulu-

land. The

school

has been closed

since

June of l a s t year. He is a second yea r s tudent

there. The

second

son, Jethro, who was

unable to

find a

place in

a high

school las t year,

i s going to

school

a t

Amanzimtoti near Durban, The

s choo l h as

no dormitory,

so he

and

th re e o th er boys have a room a t a

house

tog eth er . Jeth ro had a good jo b in Johannesburg

l a s t

year, but he gave

it

up to

complete his

schooling.

We

have

visit

in t h r e e o f

t h e

chu r ch e s

s i n c e

we

have been ba ck

We

were

i n v i t e d to

t h e

fourth,

but it was the same day

that

we had been

invited

to another place. One

of

the

churches gave

us com, madumbes and pumpkins to

eat .

1

have been very

thankful for the

pumpkins

because

th ey h elp

me

to

take

off

the

extra pounds

1

picked

up

in the Sta tes ,

We

have learned to

enjoy

pumpkin as a vegetable,

1 have put a rebui l t

shor t

assembly in the

VW

1 had not planned to do

it myself,

but the

gas tank began to leak and the moto rs were much

cheaper

in Durban.

I t

i s s t i l l giving qui t

a

lo t

of trouble. We are

taking

i t i f i t will

get

there, to Durban to be checked tomorrow

We pray tha t it

can

be

f ixed

so

tha t we wil l

have

a good working vehicle .

We

need

it so

badly.

Parl iament i s

in

s es si on h er e and they have certainly given it

to the

tax

payer

in

the new

budgets;

25

percent t ax i nc re as e

on

most

items

outside

of

food,

railway

t a r i f f s

have

been

increased--we are

sure

of the same

for

postal

and telephone,

gasoline

i s already

almost

30 cents a liter and this in American money so you can see what

i t

is a gallon, the cost

of electr ici ty has

more than

doubled,

IVhere we

were paying

$10 we

are

now

paying 20.

Conference

has

been

se t for

the

24th

through the

28th o f August a t Kimberley. The

date

was se t ahead for

about

th ree weeks

th is year

because Bob Mills , who

i s Treasurer ,

i s

going overseas

at

the beginning of September. Thus, he

can

be present to give h is re po rt.

1 am back

a t teaching a t

the

Bible Training

Schoo l, h av ing

the classes

o f Romans and

Life

o f

Chr i s t

There a re 16

s t uden t s

s ix o f

whom

are men. There a re

still

some o ther men,

who

hope to

come

l a t e r this year .


4/16

found

that the

camp grounds we used for the

African

camp

does

not meet government

regulations

requiring

that they build

some new buildings

so

they do

not

know i f i t

will

be

a va il ab le f or

th is year. So pray with us tha t if we

cannot

use it we can

work

out

something

tha t

wi l l

s t i l l

be a challenge to

the

yoimg people.

appreciate your

prayers and help.

y God bless

and guide yo u a l l

Yours

i n C h r i s t

Alvin

V e m i t a Nichol son

FORWARDING

AGENT:

Mrs Richa rd Hanson

16642

G an no n A ve . W


NEWS

W ITH T HE N IC HOL SO NS

rinted and~maiied By.. .

Madison Park Chr i s t i an

Church

215 N orth 2 5th treet

Quincy I l l ino is 62301

Non Prof it Organizat

U^S.

POSTAGE

Quincy I l l ino is 623

P e r m i t

57

t flssldi i

Serv ices

B ox 17.7

KEMPTON IND.

46049

vt


5/16

NEWS WITH THE NICHOLSONS

Dear Ch r i s t i a n

F r i e nd s :

waited for Easter to pass before writing our News Letter and the whole month got by

drove to East London on the 7th of

April to

stay with the John Kemans. With

the

coming of Independence to Transkei, we now have to drive north to get south. First we go

north so

that we

come

into

the Border post

from

that

side

at

Umzimkulu

and

we

go out the

South Border

post north of East

London. have

applied for permission to

go through

at

uncontrolled Border crossings as South African and Transkei citizens

are

allowed to do. To

go

to

East

London

and back now,

we

go an extra 120 miles.

Friday morning, John

and

Heather Kernan took Vernita

and

I to Dimbaza for their Good

Friday services. I brought the

morning

message and John the one in the afternoon.

The

chu rch was f u l l bu t

n o t

crowded.

Saturday noon

John

Kernan Vernita and I were back for the Dedication Service. I spoke

-

fo r

t h e

Ded ica t i on s e rv i ce and

Rober t

flU Geldenhuys of

Cradock

brought the

exhor

ta t ion. All the people then le f t

th e

- church and

the

doors were

closed

and

I f.

locked and w

walked around the build-

minist r from imbaza

to

r pr s nt

t

people

there

and an

elder

from a

vis i t

Marching around th e new bui ld ing

a t

the

ing

church.

P

Marching around the

new

building at the ing church,

dedication

services on Apri l

9th.

Saturday night th e church had

got

ten the use of a nearby factory for their meeting as the church building would not hold

all the people present. It is at this service that those

visiting

bring their monies as

well as the local people. This offering

amounted

to 485.11. It took three sheep and two

oxen

to feed this great

group

of

people.

Sunday morning

Vernita

and

I

were

present

with them

for

the church ser

vice. I have never seen a building

packed

like this one was. They

brought short benches from the i r

homes

5

f i l l ed

even the cen te r a i s l e

and

jus t

no place was

le f t .

The

only

small children present in the;bialdr ^

ing

were

those who needed

to

be

with v-^ ^

their

mothers.

More

than 400 people

W.f

were present for that service. ^

The

weekend of

April 23rd

24th

we were

present

at Mqanduli

church

fo r

se rv ices .

A leader in the loca l

Method i s t

chu r ch

was bu r i e d on

S a t u r

day

so

we

had

no

services

on

tha t

night. We

had

a

very good

service on

v--;teEg jr

y ^ ^

Group at the dedicat ion of the new churc

bui ld ing

a t

Dimbaza.


6/16

nday morning, blessed as the Africans say, by a heavy rain right

after that.

While we

eating, one

of the men said,

I will plow tomorrow

with the

minis ter' s r ain (meaning

The rains did

not come

as

they

should have last November and December so their

a re ve ry poo r .

I t is defini te

that

we shal l not be

able

to

use

the camp a t Oribi th is year. We

per

ps could use a Conference center which has been built up over the years and has been

rchased by one of the Missions, but the

cost

is 3.50

per

day and

our

Africans cannot

that.

It is truly a nice place for we missionaries have had a meeting there and

enjoyed i t .

So

now

we

are

making

plans

for

the camp

to

be

at

Lftnzumbe

Bible

Insti

have purchased two used

top

end pieces for the

tent at

a cost of 1160.00. This is

than we paid

for the

tent

i tself

in

1973. These pieces are

in very

good condition;

new ones would have

cost

us

3480.00.

From the end of June unti l the

end

of July,

e tent

will

be used every

single

weekend and l ikely

for

both

the camp

at school and

the

in Pondoland. I f we had

to

hire a tent commercially for this time,

i t

would cost us

most what we have paid fo r these parts. have rented the tent some for weddings and

gatherings

and

in th is way have two thirds of th e money

needed

now on hand.

Wha t

I would

like to

have

is fif ty

copies

of

Don't Divorce The Holy

Spiri t

by Knofel

Thank you

for

praying and

caring

for us.

AGENT:

Richa rd Hanson

G anno n A ve . W.

Minn. 55068

WITH THE NICHOLSONS

and mailed by . . .

Pa rk

Ch r i s t i a n

Church

15

No r t h

25 t h

treet

I l l i n o i s 62301

In Chr i s t s grea t

love,

A

The

Nicho l son s

Non-Prof it Organ i

U.S . POSTAGE

Quincy,

I l l i no i s

P e rm i t

5 7

Mission Services

Box

177

KEMPTON IND, 46049


7/16

LVIN

ND VERNIT

NI HOL


8/16

B I O G R P H I C L S K E T C H

Brethren, we are encouraged with the work and h v many plans

we

would like to se e c a rr ie d f o rwa r d .

But

above al l we want to d o

God s will,for He knowswhat

best. So pleasepray for us.

Alvin and Verni ta Nicholson wrote th e above as they reflected on

21 years of miss ionary service in South Africa. At

that

t ime they

were

embarking

on

their

fifth

term

there.

In

th e

2-1/2

years since

the statement was written, they have continued to witness growth,

both numerically

and

spiritually.

Alvin Nicholson was

bo rn Augu st 1 2, 1 920,

in Holabird, South

Dakota. He became a Christian in Blunt, South Dakota, at

the

age of

15. During his t een years he became int eres ted in missionary work

largely through the influence

of

Tibbs Maxey, who

at t ha t

time was

ministering to the congrega tion in Blun t. Tibbs s

mother

Maude

Maxey

made

her home with him dur ing part

of

his ministry there.

Alvin was present in their home numerous t imes when Mrs. Maxey

received letters from her daughter Isabel (Dittemore), missionary in

China. This, plus exposure to various guest missionary speakers at

church and in Chris tian service camps, helped Alvin realize

the

great

need for overseas evangelis ts . He

committed

himself to help fill that

need.

To prepa re himself fo r Christian work Alvin

enrolled

in Minnesota

Bible College in 1940, graduating in 1944 with a B.A.degree. While

in college he became acquainted with

Vernita

Howard. Vernita, born

August

21,

1922, was also from South

Dakota.

Sh e had become a

Christian in 1940 at a Chris tian service camp in Black Hills, South

Dakota. She,

too,

was interested in missionary work. Alvin and Ver-

nita s friendship developed into a desire to join their

liv s

in service

to God ; t he y were married September 6, 1942.

The Nicholsons served churches in Faribault and Litchfield, Min

nesota, and Sutherland, Iowa, until

they

resigned to prepare for the

work in South Africa. In December, 1953, they arrived

at

their des

t inat ion

One

o f t he ir goals was to learn to communicate in

at

least one

of

the tribal languages. For nearly two years they struggled to learn the

Zulu language, a difficult language to master because it contains a

complex series of clicks. However, they were finally able

to

locate a

retired

Swedish missionary

to

teach them. Within

a

few months they

were abl e to

teach

in Zulu from a written text, and short ly

thereafter

they

wer e abl e to

carry on conversa tions without

th e help of

inter

preters .

Their wo rk has

included

much traveling

to assist th e national

churches.

As

they

began their fifth term

they

reported

that

there

were 21 ministers an d 1 38 preaching

points with

which

they were

in

volved. In addition to helping t he churches and leaders with build

ing, evangelism,

and

preaching,

th e

Nicholsons have since

1960 been

involved with th e Umzumbe Bible Inst i tu te. They

have

been respon

sible,

with th e

help

of

Nic Qwemesha,

fo r th e

operation

of

th e Insti

tute

during

th e

furloughs

of th e Lynn Stanley family.

Verni ta has con tr ibuted to her husband s minis try by teaching

Sunday school classes

among both the Europeans and

th e

Africans.

When th e

need

arose sh e t augh t a t Umzumbe Bible I ns ti tu te . She has

also taught

sewing, prepared

Bible lessons, helped

with music, typed,

e t c

Th e Nicholsons

ar e th e parents of

four

children.

Sandra Novem

ber 14, 1943) gr adua ted fr om Minnesota Bible College and is now

married to Richard Hanson. They live in

Rosemount,

Minnesota,

where Sandra remains involved in th e South African work by serving

as her parents forwarding agent. Steven (February 17, 1945) and his

wife Rosal ie s erve

at

th e

Church of

Christ in C le ar L ak e, Iowa . L ike

his sister, Steven is a Minnesota Bible College graduate.

John

May

2 0, 1 94 8 attended M.B.C.

also.

He an d his

wife

Cheri

no w

live in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin. James December

13 ,

1954

attended M.B.C.

and

Rochester

Community College. He was

recently

December,

1976 married to t he former Maria Miller of Crown

Point,

Indiana.

They live in Rochester

where

Maria is completing

her

senior year

at

M.B.C. James is employed at th e Mayo Clinic

there.

Address : Alvin

and Vernita

Nicholson,

Box

219, Port

Shepstone,

4240, Natal,

South

Africa.

Forwarding

agent: South Africa Church

of

Christ Mission, Mrs. Richard

Hanson,

16642 Gannon

Avenue

West,

Rosemount,

MN 55068.


9/16

2

Vol, 18

No.

3

NEWS

WITH THE NICHOLSONS

JUNE, 1977

D e a r

C h r i s t i a n

F r i e n d s

This

i s a beaut i ful Lord s Day morning, We both woke early and so are working a

l i t t l e

on l e t t e r

writing, I m sure the Lord wil l forgive

us when

i t

i s

His work

we

are doing I Yesterday was

such

a beautiful

day. We

took a walk towards

evening and

j u s t

thoroughly enjoyed God s

lovely

day, I t

i s

cool

in

the

evenings but

during

the

day can be

hot

but

most

of the

time

i s

j u s t

r i g h t

Tuesday, was Ascension Day and a holi day here. The church at Gcilima had asked

m to

speak

for their

women s meeting

in the afternoon so w

drove

out about

noon

Of course, my

t a l k

was on the Ascension and I used some flannelgraph

materia l .

Afterwards Mrs, Zobolo came t o

me,

she

i s

th e

m i n i s t e r s

wife,

and s a id You

preached very w ell today . We

wil l

go out

there

again t h i s

morning

fo r

services ,

Mrs, Zobolo asked me

to

buy

sheer c urta in s f or

her l iving room windows so I

took

those out and we

measured

and cut and hung them,

I t

made the rooms

look

so much

b e t t e r . She i s using the drapes from

the

old house and needs another panel to sup

plement the

ones

she

has, that

i s

for

each window I

hope

to

match

i t

but wonder

i f I can

find

a f t e r such a long time, These windows in the new house

are

much

larger

than the old

one

Today, we w i l l

take out the

outs ide

a i r b r i c k and

window s i l l s Alvin

a l s o

got

some

paint for

them

so they can get

more work done on

t h e i r

new house,

I t i s look

ing b e t t e r

a l l the t ime, Twala,

the twin

son, t a l k e d

with me a

long

t ime on Tues,

(in English) and

said

how anxious he was to get

the

l iving room

painted

before h is

o ld er b ro th er s came home and t h e i r friends came t o v i s i t

They

need though to have

extra

money

before they

can go much further,

Caring for

nine

children and building

a new home

i s

an expensive

busines.

Many

have helped

them

though.

5^5

have

gotten

the

two end

pieces

for the tent,

They

will

be

used

by two

of th e

c h u r c h e s

h e r e

f o r P e n t e c o s t

a n d t h e n

we

w i l l t a k e

t h e

t e n t t o G r a a f f R e i n e t

f o r

t h e

d e d i c a t i o n

o f

t h e

c h u r c h

a t

Kroonvale on

t h e 4 t h

o f

J u n e

This week,

we had a camp

meeting

to work out the

classes , We

wish the men in

Pondoland

had had

a

meeting

as well to work out t h e i r plans ,

We

had

a l e t t e r l a s t week from a young man, who

i s

doing h is

l a s t

year

a t

high

school . He

w i l l be coming to

study a t Umzumbe

next year. Pray

with

us t h a t

God

s h a l l

help him t h a t he i s not h in de re d

from

coming and t h a t other workers shal l

be

ra ised up for

His

vineyard.

Another man,

who i s working

in Johannesburg has

s t a r t e d a new work a t

h i s

home

in

Transkei , I

met him awhile ago

a t

a funeral

i n Umtata, That

i s Alvin did , I

was n o t

w i t h

h i m .

The

o l d e r

man,

who i s

a t

school , got work

on t h e

9th t h a t

one o f

h is daughters

had

died. The one c a l l i n g

did

not know

which

one;

he

has

four, We took him

t h a t

night t o Kokst ad which i s about 90 miles

away

so t h a t he could g e t

a bus from t h e r e

the next

morning,

and

perhaps get

home much quicker t h a t way.

There

were two missionary

meetings

t h i s month, The one

f o r

t h i s a r e a

was on

th e

7th,

The

man

spoke

on the

youth work

t h a t

he

i s

doing i n

Transkei ,

This

was very

i n t e r e s t i n g

and

we

received

some new ideas ,

The

one f o r the whole

o f Natal

was

held on

th e

11th because o f Ascension

day com

ing a t the

time

i s usual ly held, I t

was

also one day t h i s year r a t h e r

than

two,


10/16

They had too many speakers so i t was hard to retain all that we heard, The

speak

ers a l l

did very w ell,

One

weekend,

Zobolo

and Alvin

went

toward

Durban

to meet with

some men who cal l

themselves ministers and would l ike

to

work

with

us

and get

suppl ies

for t he i r

use

as

well.

The problem

is that

they have no people nor

plan to

work I want to

in

vite

one of

the men to mp

so he can

vis i t

with th e

others and

see how

some of

the

work

i s done.

All

are rea l ly

too

old to come to

school.

Sincere ly

in

Chris t

FORWARDING AGENT:

Mrs, Richa rd Hanson

16642 Gannon Ave, W

Rosemount,

Minn, 55068

NEWS-^WITH^THE

NICHOLSONS

Printed

and

maiTe d

by

Madi son Pa rk

Ch r i s t i a n Church

5

No r t h

5 th Street

Quincy,

I l l ino i s

62301

Alv in

Vern i t a Nicho l son

Nbh-PrbFit

Orgahiz atibh

U.S.

POSTAGE

Ouincy ^Ikl^P^^i^ 62301

\ V ^

Mission Services

Box

77

KEMPTON IND. 46049


11/16

Vo l 18 No

3

NEWS WI TH THE

NICHOLSONS

JULY,

1977

Dea r

hristianF r i e n d s :

Greetings in Christ our Sav iour . We

know tha t

the

4th

has

given you or

many

of you the

opportuni ty

to

go vis i t ing

re joice

that God ha s given us a very good youth camp

There

were 146 young people

gathered a t mzumbe Bible Ins t i tu te for

a week

of study, fun and fel lowship.

I f we ha d 30 s tudents

a t

schoo l we would feel t ha t we had a l l

t h a t

we had

room fo rso

how did these young

people

manage to

find

places to

sleep? In

some

of

the rooms

the beds

were

moved out and grass

matts

la id on the f loor . At

nigh t the n,

there

were wall

to

wal

sleepers, except for th e place for suitcases

Several

other rooms

that

are used for

othe

purposes

were

made

sleeping

rooms for this week

James Mabaso

stayed

an

extra week

a t

school to teach

a class

and h elp w ith the t rans

l a t ing Enock Zobolo s second son took h is

turn

a t teaching

th i s

year . As

well ,

Bong

(praise)

Mhlango,

the

daughter

of

one

of

Brother

Qwemesha s

e ld ers, a lso

taught.

y in ter

pre ter

for the class on the

Li fe of Paul was

a

young

man

from

the

church minis te red to by

Barnabas Songo.

Visito rs to

the

camp

were

Mr

and Mrs.

Gcuda

and four young

women

from

Mbumbulu

Th

young women had a wonderful time

and even

a

l aughable expe ri ence

for

one.

She

fe l l

into

the water h ole

a t

th e garden while ge t t ing water for

camp.

^ vale

of

only

did

have

the

we t h e

\ ne c e s s a r y

benches

We

started

this

week on

\ Thursday

night

by redr i l l ing some

holes tha t

had been

put in

the

wrong place . On

Friday,

we rea l ly

got

down

to

work and

assembled

V benche s

Each

one

o f

them

had

6

bol ts plus 33 screws

and

a

few

nails The s c rew s w ere th e

h a r d

work and l e f t many hands

with

iMlEltoB b l i s t e r s

on

them.

A

Colou red Con gre ga tio n h as

The Tent a t Graaff Reinet

done

very well and has

a

very

n ice

looking

bui ld ing which had

been painted both

ins ide

and

out.

They have put

a cei l ing

in and by hooking

in to the

s t r ee t l igh t system they also have e l ec t r i c

l igh t s

This

i s only

a t

night

though

when the

l igh ts a re on.

Buses b rought p eopl e from

Cradock

and Middelburg and there were many people present from

Port Eliszabeth. Sunday morning

there

were

more than 300

people present

fo r

the

service .

C

Koeberg,

who wil l be 90

a t

h is next

bir thday,

was present He has been a member o

the

church

in Graaff

Reinet

for

55

years .

Eight

of

h is

sons were present

fo r

the

service

on Sunday

morning.

On Thursday, he had baked 32 loaves of

bread

for

the meeting.

These

had been baked i n

an

ou t d o o r oven made of b r i c k s He a l s o made t h e b r e a d

f o r

t h e commu


12/16

nion

service on

Sunday

Morning.

On

the 3rd of June stepped into

a

hole in the sidewalk in

town and

sprained

he

an^le. I t happened

in

front of the post office so men working there helped

her

to th

^doctor and

to the

hospital for an

x ray

and back

They also

took her car from

the

parkin

meter so she would

not

have

to

pay a fine. Fortunately i t was only^a

bad

sprain whi

responded

well t o t re atme nt . I t

was good that

she

had fh e l i t t le

car

which is an automati

for

she could s t i l l

drive

herse l f

and

get about.

While

the fourth of

July

v^ras

a

holiday

for

you

Lynn

Stanley

ha d

a

hernia operation

i

Durban-i He

is

getting

along

fine but expects to

be out

of

actibii

for

most

of this

month

a

l e a s t .

Nic Qwemesha

and

I are planning to go

to

Dimbaza for a weekend camp from the 15 to th

17th. We

wil l

s ta r t camp on

Friday

night and have classes morning afternoon and evenin

of Saturday and Sunday. Monday when we return home we shal l b rin g the students back

fo

s c hoo l .

July

22

23 and 24th I am to be

at

Esc ourt w ith the tent for the i r camp and

specia

preachingservices

Tnly

tn ^nth

we will go

to

the heart

of

Zulula^

at

Nongoma fo

the

Dedication

of

the

church b ui ld in g t he re .

We are

laying vinyl sheet flooring

over

our

concrete f loors. This

was a b i t

o f

a

jo

in the hal lway because there are

5 doorways

to contend with. Since these floors

had

bee

painted black before it has made

the

rooms

much

l igh te r and the f loors

so much

eas ie r

t

c a r e f o r

CqELference meets a t Kimberley from

the

24th

to the 28th

of

August. Please keep

thi

meeting in

your

prayers.

May God r ichly

bless

you each one.

FORWARDING AGENT:

Mrs.

Richard

Hanson

16642

Gannon

Ave .

W


NEWS WITH

TH E

NICHOLSONS

Prin ted

and mailed

by . . .

Madi son

Pa rk Ch r i s t i a n Church

215

N or th 2 5th tr t

Quincy I l l i no i s 62301

Yours through the

love o f

Chr i s t

The

Nicho l son s

Non Profit

Organization

U.S .

POSTAGE

Quincy

I l l ino i s

62301

P e rm i t 5 7

Mission Services

Box

17.7

KiiiMPiONf IND. 46049


13/16

Vol . 18 NEWS WITH THE NICHOLSONS NO 7

Dear

Ch r i s t i a n

F r i e n d s

Greetings

from

South Africa.

The

big

meeting

l as t

month was

the

Annual

Meeting of th

churches at Kimberley from the 24th

to

the 28th of August To be there on time witIV th

tent I left on the

22nd and

drove to

Bethlehem and

then from there to

Kimberley

the nex

day.

I

took

the

road

to

Bloomfontein

that

l eads along

the

edge

of

Lesotho.

I

arrived

a

Kimberley about 3 P on the

23rd

and went direct ly to the church

in

the locationu Sinc

there

were

a number

of

church men already on hand we se t up the

t en t

a t once.

The

missionaries

stayed

at Riverton about

20

miles

from town

This is

a holiday plac

built

on

th e

Vaal

river at the

place

where Kimberley

gets i ts

water. Thus

i t allowed

u

to get

together

at night

and

vis i t

and was much

cheaper than staying i n hote ls .

Attendance

a t this

years

meeting was very

good.

Kimberley church is

one

of

our

la rge

buildings and visi tors fi l led

a l l

of thei r

seats .

So i t was a full house at most a l l ser

vices in the building during the

day

and overflow

crowds

at night

I was

most i nt er es ted i n

the sermon

preached

by one of

our

elder men He is

well int

his

seventies.

He started

so slowly

that

I

thought

he

was

only going

to

give

the

peopl

some scriptures and then s i t down but

once

he got star ted he really went. His two< inter

preters could hard ly find time to get in thei r t ranslat ions. His message was

excellent

This service was

held in the tent

on

Thursday morning.

So many

of the African folks

came by

cars

and

pickups

this year that every

day we

ha

a parking problem at the church. We are glad tha t more of the people have vehicles t

t r avel

in

fo r

t

cuts

down

on

t he i r t ime

on the

road by many

hours.

I am not sure there were seven or

e ig ht c ho ir s.

Each time they got a chance:

to s in

they

would

usually sing three or

four

numbers

so sometimes the

singing went on for a lon

time.

The

African brethren

enjoy

singing

butvseveral sa id they

would have to work

out

different program

next

year. The church choir

at

Krugersdorp had only seven members

bu

they were by far

the

best singing group

Next years meeting

wil l

be held

a t Invutshin i

here near Port

Shepstone.

At the end

of July Vemita

and I

took

the

t ent

and drove to Eshowe where we; vis i te

Thursday night

with

the Sincla i r s and

Floyd

Stamm Friday morning we men went to Khumalo

home near Nongoma

for

the church dedicat ion. Because

of

th e number of people present

the feeding

of

the people the

tent

was set up near Khumalo s home. The

40

by 40

tent

wa

fu l l every night .

Saturday

morning and afternoon

classes

were

held

for

men and for women

Because Mrs. Nicholson and Mrs. Sinclai r

did

not

arr ive unt i l

nearly noon> I too

the women in a question and answer per iod. They

s ta r ted

slowly but when t wasi time t

eat it was

difficult

to get

them

to stop Mrs. Sinclair and Mrs. Nicholson took this

par

i n th e

a f t e r n oon

Because

many wanted to leave early on Sunday

morning

to get back to Johannesburg an

Swaziland

they

had

an a l l night service on

Saturday

n ig ht w ith

communion

service

a t abou

10

PM .

Sunday morning af te r

breakfas t we

had

a shor t

serv ice in

the t en t ^ d then

walked

th

half mile

or

so to the church for the Dedication service. Even with many

of

the

peopl

already on the i r way home we

had

more people than could get into the building. Only th

women sat down as they had carried mats with them After a short talk at the door an

another

a f t e r we were ins ide I thought we would dismiss . But when the amount of money wa

given

t was R106.90. I gave

them

10

cents

to make th i s R107. Then with

Sandy

Sinc la i r


14/16

we made

i t RllO.

Some people then

said they

wanted

to

give some mor e

gave a to ta l of R130.00

plus

they also gave th e

missionaries

R15 for

tea.

In

the

end

they

Vernita and

Charlotte

left

after dinner. After

the tent was down and Sandy had his

load

of

people

we also left fo r Eshowe Vernita and I spent Sunday night

relaxing with

the

Sinclairs before

coming on home.

Wilson

Berne who

ministered

in

Soweto

waj^killed.J^

two men

as he

returned

home

one

night from church toward the end

of

June. His wife managed to escape. He was the 4th

man

to

be ki l led by these men tha t night.

have completely covered

our

concrete floors with v inyl f loor ing.

And

what a

great

change

i t

makes. I was a b it hesitant when I started

the

work. But

everything

worked

out

very

n ice ly .

I t appears that the number of men coming to school

next

year

could

be much larger than

th is . Pray

with

us that

this

shal l

be

so. There

is

much more

in terest among our folks

in

Irea-mi-ng-

Brother A1 Zimmerman has had a commentary on the book of Hebrews t ranslated into Xhosa

and

Afrikaans.

Many

people

bought

i t

at

Kimberley.

Brother

Qwemesha

has asked

for

some

to

use

with the class he is teaching at school. He says

they

are

very

good.

Present

also at Conference was a growing number of people with cassette recorders.

They record t he message and the

singing

and then play them for t he people at home Brother

C^ emesha had borrowed one from one of his church men but was not able to

get

a good re

cording.

He

said his

people were

very disappointed

I have

three

tapes by Ketcherside

which I know our men will g re atly enjoy.

May God

r ichly bless you

a l l .

FORWARDING AGENT:

Mrs

Rich a rd Hanson

16642 Gannon Ave . W.

Rosemount

Minn

55068

NEWS

WITH

THE NICHOLSONS

Pr in ted and mailed

by . . . . .

Madison

Park Chr i s t i a n

Church

215

Nor th

25 t h S t r e e t

Quincy I l l i no i s 62301

Yours fo r

Chr i s t

in

South

Af r i c a

Alv i n and Ve r n i t a Ni c h o l s o n

Non-Profi t

Organization

U.S . POSTAGE

Quincy

I l l ino i s 62301

P e rm i t

57

Mi s 3 i 0 n 3 e r v i c o s

B ox 1 7 7

KS:.1?T0M

IND. :e049


15/16

Vol. 18, No. 9

WS WITH THE NICHOLSONS

November, 1977

Dea r

Ch r i s t i a n

F r i e nd s

Greetings in

the precious

name

of

Christ our

Saviour.

Vernita had a call frpm her fpiily on the 7th of October to say that her father had

passed

away

He

died

very suddenly, though he had been receiving treatment for cancer and

had a

heart

condition

for

many

years.

Sandra and Steven were

able

to

be

present

fo r

the

f u n e r a l

Vernita has been at

Pietermaritzburg

since

the

10th of October She is to rec eiv e

l i th

ium in the place

of

the

other

medicines she was taking and they wanted her where they

could do blood t es t s unt i l it was

s tab l i zed

Most of the time she has been

fee l ing

good

so we hope

that

she

will

soon be

home again.

The 12th o f

October

we took th e s tuden ts from school to Westvi l le near Durban to

visi t

the

home of a missionary. He has planted

his

yard with

many

trees that are found

in

Israel. He gave them a very interesting

lecture

on these trees and

the place

they

played

in

Bible

times

and how they are

us ed tod ay i f

s t i l l grown.

Then we went on to the Lion

Park

near Pietermaritzburg.

We f i rs t stopped

at the picnic

area to

cook

our

meat and

eat

and

then

drove

through the park. I t

was a

cool^semi cloudy

day, so we fel t we must have seen most all of the animals

that

they

have

in the

park. I

guess our car was the only one

that

did not

see

the giraffe but even the

others

did not

ge t a

good look

a t

them.

Three

ostrichs

walked

down

the

road_^ead of our

car for

a ways and then they began to

run tha t was a

wonderful

s ight

They do not have as

many

lions

at

the park as they had formerly, we wondered i f the

cost

of meat had something

to

do

with i t

But they did have

four

young male lions

in

a

cage and we got

to see th e

end of

the period

when

the

trainer was teaching them

to get

on

th ir

s t o o l s

and

sit

The t en t has been erected

in

the Indian area of Durban cal led Chatsworth. They have

planned a two week meeting, but will go on

fo r

the

third

week i f they have good crowds or

s e e t h e

need

f o r it

Vernita

and I were in Durban

the

week end of December

9th

and I

preached for the

breth

ren

t h a t

morning.

Problems I I cleaned some rhubarb and put i t on to cook, then came in the study and for

got about i t and of course i t boiled

over.

Well happily nothing

is

hurt only

a mess to

be cleaned up . Rhubarb is not easy to come by here.

Brother

Qwemesha was telling me

of

th e

growth in his work. The people have caught a

vision of

the

Lord s work and have planned opportunities where

they

can get together for

teaching and witnessing. They have also seen the need for giving and have doubled their

g iv ing

I know that a

part of

this has come from the good work of the Qwemeshas Something

happened a few years ago

that

could have caused a big problem between the

Qwemeshas

and

one of the

families

in tho church.,; The Qwemeshas accepted

the

problem and so lived that

i t might

cast

no reflections on the Lp^ d Jesus Christ

or

his church. This

is

one of the

families

today

who are

really

working

for

Chris t .

We thank

God

for his leading. William Mguzulwa came from a Christian family

at

Cradock

He

was a good

student

and worker

at

School.

We

had

great

hopes

for

him as .he went

into


16/16

the

ministry. However,

in

the two places

that

he

served there

were problems and he was a

part

of

those

problems. He

resigned

to go

into the police force.

This was not too easy

to except, for we so badly needed ministers, and we had given him extra help in coming to

school and in get t ing

married.

William is

now

in

the

CID (like

the

FBI).

He is

stationed

at

Port

Elizabeth.

Working

in the CID William will

have

more time off than before. h Coloured Congregation at

Galvendale have asked him

to

help

them. William hhk matured

much

in

these

past

few

years,

so

we know that he will be a

great

help

to tha t work-.

William is jus t recovering from stab wounds inf l icted by Tsotsis (hoodlums).

One of th e young women at school lost her mother a short time ago. She had worked Wed

nesday stayed hom Thursday went to the hospital Friday and died Saturday. Deborah has

only

a brother

lef t of her

immediate

family, but

does

not

know where he

is .

The

white

family, for

whom her

mother

worked,

came and got Deborah and brought her back to school

again. Thpy paiH h^r

Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1977 SAfrica

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Transcript of Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1977 SAfrica