Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1978 SAfrica

8/10/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1978 SAfrica

1/19

19

NO

1

NEWS

WITH

THE NICHOLSONS JANUARY 1978

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

It

is our hope that you all ha.v.e had a wonderful time at Christmas and that you shall

ave

many

j oys in t h i s New Year-

Of

course

most things

for

the l a st three weeks have

centered

around James and

Maria

arriv ed in Durban at about 2:30 P.M. on

th e

15th of December. had gone to Durban

early

that

morning

to

do

some

Christmas

shopping.

were

thru

so

we

could

eat dinner in

lenty

of

time to get to the

airport- As

we were ready

to

leave a couple

of

things we

were thought of Then, when

we

got

the

car at

th e

parking

garage

i t would

no t

idle and you

know

how that works on an automatic. started out by jerks. Then we h i t a

t r a f f i c

jam

down

town and

along with

a wrong

turning

a l l put

us behind

time. Once on

the

freeway

we

thought

we

ha d

i t made,

but the

freeway

i s

n ot

yet completed p a st the

a i r p o r t .

is

only a short stretch of a mile But,

when two

lanes of traffic were fighting to

g e t i nt o one t h i s

again

blocked

th e

way. We reached

th e a i r p o r t

a f t e r th e p l a n e was i n

bu t b e f o r e they ha d g o t t e n

t h e i r

luggage

Debbie Stanley and Lynton

Neethiing

had a ver_y p re tty wedding on

Friday

ni ght the

16th

o f December. This gave

James a good

chance to se e

many

o f the

f r ie n d s

he

ha d

known

in

C h r i s t i a n

tivities

Bob and

P h y llis Mills

were down from

Johannesburg for

th e wedding and

stayed for

a few

days. Two daughters-in-law o f the Stanleys are

also

h e r e . This is Ann Stanleys an d Mrs

Stanley. This period has given the

Stanley

and Nicholson

families many opportunites

t o

g e t t o g e t h e r

an d it

has been

to

have

so many.

Christmas

ev e everyone came to our home fo r a g i f t exchange

an d Christmas

Day we ha d

di nne r a t th e

Lynn Stanley home

James has been f o r t u n a t e C hri stm as t im e i s holiday time f o r

so many people

t h a t he has

been

a b le

to

s ee many

o f h is school f r i ends

He

an d Maria

have

spent

a

lo t

o f

time

on

th e

beach except t h a t c ol ds kept them a t home f o r a few days.

Ashwell

Bu k u l a

one

o f

o u r m i n i s t e r s in

Po n d o l an d ha d

h i s le g b ro k en i n t h re e p l a c e s

when they were try in g to tak e some

o f

the

d irty blocks

o ut

o f

a

church

wall

t h a t

was bow

in g o utw ar d

Barnabas

Songo

m i n i s t e r

a t

I nvut shi ni l o s t h is mother

on

th e

3 1 st

o f

December.

Sh e

died very

suddenly.

They put

he r

i n

cold st or age h e r e in town an d th e

f u n e r a l

w i l l be

to

morrow

Saturday t h e 7th. Th e

f u n e r a l

i s

to

s t a r t

a t 11:00

A.M.

but

th e

pr e a c he r i s no t

e xp ecte d to

arri ve

u n t i l a f t e r 12:00 noon- They will have many speeches an d Barnabas

said

di d

not feel i t was

n ec es sa ry f or

us to s i t

thru

a ll of them.

For

some

r e a s on

we

have had tw o

t r e e

f r ogs in ou r

home

in j u s t over

a

week. The f i r s t

wa s i n

o ur

bedroom

and

c ould

walk

up

th e w all

j u st l i k e a

f l y .

Th e se c ond wa s

s i t t i n g on

th e

window

s i l l

in

th e ba throom an d

everyone t h a t came

t o

look a t it

ha d to look c l o s e l y

to

see that i t

was

not

a

stone- It

was

s i t t i n g next

to a

bottle

and

really blended into

t h e

sha de

o f

th e p a i n t on th e

window

s i l l and

th e

b o t t l e .

James

Mabaso

one

o f th e

st u d e n t s

a t s c h o o l was he r e t o

v i s i t

one day. He s a id t h a t

h e

ha d

be e n

t e a c hi ng th e bock o f A c t s a t h is

home

and t h e r e had been

a

g r e a t d e a l

o f

in

t e r e s t . We a r e

working on

pl a ns

fo r James

to

go

to

Johannesburg to work.

We

a r e

having

problems f i n d i n g a p l a c e

f or M i ni st er s

Week,

We

wanted to hol d it in

th e

Cape

a r e a

b u t

in many

o f t h e s e

a r e a s

they have had

u n r e s t and t he m i ni st er s

o f th e

churches f e e l i t i s

unwise to

have larger

meetings-


2/19

Malafu,

the m inister at

Queenstown, has

said

he would

l ike

to come

to school

for

the

of this year and we hope

that

he can. More of our men are beginning to see, how

school rea l ly does

help them.

e have gotten Ken

Idleman s

tapes on

the

book

of

James. I have only been

able

to l is

e n to th e I n t ro d u c t io n so f a r

Cathredral films had a special sale on some of their used films, so

Lynn

and Michael

and myself have ordered

some

of

them. Since they were on f irs t

come,

f irs t served

we do

not

know

what we

shall be getting unti l they arrive.

Amissionary going

home

on furlough,

sold

me the 20 x 40 foot tent that he had. e

ave used it in

Pondoland

and Barnaba s wil l use it tomorrow. I t

i s

much eas i e r to move

bout and put up than the other one, so

we know

we can make good use

of i t

The Indian

Church

a t

Chatsworth

in Durban

have

had the big

tent

during December. They

had extra

services

on the

17th,

24th

and 31st. They are

hoping

to be able to buy a home

thearea,

^W har eth eyar^nowwor-shipprng.Iamsure-^that-

i t woul d^b abig help to

th ir work

The

Apple Valley Christian Church, Rosemount, Minnesota, have sent

word

that

they

will

be giving us

regular

support

thru

out this year and we very

much

thank

God

for

this.

ehave had

many

letters and cards from friends

there

in the States and

i t is good

to

get word

of

the Lord s work in so many places.

May

God s richest

blessings

be

with

you

thru

out 1978.

In the Maste3 . a S^ervice

The

Nicho l s ons

FORWARDING

AGENT:

Mrs R i ch a r d

Hanson

16642 Gannon Ave. W.

Rosemount,

Minn.

55068

NEWS WITH THE NICHOLSONS

Prin ted and mailed

b y

Mad ison

Pa rk

Chr i s t i a n Church

215 Nor th 25 t h tr t

Quin cy , 111. 62301

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

Non-Profi t Organization

U S

POSTAGE

Quincy,

I l l inois

62301

P e rm i t 57

Hi^s idn Serv i ce s

T 1T7

KBHPIJON., im 46049


3/19

^ ol.

19,

NO- 2

Dea r

Ch r i s t i a n

F r i e nd s

F\.

ON

NEWS WITH

THE

NICHOLSONS

^ February, 1978

Greetings in

the

precious name of

Christ

our Savior. We

have

jus t too much work at hand

at the present time to wri te to

you

each individual ly , so we are going to use the mimeo-

gtaph

We had

a t iui^ great time with

James

and Maria

here

to

v i s i t with

us from

the

15th

of

December

unt i l

the

11th

of

January.

Because

it

was

vacation

time

here,

James

was

able to

see man^y of

his

friends

Having been born and raised

by the sea, i t

did

not

take James long to get back and try

out

the

waves

and to see

i f

Mar ia cou ld learn to body

surf . They

did

not

get to

spend as

much time on the beach as

they

had hoped

nor get

as brown as

they

desired,

because

f i r s t

they bo th caught colds

and

then we had a heavy ra in tha t sent much d i r t down the r ive r and

nto

the

sea

If the wind was

r ight ,

the

water

on Untentweni b each looked l ike

chocolater

Alss

a rough

sea

stopped them from

servicing

th e shark

nets

and so swimming was banned

for

Th^ee d avs , excep t ns de the rocks, and that

did

not

give

much room-

En.ght

:Tudents are

present

fo r

the open,.ng of sch oo l, bu t we have word

that five more

men and

one more /Cung

woman

are

on

the i r

way.

I f these

a l l

arr ive ,

then i t

will make

men

and fixe

wcmen

This ic the first time for a long time that men have outnumbered

tKe uomen

We

hope that i t is a Sxgn of more men planning to prepare for proclaiming the

word of

God

The Lynn

Stanleys and

we have

booked to hear

Pat Boone

and his

daughter

sing

in

Durban,

Have had

le t ters from

a number of the

ministers asking

i f we had any used clothing for

them-

We have sent

out

some and wi l l have

to

get the

r e s t t ha t

came

over w ith the

crates

of M.chael Stanley and send them out- L^ke

everything

else the cost of

postage

has grea t

ly

increased

But we

should

also remember that the cost

o f

clothing has

gone

up a lot-

So ,

when we see how much i t cost to

ship

something we

must

a is o th in k how much i t

would

COST the receiver

to

bu/

this

same ar t ic le and

then

we may see cost is

well worth the

good

t h a t

W il l b e

r e c e i v e d

There have beei^tew

problem^ yin

our

area

or

any

part

of

Natal for

that

matter- 1 do

not

often

write

about problems

here

because i t

is so di f f i cu l t to gxve

a c le ar p ic tu re

you have

not

been

here and

see how

things

are . Bu t two things

have

come to me la te ly .

In one

of

the towns th e p eople were to ld , I f you k i l l a sheep for Chi is tmas , t hen you can

expect

your

home to be burned - I f yOU pain t your hovise for Christmas company then we

Will repaint

i t for you from your to i le t bucket , Another

said that

a young man had

told

hrm I am no longer going back to school 1 am bigger than

most of the

students

and

when

t rouble comes I am of ten blamed, but the t rouble makers

are

the younger students -

Also

I t

was said t ha t

Students

who go to

school

away from

the i r

homes do not dress

up

and take

the i r sui tcase and

leave fo r

school

but

send t he i r

su i t case some other

way, then they

go

off

jus t l ike they

are

going to another

town,

because

thei r

lives

have been threatened -

This is the word tha t

we

get

fiom most

areas

t ha t

the

ones

causing

the t rouble

are young

people There i s no doubt

that

some one is behind them. But, why are they

making

the i r

people suffer

Uke

this?

We

pray

that

God wil l

Xichly

bless

you through

th is New iea i .

S in ce re ly i n Chris t

Alvin

Vern i t a

FORWARDING AGENT:

Mrs R i c h a r d

Hanson

1 66 42 G an no n Ave W,

Rosemount , Minn

55068


4/19

VOL

19

NO 3

WITH

TH^

NI HOLSONS^

March 978


We hear that many parts of America have been suffering from too much snow cold rain.

Here in Natal

we

have had

lots of

rain

but

other towns and

other

areas have

suffered

floods and wind damage A number

of

women

were

killed

by

lightening

while

attending

a

prayer meeting

in a hut.

Classes at

Umzumbi

Bible

Inst i tute are going

ahead very

well

now.

There are

16 students

present two of them are ministers

who

have re turned for more work. It

is interesting to

know

that

many

of the students

for

the past

few

years came

from Mqandulinear Umtata

in

Transkei. Today

the

majority

of

students

are

from Kokstad which is d irectly Inland from

us

about

90 miles. The daughter

of

Simon Mtshayisa minister

at Barberton

is one

of the

s t u d e n t s .

We

have

our t ickets for a tt ending

the

Passion

Play

at

Durban on

the

8th

of March.

All

of these programs are multi-racial with tickets being sold

with

out

reservation

to

all

groups.

We

hope

to

go to Durban so that the

students will

have time to look around.

The

Indian

Church

at Chatsworth are

making

plans to

have

another

campaign

in

April.

We

are

glad that we

can

a s s i s t them in th is

thru the

use of

the

t e n t .

We have

decided

t h a t M i n i s te r s Week

w i l l

be h e l d a t t h e church i n Warrenton from

t h e

27th

thru

the

30th

of April. Charlie Setumisho

one of our oldest

men is minister there.

We visited the people a t Dweshula with Nic Qwemesha on the 11th. They

are

planning a

service for the 2Sth

and

have

invited

us to come again.

We

talked with them about

having

a

tent

meeting

there

as

soon

as i t could be worked

out.

On

the 11th

when we were present

J ames M ab as o s

brother

was

also

present

to

talk

with

one

of the families about th e

mar

riage

of James to their

daughter.

He

did not

learn

much for they want other members of

the

family to be present

when they

talk about

i t .

The

only thing

he really

learned

was

that

i t

would be

costly.

They

are also

to

be back on

the

week-end

of

the

2Sth

to

talk

about

plans for

Lobolo .

One of the

men

brought his

son

to show

him

to

us.

He

is a

bright

l i t t l e

boy but

has a

speech defect in that he can not pronounce some of

the

sound used

in

words.

One

of them

being one of

the

clicks which

is

so important. He said the boys hears and understands

alright but

since he

can not speak r ight

has not

been able to

go

to

school. The lower

grades of most

schools are very

crowded and even at

the present time

many new

schools are

being

built . We

could only suggest one special school where they work with handicapped

children. I am sure there

must

be

o t h e r s

but

do not know

where

they are. Except fo r a

few chi ldren who are

b l i n d

or

can

not hear I

have

never see n an Afr ic an w ith t h i s type

of speech defect .

Good

news

for

us

i s that gasoline will

be sold six days a week from

8:00

A.M.

until

6

P.M. from

Monday thru

Saturday beginning March

3rd We have been able to

buy

gasoline only

from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M from Monday thru Thursday and from 6 A.M. unti l 12 noon on

Friday

Being able to

buy gasoline a l l day

on

Saturday

means

that

i t

will be

much easier to

get

out

fo r

week end meetings.

Lynn and

Lucille Stanley will

be leaving

for their furlough

in America

about the

middle

o f

March

John and

Heather

Kernan

w i l l

be coming to th e S ta te s

r i g h t

a f t e r Easter


5/19

Freddie Sithibe

our

minister at Escourt

is

in bed with both feet being swollen and

listers a round th e

t o e s

Some have asked us when we are

planning

our

next

furlough? The Lord

willing

i t

will

be

about

April 1979.

May God bless and

keep

you in

His

love.

FORWARDING AGENT:

M r s

R i c h a r d Ha n s o n

6642 Gannon Ave.

W

Rosemount Minn.

55068

NEWS W ITH T HE N IC HO LSON S

Printed and mailed by.

M a d i s o n Pa rk C h r i s t i a n C h u r c h

2 5 No 2 5 t h

treet

Quincy 111.

62301


Y o u r s

f o r

C h r i s t

in

Sou th

A f r i c a

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

mar 1 S

Non Prof i t

Organizat ion

U S POSTAGE

Quincy I l l i n o i s 62301

P e r m i t

^ 5 7

Mlssion

Servic3 3

B ox 177

K MPTON ND 06049


6/19

VOL.

19

5

WITH

THE ^^OCHOLSOnSM L ^

May

9 8

Dear

Ch r i s t i a n

F r i e nd s

Tuesday is clinic day at school, with the nurse being in attendance from about 9:00 AM

unti l

1:00

PM Last Tuesday as 1 came ou t after having eaten my lunch, I was

told

that a

baby

had

diedc But when 1

went to

where

the nurse and

a number of women

were

ta lking

to

a

young gir l , 1 found that

the

baby was not dead but very, very sick and in danger of dying.

I t

seems that

the fa ther

has d riv en th e family from the home and

they a re s ta yin g with

the mother s s i s ter . The mother works

and

so is away from home from early morning unt i l

a f ter

dark at

night .

The care of

the baby

is

l e f t

to a

g i r l

who looked l ike she was about

12, but would guess t ha t she i s more l ike 15.

After some

discuss ion , it was decided t ha t the

chi ld

sh ou ld b e taken

to the

Port Shep-

stone Hospital. So I took Mrs.Tusha,

one

of t he s tudent s

at school,

and the gir l and ba

by

to

the

hospital .

The

l i t t l e gir l

gave the

baby s age

as 18

months.

The

doctor

asked

t ha t the mother come

in

the

f i r s t

thing the

next morning as they

were

not

sure the baby

would

even l ive

through the

night. 1 have taken many to

the hospi ta l

who

are

sick

and

in

jured, but

none

have touched my hear t l ike th is one.

This past month has brought us more d eaths th an have touched us a t any other t ime. The

mother of Enock Zobolo died a t

the

Port Shepstone Hospital on the ISth of April . She was

only s ick

fo r

two weeks

before

her

death.

Her

bur i a l was

se t

fo r

Sunday

the

23rd.

Many

of

the

brothers wondered why they had chosen tha t day fo r

normally

funerals

are

held on

Saturday. However, on

Thursday

night

t h a t

area had 12 inches

of ra in

and

by

Sunday morning

had

had a to ta l o f 20 inches, which i s ha l f the ra in for a normal year .

Sunday a t

10 it

was

c l e a r and a l a rge

crowd

a t tended

th e f un era l.

The brother of Nic Qwemesha

died

early th is

month.

He

had

been

to

vis i t

his wife, who

had a leg

amputated.

On the way home from

the

hospital

he

fe l l into a dam and drown. He

had very

poor

eyesight. Brother

and Sie^t-er-Qwemeshawent down-fox

the-funeralr

of

May ^ ^

The

26th o f

Apri l ,

Michael Stan

ley and

1

l e f t

the

school

with

7

men,

picking up

two

more

along

the

way as we went to M ini s te r s Week

a t Warrenton.

Twenty-two

min i s t e r s

and iv o f t h e m i s s io na ri e s we r e

present fo r

the

meetings. Once

again it

was a

prof i t ab le t ime o f

study

and

fellowship.

The

a n n u a l

Con f e r e n c e

o t h e

Chu rch e s h a s b e en s t f o r t h e 1 3 t h

through

the

17th

of September at

Invu t sh in i j u s t

25 mijes

from Por t

Shepstone. The

theme

for the

meet

ing i s Evangel ism ,

-The-Qwemesha

Family with son

daughter- in- law

on th e r i gh t .

am awaiting

word from

Brother on the

r i gh t .

Mtsha yisa c on ce rn ing

Brother

James

Mabaso s

going

to N ata lsp ru it

near

Johannesburg, I am sure that to do th i s I am going to have

to

help support brother Mabaso

t here for some t ime. But 1 fee l

tha t

it i s so important to have a minister working in

Johannesburg where a t

th e p re se nt

time we

have

none. I know

tha t

the Brethren hesi ta te


7/19

because

they

can

not

support a man but the work grows weaker r a t h e r than stronger as time

goes on . P le as e p ra y much

f o r th is

work.

On

the 29th o f A pril

Mark an d Deborah Qwemesha

were

on thei r way to a c h o i r

competi

t i o n ;

where

they were to sin g w ith the i r

school.

Very

near

to

Umzumbe

th e

d riv er fo r

some

reason

ran

th e bu s into

th e

d i t c h

an d t i pped it ove r . A number

of people were in

j u r e d an d

taken

to th e hospi t al . We a re so

t hankful t h a t Deborah

suffered

no

in jur ies

though she was

on

th e bottom an d Mark only suffered a fe w

b r u i s e s

on

h i s f a c e .

In the ra in

tha t

came

so

he a vily

af ter Mrs. Z o b o lo s

de a th

much damage was

done over

a

l arge a r e a .

Th e

a r e a

covered

from

South

of

E as t

London

through

th e

Transkeiand

i nt o

Mar

g ate a rea S o u t h o f

u s .

A

burden

on

my h eart r i g h t now

is what we a re going to do about camp.

We

could make

us e of a local

conference

place which ha s

wonderful faci l i t i es .

In fa c t we missionaries

used i t for a meeting place a few years ago. But

th e

cost

is

4.06 per person pe r day.

This

is about

what our campers have been

paying fo r

the week. I

am taking Brother

Quemesha

to se e

the place and he will ge t

together

with the

other

men to

discuss

what they

feel is

est

.

Lucia Mtshayisa is one

o f

our students at school. Her

father said sh e

has been writing

le tte r s

home to th e

young people at th e church and encouraging them

to

serve

Christ.

Brother

Mtshayisa said th ere has already been

changes

he could

see.

I i^eceived a long and very interesting

letter

from Milton Mafenya who attended Umzumbe

B i b le : In s ti tu t e f o r

two

years.

He

is

back

a t

Secondary School working

to get h is Matric.

He is very

busy because

they are short

a

teacher

a^d has ^to

take

at least one

class

on Sun

day when another can help.

We

just pray t ha t t he ^s pi ri t of Christ which is in his

heart

today

will continue

u n t i l

he

ca n take

h is place in th e

Lord s

work.

S i n c e r e l y

in

C h r i s t

FORWARDING

AGENT:

Mr s Ri bhs i r d

H anson

1 6 6 4 2

G a n n o n

A v e W.

Ros em ount

Minn.

55068

NEWS WITH

T HE N IC H OL SO NS

P r i n t e d and

m a i l e d b y

Madison P a r k C h r i s t i a n Church

21 5 N .

2 5 t h treet

Quincy 11.

62301


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

_ Non-Profit Organization _

_ U.S. POST G _

_ Quincy

I l l in o is

62301 _

Permit

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

B ox 1 7 7

KEMPTON I N D . 4 6 0 4 9


8/19

Vol.

19

NO

7

NEWS

WITH

THE NICHOLSONS Ju ly 1978

Dea r

Ch r i s t i a n F r i e n d s

You are going to begin to wonder what ha s happened

to

us for we wrote no l e t te r

las t

month. We did not have much news then

and

th i s month ha ve b ee n

on

the go so much tha t we

have n o t ta k en t ime t o wr i t e .

The African

Schools

closed

early

l a s t

month

so

as to be

out

before

the

16th of

June

the

Anniversary

o f

Soweto.

Thus

the children

would

be

a t

home

there

was

any

problem.

Because

some

of the parents also wanted t he i r children

home

Umzumbe

Bible

Ins t i tu te also

closed ear ly .

I t

never seemed

tha t th e m i ni st er s here really

got going on camp. I

ta lked

to

them

about i t

but

did not invi te them to our home

for

tea and to make plans for camp. One of

the men cal led one day when I was away

and

told Vernita

that

he would

cal l

Qwenesha to

ta lk

with him

and

then would

ca l l

me la ter

but nei ther of

us

heard from

him. So we

only

had

abou t

25

ch i l d r en from

th e

chu rche s .

We

did have

another problem. The specia l exams tha t

certain classes

have to take

have

been set up from November to October so in most every school these young people had only

4 days

vacation. Two of

Brother

Qwemeshas

c hil dr en a re in

this

group.

On

Friday

the

7th I taught my

class

at Umzumbe using

slides

on the book

of

Samuel.

Mrs.

Qwemesha

prepared dinner

for

us

after

which we

lef t

at once for Ntabamhlophe at Es

court. We arrived a t the school

where

services were to be held at 5:30

that

evening.

I

showed the slides on

1st

Samuel and preached to them. They had some of their choirs sing

and gave an oral tes t to those

present. This

was done by one of the young men.

Saturday

morning and

afternoon Vernita and I

heard

the

students give the i r

memory work

and marked them on what they did. There were a good number who did very well on this .

They

le arned the

books of

the Bible scriptures

for

the

steps

of salvation

and

scriptures

concerning

th e

New Testament

church.

There were about 30 who did

this

so i t took quite a

time.

That night the choirs sang

and we

were

to judge them.

After

showing more

slides

preaching

to

them we

presented the

winners

with

their

prizes;

a ll

who

had

a

part

received

sweets

and

an orange.

Sunday

morning

Vernita taught

the

women

and

I

taught

the

men. I

had the

communion

ser

vice

during the morning

worship

hour and we

drove back home

that

afternoon.

Monday morning was washday

as

well as gett ing

things ready

to go

to

Pondoland. I had

taken

Zulu

m ate ria l to Escourt; now a l l

had

to

be

changed

to

Xhosa

We

l e f t

for

Pondoland

on Tuesday morning with Wilford Mouli going with us. arrived at camp about 11 a.m.

where they had jus t completed the i r Chapel services.

They

gave

us

classes to teach follow

ing

th is .

Vernita had p re pa red f la nn el gr ap h pictures

for

them

and

I once again

used

1st

Samuel. They had 158

students present

plus a good number of

adults so

they

divided the

group into 6 classes . I ha d my c la ss in sid e

because

of using

the

s l ides . Before dinner

I showed them

the

f i r s t

of

three

films

on

the

l i fe

of

Paul. In

the afternoon

we

had one

more class. On

Thursday

we taught

classes

taking a new group

about

every 45 minutes.

We

used the

films

on

the

l i fe

of

Paul

a t

Umzumbe and at Pondoland; they really enjoyed them.

We wil l

be

using

them

in

many

of our t rave ls .

came

back

home on Thursday afternoon because I had to go to Durban on Friday

to

bring the

tent

home. I t was used

for

almost 3 weeks by

the

Indians in Chatsworth. All

that I talked to in Durban thought they had had a good meeting. The

woman

who allowed her

back yard to be used

for pitching the tent

cooked a meal for us each time. The first time

I was not sure what I was eating except for the bread but i t was good. She says

she

wants me

to

come

back

some time when she

has plenty of

time

to prepare

a

meal.


9/19

At Warrenton, I had

talked

with

Simon

Mtshayisa about

a weekend camp there on the 21st

to

23rd of July when we would

bring the gi r l s

back to schools Because school closed ear

l ier

I wrote him

that

we could

not

come He

wrote

back asking us

to

please come i f

only

for the

weekend

as they

had

invited

the

other stations

around Barberton

who

were

looking

forward to our coming So we are planning to leave mzumbe after I

teach

my classes on

the

20th

and drive

par t

way

that

day

and arrive

in Barberton on the 21st.

e

will be picking

up

James

Mabaso

in Escourt,

so he can go along

and

make plans

with

Brother Mtshayisa to vis i t Natalspruit. e a re help ing James with the money for his

Lobolo and

we

hope

that

most

of

i t

will

be

paid

off

this

month.

I

will

help

them

put

up

the tent

for

the party they will have at Dweshula on the

29th.

e

will

not be able to at

tend as we have already been

invited

to the Stamms for Floyd s birthday

supper

on

that

day.

hen

James

goes to

Natalspruit , we

shall

also

be responsible for

55 a month

of

his

salary,

The 6th of August, we are

to

go to Mbumbulu for services

with

Jeramiah Gcuda

be

taking

a load o f

students with us.

We will

The church a t Invutshini has

the

building erected

tha t

they wil l

be

using for the d in

ing

room at confei^ence^ They are

work ih^^

th e

Icrtcheh,

so everything~l.s Inovihg^ forwardr

we l l fo r Confe r ence .

Vernita

and I

are

planning

the

beginning

of

our

furlough

for

April

of

next

year.

Our

re turn fa res wi l l

be

about 1900 for the two of us.

You

are

in

our thoughts and prayers

often.

FORWARDING AGENT:

Mrs . Richa rd Hanson

16642 Gannon Ave. W

Rosemount, Minn. 55068

NEWS

WITH

THE NICHOLSONS

Prin ted

and mailed by

Madison Parq Chris t ian Church

215 N. 2 5 t h t

Quincy,

I I .

62301


Your s in Ch r i s t

Alvin

Vern i t a

Nicholson

Non-Pro fi t Organiza tion

U . S . POSTAGE

Quincy,

I l l ino i s 62301

P e rm i t

57

11SS I on oorvicss

Box 1 77

KSMPTON, IND. ;c04

9


10/19

VOL.

19

NO . 8

NEWS WITH

THE

NICHOLSONS

Dear

Chr is t i an Fr i ends

How

quickly

the

t ime

goes by;

we t h a n k

God f o r

this f o r it is

th e abundance and

not lack

o f

it

that

helps speed the time by ,

SEPTEMBER

1978

m

month

one

o f t h e b r o t h e r s

o f

v

Enock

Zobolo

took his l i fe by

hanging. often

t a k e

does happen. This brother i

had some m de ^^^H||||^H||h^BH|^H

l ook

l i k e

he had s cabs

on

h is

body

so

he had

never

held

a job ^

away from home nor had he

mar-

ried. I would have guessed that ^

he was in his thirties- y task | |m||||^ilB| |^P^ ;

was

to

help

them

take the

body

WARRENTON

CHOIR

back home f o r it had been

brought here by

the police that

the Doctor

might

check

i t but I

did

not attend

the

funer

al

neither

did Barnabas

Songo nor Nic Qwemesha In

fact ,

I am

not

sure i f any one attend

ed outs ide of h is b ro th er s

and

other men of the immediate family.

One

of

the

men in

the church

at

Barberton

is

a qualified

electrician. He

works for

Escora which controls

most

e lec t r i c i ty

here

in South Africa. Escom sent him fo r specia l

t ra in ing . He and one of the other men, who also

works

fo r

the e lec t r ic

company,

are

re

wiring the Barberton Church. The switch for

the l igh ts is

on

the

fuse panel in

the

front

of the

bui lding. They have ju s t one se t of

l igh ts

now down

the

middle of

t he b uil di ng .

They are putting the

switch

back

by

the door and p uttin g in two rows of l ights which

will

be over

the seats-

They

would

l ike a glass

with

the name of

the church

wri t ten

on

i t .

Then

they

will

put

a l ight

behind i t

and mount

i t outside

so

that

i t

can

be

l i t at n ig ht.

Later , they

will

be rewiring the minis te r s home as well, to put in hea vie r wiring and

mo r e outlets

a s well

Plans

are

to go

to

Johannesburg

on

the 2Sth of August and take James

Mabaso

with us.

Simon Mtshayisa wil l meet us there and he and James wil l v i s i t

Natalsprui t

Friday

evening

and a l l day Saturday. We hope

to be present with them fo r se rv ice s on Sunday morning.

Thus we hope

af ter

Conference

that

James

will

be moving there as Minister

James

is

wait ing

for David Mbhele and

some of his brothers to come

and see

the

ca t t l e

tha t he has a t his home

and

then

he hopes

before

to

long

he

will know when

he

can

get mar

ried

The

Invutshini Church

has

the i r kitchen and

dining rooms

bui l t and

ready fo r

Conference,

They have

been busy

get t ing

some of th e other things

ready

as well . I t

i s

good to

see

tha t t h e i r work

i s done

well

ahead of

t ime.

They have

made

the dining

room

o f cement

blocks and have

plas tered

i t . Beginning

in

the New

Year,

they want to begin a

Creche

there

for working mothers- The

Chief has

promised i f

they

s t a r t the work, he will

give

a place

fo r

a b ui ld in g to

be

erec ted

Anna Songo has been studying with a woman here in

Port

Shepstone so that she can be a

teacher with

Operation Upgrade -

This

i s

the s implif ied

method

of

teaching

older people

how to read and write. Ana is also working toward complet ing her high school work, with

the

hope that she

can

go on and

be

a teacher some day.


11/19

I do

not

believe I told

you

much about the meeting that Mbhele had for his daughter

l as t

month.

We took the

t ent

se t i t up there on Friday

afternoon

and went back on

Satur

day morning.

They

had

kil led

two

animals

so had

plenty

to eat. Some of the

people

ate

raw meat

but

I

did

not see

any

of the Christians do that . They brought us some of the

l ive r

f i r s t w hich had been roasted over the

f i r e . I t

was brought in on a

wooden

pla t t e r

on e

cut into small pieces

and

we

jus t helped

ourse lves .

After t h i s we

went

to the

hi l l top

nearby where Mbhele spoke f i r s t mostly of h is

de

s i re fo r his daughter

to have

a Christ ian wedding an d not one following the customs of the

fathers .

A

couple

of

the

other men and I spoke for a few

minutes. Singing

was next

by

the

home group who

sang

several songs. The Mabasos used

the

students from school

to

make

the i r

group

a l i t t l e larger

an d sang

as well .

Then

we

went

back to the

house

where we once

again had meat

from

the

wooden pla t t e r .

Later

they gave us a full meal

Because

there were many preachers there I

did

not stay

for the

night service

I wentbaekbut it wasto

pray

wi th t hem aj d

have a meal with these

loay

ing;

they l e f t

around

noon.

The students from school had come to take the tent down for

me I

brought

a load of people back

to Port

Shepstone. They

were to

take the t rain

to

Durban .

May God richly bless

and keep

you

FORWARDING AGENT:

Mrs . R i c h a r d Hanson

16642 G ann on A ve .

W

Rosemount Minn. S506S

NEWS WITH TH E NICHOLSONS

Printed and

mailed

by . . . . . . .

Mad i son

P a r k

Ch r i s t i a n Chu r ch

215 N. 2 5 t h

S t .

Quincy I I .

62301

RESS CORRECTION

REQUESTE

In Chr i s t i an Love

Alvin Vern i t a Nicho l son

Non Profi t

Organization

U . S POSTAGE

Quincy

I l l i no i s

62301

P e rm i t

5 7

l^ io sio n Z 2v -i

B ox 1 7 7

KSMPTON

IHD.


12/19

VOL 19 NO 9

N WS

WITH

THE

NICHOLSONS ^ OCTOBER 1978

Dear


I t

almost seems

like our

summer has arrived.

We

have been getting some rain and

with

t

high humidity,

which

makes

i t

seem very warm.

. V

Conference has come and gone. I t was wonderful to be able to

visit

with so many of

the

Yet

for me there is little time for

just

visiting.

There

are

many

things

which

the people

are looking

for,

or

there

are questions

that

need answering. Yet

just

to

see

many of the

brethren

together

in

one

place is

a great b le ss ing

Perhaps i t would be good to

l ist

some

of

the things the people wanted. There were Bi

bles,

New Testaments and

Hymn Books (these especially

in Zulu Xhosa and Afrikaans and a

few in English). Then there is

the Lift

of Christ in Zulu and Xhosa. There are the sup

plies used by the churches,

but

most of these 1 let the ministers look after in their meet

ing. There

are

quest ions about church

sites

and

buildings,

discussions concerning church

plans and the information they must get before plans can be submitted for approval.

Then

there

were bananas pawpaw medicine from the drug store, a gas pump repair kit

fo r

a Chev

Pick Up and many more. Also many requests

for

pictures of individuals, families and groups

and once you ge t

the

camera out you know there will be more get in line for their turn.

Thank God t h a t we

can s e r v e

even

i n t h es e t hi n g s.

We put the 40 x 40 tent next to the church but there never was a night that

i t would

hold

all

of the people. There were

more

than 250

who

sat

down

to the

tables

to

eat

each

meal. This was the only place that we heard much complaint and that was that

i t

took them

so long to feed the people.

Four ministers from Pondoland hired a bus to bring a load of people- One of the min

i st e r s

said

that th is was a real break

thru ,

he

brought

20 people

with

him

and they a l l

came prepared to pay their table

money

They have attended the two conferences in this

area before, but then they

brought

the i r own food and cooked i t because i t was cheaper.

Another

one

of the

ministers

told

me

that the people are

now

p repa rin g so that they

can

h i r e a bus

to

t a k e them to

Barberton

next y e a r

Mr. and Mrs,

Robert

Mills came from

Johannesburg

on Tuesday and

stayed with us u n t i l

Monday. Mr and Mrs A1 Zimmerman

flew

up

from

Capetown on Wednesday and Floyd Stamra

brought them

down.

The

Zimmermans stayed

u n t i l

Sunday, when

Floyd to ok them back to Dur

ban. The Zimmermans

s lept in the Stanley s t r a i l o r house,

which we

had parked behind our

house.

Floyd Stamm stayed

unti l Thursday and then brought his family

down on

Saturday and

they with the John Kernans,

who

also arr ived

on

Saturday,

stayed

a t

one

o f

the

h o t e l s .

Thursday and Friday

nights

we had a

Braai

(Barbecue; here

at

the house, so that we

could

a l l

v i s i t t o g e t h e r .

I

thought

that

I

would get out of

the

job of directing the work. F i r s t because

a f t e r

four years they adopted a new

Const i tu t ion ,

which

allows

any one to hold any o f f i c e except

two t h a t they designated

f o r

miss ionar ies a t

large-

Secondl y, b ec au se

we are planning our

furlough

for

next year

in

April.

But

they asked

that

I

p le as e c ar ry

on

unt i l

furlough

t ime

and then Bob Mills

will

f i l l out the

time-

So I am busy get t ing the

m i n i s t e r s

cards

ready for

them and some other work t h a t has to be comple te d a f t e r the meetings.

This means

that

I must plan

for minis te r s

Week

which i s set

for the

middle

for March

a t

Upington.

I t w i l l

a l s o

be the t ime f o r

th e

dedica t ion

of the new

church V: ilding t h e r e .

Upington i s

almost

900 miles from

here, being

on the west side

of

th e country

not

far from

South West Africa . I have never been t h e r e before and am

sorry

t h a t

t

w i l l have to

be

a

quick t r i p .

Perhaps

we w i l l

h i r e

a small

bus

and a l l from t h i s s ide

can

t r a v e l

together .


13/19

MINISTER S HOME NATALSP RUIT

NE R JOH NNESBURG

Our only sorrow

during the

week

was t h a t Ve r n i t a d id n o t

fee l well enough

to a ttend the

meetings.

She

has got ten

a l l

her

cooking

and

baking

done

early

and

had it in

th e

f r e e z e r . She

had

made

new cur ta ins

fo r Mrs. Songo

so she could be

happy to

have the

people

in

her

home. She

had

been

asked

to sing a Xhosa song

a t

one

o f

th e se rv i ces and had been

prac

t ic ing

on

tha t

then was

unable

to go .

We

visite th e chu r ch t Na ta l

spui t

with James Mabaso the week

end of the 26th

and 27th

of Aug

ust and the people there

are wait

ing foii

hd.5 cbmingT Now he and

the young

woman

wil l

be

married

Umzumbe Bible In s t i tu t e The wedding i s

between

t

10 : 30

A.M.

on t h e 7 th of Oc t o b e r

t

King

James Mabaso and Phi l i s iwe Mshele.

Please keep us in your prayers as there is so much work to be done that

we

do

not

al

ways

know which way to

turn .

In th e Prec i ou s

Name

o f Ch r i s t

Alv in 6

Verni ta

Nicholson

FORWARDING AGENT:

Mrs . Rich a rd Hanson

16642

Gannon

Ave . W.

Rosemount Minn. 5S068

NEWS WITH THE

NICHOLSONS

Pr in ted and mai led

by

Madi son Pa rk Ch r i s t i a n Church

215 N.

2 5 t h

S t .

Quincy I I . 62301


Non-Prof i t

Organiza t ion

U.S .

POSTAGE

Quincy I l l ino i s 62301

Permit 5 7 ^

^

Ki s s i o n

Se rv i c e s

Box 177

KEMPTON

INp. . :6049

.0 7 n


14/19

VOL.

19 NO .

1 0

D e a r Chr i s t i an

Fr iends

NEWS

W IT H T HE N IC HOL SO NS

pre. ^

NOVEMBER, 1 9

s Christmas draws

near

we remember again th e advent

of ou r

g lo ri ou s Savi or Jes

Christ.

We

pray for

you

all a blessed Christmas and joy imparted by the Holy Spi

throughout the ew Year. We are sure that many of you would like to share some of o

spring weather.

The

flowers

ar e

in

bloom

everywhere and

i t

is

really

pretty.

n the 26th of October, Vernita and I left here to

go

to Kimberly

We

had only pla

ned to

drive

to Bethlehem

for the

first day. Here

we

were able to

rent

a Rondavel, wh

had

been divided into four

rooms

and

was completely furnished for 8.12. It is in a pa

jus t o u t s i d e of town an d on th e shores

o f

a man made lake.

When I went to get

th e thing s ou t of

ou r car

th e man

came

ou t

from

th e

next door Rond

vel and we greeted each other. Then later they

came

to

talk

with us. Since they

kn

from our license plate

that we

were from Port Shepstone, he asked

i f we

knew of one of t

families down here and we did. It so happened that Saturday night Michael and Caryl St

ley would be

visiting

with his son and daughter-in-law

in

Pietermaritzburg. His daughte

in-law

comes

from

Port

Shepstone.

We

had

at least

a 2h hour

v i s i t

together.

We arrived in Kimberley

at

about 3 P.M. on Friday went f i rs t to the minister s hom

They

gave us cool

drink

then the minister wentj^ith us to th e office so we could get

permit

to

enter the

African Township. Shortly a f t e r leaving

the

of f i c e I found

the c

was only

in

second

gear

and th e shift was not working. We stopped at a store for

so

food and being automatic, I di d not dare stop the motor, so Vernita

ra n

in quickly to g

some things fo r us I stopped at the f i rs t garage for help and he took us ri ght in.

s t i l l ha d a

problem fo r

I knew the o f f ic e a t Riverton

Recreational

area closed a t 5 and

had

not

booked a Rondavel. So I

called

the

town booking office and they told us

th e

na

of

the

one

we

could have and

said

they would ask them

to leave i t

open for

us;

no probl

there. Here they have th e bare

necessities

and for this

we

paid 4.70 a day. Many peop

who

l ive

in

Kimberley

rent these

for

the

week-end and

v i s i t

with

friends or

j ust

to

g

away

from tow n.

Our purpose in

going to Kimberly

was

to

meet with

th e church

and t a l k with them abo

why

they

ha d asked t h e i r minister to leave and why

they

had

not

paid him

a l l

h is sala

for

the l a s t six

months. We

would not usually do this , but

the

l a s t 4 ministers had l e

under not too happy circumstances and no one wanted to go to Kimberley to minister. The

were four men who

were

chosen to be present a t

the meeting

with us but only one of th

m a d e it

Saturday afternoon when

th e

meeting

star ted

th e t h unde r

a n d th e r a i n a l so

s t a r t e d .

T h e

p e o p le

sang

d u r i n g

t h e

r a in ,

sometimes

it wa s

a l m os t im p o s s ib le to

h e a r

them b e c a u s e

o f t h e

no i s e

o f th e r a in o n th e

i r on

r o o f . T h e mee t

ing was

n ot

so

very di f f icul t ,

however af te r

we

began to

g e t t h i n g s

s t r a i g h t e n e d o u t

a b i t .

The

elders ha d

passed a law as

most

people

p ut

i t , tha t I f

yo u d id not

a tte n d church

o r

give r e g u l a r i l y when

yo u

died yo u could not

be buried e i the r

from

t h e

church o r have th e

min i s t e r t a ke th e

s e r v i c e .

T h e l a w

had

c o m e

home and it

one o f th e e l d e r s . I am

s u r e

t h e r e were some more t h i n g s

b u t

he being on e

o f th e strong men in th e

c h u r c h

had worked

fo r th e m i n i s te r s d i sm is s a l . A fte r we had

ta lk e d f o r

almost

3 h o u r s t h e y i nd ic ia te d t ha t

the m ajority of th e

people

were d es iri ou s o f

d


15/19

ernita and I will leave home on the 16th and load James furniture etc. early on the

so that we

can

be in Johnannesburg shortly after noon that day.

James

will begin his

with

the Natalspruit church the next day.

The

church had asked

him

to begin be

Christmas. Thank God

that

he

will

be going

there

to work

him

a t h i s home

t h i s

l a s t

yea r .

However God

has

great ly

I

have had

to replace the

motor

in the

W

The

old

one

was

working

very

good

until the

wheel came loose. When we

took the motor out

we found

that

it

was not the

first

time

had

happened,

so

it

could not be repaired. We had

put

a good number of miles on the

but it was still under guarantee. This did us

no good

for the man from whom

we

the motor

had

gone

out of

business .

We had a supper for the

teachers

of

Umzumbe

Bible Institute at

Lynton

and Debbie

Stan

Neethlings

farm

on the 14th of November. We will have a supper for the students at

on Tuesday, the 21st. Then on the 26th and throughout the

week we

will have white

from the University of Natal at Pietermaritzburg giving a week of their time to

work

around

the school. School itself will close on the 6th of December.

Vernita

and

I are thinking of taking those students

home

who

go

South.

Maart

Joseph

me to preach at the colored Church in Graaff

Reinet

and take the projector and

show

pictures on the life of Paul. If we

do

that we will visit churches in that area for a

Anyone

want

some

monkeys?

You

can

have them for free. They are eating everything that

pawpaw,

avocados, mulberries and even the green beans. They use to run

the sight of a person but now

if you do

not make

any quick

moves

toward them they

will

let

you come up t i l l you are within fifty feet

of

them.

We

thank od for the wonderful way that

e

has cared for us. We thank all of those

who

e prayed for us for we greatly need the strength of the Lord.

You r Co -Worker s

in

C h r i s t

Al v i n and

V e r n i t a

. Sandra will be making up our schedule

for

us in the states so i f you have any ques

ns or requests please write to her.

AGENT

R i c h a r d Hanson

G an non A ve . W.

Minn. 5S068

WITH

THE

NICHOLSONS

and

mailed

by

Pa rk C h r i s t i a n Church

N.

2 5 t h t

Non-Prof i t

Organiza t ion

U . S . POSTAGE

Quincy

I l l ino i s 62301

P e r m i t 57


16/19

Atvin Nicholson and

Michael Stanley

pose withthis

year s students at Umzumbe Bible

Institute.

Th e

students

represent th e following home languages:

Xhosa , Afr ikaans , Zu lu ,

and

Siswati.

T hy

word is

a

lamp unto

:aiy

fee t

and

a

l igh t

unto my paths

s lms

1 1 9 : 1 5

SOUTHr

a F M C O N

/

TORCH

Kimberley

^

Bible

College

Port Shepstone

ope

Town London

V olu me 2 9 Four th Qu ar te r, 1 97 8

N u m b e r

uu y

a J l

Lynn and

Lucille

Stanley

will

be enjoying

a

Minneso ta Chr is tmas with Duane, Kathy , Amber ,

and Ryan Larry and Marguerite and Lynton and

Debbiethis

year, t>efore

returning

to South

Africa

in

January, 1979.

Michael,

Caryl,

Dlna,

Diane,

and

Dawn

Stanley

will

spend

a

quiet

Christmas in

South

Africa

with none

of

the family

here

th is year .

\ ojUP

Alvin

and Vernita Nicholson look

forward

to th e ne w

year when they will be returning to

th e United

States

on furlough.

Anne S t an l ey

in

Indiana


17/19

2

Sou th

African

Tor ch

LARGEST CONFERENCE

EVER

favorite pastt ime at Conference posing for

Th e

mini st er s t ook t he i r

turn. N ote

th e

rs and overcoats it was quite cold thisyear.

The a n n u a l C on fe ren ce o f th e

was

held a t

Invut sh in i

Church

Chri s t

near Ramsgate

from th e

13th

the 17th

of

September.

Barnabas

n go i s t he

minister.

With mo re

than

250

people

paying

monies,

this was

the largest

that

we have

ever

h ad. F ou r

and ministers hired a bu s to bring

to Conference. There was one mini

s

an d

several

cars. Others

came

by

transport.

Wednesday

night is

always

a

long

with

welcoming speeches an d

music

by the choirs. A1

brought

the opening

speaking

on Evangel i sm in

e Home .

The

theme of Evangelism

as

emphasized in

al l

th e messages.

Because

of the

lack

of

space,

we

could

erect th e 40

foot

by 40

foot

tent. This

for th e

day

time meeting without

ny

trouble,

but

was

never enough space

r th e

night

meetings. Many

ha d to

s t and

out s ide and look in

After talking

about

it for

four years

a

new

constitution was

accepted a t this

year's Conference. The textwas read

an d

a few

points

explained at a meeting on

Friday. On

Saturday

morning

it

was

passed

without d iscuss ion.

Ther e a re

now

only

four office s which are

designated

for

specific people. Two of

them

are

reserved fo r Bre thren and

the

o the r two

are

des igna t ed fo r

missionaries.

When it came to voting for

th e n ew committee,

th e

work

was done

very quick ly ,

fo r

they

re-elected

those

who had been holding

office.

A few

changes

were

made whe re p revi ou s

office-bearers were not

present.

It

is well

understood

amongst

th e

Food

by

the

bucketful When yo u have

to

feed 250

people a

bowl

of mealie meal in the

morning,

this

seems to be t he easi es t

way to handle it.

i i

Four th

Qua r t e r

by

Alvin Nicholson

Most

of

th e women wear uni forms t o Con fe r en ce

(and Women 's Meet ings

at

home). Married women

wear b lack sk i rt s , smocks

with

white

collars, an d

black hats an d shoes. Unmarried

girls

wear black

skirts and vests

with

white hats and

shirts,

people

that

th e committee's responsibil

it y is to care

for

matters deal ing with

the

government, especially

applications for

church

sites,

which

cannot

be

made by

individuals or local churches,

and

with

the planning

fo r

Minister's

Week and the

Annua l

Confe rence . Even

th e

Commit tee

was

able to complete all i ts bus ines s i n

less

t h an

t wo h o ur s

The Minis t e rs Week

fo r

1979 h a s been

invited

to Upington

at whi ch t ime

the

new

church

building

will

be

dedicated.

This meeting will

probably be held

during March. Upington is in the

fa r

north west

part of

th e country, near

South West Africa, and

has

never been

host to any meeting

of

this type

before.

The A nnua l Confe rence h a s been

invited

by Simon Mtshayisa a nd the

people

of

Barberton

to

meet

with them

in

1979 .

THREE

CAMPS IN TWO WEEKS

Because of th e

closing

of the Afr ican

two weeks

early in June, and

ou r

being

able to

find

a

place

to meet for

we had a very

small

camp

the first

of July

at

Umzumbe

Bible

Institute.

On

Friday the

7th of

July

I

taught

a

class

at

school, then

drove

160

to Estcourt to be

there

fo r

th e

of

their

week end

camp that

At Estcourt

t h e m i ni st er works

ou t a

program,

which

is to be taught

th e children over a period

of

time. At

he week-end camp they answer

an d give scripture references

what t hey have le ar ned. They also

their memory

work.

Saturday

and

afternoon

Vernita

an d I

our t ime

taking the children

on e

by

thru

their

drill. Saturday night we

to their choirs and judged them.

the

choir singing we

gave out th e

to

those

wh o had done best. Al l

o took

part

received an

orange.

by

Alvin Nicholson

M

Brother Sogoni gave t he c oo k s a h an d. H e d is he d

up their meat

with a stick.

Tuesday Verni ta

and

I with

Wilfred

Mdululi from Umzumbe Bible

Institute,

went to Pondoland to have a part in their

camp

there. They had 158

children

registerd an d

a

large

enough group of

adults

that

they

ha d

six

good

sized

classes. Because I

was

using slides my

classes were held in

the

church building.

Vernita

taught

her c la ss

outside

using

flannel

graph materials. Each period the

students would

move

from o ne c la ss to

th e

nex t

In al l the camps we used th e

three

films

that we

have

gotten on

th e

life

of

Paul.

The impact

of

these

films

ha s

been

great.

Already

th is year

I

have had

invitations to two camps, which I shall

no t

be

able

to

take because

of

ou r

going on

furlough.

One of

th e camps is at

Middleburg, Cape, whe re we have no t

had a camp

fo r

several years . I am

sure

that

one

ofthe other missionaries will

try

t o h el p t hem.


18/19

Four th

Quar ter Sou th

African

Torch

Page

ACTING

PRINCIPAL

by Michael

M.

Stanley

shopping trips.

Thursday is another

light day whe

teaching

is concerned.

I

leach for tw

hours and spend

th e

rest

of the t ime

the

office

working

on l esson

recording

school

purchases an

writing letters. At 10:00 a.m.

th

faculty meets together

for tea.

This

one

of the few

t imes

that all of t

faculty is together in one place. Wh

faculty meet ings are

called

t hey me

at 1:30 p.m. At

other time s

th

afternoon

is spent in work

around

th

school

or on

th e road. I n t he e ve nin

th e

missionaries

ge t

together

f

supper

and

prayer.

We are a lwa

happy when

th e

meeting

is held at

o

house

becaus e

t h en

we

do n ot h av e

carry

sleeping children

over the

rou

road

home

late a t night.

Friday

is

th e

busiest

day o f

th e

week.

the morning the

class schedule

broken by

th e chapel

service.

I

teach

hours

an d then

have to go

an d pick

Mrs.

Hul ley who

is

our typing

teach

so that she

ca n begin teaching

at

2:3

My

time

is taken up between th e offi

and students unt i l 4:30 when I ta

Mrs. Hully

home

and

collect

th e

scho

milk from a

nearby

farm.

Saturday is

o ur day when we ar e

home.

When we a re aw ay

visiting

church,

it is

just

another

work

day.

Jus t

in

case

th i s rou t ine

does

n

provide enough variety we

have thin

like

th e annual

conference, wedding

minis te r s

week

and

a

n umb er o f o th

e ve nts w hic h

demand

t h a t we

ma

changes. School holidays

ar e a

welcom

change which

give

us a

chance

to

g

some

work around

ou r h o u s e d o ne

as t h

seems to ge t

neglected

during th e scho

yea r

Now

t h a t I

have worked this rou t ine

f

3/4

of a year I

am looking forward

to t

end

of

th e

school

year and a

chance to

s ome

woodwork

S in ce my father left

fo r

the

States on

furlough I have been Acting Principal a t

Umzumbe

Bible

I ns titu te . T he year is

proving

to be

a lo t of

work

and also a

valuable experience. I will

be glad

when

my

father

returns

and

my

workload

is

reduced.

Now t h a t

we

have ente red th e f ina l

quarter

of the school year, I think

that

I

can say that my

schedule

can be

described

as

a routine; though it never

becomes

so

regular that it

is

monotonous.

This

is how it

goes.

Sunday

is th e

Lord s

day whether I am at

home,

at school

or

visiting

one of th e

African

churches.

Because

of my

responsibilities

at th e

school,

I have

not tr av elled a s much t his y ea r

as

I

have

in

the past. N ext

year I

hope

to

change that.

Monday morning

is

taken

up with

teaching.

This

is on e of my heavy

days where

teaching is

concerned. The

afternoon

begins w ith

supervising

student labour (a task which I

do

not

care for and then I

tr y

to complete

some

of the

r epai rs a round school

which

I have to do

personal ly . Some

times an urgenttrip to town or pressing

paperwork

interfere with

my

schedule.

Tuesday only requires that I spend one

hou r i n

class so

I spend th e rest of the

morning prepa ri ng lessons,

marking

papers and

taking

care offinances. The

nurse comes on Tuesday and so I

have

to

prepa re the

money f rom powdered

milk,

which

she brings, for

banking.

I

also give

F^riscilla

Nodwengu her

s e c r e t a r i a l wo r k Sh e i s

a

teacher/secretary and

helps to

keep

school

r ecor ds up

to

date, as well

as

doing some

typing.

At 1:00 p.m. the

nurse is ready to r e tu rn home so I

load

up he r

new

supplies

of

powdered milk

and then

drive

the

10

km.

6

miles) of

twis ting grave l and mud roads which

lead to he r home and clinic.

In th is

short

distance

there

are

4 s t reams which

have

to be

crossed and n on e o f th em

has

a

bridge.

In

wet weather

t h is can

The Sou th African TORCH is a publi

ca t ion o f

th e S ou th

A fr ic an C h ur ch o f

Chr is t Mission, and is

pub li shed fou r

times

each

year

in

February,

May, Au

g ust and

November by Mission Services

Association

at Box 177 , Kempton, In

diana

46049. Second

Class Postage

paid

at Kempton, Indiana.

Four th Quarte r, 1978

Numb e r 4

m

Michael

Stanley, acting principal of

Umzumbe Bible

Institute, talking to

some

of

the

Afrikaans students,

of which we have more than usual this year.

cause problems.

Once there

I am

often

asked to hel p w it h m inor tasks which

have ranged from

repairing

an earring

to connecting a 48

kg.

106 Ih. gas

cylinder. Our relat ionship with

th e

nurse

has

always been good

and

sometimes I find myself thinkingofher

as one

of

ou r

staff

membe rs , e ven

though she is employed by

th e

government.

The res t

of the afternoon

is spent wit h m inor tasks around

th e

school

Wednesday is

shopping

day. I usually go

to school in th e morning and give th e

students

their

work

assignments

and

see that they actu ally g et to

work.

Occasionally this is

the

tim e w hen

students choose to bring up problems so

my quick

trip

over

to school candrag

into

hou rs . Once

we get

t o t own we

take

care

of

our own

purchasing

as

well

as

t ha t o f the

school . Often

the

school

purchasing

involves buying personal

items fo r th e students. I have bought

everything from aspirin an d cosmetics

t o l ad ie s u n de rw e ar

The

s t u de n ts a r e

usually more embarrassed

at

placing

th e

order than I am a t making

the

purchase. We usually leave

town

when

th e

businesses close and everyone is

t ired f rom

a full day. It

will be n ice

to

have

G ra ndpa a nd G ra ndma back to

help

take

care of

th e

children on

such

CRECHE AT INVUTSHINI

by

Alvin Nicholson

Anna Songo

an d two of the

women

from

the Invutshini

Church have passed

t he ir e x am i na ti on s and have

become

teachers for Operation

Upgrade.

This is

a program for teaching adults, especially,

to read and write. They

hold

two class

periods each week at

th e church.

F o r C o n fe r e n c e th e c h u r c h

a t

Invutshini buil t a new

building

to use

as

a

dining hall.

But that was

not

th e only

thing they had in

mind.

The buil ding i s

to b e u s ed n ow

as

a crechefor

the

children

of

working

mothers.

It will be

supervis

and cared for by women of th e churc

After

they

g et th e work

going

well,

t

chief of that

a r ea ha s

promised

them

la

fo r

i ts

own build ing .

They could us e a case of powdered

mi

e ac h m o n th and s ome for t if ied food

f

these

children,

fo r

it

is known from oth

creches t h a t s ome o f t h e c h il d re n

a re n

receiving enough food a t home.

We

wou

l ike to be able to

designateR5 0

a

month

th i s work fo r a while.


19/19

4

S ou th A fr ic an T O RC H

Published quarterly

for

the

following:

MISSIONARIES

a n d

t he i r

F O R W A R D I N G

A G E N T S

M r a n d M r s A l v i n N i c h o l s o n

and Family

P .O . B ox 2 1 9

P o rt S h ep sto n e

Natal

South Afr ica

Forwarding Ag en t

M r s . R i ch a rd H a n s o n

16642 G a n n o n

Ave. W.

Rosemount M innesota 55068

Mrs.

A n n e S t a n l e y

Columbus Indiana

Forwarding Agent

Mr.

an d

Mrs.

Donald

Barnes

R o u t e 1

Lyle Minnesota

55953

Mr . an d Mrs. Ly n n

S tanley

a n d Fa m i l y

P . O . B ox 2 19

Port

Shepstone Natal

South

Afri c a

For war di ng Ag en t

Mrs.

Sybil E v a n s

B ox 18 1

St .

Jo sep h

Illinois 61873

M r.

a n d

Mr s.

M i c h a e l

Stanley

and F a m i l y

P O Bo x

2 9

Por t

Shepstone

N a t a l

So u t h

Afr ica

F o rward in g A g e n t

M r.

an d

M r s .

R i c h a r d

E c kma n

Ro u t e 2

Kimball, Minnesota 55353

F U R L O U G H

by Lynn L. Stanley

Furlough time is a most

interesting

me. I have found myself attending

classes speaking at Faith

o mise R allie s and m issionary

visiting both churches

we

h a v e

been before a n d a n u m b e r

f new o n es w here

I h a v e

n ev er b ee n

eviously. It is a

happy

t ime as we make

w

a cq ua in ta nc es a nd r enewi ng

with o ur

supporting ones. It is

lso a difficult t ime as we

tr y

to keep in

w it h t ho se w it h

w h o m

we

w o r k

th e Mission Field.

It

is difficult to be

f rom wife or

husband

for

long

as

well. We collect needed items

ta k e b a c k with us

a n d wo n d e r if

we

Sou t h A f r i c a n

To r c h

Four th

Q u a r t e r

M A B A S O S T O

N A T A L S P R U I T

by Alvin Nicholson

Vernita

an d I arrived in Johannesburg

o n th e

25th

o f A ugu s t w ith J a m e s

Mabaso

so

he

could

visit

th e

congrega

tion

at

N a ta l sp r u it . B r o th e r M t s h ay i sa

w h o

h a s

min i s te r ed th e re a l s o c a me d o w n

from Barberton to

h el p h im .

B r o th e r M a b as o

was

well r ec ei ve d b y

th e

church a nd t he y w a nt hi m

to

come as

s o o n

a s h e c an .

H e a lso m et

a

n u m b er o f

people whom

he

h ad k no wn w he n

he

worked in Johannesburg an d they

were

happy to know

he

w as coming to minister

th e r e

T h e wedding

fo r J a m e s

Ma b a s o a n d

P h i l i s i w e

M b h e l e

w ill b e h e l d a t

Umzumbe

Bible

Institute

on

Saturday

the 7 th of October. We

ar e

v er y m uc h

looking

forward

to this occasion

and

pray

fo r

this

young

couple

as

they

prepare

to

move

to th e J o h an n e sb u r g a r ea to work

th e r e

should plan on

taking

it or

trying

to ge t in

on

th e

field.

W h a t a b o ut

a c a r

s h o u l d

we bu y a larger

one and

e nj oy m ore

comfort a s

we

travel

o r s h ou l d we us e a

sm aller one and ge t by somewhat

cheaper

as

far. as travel expense is

concerned?

In

ou r

c as e t he re i s a ls o th e

problem

of

h o w

th in g s

a re g o i n g a t

th e

Bible

Training School and

th e

feeling that we

should be

back

there helping. Probably it

is

t h is l a tt e r

problem

which

is

t h e h a r de s t

to

handle

as we know

th at

every m ont h

we a r e a w ay there will be

t b a t

much

more

adjustment when we return.

Whenever

we hear

of

a ne w problem we are

concerned a bout

th e

solution even

though we know

th at

tho se th ere are

capable

of h a n dl i ng t h e m a tt e r. A f te r 25

years

th e

mission

field is

HOME.

I

w o n d e r

i f

th e t i m e will

not

c om e w he n

man y missionaries

will

be taking shorter

and probably

a t

shorter intervals a

furlough p er io d to k ee p i n c on ta ct with

th e people

a t

home? In o ur c as e it wil l

give us the ch ance to se e more

of

th e

grandchildren

as

they grow

and

to meet

again those of our children

who

have

remained

in America. It will also

help

us

to have a

more

personal

relationship

with

ou r supporting

churches.

It h as

been

a r e al p l ea s ur e to se e th e

i n te r es t w h ic h h as b e e n

shown

a n d

to

hear

people s ay th ey

are

pra yi ng

fo r

us

an d th e o th er w or ke rs o n the field . W e

ha ve seen additional income pledged and

know that

when

we go

back

in Januar y

1979, we

should

be in b et te r p os it io n t o

expand

th e work th an

ever before. Most

of ou r projects have been me t in part or in

full.

Praise

God Th e

typewriters

to

upgrade t h a t par t

of th e

school have been

paid for.

Additional

salar y fo r th e

Th e

church building an d

minister s

home at

Natalspruit where J a me s an d

Philisiwe

Mabaso

will

be

working by

th e

en d of

October.

A fr ic an t ea ch er s ha s been pledged.

Money

h as

come in for an adequate

watersystem a t

th e

school which is badly

needed.

Probably

money

will

be on

h an d

to help with th e replacing of th e original

c h u r c h - c l a s s r o o m

a t

U m z u m b e . This will

give t he A f ri ca n b r et h re n o ne t he y ca n be

proud of

at th e

logical center. All this is

possible

b ec au se t he s up po rt er s of the

work

have

been

generous

as

they

have

heard of th e

needs

in ou r part of th e

w o r l d .

T h e N at io n al M is si on ar y C on v en ti on

was a special

blessing

fo r us. Will it be 8

years before

we get to

a tt en d a no th er

one?

Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1978 SAfrica

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