Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1987 SAfrica

8/10/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1987 SAfrica

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nicholson-alvin-vernita-1987-safrica 1/16

Republic

of

South Africa

m m g M < 0^1 U

o

knp unto nuf ^ ani

o

m WM mm m

m /J lu^kunto

wipaik -- Jidmi II9:I0S

a F R i c a N

TORCH

Port

Shepstone

Transkei

VmzumDe

Bible institute

3

After

16

years,

Lynn and Lucille

Stanley enjoyed

having

their children al l

together.

Lar ry and Duane (on th e left

were visiting

from

th e USA and

Michael

and Debbie (on t he ri gh t) live in S outh

Africa.

V o l u m e

3 8

>Cape Town

Eas t London*

F i rs t Q u a rt er 1987

N u m b e r 1

M E M O RIE S T O

C H E R I S H

by

Lucille Stan ley

We h av e ju st experienced a long-time dream of

ours—to

have our f ami ly a ll t oge the r fo r Chr is tmas . The last t ime we

were together was in 1970 when there were only 10 of us . Now

there

ar e 21. I t w as mos t e xc iti ng to watch

th e

plan

come

together when we learned f i rs t

that Duane and

hi s

family

would

be

joining

the

work here

for a

s ix month

period;

then

word

came

from

Larry

that

they had

been

able to arrange a

trip

fo r December.

There were a g re at many comings and g oi ngs in tho se

months.

In

June

we

met

th e

plane

in

Durban

that

brought

Duane, Kathy

and

th e chi ldren.Then i n

July

we me t t he train

t ha t brought Michael and his family back

from

their year s

furlough. With

them c ame Mike

LaHaye and

Anita Mann,

young people who would also share in

th e

work for a period.

Family get-togethers took on a whole new dimens ion .

The departures

ha d to come,

too.

Alvin and Vernita Nichol

son lef t fo r si x months

in

th e

States. Mike

and Ani ta sa id good

bye,

too as

they

closed

their

t ime with us.

Both

of these

depar

t u re s were in December

Then

excitement reached peak again as 16 of us

waited

in

th e Durban airport for the plane that was to bring our

family

al l

together. It is

hard

to

express the joy

we felt as once

again

we

had ou r family

in

ou r home.

One

cannot make

up for the

periods

of

separation,

and

maybe

we ar e

inclined

to

try, bu t

we

d id t ak e advan ta ge o f every opportunity to be together. As

proud and happy as we were, there were

still

times

when

th e

noise

level

and th e activities got a

b it much

f or u s.

Then came Chris tmas Day. It was easy

to

understand

those

wh o

had

trouble

feeling Chris tmasy

in th e heat

of

summer.

Decorations and

lights ar e not so much a

part of

ou r Christ

mas. It

was pure

joy, however,

when

th e

entire

family at

tended a sm all N orw egian churc h where D uane ga ve his

characterization

of

Joseph.

After

church

we

shared our

gifts an d bountiful meal a t

Debbie an d

Lynton s f arm. There

ar e some advantages to Christmas

in

th e summer,

as

th e bi g

yard became the p layground for 11

grandchildren.

Inevitably

th e good-byes

had

to come, an d fo r al l

ou r

years

of

part ings , they

do

not get

any easier.

Duane

an d family re

turned

to

t he S ta te s on

January 2nd.

The family, though

smaller,

got together as often as

possible.

One

especially

enjoyab le t ime was a da y trip into a

game

park in

Nor th er n Nat al . I n s pite of t he h ea vy growth—for

rains

have been plentiful

this

year—we

were

thrilled at

th e

amount of game we saw, especially a herd of

about

8 elephants

which

we

watched

fo r some

time. They

crossed th e road

in

front

of us ,

but we

decided i twa s t ime to move on

when the bull

e lephant gave us a

trumpet

warning.

On the 16th of January we

once

again

drove

to th e

Louis

In

December, 1986

th e

entire

Stanley

f amily was abl e to be to

gether. We al l enjoyed getting

reacquainted

and savouring ex

periences we have no t had du ri ng year s o f

separation.

Botha

airport

in

Durban.

After saying

good-bye

in th e

airport

lounge

we

wen t out to t he pa rk ing

lo t and

watched a plane

until it was lost f rom view. This time

Larry

and

hi s

family

were

on

it .

The f am il y had al l been

here, and

we had

loved

having

them. God had

been very good

to

us . Now tucked

in ou r

hea r t s rema in a lo t o f memor ies

N I C H O L S O N N E W S

by Alv in Nichol son

Alvin a n d V e r ni ta Nicholson

left

Sou th Af ri c a

fo r

America

on th e

2nd

ofDecember.

They

will be returning to

SouthAfr ica

on th e 12th of July 1987. They will make their home with their

daughter an d

family while on furlough. The address is

7108

Lower

170th

Court W. Rosemount, MN 55068, telephone 612-

431-2590.

December was s pe nt in vis it ing with their immediate

families.

Vemita s mother was p la ced i n a nursing home

toward th e e nd of last year. She

will

soon celebrate her 92nd

birthday.

Last time

we

were here, s he was very

forgetful,

but

this

time

she did not recognize Vernita. However, her

general

health

is

very good.

We

would

as k

fo r

your prayers

fo r the Chris t ians in

South

Afr ic a. Whi le

t he unre s t has made some changes in their

continued on

page 4



Y O U T H

C M P -

B R K L Y

W E S T S T Y L E

by

Michael Stanley

Bill

Weber,

missionary

to

Johannesburg,

organized

t he c amp at Barkly West.

John

Mpornpo, former Umzumbe Bib le Institute

student,

helped

wi th the

camp. He

served

as

interpreter and

teacher.

Classes were held in th e m am auditor ium

and outside under the

awnings.

These were

th e

youngest campers

and

included 4 mi s

sionary children. Michael taught during

most of

th e

class hours.

Because

of

a

f uner al i n one

of

the congre

g at io ns t he Sunday mo rn in g

speaker

was

not able to come to camp. Michael Stanley

filled

t he pu lp i t

with

th e

help of

interpret

e r Ro land

Joseph

from Kimberley.

To find a

satisfactory campsite

for

African

youth has al

ways been difficult. In Upington we never did find a good one

an d the result

was that

we

used facilities that

left a lo t to be de

sired. In other places the camps

are

held in town using the

church building for classes and meetings. The campers

are

housed with local

families

an d

a result ha s

been

that some of

the campers miss many ofthe camp activities. The onlygood

campsite that the

Africans could afford was in

the

Port

Shep-

stone area. A few

years

ago, after improvements

were made

to

the

camp,

they

increased

the

rental. Fo r a couple of years we

used other facilities that were available, but

in th e

en d

the

need for good facilities won out

and

we paid

the higher

rental.

In

the northern

Cape

the situationwas

different. Bill Weber

planned

a youth

camp

in

the

Kimberley

area

for December,

1986.

Someone

suggested

that

he consider

the

campsite

at

Barkly

West. When it

was investigated it

was found to be

no t

just

adequate,

but outstanding.

It is called Deo Gloria

and it

is a large and well-equipped facility. The auditorium will seat

about 700

and

th e

kitchen

is

equipped

to feed

that size group

as

well. Housing is

comfortable

and to

top

it

al l off

the

rental

is

only Rl,50 (about 0.80)

per camper

per day. What a welcome

surprise

Camp

started on December 5 and

campers

arrived

through

out

the

day. I

dropped

off

the

group from

Upington

(11

campers)

and t hen drove to Kimberley to p ick

up my family

and 3 campers from

the

Kimberley

area.

By

the

time we

arrived in

th e

evening

we

learned that

because of a funeral,

there

would

be

no campers

or

teachers

from one

congregation.

We were

all disappointed

at the news,

bu t had

to

accept the

fact

that a

funeral in

that

community disrupted

th e

entire

community. Later we also

learned

that Bill

Weber

was

no t

wel l. He had

seen

th e doctor

about

a

complaint, but on

th e

way

to

camp his condition had deteriorated and

he

was in g re at

pain.

In

spite

of th e

bad news at the beginning,

camp went very

well.

The

program

was adjus ted

an d

classes were consoli

dated because of the missing t eachers. The re were about 85

campers instead of the anticipated 100+. Th e weather was ex

tremely ho t

an d

with th e consolidated

classes, it

was easier to

arrange a

place

for each class. Because

there

were several

students whose

home

language was

not

Afrikaans (e.g.,

the

children of the missionaries) I taught in Afr ikaans

and

di d my

own

interpreting.

Afterabitofthatldecided that it was easier

to

use

an interpreter.

My

tendency was to continue th e lesson

when I changed languages

rather

than to repeat what

had

already been said

in

the previous language. One particularly

noteworthy fea ture was that

food

was always

ready in

advance of the scheduled meal

time.

That was something new

to a ll

o f

u s

Bill Weber

spent

much

of

hi s

time in

bed

and was very un

comfortable when

he

was up walki ng . When

he

arrived

back

i n Johannesburg ,

he

went straight to th e

doctor.

We ar e

pleased to report that

he

has since recovered.

I helped a lo t with supervising the campers

an d

that meant

having afew late nights,buteventhathaditsgood side. After

10:00

p.m.

it

was

beautifully

calm

and cool

out.

Teachers sa t

outdoors and visited

while

they waited fo r th e campers to

s et tl e down in their rooms. A very pleasant experience

On Sun day morn in g

we

taught ou r

last

classes

before

gathering in the main auditorium for worship. Jim Conley,

a

missionary

from

Botswanna,

preached a t

th e worship service

and

then,

everyone enjoyed

a del icious

chicken dinner

before

heading home.

I have a tt ended camp where we s lept i n t en ts and had to

clean th e

sand

ou t o f our ears in th e morning.

I

have eaten

food

that was

prepared

outdoors i n th e r ain . I have had to

organize unwilling workers to carry water up from th e river in

buckets. I have taught

when

a s m an y a s 50% of th e

campers

were missing from th e

f i rs t c lass

of th e day. I

have preached

when

th e

only l ightwas

a

candle on

th e

table in

front

of

me .

At

Barkly West

we ha d a ll t he comfort s of home (except warm

water i n t he showers). Maybesomeday a ll o f

our

camps will be

like

that and we will forget that we ar e on th e mission field half

way

around the

world

from th e

States.

Camp is th e same the world over—

campers

have to line up to get their food.

The food wa s

good

and

plentiful.

The

campers

go t

their

p la te s and sat at long

tables

to

enjoy

th e

food and fellowship.

The MK s (Missionary Kids):

Sarnantha

Mugliston (friend of Dina Stanley), Diane

Stanley, Dawn Stanley,

Dina

Stanley,

Christy Conley,

Donovan

Weber, April

Conley and

Miki Weber.

A MIXTURE

OF

B u s i n e s s AND

PLEASURE

by C a r yl S t an l ey

We seldom

take

vacations, as such, as a family. However,

students

to

their homes

in Kimberley

and Upington and then

when we have to travel for any reason, we try to seewhatever went to the youth camp at BarkleyWest. Wetookour children

the

area

has

to offer. and one of

Dina s

friends, Samantha Mugliston, with us.

In December, we took some of

the

Umzumbe Bible

Institute

continued on

page

3



S ou t h Af r i c a n TORCH

Published quarterly for th e

following

MISSIONARIES

an d t he i r

FORWARDI NG AGEN TS

Mr.

M

rs .Alvin Nicholson and family

P .O . B ox 2 19

Port Shepstone

4240

Rep.

of

SOUTH

AFRICA

Forwarding Agent

Mrs.

Richard

Hanson

7108 Lower

170th Court W.

Rosemount,

Minnesota 55068

Mr. Mrs. Lynn Stanley and family

P .O . B ox 2 19

Port Shepstone

4240 Rep. of

SOUTH AFRICA

Forwarding

Agent

Mrs. Sybil Evans

Box

18 1

St. Joseph, Illinois 61873

Mr .

Mrs. Michael

Stanley and family

P.p. Box 13

Umzumbe

4225 Rep. o f SOUTH AFRICA

Forwarding

Agent

Mr. and

Mrs.

Richard

Eckman

Route

2

Box

3

Kimball, Minnesota

55353

The

South

African TORCH (501-820)

is a

publication o f t he

South Afr ican Church

of Chris t

Mission,

and is

publi shed four

times eachyear in

F ebruary,

May,August ,

an d

November

by

Mission Services

Asso

ciation, 7525 Hodges Ferry Road,

Knox-

ville, TN 37920-9731. Second-class

postage paid at

Knoxville

TN

37901-2427.

POSTMASTER: Send addr es s

changes

to Sou th Afr ic an TORCH, c/ o Mission

Se rv ic e s As so ci at io n,

PO Bo x 2427,

Knoxville,

TN

37901-2427.

Firs t Quar te r 1987

Vo lume 8 N um be r

1

Diane Stan ley narrated a play depicting

the b ir th of Christ and directed her younger

cousins as th ey a ct ed it ou t before very

appreciative aunts, uncles,

parents, and

grandparents at our family get-together on

Christmas

Eve. Th e

children planned

and

prepared this without adult supervision

or

help.

UB I UPDAT E

by Lucille

Stanley

The 1987school

yearhashadagood

be

ginning with

better than

average

on-time

students. We have s ix second-year men

and

one

woman.

With

the a r r iv a l o f three

students today,

there

ar e now six men

and two women in

first year class.

Dis

appoint ingly, one

of th e

women

is

preg

nant

an d

will

no t

be

staying.

After

a ll th e

extra s taff las t year who

have now

left,

t he p re se nt t ea cher s a re

having

to

carry

a

much heavier load. One

of

t he b lack

teachers from last year also

left

to

go

to University. Floyd

Stamm

is

coming

down from Durban

to

teach part-

time.

Wiseman Pepeta ,

wh o has taught

for

a

number

of yea rs , comes f rom hi s

c hur c h i n

t h e T ran skei

to

t each

the r e s t of

th e

week.

Also, added

to

th e staff,

is a

second year

student

who

is

greatly

interested

in educat ion .

He will be

serving as

an

assistant teacher and

keep

in g

th e

library.

The

bi g

project is th e

construction

of

t h e k i tchen/d in ing room

uni t

which is

now

ready for

sub-flooring and then

block

laying can begin.

The p lann ing and preparation

which

Duane helped with before he left has

been

greatly

appreciated an d certainly

helped ge t

t he yea r of f to a

good start.

NICHOLSON NEWS

continued from page 1

church programs, there is

no

place where

they

have

no t been allowed

to

meet. One

minister is holding home meetings in th e

evenings.

He said

that one man walking

alone

is in

little

danger.

The

people

are

anxious for s tu dy a nd

prayer

so

th e

meetings

have been

well

attended.

Th e

problems have led many people to a

closer

walk

with

Christ,

fo r they are

taking more

careful thought

as

to w hy

they are Christians.

We

a r e t h ank f ul fo r th e s tuden t s

t h a t

studied a t Umzumbe Bible

Inst i tute

during

1986 an d we

pray that th e

attend

ance

will be even larger this year.

There

ar e many

places that need

and w ant

leaders .

SNAKES

by

Lucille

Stan ley

Snakes

ar e

t he s ub je ct o f

many

terror

stories here, but th e truth is tha t we truly

do not

dea l w it h

t hem very often. Just

t al ki ng about t hem is sufficient, thank

you

I t was

a shock , therefo re , to rece ivea

phone cal l

from

t he s choo l saying that

one o fou r s tudents had been bi t ten while

drawing water

at

a

t ank. The message

was tha t Mr. Qwemesha was

in

t own, so

they

had

phoned

fo r

the ambulance

and

o ne o f

t h eme n

who could dr ive

h ad

t a ken

he r

in th e big lorry to the neares t shop to

meet th e ambulance

What

were w e

to

d o f ro m

o ur h om e

5

miles away?

We

phoned th e shop. The

shopkeeper was home

fo r

lunch,

but said

she would

phone back as soon as sh e

learned

anything. That call was not en

couraging.

The ambulance ha d notcome.

So Lynn departed. Later another

phone

call

f rom Mrs. Qwemesha

sa id the driver

had

returned

to school wi th the

girl

when

the ambulance did

not

arrive, but the foot

was

swelling

an d they

were worr ied .

I

assured her Lynn had gone out, and

suggested they go back to meethim. Then

Lynn arrived home.

Arriving at theshop

an d finding

no one,

he assumed

that

sh e

had

been

cared fo r

so

he c ame

home.

I

hurried

him

of f again.

After

his

departure,

another call from

Mr.

Qwemesha

t hi s time to as k

where

Lynn was.

He

had not checked

on the girl

so I learned

nothing.

Having a proper

respect

for

snakes an d knowing how

dead ly some of them

are,

I

was most

con

cerned.

Her

life

might be in

danger

while

people

were

driving back and

forth

Lynn

had gone back ou t an d 1could do nothing

bu t

pray.

Much l at er Lynn c ame in smiling. All

was

well.

Henr ie t ta had

been

t aken to th e

hospital and they kept her overnight, bu t

h e

h ad h ea rd th e doc tor tell th e n urs e i t

was not

a Mamba

bite.

The green

and

black mamba s a re t he

mos t

feared of all

snakes.

Smiling

an d

limping just a

little,

Henrietta greeted us when we picked he r

up at th e hospital. It was the first

time in

27 years a student had been bitten, and

we

t hanked t he

Lord

fo r

His

protection.

Thus ends ou r snake story of th e year

Form

3579

requested

PO

Box

2427, Knoxvil le ,

TN

37901-2427



^hfmidUa

Imp

unLo

nuf

jed

and

a

li/jkl

unto mj

paLk.

-- Jiolmi 119:105

m m

MV

g m

Jh f

woid a a I

mm m A|^V li/jkunio mijpolk

a FR i c aN

Republic of

Sou th Afr ica

TORCH

Port

Shepstone

Transkei tUmzumbeBibleinsliiule)

ichael Stanley puts a sheet ofpaper into

the pr in ter to print ye t another ar tic le for

t he South Af ri can Torch.

Th e

Tandy

1200

computer has

worked many hours

as

a word

processer and

we

now w on der how

we

managed

before

we got it.

iCape Town

Ea s t

London

V o lu m e 3 8 Second

Quar te r

1987

Numb e r

2

MINISTERS

WEEK,

3 6 M arch 1987

by Michael Stanley

When

I prepared the VW

Microbus

fo r

th e

trip to Ministers

Week

in

Graaff

Reinet,

I

had

expected

a

full

load.

In the end,

we left Port Sheps tone w it h only

five

passengers.

Floyd

S t amm

dec ided

to

dr ive down

on

h is

own

an d Dad dec ided

to

s t ay in PortShepstone as

Mom

had just

been released

from th e

hospital after surgery t o r emove a damaged knee-cap. We

expected

to

p ick up one

man on

the

waybu t he

did

not arrive so

we ha d plenty of

room

during

th e

13 hour trip.

The execu t ive commi t t ee

o f t he C hu rc h o f C h ris t

Miss ion

met on

Tuesday

3 March) which was th e da y

before

Ministers

Week wa s scheduled to beg in. A s usual those meetings were

tedious

bu t I regard

them

as a necessary

evil.

Even

though there was a preaching

service

on Tue sd ay

evening, th e official opening was

on

Wednesday. The speaker

was t he mayo r of

Kroonvale,

th e

Coloured

township, and th e

turnout was good. After th e lengthy meeting cooldrinks

pop), cookies and cake

were served.

This

year special

emphasis

wa s

placed

on teach ing,

with

Robert

Mills

t eaching on Discipleship and Church Growth.

John Kernan

taught

concerning

Discipline

in

th e

Church.

Both

men

also manned stalls

selling

Christian

printed

material s. During the afternoon. Bill Weber taught

on

Chris

tian Unity and

I used a class

period

to discuss

th e

Building

and Evangelism

Fund o fwhich I am director. Time was also

planned

for discussion of

t he mat er ia l

which was

taught.

Generally

this

time brought lively discussions.

Bil l Weber

and

I also made a spec ia l con tr ibu t ion to th e

evening programs.

Before

th e

main

message, I presented a

Bible story with

t he a id

of a filmstrip

and

Bill gave a short

Bible word study.

These

were well-received.

Duringthe

week, John

Kernan distr ibutedthe latest

issue of

Cornelius

Koeberg,

th e local mayor , addres ses the

group on th e opening night of th e annual ministers

week. Cornelius father wa s a charter memberof th e

Graaff Reinet congregation.

John Kernan

teaches

a lesson on Discipline in th e

Church. Attendance and interest

at the teach ing

sessions was very good. I t seems

that

t he min is t e rs

and other church leaders

ar e

increasingly aware of

their need fo r

cont inuing

education.

Future

Leaders,

a

magazine

which

he

publishes for

young

people.

Again

we

were

reminded of

th e

great

interest

which

there

is in this

magazine

by people of

al l

ag e groups.

Even

with al l of

th e

activities,

the missionaries

found t ime

to

visi t and discuss i s sues related

to

our work. S ince fou r

of

us

were staying in

one

cabin at the trai ler park, we

had

quite a bit

of time together.

On

a couple of evenings we all got together at

John Kernan s

trailer for a

braai

(barbeque).

On

these

occasions

our

group numbered seven and included Heather

Kernan, Floyd S tamm and Alice Fishback.

After all

of th e work

that

went

into th e program,

it

was

unfortunate tha t the a tt en da n ce w as

lower

than usual.

Several complained that th e change

in

dates

for

the meeting

had

made

it

difficult for them

to

attend. Hopefully

that will

no t

be

nec es sa ry i n t he

future.

The issues tha t were d ea lt w it h i n t he a ft er no on s es si on s

were

particularly pertinent

to

the p resen t s itua tion in South

Africa.

Division

has

been

a

problem

in

the church during the

last few

years

so Christian

teaching

on

this

is much needed.

We ar e also

trying

to help the church to

make the t ransi t ion

from a missionary

receiving

body to a missionary sending

body. The African Christians

recognize

the

need fo r mission

aries to

come

and help them, but th e idea

that

they could be in

volved in

sending

out missionaries to other parts

of

South

Africa,

or th e world, is

still

new to them.

Ministers

Week

has

become an annual t radi t ion o f th e

Church

of

Christ Mission

an d

as such,

it has

been

a valuable

forum for

discussion

of

issues

as

well as a

time

of fellowship.

In a country like South

Africa

where the ministers , and th e

missionaries, ar e widespread, this i s impor tant . But I believe

t ha t a s

greater

emphasis

is placed on teaching, the meetings

can be mad e e ve n more valuab le to

t ho se w ho

at tend .



Th e

p r e se n t k i t c h en / d i ni n g

room

is in a n ol d 17-foot

diameter

rondowel. It

wa s

built in

1968 using

homemade

blocks.

Th e

plaster

ha s been

repaired an d t he r oo f

has

b e e n r e pl a ce d

bu t

both

ar e

in

ba d condition again. T he r oo m is very dark because it

has

small

windows

a n d is verycrowdeda s i t h a s to contain cupboards stove

refrigerator

tables

a n d

chairs.

lvin

Nicho l son manned th e c em en t m ix er

an d ni ta

Mann

missionary intern a nd U m z um b e B i b le I n s ti t ut e s t u de n t s

pr o

vided l ab ou r w he n t he f ou nd at io ns

fo r

th e

ne w

building were

p o ur ed i n N o ve mb er 1986.

T he b u il di ng w as marked

ou t a n d

U m z u m b e

Bible Institute

s tu de nt s d ug

th e tr en ch es fo r th e f ou nd at io ns.

Concrete

wa s

b r ou g ht b y w he el ba rr ow f ro m t he mi xer

to

t h e t re n ch

on a

p l a n k

path.

Michael

Stanley

w o rk e d i n t h e t r en c h l e ve l in g t h ec o nc r et e .

Once

the foundations

ha d

been

poured.

Samson Mtimkhulu.

an

African block layer came an d built the walls up to floor level.

Then

th e

areas had

to be filled with rock

a nd

rubble.

A l v i n

N i c h o l s o n s

2 - to n

I su zu t ru ck w as u se d to hau l

r o c k and

gravel fo r fill.

This

quarry is a bo ut o ne

m il e f ro m

t h e c am p us .

During

th e school

holidays we h ir ed h ig h s ch oo l b o ys f r om th e

area to di g an d

load

g r a ve l f o r us.

Th e

gravel whi ch w as p u t o v er t he

fill

h a d

to

be smoothed

a n d

tamped down.

Victor is a

m an from

th e area

wh o

has

worked

fo r

U m z um b e B ib le

Institute

p e ri o di ca ll y o v er t h e

p a s t

fe w

years.



UMZUM E I LE I NST I TUTE

The sub-floor wa s

done in

February,

1987. Lynn Stanley ra n th e

cement

mi.xer

and

a

new

group of

students

gained

some practical

experience in building

church

buildings.

Michael

Stanley,

along with two Umzumbe Bible Institute

students,

leveled

th e

concrete

as

th e

sub-floor

was poured. Quality

and efficiency improved as th e work progressed.

mWm

T • V _5 <

Progress Afternoon shadows leng thened and

another

day's

work was

done.

Window frames

were

braced

into

place

as

th e walls

climbed higher.

K- *

Samson Mtimkhulu, th e

block-layer,

checked hi s bui lder 's l ine

to se e that everything stayed level.

:-*df

Michael Stanley and

the

students

raise

a beam into position.

The

roof

does no t us e

trusses

so

t he re a re

two beams,

one

at

th e

peak and on e

along

th e

front of

th e porch.

M NY H ND S R ISE

A K I TCHEN

Al l t he mat er ia ls

and

l abou r wh ich have gone

into

th e

buildingso far

are paid for. We also have th e

roof

and th e

doors

and windows. However, th e

cash

which we have on hand

will

not be sufficient to finish the

building

and its furnishings.

Therefore, we appeal to any i nd iv idua ls , l ad ie s' g roups,

Sunday school classes , youth groups, VBS's , etc., who are

looking fo r

projects,

to

please

consider our new

building.

Po s

sibilities fo r

pro je ct s inc lude :

Stove-$50().00, Refrigerator-

500.00,

Tables-$100.00

(2

needed), Chairs-$25.00

(20

needed).

Miscellaneous

equipment such as curtains,

dishes,

paint,

etc.-$10.00 and up. Please

send

contributions to Mrs. E. L

Evans,

P.O.

Box

181, St .

Jo seph, IL

61873, marked

Kitchen

or a specific

project.



S o u t h A f r i c a n

T O R C H

Published

quarterly

for th e following

M I S S I O N A R I E S

a n d t h e i r

F O R W A R D I N G

A G E N T S

Mr.

Mrs.

Alvin

Nicholson

and family

P .O . B ox

21 9

Port Shepstone

4240

Rep.

of

SOUTH AFRICA

Forwarding

Agent

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

7108 L o w e r 170th C o u r t W.

Rosemount,

Minnesota

55068

Mr. Mrs.

Lynn

S tan ley and

family

P.O.

Box

21 9

Port Shepstone

4240 Rep. of SOUTH

AFRICA

Forwarding Agent

Mrs. Sybil Evans

Box 181

St . Joseph, Illinois 61873

Mr.

Mrs.

Michael Stanley

and

family

P.p. Box 13

U m z u m b e

4225 Rep.

o f SOUTH AFRICA

Forwarding

Agent

Mr.

and

Mrs,

Richard Eckman

Route 2, Box 3

Kimbal l, Minnesota 55353

The Sou thAf r icanTORCH (501-820) is

a

publication

of

the South

African

Church

of

Christ Mission, an d is published

four

t imes each year in February,

May,

August,

an d

November

by

Mission

Services Asso

ciation, 7525 Hodges

Ferry Road,

Knox-

ville, TN 37920-9731. Second-class

postage

paid

at

Knoxville, TN 37901-2427.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes

to

Sou th Afr ic an

TORCH,

c/ o

Mission

Services Association, PO

Box 2427,

Knoxville,

TN

37901-2427.

Second

Q u a r t e r

1987

V o l u m e 3 8 N u m b e r 2

i

^

Elijah Gontsana (left)

has

completed 3

yrs.

of

study at Umzumbe

Bible

Institute

and

i s fulf i ll ing

a life-long

ambition. With

financial aid from Aluin N icholson he is

studying

toward

a

Bachelor's

degree a t th e

University

of

Fort Hare.

T O D D L E R

T O

T E A C H E R

By

Alvin N icho lson

From the

very

beginning

of

ou r

work

in

South

Africa, we went to th e

Puffadder

c hu rc h in P on do la nd . T his c hu rc h was

ibuilt a t

th e

home

of

Bro ther

Gontsana ,

one o f t h e elders.

I

do

n o t r emember

Elijah Gon ts ana a s

a l it tle boy

bu t

he

s ay s he remembers me an d my vis it s to

hi s

home.

I first became acquainted with

Elijah at one of

the Pondoland

camps. It

was at

this

camp

that he told

Nic

Qwemesha

that he would be

coming

to

school

a t

Umzumbe .

Elijah came to Umzumbe Bible Insti

tute

f or tw o years and t he n wen t out to

preach and

minister

to

the

church at

Knysna.

Here he met

Enid and

later

married

her.

When

Elijah

returned to

Umzumbe

Bible Institute

to

complete hi s

third year, he brought

hi s

wife with h im

so

that she could

also

ge t

Bible training.

At

th e

end

o f th e year

they re turned to

Knysna to minister again . He

ha d

not

completed high school before he came to

Umzumbe

Bible

Inst i tute

so

he

enrolled

in a

government program

to

complete

matric,

as

it is known in South

Africa.

In

January

of 1986, t he Gont sa na s

moved to

Umzumbe

with

their

two sons .

Dur ing the 1986 school

year

he taught

two

classes for

th e

first year s tudents . At

th e en d o f t he yea r Eli jah pass ed the tes t

to be a marriage

officer

in th e Transkei.

He

is t he

f ir st o f

o u r African m i n i s t e r s to

do this for many years.

(Being

a

minister

does

no t au tom atically allow one to

perform marriages; a

man

must

have

a

certificate

from the government

to do so.)

Elijah

has had a

great

desire to go on to

University

and

ge t

a better education. I

promised

I would

help him with

hi s

fees if

he could go to

one

of the Universities. He

was accepted

at

the

University

of

Fort

Hare a t Alice in

th e

Ciskei.

He

is

from th e

Transke i and

fo r

a while

i t l ooked l ike he

would

no t be able to

go

t he re because

there were

problems between

the Ciskei

a nd th e

Transkei .

However,

he

was

able

to go

and his family moved

to

Dimbaza,

not far f rom Ali ce , where they

will stay

with

f am il y membe rs while he is at

University.

Remember Elijah as h e studies and hi s

family as

they

ar e

separated

f rom one

a n o t h e r

A

B A D

F A L L

By Luci ll e Stanley

How

embarrassing

I had fallen as I

left

th e

parking lo t

in

town.

Bu t I wasn't

awa re o f that emotion very long, fo r as I

looked a t my left knee, I

knew

t h a t I was

not get ting up

and walking away either.

A

stranger with

a two way

radio

called

t he ambulance and tried to reach

Lynn.

When h e couldn't find him, he

left

a note

o n t h e w in d sh ie ld o f o ur

c a r

The

ambulance

was p rompt

and

my

leg

was

strapped

on a

board and

I was taken

to

Po rt Sheps tone

hospital. In a short

time

I had received a pain relieving

in

jection, th e doctor had been to

see

me and

x-rays ordered an d taken. The n th e b ad

news I would have to go through to

Durban

for t he n ec es sa ry s ur ge ry . The

decisions were a ll

being made fo r

me.

Another

ambulance

trip. A visit

from

th e

specialist,

who s imply said , I have

seen th e

x-rays

and we will

opera te im

mediately.

A

week

later I was home, but

life

was

different.

I

h a d

c r u tc h es b ut h a d n t

learned

to

u s e t hem.

At f ir st Lynn

waited

o n m e h an d a nd foo t—as I c o u l d n t m o v e

my leg. Thank fu ll y, p ro gr es s

was

amazingly quick,

and

I soon learned to

m an ag e th e crutches and do m ore fo r

myself.

Now

I

move confidently a ro und th e

house, but less so when I leave t h a t

security.

I

keep asking

myself

what

I

have

learned

from

this

experience, thinking

it

should

be

more

profound, but I can't find

it. I was very thankful fo r th e knowledge

that th e Lord

was in

control, fo r

th e

i m m e d ia t e c a re

in

e a c h s i t u a ti o n I t c o u l d

h a v e

b e en s o d i ff er en t

I

have

known patienceand impatience.

There

were

times just knowing

I could

not

do anything

about

it, helped

me

to accept

th e situation. Other t imes, frustra t ions

took

over at my

helplessness when

I had

to

depend

on som eone else fo r almost

everything ou t o f r each of my bed.

I hope I have learned understanding

fo r others who are dependent on someone

e ls e f or t h e i r c a r e

I

learned

a real

appreciation

for family

and f ri ends who r all ie d to help.

There

were

cards

and letters from family and

friends o ver sea s whi ch s aid , W is h we

were

closer and

could

help, but we

ar e

praying for you And God has so

gracious ly answered those prayers . The

surgeon

confirmed

t h a t

when

I

went back

to him and h e s aid , Your p rog res s

has

been outstanding. Thank you . Lord .

F o r m 3 57 9 r eq ue st ed PO

Box 2427 , Knoxv il le ,

TN

37901-2427



The new d in ing hal l

now

has

windows,

doors, and

some

paint. Wc

ar e looking for

ward to being able to purchas the

necessary

equipment so th e building can be

pu t

to use.

V o lu m e 3 8

woid

Ua tmf unto nuf lotojuL a

iu l̂Lmdo mf faik --TuJju

Il<i:t 5

m m m m jhif uotdUa I

m ^ ^ mj M m/J li ^k

m o mi fxtlk

a F R i c a N

Republic of

S o u t h Afr ica

TORCH

Port Shepstone

Transkei Umzumbe ible institute

•

Cape

Town

E a st L o nd on

Third Q u a r t e r 1987 N u m b e r

3

B A R N A B A S

S O N G O

We

lost one o f the most respected min

i s t e r s

of

t he C h ur ch

of

C h r i s t i n

S o u t h

Africa with t he p as si ng o f Brother Bar

nabas Songo on June

12

from cancer.

He

had

been

in very

poor

health fo r some

t i m e

b u t c a rr ie d o n w i th h is c h ur ch w o r k

u n t i l

n ea r t he

e n d .

B a rn a ba s w as

b or n in to

a m i n i s t e r s

home in Mar ch , 1932. His earl ies t mem

ories

were

from

Middelburg in t he Cape

w h e r e

h i s

f a t h e r m i ni st er ed . H i s f a t h e r

passed away about

27

y ea rs ag o

while

serving t he Imvu tshini

church

in th e

area

south

of Port

Shepstone.

After

hi s

death th e

congrega t ion asked

Barnabas

t o b e

t h e i r

m i n i s t e r .

B a rn a b a s a n d h i s

wife, A n n a , received t r a i n i n g a t

U m z u m b e

B i b l e

I n s t i t u t e .

I n

1962

h e

began

his work

with the

chur ch which he

s erved fa it hfu ll y

fo r 25

years. During

t h a t ti me it

grew

to be

one

of

th e

largest

and

bes t g iving

of

our congrega t ions .

Barnabas

no t onl y

s er ved h is c on gr e

gation,

but his

community,

and he was

hel d i n high esteem. He was

a member o f

t he c h i ef s

c o u n c i l

i n

h i s

a r e a . T h e

c h i e f

spoke very

highly

of

him

at th e funeral.

There

were many

denominational min

isters present , also, too

many fo r

eachone

to

speak, so one man

was asked to

speak

for

all.

O ur o w n m in is t e r s c a m e f r o m

a round t he

country,

and

Nic

Qwemesha

was asked to speak

on

behalfof

them

all.

F or t hr ee hours, various

ones

pai d t ri b

u t e

to

h i m .

T h e

c r o w d

w a s

e s t i m a t e d

t o be

near 2000.

The c as ket w as

then opened

for over an

hour

as

th e

many people filed

past to

pay t he ir

respects.

Barnabas

was

a worthy

leader

in

th e

church of Chris t

and

served many yea rs

o n

t h e

E x e c u t i v e

c o m m i t t e e o f t h e

m i s s i o n .

H e w a s a m e m b e r o f t h e

Umzumbe Bible

Inst i tute boa rd , whe re

hi s insight

and

advice

were always

greatly

valued. He

was also a leader in

th e youth

camp

work for this

a rea. The

you th camp which was

to

have

been

held

t h e

week

b e f o r e

h i s f u n er al w a s

c a n c e l l e d

by

Lynn

L.

Stanley

Brother

Barnabas Songo

(right)

wa s

a much-respected

minister and

we

were al l saddened

b y h is death from cance r on

June 12.

He leaves

a wife and

seven chi ldren.

a t

h is d e at h .

Barnabas left a wife,

seven ch il d ren

an d

one grandchild. The

two

oldest girls

will

complete teachers training

this

year.

His o ld est

son is using a government

grant to prepare as a n

electrics

teacher a t

a

technical

college.

The next girl had

completed

high

school

and was working

in the

shop

which

they

owned.

The

younger three

ar e still

in

primary and

secondary

schools. Barnabas, himself,

only ha d

a

t en th g rade level education,

bu t he made every effor t

to

see

that

hi s

children had more. He

proudly

displayed

t h e i r

cert i f icates

i n f ra m es

on t h e

w a l l s

of

h i s

home .

H e

c om m e nt ed o n e t im e w h e n

we were looking at them that these were

his certificates of achievement,

and we

knew w i t h o u t a

doubt t h a t

h e h a d worked

h a r d for t h e m .

To

be absent

from th e body

is to be

present

with

th e

Lord, and

in

that we ca n

rejoice for Barnabas.

But

fo r

hi s

family,

and

th e congregation

and

community

which he

served,we ar e

saddened.

He will

be

greatly missed.



T H E

O L D

L D Y W H O C M E T O

V I S I T

by Michae l

Stanley

Youth camp

always

attracts a lot of

attention

in

th e

community

and th e

camp

at Butterworth

was

no exception. Chil

dren

would come

and

l is t en t o

t h e c l as s es

or watch me

eat.

Passers-by would stare

at th e tent

and

sometimes stop

and

listen

to

th e

singing.

When

we

practiced

th e

plays we could not chase the children

away,

so we stopped trying. The fact that

many of th e people had

seen

several

practices did

not

seem to

detract

from

their

enjoyment

when th e play was

finally

done for th e

audience.

One

day

an

old lady

came

to visit. Sh e

had no doub t

heard that th e

camp

was on

and

came to see first-hand. Aftergreeting

everyone in th e room sh e went to

sit

down

near

th e

door. When she

was

offered

a

chair,

sh e

refused.

She

said

that

she was

accustomed to sitting on th e floor.

Sh e

wore very thick

glasses,

so I assumed

that she

had had ca ta ra c ts

removed. One

of

th e

other

men obviously

wondered

how

well sh e could see. After a

while

he

asked

her wha t kind of a man I was. She looked

carefully at me

and

then

said thati

was-a

light man. He

responded

by asking,

How l ight ? Aga in she peered

at

me

through

her thick glasses and then said,

Mlungu

a white man).

This

produced

a

lot

of

laughter and

again she had to

shake my hand.

Next

they tried to work out

how

old she

was. This involved a n e xt ended conver

sation because

she

did

not

ac tua l ly know

how ol d

sh e

was.

She could, however,

supply some clues

and eventually her

age

was determined. She indi ca ted that

her

older s is te r was

born

dur ing l indipas i

and eventually

they

decided

tha t

lindipasi

took place in 1897. {Because

of an Afr ikaans s ta tement about th e

year

I at first understood

th e

year to be

1879

and

I placed

he r age

even

higher than

it

was.) This

l ady was the nex t child to be

• a l | r>

An ol d lady from th e

community came to

see what

was happening when sh e

heard

about

th e

tent which wa s se t

up

for youth

camp

near Butterworth,

Transkei. When

offered a chair, she refused

because

she was

. . .accustomed to

sitting

on the f loor .

born

and

there

were two years between

her

and

her

sister.

Shewa s therefore born

in 1899 which

placed

her age

at

88. Her

body

certainly appeared

to verify

that

age,

bu t

the

years had

not dulled her

mind.

Even

though I missed part of th e

conversation

because i t w as

in

Xhosa, I

was impressed with

th e

alertness and wi t

which he r

answers

showed. Her hearing

wa s obv ious ly a lso very good. When I

later inquired about

he r

health

he r

neigh

bor s to ld me

that

he r legs gave

her

some

trouble,

but

e ve n so sh e

could

walk long

distances {the m easure they g av e w as

about

on e kilometer).

Lindipasi was

obviously

some s ig

ni f ican t

nat ional

event

in th e

l ives

o f t h e

Xhosas

so

I

t r ied

to find out w h a t kind of

event it

was.

They explained that i twas a

disease which

caused a

lo t

of deaths , I

asked if i t was mostly children or

adults

who had died. They explained that it was

no t

people

who

had

died but rather cattle

and

they

told me

that it was not jus t in th e

Transkei, bu t a ll

over.

When I

heard

that

I

f inal ly realized that

lindipasi was

Xhosa version of

Rindepest, a disease

that

ha d

caused widespread destruction

of

cattle

and wild animals

throughout

fr ica

I was fascinated with everything about

this lady so I decided to take he r picture.

Since

it was

indoors,

1 had to

us e th e

flash

and e ach time it flashed,

sh e

jumped

violently. One of the younger men

present pointed out that older people are

often

afraid of l ightning

and

that this

was probably true

of

he r

as well.

After about an hour

sh e

evidently

decided that

h er vi sit had l as ted l ong

enough so sh e got up to leave. Getting to

he r feet was difficult, bu t once on her feet

she moved quickly for

one

so old.

She

leaned heavily on he r walking stick,

bu t

did

no t require

the

help

of

others

to

ge t

where she wanted to go .

It is visits

like

this that help

to

keep life

interesting

for missionaries.

They

also

give

insight into a cul tu re which is

changing very rapidly today.

Themissiontent hasprovedmostusefulformanymeetings. Atcampitservedasmeetinghallanddiningroom. Thesheepandcattlewhich

grazed near the tent did not even warrant a curiousglance from the campers whospent every free

o nt

sitting in the sun.



Elijah Gontsana, former Umzumhe

Bible

Inst i tute student

and

teacher,

taught at t he camp . S tu de nt s ranged in ag e

from

about 10 to 22 years.

Alice

Fishback

made preliminary

arrangements

for

the

youth camp in the western Transkei before

she

returned to the

States on furlough.

Final

arrangements were

made

by Ben

Labata la , the

local

elder.

The

camp

was to be held near Butterworth

an d

since this is

an

area

that

I had no t visited

before,

I wondered what th e week

held

in

store. I took th e mission

ten t

with me

and

se t

i t

up

at

Nqokozweni about 20 km outside of Butterworth.

The ten t

attracted a lo t of

attention

and camp activities

centered

around it. We gathered in it for classes, to practice

th e

plays

which

the

campers acted

out,

an d

for the

evening

services.

The

men ev en

had their mea ls s e rved

there.

In typical African fashion,

the

men

ate separately

from

the

women and children.

Somet imes

we would have

an

audience

as

we

ate.

At

other t imes th e women

and

children chose

t ogo to

th e

huts, or simply to

si t outside as

it wa s

warmer

there.

In

th e

evening the tent cooled down more quickly than the outside

air .

One evening after the last play practice

had

been completed,

we

were

conversing

in

th e

tent

while

we

waited

for

th e

evening

meal to be

served.

I

heard the

exclamation, M y

witness

The

thing which was so striking was that it was in English. Most

o f t h e conversa t ion around me was i n Xhosa . When th e excla

mation came

th e second t ime ,

I

decided

to

find

ou t

what

was

causing

this outburst. I t

was

coming

from

Mr. Jordaan,

who

is

affectionately

called

Oupa

Yode. He is blind and

one

of

th e

other

men

was exp la in ing how h is

flashlight

worked. Th e

f lashl ight was an

elaborate

one with

a swivel

head an d

a

separate

spotlight

an d area l ight. They explained to him

how

to

switch

each l igh t on and how to swivel th e head. With each

new

piece

of

information

came the

exclamation,

My

witness a nd th en fol lowed mo re c o nv e rs at io n i n Xh os a.

After realizing

that

Oupa Yode

could

understand how lights

, who is now studying at the Universityof

Fort

Hare near Alice,

worked, I asked how long he had been blind. It was only five or

six

years

ago

that

he had gone blind. I

then

decided to tell

him

about the light that I had brought. It was a fluorescent tube

that

drew power from

the car

battery. He could feel

the

wires

and

he could feel that the l ight was warm.

When

he learned

how the light was turned on and off, he switched it off and got

an immediate

response

from those present since that

was the

only light

in the tent

at

th e

time.

I was fascinated by

this

old man who could frequently be

seen walking

with one of

his friends

as a guide. He

obviously

lived in the

vicinity

of the

camp

since

hi s

wife was present. He

ha d an alert mind

which was demonstrated

when

he

joinedin

discussions concerning Bible topics. (When I was not

teaching

campers,

I often

met

with

the

men who were present.)

FURLOUGH RE PORT

by Alvin

Nicholson

Alvin and Vernita Nicholson have been

traveling through

parts

of America visitingwith the churches that support them

an d

also family

an d friends.

We

have

found it to be

tiring at

times, but it ha s also been a blessing to us an d a time of

being

strengthened

as we see an d talk about th e work of the Lord.

The Lord

willing

we shall be going back to South

Africa

on

th e

12th

ofJuly.

We

will

be

spending

thefirst weekend

after

we

a rr ive the re in Johannesburg, as we make plans wit h t he

missionaries

and

ministers concerning

th e

Annual Meet ing of

th e

churches that is planned for Dobsonville

the third

week of

September. Dobsonv il le is

one

of

the

southwestern

townships

which make

up

Soweto.

The men

were

s er ve d t h ei r me a ls a t

a

t a bl e i n

th e tent . Women

and children

at e

separate ly af ter they

had

s erved t he men. as is

t he i r cus tom.

We

have

received

many

letters from the mini st er s in Sou th

Africa

since

we have been home this time. Many of them have

reported

baptisms and a lmost

al l

of

them

have reported that it

has

been easier

to carry

on t he ir work a s mo st

of

the chi ldren

have been going to school and most areas have been quieter

We

have been asked

to

bring

back a

metal

communion

tray

with us

(most

of th e

churches us e

th e wooden ones

that

have

been

made

and sold to

them

over th e years). Another

minister

has

asked if we ca n

b ri ng h im

a Minister's Manuel. Others

have

asked

that we b ri ng bac k books

fo r

study

and

we

have

been asking ministers what books they recommend

and

looking fo r ourselves books

that will help

ou r

people in th e

work o f t he Lord .

At th e

en d

of May we

attended

the graduation of our oldest

grandson, Matthew

Nicholson.

The f irs t

weekend of June

wa s

th e graduation time fo r

ou r

oldest granddaughter, Valerie

Hanson .



Sou t h Afr i c an

T O RCH

P u b li s he d q u a r te r l y for

th e following

MISSIONARIES

and the i r

F O R W A R D I N G AGENTS

M r.

Mrs. A l v in N i c h o ls o n a n d family

P .O . B ox

21 9

Port

Shepstone

4240

Rep.

of

S OU TH A F RI CA

Forwarding Agent

M rs . R i ch a rd

H a n s o n

7108

L o we r 1 70 th C o u r t W.

Rosemount, Minnesota

55068

M r. Mrs.

L ynn

S t a n l e y

an d family

P .O. B ox 2 19

Port Shepstone

4240

Rep.

of S O UT H A F RI C A

Forwarding

Agent

Mrs.

Sybil E v a n s

B o x 18 1

S t. J o s ep h ,

Illinois 61873

Mr .

Mrs . Mi c hae l St anl ey an d

family

P.p. Box 13

Umzumbe

4225

Rep.

o f

S O UT H A F RI C A

Forwarding Agent

Mr .

an d Mrs. Richard

Eckman

Route

2, Bo x 3

Kimball, Minnesota 55353

T h e S o u t h

A f r i c a n T O R C H

501-820)is

a

publication

of

t he S o ut h African Church

o f C h ri st

Mission,

an d is

published four

t i m es e a c h

year

in

February,

May, August,

a n d November by M i s si o n S e r vi c e s

As s o


Ferry

Road, Knox-

ville, T N

37920-9731.

Second-clas s

p o s ta g e p a i d a t Knoxville,

TN 37901-2427.

P O S T M A S T E R : S en d a dd re ss c h an g es

to S o ut h A fr ic an

T O R C H ,

c/ o

Mis s ion

Services Association, PO Bo x 2427,

Knoxville ,

T N

37901-2427.

T h i r d Q u a r t e r

1 9 8 7

Volume Numbe r

3

4 ST U DE N TS R E CE IV E

CERT I F ICATES

b y

Lynn S ta n le y

Mid-year closing e x erc i se s we re held a t Um z u m b e

Bible

I n s ti tu t e o n t h e 25th o f June.

Four students completed their tw o years of work. We rejoiced in h a vi ng h a d this part in

their

C h r is t ia n g r ow th a n d t ra in in g .

CONRAD SAULS c am e from

Graaf

Reinet,

an d

we me t hi m first as a petrol

atten d an t an d

worker

in

th e

black c hu rc h o f

that

community.

T h a t

church

went

through a

difficult

period, an d C o n ra d w e nt to th e

Coloured

congregation.

When

racial

trouble

flared

in t he a re a 2 /j years ago, Conrad s wife

and

th e congregation urged

hi m

to

come

to

school.

H i s h o us e

had

been da m a ge d

an d

his life wa s t hre a te ne d in t h e u n r es t

situation.

A year ago, during a

school b r ea k , u n de r

pressure, he attended a banned

meeting

w h ic h t h e police

raided

a nd he was held

i n d e te n ti o n

fo r

tw o

months. I t

w as

a

difficult

time, bu t

he

told

us he

wa s

glad

th e police

interfered

before violence

broke

out.

Conrad is somewhat older than most

of

our students, an d we ar e pleased

w it h h is

m a t u ri t y a n d

c o m m it m e nt . H e

h a s

tw o c h il d re n . H e

we n t b a c k to work

wi t h

th e

black

congregation

of Gr aaf f

Reinet

with th e help o f t h e local coloured minister. O ne o f o u r

present second y e a r s t ud e n ts

is a convert

o f C o n ra d s .

STEPHEN LESALA, another student who c omple t ed hi s work, is th e

so n

of an elder

a t

C a m pb e ll i n

Cape Province. He

is a

coloured on e of mixed blood) an d

is

Afrikaans

a nd C hu an a

s pe ak in g. H e has

a

good

church

background, an d

is

very

anxious to

evangelize.

He ha d a wider experience in th e work field

than

many wh o come, having

worked

on

th e farm

his

father works

on an d

in

town; h e w as

a c o m m e n d ab le d r iv e r

and

we relied

heavily

on

hi m

for

that

task.

He

ha s

great enthusiasm an d

some

good

common

sense.

On e

desire,

an d almost

a

prerequisite

for

th e

ministry, is to

ge t married.

JACKSON

NENE

is a city ma n from Durban with a rather dubious background. By

hi s

ow n words

he was a

professional

gambler at

on e time.

He is m a rr ie d w i th

tw o

children. He works with some

small

groups in

th e

Durban area. He will undoubtedly

have

to

hold

down

a secular

jo b

to

cover

hi s living expenses.

SAR AH SHABAL ALA came from a city hom e where drinking is a

real

problem an d

encouragement is lacking

from

he r

home.

Sh e ha s tried to

improve

h e r w a y

of

life an d

expressed a desire to do personal work, bu t

sh e

leftschool

with no

specific

plans in

mind

for

th e future. She,

unfortunately,

tends

to be

v e ry m o od y .

Sh e

keeps

contact with

th e

missionary families on a regular

basis,

an d

will need

encouragement

from

us.

Stephen Lesala, a Coloured student, spoke at closing exercises. He explained why he ha d

come to Umzumbe Bible Institute

an d

expressed his

gratitude

to his teachers

an d

fellow-

students.

He an d

three others received their

second year certificates in

June.

I

F or m

3 5 7 9 r e qu e st e d P O Box 2427,

Knoxville,

TN 37901-2427

At

clos ing

exercises w e w er e

privileged

to

h a v e

several

minis ters

present,

a s

they h a d

been

attending a two-week seminar.

Pi c

tured

a re

(L to R)

M i ch a e l S t an l ey . F r ed d i e

Sithebe o f

Estcourt,

L a wr e n ce M a la f u o f

Q ue en st ow n, H ub er t L ev e

of Middleburg,

L y n n Stanley.

Columbus Ncanazo

o f

Kopozo. Simon

Mtshayisa

of Barberton,

Elliot Majola o f

H a m m a r s d a l e

a n d

Ni c

Qwemes ha.



SU2U

t - i

^- -a -

iWrv/ ;

1

During

fur loughs, missionar ies

always

accumulate

materials fo r

personal and mis

s ion use. Alvin and Ve rn it a N i ch o ls o n

packed and shipped 13

barrels of these

items an d used cloth ing to be distributed

amongst

the Christ ians .

The

barrels were

shipped to Durban an d then collected and

brought home

in

tw o

pick-up trucks.

Vo l um e 3 8

Vkj woid U

(mfUAto nuf

ffA

uuL a

(lijk

unto mif

path. --yiolm Il i:i05

m m / / M 7^

woid

u

a

t

^ ^

mj

g

i/jk uMo mif

folk

a FM c a N

Republi c of

Sou t h

Afr ica

TORCH

Port

Shepstone

Transkei (Umzumbe BibleInstitute)

>Cape Town

Ea s t L o n do n

Four th Qua rt er

1987

Numb e r 4

CHR ISTMAS GREET ING

Lynn

an d Lucille Stanley Alvin and Vern it a Nicho lson

i t L i r r

Michael, Caryl, Dina , Diane, and Dawn

Stanley

As we celebrate

the birth

ofJesus

Christ,

may

we be reminded

of

our

responsibility to

share

the

good tidings

of

great

joy

with

people

around th e world.

64 th ANNUAL

CONFERENCE

A/isstortan es

visi t whi le

they

waitfor th e

opening service

to

begin at

Conference.

Host minister,

Gladstone Ndamase(center),

makes f inal arrangements fo r th e service.

The

64th

Annua l

Confe rence

o f the

Churches

of

Chri s t was

held

a t Dobson-

ville i n Johannesburg from th e

23rd

to

th e 27th of September. I th in k m an y of

th e

people were apprehensivesince this is

in th e Soweto

area . There

were no prob-

by

Alvin N icho lson

Th e kitchen. Tables,

o n w hic h

to pr e

pare

meat

an d vegetables, were se t up in the

church

y ard . Th e cooks worked ou t in the

o p e n

lems at

al l an d

the a t tendance

was

very

good. In fact th e

s econd day the mini s te r

was

very

busy f in di ng places fo r th e

people

to

stay.

There were

250

peop le who paid

table

money.

Every one o f th e minis ters was

Cooking fo r

large groups

is s t il l done in

traditional pots over open fires. Unfortu

nately,

ra in and hai l

on

Sunday

morning

e.xtinguished

th e fires

and left

th e dinner

only partially cooked.

p re se nt, e xc ep t

fo r

two older men.

Johannesburg is far from th e area

where

t he re a re many churches

and

where th e

chu rches a re

th e

strongest. The

Johan

nesburg

area

today

has two of its own



minis ters leading the

work

there and

we

look

forward

to great growth in th e

future .

The building

at

Dobsonville was bui lt

by George Khosa many years ago. After

th e

coming

of

Max

Randall

to South

Africa, he went to work by himself.

When

h e died h e h a d n o o ne to follow h i m T h e

church

divided into

several small

groups

and

they failed to

pa y

th e money fo r

their

site or to keep

their building-in repair.

Some yea rs ago I wa s cal led to Dobson

ville because

th e

building was registered

to t h e C h u r ch o f C h r i s t M i s s i o n W e w e r e

told that if

th e

money was

no t

paid, th e

building

would

be sold. We paid

this

money,

bu t it has only been

Gladstone

Ndamase who could unite th e people in

t h a t a re a a n d l e a d t h e w o r k u n ti l i t c o u l d

host

such

a group

of people.

The people of

Johannesburg

churches

ha d repainted th e building,

fixed

th e

roof

an d pu t

new

glass in

th e windows.

They

h a v e

a l so b u i lt

a

n ew h om e f or t h e m i n i s

ter. This

was n ot an

easy

task. They

put

in

the

windows one

d ay a nd

awoke th e

next morn ing

to find

them

al l gone. At

Conference time t he y were

only

short

electricity, bu t

th e

next door neighbor to

th e church

le t

them

hook

up to his.

Th e

meetings

b eg an and

ended with

rain, and

even

hail on t he l as t

day.

The

noise

of th e hail was so great on th e ti n

roof

that

th e ministerquit preaching and

th e people sang. Yet in spite of these

prob

lems there wa s

a

wonderful spiri t .

One o f t he j oys o f th e meeting was th e

outstanding

preaching

done by some of

th e younger ministers.

One

o f t he

older

men sa id , I do no t cry in church, but

that

young

man

really pricked my heart.

T h e w o m e n o f t h e c h u r c h e s h a v e i n

creased t he amoun t o f money t h a t

will be

given

to th e

ministers

widows

and they

have inc reased

th e

number since they

have

lowered th e ag e

at

which t hey can

begin to receive help.

There

was

also

more mon ey

brought in

t hi s y ea r fo r

Building

and

Evangelism. Buildings ar e

both

beginning

to cost more money to

build a nd th e people are wanting bigger

and

better buildings.

A special

guest this year

to

help

with

t ea ch ing wa s John Nichols, th e

brother

of Phyllis

Mills, who

has been helping the

Kimberley

Road Church in

Johannes

burg

as t hey wa it

fo r their new mini s te r .

The

theme

for th e meeting

was The

Church, the Body of Christ, using I Cor

inthians

12 as

thebasis

for

the

messages.

Six m essages were brought

by

th e

Afr ican

m i n i s t e r s a n d

t wo o f t h e miss ion

a r i e s

It appears that th e places fo r Confer

e n c e h a v e b e e n s e t fo r t h e

n e x t

t h r e e

years and a new

building

will

be

dedi

cated at each one of these meetings.

Other

buildings will also be built. Min

i s t e r s W eek for 1988 h a s been s e t for

Klerksdorp in March and Conference fo r

th e African Location at Douglas in

Sep

t e m b e r

FAREWELL,

MRS.

JAMJAM

by

Lynn S tan ley

I t will b e w it h a r e a l s en s e o f s ad n es s

t h a t

we wil l

sa y goodbyeto Mrs. Jamjam,

our school

cook

fo r

th e

last

12 years. In

th e e arl ie r d ay s of the school, th e

students

picked their ow n cook f rom th e

student

body. I n t he ir

culture

this

often

meant the younger members of the

student body go t th e job.

No

doubt, th e

men were p le as ed when we opened th e

doors

to women, and th e most capab le

person took on th e task.

Mrs.

J amjam,

a

widow with

no

children, came to us f rom Pondoland. She

had had some experience as she had

worked a s

a

c oo k i n

a doc tor s

h om e i n

D u r b a n

Being cook f or a group of men and

w o m e n

f r o m

v a r i o u s a r e a s

a n d

c i r c u m

s t ances was

not

easy. Ther e was a lway s

someone object ing to the food, to the

way

it w a s

cooked

o r to t h e

a m o u n t

T h e s tu

d e n t s from

r u ra l a re a s

w a n t t h e i r

meal ie

meal,

samp

and

beans with a

bit of

fa t

and/or gravy.

Others

come

from urban

areas, and

their diets have

changed

greatly.

Besides being cook she served as house

mother

to

th e

girls.

That,

too,

ha s

fre

Mrs. Jemima Jamjam

has

served

Umzumbe

Bible Institute fo r 12 years as

cook

an d housemother. Now

at

the age of

69

she plans

to

retire

and

build

a

2-room house

near

he r

brother an d his

family

in the

T r a n s k e i

quently

been a difficult task, and

as

sh e

got older s he w as

not able

to

exert the

s ame

amount

of

control. I n

the old

Afri

can

culture there

was great

esteem for

th e

elderly but

that

is not truein the younger

generation.

Mrs. Jamjam

ha s always

ha d a great concern for th e children

as

she

calls

the students. She has always

had a

student

helper from

the

girls

and

has helped in training them in th e

kitchen.

More

and

more

she

relied on

the

girls.

Sh e

wanted

to retire, but

sh e

wa s

also

working for enough

money

to build he r

self a two-room house fo r that retirement.

Through

the

years she has

been a

great

col lector of

anything which might

be

going.

Her age is a bit indefinite but

she says

she

was bor n i n

1918. She ha s ea rned he r

retirement, and we ar e pleased

that

sh e

shall

have

he r house,

as

well.

She

has

d rawn her

retirement

fund

and

beyond

that she

will receive some help.

But

fo r

us

school just

won t be

th e same

without Mrs. Jamjam.

A N E W

P E R S P E C T I V E

O N

T H E

N A T IO N A L M I S S IO N A R Y

C O N V E N T I O N

by

Michael

M.

Stanley

Cook Convention Center in Memphis Tennessee was quiet

on

Saturday

morning.

A few people were

walking around

carrying display materials, others

were

sitting visiting, bu t

in

the

exhibit area most

of

the

long lines

of

tables with

their

blue

dividing

curtains stood empty.

In

th e background

one could

hear

someone

testing the

P.A. system

and then

a choir began

to pract ice. As I

stood and watched the

people

greeted friends

and fellow-missionaries, I

felt

the

thrill of

excitement

which

comes from

knowing that something

important

is

going

to

happen.

On

Saturday

afternoon

th e

level

of

activity rose

sharply

and

the convention

with al l of i ts activities and

displays

began to

t ak e s hape .

The

display

area with

it s

rows of

tables

and

curtains

ha d become a garden of color. In many places th e blue



curtains were completely hidden

by

towering displays.

It

was

clear to all

that

something

important

was beginning to

happen.

In the past

I

had always attended the

National

Missionary

Convention

with

my family. We

had

squeezed sight-seeing

into

every free

moment and t hen collapsed from exhaustion

when the convention

was

over.

This

year I

had

returned to the

States alone to speak at th e convention. Instead of sight

seeing I took

th e

two

days

before

th e

convention to relax an d

review

the message

that I

was

to bring. As a

result

even my

feelings were different, On

Sunday evening

I

was part

of that

great gathering for

th e

Lord s

Supper, bu t what

I f el t most of

al l was loneliness. At first I

looked

around

fo r faces

that I

recognized,

then

my thoughts

turned

to my wife

and children.

I was reminded

that

they had taken the Lord s Supper ten or

t w e l v e h ou rs e ar li er i n S o ut h A f r i c a .

I t

w as h ar d to c o n c e n

trate

on the Communion Meditation and since I

had

left my

songsheet at

the hotel, I could

not

even join in the

singing

with

th e

enthusiasm

that I would normally

have

shown.

During the

year

before the convention I

had

come to appre

ciate the

amount

of thought

and

work that Don

Baughman

put into

the

program

as we

exchanged

correspondence

and

even

the

occasional telephone call. Of course I

have

long been

aware

of

the

endless hours of labor which Walter Birney

devotes to each convention. This year I had the added respon

sibility of knowing

that instead

of

sitting

listening to someone

else speak, on Tuesday evening I would be God s messenger to

others. This demanded hours of

prayer and

preparation.

My

primary motivation

in returning

to

the States

for

the

convention

had been

to

make others aware

of

South

Africa as

a mission field which needed laborers. Because of this I spent

most ofthe time

that

I was not attending sessionsspeaking to

people about South Africa. Some were curious, some knew my

father or

other missionaries

in

South Africa,

some were re

cruits headed

for

other

fields,

bu t what

pleased me

most

was

that a few were

interested in

going to

South Africa

as mission

aries. Several hours were spent talking to these.

j a e i i w i e a w e r

V

hhitiv.im

Michael Stanley, Dan

Phoebe,

Ben a n d

Karen

Rees.

Alice

Fishback,

a

missionary

to

the Transkei, shared

my

booth

a n d we even took

t ime

t o d is cu ss m is si on

business

dur ing quiet

times at

th e booth.

I t seemed

strange not

to

have

children

to

drop off at

their

s es sions, not

to

hurry

to a

rendezvous with

my wi fe so thatwe could

make

arrangements

to meet

after

a workshop, not to

have

to

look

fo r a child that did

no t

arrive

a t th e arranged meeting point for a

meal.

After

the

evening

service on

Monday,

I

got permission

to

use

a downstairs

meeting

room at th e hotel so that I could

practice

my

sermon without disturbing

others.

I ha d never had to do

that

before.

On Tuesday afternoon

I

went

back to

th e hotel

to

review

my message

fo r

th e

last

time

an d

to d res s

fo r

th e

evening.

I

went

to

the dining room at

5:30 p.m. for a

light meal

and became impatient

at what seemed

to be

excessively slow

service. When I finished eating, I returned to my room to get

my

briefcase {which now bu lg ed w it h

12

pages

of

sermon

notes) and

then I headed

fo r th e convention

center.

After ex

changing greetings

with

several people and conversing

briefly

with

a few, I

made

my

way

to the

platform.

My heart

wa s

beating wildly as I took my place. I tried to

read over

my

sermon

notes,

bu t found

that I could

not

keep my

attention

on

them. Finally

it

occurred

to me

that

many

people

al l over the world

were praying for me;

that God

was in

control

of

the situation and that

I

had

donemy

part

in

preparing.

I

did

no t need

to worry. I

immediately

felt

calmed

and turned

my

at

tention to

th e other

activities on

th e

platform an d to faces in

th e

audience which I recognized.

The program

seemed to go on forever ,

bu t eventually

Don

Baughman

introduced me.

Nextcame

the special music

which

was hard

for me to

hear

because I

was sitting behind

the

singers. Then I took my place behind the pulpit.

The next

45

minutes

were spent

repeating what

I

had

practiced so

many

times before, but thi s time with all of

the

expression

and

enthusiasm t h a t I could muster . When I f inished I h ad th e a s

surance that

I

h ad sa id wha t

God

wanted

me to

say. The

hearty

greetings and

hand-shakes after

th e

s ervice told me

that some had been touched by

th e

message. What a thrilling

experience

to be

used by God

in

that way.

I had attended

previous

conventions fo r th e benefit that I

could derive from

th e

program. At Memphis I started ou t

a lmos t a s an observer, a sensation that was heightened by

having a room to

myself

at

th e

hotel. Gradually I became

more

involved

until Wednesday evening and then I was alone i nmy

room

as

I packed my things so that I

could

return to Minne

apolis.

My fee lings

ar e

mixed

as I look back

on

th e

convention. I

was lonely, butalways around

people. I

was always busy, bu t

I

d i d n t leave t h e convent ion

e x h a u s t e d .

P a r t of t h e t ime I

w a s

an observer, but

I

had also been an evening speaker.

My life

was

changed because

of

th e

convention

in

Memphis

and so

were th e lives of many

others.

My conclusion is

that

something important happened

at

Memphis, and in a small

way

I

contributed

to

that happening.

O N O U R O W N

by

Caryl S tan ley

On

the 19th of August,

we

drove to Durban and left Michael

at th e train station

to begin

h is t rip

to the States for

th e

National Miss ionary Convention. For

th e

first

time in ou r

married l ife, we had to be separated for 6 /j weeks.

It wasn t

long

before th e first

problems came

my

way. On

th e way home from

Durban, the

heat

and

fuel gauges

on t he

Microbus

stopped

working. We had

been

having

problems

wit h t he

heat

system fo r about two mon th s a nd

had

taken th e

vehicle in

twice

to

have

it checked. Now

as

Michael left, I

was

to discover

that

it still

wasn t

fixed.

It

took

three more trips

to

th e

VW

garage (and

60

worth

of

parts)

before

everything was

working

properly

again.

Th e next major problem came when

one

of th e

girls

wanted

to go to an ac t iv i ty which I wasn t

sure

I

wanted he r

to attend.

In the past, I could always discuss these

things

with Michael

and we could make a joint decision. Fortunately, I could dis

cuss it with Mom and Dad Stanley. I also spoke to several

Christian

friends. What would we do without one

another

to

help

and

advise?

The biggest change to

our way

of life

was

in

activities

which

involved going out at night. Our house is the only one on this

block sowe are quite isolated. I felt uneasy going out at night

and having tocome into the dark house through the darkyard.

One hears of so many people who are attacked as they enter

their homes. Soweseldomwentout at night and, whenwedid,

we

left lights

on in

the house

and

often

had Dad follow us

home

to

make sure

we

were

safely

inside.

Just

before the folks returned we had very heavy rains



S o u t h

Afr i can T O R C H

Published quarterly

for

the

following

M I S S I O N A R I E S

an d

their

F OR W AR DIN G A G EN T S

Mr.

Mrs .Alv in

Nicholson and

family

P .O . B ox 2 19

Port Shepstone

4240

Rep. of

SOUTH AFRICA

Forwarding

Agent

Mrs. Richard H anson

7108 Lower

ITOth Cour t W.

Rosemount, Minnesota 55068

Mr. Mrs. Lynn S tan ley and family

P.O.

Box 219

Port Shepstone

4240 Rep. of

SOUTH AFRICA

Forwarding Agent

Mrs. Sybil Evans

B ox

181

St. Joseph, Illinois

61873

Mr.

Mrs. Michae l

Stanley

and family

P O B o x 13

U m z u m b e

4225

Rep. o f SOUTH AFRICA

Forwarding

Agent

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Eckman

Route

2

Bo x

3

Kimbal l , Minnesota 55353

The

South Afri can TORCH

(501-820)

is

a

publication

of

the South

African

Church

of

Christ

Mission, an d is published four

times

each year

in February, May,

August,

an d November by Mission Services Asso


Ferry Road,

Knox-

ville TN 37920-9731. Second-class

postage

paid

at

Knoxville

TN

37901-2427.

POSTMASTER; Send address

char.ges

to

South

African TORCH,

c/o Mission

Servi ce s Ass oc ia ti on ,

PO

Box 2427,

Knoxville,

TN

37901-2427.

F o u rt h Q u a r te r 1987

Vo l u m e 8

N u m b e r

4

Lyn n an d Lucille Stanley and Aluin an d

V e rn it a N i ch o ls o n

c el eb ra te d t he ir 4 5t h

which

resulted

m

floods.

They

made it

home

from

Johannesburg

less than

24

hours

before

th e

roads were closed because

of

landslides

and damaged

bridges. School

was

cancelled on

th e

22nd

an d

23rd

of September.

I think that is

an

all-time

first

for

Port

Shepstone. The

authorities

didn t want al l o f th e school children to get st randed

at

school

an d the

police

did no t want

school buses

an d heavy

vehicles to

cross the

bridge.

(There ar e

four

bridges between here and Port Shepstone.)

I tried to keep busy-hoping that

it

would help the t ime to go quickly. I was able to ge t

some sewing

an d

knitting done,

as

well

as

keeping up wi th

most

of th e usual activities.

There were many things which I

ha d

wanted to do which I d idn t get done.

Fortunately , the t ime

soon

came

fo r Michael

to re turn. We me t

him at the Margate

airport an d

returned home. Within less

than an hour

there were 32 people here-

celebrating Michael s return

an d

hi s

birthday.

It

wa s

a

joyous

occasion

for

th e

whole

family.

RAIN , RAIN ,

GO

AWAY

by Luci ll e

Stanley

When we were

children

we used

to sing a

littleditty,

Rain, Rain,

go

away;

come

again

another day. Bu t in this country which knows so much of

drought conditions,

we do

not usually

think that

way, So when the rains

began,

we

thought of the

blessings—full

watertanks,

assurance of good

crops

an d so on.

As

we journeyed

back

from

Conference

in Johannesburg through

th e heavy ra in, we saw

full

farm reservoirs and

were

pleased.

Bu t further on into Nata l when fields were beginning to look l ike

lakes,

and we saw the

swirl ing waters of

overflowing

rivers, we began to see

th e

rain in a

new light .

At

Ladysmith one entrance to town

had

been closed because of flooding. The toll road

area

we would have passed through wa s closed

because

of landslides.

It was only

after

our return home and another n ight

an d

day of

heavy

rainfall, we

began

to

s ee how

frightening

it

was . And

th e

devastat ion mounted

as

bridges,

roads,

fields

an d homes

washed away.

Natal has

a

lo t of

smaller

rivers flowing into

th e

ocean,

an d

every one

of

them

was carrying

a

vast amount

of possessions,

trees an d fertile soil

o ut to

sea.

At

least

15

bridges

washed

out.

Two days

l ater when

t he rain ha d eased an d the su n

shown

through, people began

counting up their losses.

The vast

city of Durban was almost wi thout water.

Industries

had been shut down

to conserve

supplies.

The AgricultureUnion countsfarmers

losses

in

th e

billions—farmland

destroyed,

cattle losses,

farm

roads an d

bridges,

etc. Over

56 000 left homeless ,

an d

that seems to be

an underestimate. But Rands o r

dollars

cannot

count

th e loss

of lives.

A month

later

th e

death toll

is about 320,

hu t at

least

another

150

are s ti ll mis sing .

Again we are countingour

blessings.

We lost nothing and ou r loved ones were all

safe,

as

was th e school. Some of th e

students

had gone home

during

Conference,

an d

they

were

unable to return immediately.

School

roads a re so bad anyway,

and

they justgot a

little

worse.

No

classes

were held fo r

s ev er al d ay s. As

near as

we

can

ascer tain our

church

people have

been

spared. Homes damaged but

not lost.

God

ha s

given

most

people

a

very

caring

heart,

an d

help poured

in

from everywhere.

The

whole

country began raising funds for th e flood

victims. Help came

from foreign

countries. Why does it t ake such

a disaster to

show

us

that

we

really

ar e

our neighbors

eeper?

Form 3579

reques ted PO Box

2427,

Knox vil le , TN 379 01 -2 42 7

Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1987 SAfrica

Documents

Transcript of Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1987 SAfrica