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Vol .

13, No.

1

NEWS

WITH

THE

NICHOLSONS

January 1972

^ e a r

Friends;

We do pray

t h a t

you have had a very Happy Christmas

and t h a t

God

s h a l l grant

you a Happy

and

p r o s p e r o u s New Year .

We

had

Chri stmas Dinner

a t

our home

with

Lynn,

L u c i l l e ,

Debbie, Michael

and

Carol

Stanley

and

two widow

l a d i e s

from

Port

Shepstone. I t

was

a

happy and

enjoyable day. New Year 's Day

j^ e

met th e S ta nl ey s

a t

one of

the beaches for a

picnic lunch and

swimming l a t e r

in the day.

Well;

one

of the

big

quest ions has

been solved f o r a

while a t l e a s t . That i s ,

what i s

going to happen to

the

d o l l a r and

o t h e r

currency. For us in South Africa , the Rand

was

devalued

a l i t t l e

more than

the

d o l l a r ,

so our

s a l a r i e s

went

up

a

l i t t l e . However, it w i l l

nean more income tax and a

probable

r i s e in the price of gasoline which i s already

high;

also

a

r i s e in

the

p r i c e of a l l imported

i tems. So we

expect it to

even o u t .

Since the dock s t r i k e on the East Coast was_set t led, we have begun ho get a t r i c k l e of

second

c l a s s mail , so

suppose t h a t

s h o r t l y we s h a l l r e c e i v e some of the

Christmas

boxes and

-lope

t h a t o u r s s h a l l r e a c h t h o s e we

s e n t

t o

i n

t h e S t a t e s .

amp

a t

Johannesburg

was a

most enjoyable

time for us.

Going to the

Johannesburg area,

stayed

with

Pete Jones a t Springs. Sunday a f t e r the

missionaries

had enjoyed

dinner

with

ine

of

the

famil ies

from Craighall Park ch urch , th ey

loaded

our

pickup

with food f o r the week,

3o we

were

able to provide a l i t t l e

e x t r a

help in t h i s way. We

taught

two c l a s s e s , one f o r

the older children and the other

for

the younger ones,

and had

a par t in two evening work

s h o p s This

l e f t

us

plenty of

time for v i s i t i n g

and swimming. Three of

the

young

people

were

lapt ised a t amp

and

a mother called the Jones on Sunday following camp

to

say two of her

chi ldren

wanted

to

be

baptized

and

the f a t h e r

had

given h is consent . We spent the week end

it the

Jones before

returning back

to

Port Shepstone.

Several

people

t h a t

we had thought

would s t a r t

school a t the close of t h i s

month

hav

now written that

they will not

be coming . I

thought

perhaps I would

not

be making a

t r i p

a f t e r s t u d e n t s t h i s

t ime, b u t

th er e a r e

s e v e r a l

t a s k s I can do. One of t h e m i n i s t e r s has

isked me

to

speak f o r him as

well , so

I wil l make the t r i p about the

end

of the

month.

One

>f the men who spent a

year

in school has

been

in t h i s

area , Port

Shepstone, with h is in- laws.

They

will

be

returning

to

h i s

home

and

he

i s

going

to

help

one

of

the

churches

out

for

a

i m e

in the

Cape.

I

would

also l ike

to keep

pressing a t Umtata

to

see i f we can get a home

f o r

t h e m i n is te r t h e r e .

We

will be teaching t hr ee c la ss es a t school when school opens. Already I have plans

j iade

for much more traveling and can do this by changing th e te aching schedule j u s t a l i t t l e

l o w

.

Jamas' passed h i s Junior year a t

school

and

i s

now a t

t h a t

a l l impor tan t year --The

year

of matri'c or

the_year

of

th e big

examination. He

not looking

forward

to

i t , and

shall

have

o r e a l l y work. His plans-

are,

po re turn

to

the States and

to

school

a t

Minnesota

Bible

College

jhen_h_e.~ iai-shes-here.

Fray especially for the work of evangelism

as

we seek to

strengthen

the churches and

increase

t h e i r ou tr ea ch du ri ng

t h i s year of 1972

Yours

i n

t h e M a s te r s S er v ic e ,

A lv in , V e rn it a

James

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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_ 71^72

N WS WITH THE NICHOLSONS

1

Vol.

13 No. 2 February, 1972

e a r

C h r i s t i a n

F r i e n d s ,

Last week s t a r t e d o f f with

things

in

a

turmoi l . Enock Zobolo s

o l d e s t

son

had

been

working

for us to make some money

so he

could

get

some

things

for school. He

did not get

u s

school

marks

u n t i l

near the

l a s t

of

the

month.

Then

they

had

to

c a l l

the

school

where

iie had applied for admittance, to see i f they had

accepted

him.

They had and they sent him

^

concession

so he could

t ravel

by student

t icket to

school.

When

he came

with his mother to

je t

the t r a i n on the 31st o f Janaury, he found t h a t there was no

place

for him as i t was

f u l l ,

,^e

could

not have gotten

to

Durban in time

to

catch the t r a i n from

there.

So I

cal led

Lynn

Stanly

who

needs t o

go to Durban and we went to Durban

to

do a few things and

then

on north

T)f

Durban another 100 miles to

school.

I f the boy had

not

been present to regis ter for

school

)n

Tuesday morning, he would not have

been accepted for there

are

so many who desire

places

th r

Alpheus

has

done very well in

school but

while he has

been

with the

same

c l a s s

as

James

each year, he w i l l have

to

take two years to f inish where James has only t h i s year.

Then Tuesday noon, I went

back to

Durban v;ith Lynn so as to drive his pickup back and

.^hile they had called him

and

told him his

things

were ready, they were not. So much time

was

spent

wai t ing t o

f ind

out

what

was going on.

S a tu rd a y, V e rn it a and I went

t o Pondoiand

t o d e l i v e r

some

m a t e r i a l s

t h e r e .

Most

im

portant were the windows and

door

frames for the church at Xopoco. They

have about

enough

JDlocks for t h e i r building,

and

I did not v/ant to hold

them

up with the work for

it

will be

sometime before 1 get that way

again.

Some of the

people

were waiting

for

us,

for

I

had

telegraramed

the

minister ,

but because o f ra ins they

were

not able

t o get

bread

and

some

other

things

they wanted and

gave

us only t inned baked beans, peaches

and

tea ,

but

even

t h i s

we

vere

happy for. (Also

gave me

a chicken

to

cook for

Alvin,

when we

get

home

since they

. ladn t prepared

one).

On the way back, we

then

stopped to see the Sogon I s . They

ask

us to

bring

bananas each time

we come and

they

sel l

them. He liad

just

f in ished putt ing a

porch

on

^ h e

square

house.

Mrs.

Sogoni has

a knitting machine and had knit ted and

sold

enough

sweaters

in December to

buy

a

big

iron

wate r ta nk .

She had sold j u s t

about

80.00

worth

o f

goods and paid

66.50 for

the tank. They

asked

that I bring

six

pockets of cement when I come

^gain, and

t o

look f o r some

k i t c h e n

and

d i n i n g

room f ur ni t u re f o r

them. I

had two

s t e e l

drums

;hich

t he S tanl eys

had used

to

bring back

used

clothing

and these he had sold to Stephen

Kwetshubi, m i n i s t e r n e a r Bizana. But when we a r r i v e d

t h e r e

we found t h a t

he

was in th e hos

pital in Bizana. It

was

getting close to 6 p.m., but I stopped

and saw

him for a little bit.

.hey had

taken

x-rays of his chest,

but

had nor. told him what was wrong.

There are 16 students in school, eind only

three

of them were

pre.sent l a s t

year. Some

a l r e a d y

show

that t hey shou ld

do

very well

and the others we

shall

know b e t t e r about

a f t e r they

lave

had a chance to get s e tt le d b e tt er in school. I am teaching three

classes

Hoseal,

Joel

and

mos f o r Second year. Orientat ion

and

Stewardship

for the f i r s t year. Then I II Corinthian

^ l a s s , but f i n d

t h a t

the

ones they have got ten are

going

t o

cost

much

more

than

the

f i r s t one

[ had bought. I was paying the

greater

share of the cost of the books.

Twenty

one

baptisms have been reported during the l a s t month.

May

the Lord bless and

keep you

a l l . Yours

in C h r i s t ,

The N i c h o l s o n s

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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FIN NCI L REPORT

FOR

LVIN N VERNIT NICHOLSON

J NU RY 1,

1971 - DECEMBER 31, 1971

I n c o m e

Balance December

31,

1971

662.43

Cont r ibut ions 11,259.33

R e f r i g e r a t o r Fund 38.50

P e r s o n a l

2 8 . 0 0

Savings Account 509.36

Tota l 12,497.62

D i s b u r s e m e n t s

Working Fund 5,450.00

Salary

-

Sent

t o

F i e l d 3,950.00

Savings

J a n .

Feb, .

A p r i l May 1970,

March, April , May

August,

Dec.

1971)

5 0 9 . 3 6

P e r s o n a l

1 9 5 . 6 4

4 6 5 5 . 0 0

P e r s o n a l G i f t s 1 0 6 . 0 0

M i s s i o n

S e r v i c e s 3 7 8 . 1 1

I n t e r n a l Revenue 3 1 0 . 5 0

Safety Deposit

Box

6.00

I n s u r a n c e

1 9 9 . 9 2

V i s u a l

Aid

M a t e r i a l 3 4 6 . 2 6

N e w s l e t t e r

9 6 . 4 8

T o t a l 11,548.27

Balance

December

31, 1971 949.35

FORWARDING

AGENT:

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

1 6 6 4 2

G an no n A ve. W

Rosemount,

Minn. 55068

NEWS

WITH THE NICHOLSONS

Mailed

b y . . .

F i r s t

C h r i s t i a n

Church

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

RETURN REQUESTED

C 7 1972

P e t t y

Cash

Balance Dec. 31,

C o n t r i b u t i o n s

o t l

D i s b u r s e m e n t s

Stamps

Postage

Supplies

T o t a l

1 9 7 1

8.50

7 0 . 0 0

78.50

54.59

2 3 . 9 1

7 8 . 9 0

Savings

Account

Travle

Fund

t r a n s

ferring to

Personal

Account)

Balance December 31,

1970

655.39

I n t e r e s t 2 9 . 9 9

S a l a r y

509.36

Tota l

1,194.74

D i s b u r s e m e n t s

To

check ing account 509.36

Balance 685.38

Non-Profi t

Organizat ion

U . S . POSTAGE

1 . 7 ^

PAID

Camp Point ,

I l l i n o i s

P e r m i t

No. 7

M i s s io n

3 e : v i c e s

B o x 1 7 7

KSMPTON,

IND, *:c049

n

n

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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- >

/g

I I

NICHOLSONS

Vol.

May

1972

Dear

F r i e n d s

The

f i r s t

touches of

winter

are beginning

t o

make

t h e m s e l v e s f e l t . e have

j u s t

has a

good rain

a f t e r two months

which

makes us happy but does

add

to the

cold

for

i t

l t

snow

o n t h e

m o u n t a i n s .

The

garden

a t

school

i s growing

well

but

we

have

ha s

to

keep

busy

watering

i t

both

by pump

and

by

can.

We have been slow ed some in

planting

for we have

had

to go back to

digging by

hand

for the l i t t l e garden t rac tor is awaiting spares from America. They

have

one

sold h e r e

but

it

i s

made

i n E ngla nd so

t h e r e are some

d i f f e r e n c e s .

I

took

a long weekend t r i p to Mqanduli near Umtata to help

them f ix

the roof on the

church. But Saturday

morning when I

went

to

get

the t imbers

that were

needed

they

did

not have them. So we got a l l things

in

order that i s ordered and

paid

for them and with

in

the next

couple

of weeks

they should

have the

roof

back on again. One of the men a t

Lbatatei S a_quali.fied bui lder and

he wi l l do

the work

for

us. e

hadgood

mee ti ngs wifh

t h e

c h u r c h .

Brother John Sibinda who i s m in is te r fo r that area has recently moved into Umtata

which wil l make it p os sib le fo r him to do a closer work

with

the

churches of t h a t area.

e

hope to

see a greater

growth through out the central

Transkei. At

Idutywa in the

same

c i r c u i t

we want to put up a building of about 10 by 15 feet which can be used

u n t i l a church bui lding

i s b u i l t

then

t h i s

can be divided

an d

used f o r the

minis ter

when

he

i s

v i s i t i n g

there .

One weekend was sp en t w ith the work o f Brother

Isaac

Nomazele

near

Lusickis ik i .

This work has

been

going very s lowly. Mostly I

am

sure because

of

the area. Part of

the

area

is used for

trying

to grow Dagga which is

like Indian

emp or

marijuana.

The South African police have

been very

busy

seeking

to destroy a i l

that they

can find.

They have written in

the

papers that i t i s I think five times stronger than that grown

in Mexico. The

fines for

growing or selling

i t are

very

s t i f f but

the

profits are

so high

i f

they

get

by

with

i t that

there are s t i l l

many who grow

i t .

Pray for

our

camps. The ministers of this area met on the 3rd to make plans for the

camp

in

this area.

There are

four places that want camps but now i t seems that the

c losing date

of the African

schools has been

moved

to

the same time as the European

Schools so this is squeezing us for time. One camp I had hoped to

hold

when I took the

students home from school but now i t wil l

have

to be about two weeks l a t e r . Perhaps the

whole family will be able

to

go

to

that area then. Here at

Port

Shepstone i t

is

the plan

to

rent

a

church

camp from another church group .

Vemita

has

been

working on

questions from the book of Genesis for

use

of

the church

in

their

teaching

program. In

visiting the churches

I always spend some

time now in

question and answer

periods.

I f i r s t ask them general

bible

questions and then

give

them

an

opporutnity

to

ask

questions

which

they

may

have.

With

this

then

we

can

urge

them

to

do

more

studying

and point out their great need fo r bible study.

Thru an auction sale we with

the Stanleys

have been

able to get

a three year

old

Gestetner

d up li ca to r f or about. . 100> . This was a good buy for the new ones are about 6

times that amount. The one we have been using was getting so old that they

did not

like

t o

work

on

it l e s t something break an d they could not f ix i t .

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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Fo r

many years the s t r e e t t h a t runs by our home has b ee n n ar ro w and often rough.

Bu t now they have graded

i t

out wide and

p ut

on

s o i l

t h a t makes a

hard

base as

well

as putting

in

a

drainage

system and they are making

plans

to

t a r

the road during the month

of

July.

I t is very

nice

as before two small c ars could

hardly

pass

in

some of

th e

places. I t will probably

mean

higher taxes but we haven t

had

to

pay

ou t anything

else

for i t so we

are

no t complaining. What

we

need

to

do is

find

a

way to surface

our o\m

d r i v e . We

a r e

on

a h i l l s o it

o f t e n

washes w i t h t h e

r a i n s .

James

is finding this last year of

school to be

rather

heavy. They have been

giving

them a

great

deal of homework With two rugby

practices

and one

game

each week,

his

part

is

Student

Christian

Association

at

school

and

the

Friday

night

youth

meeting

he

f in ds h im se lf

busy

a l l the time.

Brother

Qwemesha s milk cow was

killed

when i t was

bitten

by a snake.

This leaves

him with out a milk cow

He

sold th e old cow at th e end of last year and th e

heifer

he

had

d i e d suddenly.

What a wonderful blessing ^the

cassette recorder

has

been.

They were

able to make

a recording of John s

ordinatibn~ I t

was-so clear

that

we felt

like

we were

present.

His brother Steven brought th e message and hi s brother-in-law Richard Hanson, sang and

ha s p a r t

i n th e s e r v ic e .

With prayers fo r guidance and b le ss in g fo r you a l l .

We a r e your in C h r i s t

A l v i n V e m i t a

and James

FORWARDING

AGENT:

M r s .

R i c h a r d

H a n s o n

1 6 6 4 2

G a n n o n

A v e . W

R o s e m o u n t Minn.

5 5 0 6 8

NEWS

WITH TH E

NICHOLSONS

Mailed b y . . .

irst

hristian

C h u r c h

amp

P o i n t

111.

RETURN REQUESTED

M i ss io n S o i v ic ss

B o x 1 7 7

KEMPTON, CND. :-6049

N o n - P r o f i t

O r g an izatio n

U . S .

POSTAGE

1.7f P A lD

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

P e r m i t N o . 7

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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June

1972

Vo l

13

No. 5 . NEWS WITH THE NICHOLSONS

Dear Bre th ren

Greetings in our Lord Jesus Chris t .

We

do pray

tha t

God s great love

sha l l

abide

with you

a l l

The

ten t

meeting

held

on

Pentecost

Sunday l a s t month

was

a

great

success .

I t

was

se t

up

between

the school and the outstat ion

to

th e so uth , which

is ju s t

cal led by the

locat ion

number, number f ive. I completed my sermon a t about 9:30 a t

night .

The ten t

was

fu l l then,

but people

were s t i l l coming and they

said

la ter there were about hal f

the number

outside

that

were pre sent within.

With

the

PA system those

outside had

no

trouble hearing. The

portable generator

l ights up

the

tent in such away that people

can

see

from a

long way. Brother

Qwemesha and

t he s tu de nt s have been going back

to

th i s area

fo r follow

up work, going

house to house to

v i s i t them.

I

hav e b een

very happy

fo r the class

which I

have had On_Teaching ^

They

have

taken

more in teres t in

the

class

and

given

more

part ic ipation than

most we

have

had. We

jus t

hope they

wil l

do as well when they have oppor tuni ti es to teach in the i r home areas.

Several

t r ips

have been

made

to

Xopozo

in

Pondoland

with

materials

which

they

have

needed for there new church building. The doors and

panes

for the windows are the

things

which

they

are needing

jus t

now.

These brethren have

a

real

hear t to work

^ d

the work in

the i r area is real ly

advancing.

James

is almost

half way

through this

year s school work and preparing

for his

June

exams. When they

return to

school

after the July Holidays

they wil l

be working

toward

their^Matric

exams at

the end

of

the

year. James

is

planning to retuni to

the

s ta tes the f i r s t of next year and follow h is

s i s t e r

and brothers at

Minnesota

Bible

College.

We

have j u s t checked with

the

a ir l ines and his

fa re back to

the States will

be 700 Like all things, travel has increased in price. do hope that you

will

help us with th is fare.

Our camp plans

have been

scrambled a bi t Other years, the Afr ican schools

have

gotten

out

a week before the European schools. But this year they are letting the

secondary

schools

and high schools

out

on the 23rd of June and th e primary

schools

on

the 28th.

had wanted to start our f i rst camp on the 26th. Also they

are

only having

three weeks holiday

for

the younger

children.

So

we

shall have to run some

of our

camps

at

the

same time. It

was our plan to

have classes

for

three

different

groups

here

at

Port Shepstone, but i f some of us are away i t will make this more difficul t . However

we

are so very happy for fhe opportunity to have camp for the young people and just pray

that

i t wil l

grow throughout the

country.

Would you especially pray with us for Ashwell Bukuka and Bennett Ngqungqutho that

their

hearts may

be moved by

the

Lord so that they will

really

work for Him of that they

will

give

up

the

work

of

the ministry.

At

the

present

time

both

men

are

failing

their

wo r k

A European Doctor has asked for permission

to

come and

use

th e

clinic

on day a week.

He worked at a mission hospi ta l fo r a time and desires to have a place where he can

help the African people. He has an office in one of the South Coast towns at the present

time. are to

furnish

him

nothing, just

a

place

to meet his patients. This can be a

r ea l opportuni ty fo r our area

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

7/40

Plans are

in hand to

begin work on another classroom a t

school.

With more

teachers

and more students

we

are g r e a t l y handicapped. The

l a r g e r

building serves as church

on

Wednesday

evening

Thursday

afternoon and on

Sunday so

n o changes can be made t h e r e .

The smaller

classroom

has t he t ypewr it er s and

sewing machines

in

i t

which takes up quite

a b i t

of

space even when

not in

use.

For severa l

class

per iods

there are

teachers

who

are

n ot t e ac hi n g

and when

th e women come o u t they

have t h e i r work i n

t h e

a f t e m o o n . There i s

not room

for

them to s i t

in

and now

t h a t

i s i s

colder they

must

spend t h a t time in

the

car

go to

the kitchen. N either

are very

good f or w ritin g or other

work

they

may want

to

do.' This building

will have

some

office space

to make

i t possible

for

those

not

teaching to do other v/ork. Our problem i s that we need some

helpin

putting up t he bui ld ing

The

cost

wil l run between 1200 and 1500

with the

teachers

and students

doing

most

a l l

th w o r k .

T h i s

t e r m

o f

s c h o o l we

h a v e h a d some o f

t h e

m i n i s t e r s come and

t ll

o f

wha t m eth od s

they

use in t h e i r work and to allow th e studen ts to

question

them on the work.

All

have

f e l t this was

very

helpful. School will

close

the

15th

of June and open

again

on

the

25th

o f

J u l y .

A recent l e t t e r to ld o f 15

baptisms

in one church.

Thank you so much

for

your

help

and

prayers.

do so

greatly

need

this

help.

Yours

f o r

C h r i s t

i n

A f r i c a

Alvin

V e m i t a and J ^es

FORWARDING

AGENT:

M r s .

R i c h a r d

H a n s o n

1 6 6 4 2

Gan no n A ve .

W

Rosemount Minn.

55068

NEWS WITH THE

NICHOLSONS

Mailed

b y . . .

irst

C h r i s t i a n

C h u r c h

Camp P o i n t

111.

RETURN ADDRESS REQUESTED

- . . M M a

jn.0. _\_

K i s s id n S e rv i c e s

B o x 17.7

KEMPTON, INP. '1:6049

Ncif^Profit OrganizatioA

U . S . POSTAGE

P A I D

Camp

Point

I l l i n o i s

P e r m i t 7

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

8/40

T hy

word is a

lomp

unto my

feet, an d a l ight unto my path.

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

SOUTHr

a F R l C A N

/

TORCH

Kimberley ^

Bible

College

O J

,e

v

Port

Shepstone

c

Cope Town v

Eost London

Relhatching ihe kitchen unit

at school

Lynn Stanley

Is

helping Volume

3

th e

thatcher

Second

Quarter 1972

Number

2

^^

uulL tkee

ac^xzii^ wia

tlui

iami

And, behold, I am with thee,

an d

will

keep thee in a ll p la ces

whither thou goes, and will bring

thee aga in into this land; (or I will

not

leave

thee,

until I have

done

that which

I have

spoken

to

thee

of.

Genesis 28:15

Brian Guy left South Africa for

t he Un it ed States in 1965 to attend

college with God s promise to

Jacob

in mind; and now he is planning to

return to his

home

country by Jan

uary, 1973.

Some who

have followed

the South African

work

through the

years

may remember Brian:

he

accepted Chr ist as a teenager after

friendships developed between him

self

and the Stanley and Nicholson

children. Following that time, he

lived in the Stanley home while

completing a mechanic s appren

ticeship in

Port

Shepstone.

Brian has now completed his

college work and plans to be grad-

uatea

from

Nebraska Chri st ian

Col

lege in May. His wife, Deanna, is

from Ravenwood, Mo. She also has

completed her

college\

work at

Nebraska Chris t ian The

newest

Guy is Sonja Ann, who was born

January

22,

1972.

When they return to South Africa,

they plan to work under the leader

ship of Lynn Stanley in connection

with the Umzumbe Bible Training

School and helping in the

area

churches. During this time they

will become reacquainted with the

Sou th

African

f ield

a nd d et er mi ne

Brian, Deanna and Sonja

what

a r ea th e

Lord

can use

them

best. A future hope is to

settle

in

a South African city and work with

the white population.

The Guys are now traveling to

churches in the U nited States

to

make known their plans for the

South African field and

raise

sup

port for this work. They come with

th e recommendation

of

th e

elders

of the First Christian Church,

Onawa, Iowa, where Brian

has

served

as youth minister for two

years, and where they are now liv

ing. Financial needs include regu

lar monthly support for salary and

working fund and also relocation

expenses for ti cket s and shipping

osts

Some speaking dates are

still

available, especially after August,

and

Brian

is

ava i l ab l e fo r summer

youth camps and Vacat ion Bib le

Schoo l s

P l e a s e wr i t e to :

Brian

Guy, First

Chr is t ian

Church,

Onawa, Iowa 51040.

t i c k

Bi t e -

Both Lynn and Michael were

conf ined to

bed over the

E a s t e r

weekend

with tick bi te fever.

Michael s was recognized and

treated earlier than Lynn s, so he

did

not

have

as

much fever. Nei the r

of them had the very severe head

aches that often accompany this

d i s e a s e

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Page

2

South

African

Torch

S e co n d Q u a rt e r 1972

The Jim Solomons Return

To

Cape Town

The Jimmy Solomon family. Jimmy, Lorna,

Hazel,

Lisa,

Lynn and Karen.

A f t e r a b r i e f visi t

to th e U .S .

churches during September 1971 to

February 1972, the Jim Solomon

family

is

back in Cape Town. They

returned

on March

22 ,

1972.)

They

served

their

f ir st term on

the field during 1967 to 1971

after

Jim completed hi s work at Minne

sota

Bible Col lege. Previously the

work embraced B ib le s ch oo l w o r k

among th e Cape Coloured, an d

also

Cot tage Meetings for adults. Jim

also ministered at the Observatory

Church of

Christ

Polo

Road),

in

the absence of Mr.

J oh n F ul fo rd .

They will continue their work of

assisting

the churches in the

Cape

and searching for new

avenues

of

service

among the Coloured peoples.

A new forwarding agent

ha s

a lready been int roduced to the sup

porting churches. They are: Mr.

an d Mrs. J es s e Ireton, Ro ute 2,

Shirley, IN 47384.

I A M GLAD I A M A CHRISTIAN

It was my privilege on Good

Friday morning to si t in a worship

service where I heard a message

of our hope through the offering of

God s Son

as

atonement for

sin, of

H is resurrec t ion from t h e

d e a d

a n d

of our promise of life

a ft er d ea th

through Him. A glorious promise

to those

w h o

be l i eve .

In

th e

a ft e rn o o n I tr aveled w i t h

another missionary to watch a Hindu

fire-walking ceremony and the ritual

that accompanied it .

We

went down

to

th e riverside wher e certain ablu

tions were taking place, and we

watched

those who were taking

par t being prepared for the ordeal.

T h e re w as much

that

w e did n o t

understand, but the sincerity of

what they were doing was obvious.

We

watched the tortuous practice

of piercing their t o n g u e s and

cheeks with long needles which

were

left

in posit ion.

We

watched

as

hooks holding fruit, mostly

lemons, an d even

a

c oc on ut w er e

passed through the flesh of the

chests

an d backs

of those par

t icipating. There

was much chant

in g and marching ending at

th e

Hindi shrine and then the walking

a cro ss h ot beds o f coa l s . H ere the

crowd

wa s

so

great

that we could

no t get close

enough to

se e

th e

actual

walking.

We

saw no blood

nor real

evidence

of pain; neither

w as t he ir joy or hope.

Just

two blocks away a

large

group of the Moslem faith was con

ducting a conference.

Neither

of

these groups could offer any for

giveness

of sin, but only a certain

amount of improvement in an af te r

l i fe .

My

first words when I got home

were a fervent, I am glad 1 am a

Chris t ian

Lynn Sta n le y

S ou th A f ri c an

TORCH

is a

publication

A k *

- of the South African Church of Christ

M is si on , a nd

is published four

times

each

Hindi Fire Walker being pre- year in February

May Au^;ust

and

Novcm

paretl for his ordeal - Good Friday ber

by

Mission

Services Association

at

in Pietermarilzburg, 1972. Kompton Indiana 16 69 Second

Class P o s t a g e p ai d at K e m pt on , I n di a na .

Second Quarter 1972

V o l u m e

23

N u m b e r 2

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S e co n d Q u o rt er 1972

S o ut h A f ri c an Torch

Page 3

Sunday

School

At Umzumbe

q u a r t e r s .

The U m z u m be T o w n H all is not

usually the

scene

of much activity

but each Sunday

it

comes to

life.

Those who wish to join the

activity

must come early for the Sunday

School s ta r t s a t 8 :0 0 a . m .

Caryl and 1 have now been

working with the group for two

months, and we have really enjoyed

it .

Caryl

teaches

a

class

of first

and second graders in the men s

changing room while I teach a high

s c h o o l

c l a s s

ou ts ide R a i n

occa

sionally forces my

class

inside,

bu t

this has not proved to be too

j

Caryl Stanley helping one of her students in the very close

p l p i r s

great a problem so far.

When

we do

move

inside we

must share th e

auditorium

with

another class

The

children

a re i n te res t in g

to

work with, e sp ec ia ll y s in c e they

come from a variety of denomina

tional backgrounds. Several chil

dren do not own Bibles so they

bring Prayer Books, or Bible story

b o o k s

a s

s u b s t i t u t e s .

F e w of th e

children have much knowledge of

th e Bible

so this is

on e

field

where the Sunday School as a whole

has a great potential for improve

ment. Most of my

students

have

no t e v e n le a r n e d th e books

o f th e

New

Testament

and this makes

looking up Scripture texts difficult.

This work is the only regular

work which we do amongst White

people. Most of our

work

is with

the

Africans

and even if we had

enough

time

for both, it

would

be

difficult

because of the policy of

Apartheid (race separation) .

O t h e r

t e a c h e r s

and

l e a d e r s in

the Sunday School are

Mr

and Mrs.

Peter van de r Merwe, Mr.

and

Mrs.

Alvin N ic ho ls on a nd my

parents.

tAichael

Stanley

. Sjr , .- .

Michael Stanley and his class meeting outside. When it rains

they share the main auditorium with another class.

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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Page

4

South A f ri ca n T o rc h

1

f s a \ A

>.

While allending ihe

Preachers

Meeting

at

Barberton these

men lound a l it tl e time for some s ig ht s ee in g.

cation

for

it shortly from the ov

ernment. They also have been

invited by the people who live in

th e area to return with the tent

fo r

another weekend meeting.

Besides this

Brother

Qwemesha

is making plans to use the tent at

l e a s t

three t imes in the a r e a s

s u r

rounding the school. This will give

the students p ra ct ic e in personal

evangelism and will evangelize

areas

where he

ha s

had

little

oppor

tunity to do calling e are certain

it

will bring new life to both con

gregations in that area

3S\ S t

Second Quarte r

1972

NEWS OF THE

T h e

e f f e c t i v e n e s s

o f

th e tent

has been great ly Increas ed through

the us e of the

portable light

plant

and the pub li c

address

system

e

are

still

awaiting

the transformer

a n d t h e n we s h a l l make u s e o f th e

I6mm

projector as

well. e are

able to get religious films in the

Zulu language. But even with Eng

lish being used with pictures the

people

still

get the message

Not only has the

tent

been used

here but we

took i t

to

Pondoland

fo r E no ck Z ob olo on the 24th of

March and 136 of his people came

from

this side by bus for the meet

ing It was

in an

area

where we

have a

small

c ongregation with

their own building. But it was not

big enough for such a large group

of p eo pl e. Again

great

interest was

raised amongst the people of the

re

On March

4th and 5th

I

went

to Pondoland for a meeting with

Ashwell Bukula and his

people

in

the church house which they have

built at Qabangeni. It is a large

building of

mud

blocks like they

make for t heir homes. But they have

put

an iron roof on this one and

plan to

plaster it

so that

it

should

last

for a long time. They have

built a nic e house there which they

can use for theirminister and guests

at the meeting and will make another

Alvin N i c h o l s o n

Good F ri day through Res urrec

tion Sunday

ha s

become a time of

special e v a n g e l i s m for Nick

Qwemesha and Barnabas Songo

with their congregations

On Thursday they will set up

t he t en t

a t

on e o f th e s t a t i o n s

where

there is no building for handling a

large

group

of people. Thus they

go to an

area where their

work

is

not so strong

Thursday night will be the

beginning of their services with

one of the longer services being on

F ri day morning when they will

use

the words of Christ upon the cross

T his ser vice normally lasts from

10 a.m. to either 3 or 4 p.m. then

there will be the normal evening

service

which

to us would be

abnormal

fo r i t a l s o

will

l a s t

fo r

hours. Saturday they divide up into

groups

and

visit

the homes in the

area Sa tu rd ay n ig ht they wi ll

have

services again and e arly Sunday

mor ni ng t he y will have

their

bap

tismal service This year there

were 21 peo ple buried with Christ

e came on Sunday morning this

year to bring to them the closing

message

of

their

meeting

The tent this

year

was erect ed

on a site

that

ha s been given by

the c hief and th ey wi ll make a pp li

The

house at Qubangeni

that

was mentioned in Mrs.

N i c h o l so n s a r ti c le

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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Second

Quarter

1972

NICHOLSONS

l i ke

i t

which sha l l be

used

fo r cook

ing for the

people

when they are

presen t .

Besides these

three meetings,

I was also

present

at Ingwavuma

in

Northern Zululand

on

th e 17 th

and 18th of February and Nongoma

on the

19th

a nd 20th .

I

will return

to Nongoma again on the 13th and

14th of May.

On March

7th through 12th, we

were present at Barberton in the

Tran svaa l fo r Minis ter s

Week and

for p reparat ion for the 50th Annual

Conference of the Churches .

Vc r ni ta N i cho ls on

As I read back through the

issues of the Torch of past years,

there

seems

to be

one

phrase

that

i s common

to the ar t i c l es

tha t

we

wrote . That i s

And

we

were

off.

I t seem s tha t much

of ou r

work ha s

been done with the car or pick-up

traveling

to many areas of South

Africa . We have v i s i t ed churche s

in most

areas,

preaching, teaching,

witness ing those

who

gave

their

hearts

to t he Lord, being baptized.

Much o f

this

t ime

also has

been

spent in discussing current prob

l ems with t hose o f th e Afr ican

chu r c he s .

This has

not changed

too much.

It seems most every week-end

lately, I have been packing a suit

case fo r Alvin to leave fo r another

period of

preaching

with one church

or

ano the r .

The second

week

in March, we

took seven of the

mini s t e r s to

B arb er to n in th e Transvaa l . Min

i s t e r s

Week

w as sched uled fo r

th is

t ime.

The r e were s e ven mis

sionaries present and four children.

We stayed in a

rest

camp with ron-

davel s. Thi s is a lovely area and

Barberton

is bui l t at th e foot of

some mounta ins on three s i d e s

with the valley

stretching

to the

n or th a nd mounta ins on the horizon.

To the

west of the

camp

just

a

little way, was a

cableway

which

transports asbestos froiri

th e

mine

South

African

Torch

Page

5

The Quhangeni Church and sonic of the congregalion.

This

is in

Pondoland.

in Swaziland to the railway in Bar

berton.

I t c ar ri es i t

about

19

miles

before

it

is

taken

off and put in

the t rain.

All of the

mini s t e r s were

not

ab le

to

at tend th e week. Fo r some

the distance was

very

great and

money was lacking. For some, ill

ness

stru ck a t th e l as t

moment .

We

hope

that

those who did attend

received help with the work which

they are doing in the churches.

The women

o f

th e l oca l

church

met on Thursday and asked tha t I

speak. I didn t go prepared as I

had almost decided not to go but a

song t itl e, Give

Me a Vision pro

vided the theme and the scr iptures

used were Proverbs

29:18

an d

Philippians 2:5. The song was

sung at the

close.

Most times now with

James

at

home, 1 am not traveling

with Alvin

so

1 am also helping with the Sun

day School at Umzumbe. 1 teach a

junior age

class

and play the piano

for opening exercises.

This

group

ha s

grown quite a lo t

and has

been

a

real

joy to us. The teachers and

leaders

come from the Stanley

family, a

local

European family

and our family. James fills in when

I

have

been gone.

1 find

that

I am

increasingly

doing more typing, letters , s tencils

and so on. When a new song

is

learned

by the students at school,

1 often have to type

several copies

so

they will have the words.

When

Alvin requires stenciled

material

for

hi s

classes, I type

these.

Many

o f th e l e t t e r s

a re m ine to an swe r

a s wel l .

Each

month, 1 try to send a

mimeographed

letter

to

the mini s

ter s

wives to

give

them

ideas

for

leading their women's groups in

study.

Recently,

I sent a

puzzle

to

be given to the young people to

work out .

Some

o f the women

did

i t

t hemse lves . If

even a fe w o f t hese

things give some help

or

thought

to some, I feel my efforts have been

rewarded.

They

are going to read

more and more as they learn English.

Pe rhaps these

will help them a

little.

There

is

certainly enough

trash that

goes

out that they can

ge t

to read.

The

basic

desire

of every

Chris

t ian i s

to

be o f

se rv ice

to th e Lord .

To be

at His d isposa l at al l

times

is a wonderful thing. This is

our

fervent desire, no

matter how small

the

task, that many may be won to

the Lord and helped to live fruitful

Chris t ian

l ives .

LOOK

unto

the

hills from

whence ccmeth

your

help

LOOK

unto t he f ie ld s w hi te

unto

harves t

LOO

unto yourselves lest you be weary in well doing

LOO unto the Lord ofHarvest to send forth reapers

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Poge 6

South Africon Torch

Second

Quarter 1972

USED

LOTHINGDIST RIBUT E D

About

that

used clothing

that

came

out

in our own shipment

and

in

Michaels

A ll

but

f ive

of

the

ministers

have now received bags

of clothing weighing about 25

pounds each It ha s been a costly

opera tion considering collecting

packing shipping then sorting and

packing again Much of that which

has gone out has been delivered as

near

as

possible

to the men The

men appreciate this help and the

clothing

is

more valuable to them

than dollars and cents sound but

w e have

warned

th e m in is te rs t ha t

thi s will probably be

ourlast

effort

b ec au se o f

t he t re m en d ou s

inc rease

in costs

We

los t a goodly amount

of our clothing when the drums

were

broken

in to and

the be s t in

them

stolen

during shipment

We

do have enough to send out nearly

as many bags as have already

gone Thank

you

to all of

you

who

helped us with clothing

Lynn Stanley and Caryl packing the used

clothing

for the native

ministers

EIGHTEEN STUDENTS

TTEND I LE TRAINING SCHOOL

During the first temi of 1972

we had 18 students at the training

school As in every new

class

we

f ind

some

whom we would l ike

to

send home before the week

is

up

but we

have

learned to give them

a chance and have often found they

prove more

promising

as time goes

on Our

present

misfit has made

some remarkable growth and we

are very hopeful

The

f ir st term

closed on March 30th and

the

second

term began on April 4th

Because it

is

too costly and too

difficult for the

students

to go

home for

short periods

we do

no t

take

a break

at this

time but

allow

for a much longer one after the

second t e rm

The

second

term began with

the same 18 students but we are

expecting another married couple

This

will

give us three married

couples at one time and it will

make the

largest class

while Lynn

has

been

in

charge There was

a

larger one while the Stanleys were

on furlough Five

of

these are

second year sfudents

1972 Umzumbe Bible Training School

Each

year the

student

body

grows

large Here are the students and part of the faculty

for

this

year

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S e co n d Q u a rt e r 1972

S o u t h

A f ri ca n T o rc h

Page 7

nm

Here we

se e

the congregation singing and shaking hands

following a church service.

JOHN NICHOLSON

ORDAINED

J oh n N ic ho ls on

second

son of

Alvin

a nd V er ni ta

Nicholson

wa s

ordained a t th e Bloomington

Church

of Christ Bloomington , Minn, on

March 5th.

Steven

Nicholson John s

brother preached the ordination

s erm on R ich ard H a ns on brother-

in-law and Robert Cash minister

of the Bloomington church

sang

for

th e service.

John

hi s wife, Cheri

and baby daughter, Lisa ar e living

in Readstown Wise, where John

preaches.

W I T H F AI TH

BU ILD ING

CONSTRUCT ION

TO

BEGIN

For more than two years we

have hoped and prayed and worked

that we might be able to expand

the

f ac il it ie s a t

th e

B ib le Trai n in g

School. Some money came in for it

but

ot her ne eds a lwa ys

had to be

met. Plans had to be changed.

Urgently needed have been married

couples rondavels, a gi rl s

dormi

tory and additional classroom and

library facilities. All of these have

thought to be our next building

project at one time, but new needs

appeared and changes were made.

Finally, it looks like we will be

able to go ahead with a large unit

to

house

two

classrooms

two

offices and a library as well as a

large storage room under the

main

part

of

the building. Probably the

first to enjoy it will be the teachers

not on duty, as

it

will provide office

r ooms fo r

them

to u s e which

our

meagre classroom se t up has not

been

able

to do.

This

time we hope

to build a more permanent structure

than

ha s

been possible in ourother

buildings. We do not

have

suffi

cient funds on hand to complete

the building but enough is in sight

to go ahead on faith believing that

as th e rest is

n e e d e d

th e

L o r d

will provide.

CINCINNATI

JULY 11 14 1972

S e e

u

^^JULYll 14 1972 . .

TillU ^

CINCINNATI CONVENTION CENTER

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Page

8

It sometimes seems like

w e

get

stuck in a

rut.

Our activit ies

con

tinue much the same day after day.

I

am

sure

we

are not a lone in that

feeling. The difference is

that as

Christians we are vitally interested

in each day and in our work, even

if nothing extraordinary presents

i tself

to tell folks about overseas .

BOX 17 7, KEMPTON, INDIANA

46049

1

As far as

these last

couple

months

ar e concerned,

we have

continued much the same type of

routine. One new activity we are

engaged

in is a First Aid Course

being held at Medical School. We

meet for an hour at 5:00 p.m. on

Sou th Afr ican Torch

Tuesdays for a lecture and on

Thursdays for a practical demon

stration. We learn to make slings,

tie

proper knots , bandage various

injuries and a lo t of what not to do

to an

injured person.

Some of the

time Anne feels out of her depth

as she is the only non-medical per

son attending the

course.

1 am sure

this information

will be valuable

in all

kinds

of situations later on .

We

continue

to be

concerned

about the work

at

the Wynberg

Church of Christ .

We

have had

quite a bi t of illness there over

the past few weeks so our num

bers hav e

been

smal l . One

of

our

members, Mrs. Levita, passed

away in March.

Easter Sunday was a time of

rejo icing for us,

as

it

should

be

for

each

Christian.

John Ful ford ,

who normally

preaches

for us while

we are without a minister,

was

unable to be with us in the morning,

so 1 brought the morning message.

In the evening the young people

from al l

three of our Cape Town

churches presented a special

Easter

program. It inc luded a

short

p lay on the reality of the Resurrec

tion. Jimmy Solomon brought a

short message and afterwards the

folks enjoyed a time of fellowship

with tea and biscui t s

The Jimmy Solomon family just

a rr iv ed b ac k in S ou th Afr ic a a bo ut

10 days before Easter. They had

been in the

States

on furlough since

last August.

The

week af te rEas te r

1 had

the

opportunity to address the Medical

Christian Fellowship,

an

organiza

tion

o f

hris t ian medical

s tudent s

on our campus.

Together

w th two

other students 1 spoke on What

the Resur r ec t ion

Means

to Me.

Certainly there are many

areas

in

which we can

witness

concerning

our fai th .

There

are many

avenues

of outreach with the

Gospel.

Each

one of us need to be taking

those

opportunities

each

time they come

our way

Darrel

Stanley

Second Quar ter

1972

South African TORCH v

Published quarterly

for the following:

MISSIONARIES

and their Forwarding

Agents

Mr. and Mrs. Brian Guy

and Family

First

Chris tian

Church

Onawa, Iowa 51040

Mr. and Mrs. Aivin Nicholson

and Family

P.O. Box 219

Port Shepstone, Natal

South Africa

Forwarding Agent

Mrs.

Richa rd Hanson

16642 Gannon

Ave., W

Rosemount, Minnesota 55068

Mr.

and Mrs. James Solomon

Bethesda,

Quartz

Street

Penlyn

Estate,

Lansdowne

Cape

Town, South Africa

Forwarding Agent

Mr. an d Mrs. Jesse Ireton

Route 2

Shirley, Indiana 47384

Mr and Mrs. Darrel Stanley

140 Ringwood Drive

Pinelands, Cape

South Africa

Forwarding Agent

Mr. an d Mrs. Donald Barnes

Route

1

Lyie, Minnesota 55953

Mr. and Mrs. Lynn Stanley

and Family

P.O.

Box

219

Port Shepstone, Natal

South

Africa

Forwarding Agent

Mrs. Sybil Evans

Bo x 1

St. Joseph, Illinois 61873

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Stanley

P.O.

Box

21 9

Port Shepstone, Natal

Sou th A f ri ca

Forwarding Agent

Mrs. Richard Eckman

Route 2

Kimboll,

Minnesota

55353

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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NEWS

WITH THE NICHOLSONS ^ . r

Vol 3 o 6 ^^ July 972

^ e a r

Friends

We

know that

most all

of

you are involved

in the

camps

at

this time. So our situations

lare somewhat t h e

same.

Because the winter holidays

for

the African primary schools

was much shorter this

year

^ t

has pushed our

camp

time together. So while the folks

were

busy with the

Umzumbe camp

I

vent to Middleburg Cape. The minister. Gift Gcobo at IVhittlesea

called

to ask

i f

I could

-lelp them with

transportation. When

I arrived

on Monday

night I found that he had gone to

toivn to wait for me and we had missed each other. So I loaded up a load and again went

hrough the town but did not see him so went on to Middleburg. I went to bed at 10 and

irose the next morning to

make

another

trip

back to Whittlesea. These two places are 170

miles apart so a

round

trip

v;as

not

really made

in

an

hour. I took 34 people over to

^iddleburgj but

only_31 went_ back_with_nLe_.

Friday_aft__emoon_ __I

started to rever se the travel -

ind

arrived back home after taking only one hours sleep on the road and traveling over 800

m i l e s

Several of the young people said

that

camp was wonderful and from their happy appearance

md

participation

in

class

I

am

sure

i t

was so.

The

group

was

divided

into two

age groups and

a few times

we

divided the

older

group

into

two groups. Most of the time I taught the older

roup of

over 100

students

fo r two hours

in the

moming and two hours

in the afternoon.

The

:otal

number

at

camp was over 200 but thev did

not

give me

the exact

number. Thev made plans

fo r

next years

camp to be

at

Miittlesea. T ^

The

African

young

people like

to

do

skits

and are very good

at i t They

gave

the

Birth

of Jesus the

first

night. They

added Herod

to the scene. He had five soldiers to help

him.

They

were

attired

in khake coveralls with yellow hard

hats.

After they met the wisemen at

^.he city gates their leader would march them

off

to the king and then

had

to

go

back several

:ime

to talk with the wisemen and also

to

get men

for

t he king.

The

whole story was well done.

Here

at Port Shepstone they also

had

a.

recprjd ..caaip. with_86

.present.

They hadJ.7_Jbap.tisms

.

It the end of the week. They had more teachers since all of the missionaries helped

as

well

as the thre e African ministe rs. They divided their camp into three class groups thus they

^ould give the older students work which

was

up to

their

ability. They all have gone far

inough in school

that

they could be taught

in

English.

No w

I

am

getting ready to go to Pondoland for their camp at Emagusheni. I

am

sure

Attendance will be

large there

also. Columbus

Ncanazo told me

he had

two

buses

coming

with

0 students. I am. to go to Flagstaff to

get

25 students. Plus

this

I

am sure

the

man

having

the

camp will

have 70 or

more. So for camps

this has been a wonderful year. I have seen great

changes in the church the

past

few

years

but I am sure we are going t o s ^

greater

ones as these

oung people take t h e i r places in the

work.

^ Today the 10th of July

is

family days. Port Shepstone

celebrates

i t by having Go Kart

acing in the town. There

are

70 some karts registered and so they will have a great crowd. To

lake things

different

they are running

the race

clockwise in ste ad o f

counter-clockwise.

A Mr. and Mrs.

Pete

Jone.s of Johannesburg were

down

from

the

29th of June

unti l the Sth of

uly.

We greatly

enjoyed

their visit. The

first day I

was

able to take them f ish ing and get

some

fish.

But

after that

th e

luck

was

not

so good

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The Robert Mills family visi ted at the Stanleys

over

the las t weekend. were a ll

t ogethe r t he re on Sun da y.

have

also

ha d vis i ts from the

Floyd

Stamms

in

Durban and th e

J o h n

K e ma n

in E a s t London.

* May the Lord gude you in your Christ ian l i f e May your l i fe in Christ make you

strong.

His l ov e c om fort you and may

you have

fellowship with the Holy Spir i t

Yours w i th

C h r i s t i a n

Love,

A lv in

V e m i t a

James

(P.S.

James re tu rn s in

January

'73

to

America

to begin his

studies in Minnesota Bib le Co ll ege.

His

return

fare

is

$700.)

FORWARDING

AGENT:

Mr s R i c h a r d Hanson

16642 Gannon Ave . W.

Rosemount, Minn. 55068

NEWS WITH THE NICHOLSONS

t

i

;

i

MaiTed

by.

F i r s t

C h r i s t i a n Church

Camp

Point 111.

Non-profit Organization I

U.S. POST G i

1 7 ^ PAID

Camp Point I l l ino i s i

Permit

7

^

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

B o x

1 7 7

KSMPTON, IND.

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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NEWS WITH

THE

NICHOLSONS

Vol. 13 No 7 September, 1972

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

Greet ing

i n

C h r i s t our Saviour.

They s a i d t h at the f l u

would catch

up with

our area

a f t e r winter s e t i n .

While

h as t ou ched many, has only been J ames

o f

our mis si onary f am ilie s h ere

t h a t

has had i t .

He

missed

four

days

o f

school.

The l a s t

camp

in Pondoland was

also a

very good

one.

ITiere were 130

children

present .

e

could

have

used a few more teachers

and another

meeting

place

as well .

But, again,

I

f e l t

the

children have a

b e t t e r knowledge

o f the

Bible

than

they

had a few

years ago

which a t t e s t s to

more

teaching in

the

churches today . Even the time spent each day with

the

adults

t h a t

were present was bot h enj oyab le

and

encouraging. The questions wore

o f

a~deep~er

n a t u r e

and~shbw^ more ~imderst an dih g of the

worcr bY~GbQl Along

withr~this drey

entered

i n t o a r e a l

discussion

on some o f the

questions

and

they seldom did

t h i s before .

One

o f

t he que sti on s

t h a t

thas

r i s e n

a

number o f

times

l a t e l y

has

been on

the

burying

o f those who have been k i l l e d accidently. I t

was

t h e i r

custom

to

bury

them near where

they

had been

k i l l e d or,

as they

said ,

to tal< e them to

rhe

raouritains for b u r i a l . I wondered

why

t h i s question was

only a r i s i n g nov/

a f t e r

so many years.

ovv the

Chris t ians no

longer

bel ieve

t h a t

t h i s

one

died because o f some e v i l s p i r i t

and

t h a t

to bury them

r i g h t

a t the

home

will

brin g th e evi l s p i r i t into t h e i r midst and endanger

the

r e s t of the

family.

I t

was good

t o

l i s t e n

t o

the

t hr ee m ini st er s

planning f o r the work in t h e i r areas.

By cooperat ion they

want to bring

some of t h e i r outs tat ions together

and also

to

exchange

some, so

t h a t each man s

people

and

work

v/ill

be more in

one

area.

Thus

he wil l save

time and money and be able

to v i s i t the people

more regulari ly or get

to

them when they

n e e d

h i m .

Our t r i p to

Johannesburg

was an

enjoyable and

refreshing

one. e enjoyed

the hos

p i t a l i t y of the Robert

M i l l s

a

Saturday dinner

with the

Pete

J o n e s Wednesday evening

prayer meeting

with

the

people

o f

Tulisa

Park,

a v i s i t

with

Simon Mtshayisa

and

ta lking

over

plans

f o r

the

new

m i n i s t e r s

home

a t

N a t a l s p r i u t

which

w i l l

be s t a r t e d the f i r s t

o f

October

r i g h t

a f t e r

the

annual

Conference.

Plans are

now t h a t Eustace Nyanieni, who

i s

a t

p re se n t i n the Bible

Training School

w i l l go

back t o

Johannesburg the f i r s t o f October

t o

work

in

the new Thembisa

African

Hospital

and help

with

the

v/ork

in

Natalspruit . Then on

Sunday morning we preached for the

church

at

Natalspruit.

SuiTday evening

spoke

at Beit

S t r e e t .

After s e r vi c e s t h a t night

we, with the

fo.tks o f

the

church, were i n vi t e d t o one

of

the

Chinese

homes for

tea

and

fellowship.

any of

these people

we

have not

seen

for

s e v e r a l

years . At t h i s t e a

we

had

a

p a s t r y they

make

c a l l e d bowties ; i s very good

but also v ery swee t.

December

c a r r i e s a very b i g red l e t t e r day for us.

Our

daughter,

Sandra , with

h e r

husband Dick

and daughter Valerie

are coming

to

v i s i t us

for

one month They are

flying

out

on a c h a r t e r

f l i g h t and

w i l l

be with us j u s t

about a

month, a rriv in g in Johannesburg

o n t h e

1 5 t h .

Our special thanks

to

those who have given for James return

to the

States next

year

and for the fridge fund. e hope to have a new f ri dge before

the

end of

the

month

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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At school we are about to begin work on another class room. Well i t will really

have two classrooms library and an office. Those

not

teaching now have to s i t outside

which

for th e

wives

who

teach

in the afternoon

may

be

as

long

as two

hours. Also

our

smaller class room has both desks and

tables

typewriters and sewing

machines.

These have

to

be shifted back and

forth for

different

classes

so

the extra room will

be

greatly

appreciated. cou ld use

at

least

1,000

in

help on

this project.

Our

prayers to g et he r a va il

much.

Christ and much

joy

in se rv ing Him.

FORWARDING

AGENT:

Mrs. Richa r d Hanson

16642 Gannon

Ave.

W.

Rosemoutn Minn.

55068

NEWS WITH THE NICHOLSONS

Mailed

by. . .

rst

Ch r i s t i a n

Church

Camp Point

111.

R TURN R QU ST

We

pray yo u

may

have

soul s won into

the body of

Yours in Chr i s t i an Love

The

Ni c h o l s o n s

Non Profi t

Organization

U.S . POSTAGE

1 .7^

PAID

Camp Point

I l l ino i s

P e r m i t 7

J i s s i on

Se r v i c e s

Box 177

KSiaPTOM, IMD. < c049

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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-

NEWS

WITH

THE

NICHOLSONS ^ ^

. 3 TV

Vol. 13

No. 8

November, 1972

Dear Chris t ian

Fr iends ,

M Greetings to

each

one

of you in

the precious name

of Christ

our Saviour. I t i s our

prayer

that

the grace

and

peace

of

Christ

shal l

res t

w?.th

each

of

you.

The end of

l a s t

month

was

the

Annual

Meeting of the churches

out

here. This tim e

^was special because i t was

the

50th meeting and Max Randall came out from America to

bring

a ser ies of

special

messages on Church Growth. His son, LeRoy, was able

to

come down from

Zambia and speak

and

have this short opportunity

to

vis i t

with his

father.

The

meeting was

held

a t Barberton in th e E as te rn Transvaal and

th e b re th re n

did a

wonderful job. X only had to s i t down once and

talk

with Bro ther Simon

Mtshayisa

about

the food they would buy and they did

all

the buying. They had

plenty

of hOmes

for

the

brethren

to stay in . Everyone was

well

fed and

the raeetingall

went

off very well.

Everyone

,said i t was on

the

the best of tjie Confere^r^es they Jiad

the

privi ledge of

attending.

We lef t home on the 22nd of September hoping

to take

a day or two

of

vacation,

but

when

we a rr ived the re on Saturday evening the flu caught up with Vemita again and kept her from

doing much for th e week. James went to Kruger

National Park

with one of

the

other families

before

the meetings began.

The missionaries were able to get

a ll

six rondovals that they

have

to use for the

time

that we were

there.

I t was not enough for some folks had to

stay in

th e hotel , but in the

evenings af ter services we

could put our

chairs

ou t in th e park ing a rea before

one

of the

rondovals and

have

a great time visit ing together. One evening

the missionaries a ll

met to

gether fo r a

braai

cook meat over a

fire). It

rained hard for a l i t t le while and gave us a

^bi t of

a

handicap

in cooking

our meat, but

i t

did not dampen either our

appetites

or th e

ab i l i ty

to

t a lk .

Next years meeting will

be at

Gcilima

here near Port

Shepstone so we shall

be at

home.

We

shall also

have some work to do in helping them to get

ready

since

the

reserves do

not

***have all the facilities that a

city

has. But we are all very

much

looking forward

to i t .

James is working

hard

on

his studies

for his exams now. They had t r ia ls last month and

he

passed

them. But

the teachers

se t

those

exams

and

the

next

ones

will

come

from

the

province.

50

has been received

so

fa r for his fare back

to

the s ta te s .

Devalu atio n has

helped a l i t t le

bit

as well for now we only need 660. This we should have by the middle of

December when Sandra and

her

husband

will

be coming out to visi t us. It

is

our hope that

^James

may return to the

States th e same time as they do about

the

middle of January.

The other day, in order

to return

something

which

I had borrowed, we took two widow

ladies

and went to

Oribi

Gorge. They are

rebuilding

the road from our end and

some

day i t will

be all tarred. When

we came

to the farm house where

we

were

stoping,

she took us to see

*^er cycal natalesis. These

are

supposed to be

prehistoric plants.

She says the small ones

are

worth

500

in

the states.

She had some small ones in

pots

that she has

started

and said

that they

are

worth

over

60 in Johannesburg. Further on as

we

went through the gorge

i tself ,

iWe stopped

to

spend a half an hour with the monkeys. They came

to

the

tables

by the road

to

beg There

was

one large male, five others and a

l i t t le

one.

They

put on a

real

show,;;

b^etter

tlTan

,can_,be

seen

in

a Zoo.

Iti Durban when we wenf.^to do our Christmas shopping,

we

wnt to have morning tea with Mrs.

Ste^.

Floyd Stamm is in the states just now. She was thrilled with the progress of the work

^

TOtfa ^ ashu

with Shadrack Mazibuko. She has been helping with

Sunday

school and the Women s

-One day a week she goes

to the

Indian township, Chatsworth,

for

a meeting with them.

We

are so thankful they

have chosen

to work

in Durban.

Everything here is beginning

to point

toward Christmas time. James will be through

school on the 1st

of

December. The school

at

Umzumbe will be out

shortly

after that. We are

pjnaking plans to get

th e

sweets for the end of the -year and must work out with

th e

churches

when we

shal l

be

visi t ing

them.

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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e ar e busy with plans for several churches and Minister s homes The plans ar e

com

p le te d f or two

churches

except we must now change one from f eet and

inches

to

metric. The

blocks

are

being

made fo r the two homes and we have

planned

together t h a t I s h a l l come

an d

vi s i t

them

in

February

o f

next year

to help

them get

s tar ted

The foundations f o r

the

new building a t school

are

being

f i l led in

and leveled now so

that

the f loor can be poured. B ro th er S ta nl ey is hoping

to

have

th e

building ready for us e

when

school

opens

in

January

1973.

Pray for Brian and Deanna

uy

anJ their little girl as they seek support to return to

Port

Shepstone. This

i s Brian s

home and I baptized him

in the

Umtentweni

ri v e r

some

years

ago. He has been in the

s ta tes s i n c e

1965 an d we are

looking forward to

h is

r e t u r n .

Pray

with

us that

God

shall

guide

us

in

th e work that he would have us to do next year.

e want to make the

best

us e

o f

the

time

before we take our

furlough.

God b l e s s and keep

yo u

on e

an d

al l

S i n c e r e l y in Chr i s t

Alvin V e m i t a Nichol son

FORWARDING

AGENT:

M r s .

R i c h a r d

H a n s o n

16642 G a n n o n A ve

W

Ro se m o u n t Minn.

55068

NEWS

WITH

TH E

NICHOLSONS

M ailed by

F i r s t

C h r i s t i a n

Ch u r c h

Camp Point 111.

RETURN REQUESTED

B ox

1 7 7

K5:: i?Ta: n cud 4^049

N o n -P r of it O r g a ni z a ti o n

U S

POSTAGE

1 . 7 ^ PAID

Camp Point I l l ino i s

P e r m i t 7

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of Olljrtst

^tOBion

tL

^^nnlmpiapu

otiiemnce

1922 1972

MEETING

B RBERTON TVL

27^

SEPTEMBER

1

OCTOBER

1972

Alvin

J.

Nicholson

Supt.

Simon

Mtshayisa Host Minister

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CHURCH OF

CHRIST

MISSION

50th

ANNUAL

CONFERENCE 1972

Borberton,

Transvaal

CHURCH GROWTH

WEDNESDAY

EVENING

27th SEPTEMBER

Speaker Max Ward RandoU

THURSDAY

MORNING

28th SEPTEMBER

Collection of B E and Table Monies

his is to be

done

as

early

as

possible)

Flannelgraph

and Music for those not involved

THURSDAY AFTERNOON

Women s Meeting

Max

Randall to lead

men s

meeting

THURSDAY EVENING

Growth

of the

Church

Lynn

Stanley

FRIDAY

MORNING

29th

SEPTEMBER

Class

for

all Max

Word

Randall

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Women s Meeting

Men s Meeting

Max

Word Rondoll

FRIDAY EVEN ING

Phi lip, the Evangelist Nick

Qwemesha

SATURDAY MORNING th

SEPTEMBER

Reports and Election

SATURDAY

AFTERNOON

Women s Meeting

Men s

Meeting

Discussion on

items

brought

by

the brethren

SATURDAY

EVENING

Religious Film

SUNDAY MORNING 1st OCTOBER

Message Work for the Night Cometh Alvin Nicholson

8/21/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1972 SAfrica

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f f lSTORY

OF

THE

CHURCH

OF CHRIST

MISSION

IN

SOUTH AFRICA

The earl iest known member

of the

Church

of

Christ in

South

A frico wos

o

certoin John B rcdie who set t led in

Kimberley

obout

1871 where he

mode

o fortune in the diomond mines. With

out ever

storting o church he

moved

to Cope Town in

1881 ond

loter

unit

ed

with

the Boptist Church. He was

something

of

o leoder ond it is noted

thot

the

church

wos

colled

the Bop

tis t Church

of C hrist .

He

lived

to

see

th e

eorly Church of Christ in

Cope Town but did not go In to it

himself though he helped with o loon

to put up the first building.

In

896

Mr.

John Sherriff

orrived

from Austrolio ond shortly put on od-

vert

in the

poper

osking if

there

were those interested

in meeting with

him obout the Lord sTob le. Four p eo ple

met the

first

time. This

work

con

tinued for a time but

shortly he

re

moved to

Pretorio. Here ogoin

he

worked to help stort o con greg otio n.

He wos o moson

not

o minister but

he wos very

much interested

in

preoching

the

Gospel. In 1896 o loy

white work wos s to r ted in Johonnes

burg

olso.

Between 1896

1903

this

work

d is bonded bec ou se of the

wor. On

July 19 1903

o meeting

wos held to orgonise o church in

Jo -

honnesburg ogoin. Bro. Sherriff

hod

moved to Bulowoyo before the Boer

Wor

there

he helped Stort o thi rd con

gregotion. These first three

were oil

efforts with

Europeans. Then

one

evening he sow

o

group of Bontu

looking

ot

o

book

one of them hod

found ond

h e o ffered to

t eoch ihese

men to reod. He used

the New

Testo-

ment os

his

textbook ond wos reolly

teoching them obout Jesus Christ.

This

resulted

in

whot

is

todoy

one

of the lorgest of the

Sundoy

Schools

of

the Church

of

Christ onywhere in

the world.

This wos

obout 1901 or

2. In the eorliest doys

the

white

ond

block

work met

together but

it wos

soon found thot culturolly they were

too d if fe rent to be one congrogotion

ond o resul t seporote

congrego-

t ions we re formed .

Just offer

the Boer Wor o white

congregotion wos storted in Johonnes-

burg ond the leoders were instru-

mentol in

reoching

the

Bontu with

whom

they

worked in

the

mines

ond

elsewhere. Soon there wos a group

of believers omong the

Bontu but

with no reol

leodership.

The

Control

Church

of

Christ

os

it wos known

wrote to B ulo wo yo ond osked for help.

This come in

the

person of Bro.

George Khozo. He come to South

Africo ond worked in the Roodepoort

Areo till the t ime of his deoth

in

1961

This

is the

f ir st i dent if iobl e

Bontu

Church

of

Christ in South Africa. This

work spreod

moinly eostword to-

words Swozilond ond the Portugese

territory.

When

Bros.

Rees

ond

Rondoll

orrived

in South Africo they

found

Bro. Khozo Supt. of

the Church

of Christ but unwilling to

work with Europeons

unless

he

wos

th e Supt.

This

resulted in

his

seporoting himself

from

the moin

streom of the

church .

A

second e ffo rt c om e in

the

oreo

oround Cebe School Kentoni where o

group of denominotionol

leoders

de

cided to put owoy denominotionol

ties ond

simply follow

the New

Testament .

The

records

of

this

group dote bock to 1917. Very little

is known of th e gro