nicholson alvin vernita 1987 safrica
TRANSCRIPT
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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
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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
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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
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^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 .
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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 .
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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
ciation, 7525 Hodges
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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
ciation, 7525 Hodges
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