Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1975 SAfrica

8/10/2019 Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1975 SAfrica

1/25

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f r i

NEWS

WITH

TH E NICHOLSONS

Vol. 16 No. 1

January,

1975

Dear

hr is t i an

Fr iends

Greetings in this New

Year

o f

1975.

e

do hope that you

ha d

a

very

happy

Christmas

se son

Never

before

have

we

seen crowds

like

came

to

this

area

this

year.

They had to

put

police

on th e comers

of some streets

where

there

were no

lights

to keep t raffi c moving.

e would park at th e

furtherest

free parking lot and walk fo r i t was quicker than looking

for

parking

closer

in. While

we

had much

rain,

from 6

to

8 inches

along

the coast on

Christmas afternoon, a ll

indications

ar e

that

th e

visitors

had a good

time.

Christmas

Eve

a ll th e

missionaries gathered a t

the

Bible

Ins t i tu te

where Michael

and Caryl

Stanley

were our hosts. At

this

time we had

ou r g if t

exchange. This

year we

s e t an approximate amount and

th en w ro te in

a book th e th in gs we could use t h a t cost about

that

much

so we received things that we could really use.

To make i t

different, they

took the presents-

on Sunday

b ^ o r e

C hr is tm as e ve . When

we

arrived,

we found a

Christmas

t ree

drawn

on

th e b l a c k b o a rd

w i t h

names a t t a c he d.

Each

one

found

the i r name w i t h a

clue on

the

back as to

where

the gi f t was

hidden.

Christmas

Day

the

two

Stnaley

families

were here with us. Brian and Deanne

Guy

had

his

mother and

her

friend

at th eir place.

Brian s mother had planned to have Christmas

Dinner

but

spent a few days in th e hospital

just

before

Christmas.

Sunday

th e

28th,

a l l

t h e m i ss io na ri es came here for a carry-in-dinner and then on

th e

2nd of January

th e

Floyd

Stamm

family

came

down from

Durban

and

t he ot he rs came

again

so we had good fellowship.

The

Sandy Sinclairs were

away bu t will

perhaps be down to vi s

us next week

th a t is th e

2nd f u l l week o f January).

Our Christmas

parcels

arrived

right at

Christmas so

we

had a good Christmas. Our

children

all

met with Steven and his family at Clear Lake on

th e

14th. While they were

a ll

together,

they made a cassett

tape

fo r us . What a wonderful

b le ss in g t he cassette

recorder is. Even th e noises a

l i t t le

one makes are a blessing to the grand parents.

What

happens

in

a day

for

a

missionary

is

th e

question

that

one

is

sometimes asked?

The

29th of

December

brought a

letter

from one of the churches

that is erecting

a

new

building. e

had shipped

the

lumber

fo r

the

roof

of

their building from

here

in

Natal

because

we

could buy

i t

so much cheaper at the mill and even railage

was

not so high.

After i t was shipped, 1 wrote them a letter saying we would have to come and cut some

o f

the timbers for we could save on both costs by taking

x6

and then cutting them to Ih

X 3. Also there were others to be cut. ow they sent word

they

had r ec ei ve d t he timber

but the long pieces were not

enough

so they had

gone

and bought

them

and would we please

send th e money. The few pieces

they

had bought cost 3/ 4 as much as the total of a ll

we

had

bought.

1

sent

a

telegram

telling

them

to take t h e i r timber back.

But

th e

end

o f

th e

m ont h

wi l l tell w h at w e n t o n .

The

same

day

we

went to

Invutshini

fo r Anna Songo

th e

wife of the

minister, to

take her to

Greenville

Mission

hospital

about 50 miles from

here.

She

is

going to

do

a

crash course to

see

i f sh e ca n get her cer t if icate as a Nurses Assistant. She ha d

been

working fo r

this

when she go t married bu t has not been able to get back fo r i t until now

She

has also just completed her Red Cross

certificate.

e also

wanted

to visit the hospital

to meet a

doctor

who came out from

Arlington,

Washington to

help

out there

for

8 months.

Before we

left

the

States, my sister

had sent us the clipping from the paper telling of

his coming. At th e book store, we found his daughter, who took us to talk with her father.

He was working in

o u t-p a tie n ts

so

la ter

we

went to

talk

with his

wife.

When

we l e f t a

man

came and asked for a

ride

to th e main

road. When

he l e ft , another

one

asked

for a ride

to Port

Shepstone.

I t t urn ed o ut

that he had a

wife

and child as

well. Even though

we

had

th e l i t t le car, we

could

take all

very

well.


2/25

The

f i r s t

weekend

in

this month

we

were at

Escourt.

On

Saturday

they

had a wedding

The

couple

had been married at th e m agistrates

court and

now had a service at the church.

What a time they had

bringing

th e couple to the church

singing

and dancing a ll th e way.

The

bride

was

very pretty in her white

outfi t .

After the

ceremony they

each

had a

cake

t o

cut though

it

w a s n t e a t e n

u n t i l

we went

t o

h e r

home f o r

a meal

had

services at

th e church on

Saturday

evening and then again on Sunday. 1 would

like to ask

you

to pray for

Brother

Sithebe

and his

wife.

This man has a great zeal

for

the

work

of the Lord.

do

want

him

to

come

back to school

for more

training.

He

i s

a

driver

and

says

that

companies

have

sent

men

out to

try

and

get

him

to

come and

drive

as

he is so dependable. But he has been giving

himself full time

to

the

work. To help suppo

himself he

has been raising

potatoes

which

grow

well in that area

when the rain s come. Th

price

is good as well. He said also that his garden was doing better because he had done

what I had

told

him

to

do. They

cut

a

lot

of grass and

put i t

in

the cattle

pen:

then

before

planting the potatoes they

put i t

on the land.

have every Sunday

in this

month

scheduled

which

will mean quite

a

lo t

of

driving.

The 17th - 19th we

are

to

be at

Dimbaza near

Kingwilliamstown.

are to take the tent

and

set i t

up on our church si te . hope

in this

way

to

encourage them to

raise money

fo

their building. Pray for this congregation please.

Our c ra te s a rr iv ed

and

have been cleared through

customs

did

not

take

us long to

get

i t unpacked.

As we

finish writing th is l e t t e r

we

have just taken

on

another job

for

awhile.

Brian and Deanne

Guy have fr iends

coming to

v i s i t them

from the s t a t e s . R at he r t ha n

changing

teachers

several times during the f i r s t

quarter

he

has

asked that I teach his

classes

for

the

f i r s t

six

weeks of that quarter.

This

means we

will be teaching a l l

week

an d away from hone most weekends.

Hqw thankful

we are for prayer. There have been some problems that

have

r isen in

different

areas.

have

prayed

for these and

have

asked some

of

the

brethren to

pray

^r tjiem and most

of

them

have been

worked out. thank you for your prayers as

well.

A f t e r we go t

it home it

May

God r ichly bless an d keep you.

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.

Rosemoutn Minn. 55068

NEWS

WITH THE

NICHOLSONS

P r i n t e d

and mailed

b y . . .

M a d i s o n P a r k C h r i s t i a n C h u r c h

215 N o r t h 2 5 t h

tr t

Quincy

I l l i n o i s

62301

RESS CORRECTION

REQUESTE

^

Yours i n C h r i s t

A l v i n

V e r n i t a

N i c h o l s o n

N o n P ro f it O r g a ni z at io n

U.

S . POSTAGE

1.8.^

PAID

Quincy

I l l i n o i s

62301

P e r m i t

5 7

m i s s i o n

S e r v i c e s

B o x

1 7 7

h i d . v c O M


3/25

NEWS WITH THE NICHOLSONS

\

-1

^ Volr 16 No, 2 February, 1975

Dear hr is t i an Fr iends

The month of January was interesting in

that

I visited four different

places

each Sunday. Beside

this

I also had

four different traveling

companions-

y

Vernita

went

with

me

to

Tabamhlope White Mountain

near

Escourt

the

f i r s t

Sunday. Lynn Stanley went with me to Ntabangadlinkomo (The Mountain that did

not

eat the catt le

near

Bizana on the

second

Sunday. The

third

week end Nic

Qwemesha

accompanied me to

Dimbaza near

Kingwilliamstown. The last weekend I was

helped

by

Brian Guy as we visited Graaff Reinet and Cradock and brought students

back to

school.

Freddie

Sithebe

is the

minister at

Escourt. He is a very energetic young

man

and

one who

loves

the work

of

the Lord.

would

greatly

love to have Freddie in

school

again, but

he drives a

delivery truck

to help support

his

family. Saturday, they

had a church ceremony for a couple

that

had been

married

at the

Magistrates

court.

Their coming to and leaving

the

church is the

colorful

part

of

their ceremony. Sat

urday

night

and Sunday

morning, we

had

a

fu l l

house for

both

services.

The

people

in

Pondoland were not expec ting to

see us when we

arrived

a t the

meeting

place

because

of the

rain,

did

a

l i t t le

sliding

about

but nothing

to

worry

about. On th i s occas ion , fo r the f i r s t t ime we

used

the

s l ides

o f the Old Testament

given us by

Central

Christian Church of Wichita Falls, Texas. 1 preached for the

Saturday evening service and Brother Lynn Stanley fo r Sunday morning.

Nic and 1

took the mission

tent when

we

went

to

Dimbaza, have a

church s i te

bu t i t has been slow work for the people

to

raise money for their church building.

fel t that

services

on their own property might encourage them and then

i t

would give

us greater freedom. When

w

arrived

w

found the brethren had already put up the

posts

and they erected a very

strong

fence around

their property

on Saturday,

Shortly, we

are going

to lay

the foundation

fo r the bui ld ing

and go as

far

as

the money

on hand

will take use.

They only had 300

in the

bank,

but

hope

to increase that

amount

in

the next couple

of

months. 1 know though that i f any one would like to help them they

would

great ly

appreciate,

Dimbaza is a town created to move people from

the western

Cape,

have many

people

there from Middelburg and Cradock. The problem has

been

that i t is about 12

miles from Kingwilliamstown and most of the work in

the

town is done by the people from

the location there. So many of the

men

from Dimbaza have

to

go

to

further ci t ies

to

work and thus are not

always

a t home with the i r families. Four new factoxies

have

recently

been

bui l t there and

others

are being planned.

Since we

buy no

gasoline

on

Saturday

and Sunday, Brian

Guy

and 1

know we

must be

at

Cradock by Friday night

at

6 to f i l l up.

made

i t by 5:30 p.m. After visiting with

Brother and Sister Geldenhuys for a short time, we went to ge t a place at Sulphar

Springs

just outside

of town. Here we can

get nice

rondovels with bed and bedding for

1.88 each

and

the

right

to use the big

swimming

pool

which

is

filled

by

springs.There is no odor to

this

water and after a hot day i t was a wonderful treat

before

go

ing to bed. even took another

dip the

next, morning

before starting

our day.

After

breakfast

and seeing Brother Geldenhuys again, we drove to Graaff

Reinet,

85

miles further

west-.

Brother

Labatala,

the minister ,

was

not at

home so we

went

to

the

Colored

area.

They

took

us

to see

the church

building

where they were

putting

on the purlins

that

will

receive the roof.

The man doing

the

roof for them is doing

an

excel lent

job. The wall plate

i s

well

w ired to

the wall .

The t rus ts

are not

only nailed to the wall

plate;

they

are

also wired. The bottom purlin is then wired

to

th e

trust, so that i t will take a real wind to take off

the

roof-

This is a good

size building and th is man is doing

the

work

for

them

for

50 a ptized.~

5 a t

Amabele

wh i ch

is

near by.

The f i r s t

Sunday

in

May, we

went to

Bizana

district in Pondoland

t o mee t wi th t h e

b r e t h r en

concerning a

problem.

We

had an excel len t

meeti

with

a church so packed t

I do

not see

how

so

many

people

go ins ide After

the

meeting,

we l i s tened

to

the i r

complaints, but

by

tha t

t ime

they had

mostly disappeared.

This

Pentecost

Saturday and Sunday, we met

with

the congregations led by Qwemesha

and Songo, having helped

them

with

the

tent and except for having

difficulty

in

finding

the place

of

the

meeting

when we

took

th e tent out

on Saturday morning, had a wonder

ful time of service. Brother Brian

Guy

spoke on Saturday night and I showed the

picture

Fire

on

the

Mountain . Sunday morning, I

was

the speaker

after

they had

'baptized_^l. people.

This

week, we have the

Natal Missionary Conference in

Durban,

fellow missionaries

will be coming

for

a meeting together.

Next

week,

our

Through

th e

help

of

friends,

we

a re getti ng

some

rewiring

done

in the

kitchen

and base cupboards

buil t . Before long,

we

shall not

even know

our own

kitchen.

The foundations have been dug

for

the

new home

that Zobolo s

are bui lding

and as

soon as I can

find

time

we shall

run

the foundation.

They

will

then star t to buy

the

b locks fo r

th e

wa l l s

Milk

is

to go up about

four cents

a

l i t re.

However,

we shall now

be

able

to

buy

gasoline on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. They have

taken

on

hour

off

the

week days

in that stations

will

be open

at

7 a.m. and

not

6. Also on the freeways and open

roads, we

shall

be able to travel

at

90

kilometers

and hour,

or

from

we go up to

about^S6 mil^es an hour The greatest help to us is the fact

that

we can buy gasoline

on Saturday

mowings'.

~ -


15/25

p prayers

Without you we

could o

^

othing

pray the Lord s blessing

and guidance for all of

you

forward AGENT:

Mrs.

Richard Hanson

16642 Gannon Ave.

W

Rosemount

Minn.

55068

NEWS

WITH THE

NICHOLSONS

Printed and mailed by..

Madison

Park

Christ ian

Church

215 North 2Sth St ree t

Quincy l l i no i s 62301

Yours

i n Chri st ian

Love

Alvin

Verni ta

jUM 7 1975

Non-Profit Organization

r

U.S.

POSTAGE

1

l .Sif PAID

1

Quincy l l inoi s 62301

iJ

e rm i t 57

rM

r

177

y

A

.


16/25

r

NEWS

WITH

THE

NICHOLSONS

Vol. 16 No. 5 July, 1975

Dear Chris t ian Friends,

We a re rejoicing

and

thanking

God that

we

are able to report

that

in

four churches

there was

75 who

accepted Christ and

were

baptized during the mon^l^ of May.

We

witnessed the baptism of

eleven of

these in the

Stutterheim

churcn

wnen w e ^ r e

there.

Another five from Amabele were baptized the week before. There were thirty-one who were

baptized on Pentecost

Sunday

at the meeting near Port Shepstone.

We are having beaut i ful

weather

here now but there has

been

no r a i n for some t ime

so

the

grass i s beginning to turn bi

At the end of June, many of th^sgyTssionaries gathered^

af -

Skoegheim , a conference

center

near Port

Shepstone

for three

days^^i

iellowslrJCp ^ planning.

Present

were

Stuart Cook of

Johannesburg, Sandy

Sinclair of

Eshowe, Floyd

Stamm

of Durban, John

Kernan

of

East London,

Gordon

and

Estelle

Nelson and

their

two daughters, Marcia and

Lisa of Kimberley and the four

families from

Port Shepstone.

One of the

great

problems that

faces

us

today

is the shortage of ministers and othe

teachers

in the church.

Teaching

by extension was talked about. Some c la sse s a re

al

ready

held but the distance between

churches and the

fa c t th a t

one cannot

l i v e i n African

areas

means

a

l o t

o f

t r a v e l i n g

to

hold

such

c l a s s e s Ten weeks o f

classes

have

been

held

in Pondoland

and

a second

s e r i e s s t a r t e d These have

been

well r ec ei ved.

June 11th

through the

15^t7 Minister s Wefik was

held

at Graaff Reinet when twenty-

two of the African ministers were present. The f i rst hour each morning was given to them

to discuss their work on their

own.

They were so happy

with

this

that they

have asked

to

have time at

their

annual meeting in September to meet again. How happy we are that ther

i s a feel ing o f t r u s t between

th e A fric an

ministers and the

missionaries

so t h a t we can

work

t o g e t h e r without

f e a r

Missionaries present for the meeting and discussions were

Zimmerman

Nelson, Sincla

Stamm

Guy L.

Stanley,

M

Stanley and Nicholson. Saturday evening and Sunday they had

special dedication

services for the minister's home which was

built

by the minister, John

Labatala and

hi s

congregation. The house

is

nearly

4 times

the

size

of the original

house, thus so much more l i v e a b l e

Saturday afternoon, all the ministers went to visi t the new church building in the

Coloured area.

They

were busy

plastering when we

arrived. They are hoping before the en

of June to

have

the floor in, but i t will be

two

or three months yet before

i t

is ready f

u

The annual meeting of th e churches will be held at Klerksdorp from the 10th until- th

14th

of

September. Messages

will

be upon

the I Ams

of

Christ .

Camp time is upon us

and

we

are

looking forward to i t For the

f i r s t

time in severa

years we shall participate in the camp with the bre thren

here

at Port Shepstone. This

year we are going to make use of a camp ground on a farm about 15 miles west

of

Port Shep

stone.

The young

man who

prepared

the camp

grounds,

works

with

the

Indians and prepared

for their use, but rents i t out to others at 30 cents per person a night.

There

are

cabins for

boys and g i r l s and even

hot

water in the wash rooms. There i s

large building which houses kitchen, storeroom, and

main

hall with a large fireplace whic

is used

for ea ting ,

classroom and

services.

There is also a swimming pool fed from a nea

by stream and a good playing

f ield .

The cost for each c hild for the week will be about

3.00.


17/25

The second week in

Ju ly

we are to go to Pondoland. We w ill l ive in the t r a i l e r hou

parking

i t

a t the near

by

store- Ve wil l

be

taking the tent with

us

for

services

as our

church

building

vvill be t oo small.

shall

slso carry

some

of the

food

for the camp

as

we

can

buy i t I luch

cheaper

here than there.

The foundations

are being

poured

for the

new

home that the

Zobolos

will be building.

The

church at

Dimbaza was helped with some money from

the

Building and Evangelisitic Fund

of the

churches and

they expec t

by

the

f i rs t

of July to begin

work on

their

church

build

ing .

ask

that

you keep these new converts in your prayers and th e need f or m in is te rs .

We

rejoice to

read

of

some

of

your

victor ies in Christ and

new ones

born

into His

kingdom.

Yours

in C h r i s t

Alvin

V er n i t a Nichol son

FORWARD AGENT:

Mrs.

R i c ha r d

Hanson

16642

Gannon

Ave.

W.

Rosemount

Minn.

55068

N WS WITH THE NI CHO LSO NS

Printed

and

mailed by..

Madison

Park C h r i s t i a n Church

215 N orth 2S th

S t r e e t

Quincy

I l l ino i s

62301

Non-Profit

Organization

U.

S POSTAGE

1 8^ PAID

Quincy

I l l i n o i s

62301

mit 57

4t75

H i s s i o n

S e r v i c e s

B o x

1 7 7

KEMPTON, IND.

46049


18/25

NEWS

WITH

THE

NICHOLSONS

16

No. 6 August 1975

Chris t ian Friends

You are

perhaps

wondering what

has hannened to

us

for i t has been

some

time since

have

sent any news your way.

the caiiip^ h^ld the early

part

of .

Excellent. There were 103

oung people

present

at the camp at

Gorge. When the young people

and saw how n ice it

was

they

if

they could s tay un t i l

Sun

y

rather than

going

home on Fri

ay af te rnoon.

The grea tes t

t h r i l l

o f

th i s

amp was tha t there were 31

people

were bapt ized .

- -The second-week

o f

Ju ly frrian-

and

I

along with Philemon

Waka,

to Ntabangadlinkomo in the

o f

Bizana.

We

had

th e

p ickup loaded down with the

nt a n d f ood

and w i t h

t h e c a r a v a n

CAMP

Brian

and I

parked the

caravan at

the

local store which was nearby. The f i r s t

days we had very strong winds and I wondered i f the tent was going

to

remain

or

be

torn

down. But

except for

the

t ies at

the

top

of th e

side

curtains,

had

no problems. ..

_Here we

had only

80

campers, . Par t of this

came

because

they had been planning

a

camp at Lusikisiki

and

this fell

through

at the

last minute.

Some did not

have

time to make other plans. Each day, we also had a class for th e adu lts who were pre

ent

with

th e young people, and those who were able to

attend

from the area. After

the

f i rs t

night

the

evening

services

had

to

be

held in the tent

as

the

church

building

not

hold the

people who came.

Because of buying gasoline, we came home on Friday afternoon though the camp

roke up on Saturday morning. When we

came

to Bizana which was about 25

miles

from

they

told us

at the station that

they had no

gasoline.

That

did

not worry us

to

much,

for

I was

sure

I had enough to

ei ther

get me home or close

enough that

Vemita could come with

the

l i t t l e car and

give

us some. However, a few miles out

of

Bizana I could te l l that something was wrong with

the

caravan. When

we

stopped I found

t ha t

we

had h i t

a s tone

t ha t

had ,.f:laite,ned oiir . t i r e .

We were

sure

there

was

no

use

oing

back

to

Bizana,

so we quickly

took

off th e wheel and I lef t for Port Shepstone.

I

fi l led

iqj with gasoline at Ezingolweni

because

I was not sure now i f I could be in

ort Shepstone before 6 P ^ , yneighbor works fox.the retreaders and sells tires, so

e

went back

to

the

shop

with

me

and

fitted

a

new

t ire

and tube so

that

I could go back

for

the caravan

and Brian

and

Philemon. I t was 11 P.M. before we got to Guys

fo r

some-

thing

to eat. ^ ,

hqs

stayed

with Deanna uy and their two l i t t le children when Brian was

gone

with

me. ~ -

In almost every African church service that

we

have been

p resen t fo r

in the last

couple

of

months, there has either been someone baptized

or

someone has

made

the good

c on f e s s i o n .

Since a number of publications have

carried some

articles on

the

need of many parts

of the world for food, I

have

been thinking of

that which

we see

here.

In A frican areas,

people have not been

getting

the

amount

of food from their land that i t

is

capable of


19/25

producing. The government has beenworking to help

in

providing agricultural

officers

and others

to teach

them how

to

grow more.

Custom

s t i l l plays

a large part in that the f ield work

is le f t to the

women. How

ever, they

are

doing

much

bet ter . Several of our ministers are good farmers

and get

good

crops

when

they get

the

rain.

These are

men who work

hard, use fer t i l izers

and

good seed^as well as preparing

the

soil and keeping the weeds down

Many

allow

the

corn

and grass to get three

or

four inches high before tney hoe

or

cultivate i t and by that

t ime

the

corn has

suffered. Jus t

th i s

week, I hauled out 4 sacks o f

f e r t i l i z e r

fo r

Enoch

Zobolo (this cost about 30.00). We are to go to Pondoland again in a couple of weeks

and at

camp

the minister asked me to bring ferti l izer for him as

i t

is d if ficul t to get

there .

He

wants

6

sacks

but

was

not sure

then

of

which

mixture

h e wan ted .

--.1

Enock Zobolo son, Jethro mixing cement for their

new

home.

ing

i s th e I

ams

o f C h ris t.

Ashwell

Bulula does very well

but

he

also had an adventage.

There is a spring some

dis tance

above his home. He

has

bought

pipes and has i t

piped

so that

he can

raise

cabbages and

potato

a t h is home and wate r them. J u s

now we

are

in a very

bad dry

spell ,

so he

is

set

to do

very

weil from his cabbages.

Ashwell

also

has h is own t rac tor^ He

asked

me

to

look

fo r

a

smal l

tw o

bottom plow. Several of the

other men

have

said

they

would

l

to have tractors

to plow

the i r

own fields with and also to plow

those of the

neighbors

(for a

fe

of course) .

5 our work now

is

beginnin

t u r n t owa rd

''^-Sf.J.lieXhurches which

will

be

hel

_from

the 10th to the 14th of

September.

The

theme

of

the

mee

Sandra, our daughter, says that she is feeling

better

all the time and can now work a

full

day

with

no problems ow

we thank od for the operation that helper her so much

-FOftWARB-AGENT;

- -

Mrs. Richa rd Hanson

16642

Gan no n A ve . W.

Rosemount, Minn. S5068

NEWS WITH THE

NICHOLSONS


Madison

Park

Chr i s t i an

Church

215 North 25th S t r e e t

Quincy,

I l l i no i s

62301

St?

Jrhankfully_

prayerfully,

yours,

Alvin Vemi ta Nicholson

a l t

Non-Profi t

Organizat ion

U.S .

POSTAGE

1.8(f

PAID

Quincy,

I l l i no i s

62301

Pe rm i t

57

I f i s s ion

Se rv ice s

Box 177

KEMPTON, IND,

46049


20/25

NEWS WITH

THE

NI HOLSONS ^1

0 igTj

Vol, 16

No

7

September,

1975

Dea r

Ch r i s t i a n

F r i e nd s :

Greetings in^.C];tjy^4: .^l Saviour.

Once ConferenJ:iih e has

come

and gone. The

f irs t week of this

month

was

a

very busy

on^ jciiIjwe

tfXod-to get all things in order for going. To make things as easy

as I could after I

got

there, I

counted

out many of the

cards that

we

used

and

put

them

in groups of 10, SO, or ICQ so

tha t

we would

not

have

to

count them out

when

the men wan

ed them and many

would

be standing

by.

I made several communion t rays, but these did not las t any time a t al l . I have take

o r d e r s

fo r h a l f

a

dozen to be made as soon as

I

can .

Along

with

th ese th ings

the

tent had to be

loaded

and the

pickup

prepared

for

the

journey-

Vernita rode

with

th e S ta nl ey s as well as one of the minis te r s wives. But

s t i l l had

to

take

four

grown

ups and

two children

with

me. I was

very

glad that I did

not have to bring the tent back with me. Derry Smaage and Roland Joseph have taken it

to-ETde^rado-Farrknear

Johannesburg

to~hT7ld a

meeting

for the~Xbloured

congregation where

Ro l a nd is t he m i n is te r-

Klerksdorp i s about

160

miles s ou th

and

a l i t t l e west of Johannesburg in

th e Provinc

of

the

Free State- I t

is both

in the Gold Field area

and

also

where

the farming

is

very

good.

This

i s

out

o f

th e

area where most o f our churches are so o ur a tte nd an ce was down

from l a s t

year.

However, the s p i i ^ o f the conference.was the

b es t IJ ia ve known. I

think that

our biggest

problem was

the

wind and the dust as the wind blew strongly

almost

every

day

and

with many

people walki ng about

even

a t times it was

very

dusty in th e ten t .

But th is did not

dampen

the spi r i t s o f the African brethren.

Most

o f

th e m is sio na rie s s ta ye d away north of town beside a small l ake .

At

the mos

it was a b i t

under developed but

we had

great fel lowship and our meeting place

was

genera

at

the Stanleys

t r a i l e r house be caus e t he y had the bes t

means

of cooking. But

the two

nights when we a l l ate together , we cooked our meat over an open

f i re .

Present

for

the

meeting was

John Kernan, East

London,

A1

Zimmerman,

Capetown,

Mr.

an

Mrs. Gordon

Nelson

and

Lisa

of

Barkley

West,

Mr. and Mrs. Sandy

Sinclair

and

Johnny

from

Eshowe, Mr- and Mrs.

Robert Mills

o f Alberton, Mr. and Mrs, Lynn Stanley, Mr.

and Mrs.

Michael Stanley and g i r l s Mr. and Mrs. Brian Guy wit h d augh te r

and

son, and Mr. and Mrs.

Alvin

Nicholson a l l of Port Shepstone^

We were

chosen

to

help

with the leadership

of

the

work fo r another year .

P le as e p ra

that

God

wil l

give us guidance and

wisdom.

A growing

change

over the years has been the

increase

o f

ministers

wives who go to

th e

meetings.. From th i s area 9 ministers went

and

only

two

went

without t he i r wives. Th

day f ol low ing our return, I had to

take

two minister and wives with one single g i r l back

Pdndoland.

For

them, I

took seven bags of f e r t i l i ze r -

Was

also

to

have taken 10 bags of

cement,

but

there was none

to

be bought in town.

For

some

time

when I

could

f ind

time

I

have been working

on a

69

Dodge

pickup

for t

Gci lima church. Finally

I

got

i t

going

and

passed the

t e s t to show

that

i t

was

road

worthy and

could

be l i censed. How

happy

they were

when

we came with

it

I t

wil l

have

to

come

back

f or p ai nt in g and

fo r

some other things which showed up when we began to drive i

on the road- But we know

it

wil l be a

great help

to

the work.

Word came

today t ha t

vanda l s had broken th e

windsh i e l d .

Whenever

one

travels on the road with a pickup there are always

people

trying to fla

one down

to get

a r ide many

o f them

even

w illing to

pay

for

i t . As I was coming home

from Pondoland, I

passed

a country store and

severa l

women waved to f lag me down- I was

not going to stop

unt i l it

seemed

to

me

tha t

I

could see from the l ips o f one

woman

t ha t

she used the African

name

they use fo r us, Mongameli-

When I

stopped i t

was women

from t

Xopozo church They ha d been wai t ing here s ince morning fo r a bus . t

was

now wel l i n to


21/25

afternoon. They wanted to go to

Bizana

to see the Doctor

T he re w er e

5 women

and

2

children. When

we

stopped in Bizana they said the office

was

closed and could

I

take

them a l i t t le further

to friends.

This I

could since

I was going

that

way- Then they

asked for time

to

go to the cafe

to

buy something

to eat=

This consisted of bread

tea

and sugar. They would have 5

miles

to

walk to see the Doctor the

next

morning tha t th is

they

did not

worry about. How very close I came to passing them by because I

did

not

recognize

them

Work was begun on the church building in Dimbaza in August. Shortly af ter we had

s tar ted

from another o ff ic e th at has oversight over that area we were a sk ed to return ou

permission

to

occupy because

we

had had i t

for

six years and had no t

buil t in the

one

yea

as the

permission ha d s ta ted.

When the

loca l authori t ies

saw

that

we

had s ta r ted

there

was no problem but almost we

lost

this place which

the

church needs so badly. They

said

they had one row of

blocks

to go before they would put

in

the windows and

these

are on

hand .

^P1

s i th

us for

Percy

Marongo, Moses Tyatyaza Abraham

Louw

and James Ntoni and

for the congregations which they serve

that

they may labor together in peace so the Lord

work might grow- They have

said

they

will

bu t we know i t is not always that

easy.

So

we would l ike you to help us in

strengthening

their hands by

prayer.

God

bless

you a l l dear

bre thren.

FORWARD AGENT:

Mrs. Ri cha r d Hanson

16642 Gannon Ave. W.

Rosemount Minn. 55068



Madison

Park Chr i s t i an

Church

215

N orth 25 th

S t r e e t

Quincy

I l l ino i s 62301

ADDRESS H NGE REQUESTED

y

e

Yours for Christ

in A frica

Alvin Vern i t a Nicho lson

Non Profit

Organization

U . S .

POSTAGE

1.8


22/25

WS

W T THf^ HOLSONlr

^

/\-\ \ |

n

Vol. 16 No.

8 October,

1975

Dear C hri st i an Fr ie nds ,

It

seems like

this

year

is

anxious to get to Christmas, the way time has been

flying by. But

we

thank God for his manifold blessings and for the opportunities

we

h a v e to

se rve Him,

The mystery of th e broken windshield has been solved.

t

was one of

the minister s

own

children.

One

of the smaller boys had gotten the door

open

and

inside,

but once

inside he could not get the door open and so

made an opening

for himself.

They

never

did get much information from him, but one of his siste r s said he had done i t She

told

this after

he

and all

the

boys

of the area had

been

called together

and

questioned.

A car

is

no mystery to our children who

grow

up with one but something else

fo r

those

who

only see them. This last week end a group of children rode a mile on the

back

of the pickup

and

then had to walk

home.

But

to

them

i t

was

something wonderful.

Qn -

th c 5th of-OeteberT-we-vi-sl-t^d-^heInvutsMn-ir-chureh-;Before we leftthat-

aftemoon, Mrs Songo asked

if

Mrs. Nicholson could bake a birthday cake or cakes

for

he r

because she had not had a

birthday

party f or

he r

children and would

like

to

have

one for

all

of

them.

Vemita

made

two

cakes and

Mrs.

Stanley decorated

them

and

pu t a ll

seven

children s

names on

the

two

cakes.

I wish you

could

have

seen

Anna s

joy

when we

took the

cakes

out. Brother

Barnabas

said the children could hardly sleep

on Saturday night, they were so excited fo r

Sunday

to come. No wonder l i t t le

blessings

l ik e

t h i s

r e a l l y

bring

us

joy.

Ou r area of South A fri ca has few song b i r d s l i ke thos e we t hi nk

o f in

th e middle

west. However, does

have

some very p r e t t y b i r d s , some t h a t

have br i l l i an t

colors

and several

that

have very long tails. Most are rather shy so we have

to

watch and

wait

fo r them.

There have been a

number

about our place

this

past

month.

Perhaps the

mulberries

have

also helped because a litraiber

have been

seen

feeding

in that tree.

In

the

building o f ciq boards fo r our k i t c h e n , we have

collected

a number o f

o f f

cuts

o f

formica and

made some

of

these

into

Commianion

trays.

They

will

be

easier to

keep clean than

th e wooden

ones and I

think easier

fo make because once I

ge t

the

f or ai ic a o n,

I do n ot have to va r nis h or

s ta in them s e v e r a l t imes.

We have helped ^riaa Guv family to ge t their

crates to

Durban fo r shipping and

with a

ca r

while he was getting his roadworthy

for

selling. We plan to take him mother

-t o Durban next month

to

see them o f f .

W e^a ll

miss them very much. t was

Brian

who built part

of the

cupboards

for ou r

kitclienT~ TTTeir T i tt le ~ s ^ was bom on th e

same day

as our youngest son.

He

has such a big smile and has always

been happy

to

have us

hold

him. So he has filled a big place in ou r

lives.

The children

of

two storekeepers got married last weekend. The wedding was here

because this i s her

home.

On

Sunday, they were to

take her to her

new

home

which

i s

about 160 miles from

here.

A bus

hired

to take the

young people

of

this area

to

th e

hdtae

has an

interesting

story.

The

thing

that is interesting

was

that

they

came

and

asi ked one of th e elders

of

the Church

of Christ

to

drive

th e bus.

The

regular bus

drTver

would go

along but they did not trUst

him

not to get drunk.

Even

here, they

often

think Christians

ar e

foolish when they do

no t

follow th e

ways of

th e world. In

t hi s

case, howeveri thei r c h i l d r e n s liVes were s a f e r in

a C h r i s t i a n s

hands.

Please pray that Freddie Sithebe and William Beme who a re t hi nk ing

of

coming back

to

school, may find

some way

to

make

this possible. Their

families need

caring fo r

while they are

in

school. Both men really need th e f u rth er tra in ing .


23/25

Roland

Joseph

who

ministers

at El Dorado

Park near Johannesburg brought the ten

back af t e r a two week meeting. He r epo rt ed a ddi ti ons

in

a two week meeting to t o t a l 50

Sincerely

in Chr i s t

Alvin

V e m i t a

FORW RDING AGENT:

Mrs. Richard Hanson

16642

Gannon

Ave.

W

Rosemount

Minn.

S5068

NEWS

WITH

THE

NICHOLSONS

Printed

and mailed by. .

Madison Pa rk Chr i s t i an Church

215

Nor t h

25 th

tr t

Quincy

I l l ino i s 62301

DDRESS

ORRE TION REQUESTED

Non Profit

Organization

U . S .

POSTAGE

1 . 8 i

PAID

Quincy I l l ino is 62301

P e i m i t 57

Mis s i on S e r v i c e s

B o x

1 7 7

KEMPTON END. 46049


24/25

Nfuia

iiittj Ija

JJirliolanna

V o l 1 6 No.

9

December 19

Dear C hri st i an F r i e n d s

As

t h e

b l e s s e d

t i m e

o f C h r i s t s

b i r t h

draws near we want to wish you a ll a very

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

May

God

richly b l e s s an d use

yo u

fo r

th e sake

of

h is

Kingdom.

We are on a trip into the Cradock, Cape area. We shall be away from

home

for ten days.

They have

fully

furnished rondovels cabins at one place called Sulpher Springs which has

been a

help

to us as

we

have one

reasonable priced.

They have others

that are much

newer

but also cost more

So

we

have not had to carry so many things with us on this trip.

Philemon Waka who has been present at school

for

three years came-wifJi-us-as -far ^s- -

Umtata, where he will

visit

the church for

this

period that

we

are away Then next year

w i l l

go

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

We

visited

friends on the

way down

taking

them

some

bananas for the

many

kindnesses the

have done fo r us. On

last

Saturday and Sunday, the 15th and 16th we were with th e church

at Cradock.

We

had three services with them on Sunday. They had a lo t

of

children for

Sunday School and a

teacher

for them. The la st service

at night

we showed slides

a ft e r

they borrowed the right connection

fo r

the lights and

projector.

We would have

to

just

preach

we thought

but they came

for slides so

th e African men made

a great

effort

to

f i n d w ha t was n e e d e d .

On

the 18th, today, we

made

a trip to Middelburg to see

t he l oca ti on superintendent

but

were unable to see

him as he was away. A

ra in in

th e

night

made

i t

much cooler so we

were

not as hot as

we

expected to be;

we

were able to

find

cool shade in an area usually verv

hot and dry no r eal

rains

t h i s year.

On

th e

2n d

o f

November we went down to Ea st London an d Dumbaza. We took on e

o f

th e

st udent s

from

the

Bible I n s t i t u t e so sh e could be

home

t h a t weekend.

Tlius we saw

the

church building there.

It

was ready for the roof and

we

hope by this time that they have

most of i t

in

place. This is going to be a great help to the brethren.

On th e

same trip we were

at

KingWilliamstown with Moses Tyatyaza.

in g but were disappointed

in that

lie had not made arrangements for a

meeting with

some

who ar e meeting somewhere else because he and they

do

not agree. It was our desire to see a ll these people

together

and tr y to find a solution to th e problem. Because

we did

not

finish services until late in the

afternoon

on Sunday,

we

re

turned to East London and spent another night

with the

Kemans.

Short l y a f t e r we got

back

home we ha d a

telegram

from

T y a t y a z a

t h a t h i s

son had

b een

k i l l e d

in

an

a cc id en t n ea r h is

home on

t hat

Sunday

night;

i t seems be was

h it

by a bus. The

funeral

was

last

Sunday. I t seems most unusual for a body

to be kept for two weeks before buricl bu t

i t

is

not easy

for

the Africans to get

off

work and to tr avel to a

place

like

this. One

daughter lives

near

Johannesburg so

this was

pro

bably

th e reason fo r

i t

being so long.

We

saw the

Guys

hoard

their ship

on

their way

back

to

America, was 15 years ago that

we

took one

o f

the ships

like

this

to

Britain.

We

pray they have smooth sailing.

s h a l l

m i s s t h e m

We had a good m e e t -


25/25

We r e n t e d

a r e l i g i o u s film an d showed to

th e church

a t Invut shi ni an d

again

on t h a t

evening

a t

th e B ib le

Ins t i tu te

fo r t he i r s e r v i c e s . I t wa s on th e r e s u r r e c t i o n

o f

C hr is

an d g r e a t l y enjoyed.

A special

program is being planned fo r th e closing exercises o f school the f i r s t weeken

in December. A dozen

o f

the A f r ican minis te rs in N a t a l and

Pondoland

a r e b e i n g invi ted

to come

fo r

Friday an d

S atu r d ay

an d

we wil l have s pe cia l c la ss es

fo r

them. They

w ill

have

an

o p p o r t u n i t y to ta lk about the i r work

an d fellowship t oget her. One

of them wil l

b ri n g t h e c lo s in g

message

f o r

s ch o o l.

We

hope

p e r h a p s

t ha t

some

of

yo u

may be a b l e to s e e

ou r

d au gh te r S an dr a,

and

h e r

husban

Dick Hanson, who

wil l

be

a tte nding

th e Missionary

Convention in St. Louis.

Again, we s a y , God bless you.

Yours

in C hr is t s Service ,

Alv in Ve rn i t a Nicho lson

LDITORS NOTE

I t is costing

th e Nicholson s 10^ pe r copy o f

th e

new sletter t h a t is

retu rn ed to

Madison Park

C hri st i an Church.

I f

yo u a re moving,

have

moved

o r would l i k

to

have your name removed from our

mailing

l i s t please drop me a card. The

cost

fo r the

October

newsletter

was

1.00

for

Postage

Due

on

returned

newsletters.

This

will

go up

when

the

new postal

rates increase. Please help

us

us e the Missionary

Funds in a

b e t t e

way .

FORWARDING AGENT:

M r s .

Richa rd

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 , M i n n .

5 5 0 6 8


Printed and mailed

by..

Madis on P a r k Chr i s t i an Ch u r c h

2 1 5 Nor t h 25 th S t r e e t

Q u i n c y , I l l i no i s

62301

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

N o n - P r o f i t

O r g an izatio n

U.S . POSTAGE

1.8

Documents

Nicholson Alvin Vernita 1975 SAfrica