Tlii-

I'.iiLLb NEWSLETTER

P.O. Box 503

Kimberley

Forwarding Agent:
Mrs Mabel Mills

MAR 2 9 1962

JANUARY,1962

309 East Daniel St.

Champaign, Illinois
Dear Christian Friend; ..

VJe.thank God first for His answer to our prayers in that the Kimberley School of Evangelism has been able to commence. It was necessary first that we reduce the number of class hours per week offered since all of our students are continuing

to work full time at their various jobs as well. We are therefore offering nine
>-uis-of class work each week. Three young people, are. taking ail nine hours and. on^ young lady is taking five hours, though not working toward a certificate, at least
at this time. We are thankful that we have been able to borrow a number of books

from brother William Rees as well as a book case in which to keep them. These will

also thankful for some books which have been sent from America for this purpose.
for the elders and leaders of the Native churches.

be added to from our own library and from that of brother Hamilton as well. We are I am also planning to start classes each Sunday at Schmidtsdrift reservation

during February. These will be the usual leadership training classes on the church
We have received several letters this month brom brothers Randall and Pennington of Rhodesia concerning the new radio program over Radio Laurenco Marques. This

is the most powerful station in southern Africa and reaches vast areas. It is pro posed that our missionaries in Southern Africa jointly produce a weekly program over this station starting in July this year. We have been given the privilege of handling the postal side of the follow-up. There is no way of knowing the volume
of additional mail that this will involve, but it could be considerable. We shall

plan to send the "Gospel Light" to ail contacts, tracts in the first correspond ence, and to make available the lessons-by-mail, and probably printed texts of the radio sermons'Obviously this is going to mean a need for more regular funds, and
where we needed-the postage mctervbefore, we shall need it far more"now cifter theprogram goes on. the air. We have on hand about half of the cost of the meter now

oweing to the sacrificial gifts of some on the mailing list of this letter. Will not others join them in underwriting this extra cost? Normal costs are also on

the increase. Just this month, both printing paper and envelopes rose in price.
As many of you already realise, 1963 is the year in which our turn in the rotation of the missionaries comes for furlough. This means that not many months remain till we should start making plans. We had not given much thought to this,

but now with the radio program to think about as well, we realize that it especi

ally needs continuous attention. We ask you to ray_mjtfaus for new recruits for

the work her-e. We feel that it would greatly help if a' couple could plan ta come here" and to handle this work for about nine months while we took a short furlough, and then plan to move on to one of the great cities of the Union where they could work to establish an European congregation and help with the oversight of the Native work of the area. The crying need of South Africa at the moment, as I see it, is for evangelists to establish European churches and to train South African ministers for them and Native ministers for the Native churches. The radio program and our own "Gospel Light" can make the contact and do a certain amount of instruction, but .we need churches for these people to attend ajid evangelists which we can send to each contacts Among the white people this is especially vital. We can not send
Native men to call upon white contacts even when they are near. May we mention once again that we have a new slide set at MISSION SERVICES;

they are there to be used. We hope that they will be helpful in your work for the
Lord,

1961 FIGURES

Yours in Christ Jesus,

Gospel Lights distributed Printing Impressions

Lesson Books distributed

- 60,297 -179,125
117

Robert and Phyllis Mills

W/.

Lesson Books Completed

95

"Gospel Lights" distributed in this

term so far = 166,515 An estimated 5 to 10 readers each.

ROBERT AND PHYLLIS MILLS

Financial Report 1961

On Hand 1st January 1961

Forwarded from U.S.A.

151.67J^
1311.56

212.33
1836.18
700.00

Sale of Fiat Multipla

Loan from R;S. Mills on Coramer.

500.00 450.00
3,85

630.00

For Addressograph-Mult Plate for

Hamiltons.

. 5.39
12.39

From sale of materials left after Commer alterations.

8,85

Purchase of Commer Paneltruck (part payment)

Conversion of Commer to Bus & maintenance

1075.00 177.95
161.80

1505.00

249.13 226.52
219.49

Printing plates & supplies

Printing Paper
Postage Envelopes

156.78 466.18 112.66

70.00 27.06

652.65
157.72

Electric Folding Machine

98.00
37.88

Addressing plates & Ink

Auto Licence

16.00
32.23

22.40
45.12

Auto Insurances

Office Insurance on equipment

Post Office Box rental.
Check book fees

3.41 5.00
. 55

4.77
7.00 .77

Passport Fees
Misc.

7.40
2.46

10.36
3.44

R 2425.93!^
2414.48

2314.48

R
.

111.45^4"
On Hand 1st January 1962

$ 156.03

PtASE NOTE: While the figures in the columns appear as dollars, they are
in the South African currency of Rands and cents. It takes about

$ 1.40 to equal a Rand therefore the figures to the right are the
approximate values of the figures to the left in the columns. In

_reali.t^-Jtb^ exchange rate varies from day to day a fraction of Ji"

cent.

THE MILLS NEWSLETTER P 0 , Box 503

KTIVIBER[Y 1st March.

Forwarding Agent;
Mrs Mabel Mills
309 East Daniel St.

iQUX'
'

Champaign, Illinois
Dear Co-Workers in Christ Jesus;

ONCE AGAIN we find ourselves chosen to minister to the'Kimberley Church f Christ. We have accepted the ministry of the local church, only on the 'rendition that we may prayerfully try to find a replacement for ourselves as "soon as possible, the Lord willing so. The reason we were asked to do this is~"
chat brother Hamilton has determined that he will moved to Johannesburg to be near the young work that he has started there. Since Johannesburg is 300 miles distant, it was of course impractical that he try to minister to both places. The present situation, roughly speaking, is that our own furlough plans will have to be delayed or perhaps cancelled if we are not able to get a replacement

I also find myself with an almost imp.ossible schedule In his leaving, we are

one teacher short for the S'-hool of'Eva-ng^lism, thus I shall have to teach the "lasses mMself Ou^ own ^Qspei Light continues to grow and we confidently hope

to have a circulation of about 10,000 copies monthly by the end of the yea**.

^ Have you ever stuffed that many envelopes? Following the commencement of th:^'
I radio program over radio L.M. , a major station equal to nearly a net/work at

Swill be the oversight of the Native work of the Northern Cape and Transvaal

j home, we shall thelrPaiso have"the follow up by mail of this work as well. There

\ local church which has a very full schedule with extra meetings during the \week We ask you to please remember this need in prayer.

j Ke'^'nan^s work during his coming furlough. Now to this is added the work of the
We wereprivil-^ged to fondU' t the training *lasses at-Schmidtsdrift-ach

' ihe treasurer of the Native funds and may be asked to assume some of brother

I areas including the building of two. if not three church houses this year.. I am

(.ord^s Day during the past month. There were about twenty enrolled in the study
I preached each Lords Day as well. There was one fallen Christian who returned to the church during the week. Then on the final day, they all asked that I

come again and teach another class next year, the Lord willing.
X also p'j'eached each Lord' s Day evening du'ing the month for the Kimberley

Chu^^ch of Christ since brothe^ Hamilton has been going weekly to Johannesburg.
The attendances have been good there, though there ha"e been no additions. We

have nearly completed several improvements to the building and baptistry there
I must tell you of one interesting thing that happened at Schmidtsdrift, One day as I was preaching, there was a ve^y old g'"ey headed man who ente.'.'ed the church house. His ":iothing was di'*ty and he was .in tatters, but obviously he was enjoying the message immensely. After the closing hand shaking ceremony he came back to properly introdu'e himself He was from G^'^quatown and thu.^^ a stranger in that chur^-.h. but he showed u-- his ueyy tattered baptismal certifiaxe wh'f -h wa? dated many years ago. Tt appeared to be an IB hundred date, but as mu.:h was gone could have been some other date. Another interesting happening was that we had a fellowship dinner at the !-hiji-*'ch with four tea cups and five plates There wece aboia 22 p.-^esent They fed the interpreter, myself and an elde-' firstr then re-fi Lied the plates and
several ate at a time from them the second round. The menu^ was corn-rice-

potatoes, curry gravy and meat and tea,, T wonder how n!?ny mode'^n chu^'ch kit-

f'hens there are in America and they eat in shifts from a few chipped enamel
plates and enjoy it just as much.

Soon we shall be leaving fo'- East London and the annual conference. I am to preach the opening sermon on Wednesday nii^ht, April iBth , The Lord w.iliing. We very mu-h looking forward i,o the feiJowship of the brethern then. We continual .i.y praise the Lo-d fo*-" the ''ont.inuat growth of His work in Afric.a through us. Do pray with for His guidan'-e and strength to continue^
You In Christ Jesus,

Robert and Ph/tli.? Mills

THE MILLS NEWSLETTER

P.O. BOX 503

KIMBERLEY

' ,'Ssp
March

Forwarding Agent:
Mrs Mabel Mills 309 East Daniel Street 'r -.

Champaign, Illinois
Dear Co-Workers in Christ;

into the paper doll publication business. This one was done with the thought that it could be very helpful to interest the junoir age children in mission study so that they might be able to visualize Africa and the work being done among the Africans. We suggest that they could be used in the Junoir depart

No. Do not be mislet by the enclosure of the paper doll. We have not gone

ment of D.V.B.S. . Christian Endeavour, or the Sunday School. We have posted l-dvi ^

supplies to our forwarding agent from whom you can get them or larger orders

can be sent directly to us here in Kimberley.

We have been thrilled with the response to our latest leadership training class which is at the Douglas church; about 75 miles out of Kimberley on all gravel roads.The first week, I arrived there in time for Bible School which was attended by 65 children. This is quite the largest Sunday morning Bible School I have seen among our churches without europefin supervision. They have been learning the songs of our new Afrikaans songbook and we spent the entire morning Church of the New Testament", there were 33 enrolled the first week. The second

singing "Are You hashed in the Blood of the Lamb?" wt least they know ^^at one well now. In my classes for the adults, in which we are using Sharp s The among them being that they had not had a visit from the missionaries for the / purpose of teaching a class like this since brother C.B. Titus came in 1925.
able to find young men who can study to become a replacement. Several of our

Brother Mathibe made several remarks in Afrikaans during church about the class, Brother Mathibe has been a minister for many years. One of these days he will have to retire. Before that time, I am hopeful that from these classes I may be

week, I counted 41 at the end of the second class. They were very interested too.

Tswana churches have no ministers because there ate no young men to replace the "i5Td Tuemvho eithei: ret-ixt: or die. They toek a collection, the first week to help

_about 41 cents-a- gallon^. It was rather amusing at first when they did not get enough and brother mathibe was ashamed to offer it so he told them he wanted 2/each. They were all smiles and they dug down into their pockets and came up with more money. In the end there was about ^3. Of course the trip cost me

with the gasoline as they know it is very costly to travel, (gasoline.now costs

more than that personally as our working fund is not enough to cover travel and I have always paid for gasoline from my own living salary funds. It was a help though and was deeply appreciated, many churches do not offer to help and we
never ask that they should.

land. There was the usual opringbock, but in addition I saw four huge baboons and several ostridges with a family of little ones, we know that there are bab
oons about but we seldom see them in mid-day and on the road. They usually rai the fields early in the morning and sleep during the day.

trip itself too. I saw considerable vyild ,IiJ[ even though it is through farm

This first trip to Douglas was interesting from the point of view of the

4>150 to $200 each month. This has not been" sufficient to cover our normal monthly

For the past six months or more, ooir average working fund has been about

over Radio Lourenco marques, a major Southern Africa radio station which reaches

need for postage, stationery, and equipment thus we have had to mail less often to some parts -of Africa and to bear some costs_from salary that should be covered by working links, we have now come to the threshold of an open door. we have asked to care for the postal follow up of the new radio program to be broadcast
millions of African listeners. Brother Randall and his co-workers in Southern

Rhodesia will produce the programming itself, but we must cover our own addit ional expences. we must make place for additional postage, stationery.printing and possibly equipment costs in our own budget, ne shall most urgently nee a

printed material we have to produce increases much, we shall also urgently require a larger model ..lultilith than our baby one. This would cost $2412.20 delivered
here in Kimberley.

least $100 a month more for this unexpected but welcomed work. If the amount ot^

r\

The SCHOOL OF EVANGELISM is coming to the end of its first terra of work.

Roland, a 21 year old Malay man, and .viaurine, a Chinese young lady, are still
taking all classes. In fact they have not missed a single session all term. I ,

expect that they shall both make exceptionally good grades, Maurine may make
the honour roll which will mean an average of more than 95/^ if she does. They will continue with their present classes for one more term, then we shall start a new set of classes. ".Ve hope to have more students in the new classes, the Lord willing. Brother Hamilton has shared with the teaching this term, but as

hours of classes myself next term. Dp pray with us that we may soon have a
/ .

he is planning to leave very shortly for Johannesburg, I shall teach all nine

Z.

recruit to come to Kimberley and to help with this school and to assume the
ministry of the ivimberley Church of Christ. \ve know that with so many things
all phases of our work will suffer. It is not our desire at all to try so many different things, but circumstances make it necessary at least temporarily to
do so. . , - .

As soon as brother hamilton leaves ivimberley, I shall be responsible for the services at the church. This will of necessity end my traveling out week ends and such classes as we have been conducting at Douglas. This is additional
reason for our urgent need for a second worker in Kimberley.

You will- find two maps enclosed with this letter. The first is, a map of
oouth Africa with circles of about a hundred miles radius from Kimberley. In

these circles are marked the churches which we try to help. They have on the

most part.^their own Native ministers, yet they always turn to the missionary
in any time of need and they always welcome a visit from us. There are many more churches to the south, but as they are far from me, I do not visit them

and have not placed them on the map. The city of Lourenco r.iarques is the un- , named mark in r.iocambique, beside the letter *'U". It is from this city that the radio program will be broadcast, the Lord willing, soon. The second map of
Africa numbers the African countries where the Gospel Light is sent. We have not listed the number to each on the paper as we with to write them in when.,. people write to ask for information. If you wish to write them in as of now,. 1172 1. Republic of south Africa they are:
2. Nigeria 3. Ghana 4. bouthern Rhodesia 5. Northern uhodesia 6. Nyasaland 7. Basutoland 8. Uganda 9. Kenya
lu.

1978 1892 345 146 458

'Tanganyika
Swaziland

11'. Sechuanaland
12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 2u.

i^ngland
aierre Leone
oudan

57 55 55 34 26 15 6
1

south West Africa Germany

Australia

1 4
1 1

Long Kong
U.S.A.

375

By mailing time this month some of these figures will have increased.

-ietters';;^^e~Wd''^W^ng up our supply of stamps at presentr The account for th^is*

post office, and save licking thousands of stamps each month.

The new_tostage i'.leter has arrived and will probably be used on next months

machine has not yet been paid. It will cost us ab^t ^2^. Cf this only a small ^ /
portion has been given designated for it. Its use^ill guarantee retarn of unde^:-/
ivered letters, and will take care of the return address, speed them through th4/
We continue to thank the Lord for you all and for your continued faithfulness
toward His work here in Kimberley. Yours in his oervice,

Robert and Phyllis mills

THE MILLS NEWSUETTER

P.O. BOX 503 Kimber1ey

FORWARDING AGENT Mabel S. MUls 309 East Daniel St.

Champaign, TLIino is
Dear Co-Workers in Christ Jesus;

April. 1.962

PRAYER REQFEST

PRAYER REQUEST PRAYER REQIEST

has be-'ome a matt.er for vout" urqenr. pi^avers t.ha

interested in ministering to a small congregarion of bsdfievers with a great poten tial poss^bi 1;!.ies . and in teaching in our smaj i Ministev^^^l T^^aining SchooJ^

come to South Afriria to take over the Kimber iey Church of

Tt.

wlitlTTEe'^rjo.ee'g^

veste'*day these tasks were handed over to rre in addition to those whifh I already have.

espe .'ally important sinf^e our own furlough is due in less than a year's time

j.t vdM jbe impossible us to Jjlan to take it until a replacement for the .1? found.There were 38 in attendance last night, nineteen at the Warren Stree'^ building where the Chinese and Coloureds met, and nineteeen in our home where we are

attempting to start a new congregation for the whites who live on our side of town about three miles from the -hurch house. All worship together at the morning service
and foT" Sunday School.

T will start teaching aii classes of the r.*-ainin$ school tonight. Previously
brother Hamilton assisted in these classes and taught seveva] hou'"s each week.

This was the month of the annual preaching 'onference of the native churches
and we all went to East London for a week to be at these. We camped in a city camp

ground which overlooks the entrance to the East London harbor and the beach. It was a beautiful place had we had time to look at the scenery. Most of oui: time was spent
m the "not so beautiful"' location. We enjoyed the sessions however, and the sermons

whi h were on various phases of the church, were quite good.

It is antivipated that the new church building at Warren ton will be started very shortly now and no doubt T wit), have to make several trips there to over see its act ual i'onstru tion. I have also been asked to over see the repairs to the building at Schmidtsdrift where the roof leaks badly and the roof timbers and walls must be repai'-ed before the building falls down completely.

We have added several hundred addresses to the mailing list of the Gospel Light this month and are hen-^e running short of copies. For that reason we may not be able to send you you'- usual sample. We shall print more next month in order to have enough. With this in'^rease in the mailing list, we shall now print eight thousand each month. This will mean 16000 impressions of thp Rospel light alone each montiL. No small task,

but we enjoy dcmig it for the Lord. AH the new names were'TRTT'aToTe to be added since
soon as it will soon be time to do next month s addressing.

we exhausted the cities supply of address stencils. We hope they get in new supplies
We a-e happy to have been able to find a source of printing paper and envelopes, so with next month we shall print on cheaper printing paper and in a different size whi h will allow the use of much cheaper envelopes. The only difficulty with this new arrangement is that they must be shipped from Johannesburg and the shipments take so te'-ribiy long to arrive . This order has already been on rail two weeks to come a
bare 300 miles; Ail ou * suoplies are novj ship^d'in to us from tfi"&~Lar^r citTes^frH we ha e about de ided that after furlough we must mo -e to a citji ourselves which will
cut us whe e si;Dpiies are. Another reason we must first see that the Kimberley Church has a minister* to take charge before we can leave.

Wh 1e we we^e at Conference, we were loaned the Church of Christ Mission^s \[Britvcng ma'-hine. Tt is a very old model but we think win be very useful to give some

^ a-'etv

the Gosoel Light and to do the captions which have always been a problem to

Tt has been used in the next issue which is partly set up already in the new sixe.

We would praise the Lord for your praye s on our behalf, but do keep on bringing
the needs of South Africa before the throne of the Lord. We are in constant need of

wo "king and equipment funds, but now, most of all, we are in need of a recruit to take
oye- the leadeship of the Kimberley Church of Christ.
Yours in the Lord Jesus Christ,

The Church of Christ Postal Mission

P.O. BOX 503 B KIW IRLEY, CAPE SOUTH AFRICA

"Study to show thvscif

approved untq'dod.' \llTimofey 2:15

prayer Letter Dea. Ch";stian Co-worker;

MUiionariai Robert S. Mills

Phyllis J. Milit
Forwording Agent

& Secretory
Mabel S. Mills 309 Doniel St.

We thank God for Kis wonderful blessing on us in work, but we do ask your prayers in two things.

CKompoign, Illinois
SERVICES:

The Gospel Lljtht" Tracts

'New Testament Doctrines'

The "Gospel Light", even with the new smaller size and pape"^ wh.ich represent a conside"^able savings in paper
and envelopes, is rapidly outgrowing our regular working funds. By the time you receive this letter the church in
southern Africa will have gone on the air over radio

"Doily Bible Reeding Guide'

Church Reference Service

Lourenco Marques. We shall handle the correspondence for

this program and shall add these people to the mailing

lists of the "Gospel Light", hence we expect a considerable
increase over our present 8.000 + addresses. Pray that

adequate funds shall be available for the additional costs

and equipment needed. Likewise, the church in Kimberley urgently requires a minister, who wili also teach in the School of Evangelism and without whom we are not able to take our furlough which
will be due in a few month s time. We can not leave these

infant wo^^ks with no leadership.

THOFUTCHlTlIMRT-raS IAL MlbblON MABEL 8. MlLL8-rORWARDl;5 AGENT

309 EAST DANIEL STREET CHAMPAIGN. ILLINOIS
Name

Youra in Christ Jesus,

Robert/ftlills

Address,

We will pray regularly for the needs of

the Mil 1s in Africa.

T enclose the first regular offe^'ing toward

the preparation of the "Gospel Light".

T en'-lose an offering for the equ ipment

needed to spread the Gospel in print .in'

A f r i r a.

MUtionorit*

Robert S. Mill*

Phyllis J. Mills
Forwarding Agwnt & Sacietary
Mobl S. Milli

309 E. Dviiel St.

Champoign, llllnoi*
SERVICES;

Th G<jpl Lijhl" Tract*

'Nw Testament Doctrinas*

'Daily BibU Raoding Guici**

Church Rfernc Sarvict

ABOVE - The

Stanley tent was

drowned out

the first day of conference

when we had a

down-pour. A stream of water about four inches deep flowed directly through it soaking beds, blankets and clothing alike.
LEFT - Our tent served both as our own

quarters and cook tent.

the storm

At the height

of
of

water ran in from two sides

it as well

soaking many things

the tent

but as we
in the

have camp cots,

our beds remained dry and

we were able to leave

same position for the rest of the week.

RIGHT - Our African brethern

did

their

cooking somewhat primitively in large iron pots. Unfortunately some one stood in front of the largest pot which was
filled with raealie meal (corn meal)

mush,

when I took the photo. They

were

delighted with the rain because it meant

that God had added His blessing to the

gathering
conference.

and that it
was

would be a

good

It was a good one

too even

though attendance

somewhat lower

than it had been in previous years.

LEFT - Mrs Mills at the left as we waited

for the church house

to be opened for an

afternoon session. In the mean time some of the ministers are conducting a street

preaching session. The street preaching was planned this year with definite sub jects assigned to various men for differ ent days of the conference^-The Lord will

ing, it is planned to convene next year's

conference at East London on the coast.It

will probably be a very well attended one

GasMl Ugkt

THE MILLS NEWSLETTER

P 0 Box ^3

Kimberley, Cape

May. 1962
Mabel S.

FORWARDING AGENT Mills 309 East Daniel St

Champaign, 111 inois

Dear Co-workers in Christ Jesus.

We have been quite pleased with the results of our new "Gospel Light''. You ran
see that we have used the new size paper and paper type for the enclosed copy. No '
so noticeable is the fact that we also used the borrowed Vari-typer fbr captions

and some type variations. It hardly seems possible but the new size and style is also cheaper to produce, largely because we are able to use a smaller, and far cheaper, envelope to mail it. We are continuing with the old size for only our American mailings because of their strength and extra capacity. Even with th's
reduction in over all costs per thousand, however, we are still having budget troubles because there are so many more persons on our mailing f.han before. This month we printed more than eight thousand copies and had none to spare. Nex

month we expect to raise the printing perhaps another five hundred and the month
after only the Lord Could tell because the radio program wi! i ha-e gone on.o 'he air by then over radio Lourenco Marques and we hope to send if aP who write in to the program. We expect many requests since Lourenco Marquess reaches several
southern Africa countries.

In a few of these letters only, there will be a picture sheet which we preoa el

after last year's conference. At that time we simply could not print it on the

paper then available. It still was not a sucess on the new paper, primarily in ^ha
it is really beyond the ability of the model Multilith that we have. Eventually as
the circulation increases, we believe that we shall have to trade in this smallest

model on a larger and more versatile one, especially one that has autbmaftr* feeding
All the larger models do have.

The students in our School of Evangelism are now entering into the last month of the term. They shall soon be taking their final examp. then ' rome a three week holiday, during which the church plans the annual D.V.B.S., and they will start a

new term of work. We plan to offer "Old Testament", "Gospels", and "Acts" during this coming term. I shall again be doing all the teaching, unless we have additional help
before that time. A recruit is badly needed here. We recently added a number of new

books to the libaary and bought several texts for next term. These depleted the school treasury. Fortunately the expences are very minor but cont*"''butions of books, especially
would be most welcomed. Text books and commentaries in particular.

Since T have started my second ministry with the Kimberley church t have been using our young man student for some of the preaching. He has been bringing every third Sunday evening sermon. It Is good for him and also relieves me of some of the extra work. Later, I hope that he will be able to take over a coloured church in Kimberley somewhere.
It is unfortunate that he can not take over the european church as it is because of his nationality, hence we still mast have an european minister for the church and to help
with the school. He and another young man of the church have been i-onduocing street

meetings the past several weeks near their home where we hope later to have a site for a
coloured church, the Lord willing so.

Cold weather is setting in here now and it has had its toll on the attendance of the
church An unheated building can be quite cold on nights when there is frost in the a"*^ OL-t^-ide We -Oier our more tender plants in the garden every night now till spring again.
Jesus.

The CHRISTIAN MISSION, VOL. VI, NO. 10, October. 19fi2

Page 13

Church of Christ Postal Mission

We adopted this name when we first moved to Kimberley from South West Africa in 1955. Pre viously in Windhoek it was The South West Africa Church of Christ Mission. In Kimberley there were already represented two separate missions and we worked closely with the South Africa Mis
for the Lord's service. One young man is now working on his second semester of work here. At the end of the year, the Lord willing, he will have completed 18 semester hours of work in evening classes. A recent inquiry suggests the possibility that a second student may join him yet for the second semester's work. These young men are of the Coloured race. We hope and pray that we may also enroll white men as the churches in South Africa desperately need ministers who have been born and reared in this country,
NEEDS

sion in the Minister's Training School and started

to emphasize our own postal work.

After our furlough, we continued in Kimberley though the Training School was moved by that time
to Natal. Since then we have ministered to the

Kimberley church, represented the Church of

Christ Mission among the Native churches of the Northern Cape, and conducted the postal work which has continued to prosper and grow till it has come really a full time workin itself leaving little time for the other tasks. The mailing list for the Gospel Light is nearing ten thousand per sons which represent many more thousand of rea ders. There are only the Mills engaged in this work. Recruits are needed, not for the postal work, but to take over the Kimberley Church of

Because of our greatly expanding printing schedule, we are in need of a new off-set prin ting press to replace the present one whichis the "baby" of the Multilithline andis already tenyrs.
old. We wish to replace it with a new A. B. Dick model, small but efficient.

Christ releasing the Mills from this extra work.

HOW THE BIBLE HELPS The Bible is the chief text book for our Mini

The same expanding work, recently swelled by a regular radiobroadcast over LourencoMarquest Radio, required that we raise additional working-links. A total of $100 a month would do wonders to our overtaxed budget. For smaller projects, we suggest that you
write and ask. Life of Christ and Old Testament

sterial Training School in Kimberley, as well as the text for our correspondence Bible course. It is the constant source of the printed materials for the tracts, and the "Gospel Light" monthly paper. Needless to say, without it, missions would not be possible.
GOALS

picture rolls would be welcome for loan to the

Native churches to use in their Bible schools, for example. Film strips are equally valuable.

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST POSTAL MISSION

Our present goal is to pass the ten thousand circulation of the "Gospel Light" each month rea ching many thousands more prospects for the Lord with the printed word. We are also currently printing and writing a new guide booklet for the
Native ministers and others interested in the work of the church.

Robert and Phyllis Mills

P. O. Box 503

Kimberley, Cape
South Africa

Forwarding Agent:
Mabel S. Mills 309 E. Daniel St.

In Kimberley our Ministerial Training School is engaged in the work of training young persons

Champaign, Illinois

The Robert Mills Family

THE MILLS NEWSLETTER

P.O.

Bo X 50 3

Kimberley

Agent: Mrs Mabei Mills

309 East Daniei Street

July, 1962

Champaign

^ '"nois

Dear Co-Workers in Christ Jesus;

Since we printed r.he African Messenger again last month after a long ab
sence, we decided nor. to do the newsletter as we^l . We do hope that you haue not forgotten our constant need for your prayers and the work for your offer

ings. Each month brings greater demands upon us and greatei opportunities,/.

especially now thai.the radio program is on the air each Monday night over

radion F M ^equW^"? are now coming in for the sermons and also for the lesson
books, each of whi^ rost us about 15c to prepare and send.
We are p^'esentjy in the process of writing another booklet which we plan to print ourselves and to include some pages in the "Gospel Light". This one

is meant for the Native Ministers and Christian workers as a guide since many of them are totally untrained in the work of the church and relatively un-ed ucated making usuaJ books too difficult for them This booklet will be called

sfiu, 'y

M.o "iiandbook for Service" and will contain all manner of practical

suggestions for"the ministers and those interested in the work of the church. We do not exoect it to be completed for probably a year since we have no extra

funds 1,0 oover its printing and it will have to be printed a few pages at a
time through the year. We continue our prayers, the Lord so directing, that we shall soon be ab.s

.0 purchase more effective equipment for the printing tasks and for funds to
over these extra costs. After several years our work has increased to the place

that an additional $100 a month working funds are really needed just to keep pace. "
The, school of Evangelism suffered a loss this month when Maureen, one of OL:" pupils, left us to take a teaching position in Johannesburg. Our loss was gain for the infant work in Johannesburg,however, so we do not complain. Her first [.ord s Day there. I understand,she was already at work for the Lord. She had been a regular Song leader for our services, teacher of the Intermediate Sunday School class, teacher for the services at the Crippled Care Home, and

also a student in the night classes. Already others are at work in the tasks which she did and this morning there was a phone call to tell me that a new student would like to enroll in the night classes, a man, so perhaps all the
tasks wilJ be .'e-fliied shortly. ,..- -Sp "ng seems to be at the door, but with it has come the wind, the dust, and :he usual :'nnesses. Our own family has not been spared. Ail have been ill

'n one form or another- Mostly we have had^ f.lu but Beck?' developed pneumonia and was quite ill for a while. We praise God that all are well again now, and
the children are all back in school. My only trouble was that the dust and

dryness gave me a husky throat which was a- special bother one week end when I had a total of four sermons to deliver in one day. I made it through the day but would not have welcomed much more talking that day.

The Warren Street Church is now laying plans for our Spring Evangelistic Meeting with brptherja.milton doing the preaching. We plan this to start on the.3pth o^.-September and to end the 7th of October. Do remember us especially at that time in you>* D>*ayers that there may be a rich response to the Gospel.

Your Savants in Christ J^sus,

THE mils NEWSIETTER

P 0. Box 503
K i mbe vi ey .

. .

Forwarding Agen^
Mrs Mabel Mi 1 Is

1st

September

1962

309 East Daniel St

Chamua i gn, I! no i s
Dear Christian Co-workers:

As ycn7"k:now formany months- wp-hav^e fei t "that we simply would not: be able to take our furlough when it comes due very shortly Tt now appears that it would be most wise to do so and to return to the field as soon as possible after 't S "ompJeted. for to delay would perhaps make things more diffi'^uit for the other workers on the fie)d to manage their, own furloughs [t has been the r.ustnm as far as possible fnr only one family to fuciough at a ^imr Tf wr '^ome now \x
wit! save 'vjnsiderabU- money as well sin'^e our eldest daughter ran still travel both directions by half fare but later would be full fare An additional :a'ing of

$489 40 could hp mad'^

the buying of a round trip ticket

j

but aside from

Til

borrowing the money for a few months, we do noc have so much avaiJable just now In fa'T, we are stiij short moro than half of our farf? the single direction whi'^h

comes to $2589 60 ont- direction f*nm Tohann^-Hi

S I'th Af^'ica. to Chicago

Do prayerfuHv : ememDc. cn.s need for travel funds as the travel agent must V ihis money some weeks before we actually leave here

We have asked another missionary family if they wii i move temporarily to Kim
berpy and minister tr> -"huTch here in our absence but if i n fcei that they win be able rn rio so, we shall rent our home and shall turn the ministry of
t.he '"hurrh over Df^'-embr?-" and to one of our that we shall student ministers for the six months r.he first ui oart. of o'an Tulv.

be away, the f,ord willing. It is planned that we shall fly from Johannesburg during
return herp sometime about

The^.! bookings are

mini&cers for tW--&ti*e^fSn <'white) churches of Africa

link connections which the work has outgrown th^

Snm"

^1,

g-fir. nct^-^^hiie in America are that we shall be seeking further

to strengthen on" workinq
-*3' months making it ' p-y

viiifi'-u T 'o kopp pa, c vvith the phenominai growth of the postal wo-k and to se^k funds for and possibly pur^'hase more modern equipment that this expanded work now ^rie^ for poss'bly if we can manage it. we shali attend further classes to better prepare ourselves for the work of training younq th*^ m'n-'-' > hei't^ We now
havf: two young men in -"'asses and further enquiriAc ha'*- bepn mad'^ -gua amg ^ater classes S^n . we plan to be in America only a few months we pray that you will help us fin every free moment for our Lord Jesus

Tf v"r w"! ') like us to present this African work for you piease write to ou ' fonvat'ding agent or to us, giving two or three possible dates we ouid come b-tween about Christmas and the first of Ju ' ^963 We suggest that you use air mail as
lettf-'.-^ bv :5urfai'e maii take far tOn long for this purpose

The thought of Christmas reminds me that several of you have in the past sent
cards and parrels t.-^ i; he^-. '"'his year, we hope, the Lord willing so to be in Champaign fo>" Christmas and we suggest that these be sent there rather than here We hav.-' s" -:ninved thrac ..n a - w.th you on a morp persona! basis than a news lette'* makes oossible and we look forward to being able to thank you in ppi'son soon Afte'^' gmnq
and we

- a. ^ A'.-

!'npsses this past month w^ a^<' a ' we!' again and the work is Th^ Nicholsons we*":; -'isiting us ten davs earn'p" in t.hp m-^nth
to their 'eturn with th^^ othe-^ mission fami Me.; when wp hav^

look forward

^1 ^ght dav K anq-'^-tip Meeting at the end of this month and pa*" y nevit month Brothe'- Hami U-on wi ' < be here to or^ach fo us and we ar<' at' looking forward to
His <ominq.
Voiyi-s_Tn the.Master s Service,
/I ^

:ao

THE MILLS NEWSLETTER

P 0

Box 503

Kimberley
1st October. 1962

F^i wa a.ng Aqeni

Mrs Mabe. Mi >

309 East Dan't-'. Street

Chamoaign

t'iino is

Deair ChriaCian F . icfirta,

Facinq me across the room is the )-Ove)y "Bon Voyage" fruit cake, made in the shape of a ship which was presented m us afte- cnu';s,n vase night It caiis aj.j th^ morn shavoJv to out attention the fact that we must qunckjy get a start on the fna'i preparat ions for vv.r comi'.ng fui-]'ough W w-, a,,. ' /cny pieased when oij aoD at'on to a "cut-rate'' arrlmc was approved wh)ich means *.har shaji i be tuaveiMnq by a much less 'J?-# e^cpensM/f^ meansS than we at first though we
cou^(l book Tht^ fart by thus Jine from Jnhannesbutq to Ch'cagjf and retuin wili be abnt^r. $4000 a'-n Oefiiovteiy booked to jeavp. Johann-^ '^bif'q nn th'=' >4th of Nov-

omb^i' ana w.. a . ax 0 Hare airport tn Chxrago at i2 45 DMiKr:a Cw r-a.' oj , .ju : return tr;ip on the 9th of July and 1 hann^^hi'' q nn the ^4th Th is means that we must nnw sta' foj a per iod (a., 'ctic the house getting out i njeo-t ions and
tha": hai/e ta b^ di/ne at the (ast moment

on the 'i8th We are to ari^/e bank in 'ii>,r packing, looking a)). the other things
we

By the time you receive this letter

an./I/ it be aJ^t^arty m Champaign. Illinois and may hai/e ai-eady seen some of you
I.hM jiifB-i <it5> of. the time o_f our fiepa>_tuv e cas to mind another need We d" not pian to be in Amevica long, so do not wish to buy an auto for our; travels
If yMi. kniA/ a dea'f who wul lease an auto to us for about seven months we

wou.'d be mosr o'eased to hear fiom him immediate.'y This is an urgent matter as p'an tn s'.a^-i ti'aye'ing immediate.ly We can not, as before sei). our auto here fot mi>nr;v to buy since we must iea?je the bus heie tu be used fo.t church hauling B >th^- Tn^^oh has agreed to carry on with the p.t<;aching at che church in our abs-^n'e ana o^uf.nen Ham.i j :on wii.i come clown f.'om .'Johannosbu g occasional iy for genera.' o s.qtir. As b'-'ither Joseph is only a student o^eacher brother HamiiCon WT1. H -.umr^ nn anv ^^me^ qenr v that might arise

have lust comp leted a most successful evanqt! ist'ic meeting here th>.s past
w--.k B'Uhr.f Hamilton wa-^ the evangelist and Mrs Hamilton Aed '^n the musiC Oue"

ave'age attenoance was over 58 and thete were 82 present for the cjosing message

Wt

ein ice n that I was abi.e to baptize fn/e persons during the meeting
.Mising serwiCc
c.asses are now on hoiiday
we

one of
n

them at the
Wh 1c

thr Ministerial

sha
j eav.

soon be

ha-^k

oass and wt- hope to comp.'.ete a shortened

and

Dcfui^

Wc

The e-xeout iie committee of the conference a.<.s<i met here du-ing thvs past week
T attv.nded these meetings each day
, iiunts and books
I

Brother Nicholson has now taken o'^er the

t^easu.- = -

It easu' y
W: ' J

and wi/i act as

"in^-''^n"- when they

the confefence

n^w

: ^aot

We sha)..'.

of course

m^ss

0>

; to remembe*.

us in you^

oaye-s as we fiy back to Amer\ca

We

jnok wa 1 q ^at'v to seeing you aii again though we do not bv anv means expect to ^n]" cne a' Cua; c ip home as "> t w>.' ' be a ong and tiresome jour ney
and '>n " i.t a i

'aft

You's in the Master

s Seivj'^e

// r

A ^
m
"t.' .

Rot)e.-f/

\ f}. .n

/i

.1

e %

o "SoW i,'?'.

The CHIIISTIA.N MISSION, VOL. VI, NO. 10, October, 1962

Page 16

Rita's Christmas

by Phyllis Mills "Hurry! Johannes, hurry!" Rita called to her brother, "and put this clean shirt on or we will

proud of this church bell because many of the churches used old pieces of automobile frames or sections of railway rail which they hung from a
tree and beat with a stick!

be late for the Christmas party." Rita had al

ready slipped into her next-to-best dress. It was

a blue one with little pink flowers. There were

no ruffles or any lace, or ansrthing to make it a special dress, but there were no patches or tears, either. It was faded and too short, her large
black bloomers peeking around the hem; but it was
her next-to-best dress. Her mother had washed

it that very morning; and taking the big heavy iron off the stove, had carefully ironed it after it had dried in the early morning sun. A pretty pink ribbon was tied to her short, black, curley lir.
She had scrubbed her face till it now shown like

Some children were already there and others were still coming when Rita and Johannes went in to take their places. Johannes sat in the back with some of his friends, but Rita went right to the front to sit in the very first seat. Just as she sat down, she saw them! She looked and blinked her eyes to make sure, then lookedagain. "Oh," she thou^t, "this is going to be the best Christ mas party yet." And what do you think she saw? No, it wasn't a Christmas tree, or pretty decora
tions. There were no decorations at all. It wasn't

polished mahogany. So now Rita stood in the doorway of her mud brick and tin house and im patiently rubbed her big toe in the dirt, drawing little pictures while waiting for her brother to
change. Rita and Johanne s liked to go to Sunday school. The benches were hard and falling to pieces. If one leaned back too hard on the pews, sometimes the back would break completely off. There were big cracks in the wooden floor and no ceiling in

Santa Claus with a big bag of toys. No, it was four little girls! The missionary had not only brou^t his wife, but also his four little daughters. There was Kathy, who was just six years old,
Ruth Ellen who was five. Donna who was three,

and the little one with the big smile was Becl^, aged two. The native minister led them in some songs and then he told them again the Christmas story, saying, "It is because we are so happy that
Jesus came, and to show our love for Him, we give our gifts to each other on His birthday."

the building. When the sun shone on the tin roof, it would be as hot as an oven. But they did not mind that. They liked to come to hear the stories the missionary told them. He used a board and put pictures on it. Lately he had been showing
them that there were two roads, one to heaven and one to hell, and that there was a bridge be
tween them which was the cross of Christ. Rita

Then he had everyone stand up and sing "I Will Make You Fishers of Men" in English, and the little girls stood up and sang it ri^t along with them. Rita was so excited that she could hardly
sing.
It is the law in South Africa that the white chil

dren cannot go to the same schools or churches

as the black children, so the missionary children

would listen ver> closely, as she wanted to know how she could get on the bridge so that she would
be on tlie road to heaven. Then this last Sunday,

always went to a Sunday school for white children.

Rita had never seen them before, but here they were at their Sunday school Christmas party!

Mr. Mills, the missionary, had told them the story of baby Jesus; how that he had been laid in a straw filled bed in a stable; how the angels had told the shepherds of the Saviour's birth. Rita had sat there wide eyed with delight. She could almost see the little baby lying there. She could almost hear the angels singing. She was standing
in the door of her little humble home now, think ing about the birth of Jesus, when her brother appeared in his clean and newly pressed shirt. Grabbing up the two cups from the door step, Rita and Johannes ran down the stony street, not minding the sharp stones that would cut and bruise

Rita was so happy! After this the minister had

all the children line up in front of the table and as they went past, each one was given a balloon, a bag of candy, a cookie, and his cup was filled with kool-aid by the missionary's wife. Some of the children had brought tin cans to drink from while others had brought glasses, but most of them brought little enamel cups like Rita and Jo hannes. Nearly one hundred were served, then the minister closed the party saying, "Thankyou, God, for sending us your Son so that we might have salvation, and thank you, God, too, for send

their feet. They arrived at the church building just as the church bell was being rung. It was a
large bell hung between two poles. They were

ing us the missionaries so that we could leam of your Son," "Yes," thought Rita, "God is good. He has given us such wonderful things. Thank
you, God," she said silently. "Thank you!"

The CHRISTIAN MISSION, VOL. VI, NO. 10, October, 1962

Page 15

CHURCH OF CHRIST POSTAL MISSION

"OhI That was fun," the three little girls in the back seat squealed, "Let's do it again!" And bal^ Becby, sitting on her mother's lap, clapped her hands with joy. Bumpily-bump-bump, the car was bouncing its way along the rough road and bouncingthe children into the air. Mr. MiUswith his wife and small children was on the way to a

Just then the native minister came out to greet

them. He did not live here, but had ridden his bicycle out a few days before so that all would be ready for the missionary's visit. He led them to

the largest of the huts, which was still only a

small one room building. The roof was so low that Mr. Mills was not able to stand up except in the middle of the room where the roof sloped up to a peak. The walls had been freshly plastered with mud, and the floor which was hard packed dirt, was swept very clean. The missionary chil
dren looked about with interest. In one comer

small village in South Africa. A large cloud of dust followed the car as it sped on its way down the road. It was a straight road, but very dusty and sandy as it led across the low hills of the
vield.

Soon they came to a gate across the road so Mr. Mills slowed tiie car to a stop. One of the girls would have hopped out to open it, but as they neared, they saw several little boys starting to open it for them. Sometimes the boys would stay at the gates all day, far from home, just to re ceive &e fewpennies the passing motorist tossed to them in thanks. As he drove through, Mr. Mills gave Kathy a penny to toss to the boys. The boys clapped their hands and shouted their thanks for the large copper coin. There are not many
wild animals in this part of Africa, but from time to time one does see a springbock (a deer-like animal) or possibly ostridges which are wild. Occasionally one mi^teven see a baboon among
the rocks!

was a bed, in another a table and a small bench.

"Where", asked Kathy, "are the people going

to sit?" Anyone could see that there were not enou^ seats, even for the missionaries. In the

end, the children with their mother sat on the bed, while the native minister and the missionary sat
on the bench. Soon the people started to arrive. Some of them brought their own chairs and ben
ches, while others sat on the floor. Even after

tJie songs had been sung, still more people were arriving until there was no longer room for any one to sit down. They had to gather around the
door on the outside in the hot sun.

Just before they reached the small village, Mr. Mills turned down a little rocky, narrow
lane and eased the car around some bends that

All during the service, there was an old hen which kept trjdng to find its way into the room. It was continually driven away.
"Does the chicken want to come to church,

too," Donna whispered to her mother. Mrs. Mills

were never meant for a car at all, much less a

low-slung American car! He pulled to a stop in

front of some small mud huts; and very quickly a crowd of ill-kept, dirty children gathered around to see the white children as they climbed from the auto. Cries of "They're here, come and see, they're here!" filled the air as even more came to join tiie group. "These children are so dirty," said Ruth, "God doesn't like them that way, does He?" she
asked her mother.

only shook her head and told her to be quiet. The hen could not so easily be put off. Finally, with

a great deal of squaking and fluttering of wings,

she took to the air, landing on a shoulder and then on the bed near the children. Becky began to cry

but the hen was only interested in getting to her

nest which was under the bed!

"God loves all the children", her mother ex

When all had quieted again, Mr. Mills closed his sermon by saying that we should all take a lesson from the old hen. "There were many who tried to keep her from her task. There were many obstacles, but she did not let anything stop
her. We, too, should not let anytMng stop us

plained. "It makes no difference how they look

for God looks at the heart."

"Oh," Ruth answered and turned around to look at the children again. "Maybe," she said, "we
should tell them to wash their faces so God will
like them better."

"That is why we are here," said Mr. Mills,

"to tell them about God and Jesus. When they have learned that God is their heavenly Father, they will want to be clean, too."

from doing the work of the Lord. Things of the world may be a hindrance to us, but we must find our place with God." Later on their way home over the same bum py road, the three little missionary children were again in the back seat. "It was fun," Ruth said sleepily, "to tell the people about God." "Yes," Kathy replied, as she curled up to go to sleep. "Let's do this again."