Ah RICAN

Berrence 8< Donna Smaage

P.O. Box 178
Lincoln, Illinois 62656
(furlough address)
Fred Crawford, Fwd, Agent
i . p p I I\ P.O. Box 2if
! U I r \ Columbia, Mo, 65201
L
Sept. 15,
Dear F3?^ends in Christ,!
/
Greetings in the name ojCTr "Sav-iouiuJesus Christ,
This^-s^S3^e^te--ti,me^ for-_o_ur family and we are.^xious to share
vd-tt yoi^Ct^'e news ttfajt we will be^.returning to Africa this coming
J^uary "tWe'^TO"to leave Chicago-O'Hare fiel^Jan,\ 7). many
pf you already know we have had quite a time doming ^o this decis-
/ion. We are glad that we have finally made the decision to return
/and to continue our work for the Lord in South Africa, \The v/hole
^family is now starting to get excited about returning ai^xwe are
"\^lanning, preparing and...yes praying for God's help and guS^d^e
aW for the necessary support both in travel funds and in^.the very I
^necb^ssiry monthly l^iving-link support, /
have, always felt that if God wanted us on the/
mission field, He would :^ovide for our needs. Eight years ixp/
Africa have proved this "jfrO be the case. God has always prodded
for our needs and we are^^^re He will continue to do so o;fst as
long as we are faithful toXthe Word and to the ministry/^iven to
S )
us. We do, however, have a ^^ot to do in the next sixteen weeks
before Jan. 7. Our travel ci^sts for our family of six ^11 come
to over 115,000 dollars! Thati's a lot of money and Fred tells me
we're about f4,999 dollars ^ort in our travel fund., .soj you can
see we are going to need your help along vath your prayets. The
- Scripture that I am thinMn^about right now is Rom^s 10:15,
"And how shall they preach, e/cept they be sent?" (. We are more
//than vailing to go and preach and teach tbe^Wo^d ok God but we
(^can't send ourselves. So we ai^ r^ajJ:^""dependAnft upon you if we
are to carry out this ministry rqr^Christ, Gif^s from churches,
Bible classes, youth groups and individuals are needed. If you
can send something to Fred,,,now i\^t^a.>ii!iel Checks should be
made out to African Mission Evangelism and sent to our Forwarding
Agent Fred Crawford (address above), (They are tax deductible)
j We will also be needing additional monthly pledged support so I
//would like to ask that you would pray with me that God will make
I.-the way possible through churches that will provide this support.
My schedule is pretty well open now and I would be glad to
present our mission work to interested churches. Write to me at
our Lincoln address or if you are needing a program real soon you
can telephone me, , Area code. 21 7=r755~l^37. I would be happy to
come to share the South African work with you. We v;ould very much
/ like to be a part of your mission program of yg^ur congregation in
your ministry in Africa,
The following Is a letter just received from Brother
Roland Joseph, one of our Coloured ministers working in South Africa.
Brother Joseph and I have worked together in many evangelistic and
teaching meetings in South Africa, While v/e were in South Africa
this last term we helped Roland and Charlotte move from Kimberley
to Eldorado Park, a Coloured new suburb of Johannesbbrg, Roland
has started a church in his home there and is doing a very good work
on a very, very limited budget. We hope to be able to encourage
our U.S. churches to help this small but growing congregation through
your prayers. Perhaps one or two U.S. churches could take on this
mission project of helping this group of brothers and sisters in
Christ to get their church building started there in Eldorado Perk,
Here is Roland's letter.
Dear Mr 8c Mrs Srnaage,
Greetings to you in the wonderful name of Jesus
Christ. V/e were so thrilled to hear the nevjs that you
were coming back to S, Africa, It is really wonderful
news. You are needed here a great deal. We are busy
for our Lord as always and are glad to be able to tell
you we just won a young couple to Christ who will be
baptized on Saturday afternoon at Z P.M. at Craighall
Park church.
This yoiJtig couple was brought to Christ through film
strip lessons^, "The Visualized Bible Study Series" which
we were given by bro, Stuart Cook, V/e were able to buy
a small film strip and slide projector and borrowed a
casette tape player from a friend and have been busy for
the Lord teaching families with these lessons for the
last 6 weeks. We have been in a different home every
night of the week and we are praying for more decisions
soon. V/e plant the good seed in the hearts of people
and now we feel the Holy Spirit will complete the task.
V/e have planned an evangelistic meeting for 27th Sept.
to 2nd Oct. 197/t- and a vacation Bible School during the
day. V/e are praying for a great revival and winning of
many souls to Christ. We ask for your special request
of prayer for this meeting and also for the prayers of
all churches and Christians you can contact.
V/e also have a good chance of receiving a church site
from the City council. (Editors note: The sites are allo
cated free to responsible church groups on the condition
that construction of a church house is begun v/ithin one
:yoar of alT o<'Ati nn,r)I.S) Mr. John Kannemeyer contacted
them niid they had one site which they had not allocated
to anyone yet and I had to give him some information about
our group in Eldorado Park and when we intended to build.
I steppol out in faith and said we v/ould be ready in a
year's time, I hope you will still have time to help us
with this project.
We pray God's speed and blessings on your return. We
looking forv/ard to seeing you soon because we miss you
all iP much, Christian love and blessings.
Yours for Christ,
signed, Roland S< Charlotte & children
I am planning personally to do everything I can to help the
(mulatto) work in Eldorado Park. Roland is also working
with Coloured groups in other areas of Johannesburg. Presently
we do not have a single church building for our Coloured brethren
in all of Johannesburg. Eldorado Park will be the first. I really
believe we need to support these brothers and Sisters in Christ with
our prayers. Some financial assistancein helping this new congre
gation to get started on their meeting house would be a great bles
sing to them just nov/. I know that Roland's house is overflowing
now on the Lord's Day, If we can help them get started, they can
take it^the rest of the way by themselves. If you are interested
in helping in this mission project, let me know.
ThlE KING IS COMING 2