DFC. ?

8
SANDY^S SAYINGS
December 22, 1976
Dear Friends and Brethren,
It has been a long time since our last "sayings" and my how time has flown.
fhe- last few-iuo^n ths-Iia-vG been the busiest of our -term so far and we have- seen -
much progress in the cause of Christ here in Zululand.
rt is now the sumjae^ yacation time for the children from school. They have 6
weeks ahead of t^'em "and lit"' appears they have all done well in school this past
year. Michael will go into standard 5 (7th grade), Richard into standard 4
(6th grade), Wayne into standard 3 (5th grade), Michelle into standard 1 (grade
3) and Johnny starts school in class 1 (grade 1) on January 18, 1977. All the
namily is very well.
This is ou^rainy_..season but it has been so much drier than last year with,
jddly enough thoiTgH,'so many more frequent storms of hurricane intensity.
Just within the past two weeks, we have experienced two severe tropical storms
of hurricane force off our coast that did enormous damage. Even with 15
miles off the sea, we thought the house was going to blow away in the 156 kmh
;9TT77 liPir}" wxnds.
The Zululand Churches hosted the 54th annual Church of Christ Mission Con-
::erence this year from September 15-19th at the KwaMdolomba Church near
Mtubatuba. It was a fine conference with'brethren coming from all over South
Africa. We were pleased at the turnout as we are off the "beaten track" as
;.ar as the- center-of SA is concerned, and are tucked way up in -thenortheast ~
corner of South Africa. ~
During October, I was called to Zambia to get the final papers regarding our
house and our final exit from Zambia sorted out. I had to be away three weeks,
but am now completely through and all legally done as far as the Zambian
government is concerned. While I was en route across the border at Kazunguia,
i^till on the Zambian side at the customs post, we came under automatic weapons
iire and had to spend 20-30 minutes flat and crawling until we were able to
(jet to the cars and get away. Zambian missionary Allen Avery was with me at
the time. The border was closed and we crossed the next day. It was a highly
symbolic exit as that part of Africa is definitely in a war zone today.
My Extensresumed when I got back and they are now writ
ing their"fihar end S^'year exams in the course, "Church in the Bible" and
turning in their completed workbooks on II Timothy. We will be giving out two
year certificates to the 15 or so we expect to have finish on January 23rd.
They are all men already in positions of leadership but unable to leave home
and jobs to enter the residence school. Next year, the first Saturday and
Sunday in February, we begin our third year course in ELT and will again
cover three courses. The ELT looks like this at this time: First Year-N. T.
Si-irvey and Talking W-it.h God (20 weeks in 3 centers) and I Timothy; Second Year-
Church in the Bible, II Timothy, Titus and Philemon; Third Year-Old Testament
Introduction, Beginning and Spread of the Church, Life of Christ. We know
from our survey results that about 50% of our members have never attended
school so the lessons even in simple form in the Zulu language, are quite an
undertaking for most of our students.
The survey results were compiled for the annual conference with some eye-open
ing results, such as the average educational level mentioned above. We arrived
at fairly accurate totals for each of the 5 areas of SA we covered in depth.
Wo were glad to witness the baptism of 8 persons in the Umgeni River near
Durban in October and a further 7 baptisms under David Thwala near Mtubatuba
in Novembef"
On Thanksgiving Day, November 25th, the Zulu King, Ingonyama Goodwill Ka
Bhekezulu received his new palace, in an official ceremony, from the KwaZulu
government. I was fortunate enough to wangle an official invitation to the
day-long festivities. As usual the Zulu dancing was terrific as only the
Zulus know how. The king was resplendent in his royal leopard skin robes and
many of the royal family of the Swazi king were in attendance also. Ambassa
dors from several nations and dignitaries from several government departments
were present and all in all, it was a colorful occasion I was glad to witness.
The new palace is a mansion that will cost about three quarters of a million
dollars (U.S.) when completed. There is an impressive entry way, gates
manned by the Royal Zulu Palace guards, tennis courts and swimming pools on the
grounds and a huge royal banquet hall, museum, library, guest houses for senior
official visitors. Very impressive even for a leader of five million people.
Following this, we raced to Durban for a genuine turkey dinner at the American-
Canadian Club. A very full day. Must close for now. Merry Christmas to all
and God's richest blessings for the New Year.
Yours in Him,
Sandy & Charlotte + 5
FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH
6750 North 7th Avenue
Phoenix, Az 85013
mission SEI^rCES
BOX L77 y
KEMPTOH, Xi 46049
NON PROFIT ORG.
U. S. Postage
PAID
Phoenix, Arizona
Permit No. 674