NOTHING LIKE YOUR OWN LANGUAGE

Our neighbor and friend was a serviceman working at Stanford’s service station, a very well known garage in Kimberley. Our children and theirs were of a similar age and we often visited with them. I always had my car serviced at Stanford’s, and usually asked for Bing to do the work. In time the city wanted the site and the Stanford brothers sold the business and retired. At that time Bing and another serviceman set up a new business which became the Volvo dealership and service station of Kimberley. Of course I did not drive a Volvo, but I continued to go to Bing for any automobile work to be done, and years later when I went near Kimberley I always stopped to greet them.

Bing once related something that had happened to him. Since he was so well thought of people came to him, even from the adjoining province to have him service their vehicles. We would say “state.” This “boer” (farmer) was a very emphatic that he must be addressed in his own language, demanding that Bing speak Afrikaans with him. Often such persons would simply turn and walk away if one spoke English, but of course Bing knew Afrikaans; in fact he knew the latest technical terms for everything about a car. But, because he was not impressed with this clearly uneducated man’s demands, he said certainly he would use Afrikaans. However the Afrikaans language, not having words for so many technical things, has new words that have been have been created as they were needed. Some are very new. Bing used all the very latest words knew very well that his customer had not the faintest idea what he was saying. As expected the gentleman soon stopped him and said, “It’s all right, I understand English. Use English, please.”

At that time, I was printing quite a lot of Bible study materials, from translations, into Afrikaans. As everything printed in South Africa at the time had to carry an ISBN number and copies had to be provided to the State Libraries of Record. My name became known as a publisher in Afrikaans. I was amazed to open my mail one day to find a gold embossed invitation to attend the opening of an Afrikaans Cultural Museum in Bloemfontein. The featured speaker was to be the State President, and most of the members of parliament had been invited, of course. As I knew I would be like a fish out of water and would not understand much of what was happening, I thought it best to decline attending. The event was being held at Bloemfontein, the former capital of the old Afrikaans Republic, a hundred miles away. Incidentally, South Africa really has three capitals. The capital building and some departments are in Pretoria, Bloemfontein is the Judicial Capital, that is where the Supreme Count convenes, and Cape Town is the home of Parliament. Interestingly, Pretoria and Bloemfontein are in Afrikaans speaking areas, while Cape Town is considered to be English speaking, but has a very pronounced accent all it’s own.

South Africa has ten official languages, plus several more that are not considered to be official. It was when we were able to publish booklets and tracts, working from translations, in all ten of those languages that the demand really blossomed. There were not just thousands, but actually hundreds of thousands of requests, and from all over Africa. We were forced out of mailing free correspondence Bible lessons, when sanctions, closed areas to mail service, postage rates soared, and an acute shortage of staff forced us to change our distribution methods. We retreated to working from a located shop and area, and to stop promoting outside of South Africa. Things may now be changing, for as Greek was the world language at the onset of the church, English seems to be becoming the same in today’s world. Still, there is nothing like addressing a man in his own home language. He may be comptent in English, but he still loves his own home language.

Thinking of that, when the schools opened to all races and languages teahers were shocked to be told that when many of their potential students noted on their application forms that they were English speaking, even though they could only speak an African language. Chaos reigned when class sizes jumped, in the original rooms, from twenty or so to forty or more, speaking a number of different languages, and half of them could hardly understand a word of the teacher’s language. To add to the chaos, many Afrikaans speaking teachers, themselves not speaking English well, were teaching advanced classes in English grammar. The result was that the teacher used such terms as, “We is all going,” or “borrow me your pencil.” Those two illustrations actually were common in our own children’s own classes even when schools were still segregated.

A PROBLEM SOLVED

The printed Word in the language of the people is vital, and delivering it from press to reader can be accomplished in many ways. Today as I browsed through a scrapbook of our monthly newsletters of the time, I came across two with drawings of our Bible van. I had forgotten that we gave it the nick name of "turtle" as it was comparatively slow, and especially so if there was a head-wind, as there seemed always to be on a long trip. But it had wonderful blessings to bestow as well. In another blog you saw a picture of the first trailer that we used to carry all our supplies. We now move forward several years to 1989 and see the how very differently we handled the books and Bibles distribution. This was practically a traveling billboard. People saw it, on the highways, and they responded positively. It was truck mounted, with had a side serving hatch, and absolutely no one sat on top of this one like they did with the small luggage trailer! I did walk about on it when I mounted the sign for our first Bible Shop. At first there was terrific wind resistance, but after I designed and built the bunk over the truck cab, the air flow was much better. That was another problem solved. As the original box had been mounted on a trailer, and was designed to be a traveling Hot Dog Stand, I occasionally got a ribbing that someone wanted ice cream or a hot dog with mustard and pickles. I used it at the preaching conference, and at the minister's week. At the Barkly West adult camp out I was able to park it in a space absolutely adjacent to the covered outside walkway around the main kitchen, lunch hall, and assembly building. The walls facing it, were made of folding doors that were pushed open all day every day we were there in order to catch the breeze. When I visited African churches to preach, I drove it by choice, as I could carry lots of materials in the language that church normally used, and everything was always visible, while no set-up time was necessary. Not only that, but my lodgings were right there with me, so I could eat with the congregation and could park it anyhere.

Back in Johannesburg later, a Flea Market opened on the big show grounds near Soweto. I drove the van there every Saturday. It was like being at the State Fair and on the main drag. The management gave me free parking and a reserved spot. Unfortunately that venue closed after they went bankrupt. Those were troubled days and too many people were afraid to be that near to Soweto and to leave their cars in the open parking lot outside the fence, even though there were armed horseback guards there, and probably half or more of the people in attendance were carrying weapons. I understood why, as I had been issued a permit to park in down town Johannesburg, adjacent to the African railway station terminal. That would have been a prime spot just outside the police station, but was still near to the European terminal. That station was a target for bombers, and thr whole area was definitely "high crime" rated. I am afraid I felt my face was the wrong color, and considering the times, that was not the place to park all day long. Instead I hired an office in a building across the street for a while, and set up a publisher's show room there, and travelled in by bus. A building next to the station and across the street from our office was bombed and for a while it was thought that it was damaged beyond repair and would have to be torn down.

Now that I am in Texas, every time I see a huge "Horse" Trailer being towed by a pick up truck, I think, "Under the right circumstances, I would love to have had something like that available in South Africa to adapt with fluorescent lighting, greeting card type displays on both the very long sides and a dropdown tail-gate with an awning over it. I wouldn't need a shop at all! People could come right in. Some of these vans I have seen are actually already fitted with factory installed sleeping quarters over the truck bed. The Scripture says something about old men, "dreaming dreams." At my age, that is all it can be and particularly as South Africa is even more troubled today in many ways than it was before. The country is going through the "carpet bag" period after the turmoil.

WHATSOEVER WE ASK, WE RECEIVE OF HIM

Jesus told us that if we ask believing, he will provide. (1 John 3:22).

Our Bible bookstore and print shop had been suffering repeated burglaries. The ceiling had fallen in. Torrential rains had flooded it when street drainage was upset by road construction. And worst of all, it was being outgrown. In it’s favor, it was ideally situated and getting to be well known. We knew we were on the right track in providing it. Income was just covering expenses.

Just at that stage, a church complex, in not such a good location, but offering every thing else the rented shop had failed to offer, was placed on the market. I asked another missionary friend if he would go look at it with me and offer his advice. Keep in mind that we had not a cent to spare between us, but we looked together and came to just opposite conclusions. This building had a chapel that could seat probably 200, was fully furnished, on a corner site two blocks from a shopping community, and was in good condition. There was even a baptistery with dressing rooms, a cry room and a small office. The attached hall was larger, but not yet completed and had a half basement under the stage and kitchen. Upstairs there were fourteen small classrooms. The big drawback was the price and there would be the need to complete the building as there was not one toilet of any sort in that hall, even with all those classrooms. This was a prayer project and a test! Even my wife sided with our missionary friend.

I had been urgently praying in the smaller shop about our need. Now I became much more specific in my requests. The response was that the building was taken off the market. I still prayed, and a year later it was placed on the market again, but greatly reduced in price. I thought of selling our home to get a down payment, but that was not what our Lord had in mind at all. Just as I started praying again, almost immediately an estate became available. I made an offer, and it was accepted. It paid for the building, and the alterations so we ended up with two upstairs baths, a laundry, and a half-bath in the shop. The bookstore and print shop were spacious, and secure, but to just make sure, we added security gates, steel fenced, covered parking for two vehicles, and an upstairs apartment for ourselves. We did sell our home but only so that we could live over the shop and have the added security of a resident caretaker. That was good as repeated attempts were later made to steal our car and other vehicles were vandalized or stolen from our parking area.

Praise is to God who provided what everyone thought was out of the question, and beyond what we could ever have expected. God is truly great!

A "HOME GROWN" CHURCH

I have used the words "home grown" with the meaning that it was of African origin. Some would say It was "indigenous."

When we first moved to Johannesburg, we worked closely with another missionary and shared an office as well. It worked well as he used the office primarily as a parking place for anything he might have use for during the day, and a place where I could answer the phone and relay messages to him when he dropped in. He spent most of the day elsewhere.

I needed the space for my offset press and other related printing equipment and spent my days during the week working with the Bible Correspondence lessons, the mail related to that, and preparing and printing new studies.

One morning he dropped in and asked if I would like to go with him to Soweto to talk with an African man he had met who lived there. Soon, we had driven out to this township and found the home where we talked with the gentleman for some time. After a while he asked if we would be interested in going to a near by tent, we could see from the house, and attending the tent meeting that an African preacher of the Zion Christian Church was conducting. We were both curious to know more of these people, so we were soon there and being introduced to the leader.

He was a very presentable man who spoke English fluently, but the most noticeable thing about him was his highly polished shoes, where the streets were all dirt, the scarlet, velvet robe that he wore, but also the fact that he wore a crown, and that the people treated him with the utmost respect. The tent contained two chairs, a table, and a few benches. There was a bowl of blood, I assumed to be from a chicken that had been killed in a previous meeting, and there were candles, and a few other items that seemed a bit strange, but it was when the meeting started that the difference became very apparent.

Clearly, the people were surprised to see white faces at the front. That there were two of us probably raised more suspicions as that was an area where the people never gave any information to a white person at all. Also, plain clothes policemen always travelled in twos. When the leader entered the tent, everyone but us dropped to the floor with face to the floor, and a mumble of prayers by everyone. The same was repeated when his wife also came in a little later. After a prayer, in which they all prayed facing Jerusalem, each praying aloud with his face to the floor. The service began with bells, drums, candles, and finally the introduction of us. Clearly they had patterned the prayers from the Islam custom, the candles from Catholicism, the sacrificial blood from the Old Testament sacrifices, all presented with their own love for the pageantry of the crown and robes. My fellow missionary was introduced first and he introduced me with the words, "I have brought Bob with me, and he will preach for you! That put the ball inmy court. That was also my first warning. What could I say? I remembered Paul who had faced a similar situation on Mars Hill, just across from the Parthenon. Paul had said to the Athenians, "I perceive that you are a very religious people."

I began with thattext and those exact words. And from there I went on to tell them of the church in the Bible and Christ the Lord. I had no idea how they would receive that message, but I figured I would never have another opportunity and they needed that message. They really were very gracious afterwards and insisted that we must stay and have tea with them, and talk a little more. The tent was set up in the back yard of an empty house. That was where they served us tea. My friend commented later, "I was looking around to see if there was a way out under the sides of the tent." I knew there wasn't. The floor was sewed in with the sides and there was only one opening..

We had met a genuine Zionist evangelist. No doubt the form of worship would vary with each leader, as they have no facility for training their ministers. I too, perceive that they are very religious, and also that they need teaching. This was indeed, a home grown church, one of the more than 3000 according to a not so recent South African census report.

TEST YOUR RELIGION

Jordan House is actually a cluster of buildings centering on a core-building containing the kitchen, a dining room and a sitting room. There was a ward wing for bed patients, and a circling row of attached private rooms with a covered walk. The garden was well cared for and there were benches, mostly along the walk. A high security fence with a guard at the gate protected the residents and visitor’s motor cars. This was a church run home for the elderly, or disabled, especially those needing care. It was surrounded by a large community of many small homes that housed very many people. In those homes, they would have perhaps a cot in a corner and be expected to oversee and care for all the pre-school children of the family. Their pay would be neglect, hunger and possibly, abuse.

Jordon House was like an oasis in a desert. Here they had friends, good food, care, and love, and their families could come visit them regularly if they so desired. Unfortunately, there were many who never had visitors at all.

Jesus’ compassion for the poor and neglected, was seen by his brother James, the writer of the epistle of James, who wrote, "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but decevieth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James 1:26,27.

The church in Johannesburg had a long time custom of going at least every three months, burdened down with cookies, and cakes or candy. These visits were scheduled with the manageress for Sunday afternoon and a small group would prepare a program, a short devotional talk, and with prayers and a special music they would lead in worship services, Tea would be served with the treats as soon as the service was finished, Some were already drowsy. They were ready for their naps. In any case, as soon as tea was over a group of the visitors would circulate through the wards serving those who were too ill to come to the dining room.

Some of the residents would be sitting on the benches in the shade, and as soon as the gong was sounded they and others from their rooms would head for the dining room where they would be seated at their usual tables with their friends. The visitors would start to prepare the plates that had been lined up on the work table in the kitchen and some would circulate among the residents greeting and visiting here and there. As soon as the plates were ready, the church group would lead in the shortened service and the kitchen staff would prepare tea for everyone. At Christmas time gifts were distributed, perhaps lap robes for cool days and cold nights and other small gifts. The biggest gift of all was just visitors being there who cared enough to come.

WHAT SHOULD WE BE PUBLISHING?

Because of the number of items that we had published, we were very happy when we received an invitation to attend a Christian Publisher’s Conference at Potchefstroom University. We were printing in about eighteen languages at that time, and were regarded to be a major publisher simply because of the number of different languages, titles, and how many ISBN numbers we had used as we filed the required copies with the State Libraries. None of the individual items was a large book.

This happened at the height of the isolation of South Africa during the apartheid years, so it was surprising that such a meeting for delegates from all over Africa could be successful. It was, after all, not technically possible for delegates from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi and other Northern Africa countries to obtain permits to go to South Africa. Where there is a will, there is a way, so that technicality was overcome by simply stamping their passports on a removable slip of paper once they had reached a country friendly to South Africa. Those slips were taken out when they returned home after the meetings.

This conference, sponsored by the Dutch Reformed Church, had as its primary purpose, to find out from writers and booksellers from those countries just what the churches wanted published for their use. Did they want major textbooks, commentaries, and concordances by well-known authors, or did they want booklets and inexpensive literature? As invited delegates, we were housed in the university guesthouse on campus and our meals were served in the dining room. As I remember it lasted about three or four days. At first, I planned to sleep in the bunk of our Bible van at the campus campsite. It turned out however that I had to ask to move to the guesthouse when the seam between the bunk and the body of the van leaked badly in a driving rainstorm. This was my first time to use it for sleeping in bad weather after I had added the sleeping compartment. We were given a tour of their library, and entertained at a special picnic on the lawn under the trees of the campus, and also attended a special evening presentation by the campus drama group. Our days were largely spent in available lecture rooms and classrooms where representatives from the various countries told of what they really needed where they lived and worked. After these times, we broke up into smaller round table units and in those groups discussed what they had told us. On the final day, the results of those discussions and answers to the questions, were tabulated, and discussed again back in the lecture room. The University later published the conclusions in a book to guide Christian Publishers to have a better, more meaningful, ministry..

Ghana had booksellers who carried "shoebox libraries" of small booklets dealing with the various problems and answers for the people in their country. They did not want commentaries, concordances, or other expensive volumes and added that they would buy those from existing book wholesalers in English. They all came from British colonies so could all speak English. Those were already available. The representatives from each country had come to the final agreement, that what they really needed were inexpensive booklets and tracts in their own languages.

This was precisely what we had been doing from the very beginning. We had specialized in printing translated paperback booklets that were staple bound and single sheet, tracts. The booklets ranged from a few pages to up to about fifty pages, and the first printing was usually for 500 or 1000 copies depending on the demand we expected. This allowed for us to make corrections in later editions and printings, and even to discard the entire printing if the translator proved to be too inaccurate. That actually happened only one time. That time it was a Xhosa translation that was just compltely unacceptable. Of course we did not realize that until readers started to lodge complaints. It was immediately withdrawn, and in that particular case, we did not have another translation made. One learns from his mistakes!

What did they need? And, What did they want? That is not necessarily the same answer. What they needed had a lot to do with what we published.

SNAKES ALIVE!

I remember as a youth sitting around a campfire while someone one told exciting stories of camping in the woods. If you would like to have a lively time of snakey stories, get your African class to telling you their experiences with snakes. I even have a couple of my own. Of course mine are not as animated as theirs. They firmly believe that Satan still comes in the form of a snake, particularly a python, and that he can slip up on you and you can not see him even if you are looking right at him. That is one reason they sweep a clear area around their traditional homes.

Of course Africa has many varieties of snales, and most of them are deadly poisonous, including cobras, ringhals, spitting cobras which have a black ring around their necks, mambas, both black and green varieties, boom-slungs, moccasins, and adders, Probably the most feared are the mambas and the cobras, as their poison acts on the nervous system and so rapidly that often it is too late to get help. The adder is slower acting, more like an American rattlesnake, but with no rattles. Our daughter stepped on one of those once but it missed her when she leaped aside.

I remember four meetings. Twice with a mamba, once with an adder, and once with a house snake, a harmless small snake that likes to inhabit houses. My wife has never forgiven me for the fact that one evening as I was reading on the couch, she spied a snake in the house and shouted "snake!" My first reaction was to pull my feet up onto the couch and ask where? When she told me where, we spied a tiny foot long little house snake that had slithered behind under the door and hidden under the piano. Using a broom, we quite literally swept it back out the door.

Since the country Africans often live in mud huts with thatched roofs and no ceilings, and may sleep on a mat on the floor, I well understand their fear of the creatures. Twice on our visits to Natal, a sub-tropical province on the South Coast of Africa, I encountered mambas. They are long thin snakes that can move extremely rapidly, and they are deadly poisonous. I had decided to go down to the beach on one occasion and the path led through a thicket that was shoulder high. I heard a snake fleeing from me as my footsteps approached. I was relieved that he fled. They usually do. The other time we were using a large mud hut for church services. It was totally empty, and had no windows and only one opening for a door, perhaps five feet high. We had no more settled when someone noticed that there was a mamba in the thatch above the door that we had just used to enter, and the only way out. We could only wait for him to move away deep into the thatch somewhere else before we could even consider leaving.

My brush with an adder was not so disturbing. Phyllis and I had decided to climb the trail to the top of the Golden Gate, a gold-colored rocky cliff that towers above a National Park camp site. About half way up, I saw an adder hiding under one of the rocks that made up the steps of the steep parts of the climb. You can be sure that we were cautious when we returned that path on the way back down later. From that time on, we were especially watchful when following a trail through high grass or brush.

Yes, Africa has snakes, but one just learns to be cautious, and if you live on the farm, you may keep anti-venom kits on hand, but the one we need to respect the most is the same one Eve had her brush with in the book of Genesis. He later came to Jesus openly, knowing there was no point in trying to deceive the Lord. Know the Word, and use it as Jesus did. Satan will flee. He twice came to us in the dark of the night in our own church building and where our apartment was situated. The coldest chill literally made our hair stand on end. In the name of Jesus, I commanded him to leave and not return. And he did. The same happened to Phyllis on a different occasion. She sent him to the bridge on the path through the park which we walked to go to the Post office. He left then, but that was the place where I tripped months later and shattered my left elbow. Could I have been tripped? I don't think so, but be prepared lest Satan try to trip you up at the least expected moment and place. He is not limited to Africa and being in a church house does no hinder him at all.

JOYCE AND RAYMOND IN APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA!

During most of our residence in South Africa mixed marriages were strictly forbidden, so much so that many a couple were arrested in early morning raids. In all the adjoining countries, this was not so. So, I was surprised when this lovely couple insisted that they had been married in South Africa.

Joyce is an orphan having been cared for in a Hindu orphanage. There she met a Christian minister who visited the orphanage regularly and in time she dropped many of her Hindu customs, though not the giving of a gift to her guests. It is a bit embarrassing to accept an invitation to her home as she often insisted that you have a gift when you leave. You had to be careful about admiring anything lest she insist that you have it.

Raymond is from Rhodesia, and Joyce is an Indian from South Africa. She was a widow with two daughters when they met in England where they had both gone on a conducted tour holiday. Their friendship blossomed and they married after they returned to South Africa.

We first met them one Sunday when they came to the church building and asked if they could worship with us as they had not been able to find the congregation they were seeking and it was getting late. Thus began long friendship. Joyce had a serious heart problem, and went through very serious surgery. We made numerous hospital and home visits while she grew stronger, and in time I baptized both of them in our church's baptistry.

Joyce has a lovely voice and is a professional singer, She often took charge of the little children in the nursery during the services.

Joyce and Raymond once invited us to a restaurant and she clearly thought one of her daughters should be paired off with our grandson, Shannon. He was shocked when he saw the young lady eating her food in that restaurant with her fingers,Indian style. Actually, he was not at all interested, but that was the absolute first and last time he was paired off with her. He is now married to a lovely young lady whom he met at church, and they now have a beautiful baby daughter and are expecting another. We now have several great-grandchildren, but they are scattered widely over the world. There are three in South Africa, one in England, one in Ohio, and one soon to be in Oklahoma. So far, we have not actually seen any of them in person.

THIEVES EVERYWHERE!

Our first venture into a Bible Bookshop opened in a tiny shop in a small cluster of shops all in one building. It was situated on a main street leading into Alberton from the South. Natalspruit Township, (nicknamed, Murder Township), was farther out and much black traffic passed there every day. Later, the city opened a black taxi and bus depot very near by.

Our first shop was the smallest in a cluster of shops and we nestled on the corner between a thriving butchery and a very popular fruit and vegetable shop. The only apparent problem was its size. A 9’x12’ carpet would have covered it wall to wall, but there was room for my desk and behind it a wall of shelves housing Bibles and Hymnals. Every African Christian considers that these are necessities, and in his own language. Also, each church usually has it’s own hymnal, though the Christian churches used the Methodist Hymnal since it was readily available and most of the songs they used were in it. As long as we stayed with only Bibles and Hymnals, this little shop was big enough, and it was in easy walking distance from our home.
Our shop door faced a huge trash bin across the parking lot, and that is where the Green-Grocer threw a lot of his spoiling vegetables and fruit. One cold winder morning shortly after I arrived at the shop, I glanced up, and there was an African lady looking though those discards for something she could eat. She was a squatter from a near by area, but that morning she was wearing not a stitch of clothing. She soon went to the other side of the parking area and sat down in the comparative warmth of sunshine. I picked up the phone and called Phyllis and asked her to send a sweater and some clothing over to the shop as soon as she could, and soon one of our grandsons arrived with the parcel and I then had the problem of how to get them to her without frightening her away. This was solved for me when two young African women who worked nearby arrived with a cotton maid's dress for her. I was able to get them to take my parcel to her as they had already done with their own contribution.

This shop shared an attic with all of shops in the same building including the awning which extended over the sidewalk. This overhang was used repeatedly by thieves who were attracted by the cigarettes, the cola drinks, and the cash of the Green-Grocery and the small lumber yard and hardware store. They broke though the ceiling outside the wall, then took their choice of shops to break in through the ceiling. We never left cash there, but they still took Bibles which they could sell door to door in the township. They also smashed their way in through the plate glass windows and door at times instead of climbing into the attic first.

We soon outgrew that shop. It was later hired by a key cutter, for a while, and then was the office of a dating bureau, and finally remained with one renter when the butcher took it over as a biltong (smoke dried meat) department for his business. That, of course, made it even more attractive to thieves. We moved to a larger shop in the same building. It was large enough to bring our printing equipment there and to offer a variety of Christian books as well as our own publications. Unfortunately, the burglaries continued, and as the windows were larger they were more costly to replace.

Shop lifters were also a problem. On one occasion the manager of a neighboring shop saw we were in trouble as he passed by and he just stepped in and pretended to be browsing. He wore a large revolver openly in his belt. The group who had come in saw that and they just lost interest in browsing.

At that time, the streets were being altered and a new island was placed in the road at the junction. It interrupted the drainage flow so that a heavy downpour brought the water into the shop flooding us. Blocked drainage in the communal toilets caused them to overflow to the point that one really needed gumboots to get there. The final “straw that broke the camel’s back," was when a cat got up into the attic some how and it’s weight, caused a huge panel of the ceiling to fall in on top of everything. We knew it was a cat, because it left footprints on the panel, and claw marks on the wall where it clung as it scrambled back to the attic. Since we were getting short of space to work, we started looking for a larger shop that would not have these problems. We found it on the other side of the malls in a church building and its attached hall. They were put up for sale. They too, had been broken into as the burglars had started little fires in two or three places where they burned papers for light. The carpets were burned and scorched in those places.
However, God is able to bring good out of even our problems. We eventually were able to buy this complex and because it belonged to us, we could make the improvements that were needed. Better security was one of those. We added security gates on the entrances. Another was that we sold our home and moved to an apartment upstairs over the shop so the building would never be totally empty. Still another blessing was that we had plenty of storage space, guest rooms, plenty of space for our equipment, and the Bible shop had room to expand. We had also gained a very nice church building in the change!

Burglars never gained entry, though I did challenge the occupants of two closed vans just as they were preparing to attach a chain to our burglar door and their vehicle. Our bedroom was directly over the entrance, so I was directly over their heads. When they heard me, they dropped everything, jumped into their cars and fled. They thought I was armed when I opened the window and spoke to them. We were not so fortunate in the case of our car. The Nissan Centra, several years old, was broken into six times. Even coils of razor wire on top of the steel fence did not stop thieves. They never took the car itself, but they damaged it by smashing windows and the interior. They seemed to be after the radio, so I took that out and stored it permanently inside the shop. They did not know, but It did not work in any case.

On one occasion, we returned home after a home Bible study, to find a man standing beside our entrance. As his presence unnerved us and he just stayed near by, we rang the bell, and Roland came from inside and opened our security gate. He then engaged the man in conversation while we opened the car storage gate and put the car behind lock and keys. With three of us there, the fellow soon wandered away.

BEAUTIFUL BARBERTON

Barberton is a "picture postcard" town nestled in a valley at the foot of a mountain range. Its climate is so mild that one approaches through orange groves that border the road. There are two ways to enter. If you are following the Mozambique road, a right fork will lead to a very long and steep downgrade winding to the valley below while the other approach is far less exciting as it comes along the valley. Both have their own attractions. The high road also leads to the Kruger National Game Park, while the lower road passes a magnificent hot springs with its cottages and travel trailer park.

Barberton was the site of gold mines which you can still explore in the foot hills of the mountain. These led to it becoming the first town in South Africa to establish a Stock Exchange, probably trading mostly in gold mine stocks.

My first visit there was to attend a church conference, and incidentally my last was also for another many years later. On the first visit we stayed in small rondavels at the edge of town. We were fascinated by the very high cable way that had been built to carry ore from far up in the mountains of Swaziland across the border to the railway depot just down the street from where we were. These containers carried perhaps a pickup truck load of ore at a time and operated most of the time with the exception of the week ends. Africans often rode the last containers with the ore in to the town to be with their families for the week end. The story is told of one man who waited too long and the container he rode in, stopped hundreds of feet up in the air. He was stranded there for the entire week end, then of course, had to go straight back to the mine where he worked.

Because of the strong up drafts there, Barberton has become very popular with the hang glider fraternity and it is an unusual day if there are not several gliders circling high in the sky. Because of this, the city has opened a second, much larger, camp and cottage site on the other side of the town.

The African people of Barberton are Swazis, and speak a language very similar to Zulu. We always particularly enjoyed visiting them. Two of their ministers had been men who first learned of the New Testament church through our Bible Correspondence lessons. I was surprised on one early visit to hear Simon Mtshayisa introduce me as a preacher with a very powerful voice. I knew that I am rather soft spoken, but he was referring to the fact that he first learned of me through our Correspondence Bible lessons when I was still living at Windhoek in Namibia. Once when I found myself perhaps fifty miles from Barberton and the local minister did not show up to lead me to the place of meeting, another missionary who was with me phoned Simon. Services had already started there, but without hesitation, Simon said, "Come here. We will just sing and preach till you get here." We had a glorious day with these fine people! Sadly, after several years, I was called to preach Simon's funeral. He had a long and successful ministry at Barberton, and I had lost a dear friend.

Following the example of the apostle Paul's trade as a tent-maker, Simon had a professional sewing machine and largely supported his family with it. He also planted a thriving vegetable garden and fruit trees, where ever he served the Lord. More than once Simon had to enlarge the building in which the church there met and worshipped.

Several of the elders of that church worked as warders in the near by State Prison. Our Bible Lessons were very popular in that prison as in several others, but in this one there were elders to encourage and teach the convicts. Most of these men were long-term prisoners. Other prisons that welcomed the lessons were the one in Pretoria, the national capitol, one in Boputatswana, and another in Robertson. These had an exceptionally large enrollments, while many others had fewer.

GOD DOES ANSWER PRAYERS!

Suffice it to say that God always answers the sincere prayer of his faithful servants. It is those selfish and personal things that we are tempted to ask for that are not granted.

I recall a time when our Bible bookstore desperately needed a larger and more secure place. At that time we were struggling with inadequate funding and every month just barely broke even. I began to pray urgently about the need, knowing that all things belong to God. One day in the middle of a passionate prayer, like Elijah, I heard a still small voice clearly say, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Needless to say, I stopped that prayer and began to praise Him, even though I had not as yet seen anything,

Not long after that, two Church buildings near by, were placed on the market. I looked at both of them and rejected the first because it simply did not lend itself to the need at hand. The other was perfect, though very high priced. It had a more than adequate chapel completely furnished, and a larger attached hall with a second
story and a half-basement. It was one block from the older shopping center of the community and about four blocks from the post office where we had a box.
I thanked the Lord, then he tested my sincerity. It was taken off the market. A year later it was again advertised with the same advertisement, but with a substantial drop in the price. I again cautiously prayed about this particular building and this time, God provided an estate that actually made it possible to pay cash for the building and for the alterations that were needed. The hall, which became the Bible shop, had a very rough concrete floor, the stairs to the upstairs rooms was very incomplete, and there was not a single toilet in this hall or for the upstairs rooms. We added both upstairs and downstairs toilets, a fire hose, and necessary extinguishers as well as security shutters on the entrances and used commercial carpet tiles that we got at half price to cover the rough shop floors.

This is a case where God provided for His work of publishing and printing generously. I praise him for it all.

We sold our home and moved to an upstairs apartment where we would be close to the work and could serve as security guards at the same time. There was never a successful burglary while we lived there, though there was more than one attempt. The poor car parked in a steel and razor wire storage shelter outside was not so lucky. It was never stolen, but it suffered break-ins several times.

About 4:00 a.m. one night I was waken by the sound of a car under out second store window, I opened the window cautiously in time to see a second car also arrive and saw that the first one had backed up to our shop front security shutter. Two men were already starting to fasten a chain to it. Clearly they meant to pull that out with their closed black van and the men from the other car would assist them to fill both cars with our equipment.

I opened the window fully since they were right under me and leaning out a little, the building is a solid brick structure so I was protected by the sill and narrow window, cautioned them saying, “I suggest that you leave here immediately before I start shooting.” They left immediately. I used that line several times and it has never failed to prodice immediate good results, though I have never been tempted to actually do anything. I had no gun. Had that not stopped them, I would have had Phyllis phone the Police Station, which was less than three blocks away. We did have a phone in the apartment. God does answer prayers, and He looks after his messengers.

WE WANT TRACTS TO DISTRIBUTE

Probably because the Gospel Tract Centre was listed in the Directory of Christian Publishers as a publisher of tracts in many languages, and we did not hesitate to take on short notice the job of printing and folding large orders of tracts in various languages for the cost of materials only, we were often asked to do just that. Our basic tract that we supplied for that type of order was the one titled , "What Must I Do to be Saved?" That being the case, I was not surprised to be invited to set up a table for a one day Christian Conference at one of the Universities in Pretoria. There was a large hall and were many displays of materials that were available. Pretoria is one of the three capitols of South Africa and is not far from Johannesburg. It was a blessed day. The Christian group at the Universities have a custom of encouraging Christian student groups to make trips to the near by countries or homeland areas during College breaks. On these trips they will probably camp in tents and during the day go out to distribute tracts and other materials, coming together for an evening time of teaching, worship and praise. Their enthusiasm for the Lord, and their music usually guarantee a large attendance.

Because we knew about this custom, We were not at all surprised to receive a phone call asking for tracts that they could distribute. They would pick them up, and in this case wanted English, Portuguese, Afrikaans, and Zulu versions. Mostly Zulu and Portuguese. A group was going to Mozambique, and another to Zululand. In total they wanted 17,000 tracts and they wanted them in a week's time. Fine, the Risograph printed copies rapidly, and the folder would make those folds in one pass. I already had the "master copies" done on the computer's lazer printer and stored in my master files.

Another similar order came from an Indian evangelist for tracts to distribute at the entrance of their community just South of Alberton. He wanted English, but thousands of them. What was not distributed by his people at the entrance would be distributed at his tent meetings.

THROUGH THE OPEN DOOR OF THE GOSPEL TRACT CENTRE

A few weeks ago, we attached a picture of the open door of the Bible Shop as it was in 2000 A.D. Step inside with me for a visit to the "Gospel Tract Centre." Do not be put off by the odd spelling of "Bibles" on our display window outside. It is spelled correctly in Afrikaans. Our shop is different from the very "Americanized" Bible bookshop in the mall about four blocks away. They must make money there, They are owned by a major Christian Publishing company and stock the very latest and the best available. That is where one would go to find all the latest and most beautiful Bibles, Christian greeting cards, gifts, novelties, devotional and picture books. Most are available in English or Afrikaans. Expect to pay a more! In our shop, you would find the outside walls displaying all our own publications, face out, starting with the English to your right as you browse. We were publishing over 400 different items representing among them all eleven of the official languages of the country and also those of a number others used in near by countries. These, with Bibles and hymnbooks in the same languages, reach around the entire perimeter of the shop. All African Christians seek to have a Bible and a hymn book in their own language, so we stocked those from the South African Bible Society. They have a beautiful warehouse and office building near the Johannesburg International Airport including a self service Bible shop where one can find Bibles from all over the world. We bought most South Africa's major languages, by the case at a time. Since the Bible Society does not deliver locally, we had a small van, used especially to collect our orders from them. Our grandson, Shannon Bright, lived with us and it was his job to make those trips, and since he was a graduate of Nebraska Christian College, and also was very computer wise, he also cared for our computers and sometimes served customers, both shoppers and those with photocopying or quick printing to be done. I did all our typesetting, no matter what the language was, all the printing, and usually assisted visitors.

The center islands displayed tracts, certificates, greeting cards, and a selection of Christian books, commentaries and reference books.

It was our main goal to serve, especially, our black clients, with all their church's printed needs as economically as possible and still keep the doors open. God blessed this, and we never ran into the red. It was a truly blessed "not for profit business," with Him as our Senior Partner.

A TYPICAL FUNERAL IN AFRICA

Funerals in Africa may vary considerably from our customs.

Among the Europeans, (whites), there is not that much difference except that in the early years at least, people were buried in the cemetery according to their denominational church membership background and not in family plots. The Baptists, the Methodists, the Anglicans, and so forth, were all buried in their particular section of the cemetery reserved for that church, and not in family groups. If the person had no church connection, he would be put into a sort of “potter’s field” area, often neglected and not having any markers.

My first burial service, was that of Johnny Hamilton, the first son of Al. and Annette Hamilton, our good friends and co-missionaries in Kimberley. There was only a graveside service, and the burial was, by permission, in the Baptist portion of the West End Cemetery in Kimberley. There were only a very few of us present. This was a most heart breaking occasion for all of us. He was the first son of the Hamilton’s, and for us like family, it was very difficult. Phyllis had been with Annette when Johnny took his last struggling breath. Over the years, the Lord led us in different ways and our paths led to different parts of the world. Being a missionary, European (white) funerals were the exception for me, though there were several as I preached for small mid-city churches as well. I preached that one, and later also that of one of our missionaries, Ron Whisman, and a few from the young city church I served in Johannesburg.

On the other hand, I have preached at many African funerals, particularly those of ministers, their wives, or other‘s involved in the mission‘s various activities. An African funeral is different. I have preached in the open sun, in church buildings, and under canvas shelters. They all have in common that there is nearly always an great crowd, often overflowing the building; perhaps even the grounds, and there are numerous speakers in addition to the primary one. Many arrive with cash in envelopes which are brought to assist with the expenses involved. Those are opened and noted with thanks during the funeral services. Nearly all African funerals take hours, not including the actual burial and the feast afterward.

From the time of the death, the widow has been in seclusion, usually huddling under a blanket in a corner of the room where the body was or the people had gathered. She, however, is present for the service. There will probably be candles burning at the head and foot of the casket in one room of the home. The casket may be a very simple pine box, or sometimes in the case of the Zulu’s the body may be only wrapped in a new blanket. I have seen, in the case of ministers, that the body was interred in the garden near the family home and the church building. One was actually under the strawberry patch. In that case, a blanket was spread over the casket, and a cement slab was poured on top of a thin leveling of soil, then topped over with more soil and the strawberry plants would be replaced. Often a black ribbon draped portrait photo of the deceased is placed on the casket during the services and it will be kept by the family. The men of the family will sew black bands around one arm of their suit. A widow will wear black for some months, perhaps the rest of her lifeif she is elderly. Flowers are very unusual, not even on the graves. Those gathered at the graveside service will replace the soil afterward, then the shovels may be taken back to the house to be ceremonially washed. A feast will close the day.

Some of the churches we served had Chinese members. I have preached several funerals for them. The funeral itself will be traditional if they were Christians. At one I preached the crowd was so big that they were spread throughout the whole building. In this case, the deceased had been the secretary-treasure of our own congregation. and that had to be the second most heart rending service for me to conduct. She died of cancer, but up to the week before had been in services. That final Sunday, I was asked to bring communion for her. The entire family was gathered there. She died before we reached our home after serving her and leading in prayers.

Probably the largest funeral was that of an elderly Chinese lady. When I arrived, I found the parking lot of the major funeral home, jammed, and I was forced to park in the very far back side far from the entrance. The funeral itself was traditional, but the procession was over a mile long and had a traffic department motorcycle escort. Because I had been forced to park so far into the lot, I was at the very end of the procession and late to get to the grave-side where I also presided. In my hurry, I forgot my lights were on and the battery of my car drained. This funeral was in the Chinese cemetery and there was also an after service at the graveside That was a Chinese religious service, which I was expected not to attend. On this occasion those involved were all taken to dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown with the family immediately after. They had reserved a large private dining room.

THROUGH THE OPEN DOOR OF THE CENTRAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH

In another blog we had a glimpse inside the door of the building which we used to house the Gospel Tract Center. This week we shall enter the door of the companion building which was constructed to house the worship services of a church. Since we did not have an existing city church in the immediate area, I served as minister there in addition to the work of the tract center. The building came fairly well equipped The former owners took only the musical instruments with them. We did add a speaker in the cry-room/nursery, and had the interior painted and carpeting added. We also added roll down security gates to enclose the entries. As you will note in attached picture, we made it a practice to light the the decorative windows the front of the building from the inside at night.

To let the citizens of the city know that both the church and the Bible Shop were there, as soon as it was ready for use I stopped in at the funeral service which was in the building directly opposite ours on the other side of the street. They did not have a chapel, so for the rest of our time in Africa, they steered many people to our building for funerals. We were convenient, our chapel could be entered with no steps one side of the building, and we were very easy to find and were nearly always available on short notice.

Those funerals varied considerably. Some used Scottish bagpipes, and one for a member of the motorcycle club, filled our space with motorcycles, but for our purposes, they all brought many people to our address and those who arrived a little early often came into the shop to get acquainted. Since I was not usually, though on occasions involved with the actual services, we also met many visiting ministers, and a few also used our quick-printing facility for their news letter printing.

On one occasion I did preach the funeral for a couple who had been killed in a "home invasion" type of terrorism. Their estranged son came in ragged and holey blue jeans, while a group of his friends arrived appropriately wearing all black. It may have been the first time any of them had ever been in a church building.

It was our custom to have a joint Vacation Bible School with our sister congregations. They were so successful that Phyllis and Rolland added weekly after school classes of the same type, in fact using packets donated from America, as we had also done for the DVBS classes.

THE KIMBERLEY ROAD CHURCH OF CHRIST

The Kimberley Road Church started in Kimberley and just happened to end up owning a building in Kimberley Road, Johannesburg.

At first our work in Kimberley was directed solely toward the African congregations. The mission’s mother church was at Kimberley with a Griqua church in the suburb of Greenpoint. However, the Rees family had started a work among the resident Chinese, and among the missionaries living there, our combined families had a number of children and we all felt that it would be good to have a congregation where they could have an active part as well. It was then that Sunday evening services began to be held in our living room.

Rees’ had conducted their work in the Chinese club building , but this was not altogether satisfactory and it was often left in disarray by Saturday evening affairs also held there and there were often people worshiping at the Chinese altar in the courtyard. When we started having evening services in our home, they and their Chinese converts jointed us. Not much later a building was purchased, the Kimberley Church of Christ was established and we all worshipped together there. We made it a point to stop for those who lived along our route there every Sunday. I continued working with the Training school, with trips out to teach in African churches, and printing and processing my Bible Lessons by mail until it was the decision was made to move the training School to a coastal site hundreds of miles away. I stayed behind with the church, in Kimberley and Al and Annette Hamilton came to minister there later. He and I taught some classes at the church building, particularly for Roland Joseph Sr. and some of the Ho Chung family.

The Chinese, in particular, sent their children all to University and our young people began to move away to Johannesburg to attend the Witwatersrand University there. Thus, they were scattered. James ultimately went to England, Edward stayed at the university as an assistant to a professor there, Maurine married and eventually that couple moved to Australia, and The youngest son, Henry, ended up living in Canada. Other Christians went to Hong Kong, and other destinations.

During the years before they scattered, Al started driving back and forth to conduct services in Johannesburg for those who had gone there, and in time wisely just stayed there and the congregation began to grow. They met in a store-front building in Beit Street. Beit street was in a blighted area very near downtown Johannesburg, but also near but not really in “Chinatown.”

We turned the work in Kimberley over to Roland Joseph leaving him our Commer van and we moved to Johannesburg. We soon started assisting at Beit Street, which work in time bought a site in Kimberley Road nearby and started a building fund. We assisted in every way we could and I more than once led the congregation for long periods of time, including the difficult times when a new building was under construction. The soil was clay requiring steel reinforcement, the building inspector was upset with us when a former minister called him, not knowing who he was, an “idiot” to his face. That delayed us for many months until he went on furlough and Phyllis bravely went in to speak to the inspector and ask what was delaying everything. His only question was, “What happened to….?” When she answered, “He has returned to America”, the inspector walked over to a set of pigeonholes and handed her the approved plans. At that time we built the hall, the kitchen, a classroom and the ladies’ and gentlemen’s rooms. That used up our reserved funds. After a while. We kept adding to the building fund so that we could add the sanctuary and two more classrooms. It all had to be for cash. With another ministering in between a couple of times, I was again the minister when we decided to start again and finish the building. I put up a “thermometer” to indicate how. much funds we had and we hired a builder and started. He later told me that he watched that thermometer and thought we would never make it many times, but thanks with praise to the Lord and our generous members, we worked on until it was finished. I am so very proud of them for their loving sacrifices. That lovely building stands there dedicated to His service as a memorial of their devotion and faith.