(Be sure to read yesterday's posting before this one.)

On Friday morning Zipho and I drove to Kroonstad, in the middle of South Africa. After checking into a Bed and Breakfast, we made contact with Bro. Joseph Mokoena (moh KWEH na) and drove to his nice house in the African township. He owns two taxis and has a large family. He has put them all through university. There were only members of the church at his house for the service, and they were thankful for the lesson on institutionalism. They had once been connected with World Bible School, but came out of it.

But the interesting thing was that during my lesson I discovered that my interpreter, one of Bro. Mokoena's sons, is the chairman of the evangelism committee of the Church of Christ for a large area east of Johannesburg! I gave him a hard time, with Bro. Mokoena's hearty approval. After the hour-long service, I fielded questions for another 1 3/4 hrs.

On Saturday I was asked to preach to non-Christians, and the front room of the house was full. I presented THE BIG PICTURE. After my hour, we had another question period which lasted 1 3/4 hrs. Some of the questions were clearly because of JW influence, and some of Roman Catholic. Afterward I spoke with one young man--who is a student at a Roman Catholic Seminary!

On Sunday, the number at the service, which was held in a school classroom, was low. Bro. Mokoena said that many of the members are not always faithful to attend. And after the service I spoke with Norman Saayman by phone. He apologized and said that that day was the first he had to talk properly with all the members, and they did not want me to speak Thursday-Sunday in Rustenburg, but only on Sunday. At first I did not want to come for just the one service, but later I "repented" and went.

But that meant we had an entire week with no commitments. I phoned David Beckley and asked if we could visit him and Joanne in Louis Trichardt. He said that he would be teaching classes to young preachers, and I was invited to come. We picked up Arau, who had come from Mozambique to Alan Fox's house and was on his way to the Louis Trichardt classes, and arrived in Louis Trichardt early Monday afternoon. It was quite a week! I taught each morning Tue. - Fri., using Ferrell Jenkins' book THE EARLY CHURCH as a guide. There were eight men--six from Zimbabwe, one from Mozambique and one Venda (that area of South Africa). During the week I made a trip into Venda and made contact with old friends. I expect they will invite me for some gospel meetings later this year.

On Saturday we drove first to the home of Les and Linda Maydell where we had lunch with them, Paddy and Sandy Kendall-Ball (who have returned to southern Africa and were on their way to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe), and Sis. Tiena. Afterward I presented THE BIG PICTURE for them, then we continued our journey to Rustenburg.

Which is a HOT place. We enjoyed our stay with Norman and Emmie Saayman and the morning service with the church. Norman had told me that the white members were not very faithful, and sure enough there was only one one white lady there (besides us). There was a good number of Africans and Coloureds, and we enjoyed the service very much.

That afternoon we drove to Alan Fox's house in Johannesburg. We all then drove to Brakpan where Eric Hamilton preached a good sermon.
He preaches regularly in Wichita, Kansas, and is to preach Feb. 1-7 (SEVEN DAYS) in Eshowe.

Monday we got home about 3:30 p.m., tired but very happy that we made the trip.

Zipho (my 20-yr.-old foster son) and I left on January 2 for the second leg of my preaching tour. And though I think we did a lot of good, it was not the trip I had planned.

We went first to the home of Trevor Raoleka, who is in his mid-30's, married, with one daughter. He lives and preaches in Soweto, the huge, sprawling "city" of more than 1 million black people in Johannesburg. Though I worked and visited in Soweto constantly for 15 years during apartheid when it was illegal for a white person to sleep in a black area, this was my first opportunity to sleep there. Zipho and I had a great time with the Raolekas and were very comfortable in their three-bedroom home. (Zipho wouldn't sleep in the same bed with me but elected to sleep on the sofa in the living room.)

I was scheduled to preach Sunday-Wednesday (or Thursday) for the church which meets in Orlando East, which is one of the sections of Soweto. They have their own building, and an unusual congregation meets there. When Trevor began attending, the previous preacher was also attending, though he had divorced his wife and was living with another woman. You can imagine the difficulties this presented to Trevor! Eventually the church withdrew from the previous preacher, though some of the few members stopped attending services. Then a "liberal" church in Mofolo (another section of Soweto) decided that they did not like having to meet in a school classroom when denominations were meeting in other classrooms and making much noise. They decided to join with the brethren in Orlando East because they had a nice big empty building! The Orland East brethren welcomed them, and suddenly the church grew from an attendance of about 20 to above 80.

I came all primed to teach them about the errors of institutionalism. Zipho set up the digital projector, and I preached my first sermon. Then we had a break before the Bible class time. I noticed that the men were having a meeting, and it went on for quite a while. Then one of the men told me that they were not prepared for my meeting. They said they must study together and then invite me to preach there later. They gave me 20 minutes to finish!

After I conquered the flush of anger which this announcement gave to me, I exhorted them to study carefully because we will be judged individually and not as congregations. And that was the end of that gospel meeting!

Well, not quite, because the next day I had very worthwhile studies with three of the men, and another on Thursday. I am praying for those brethren. There are some good men who I think will be a steadying influence. The ones with a liberal background no doubt have some within them who can be reached with the gospel. But I foresee quite a long struggle, and the liberals may force the faithful brethren to leave the building! Please pray.

This post is quite long, so I will continue my story tomorrow.

Love to you all, Mkhulu (Grandfather in Zulu)

I invited Sibusiso to come to the church building after school. To his surprise I had him take off his shirt and shoes and do exercises, climaxed by shooting his fist in the air and shouting "POW!" Then I had him lie down on his stomach and take deep breaths, concentrating on not letting his chest rise but forcing air down deep into his abdomen. Then I had him lead a song, urging him to sing "LOUDER!" Then we worked on his reading the scriptures, with the same exhortations.

The next Sunday morning he led singing before class, and led with the loudest voice he ever had! The singing was actually good. I was delighted.

So on Monday we had another class, only there were four present this time. Zipho afterward told me that they talked among themselves about how much they enjoyed the class. And now I have seven students--four of whom are not Christians. I use the last part of the class to teach them first principles. We meet two or three times a week.

They arrived a week ago on Wednesday night. Friday Joel, Helen and I drove to Scott and Sharra's house in Ballito and we had a great visit. And last night Gene preached a fine, simple lesson on "The Worthwhile Life" here in Eshowe.

Susan (Walsh) is one of our favourites. We are very happy she came with her parents. I understand that she and Becky Bowles (the oldest of the four girls) have vowed not to let Gene and Betty travel to South Africa alone. We admire them for their love.

The Topes welcomed us to South Africa when we arrived in 1968. We have been fast friends ever since. Gene and I were both born in 1930, so we have a lot in common.

Friends are important.

When an ageing politician makes his last campaign swing, it is called his "last hurrah!" Well, this ageing preacher is going to take a preaching/teaching trip which may also be called his last hurrah.

Zipho, our 20-yr.-old foster son, will be my driver. Helen will stay home. Zipho and I are to leave on December 4, the day after he finishes his last exam at college, and we will start south. Margate (near Durban), Umtata and King William's Town in the Eastern Cape, then Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage on the southeast tip of South Africa, then over to Cape Town on the southwest tip, then north to the Free State and maybe to Johannesburg.

I hope to stay in each place long enough to do some good, and my schedule will be very elastic. When it will not be convenient for brethren to put us up, we will stay in Bed and Breakfast places. So far the brethren I have contacted sound enthusiastic about my coming, and if I continue to be blessed with good health and strength, I think a lot of good will be done.

Joel will probably be at home with Helen most of the time, and young brethren here will be sure she is taken care of well when he is not around. Joel is fixing things up so that I will be able to use email while I am traveling, and everybody in South Africa has cell phones. I put new tyres (note the South African spelling) on the Sebring this week and will have it serviced the week before we leave. We tried putting the portable "refrigerator" in the big boot and it fits. It runs off the car battery or mains electricity. I told Zipho that we can't eat every meal at Wimpy or McDonald's!

Pray for us.