Sinclair Sandy Charlotte 1977 SAfrica

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ZULULAND CHRISTIAN MISSION

A.G. SANDY CHARLOTTE SINCLAIR

P.O. BOX 9851, FHCENIX, AZ 85068

REPCRT ON DOR FIRST TERM IN ZOLDL ND SODTH AFRICA, UGUST IJ

INTRODUCTION

After working with the Tonga t r ihe in the Republic of Zambia from 1967 to 1972Me took a two year furlough from 1972 to mid 1974. I reported to our supportingchurches and sought addit ional support d\iring 1972-1973 and enrolled a t the Schoo

of World Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary, for the 1973-1974 school year. I t

was a great exx)erience, cuad I learned a great deal on cross-ciiLtural missionary w

We had f e l t for many years the Lord s Call fcrwork with the Zulus in South AfricaEvents there confirmed many things for us. We formed a new mission organization,applied for South African visas and sai led for Durban, South Africa in July 1974.

VJe experienced real answers to prayer on the visa application. They irere delayed

six months, and were only f inal ly issued one day before we sailed from New York.

ARRIVAL IN SOUTH AFRICA:We a rriv ed in South Africa August 31 1974. Within a few weeks of our ar r ival wemoved to the small town of Eshowe in c en tra l Zululand, approximately 80 miles norof Durban and equidistant between the three main areas where we have churches.

We l ived in the t ravel t r a i l e r w© had brou^ t with us fo r three months. One of th

f i r s t things we had .to do was to sui tably dispose of our house and effects in Zam

I t tooks two 3rears to se l l the house and effects and ship what we needed.

In order to go off the main roads and work with the Africans in South Africa one m

have th e app ropr ia te permit. I applied for a permit from the KwaZulu government twork in t he Afr ic an reserves of KwaZulu in September. I t was approved December 31and good for one year, renewable.

mSSia ? METH ®S AND PmOSOPHY:

We believe* the f inal product of the missionary enterprise i s the independant churcthat can stand, under God andLo rd s h i p of Christ, by i tself The missionary tworks essent ial ly with cht3rohe8> groups of people formed into congregations, and

teacher, instructing the ir own leaders who lead the people to Christ. In bridgingthe gap between distant cultures we fee l th is Is a proven method of Church GrowthThis is i4hat we did and these ^ r e our goals*

1. The primary goal is to plant new congregations. Churches of Chris2. Another major goal was to t ry to learn Zulu conversationally.

3. Fiducating the leaders was the th i rd major goal . We wanted to desia functional extension leadership training program ELT using theTEE concepts Tjbiôlogical giducation by gxtension) tha t wil l educathe ex i st ing leaders , in the i r own l anguage, without disrupting th

work, extract ing them out of the i r cultural environment or removing

them f rom t h e i r homes and f am i l i e s

In order to arrive a t consensus and agreement regarding curriculum and to exchangeand l esson mater ia l s Gordon Nelson and I arranged a TEE Conference with the Nelso

family a t thei r Barkly West home oh February 4 and 5 1975. This meeting was wide

advertized and our missionaries in terested in these idesus came from as far away asRhode s i a •



—2

1975

Much discussion and plans fo r the future came out of th is sif jnif icant meettngand one idea was to make a ccmplete nose-counting survey of the 'H s is sat iat ioof our chur ch es and t he i r membership in the ent i re Republic of South tSr±ca, so

that we wil l know v/here \fe stand and whether we are growing or not. I agreed

to do this survey, the resul ts of which influenced our plans and f 'otivlties asv;ell as those of others for some years. The survey took a l i t t l e over a year anwas c<mipleted in time for the Annvial Conference of the South African Church of CMission in Zululand in September 1976.

Ideas regarding curriculum were shared and our Extension Leadership classes usedmaterials so that a l l missionaries teaching classes this v;ay ^.rill teach similarand s t a nda rd i z e d m a t e r i a l s

OUTREACH:

When we arrive<^ in South Africa and began to f ind our way around wo found approx

13 churches from Durba n nor th t o nor the rn Zulu land who ca l l ed t l ;emselves Church

of Chris t and worked and f el lowsh ippod wi th us. These iêre:

I . Umlazi P' Section Durban) 2. waMashu M Section Durban)3. Chesterville ) Ensingweni5. Mdolcanba 6. waSiqumbe7 Nibe la 6 Nkhulu

9. Ekhukanyeni 10. IsiHlangweni E f e s u 1 2 Umbumbulu

13. pphansi

These churches were divided into two camps, distinguished by those \;ho believedwearing the Church o f Christ Mission uniform to church and church functions, athose who did not believe in wearing this unifoim. In the foUo.-ing three years

this di-îdsicn was to completely fa l l away through love, prayer and fellowshippintogether. I t is not a pro Lem today being relegated to the area of opinion only

The main outreach In early 1975 was towards Zulu independent movemenlswho were wto the New Testament Church. We exper ienced both success and fai lure in th is awith the churches under Is laiah Siyaya we were blessed \i±th wonderful growth andwork with Absolom Mdlalose met with no success in spite of many month's work.

Early in 1975 I opened an office in Eshowe where I could study and work away frothe house, and began language study in ©meat fol lowing a regular course outlinI continued to work a t Zulu fo r the ent i re tern on £he f ie ld aqu5r5ig conversati

proficiency. This became essent ial to our teaching program as a l l the lessonsin Zulu and f requently there were no interpreters who could t ranslate for you.

EVANGELISTIC MEETINGS:

Easter meeting for 1975 was held a t Ekhiakanyeni in the fa r north in Ingwavuma d

and other week-end meetings which tiSTially began on SatTirday... ran through Sundnoon. These meetings lasted clear throu^ the night on Saturday night and becammeans of numerical church growth. Other 1975 meetings were: Oshwasbweni June 28

KiâNkhulu August 2,3; waMdolomba October 25,26; AmaSundwini Dec. 6,7; waMashuA planned ineeting a t Maputa was washed away by rains December 13,1A»



-3

1975 cont .

The f i r s t e ll RSA missionary meeting to fellowship and study God's i/ord and solvf ie ld problems was held a t the Willem Pretorius Game Reserve in the QFS in May 1

More good came from th is meeting of prayer and f el lov fsh ip than any of us dreamed

possible and a l l went forth immensly blessed.

June saw us agai* a t Minister 's Week, held a t Graaf Pweinet :n 1975, for th is ann

teaching week attended by church leaders from a l l over RSA. Several leaders from

?Iululand came and met for fellowship with others fron a ll parts of the count ry .

Our Zulus experienced cold weather fo r the f i r s t time.

FLT

Extension Leadership Training began in ernest in mid 1975 with four students tak Ukujcoxa noNkulunkulu (Talking vrS-th God) end Rheka Itestnmenla ElishaNew Testament Survey) had five students. This was a fjmall beginning and by the

following year we sax; a high po int of 39 s tudent /S enrolled a t ono trme.

ZTJLITLAITD CO>Qva:Tm

On iugunt 2,3 formed a committee of leaders who were elected b^- the prominentCh):iBtians and leaders in a a l l night long meeting iDunctuat^d by preaching and sand testimonies. These men were to aid me in problem solving and seeking solut iour many problems we faced from week to week. For the record the men selected w

Alfred Mathcnjwa, Sabelo Wzuza, Joseph Buthelezi, Enies Ntshaphoka, Zachariah KPetros lidlovu, Josiah Gumede, Jotham 2Jikali, Philemon Ityeni, Saiauol Thabedo, IsaSiyB-ya, Albert Masango, and Shadrack Mazibuko. This v/as only an advisory commithoy had no authority over any church, but became my means of implnmenting teach

and evangelist ic programs. Many of these men became ELT students, ai^d Alfred I-war sent to Bible Training School for one year at Umzumbe. (1976)Further they helped gather the s tat is t ics for our siirvey chapter on Zululand andin addition to the /^Z batohes of s tat i s t ioal forms we sent out throughout South

1975 CCaSKEBESNCEThe Annual Conference o f th e South Afr ioa Church o f C h ris t Miss ion was he ld in

Klerksdorp in the Transvaal September 9-14'^* ÎMs was the f i r s t one CharlotteI were al ie to attend and we were blessed fellowshipping all the other miesionarSouth Africa; The Nicholsons, Stcmleya Both Lynn Stanley and Michael Stanley) GNelsons, Zimmermans, Mills, Smaages, and Landises. 300 brethren fr<xn a l l over S

Africa come to Conference whose theme was THE I AM S (F JESUS i I brought the

message on Wednesday night: I am the Light of the World. Two of our leaders fZulu land were ab l e to a t t end .

The l as t three months of 1975 I todk a 12 week bricklaying courre that I mighknow something of this a r t in our chtiroh building programs.

1975 CHURCHES: 1975 reported baptisms: 55

lA. Oahwashweni Siyaya) I5. KwaMiolcmba (Siysya)16. Dbombo (later lost) (Siyaya) 17. Nongoma (Siyaya;18. Ekhuhlehieni 19. Qwaliweni ( enl)20. Ludaka Siyaya) 21. Magugu Siyayn)22, Ndabenl. Manyisoni) Siyaya) 23. Obuli church, ELatikluilu, Swazilan24. Nkodibe (David Thwala) 25* Groutville • (Kdlovu) (frran M.T.)

T any of these new churches were organized when scattered Christians were encoursbegin to meet together for corporate worship at a central point , usually e home.



1976

JANUARY

The f i r s t anrmal Missionary family gathering occured a t Willem Pretorius Game Rfor a l l the miss ionar ies and thei r families. These meetings are the resul t ofunity meetings the men have been having throughout 1975. Missionaries working

both whites and Africans in South Africa irere present for a f ine t ime.

Charlotte began her Thursday wcanen's program a t the nearest group of our ChurchChrist to Eshowe. At f i r s t she went in to the Kwaûlu areas presiiming my permicove r he r work a lone La t e r she found t h i s was no t t ime and took i i e l l over

year to overcome bureaucracy a t KwaZulu government headquarters and get a perm

her own fo r her women* s vrork. During tha t time I accompanied her to her classeshe would not be in KwaZulu i l legal ly

In January I wrote my exam tha t was se t for marriage off icers , passed and was ma marriage off icer for the Zulus in Nata l prov ince. This service I used fo r ou

Zulu Christ ians enabling them to have church weddings. Marriage laws are comp

FEBRUARY

February 8th saw the beginning of our second year of Foctension Leadership Trainwith \diat I considered the most important course of them a l l The Church in thBible. This course wi l l take us th rou^ aiôximately hours of teaching infour separate loca l i t i es Other than one center about 20 miles from Eshowe, thothers l i e each 85 miles away, north, south and west. The le ss on s a re in Zulu

we began the courses with 17 students to ta l The education difference between

makes instiniction diff icul t sonae students breeze throu^ the material with theequivalent of 6 - 8th grade educational level, others s truggle frcrni word to wothey have l i t t l e or no formal instruction. We open the courses to allocsners.

f i r s t limited to the men and those vho were in scsra leadership capacity, bufinding impossible to put those out oame in to l is ten I signed many wcm

up as students for the ooiu^s^s that eost El.00 a year ( 1.15) and provide themthe workbook^ a notebook peôH and eiâser.. Some of our African women stiidentexceptionally well. All the' ta^ nsletion vah being done by Cyprian Mzimela, a lstudent in Bshowe, who latiB^ ^ 1977 heeame first local Af^can to become aqualified lawyer. ioovedr:^,;^ boss and establish his praotice iMtunzini, a nearby town, i^n Ephraim became my lesson translator, he ala f ine Christ ian and the minister o^ a ehur<^ of the Nazarene in Eshowe.

M R H MINISTERIS WEEKy a t DimfaOza, E. Cape.A fine spi r i t prevailed among a l l the ministers and other African leaders who mthe long t r ip to KingwiUiamstown and Dimbaza. AH the missionaries working wthe Afrioans came, but the/departure of many from South Africa permanently wasand within 1976*ire los t almost 5056 of our work force when four of our nine fam

went h(mie fo r good. Four men fr<mi Zululand attended. We help with transportati

On March 20th a tropical Indian ocean cyclone htaricane in USA) dumpted 13 - 1inches of rain on Zululand and the Natal coast causing terr ible damage includintotal loss of the church building at AmaStmdwlni near Eshowe. The building concollapsed, but was rebuil t on another si te during the yea r.

APRIL

Our first Zulu wedding was on S^day April 25tb, also Michael s birthday. Thewas the nephew of one of our African ministers, about 300 guests came for the 2celebration. Zulu weddings are a cdorftd mixture of wester^ and .ulu cue- -nme.



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1976 con t .

APRIL con t

Easter meetings are an important p€U*t of the Zulu church as the men usually arev/ork from Thiu*sday afternoon un t i l Tuesday morning. Friday, Saturday and Mondayall holidays over Faster in South Africa. The meeting th s 3âr we attended th

are several held simultaneously) was at Nbukonyonl at the home of Johnson GumedI t was also a unity meeting as we endeavored to solve some of the problems betwe

various chiu ch leaders. Floyd Starom also came up from IHirban and spoke fo r them

We mailed home a slide program with a taped ccaaraentary covering our f i r s t fu l l

year on the f ie ld in Zululand, South Africa,

MAY

Began study on 1 Timothy in our Extension Leadership classes. This class was taalongside The Ghurch in th e Bible but la ter we found t ijnpractible to try andteach both courses (one after the other) in the same session as many of our studhad difficul ty is gra sp ing the simplest instruction. As th e survey reports begacone in we found out that about 5^ of our people bad no formal education whatso

Charlotte became in April, in May af t e r several test^ proved negative, a frmentioned that she had many of the same symptoms for years, on and off and f ina

was te ste d fo r bilharzla , which proved posi t ive. Acting on this she asked the dto t e s t for bi lharzia , and sure enough, she had bi lharzia. In recent times this

more serious as the cure was worse than the cc«nplalnt, but the modern prescrib

treatment last ing ten days was much better wd she was cured.

EVANGELISTIC MEETINGS 1976

Again the week-end meetings were held in various places around Zululand, startj.non Saturday and with singing and preaching night and ending about noon or al a ter on Sunday, Many of these meetings veTO teaching opportunit ies for me, andseimions were usually on doctr inal subjects and Bible Studies in addition to the

leaders a l l of whom took opportianlties to preach. The churches were beginning tget good choirs going and these were oppor tuni t ies fo r the various choirs from v

churches to sing. They were great times looked forward to by al l . At the closethe meeting the invitation was usually given one or another church to host thmeeting and the date f ixed, so no correspohdwce needed to be sent out ,

Iharing 1976 they were ats Kwalôlomba May Umbumbulu May 23? Ophansi JulAmaSundwini August 7,8; Manyiseni August 28,29,

KWA MASHU

K^va Mashu Is the large African township j\ist north of Durban. e had two cong

gations meet3-ng in M section . H section when an opportunity came alone in thform of in Independant church leader , Absolom Mdlalose to take over his s i te inAs there are no more church s i tes avedlable ye f e l t this was a golden opportuni

However \diile months of work was put into th is toe s i te was fenced and trenches t became apparent he had no following to speak of, was not reallj interested, inseeking the ways of the Lord more ful ly but justed v/anted us to build him a bu e kept some of his leaders l e f t him, but a l l in a l l we learned a great dea

th is experience. But the work in K sect ion came to an end.

FBEL CRISIS

Fil l ing stat ions in South Africa now close a t noon on Fridays and onlj reopen oI t is illegal to carry any spare petrol gasoline) without a permit issued by thmagistrate, and renewed every month. This has complicated our wek-end travels



6

1 9 7 6 c o n t

JUhFE

Oir closest fellow missionaries of the Chiirches of Christ/Christi.Hn Churches;Floyd and Joan Stamm vent borne on furlough June 11 for a fexr montbs. While theywere away we spent a few Sundays visiting the ir Indian Congregation in Chatsworth.

During our furlough they will try to oversee some of our teaching program for us t

Fioting broke out in several parts of South Africa with a ferocity that stunnedeverybody in South Africa and that was to have repercussions fo r the future onJune 16th-. Charlotte and I were passing the University of Zululand near Empangenland saw i t burning. Fortunately the rioting was confin^td to the urban areas andexcept for the U of Zululand i t was generally other tribes doing the rioting.Many urban areas were closed to a ll whl-tes and some churches suffered and missioraries in the African urban areas of Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg weunable -bo vis i t t h ei r African brethiT n in t h ei r hcmies or churchon. We were furtunas both th e Durban urban African areas remained oj en KwaMashu and Umlazi and ourclasses thcr ̂ continued uninterrup-bed. The residt has been a general tightening uof security but also a relaxation of scnne points of irritation in many places.I t made our permits to enter -bheae places more Impor-bant as they coiild be checkeda t roadblocks^

JULY

Conference was to in Zululand for bhe firsttime ever and were laying plansfor the big event. Permits for all the (non-Zulu) missionaries had to be arrangedthree mon-bhs prior to -bheir visit. AccMopllshing this took several trips to Ulunand several telephone calls to Pretoria as well as getting p3.enty of informationfrom each missionary for -tiieir applications including every place they had been ith e previous -ten years. We managed -to them in time.

Wedding in Ophansi village July 25th and preached in chapel at Umzumbe Bible Ins

(our preacher -faralning residence school 160 miles away July 27th. I took AlfredMathenjwa baok to school a^ r his m^-wiu-fcer break.

AUGUST .

We 8-bartsd a new ELT center at Kwalâhu aeotion that was to last about 4 m

The resul-bs of the Church Growth aOrvey were almost all in and the long process ofcompilation of th e s-batiatica began as we tried to evalua-te -the data to obtain apicture of th e church in a l l areas of Sou-th Africa. This book about two months toccanple-te and we emerged wi tî a cemprehensive picture of idiat we have today.

SEPTEMBER

The all South Africa Church of Gbriat Miaslon Conference was held at KwaSiqumbe

near Mtubatuba 85 miles north of Eahowe frcaa Wednesday September 15 - Sunday SeptAbout 200 persons at-bended. The Conference asked me to f i l l t he o ffi r. c of DiTectoof Buildings and Evangelism on -the Execu-bive CcHumittee. This work was formerlydone by an overworked Superintendant and la the work of applying fo r church sitesand coordinating evangelistic mee-bin^ -bhrougout South Africa.This was th e f irst time in an over 50 year history that th e Church of Christ MissiConference me hos-bed by the Zulu churehes €Uid -bhey did a fine Job and we had a gocon f e r e n c e .



i

1976 con t

OCTOHSR

Th^ weddin^]^ of Godfrey >?n7.eka and Duduzilo MaFango vaF h«^]d at Uralazidaughter of one of our very f5ne church leaders I n nor thern 2ululand,

She is

Octobor 10-2?^ T made my l as t and f inal vis i t to Zambia l-o nompleto the las t

our house sale and t he shipp ing of our things to South Af> icr. s i fellow mland I left Zambia on October 27th a t th e Zambia c us tom s h ou se on th e Zambezi r i

border we came under autanatic weapons f i re from across the r iver . The Zambiaon the border returned the f i re and the exchange went on and off for about 30 mDuring lulb in th e shoot ing we were able to make a dash for safety , retr ieve o

vehicles and get away. There were no casulties, but the border was closed forAt that time these exchanges xrere an almost dally occurence.

Ue finished t rnmlat lng fixture lessons on O.T. Introductionand Spread of the Church. (Acts) Began work on 1 Peter.

and ii e Beginni

Movcmbor 22 we têgan to build a t the house and make a lt er at ions t o the kitchenbathroom, and bui l t two porches. Also and most import<int was the outside officwe bui l t I hired the labor and supervised the work which was completed in Ma1977 .

ilovember 25th I was invited to attend the off ic ia l opening of the; Zulu King sofficial pala ce nea r Nongome he has named KwaEcuagela • This was a dignified

occasion i/ith hundreds of Important people present. This was the f i r s t time

I ever saw the Zulu king. Goodwill BhekeZulu and bis chief Minister UmtwanaGatsha Bu t h e l e z l and o the r Zulu no t ab l e s It was a co l o r f u l and momentous occ

DECEMBER

Our Extpi^lon Leadership classes ended the i r second year with exams for thosestudents who I fe l t ^fere capable of taldlng them. Dec A AmaSundwini, Deo 11 Dmand Dec 12 KwaHashu.

BAPTISMS

While have encouraged a l l our church leaders to keep good records, both finand of the number of people t hey bapt iz e many baptisms go unreported in our moand remote churches. The figure of reported baptisms for 1976 is 63 .

NEW CHURCHES 1976

26 KwaMashu H Sec t ion

28 Nkundusi (^thembu)3C Nyal az i R iver

32 l^phophoraa (Albert Masango34 Esiphondweni Mike Jobe)36 >friqobokazi (J . Ndletshe)38 Lavumisa, Swaziland Samuel Thabede4C KwaMbonambl (Enseleni) (Isaiah Siyaya)

(closed 12/76) 27 KwaMashu K

29 S t Luc ia

31 Tahanen i

33 Bhadenl

35 Sokhulu

37 Maputa39 AmaSundwln i

Jûkonyoni

Section (closed(Petrus Msan

(P.^fyeni)(Z, Khumalo)(Albert Masa(Albert Masa(Michael Gum(Johnson Gum



1 9 7 7

JANUi^RI

Jamiary 6 - 12 Rgain saw a ll t he m is si on nr le s in South Afi lca together for p

r e tr e a t a t th e Lake Athlone Resort in Bethlehem in the QFS. e had the respono f arranging accomodation and taking i n a l l the deposits and t h i s kept up busy

r i g h t unt i l the time. I t was a good t ime, but we sadl y missed f«)ur f rn i l ies whh?.d l e f t South xlfrlca i)ermanently in 1976. ehave had no new r -pleeeuents andnone coming.

January 23 was graduation day for 11 students who suoceasfuUy completed ourtwo years of Extension Leadership TredLning and whose practical ministries andpreaching canpetence demonstrated t h e i r a b i l i t y as leaders. These men and womewere: 1 Alb e rt Masango

2 I s a i a h Siyaya

3 Godfrey }^zeka1 Pe t ros Msane

5 S a b c l o Wzuza

6 D a v i d Thi / a l a

7 Jo s i a h Gumede8 Caiphas Woemana

9 Michae l Gumede

10 W i n s t o n Ndle t she

11 Pa tience Mazeka

ho were given C ertif icates o f Gosipletion of which liiey v/ere very pro^ indeed.Of them only 6 spoke English and had much In the way ctf education, many of themhad only third or fourth grade li|jarning so it was a real achievement.

FEBRUARY

ebegan the third year of JSxtoaaldn L^wlerafeip training and opened a new centeKwaNkulu. KwaHkulu is thd l rg sth v in Zululand, is 85 miles fromand far off good roadst I t to get to in wet weather, so mof my f i rs t trips height of th e rainy season) hadbe ooiêted on foot including wading thesosîmes flooded Viaia up. the roads improveand a new river sti l l we were able to buy alâzda Pioki:^ lAish so mcix b et t er.

MARCH

MiddiSlburg, Cape, was the venue fo r this years Minister s Week which Floyd anattended. He and I were the speakers for this year. Itich of the daily sesaionc<»i5)rise of questions and answers dealing tdth practical problems in the ministI found that being Dlfostor ofJWMlagS was going to be a demanJob i f i t was to be done r l j^ t . ^ new site applications with th egovernment a t this time, but past experisnce showed i t sometimes took years fora Permission to Occupy certificate to be issued from the Department of BantuAdministration and Developofiiit^Pif^toria. .

AHiiL- ^ .Extension leadership classes four centers, Umalzl, AmaSundwKwaMdolcmba and KwaHkulu cn iaKiSisday and Sundays. Considerabflexibility allowed us to f i t in ot^t^ aotivities or meet ings and still continuethe lessons on schedule. April Xwent to Bstoourt with Mich€iel Stanley to afor two new cdiurch sites for minister Freddie SithiBbe.



9

1977

MAY

I was called to Uplngton in t he nor thern Cape Province, hundreds of miles

of Kimberley, in mid May by a minister of the area, Wilson Mahlinna, to vi s i t

the brethren a t ITpington, inspect the i r church buildinc under contrnction, and tto find them n minister. On th is t r ip I meet with Ben Moroe, mini^^tr r a t Postma

where w applied for a new location church site at Postmasburg and also at KurianThe Uplngton church s i te was complete to the top of their i/olls; a t this point t

can get assistance from the >i3.ssion building fund for their roof, windows and do

1 gave them the name of a man serving as an elder in Port Elizabeth, x^hom they w

and rubsequently called to be their minister l a t e r in the year.

JUNE

Early in June I drove baok to Graaf Reinet in the Cajpe Province to their church

dedication. This building is one of the most modem in a l l South Africa a t th eKroonvale location having glass idLndowH electr ic l ights and running xrater.

The local people completed the building on their oxrfn. Following thii: dedicationT took some leaders doxjn to Port El izabeth to the New Brighton c nxrch. They had

been having problems for years i/ith their parsonage (which they c*.ll the missihouse .) met on ifonday with the location building superint^ndcn :, a builderand the church elders and in a few days I l e f t to retu rn to Eshowc via the Trans

,TTJLY

The main evangelistic meeting for th is winter occured a t Ophansi July 9,10,1977

Tfith about 100 persons gathered for the two day gathering. Preaching again \-rentthroughout the night on Saturday, a s in the past I opened the preaching a t 11:30pafter singing and choirs took up the early par t of the evening. The second majowas the ded icat ion of the new church building a t KwaNkulu, a wonderful four days

The family spent two weeks In JîanDesburg with the Stu Cook family, fellow

missionaries who work dth Aletheie^ a Christian Center in Crown Mines, Johannes

I t was a great time of fellmmhip and êneve^ of spir i t .

AUGUST •

The Annual OQnêrence o£ of Christ mission for 1977 washeld in Kiiabeirley, Ndortbeini I both attended as did most ofour missionaries. w a s ^ le^ best Qpnferences yet. £n route to KimberleI went to Pretoria to exiJSipil^ had had no word on theirapplication for th re e yea ra .o r w^ able to speed up the approval of fnew s i t e s by th is v i s i t to the oapt1»u«

SEPTEMBER

held a special re t reat a t a smfl^ game farm near Eahowe for men from theAletheia Center In Johannesburg and area missionaries. I t was a spiritxial retreand a time of prayer and fellowships. Also in September I went to Prleska also i

the Northern Cape. I was told by th ^ (l don t know how tme i t is) that I wasth e f i r s t missionary \rt3o had ever visited tha t congregation ever. I t is an outof the way place, they meet In a small corrugated iron building. The have a chu

si te on which they pay rates but for y ears they have v/aited for their cert if icaof permission to occupy* which I went to look in to fo r them. Time wil l t e l l .

I began to experience terrible book pain at this time that was to f inal ly put m

in the hospital in November for three Heekh.^ think thp cause of the acute dilesion is the pickup and rough roads and thousands of miles of d riving each mont



«»xo^

1977

OCTOBER

We completed the translations on the remaining lessons for the third of

Erctension Leadership Training. Shadrack ^feizibuko is ray translator now and doesan excellent job. Also we began to send out lessons to Bhadenl on a correspondbasis to see hoif i t wiH work. The classes at Kwal kulu vmre t}: largest of a ll

four centers, but probably the least productive as most of the ahvidents could bread and write 5n Zulu. Of the 18 students, only one could speaJc any Englishand only four could read the lessons. This made i t very slow going.

In evaluating the ELT I found muoh more e ff ec ti ve f or small classes o f le ad eso that the lessons could be well s tudied €uid applded, rather than l arge c lassea l l ccaners such as developed a t the KwaNkulu church. In the future we will domore with slides and filaiBtrips for these larger meetings to effectively teachBible t ru th s r at he r than try to rely on the written word as we have done so muof a t th is poin t and s t i l l use the writ ten lessons fo r the church leaders .

Charlotte has spen t the year deeply engaged in hor vrc«nen*s work a t Faslngtreniabout 30 minutes drive from Eshowe. Her own permit application was denied in

June, and had to reapply and try t o c la rif y exactly what sho is doing in thevillages, and i t finally came in November, a year and a half after f i r s t applyifor i t She has gathered a fai thful band of Chr is tian women who go frtmi villagt o v il lage , kraal to kraal (hamlet) across the hills and dales of the area to meke prayer as they say in each place and to preach to the unbelievers. Therhas been countless baptisms as a resul t of her Thursdays work.

NOVEMBER

By early November my backpain had becon^ unbearable and the specialist in Ihirbaprescribed three week® in tractloft in hospital with abscdute bedrest, I was agas I had not been in a over 30 years, bu t nonethelessalmost a l l of November vas sp en t In about 4 blocks from ouhouse. I t did me a great odP :good, s t i l l be careful with my bac

DECElfflER • -Ir ^ •Furlough plans were aâneed W 6 we caii» home in December. The houhae been rented out to a fine |e»illy plan to build on the lot theown next door, and will Charlotte s os is ter in Deerfield, December 28th.

plan to be home on furlou^the entlryâr of 978 and Lord idlling we willreturn to Zululand for ^diat will probabKy be our last term of missionary servicFour years from now our oldest son will be leaving high school and wewould want to keep the family an toi^lêr as possible. Lord \dlling, thesare our general plans. V

1977 SPECIAL MEETINGS

C^hansi July 9,10;. KwaNkulu Jidy 28-30. New building dedication. 79 baptis

1977 NEW CHURCHES 7

42 Sordwana Bay Jotham Zlkali) 43 Empangeni (Joseph Buthele44 ^ Ngwibi David ThwalaX 7 . 44 Umlalazi (Albert Massingo

., 77 7. - Eespectfully Submitted,



TELEGRAPH

NEW S OF THE SINCLAIRS

HOLDING FORTH THE WORD OF UFE IN SOUTH AFRICA phiuppians 2:16)

Volume 9 September. 1977 N u m

BUSH - TELEGRAPH

We have decided to resume publication of our Bush-Telegraph and reporton our work herein

Zululand. This was what we used for the seven

years wewere in theZambianwork. Wehope youwill enjoy it as it comes to you quarterly. OnAugust 3 1977 we begin our fourth year inZululand, South Africa. Thiswill be our last year

before furlough time rolls around again, July1978

FAMILY NEWS

The family no longer grows in number butcertainly grows in sizethese days. Michaelis ourteen-ager with 14 years on him now, Richard isnow12,Wayneis 10and all three are activein allkinds of boy s things. Michelle (8) is our onlygirl and helping mother in the kitchen, whileJohnny (6) has begun first grade.

E X T E N S I O N L E A D E R S H I P

TRAINING

The m a in t hr us t o f ou r work in Zululand is the

educat ion of o ur A fr ic an church l eaders . We

follow the principles of TEE, i.e. Theological

Education by Extension, and have four centers

where the 31 students gather on pre ar ranged

schedules for 2-3 hour classes. We have

completed Talking with God prayer) New

Preacher Alfred Mathenywa with our son Richar

Left to right: Shadrack Mazibuko, David Thwaia

Masango, Petnes Msane at E. L. T. classes near Mtu

Zulu l and



Testament Introduction , Church in the Bible

and I Timothy followed by 11 Timothy and

just started teaching a class on the Book of

Acts entitled The Beginning and Spread o f the

Church. All the lessons and teaching is done in

the Zulu language. To follow still I Peter and

O.T. Survey which we hope to complete by th e

end of this year.

OPHANS I

The dry winte r months are the times for our

evangelistic out reach. Normal ly the summers

are t oo we t in Zululand for outdoor meetings. Our

winter months are June, July and August. We

had several smaller meetings in June, b ut th e

two biggest were held in Ju ly, th e f irs t one atOphansi (means below or down ) in Northern

Zululand July 9th and 10th. This fine church isunder the leadership ofAlbert Masango who is afiery preacher. He is also an enthusiastic student

a t our Extension Leadership Classes. Ophansi ishis home vil lage where his family lives. He

works as a janitor at th e Primary School in

Mtubatuba where he stays during the school

term. This was n ow our winter school vacations.

The re were th e usua l dramat ic momen t s on th e

way there when people did not show up atrendezvous points, but a ll those who planned togo eventually got there, most of them long af ter

dark on Saturday night. With great love and

enthusiasm they sang and preached through the

whole night and continued i nto the Lord s Day

morning when we broke bread in the early light.

At Ophansi Village

KWANKULU

The second big evangelist ic meeting was held

a t the village of Zacharia Khumalo 140 kms (85miles) from Eshowe when they dedicated their

new building. Bro. Alvin Nicholson and his wife

Verni ta came up from Port Shepstone,

Floyd Stamm from Durban. We went ah

the women on Friday with the big ten

women came on Saturday with the ch

KwaNkulu is far off the main roads and

rough and dusty at this time of the year.

300 Christians, some from as far aw

Johannesburg and Brakpan 550 kms (330

away ga th ere d for two days and nigpreaching and singing. Friday we a

acquainted, and the main service started F

evening and lasted all night. On Samorning and afternoon we held separate c

fo r the men, while Charlotte and Vernita

to th e women. During classes we search

scr iptures on issues regard ing pwitchcraft, polygamy, sorcery, ancestral

and so on. The Saturday evening services

lasted all night. All thes e who wished

chance to speak, including the missionari

their wives present, but at midnight w

away to our vehicles to tr y and get some re9:30 on Sunday morning the preachin

continued, but as we h ad h ad the Lord s S

at about midnight we all sang as we walke

to the new bui ld ing across the river.

marched around the building circling i t s

times before i t was officially opened by

Nicholson. After much fu rt he r singin

preaching lasting th e rest of the morning

into the af ternoon we all said our farewel

star ted for home. Twen ty -one persons

baptized during June and July, 1977.

BUSIS IWE AND

THE CANE KNIFE

Note: Busisiwe (Name means blessing in Z

member of Charlotte s ThursdayWomen s meone of our near by churches. This t rue story hathis year.

One fine day early this yea r, Bus

husband called her to come. Please go

home kraal o fmy girl friend, and tell her

to see her

Busisiwe was no t a C hris t ia n no r whusband. After much walking, Busisiwe

reached the kraal of the girlfriend, who

Please come sit in sid e my hut . Would y

s ome t ea?

Busisiwe said, I t is such a hot day, I d

s i t outs ide unde r t h a t n ice s h a d e t ree C

have just a g la ss o f water to drink, no tea

you, for I am very hot and tired from th



walk

While Bus is iwe was waiting for the water,

suddenly from behind her came the terriblenoiseof the long, sharp cane knife cutting through theair. The first blow hi ther on t he head. She could

not see wel l for the blood in her eyes.

She pu t her hands up to protect herself fromthe attacker. The second blow cut he r t humb off.

Then she saw quickly who it was behind her-herhusband's girlfriend.

Genzine Genzine (What have I done What

have I done )

The cane knife continued to fall hard upon her

body and there was no answer. Bususiwe tried torun away, and the girl followed, and it was clear

she intended to kill Busisiwe. Finally Busisiwe

came to a big river and exhausted and unable tosee, fell down in the water, unconscious.

Just as the girl caught up to he r to finish

killing her, a strange woman cameup to th e river

to fetch water, so the girl fled quickly into the

bushes. At first th e strange woman thoughtBusisiwe was just drunk, then she got a closerlook and realized she was seriously hurt andcould not wake her up to speak.

The strange woman then recognized Busisiweand sent a message to her husband, Busisiwe,

your wife, is dead down by the river.Friends finally got her into a car and took her

to the hospital, where they realized she was stillalive. When Bus is iwe was in the hospital, she

remembered wha t her m in iste r, B ro th er

Mathengwa, told her every time about Jesus.

If I die today, I cannot see the Lord God, she

cried. She knew she hadn' t accepted her Lord orobeyed him. She found herself in total darkness.

If I can come out of the hospital, I wi ll praise

the Lord. True to her word, when Busisiwe wasdischarged, she told everyone how she loved th e

Lord

It was after this happened, that I met Busisiwe

fo r the first time. We went to her hut to makeprayer . She still was bandaged up and one armwas in plaster. Even after a ll that, little did we

Bu s is iw e a n d he r

chi idren. No te h er

bandaged arm.

know the further hardships that lay around

corner for Busisiwe.

It was Busisiwe's husband who had plan

her demise, and failed. Now it was no secre

clearly didn't want her to be his wife any lonHe told her to go and t ake the five children.

had a second wife, th e great wife, who

lived in the same village k raa l, plus his

friend. He no longer loved Busisiwe. He stop

giving Busisiwe food for the children, nor mo

fo r blankets or clothes, not even soap

washing.

The local chief was called to settle th e disp

he told the husband Busisiwe must stay an

must give her food. Meanwhile, the Great Wworked each day down at the roadside ma

still, and Busisiwe would watch that wife schildren, plus her own five chi ldren. Some win school as well.

One Sunday afternoon, whi le Bus is iwe

resting on her mat, the Great Wife s hut cau

fire. When the fire was finally put out, the GWife and the husband blamed Busisiwe and s

YOU have s ta rt ed thi s fire. It is YOUR fa

One of th e children of the G rea t

confessed, No, it was I who started th e

mother. I t was my fault. But the great wife

husband would not believe the child, e

though al l the children agreed to who had stathe fire, and pointed to t he same child who

admi t t ed i t.

Now Bus is iwe cannot work well in her gar

She canno t hold the hoe p rope rl y witho

t humb o n o ne h an d a nd the other hand unab

open and close properly. Her sister, Toliwe, hBusisiwe work in h er g ard en. Toliwe gives

half of everything-cooking oil, samp, beans

The girl friend who tried to kill Busisiwe

prison. The husband t ried to bribe the judgreduce her sentence to one year, but the ju

refused and g av e h er eig ht y ears in prison.

Busisiwe does not feel any bit terness only

for the girl friend. She has forgivenSomet imes I take Busisiwe food or clothes. W

I go to her hut, I never see any food at all, perh

a small bag of corn meal. But Busisiwe does

complain. Last month, I gave Busisiwe her

own Zulu Bible, which she cherishes. Throal l these troubles in her life, Busisiwe

received a much greater gift--something no m

can t ake away .

Recently Busisiwe, who has nothing-gav

a gift of some spinach from he r garden-humble I felt.

Char lo t te Sin



C O N T R I B U T O R S

C H U R C H E S

First Christian Church Phoenix AZ

Women s Christian Fellowship Phoenix AZ

Koffee Klass FCC Phoenix AZ

T au S ig s C la ss FCC Phoenix AZ

Community Christian C h ur c h A p a c h e Je t. AZ

Christian Church C asa Grande AZ

Christian C hurch K in g m an AZ

Christian Church Cortez CO

F i r st C h r is t ia n Church Pompano Beach F L

Chapel Hill Christian Church Fairview Hts. IL

C h r is tian H om e B u il de rs C l as s Windsor IL

Christian Church Milford ILChristian Church Sciota IL

E lm Street Christian Church Olney IL

Christian Church Waynesville IL

Christian Church Pleasant Hill ILNorth Liberty Christian Chxirch Indianapolis IN

Womens Christian Fellowship Ne w Lisbon ING r an d vi e w C h u r c h o f Christ Connersville IN

N o rt h si d e C h u rc h of Christ Richmond IN

Christian Church Martelle lA

Bellevue Christian Church Atchison KS

Antelope Hills Church of Christ Canby MN

Church of Christ Coon Rapids MN

Crossroads Christian Church Macon M

Couples For Christ Class GreenwoodChristian Church Canton OH

Columbia Church o f Christ Edon OH

F i r st C h r is ti a n Church Springfield OH

Garden P a r k C h u r ch o f Christ Toledo O

F i r st C h r is t ia n Church Marlow O KPark Street Christian Church Richland

Center WI

Orchard Street C h r is t i an C h ur c h West

AUis WI

INDIVIDU L S

J a m e s Phelps Bridgeport I L

W ay ne W atkin s G r e na da Hills CA

Hubert W. Adams Jr. Indianapolis IN

Wilfred Dusek Phoenix AZ

Maury F a r r a r Phoenix AZVirginia Beddow Cincinnati OH

M i r ia m B r ok a w A ng o l a IN

F r a n k Jo h n so n Lincoln I L

Hazel Poole R ich lan d Center WI

Anonymous

F OR S LID ES

M /M J im Cragen

B ox 9 8 5 1

Phoenix AZ 85068

U S

F O R C O N TR IB U T IO N S

M /M J im Cragen

B ox 9851

Phoenix AZ 85068

U S

FI ELD D D R ES S

Sandy Charlotte Sinc

B ox 1 11

Eshowe Zululand 3815

Sou th frica

MISSION SERVICES

BOX 17 7

KEMPTON INDI N

y

Documents

Sinclair Sandy Charlotte 1977 SAfrica