Ingwenya Communion was held at the end of September. We have not heard the details yet but rejoiced to hear that there was one male member received.
On Sabbath afternoons there is a gathering of little Primary children. Their mothers bring them. Each Sabbath they have a verse of Scripture to learn and a verse of a psalm. Last Sabbath there were 150 little ones. We hope the Lord will bless them and their teachers. One of the verses they learned recently was from Psalm 119, verse 18.
On the first Thursday of the new term at Ingwenya when the morning Prayer-meeting was held, there were about 800 present, one hundred would be adults and the others young people and little ones. One of the African ministers some years ago said that when he became interested in the truth he found the prayers of the Lord’s people even more helpful than the preaching.
At Mbuma the little ones are taught on Saturdays and the nurses and Doctor have great pleasure in meeting them and their mothers and in teaching them Bible verses. At Zenka the Communion was held in August with the Rev. A. B. Ndebele assisting the Rev. P. Mzamo. There were large gatherings but the late minister, the Rev. B. B. Dube was much missed.
It was with pleasure that the Mbuma staff welcomed Miss Anna Zekveld from Chesley, Canada. Her immigration permit arrived just the day before she arrived in Harare. Miss Margaret MacAskill will be leaving on furlough shortly at the same time as Miss Ishbel MacCuish will be returning home after assisting for three months in the John Tallach School.
The motor vehicles on the Mission are giving much trouble despite every effort to maintain them. Spare parts have to be bought in South Africa and tyres are bought in Botswana. One journey recently the driver had three punctures. Tax of 95% is charged on a new car entering the country.
Mr Vermeulen in his last circular letter speaks of a sermon preached by the Rev. P. Mzamo at the Communion at Sengera, the second Communion held in Kenya in connection with the Free Presbyterian Church. There would be about 300 present in the hospital building. Twenty-three communicants sat at the Lord’s Table. Mr Mzamo spoke on the three righteousnesses: the original righteousness of Adam which he and we lost, the second was the righteousness of the Law to which we could never attain, and then the precious righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ bestowed on all true believers.
Mr Vermeulen also mentioned an interesting occurrence which took place in Kenya. On his last visit there the Rev. A. B. Ndebele helped to translate some of the psalms into the Kisii dialect. Mr Vermeulen put them on his computer and, after they were sent back for final correction, he had them photocopied in New Zealand, and made into a small psalm book of 25 psalms. He posted them to Kenya in April, and they arrived in August and were received by himself! The Shorter Catechism is being checked and re-checked. Surely an onerous task, but the outcome should be of tremendous value.
J.N.