BY REV. J. B. RADASI, F.P. MISSIONARY, MATABELELAND.
THE following report was read by the Rev. Neil Cameron, of the Foreign Missions Committee, at the meeting of Synod in May last:—
C/O NATIVE COMMISSIONER, BEMBESI,
MATABELELAND, SOUTH AFRICA, 6th April, 1920.
MY DEAR MR. CAMERON,—I was glad to hear from you some time ago that progress was now being made in the printing of the whole Book of Psalms in metre. Our people were also very glad to hear of it, as they were always asking me what progress was being made in the printing of them, and I used to say, I have not heard yet. It is to be hoped that they will be finished before the end of this year.
I am very sorry to say that we have lost, by death, one of our aged elders. He was above seventy years of age, and greatly devoted to our cause here. He was a greatly exercised Christian, and very fond of his Bible. You would see him always reading it, and during his illness it was always under his pillow. He had learned to read his own language when he was a young man in an evening school. He was a man who was made to realise his utter sinfulness and helplessness, as he often used to complain to me about the corruption of his nature, and that there was no salvation for man apart from the sovereign grace of God. The day before he died, when I went to see him, as I often used to go, and read and pray with him, he desired me to sing the 46th Psalm. He said that he had been meditating on it just before I came, and it had given him great comfort. He said he knew I was coming, and he had expected me. He said that he had been greatly troubled with doubts and fears, and that the Lord in his mercy had now removed them. His death has caused a great blank in our Church here. He was never absent from prayer-meeting or services, unless he was ill or gone to preach in the out-stations.
We also lost by death, a fortnight after the old man’s death, a young schoolgirl, about fourteen years of age. She had made remarkable progress for her age, as she had only been two years in school, and during that time she was able to read fluently and correctly the Kafir Bible, and was now in Standard II. English. She qualified for her Bible the first year, and had learned by memory the 1st, 15th, 23rd and 24th Psalms; also the 5th chapter of Matthew and the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of John. All these she could say by memory. She was only ill for a week. Her parents are both members of our Church, and they stay about four miles from our Mission here. She and her younger brother used to come to school every day, walking four miles to school, and returning home again after school. I was hurriedly called to
her death-bed, just a day before she died, as she was very anxious to see me. I found her very, very ill, almost unable to speak. She said she was very glad to see me, and wished me to read and pray. She desired to be read the 139th Psalm. After I had gone, she told her father and mother that she expected it would be her last night on earth, and that she was going to see her Saviour; that they were to give her Bible to her little brother, that it was the only inheritance she could leave to him, and that they must see to it that her brother was never absent from school. And then she called them all, and shook hands with them. The above were her last words.
The Bibles have also come, and I was very pleased to get them, as we also give Bibles to our out-station schools to scholars who have learned to read correctly and fluently the native language, with the hope and prayer that the Spirit of God may apply with power the Word read to the hearts and consciences of these little ones. We have over 100 children in our school here, and I thank you very much for the £6 you sent to assist us in buying school materials. It will enable me to buy black-boards, maps, chalk books and school registers, as the Government does not give assistance at all to native schools in buying school materials—not even registers. Some time ago I applied for a school register to the Education Department at Salisbury, and the reply I received was, that they had no registers suitable for native schools here, and that I could purchase one at Cape Town from J. Juta & Co., booksellers, there. The services in the different places are still conducted regularly every Sabbath by our preachers, and I occasionally visit the out-stations and preach to the people there. The services are usually well attended, and they seem to listen very attentively to the Word preached. Our congregations have increased, and I shall be very glad if you will send me some more of those Communion Tokens. Members who wish to be admitted to Communion for the first time are carefully examined by the Session, and if the Session is satisfied they are admitted, and, if not satisfied, they are not admitted.
I must now conclude, with kindest regards to you.—Yours sincerely,
J. B. RADASI.