Dear Friends,
It is now four months since we arrived in Rhodesia and we had a safe journey from Scotland to Rhodesia. Our trip began from Dingwall on the 12th February 1974 and after kind friends bid us farewell we flew from Inverness to London where we stayed a few nights with Rev M. MacInnes and family.
On the 15th February Mr MacInnes and family kindly accompanied us to Southampton. From there we set sail for Cape Town and the voyage was very pleasant except for a few days passing through the Bay of Biscay when it was very stormy.
After arriving at Cape Town it was our intention to travel by rail from the Cape to Bulawayo, a journey which takes three days and two nights. However, owing to severe floods in the Transvaal we had to fly north and this took us only two and a half hours.
On arrival at Bulawayo on the 6th March we were met by a number of the mission staff and received a warm welcome. We then proceeded to Ingwenya Mission which is 30 miles from the airport and after enjoying
the kind hospitality of Miss J. Nicolson and staff for three weeks, we moved into a house in Bulawayo. Thankful to Him who grants travelling mercies we are now happily settled in Bulawayo which itself is a beautiful city with a population of around 300,000.
As you will know from the May issue of our Church Magazine my purpose here in Bulawayo is with a view to working among the African section of the community. Rev. A. Ndebele had, prior to my coming to Bulawayo, been holding a service each Sabbath in a classroom at Nkulumane Government School, Mpopoma Township, one of the African Townships. This he did at 3 p.m. during the break between his two services at Ingwenya Mission. Since my coming to Bulawayo two services are now held, one at 10 a.m. and the other at 3 p.m. The attendance is fairly good, being approximately 40 people at each service. This includes Africans, Europeans and their children. One Sabbath we had fifty people at the service and our small classroom looked somewhat packed. A good number of the people attending are young men and the services are better attended in the morning than the evening.
Prior to my coming to Bulawayo Mr Ndebele had been endeavouring to obtain a site for a church building and I have made extensive enquiries and had several interviews with various people but have had little success. It is of course very desirable to have an established church building as there are problems attached to worshipping in school classrooms. We seek to wait upon the Most High to supply this our pressing need.
The elders and I have begun organised tract distribution with a view to drawing people to our services. We stamp our tracts with the address and times of our church services. There is no shortage of eager hands to grasp our tracts and although received more from curiosity than anything else yet one hopes and prays for the blessing, while they read of sin and salvation.
Alas this part of the world is plagued terribly with Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roman Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists and other religious bodies who have done endless damage to the souls of poor lost sinners! We have in our travels met many people belonging to the professing Christian Church but alas the large majority are either modernistic or Arminian and they too leave the baneful effects of their teachings upon poor sinners! Thankful to record we have met Calvinists who truly appreciate the doctrines of God’s Word and are grieved over the lax views and practices of the professing Church.
In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation those who truly fear the Lord seek by God’s grace to go forth with the good seed of the kingdom.
There are doubtless many pitfalls and the church is warned of this: “Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness.” (2 Peter 3 v. 17). Good it is that we can look to a higher source than man, to Him that is “able to keep you from falling.” (Jude 24). May we ever look to Him. May this be our exercise of soul while we go forth with our poor weak effort to build up the Cause of Christ in this world. “Brethren pray for us.” (1 Thes. 5 v. 25).
Church Notes
Presbytery Meetings (DV)
Western: At Shieldaig on 6th August 1974 at 6.30 p.m.
Skye: At Portree on 10th September 1974 at 2 p.m.
Northern: At Inverness on 24th September 1974 at 2.30 p.m.
Canadian Deputies
We are glad to intimate that Rev. John Nicolson and his wife arrived back safely in this country on the 3rd of July after two months in Toronto. Rev. D. Campbell along with his wife and son left for Toronto on 5th July where Mr Campbell expects to remain for the months of July and August. In June, Rev. H.R. Moshe Radcliff left this country for Winnipeg. He expects to labour there for a period of six months. Rev. D. Beattie is also expected to visit Vancouver for a period of six months.
We would ask the people of the Church to remember these deputies in their labours in another land and to pray that the kingdom of Christ might be advanced in that part of His vineyard. What encouragement we have in God’s Word to pray for the extension of His kingdom in every land:
His large and great dominion shall
from sea to sea extend:
It from the river shall reach forth
unto earth’s utmost end. Psalm 72:8.
We would acknowledge the Lord’s kindness in bringing Mr and Mrs Nicolson back in safety and would pray that the Lord would put His protecting care over the other deputies and bring them back in safety again in due course, if that is His holy will.
Rhodesian Mission
Miss Marion Graham returned to Ingwenya early in July to resume her teaching duties again. Again we would ask the people of the Church to
remember her and all the staff on the Mission in their prayers at a Throne of grace.