Rev N M Ross
Zimbabwe:
Rev J R Tallach visited Zimbabwe for three weeks last October – a very hot and dry month there. He says he experienced great kindness from the Mission staff and workers while he was in the country and is very grateful to them. He spent the first weekend at Zvishavane with Rev Z Mazwabo and preached at the first and third of three services while Mr Mazwabo preached at the second. He says he was encouraged by the hearty singing and good attendances (ranging from 75 to 150).
On his second Sabbath he preached at Bulawayo, where the church was well filled at both services; the Thembisio children were present at the morning service. The following week he paid a visit to Thembisio Children’s Home, which is being converted from one institution to five family houses. Two of these have already been constructed and the next stage is to appoint and train house mothers to take charge of “family” groups of the children, each “family” having children of various ages. Miss Petra Beukers, at present working in Thembisio, will be joined by Miss Margaret MacAskill in April (DV) in order to implement this welcome upgrading of the Home.
During Dr Tallach’s visit Mr Melusi Mpofu, the son of the late Rev Alfred Mpofu, was appointed to replace the previous Administrator. He had a responsible post in the Ministry of Education before this appointment.
The third weekend was spent at Mbuma, where Dr Tallach assisted Rev M Mloyi at the communion. “It was very good,” says Dr Tallach, “to have Rev P Mzamo, his wife and daughter (Mrs Zikhali) at the communion, and to hear Mr Mzamo preach on the Saturday and address the second Lord’s Table on Sabbath”.
Miss K M MacAulay hopes to return to Zimbabwe in March to rejoin the translation team in its ongoing work.
Kenya:
Rev K M Watkins reports that there have been several new developments in recent months. Most significant is the commencement of a new translation of parts of the Bible into Ekegusii, the language of the Kisii people, because of the unfaithfulness and inaccuracy of the present Kisii Bible. The translation of the Psalms into metre continues.
He continues, “Recent months have seen a number of younger visitors come to the mission – either to work or to see the work – which has been very encouraging indeed”. Miss Elizabeth Munns from our London congregation joined the staff in September and has been busy working with the younger people of the congregation. She conducts a weekly English reading class, using as a basis the articles on John G Paton which appeared in The Young People’s Magazine. The library has been re-arranged and some attractive booklets of suitable articles from The Young People’s Magazine have been printed and are now available for borrowing.
Mr Watkins also reports that on Saturday mornings several “mock exams” were held for those of our young people who attend the neighbouring Rianyakwara Primary School to help prepare them for their end-of-primary-school exams in November. A basic computer course for some teachers at the primary school and mission workers has also been commenced, using several computers donated to the Mission last spring.
Although the weekly catechism class continues at the primary school, further involvement has been hindered because the school awaits the appointment of a replacement headmaster. The Mission is liaising on this matter with the Ministry of Education.
The clinic continues as usual but, for the first time, a programme of TB sputum testing began on January 11.
During the December school holidays a Sabbath School Conference was held – implementing for the first time what was approved in the 2005 Mission Plan. Over two weeks, more than 220 Sabbath School children gathered at the mission for Bible teaching, Bible quizzes, activities and games. Young people (aged 13 to 18) from the three outstations were also included and were accommodated at the Mission. Mr Watkins comments, “Our desire is that the young people would have received something of lasting benefit for their souls from the time they spent at the Mission”.
The Church Session has had meetings to interview applicants for the sacrament of Baptism. Although many in the congregation still need more understanding of, and outward conformity to, God’s law, a number have been granted the privilege of Baptism, which was dispensed on January 17. This is an important step forward for the Sengera congregation.
Israel:
In November, Rev John Goldby resumed services in Jerusalem, after moving back there from Jaffa, where he had been based for the previous 18 months. Each Sabbath he holds a service at 11 am in the YMCA in Jerusalem and at 7 pm in Tel Aviv, where the congregation consists mainly of Russian-speaking Jews.
He has been encouraged to have some visitors in recent times from other congregations of our Church. The de Boer family from New Zealand came for a few days, as did Mr and Mrs Hayden from Barnoldswick. My wife and I also spent some days with Mr and Mrs Goldby and not only enjoyed their warm and unstinting hospitality but were also privileged to be present at the first of the resumed Free Presbyterian services in Jerusalem.
In the imposing YMCA building we met in a small simple chapel with bare cream limestone walls and furnished with oak chairs and lectern. Into the stone above the entrance door are carved the words of Psalm 65:2: “O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come”. We pray that the day will speedily come when many, both Jews and Gentiles worldwide, will come to God through Jesus Christ.
Mr Goldby is still much involved in translation work, and meets with two other pastors to translate the Westminster Confession of Faith into modern Hebrew. The whole of the Confession has now been translated and is presently being carefully rechecked. He spends one day a week as a member of another team, consisting of one of the pastors already mentioned and two Hebrew scholars, as they revise the Delitzsch Hebrew New Testament. The team has nearly completed the Gospel of John and, in more than 300 places, has recommended revision to the Trinitarian Bible Society (TBS), the body supervising and rechecking the translation.
I was privileged to spend a session with each of the translation teams, one meeting at Gedera, near Ashdod, and the other at Yad Hashmona, in the Judaen hills, and was much impressed by the scholarly and painstaking work they are prayerfully doing on each of these projects.
Another important development was the arrival in Jerusalem in December of Mr Albert Hembd and his wife from our congregation in Texas. Mr Hembd is employed full time by the TBS as a Bible Translation Consultant. In Jerusalem he will have access to many resources and Biblical-language expertise and will be able to exert influence in support of the Greek Textus Receptus and the translation principles of the TBS. Both Mr Goldby and Mr Hembd were invited to speak to the TBS Committee and staff at their meeting in London on Monday, November 30.
On the previous Friday evening, Mr Goldby gave an address to our London Congregation about our work in Israel. May the Lord prosper such work and gather in His ancient people – a glorious event which will be as “life from the dead” to the Gentile world (Rom 11:5).