Mills-Robert-Phyllis-1997-SAfrica.pdf

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GOSPEL TRACT CENTRERobert S. Mills, Manager

P.O. Box 13471450 Alberton, GautengRepublic of South Africa

Phone; 011-27-11-907-1533 Fax: 011-27-11-907-8651e-mail: [email protected] see our InteWt Web Site: http://www.fast.co.za/~bright/January 97

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We hope that you have had a wonderful Christmas season with your families. Asourown is so scattered these days we had our family Christmas tree and "tea"on Sundayafternoon before the date. On Christmas day we drove four and a half hours 1oBloemfontein where we enjoyed that day and the nextwith our daughter who lives ona rather remote farm ten or fifteen miles out of the city. Becky is the manageress of theTileAfrica ceramic tile shop in Bloemfontein, while Chris has taken up ostrich farming.He has converted the dairy farm into paddocks for small colonies ofostriches, a nurseryarea for the babies, and has now installed two new incubators. The eggs are all hatchedin incubators. Ifound It fascinating since I had never visited such a farm before. Beckytook us all out to a buffet dinner at a beautiful German restaurant in a large home on theedgeofthe city. The immaculately set tables were on a huge porch facing the spaciousgardens at the back ofthe house. Our hosts treated Deidra to a pony ride while welingered at our table after eating.Shannon has been busy setting everyone's computers to order for them. Today, he isin Kimberley where he istowork onPhoebeRees's computer and that oftheCaulley's.As soon as he returns, he wiil need to re-install my backup software as somehow it hasbeen erased in the process of his tidying up of my files.Pat and Connie Caulley, (a different family), have been at work on the plumbing andtyping for everyone. Here, Pat repaired the leaky toilets in the church, and installed anadditional water faucet in the kitchen sink and a security door in the outside kitchendoor. {We will add fly screenas soonas we can find it.) Connie used her talents at thecomputer and as the result of her's and Shannon's work, we were able to print 13booklets including the catalogue reprint which involved a greatdeal ofeditorial changes.It now has well over 500 items in it.As you may have noted in the letter heading, Shannon also has the e-mail address setup for us, and theweb-place. If you wish to prepare a program or lesson on either TheGospel Tract Centre or the South African work in general, there are pages ofmaterial there, including colour pictures you can access and print out. He will bekeeping that information up to date as he can change it at any time at no cost. Isuggested thatas he has usedonly a quarter ofthe allotted space, hemight include asection on,Alberton and the country itself. He plans to do that when he gets back from


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this week's trip and can locate the statistics. Dne of the" Johannesburg newspapersalways prints a special calendar withthat kind of Information. Itshould be available nowa t their front desk.Ihaveplaced an orderwith a local shopfitter for three tabletopdisplay units as we haverun out ofdisplay area for thetracts and booklets. Thesewill make it possible todisplaythe tracts that we have had to store in a filing cabinet up to date. Obviously, peopledon't see themwhen theycome In to "just look". Each display will hold either 60 stacksof booklets or 96 2" deep stacks of tracts. As the latterwill have to be hand folded,those will takea while, tgget actually on display.Our month ends with a veritable "parade" of ladles with problems. Earlier in the monththere was the one who stormed out without payingwhen she discovered that I did notdemand "tongues" as a part of the plan of salvation. (1 Cor 13:1) Then there was the-young woman, practically in hyster4GS, wi^o^stopped by the Bible shop. Her apartmenthad been burgled, but the realproblem was that she had been up all night battling withdemonoppression, and she hopedwe could help her. This gave a good opportunity topoint out that prayerwould not help her ifshe was not a Christian and that she reallyneeds the Lord in her life, and not the male apartment-mateshe was considering. Ialsophoned Stu Cook for her and after he said virtually the same thing, she departed,obviously feeling much better. She came back and spoke to Phyllis vyhen I was notimmediately available, and spoke as if she would be back to church with some of herfriends. She also asked Phyllis about baptism. If she is baptized, she vyill certainly needadditional teaching. For some reason, I could not help but be reminded of the fortunetelling young woman In Philippi. Perhaps though, the Samaritan woman at the wellwould be more apt, since she went back to the apartment building to spread the wordamong the people there! (Needless to say, so far no one has shown up for sen/ices asa result, however.)Yesterday there were three women. The first burst into tears as she asked for moneyto travel to her mothers as her husband had been drinking, and had taken their childrenand left her. The second, was shopping and stayed for some time so we hadopportunity to witness, whilethe thirdwas an unusual woman who was lookingfor usedhymnbooks as she collected them. She also plays professionally for churches andf uner al s. _She want ed to know in rather odd terms if we were "stick in the mud' or"clappy clapp/ Christians, using perhaps less kindwords.for the first description. Itsostartled me that, I am afraid Imissed the opportunity to tell her that we follow Paul'sadmonition to be "decent and in order" in life and worship (1 Cor 14:40). I did say thatI hoped we were neither of the extremes she had suggested.Please keep us in your prayers.

Sincerely, June Anderson, F.A.P.O. B ox 3 05 1Urbana, IL 61801-3051

Bob and Phyllis Mills


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GOSPE L TRACT CENTRERobert S. Mills, Manager

P.O. Box 13471450 Alberton, GautengRepublic of South Africa

Phone: 01i-27-11- 907-1533 Fax: 011-27-11- 907-8651e-mail: [email protected]

Internet Web Site: http://www.fast.co.za/~bright/Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, February 1997

We thank the Lord for His blessings and care! I must have momentarily blanked out frompure exhaustion, as we were returning home from an evening home Bible study, I only rememberDan shouting and seeing red tights ahead. Luckilywe have excellent brakes and no harm was done.Phyllis ha s been seeing tha t 1ge t more time out of the shop by using the computer an houror two every afternoon when she is free. This whole month, I have been hobbling about with a bad

left knee. It seems very warm and inflamed and Is very tender to the touch in spots. Shannon hasdone nearly all the walking trips to the pos t office and I have been catching up on clearing out workin the office storage, doing the correspondence Bible lessons, folding and preparing thousands oftracts for the shop displays and in general trying to keep off my leg and climbing as few stairs aspossible. That is not really possible as we have basement storage, steps up from the shop to thekitchen area, and two flights up again to the bedrooms. There are even a few steps to ge t to thechapel side of the building.

Late this week the "handyman" who is building our tract displays phoned tha t the first of thethree is ready. I thank the Lord that earlier this month 1found where Icould buy a new office foldingmachine and bought it immediately. Iwas sure it would handle the work and it does a beautiful, andvery fast job of either of th folds that we normally make use of for tracts. The newly installed display-now shows off 96 different kinds tracts. That includes most of the English ones, and all of the Zulu,Venda and Tsonga. We had them folded and ready. I now must fold and prepare the rest in the hopethat the other displays will soon be here.

Myapologies to Pat and Connie, their name is not Caulley, but Conley. 1had beenmisinformed somewhere along the line. Sorry. We were very sorry to see Cinda Schaffer leave toreturn to America this month. We wish her the very best In the time ahead. Shannon started a shortcourse on computer maintenance and upgrading last night. He had to stay in Johannesburg overnight since there is no affordable transport after working hours and we had a home Bible study toattend. Shannon is in th e midst of rather a tough time as he was asked to install windows 95 in anotebook computer for his brother-in-law's firm. It came on a CD and the notebook did not have aCD drive so he used the one in his own computer as a "bounce", and ended up corrupting his wholehard drive. He is busy re-installing everything and has lost anything he had not recently backed up! Itdid not effect his web sight and I picked up his mail until he had his going correctly again.

This morning I started the printing of 250 pages for a Directory of S.A. Publishers andDistributors that is to be distributed by the Chnstian Booksellers of S.A. office. I just printed extracopies and enclose it on the back of this letter. This mailing willgo to most Christian bookshops andpublishers throughout the country and will be a big help in finding who handles what overseaspublishers as well. That has been a problem in th e past.

I have been kept busy reprinting and re-stocking ou r "free tract table" these past few weeks.One young man in particular, ha s been coming nearly every day for new supplies. He apparentlywent room to room in the local hospitals, then started door to door distributing tracts, A couple ofo th er s h av e a ls o collected l esser amount s .

We at Central Christian have moved our starting time to 9:30 and twice this month, as soonas we finish here, I have driven to the Kimberley Road church in Johannesburg in time to preach asecond service there. It has been lovely being with our friends there again.


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GOSPEL TRACT CENTRE

Publisher's CatalogueCONTAININGOVER 500 ITEMS & 20 LANGUAGES

GOSPELTRACTCENT!publisher'sCAXMIoGUEii?

I!t*T

MA/A

;|^^S:j^UARy/JUNE:19MAl 1.OFFICIAl. I AN'Gl^AGF.S AND MORF

FREE

Look us over on our web page http:/www.fast.co.za/~bright/Phone; 011 907-1533 - Fax; Oi l 907-8651 - E-mail [email protected]

Visit us at 54 5"'' Avenue, Alberlon NorthPostal Address, P.O. Box 1347, Alberton 1450


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GO^E^RA^T CENTREP.O. Box 1347

1450 Alberton, GautengRepublic of South AfricaPhone: 011-27-11-907-1533 Fax:[email protected] Web Site: http://www.fast.co.za/~bright/

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, March 1, 1997Praises to the Lord thatmy left knee ismuch betterwithonly a veryoccasional twitch, though I am stillallowingShannonto do the daily walk to the post office. I would have had problems this past month ifhe had not been available to help with that. He also does most of our desk top publishing and all ofanythingthat has to do with computermalfunctionsnow.He had a problem of his own though when hedecided to clear away remnants of old softwareinstallationsthat we no longeruse and forgot to back upthe ".AddressBook"on my computer. This meant that all ofmy addresses other than those of studentsgetting the correspondence lessons were lost and had to be retyped. Student addresses are not kept in the"address book" file. That v^ll explain why your address may look differently with this mailing.Shannon has put the office computers, ours and his onto a "network" so we both use the printer on mydesk and can back up our files on a different computer than the one we are actually using at the time. Iusually do the financial books on the main desk though the records are actually in the smaller computerat the cash register. We both use the Risograph printer or photocopier as needed. I printed 12,000stewardship cards for the black churches earlier this week, and the new 1997minister's directory isgoing to press as I write this. This year. Shannon subdivided it by provinces (states to you). That willmake it more useful to the people as they plan area meetings and the like.We still lack our last display unit fi-om the Handymanand I am battling to find places to make newmaterials that arrive available. Over 200 titles of our own published tracts are now on display. We havealso added 88 small booklets printed by Radio Pulpit. They seem to be very popular, no doubt becauseof the radio program on Transworld Radio. I havehad to place threeneworderssince those first arrivedat thebeginning of the month. In addition, a friend sentin a dozen booklets that he hasjust hadprinted.Hiswifesaysthat theyalsowdll haveanotiierdozenof thesameinAfiikaans. I have severalof hisbooksaheadyon the shelves. RadioPulpitalso sentalong samples of 8 of their tracts. Theymostly dealwiththings like "Ten Reasoits To Believe ChristRose from theDead. " Theyare verywell done, though theydemand that I find more display space if I am to stock them regularly.This week we had a '^reminder" that we l ive in the New South Africa, when a business lower in theblock was robbed and the owner emptied his automatic pistol in the vague direction of the robber'sescape. (Upour street). They escaped with about$10,000 he had readied to take to the bank. The firstthingweknew,waswhenwe hearda whole barrage of shotsand the "zing" of the bullets past our openshopdoor! Oneembedded itself it a tree trunkabouta hundred feetpast us, and a second hit the upperlegof a pedestrian an equal distance theother sideofus.People onthe cross street ranin every direction!Of course, this is not the first time bullets have flown in this area, but I do think it was the closest wewere aware of Also, it was mid-afternoon when tliere were many people on the streets and not late atnight when we have grown accustomed to such things.Phyllis has scheduled another evening couple'sBibleStudy classwhichwe both plan to attend, thoughtechnically she is the leader. This is back in the neighbourhood where her first couples class used tomeet,but in a different home. Unfortunately this host couple, thoughfinanciallywell off, have personalproblems andthe tension is apparent even from the first evening. Theyneedour prayers, as doweallneed to pray for one another these days.Yours in J^sus Christ, June Anderson, F/A


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r

[email protected], bool Dear Co-workers,>> We praise the Lordfor e-mail! Nearlyallour South African missionary> co-workers can now be reached cheaply inminutes bythis means now.Our grandson. Shannon, has just put Steve and Brenda Caulley, and Phoebe> Rees on line leaving onlyJohn and Heather Keman and Lynn and Lucille> Stanley who have to be reached byphone, or inthe Stanley's case,also> byfax.Ithas brought tears to our eyes as we followed and prayed for> the case of Eugene Nij, of San Raymundo, Guatemala. Ifitwere not for> e-mail we would not even have known nor the prayers of the world been> rallied anywhere nearly intime.>> We are busy up-dating and improving our ownwel>-page.> > Several improvements have been made, and more information Is set aside> to be added as soon as possible including a prayer request feature and> the ability to order our free Bible Correspondence lessons byclicking> them inthe catalog listalready inthe site. To gain wider contact,we> have asked to be listedinthe "His Family Online" web site,which> incidentally, Istrongly recommend. ItIs .> Youmay have missed their advert on the back page ofHORIZONS magazine,>but don^ miss their helpful features! They have web connections to> several of our BibleColleges and charitable organizations.>> Thismonth I reprinteda number ofour tracts which were in lowsupply> and added a few new ones to fill ingaps that have been called our> attention. One of thosewas attractive cards witha Scripture Story> appropriate for people to leave in the patient's room on hospital calls.> The first one has the 23rd Psalm witha small inserted picture and room on the back towritea note. We didthatone in both English and>Afrikaansversions. I plan to lookout other appropriate paragraphs that can be used the same way.>> I preached for the Kimberiey Road church eariier this month, but now> rejoice withthem that our brother Joseph, has finished hisworkwith> the BibleSchool in Harari, Zimbabwe and come to begin his first> ministrywiththem. We wish Rolithe very best and that the Lordwill> richlybless his ministrythere. Itwill no longer be necessary for us> to start our services a halfan hour eartier than our sign says so that Ican get to Kimberiey Road t)eforethesermon time there. Hissister, Mabel, liveswith us so we will probably be seeing himoften.Atthe present time.


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Shannon, his sister Michelle!, and Mabel are living here.> Susan moved to her own apartment, and is now considering returning to> Israelto work.Michelle is inhighschool, so Phyllis back to driving her to school each morning and shopping forschool needs .>

> Phyllis and the other ladies are working hard on preparations for this> year's Ladies Day. This year, itis to be at the Berea Christian Church. We expect to have a "fullhouse" here. TheSmith family from> Bloemfontein plan to stay withus and we will also have our daughter> Donna who is to arrive from Texaswithour granddaughter Nikkieon the> 15th. Nikkiewill naturally stay with her parents. We just hope that it> will not be so chillyas it is now. Imust get the gas tanks filled for the shop's heater.>> As it had been a year since we had any sort of a break, Phyllis and I> took 5 days mid-April and flew to Durban to spend th e time withour> friends Lynn and Lucille Stanley. The weather turned beautiful and we> had a delightful and restful break in completely different surroundings.>We had a nice visit to their daughter's home on a sugar-cane farm, and a meal with theirgranddaughter intown.Twice we ate out. Shannon coped>wellwith things here inour absence and preached the firstsermon after we returned. Ido thinkhe was glad tosee us back though! Unlike me, he had nowifeor anyone to "sitthe shop" whilehe even went to the postfRce.>> MayGod's blessings be withyou in Hiswork! June Anderson F/A> P.O. Box 3051

Urbana,IL61801-3051Bob and Phyllis Mills


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GOSPEL TRACT CENTRERobert S. Mills, Manager

P.O. Box 13471450 Alberton, GautengRepublicof SouthAfrica

Phone: 011-27-11-907-1533 Fax: [email protected] Site: http://www.fast.co.za/~bright/Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord, July, 1997

The month of July is considered to bethe coldest month ofthe year, and it appears tobe living up to its reputation with a high today forecast of 12 degrees centigrade and a verycold south wind coming inover the snow-capped mountains to the south of us. Also to beexpected, as soon as I lighted the gas heater in the Bible shop, it flickered andwent outrThistime, Iwas prepared for that and switched over to the full tank; then ordered a replacement soI would be ready the next time.

We have our youngest granddaughter Deidra visiting usduring the winter schoolholiday. Her older sister, Susan and Michelle, left yesterday togo to Bloemfontein. Susan isto work for her Dad inthe officeof his factory, and Michele is only visiting and we expecther back before school re-starts in a couple ofweeks time.Shannon volunteered lastyeartowork withtheWorld Evangelism conference nowmeeting in Pretoria. For several days he has been one ofthose stationed at the Joharmesburg

international Airport between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. towelcome, register and assist peoplearriving from all over the world. We have not even seen him the last few nights and when themeetings actually start, he plans to stay inPretoria full time. They plan to camp. Inthisweather! It really made his day when heassisted one ofourown, DrLeRoy Lawson, fromPacific Christian College. I also had a phone call from John Fulford, former South Africannow ministermg inNew Zealand. He plans to try to contact Shannon and to spend a day ortwo with us before flyingon to CapeTown, his home town..Stu and Marilyn Cook brought two of their guests, Mr and Mrs Beeman, tovisit a few

minutes yesterday.Earlier in themonth, brothers DaleMason, and Jacob Michael along withfour collegestudents visited usand stayed a few days when theypassed through ontheirwaytoMazambique and Malawi. They are planning to stop over ontheir return trip next month. Weare looking forward to hearing all about theirtrip then.Toencourage thedistribution ofourown publications, wehave just printed anupdated catalog which we are posting to every Bible Bookshop listed in the ChristianBookseller's official list for SouthAfrica, includingNamibia,and Swaziland. There are, ofcourse, other shops which are not on their list, but as their convention isto be held only threecity-blocks away from us August 17-21, we will have a display and perhaps can personally

hand copies to those we missed inthemail. I have made good use ofa booklet-makermachine that wasloaned fordemonstration purposes in thebinding of thosesinceourold


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equipment totally "packed-up and quit." A second machine is also being loaned to us hyanother company sowecancompare features. I have kept a few hundred copies to doon thatone. I am really expecting thatoneto be superior, but then it also is more expensive eventhough itis marked down because they used itasa demonstration machine in their showroom.

Wehad onecomplaint aftersending outourfifthtractovere-mail, noton content, buton length. It was a small booklet I hadpersonally written, soI won't send that long items oras frequently as we started. I think wewill make it more "occasional". His complaint is thathis e-mail server had to be contacted by long distance phone calls. He may actually be theonly person onmy list who is not served by a local phone call, but I do apologise.With the addition of John and Heather Keman, I think all active South Africanmissionaries can nowbe reachedby e-mail.The reason for that is that SouthAfricanpostal

service has become such a "bottle neck" that we are all searching for faster and more reliablealternatives where we can.

Plans are made for DVBS to start in a few days time. This will be joint with theKimberley Road congregation in Johannesburg. Phyllis and Shannon will drive each day as itis to be held at Kimberley Road.

Wethank our Lord for each and every one of you and earnestlyask your prayers forourselves as well. May the Lord bless and keep you.Yours in His Semce,

Bob and Phyllis Mills

June Anderson, F/AP.O. Box 3051Urbana, ILL 61801-3051

Whom shall Isend, and who will^"Here am I! Send me.


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From: Robert MillsReply-To: [email protected]: Gospel Tract CentreX-Mailer: Mozilla 4.0 {enj (V\/in95:1)MIME-Version: 1.0To: Alice Fishback , Andy Bell ,

Atlanta Christian College ,Cacho &MollyCabral ,Camels ,Charlie Delaney ,Chris & LoriHart ,Claudia Juarez ,Dale &HueyMason ,Dale Marshall ,Dave Redick &Charles Dailey ,Fielden Allison ,Fred Moeller , Gary Reiss ,George &Ling Chong ,Gordon &Estelle Nelson ,Greta Milliken,"Haldeman W. Guffey" ,"Harkness, Jim &Donna" ,Jacob & Nila Michael ,Jerry &Aleta Kennedy ,John &Heather Kernan ,Larry Stanley ,Lincoln Christian College &Seminary ,"Messimer, Dennis &Linda" ,"Michael M.Stanley" ,Mission Services ,"Morris, Brion" ,National Missionary Convention ,Nebraska Christian College ,"Orton, Lillian" ,"Pennington, Ben" ,"Pennington, John" ,Pete & Fran Laughren ,"Robin Dodd, Christian Church" ,Ron Butler ,Ruth Engelbrecht ,"Salyers, Rhett" ,Shawn Gardner , Sizemore ,"Smith, Phil and Roxanne" ,Steve & Brenda Caulley ,Steve & Pat Zimmerman ,Stu &Marilyn Cook

Subject: Newsletter - August 1997X-Priorlty: 3 (Normal)Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-asciiContent-Transfer-Encoding: 7bitDear Brothers and Sisters in th e Lord, August. 1997On th e 17th of this month, the Lord willing, we will be moving on e ofour display stands a few blocks away to the Civic Centre where theChristian Booksellers Association is having its annual nationalbook-show and convention. We plan to have an exhibit this year,


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especially since it is local again. This is the first time we have had adisplay for a number of years. In the past, I have simply attended oneday as a "day visitor", or on an evening when the public was allowed tovisit.Myright knee is stilltroubling so , I pray that itwill survivefour days of being on my feet non-stop twelve hours a day.Shannon came back after his week at th e TUC university missionsweek, avery happy man to be lK)me again. He had about the same schedule, but foran extra day.This month, we sold the very old collator to a man who maintains them,to be used as spare parts, and also bought a brand new ten-stationcollator and book maker machine in its place. This one works beautifullyand has already been used in doing several reprints. We ar e starting todo new editions of several of our booklets that were in low supply. Wehave completed a much improved edition of our friend, ArrillaHarrington's 25 page booklet "Know Your Bible"; a smaller booklet onbaptism, and a third on e on Christian unity. These just happen to all bein English. Each was re-set in larger, easier to read type and, ofcourse with a new cover and ar e a little thicker than previously. Theywill be among those on show at the convention. We have also re-printedabout 14 different kinds of our tracts in various languages. Aside fromthose collected personally from the shop for distribution, three boxesof tracts have been requested and sent out through the mail for masscirculat ion.

On th e local front, at th e Central Christian Church, we have beendelighted to have Ron and Doris Macintosh, an elderiy couple, whostarted a few weeks ago to attending our local fellowship veryfaithfully. They ar e a lovely couplewho have already been baptized inth e past for th e remission of sins. Itwas our pleasure to baptizeHeather Christie a week ago. Heather ha s been a member of Phyllis'evening Bible study class for a number of various Bible studies.We ar epraying for Val, Henry, Shane, and Dan who have been with the samestudies. They come from various denominations. Only Shane has beenbaptised. He was an exchange student, and last year returned to visithis host family and to be baptised at a Baptist church inAmerica.We have had guests at the Centre on several occasions during the month.John Fulford, missionary to New Zealand, was with us early in th e month.A Christian family of four were with us one night this week, and wepresently have Lois Whytsell visiting from North Africa. She is herefor medical examination and possible treatment that is not availablewhere she and her husband work. A young intern couple from Ozark BibleCollege were with us for a meal. Next week we expect th e missionariesand interns from Platte Valley Bible College who have spent the Summerworking inMozambique and Malawi to be returning for a night or two asthey prepare to fly back to America. You may have guessed, JohannesburgInternational Airport is a major gateway to Southern Africa!Itis also a major crime-capitol topping most of the world's dangerousplaces. May God bless your remembrance of us all in your prayers.Your's in Jesus Christ,June Anderson F/AP.O. Box 3051Urbana, IL61801-3051


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Content-Transfer-Encoding:7bitDea r Brot l iers and S i st e rs in th eLord, September,1997

The Christian Booi^seller's Convention is now history. By passing jobsaround, we were able to assist one another and itwas not so bad for anyof us. Istarted the day everyday, but usually Shannon appeared at thehall somewhere around lunch t ime so that I could come home fo r a break.Phyllis watched the shop for him, and had planned for me to lie down foran hour if possible. That plan was shot down when the students andfaculty of a near by preacher training school realized we were here anda number of them brought their lecture notes to be photocopied andplastic comb bound. Only I knew how to do that, so nearly every daythere were books for me to bind. The first day, Ivirtually went back tothe show to slow down and get off my feet! I understood we were notpermitted to sell at th e show, but everyone was , and of course orderscould be taken. For us, itwas mostly an opportunity to ge t known in thetrade and to place a few orders of our own for th e shop.One of the faculty members of that school ha s asked Shannon to beinten/iewed in h is ca ll in talk show on Wes t Rand Radio. Tha t is arather low powered Christian Station catering to the West Rand includingSoweto and the surrounding areas. The plan is that he will be a guest onth e 13th. We won't be able to listen from here. We are too far away. Itwill reach into th e homes of millions of black listeners, however.One of th e universities in Johannesburg, (Rand Afrikaans University)had its missions emphasis week just after th e Convention and Shannontook on that on e alone, butwas home every evening. He had two displaytables in one of the main passage ways and distributed many of ourcatalogues and sold nearly a hundred of our own publications there.So many dealers and other people asked for more information in ourcatalogue that I have started to prepare an illustrated edition withshort descriptions of each type of book. This one is not arranged bylanguages, but rather by English titles with the translations availablelisted underneath in alphabetical order . It is a lot more difficult toprepare and will be larger because ofthe pictures and descriptions.We have had over night visitors on several occasions this month. One ofthem was our grandson, Thomas, who just returned from Israel and walkedin th e front door. We were delighted to have him back, even to welcomehis unwashed laundry! He and his sister, Susan, are now both returnedhome and ar e both working for their father in his tile cutting factoryand office in Bloemfontein. They cut tiles into fancy border patternsand mosaic inlays.Shannon ha s now laid plans with the preacher at Kimberley Road, thatthey will both attend th e Mission Conference and missionary fellowshipto be at Graaf Reinet in the cape. Early inAugust, we bought a smallFiat Uno van which we had sign-painted, and he ha s been using. The Lordwilling,we will load the display racks into italong with boxes ofbooks to be sold at these two gatherings. (September 23-30) Phyllis andIwill see that her Bible Study classes continue, and thatwe ar e openfor worship on thatweek end and the shop stays open during the weeks.


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The round trip to Graaf Relnetwill be at least 1000 kilometres. That isa long way for the Uno, and for th e driver as welll Keep them in yourprayers.Bob.


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Dear Brothers and Sisters in th eLord,October, 1997It has been a blessed month in His work! Two bl ack bro the rs and a sisterhave started to attend services with us at Central Christian. They firstcame to an evening service, but this week came in the morning. Onoccasions we have also had some of the ministerial students from th eBible College in attendance. This group, and their teachers have becomeregulars at the Bible Shop, and two of then are working as translatorson some of our materials. So far, they have translated five booklets andtaken others to work on. This is really an answer to our prayers as theyare translating intoTswana, Sotho, and Pedi, languages Inwhichwe havevery littleof our own materials available. Peter was so enthusiasticabout the booklet dealing withthe plan of salvation he had justtranslated that he wanted copies to take to his church before the weekend. Itwas on a Friday he asked. There justwas not time. The copy islaying on my counter now, awaiting, his proof reading before it can beprinted properly. After he finishes that, I can probably finish them inanother day or perhaps two as there are a number of illustrations to beedited and pasted up for this one. One of the teachers asked for 500baptismal certificates, which are now awaiting him to collect them. Lastweek he had me print aboutthat many decision cards.People coming to ge t free tracts for distribution have so emptied ourstock in some languages that I had to reprint inXhosa, Sotho, andAfrikaans, and English. I also need Tswana but unfortunately, Iam outof printingpaper supplies at the same time. Shannon went to the BlackChurch of ChristMission Conference to distribute books. We printed ou r32 page illustrated catalog to be posted to the Bible bookstores on ourlist as soon as possible, a 7 page tract list, reprinted one of theAfrikaans workbooks used in the prison ministry, and have printed oneeach in Sotho and Pedi to make more variety available in thoselanguages. These last two deal with the "how to" of home evangelism. Ihave not even posted these catalogs and even though I held the printingback to add a booklet, it is already out of date! Itis obviously goingto continue going out of date for a while. Praises to the Lord for that!Apparently, Shannon has had a busy week at the conference. He phoned totell us that Roland was helping him and that they were both swamped bypeople wanting Bible study booklets. I knowwell what that is like. Weneeded him here, but I know he was needed of th e Lord more there. Hewill be delayed in getting back as he was asked to come back byway ofKimberiey so that he could get the computer working properly at theBibleCollege. As long as Idon't need my CD drive, this computer isworking well, but that particular drive is out of order. I had to us eold files for th e church bulletin cover this Sunday as th e new materialis all on CDs, and Idon't know the password for his computer. Becausethis is th e season of electrical storms, I turned his off while he isaway. We have lighting protection on both the telephone and the powerlines, but Idont really trust either of them so I unplug them durings t o rms .

Our granddaughter, Michelle has gone to livewith her aunt Becky inBloemfontein where she has s t a rt ed school this week . T he e nd of theschool year is only about eight or nineweeks away. We all hope thatMichelle passes this year, but she is really going to have to apply


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herself if she does. This mal

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