Marcia Kay Thomson

p. O. Box 117,Chiredzi, Rhodesia, Africa

Forwarding AgentsMr. & Mrs. Wilford E. LeasureRoute 1West Union, Illinois 62477

April, 1977

Dear Christian Friends,

Greetings from the top of Fort Victoria. I am now living in a flat(apartment) at the top of the tallest building in Fort Victoria. It isright downtown, a half block from the intersection of the main roads inthis section of the country. All traffic between South Africa and ourcapital city, Salisbury, turns the corner here. The traffic includesfuel trucks, transport trucks, army trucks, motorcycles as well as cars.The filling station right next door stays open all night. In thisbuilding there is a cafe that is open till 6 p.m., the electric companyoffices, a bank, insurance office, the regional offices for the postoffice and the telephone company and the African educational offices forthis provence. In other words, I am in the middle of everything.

FORT VICTORIA

-^X:OMES YOU

Sign as you enter town. View from my apartment.

When 1 moved to the apartment it was the only place I could find andit is sub-rented from a company that has it for employees that need a

this is not a permanent arrangement I have beena house to rent as soon as one of our churchhouse they are building. This will be more

place to 1ive. Sincesuccessful in findingfamilies complete theexpensivewi th me.

but much nicer especially on Sundays when the children are

SUNDAYS

On Sundays I lead the singing for Sunday school and teach the Juniorclass. After church I bring home some of the boarding school studentsand they stay withme until 5 p.m. Many of these are from Chiredzi asthey do not have a high school in Chiredzi and Fort Victoria is thenearest school for them. Several times there have been ten of us hereon Sunday. A one bedroom apartment and rainy weather make this a bit

picnic. Someay games. They

church service.

confining. One week we want to Pennington's and had atimes the students help me bake cookies while others pare required to go back to school before the evening

SCRIPTURE CLASSES

All of the government schools in the country allow teachers to come tothe school and teach the children from their church group. They have atime set aside for this each week. It is up to the parents to say whocan teach their children.

t:o start going to the Helen McGhie Schoolfrom that school in our Sunday school. Her

e. headteacher if I could come. This schoolred children. Most of these people are Romanass had increased to three when one teacheryest group of Roman Catholic children quit.Roman Catholic, asked me to teach these 13get another teacher. It has been sometimeall 16 children and they do not seem to beSo this is where you will find me each

Last September I was ablebecause we had one studentmother called and asked this for the Asian and ColouCatholic or Moslem. My clthat was teaching the younThe headteacher, who is achildren until they couldthat I have been teachingfinding another teacher.Monday and Friday morning.

Tuesday mornings I start at the European primary school. We haveseveral of our Sunday school children in this class. At both thisschool and the Helen McGhie School I use the felt visual aids givento me by the Valley Center, Kansas, church.

Thursday mornings find me at the high school by 7:30 a.m. Many ofthese students are the same children I have on Sunday afternoons.

Some of them were In my classes at Chrredzi several years ago.

LADIES MEETING

A European ladles group meets on Wednesday morning. We take turnsleading this group and furnishing refreshments. Since I have beenattending we have studied Romans, Ruth, and are now in Timothy.

BIBLE COLLEGE

Later each morning Monday through Friday I go to Central AfricaChristian College to teach the African students. This term 1 amteaching Life of Christ. Next term I will continue Life of Christand also teach Old Testament Poetry.

EDITOR

Starting with the January, 1977, issue I became the editor of theCentral Africa Story. This is not a constant job as most of thework is done one week of each month.

VICTORIA SINGERS

The Victoria Singers presented a cantata at Easter time. This was thefirst time I had sung with them. Besides the singing which was goodfor me I met some new people. The selection was Bach's PassionAccording to St. Luke.

MASHOKO

Many of you are probably wondering about the work at Mashoko. At thepresent time the schools are operating and the hospital Is serving thepeople as a clinic. We have no missionaries living there. SamMumbengegwi is the principal of the secondary school and his wifeSalina is in charge of the clinic. The mission staff from Chiredzifly in and out to help and I do what I can from here to assist them.This includes taking care of their mail at times and any errands thatneed to be done here in Fort Victoria, Just this week the lorry drivercame in and I made several telephone calls, went to the bank and wentto two different businesses to iron out some problems and went withthe mechanic out to get the lorry started. When Sam and Salina come totown they often come to see me and use my phone to call Chiredzi. TheMashoko line is a many party line and is often difficult to hear on andother people keep coming on while you are talking. But from FortVictoria Sam can call Chiredzi and have a good conversation.

MISSION MEETING

We are preparing for a meetinghere in Fort Victoria May 3 & ^for the missionaries scatteredthroughout Rhodesia, Severalhave left but we still have asizable number here. There aremore than 60 invited to thismeeting, however all might notbe able to come. This iscounting children that live athome. Several of the olderchildren are married and arestill in Rhodesia.

At the present time there aresome areas of the country whereyou do not travel in the bush atnight. However the work In thetowns and some of our missionshas not been hindered.

Please pray for us as we coitinuethe work here. Often it takesdifficult times to turn peoaleto the Lord, so pray that Cieywill turn to Him for wisdom andgui dance now.

THANK YOU

Thank you for making it possiblefor me to work here through yourprayers and financial help. Thechurch papers and letters tnat Ireceive from you are also a bighelp to me.

God bless and keep you as youwork for Him where you are.

Because of Chrlst.

Marcia Kay Thonson

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Marcia Kay Thomson

p. 0. Box 117,Chiredzi, Rhodesia, Africa

Forwarding AgentsMr. & Mrs. Wilford E. LeasureRoute 1West Union, Illinois 62477

September, 1977

Dear Christian Friends,

It Is spring in Rhodesia and plants are beginning to wake up and live.feel a bit that way myself as I would just as soon hibernate in winter.

In my last newsletter I mentioned that I planned to move as soon as one ofthe church families completed the house they were building. They moved onMay 28th and 29th so May 30th was moving day for me as I had classes toteach on May 31st. Although I intended to move before my mother arrived,it just was not possible. She came to Salisbury on the 29th and flew toFort Victoria on the morning of the 30th. She was able to spend about anhour at my appartment before we started moving the furniture out. I mustsay that she was a big help in getting the house in order as I was teachingclasses.

Mother was very worried about my safety so I asked her to come and see forherself what the situation is. I wish that many of you could come and seethe work first hand. Mom is back working at Ozark Bible College and I amsure she would be happy to share with you her experiences here.

Mom and I were able to visit with the Des Fountains in Melsetter. They wewere In the church in Chiredzi when Mom was here in 1970. After they movedto their farm I shared their first communion service. Marilyn Richards andI made tapes of the Chiredzi Church services and sent to them for sometime.They then gathered some friends together and different missionaries go toMelsetter to preach for the group. This is still carrying on although notas often since there is some difficulty in traveling to their area. Onthis trip we spent a couple of days in Umtali with the Nathans and theSakubva church.

The long holiday weekend we spent in Chiredzi where we attended the churchservices and had fellowship with both European and African friends in thearea. After having tea with one of the mothers whose children come to myhouse on Sundays, we went out to the car. She said, "That isn't your car,is it?" I said, "Yes, why?" Her comment, "As many children as you haularound I thought you had a big car."

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS.

When the children are here it is great to have room for them to run aroundinstead of the limited space at the apartment. They have gotten a lot ofpleasure out of half of a croquet set. I have lots of indoor games butthey play out-of-doors even on cold days. We will have the indoor gamesfor the rainy days.

Shawn and Stephen Martin moved to Richards Bay, South Africa, during theweeks between school terms. Their family started building a sea goingyacht several years ago and now have decided to move near the sea tofinish it. When the boys finish school the family plan an ocean voyage.In the meantime, they must all learn how to sail the boat. Another student,Bradley Smith, has moved to Salisbury. We will miss these boys. We had agirl transfer from Bulawayo, but she is a kth year student so will not bein our Scripture class at school but will be coming on Sundays,

THE HOUSE

This move puts me near the high school In a good neighborhood. The house/^Is older than most in this area and so the rent is less but It is a well^built house. The rent Is $37 a month more than the apartment rent. The

move enables me to have all of my things under one roof, as while I was Inthe apartment I had friends keeping some things for me. The women on bothsides of me are school teachers. One of them has been sending her childrento Sunday School with me since I moved in. The other one sings in thecommunity choir which I have joined again and we share rides to rehersals.

I have taken the room that most people would use as a master bedroom atthe house and use it for my office. In this way I have a place for allmy teaching materials, library, and office things in one place. Somepeople have suggested that I need an apartment and also a downdown office.This would probably be as expensive as the house and not near as convenientas often I prepare for my classes after regular office hours.

SECURITY

Since the bomb blast In Salisbury in August there has been a real effortto stop this before more people are killed. Now to go to the supermarketis like going on an airplane, packages and handbags are searched. Gates

that were always open are now locked, including the one at the back of thebuiIding'where my former apartment is. The post office formerly lockedtheir back gate only at night. Now it is locked in the daytime and theyask you to sign a book when they let you in. It is only necessary to goto the back gate when picking up the mail bags for Mashoko. There is nobig change to go to the regular post office windows.

SCRIPTURE CLASSES

My classes continue as in the past. I want to show you a picture of thechildren I teach at Helen McGhie School. Three of these were in my classand the rest in the Roman Catholic class. In March their teacher left andI was asked to teach them. They are still in my class and I assume that Iwill have them until the end of the year.

SCRIPTURE CLASS AT HELEN MCGHIE SCHOOL

DEWURE SECONDARY SCHOOL

J)oug and Frances Johnson have asked if I would do the payroll for thisschooVduring 1978 while they are on furlough. I have gladly consented to

~^elp in this way. The Johnsons are staying with me for awhile until theycan move into an apartment^.here in town. This will give the staff a few

,/months on their own while they can still call for help when they need it.Wfth the security situation it is not safe for them to live on the mission,

MASHOKO SECONDARY SCHOOL

During the school break the office at my house became the Mashoko Officefor a couple of days. James Mwadzingeni, Crispen Zivivoyi, John Pembertonand Marilyn Richards were all here working on accounts, budget, and ordersfor the school term that has just started. We used the back room to sortthrough the mail for statements and invoices that had come in so that allup to date information was available.

PICTURES

In June I sent several sets ofcolored pictures and a letter out.Most of you may have seen them. Ifyou have not seen this letter withpictures, please contact my forwardingagents, they will be able to sendyou a copy and I request that youplease return it to them.

FINANCES

Many of you have been helping withmy support that I may continue towork here in Rhodesia. Here is apicture of my income for the pasttwelve months.

August 1976SeptemberOctoberNovemberDecemberJanuary 1977FebruaryMarchApr! 1MayJuneJuly

761.76663.0081^.00623.00676.00516.005^6.00696.00^7^.00^76.00677.00610.00

Thanks be to God and to His peoplefor supplying the needs of Hi^workhere in Fort Victoria. The mosturgent request is for your prayersthat we might have the wisdom fromGod to carry on His work. We do notknow what the future holds but weknow Who holds the future.

Because of Christ,

Marcia Kay Thomson.

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