'.V

Doar Christian Friends,

, MRCIA IvAY THOMSONIVIASHOKO MISSIONP/Bag 56 - Zak,Southern Rhodesia^ Africa

Forwarding Agents sDr. & Mrso Richard Lee201 CaliforniaCarterville^ Illinois 52918

Started 22nd February^ 1965Finished 20th April;, 1965

MAY 1 3 t965 -

v^.lien 1 locked to see how long it had been gince I wrote, to you I v/aa aur--.'p.oiied tc find that -it had been much longer than I realized. Time pass'esand fe\'7 letters are written, I have answered a few personal letters butrjc.uy of ypu that have virritten still have no ansv/er.All^the children on the mission call me Aunt Marcia, but I was not an aunt.until James Terrill Thomson was born November 16, 1964^ in -Joplin, Missouri

in ko '^ember after I)r Pruett returned from the States he finished inspeci:--ing the schools. I went with him and the assistant manager to 4 schools.-hat were near the mission. Each school takes one morning to Visit andmen going in a car ^vithout tearing It up you must have an experienced bus):]v^.river. All of .these schools are off txie, main read and sometimes you musi"ii'avsx on J.ittle more than foot paths. Chlromo is only about 7 air uil:.e3from the mission, but 25 or 30 miles by road,. There is a shorter routetns-b can be taken in a Land Rover This school is located in a beautifulr^i'jtlng o.nd is a growing school. This year v/e have increased their teach-.,c?/.- from Z to 4c V/e v/ere forced to cut our visic short on that day as: a0.1'jud burt:t was threatening and we knew that; if it hiit v,ro,uld get stuckon uho viaY home, ^

I'na -a^7,pan^oro school v/ill soon be near a lake and the vvholo school "may'.aave --JO be moved. This school has a very large, enrollment .this year butv;.aen the .dam is com.pleted many of the people will "have bo move to a newarea^M^mere we have applied for a new school to open in 1966^School would not.be complete without, exams. Most of the eighth grade examscK-cept scripture, are sent out by the government. The .vifth, sixth,, andsevench~grade^exams are memographed here and sent to the schools. Enock

" seminary student who works for Mr Pemberton, typed the stencilswn.^cn numbOx '^ed, more-than 20. The night before the, exams v/ere to be giveni.-ie^ c:;.ssi.stc^nt manager and I helped him cut the exams apart and count andp;.-ckage uhom for each class^- Each subject must be seperate s.o that theycan,be opened just as the exam is supposed to start., After the exams areOv'er.. they are brougnt back to tne mission and the toachers come in to, helpmark them. This means that a teacher does not mark al3 the papers from hisclass. -

^oho end of school v/e had decided where to place most of the teachersAfter thes.e decisions, the government forms were submitted so"" that theTTeachers could be approved before school started in January," Some of the '

moved from one school to another and a schedule v/as made so" that".he.Lr goods could be moved virith mission trucks-, \'/hen possible vire would

have the driver take the belongings of one teacher and pick up the gooc's c.f::ie- -ceacher that v/as leaving, A cdup-le of days he moved 3 teachers. Since-this was during the rainy season there were many days the the uruck couldnoG go to some of the schools.

on-ii3u.ma3 \/a3 celebrated here at Mas.hoKO niuch as in America but the. weatherwas hotLjer^ On Christmas eve v/e went caroling in the hospital and to theDomes on the missione Gifts sent from the States wei'e wrapped and given tobhe hospital s^aif and the patients., School v/as closed aiid most of the-.eacners were gone but there v/ere many patients in the nospital^ We had a -imrty at our house to begin the new yeare It also marked the beginning ofinventory for the bookstore^ storeroom^ and schools. Later in January newstocks arrived for the bootcstore and the two rooms of the bookstore v/orepacked... There were -many boxes that could not be unpacked until some of theoooKS were sold The last of January and the first part of February are theousiest time in the bookstore, lYithin four weeks they - - -sold 2,400 notebooksox one e used by ;he older children for Lnglish and almost as many that

-2"are ruled for arithmetic ahd used by the same age group, '

Our achool year opened on January SSth, There v/aa niuch activity on that daywith the enrolling of students, collecting'of achool feea, and selling books.Everyone on the mission v;as busy Tv/o days later the, teachers from all thevillage schools v/ere at the mission, to collect their January pay and bring

^in school fees that they had collected.

The Pruetta and I vrent to meet the,Pembertons who arrived back in SalisburyFebruary 5th after.a years absence from the field. Many of you may haveseen them while they were in the atateg:. It took a few days for them tocatch up on what had happened while they v/ere gone. Since that time ouroffices have been a beehive of activity. Conferences with the teachers always take a lot of time and many people had been waiting for some time todiscuss their problems v/ith Mr. Pemberton. Besides the v;ork at Mashoko wohave work in other areas and it has been necessary for Mr. Pemberton to maketrips to Hippo Valley, Fort Victoria, Outu, and Umtali.

The Education Department had approved 4 schools to open in Hippo Valley inJanuary but we only had one building. They let us uae the teachers at otherschools until v;e could get the buildings. Since then two other buildingahave been built by the Estates. There is still a little rod tape before weget permission to build the school in the Township. V/e are hoping to havethis school open in May. Approval has alsp been obtained for a fifth schoolnear the settler farms. At the present time they are meeting under a treewhile the building is being, built. Recently we have been preparing articlesand reports Lu give more details on the work in Hippo Valley.

cu the 11th of February v/e were honored by a visit of the Minister of- Education, and the Provincial^ Education Officer for the Victoria Province. Thistrip was planned by the Provincial x^ducation Officer who could have takenthem to any of the schools in the bush within his Province. They seemedwell pleased with our schools and also went through the hospital^^On February 28th my father had a fatal heart attack. On March 3rd I was ableto talk to my mother and brother in hit.Fort Victoria. I appreciate the many o^rds and letters that I have receivedsince that time. Knowing that you care;

Vernon, Illinois, by telephone from

is of great help to me, thank you

Dr. Tiorris Nathan from ifew Zealand came to work at the hospital for 3 weeksin riarch. He and his family lived at our house during that time. GloriaCob arrived during March to work with us for three months. Margret Denniscam.e to teach in the PTE, The Cyril Sitapicins family arrived in SalisburyApril 1st to work with the Bible college, they are at Mashoko for the present time.

Ammermans visited with us for a while aa their first son was born at Maahofco/April 3rd. It is about a500 mile drive to Chidamoyo Mission where theywork.The school inspector from Fort Victoria was here the week of April 5th. Eavisited 5 schools and we were p,ble to talk to him about the educational work.We are fortunate to have an experienced man that is helpful and has a concernfor the education of each child.

Last Saturday afternoon I was able to go to Hippo Valley so that I could'attend the Easter Sunrise Service there. Mr, and Mrs. Day have a home atopthe hill overlooking Ch?redzi Township.- The^/ offered their lawn for the aer-vice and served breakfast afterx'vard to those in attendance. I^s. Pembertonlead the singing and Dr. Pruett was the preacher of the morning. At the close-of the "service Jos.elyn Van.Dyke, was baptized into Christ in the swimming poolin the lawn. There was a good crowd, uiany of whom were employees of theHippo Valley Estates.I wish to thank you for your faithful financial support and the prayers of-/fered on our behalf. The money that has been given in excess of my salary /has been used for office eriuipment and payments on the car that I drive. / jThe payments will continue for another year and I have not paid back the / /dov/n payment aa yet. I have vvritten on this letter over a period .of twomonths so i must close and send it on to you. '

Yours in Christ, Marcia Kay Thomson ' / if-' .:-LE; ILL,

Dr. & IVIrs. Richard Lee201"Californla St.Carterville, Illinois 62918