Marcia Kay Thomson^TtO, Box 240-^

Ft. VictoriaRhodesia, Africa

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

FEBRUARY, 1978

Dear Christian Friends,

Warm Christian greetings from Fort Victoria. From the reports that Ihave received from the U. S. A. I wonder if you have all frozen. Wehave had unusually heavy rains but the showers of blessings from theLord are the news I want to share with you.

SUNDAY SCHOOL

In my last letter 1 mentioned that the children from next door weregoing to Sunday School with me. They did for sometime and then aftergoing on vacation they started back going to church with their motherand attended the junior church held during the service. Last SaturdayI was in my yard and Debbie, who is in the 4th grade, and her mother

were in their yard. Her mother said, "May Debbie go to Sunday Schoolwith you?" Of course, 1 said, "Yes." Then she went on to add,"Debbie has been going with me, but last week they spent the timetalking about grasshoppers and Debbie said she would rather hear aboutJesus." So the next day Debbie and her brother, Bobbie, went toSunday School. Praise the Lord.

The neighbors I had mentioned on the other side left January 17th andanother family came from Salisbury January 26th. I took tea over asthey moved in and got acquainted. Their children David and Kathystarted to Sunday School with me on the 29th and have not missed oneSunday this whole month. These children come from a Roman Catholicbackground. Their step mother has also gone to women's meeting withme.

Last Sunday I was driving a pick-up truck as I had loaned my car toBen and Karen Pennington to take to Chiredzi. Ben was preaching therebecause Pembertons are on a short vacation advised by the doctor. OnSaturday night I realized 1 had six children to pick up for SundaySchool and rain was predicted. Even though it rained hard later itwas not raining when we went to Sunday School and some of the childrenwere able to ride in the back of the truck.

The Brian Johnson family have talked about moving for a long time.Just last week they told us that they would be staying in Fort VictoriaThey have three children who are faithful attenders of the SundaySchool and we would have missed them. Now it looks as if we aregetting a basis for Sunday School and I pray that we will be able tobuild on this foundation.

CHURCH

Brian Johnson has decided to study for the ministry but recently hasannounced that he will start off by doing correspondence courses andstay in Fort Victoria. This means that he will be here to play theorgan for our services and to preach on occasions as he did Sundaywhen Ben was away. His wife, Ann, plans to start working in themornings so 1 will be teaching at the Junior School twice a week.

JUNIOR CHURCH

October 1st the Graham Des Fountain family moved to Fort Victoria.They have two children ages two and a half and five. Since they havebeen here I have been having Junior Church for them. They are nowbringing two friends along who are eager to come even though theirparents do not come.

HELEN MCGHIE SCHOOL

This year a Roman Catholic Sister is coming to teach their students.I feel it was a privilege for me to teach them from March to Decemberlast year. This year when I met the Catholic Priest at my neighborshouse and he realized who I was, he remarked, "You were the one thattaught the children Bible stories." Now I have five students In myclass and sometimes when other teachers are absent I have their classas wel1 as mi ne.

SECURITY .

The same precautions are being taken as when I last wrote. Many^people have been killed and injured In the country and we pray forpeace in our land.

TRIP TO BOTSWANA

On Christmas Day I received an urgent call from Chiredzi. JohnPemberton was sick and he was scheduled to fly to Botswana. Could Igo and take his place? I agreed to go. On the 26th Mr. and Mrs.Mabona brought their daughter, Stella, to my house. That afternoonStella and I flew to Salisbury and the next day to Gaborone, Botswana,via Johannesburg. We were in Gaborone three days getting Stella aBritish Passport and a U. S. Visa, so she could go to school in theStates. Our plane was two and a half hours late leaving Gaborone andwe missed our connections In Johannesburg. We stayed overnight at theJohannesburg airport and on the 31st I flew on to Salisbury and leftStella who caught a later plane and went on to the States. Beforethat week she had one short flight in a mission plane. So I showedher how to find her way around airports and what to look for on thelarge planes. I hear that she arrived safely in the States in timefor the opening of the next semester.

Stella Mabona and her parents at my house December 26

DEWURE SECONDARY SCHOOL

This year I am doing whatever is necessary to help this school to run.This includes not only the payroll but all of the finances. How manyof you have bought sugar by the half ton? It has also been necessaryto make several telephone calls and write letters to get uniforms forall of the students. These uniforms were ordered in October and shouldhave been delivered to the school before the students arrived.

CANTATA

The Lord willing March 19, 1978,we are to sing OLIVET TO CALVARYby J. H. Maunder twice. Theafternoon time Is so that peopleliving out of town may attend andget home before dark, then againin the evening for those in town.

FINANCES

A special gift in August enabledme to pay of^ my car which wasa tremendlous blessing.

August 1977SeptemberOctoberNovemberDecemberJanuary I978

2517.00635.00522.00690.00662.00490.00

A big share of my time is usedteaching at the Bible College,as has been the case ever sinceI came to Fort Victoria. Theyneed additional funds and anything I receive over my immediateexpences I will put to this need.Besides the regular classes thereare plans for seminars duringschool vacations. For moreinformation please see the 1Central Africa Story.

PRAYER I

We continue our work for Himby the support of the prayers 1of His people.

Because of Christ,

Marcia Kay Thomson.

H s;H fl)H WH- ft3o aH- 3w p-

0cn pto

-J

o

O H- cn

(i-03 H-O flX 0

vo n

c

n

otr

Ui

Dear Christian friends.

^-TTvorhp. 0. Box 2^0Fort VictoriaRhodes idOctober, 1978

I am alive and well even though you haven't heard from me for a longtime. The last couple of days In September we had a record breakingheat wave but I like hot weather so 1 am not complaining.

RELIGIOUS SURVEY

At the present time we are In the midst of a survey of Fort Victoria,This is being done In cooperation with other churches so we have onesection of the town to do. We have found the people very cooperativeIn answering the questions and have gotten acquaInted with lots ofpeople this way. Some people were skeptic at the start as there is alot of feeling against the Jehovah Witnesses going from door to door^but an article In the local paper has assured the people that it isa combined effort of the churches.

EVANGELISTIC MEETING

iiovember 8-12 there Is to bo and evangelistic meeting with anevangelist coming from Canada to preach in English and one fromSalisbury to preach In Shona during the same period. The churcheshaves appointed representatives and there have bee several planningmeetings held. The Africans are taking an active part In the planning,

A dinner for civic, government, and business leaders Is being plannedIn order to reach these people who might not otherwise attend. I amon this committee as well as the advertising committee for the wholecrusade.

COFFEE BAR

For some time I have been helping run the Maranatho Coffee Bar. LostSaturday night while I was on duty a soldier stopped by and said hehad 20 minutes before he had to go back on duty but he Just neededsomeone to pray with him. I have found that we don't meet the peoplethat are In noed unles we make ourselves available.

YOUTH FOR CHRIST ' '

Our high school group is small. Youth for, Christ has just startedhaving programs at the high school once a month. I am on thecommltte to plan these. We are praying that more of the high schoolstudents will become really interested in the Lord's work and makechanges at our local high school. .The churches have sponsored twoevenings of Bible study. After a song sery.ice the students that comeare divided Into groups of about 10 with 2 sponsors to study thepassage. These evenings have had about.150 but there are 350 studentsin the dorms besides those that live at home. A couple of weeks agowe had a music group from South Africa and we had a larger turn out.They also had an evangelist with them and tried to get across thatChrist Is the answer.

Do not think that I am neglecting our services but Instead ofInfluencing the 2 or 3 high school students that are coming to ourservices tills Is an opportunity to work with a larger number.

" I

SCRIPTURil CLAS.^ES

Scripture classes continue as In the past. Twice a week ! teach atHelen licGhle School and twice a wetik at the junior school. Once aweek I go to the high school to teach.

BIBLE COLLEGE

Until August I was teaching five times a week at the SIble college, .This term ,I am not teaching there so I will hsve more time to do thesurvey and follow up on the people I meet by doing It.

HIGH SCHOOL CAMP .

In August we had a high school camp in Salisbury. There were nocampers from here but I was glad to go and help with the camp. BillDeLaughter was the Dean and he decided to try to use the camp to launchBible Bowl. We had 25 campers which v.'e divided into ^ teams. Eachmorning the teams spent 3 hours studying the Gospel of Hark. Then wehad practice games each day, Friday was the tournament, Hy team didnot win but they certainly learned a lot of scripture. I was Dean ofV/omen; when I went .in after lights out to check, I found girls studyingMark by f1 ash 11ght.

Jack Pennlngton taught a-class on How to Preach and some of his,studentshad a contest on Friday, Peggy Pennington taught the girls How toTeach. Friday morning children from the area came for a special timeof learning. One child asked, ''Is It true we are having Sunday Schoolon Friday?" The girls lead singing, had puppet shows, taught withflannelgraph and with pictures.

It v/as a super Week.

CENTRAL AFRICA STORY

Perhaps I have done too good a job. At a meeting In September* I askedthat a new editor be found as I plan to be on fur augh starting InFebruary, 197^. They decided to seim) the articles to me and let meedit the paper while I am in the States. .

THE WAR

The situation Is no better, In fact, it hss spread to new areas.However, I can see people that were not Interested in tho Lord, startingto listen. Perhaps the Lord is using this situation to wake peopleout of sleep. If Christians are killed they just Inherit theireternal home sooner, ilo matter hov; long people live if they do notaccept Christ It has all been In vain.

The war Is #.ven harder on the Africans than on the Europeans as mostof the fighting Is out in the rural areas. A large percentage .of theAfricans live.in tlie rural areas. In many places Bibles .have beenburned and church services stopped.

Please pray that the Lord's.name might be glorified through all thetrials and many people might turn from their wlciced ways.

Because of Christ,

Marcia Kay Thomson.

< *'

30th October 1978

Dear Christian Friends,

A newsletter has gone to the printers, but you may not have receivedit yet. Please don't faint over the fact that I am writing again sosoon.

As I mentioned in the newsletter, I am planning to come home onfurlough in February. Many people are leaving Rhodesia right now.Some of them are the type that would leave without paying their debtsand their taxes. Because of this, the government has taken steps toprevent this, t have just learned that anyone leaving Rhodesia whodoes not have a round-trip ticket is listed as an emigrant and theymust take care of everything before they leave. Always before Ihave bought a one-way ticket out of the money 1 have set aside forthis purpose and then purchased my return ticket from money givento me in the States while I am traveling. I have always left my bankaccount open here and had someone to take care of any accounts thatcame after I had left here on furlough and to keep all things currentsuch as 1i cences.

If a person is listed as an emigrant, !t Is not possible to do thingsas I had done before. So I am in need of enough funds to purchasethe return ticket now. I have U.S. $600 and need another $600 for thereturn ticket.

There is something else that I would like to bring to your prayerfulconsideration. When I came to Rhodesia in 1963, the Federation ofRhodesia and Nyasaland was just six weeks from dissolving. Sincepeople were afraid of change, many people were leaving the country atthat time. Houses were cheap. After a period of time, people startedcoming into Rhodesia again. These were not necessarily the samepeople who had left, but they came into Rhodesia In numbers equal tothose who had left and even more. The prices of houses went up.Last year my landlady wanted $18,500 Rhodeslan for the house I amnow living in. Right now she is asking $H,000. People that havemoney are buying houses and I expect the prices to go up very soon,there will soon be Africans buying houses in these areas, and If itis any.Sing like 1 hear that it is now in Kenya and Zambia, theprices of houses and the rents will much higher than they are now.If I can get the down payment for this house before I leave onfurlough, I would like to buy it as I think It will save money inthe long run. This house Is in a good location to use for workwith the high school youth. Several houses in this area are beingused for youth groups. The house is large enough to have a missionary family live here or if there were other single missionary women,we could share, I use one room now for study and lesson preparation.The house is In a good neighborhood. A house just two doors awayrecently sold for $35,000. The one next dooris being bought now bysome friends of mine for $17,500. I really think that $1^,000Rhodes Ian is a good price for this house. I now need a minimum of$1,500 to help with the down payment.In my newsletter it mentions a big evangelistic meeting. The teamfrom Ianada have cancelled. This was done so near the time of themeeting that It had to be postponed. It will be held at a later date.

A student that joined my Scripture class at the high school a fewmonths ago was recently told that she should speak in tongues. Shewas very upset and came to me to talk. We have used the Scriptureclass for a study of the Holy Spirit and I have spent a lot of timeat the high school talking to her. She has been studying the Biblewith a new interest and I think she is near to making a decision.1 look forward to seeing yo'u in a few months and being able to letyou know what life is like in Rhodesia. I fear that you only hearthe sensational. Things are not as they were when I last saw you,but the opportunities for service here are even greater in some areasand the labourers are fewer and fewer. Pray that the Lord of theharvest will send forth labourers.

Yours in Him,

Marcia Kay Thomson

Marcia Kay ThomsonP.O. Box 240Ft. VictoriaRhodesia, Africa

Forwarding AgentsMr. & Mrs. Wilford E. LeasureRoute 1West Union, Illinois 62477NOVEMBER, 1978 ^

-r- 1 ms

Dear Christian friends,

I am alive and well even though you haven't heard from me for a longtime. The last couple of days in September we had record breakingheat wave but I like hot weather so I am not complaining.

RELIGIOUS SURVEY

At the present time we are in the midst of a survey of Fort Victoria.This is being done in co-operation with other churches so we have onesection of the town to do. We have found the people very co-operativein answering the questions and have gotten acquainted with lots ofpeople in this way. Some people were skeptic at the start as there isa lot of feeling against the Jehovah Witnesses going from door to door,but an article in the local paper has assured the people that it isa combined effort of the churches.

EVANGELISTIC MEETING

November 8-12 there is to be an evangelistic meeting with anevangelist coming from Canada to preach in English and one fromSalisbury to preach in Shona during the same period. The churcheshave appointed representatives and there have been several planningmeetings held. The Africans are taking an active part in the planning

A dinner for civic, government, and business leaders is being plannedin order to reach these people who might not otherwise attend. I amon this committee as well as the advertising committee for the wholecrusade.

COFFEE BAR

For some time I have been helping run the Maranatha Coffee Bar. LastSaturday night while I was on duty a soldier stopped by and said he

to go back on duty but he just neededhave found that we don't meet the people

had 20 minutes before he hadsomeone to pray with him. Ithat are In need unless we make ourselves available.

YOUTH FOR CHRIST

Our high school group is small. Youth for Christ has just startedhaving programs at the high school once a month. I am on thecommittee to plan these. We are praying that more of the high schoolstudents will become really interested in the Lord's work and makechanges at our local high school. The churches have sponsored twoevenings of Bible study. After a song service the students that comeare divided into groups of about 10 with 2 sponsors to study thepassage. These evenings hav^ had about 150 but there are 350 studentsin the dorms besides those that live at home. A couple of weeks agowe had a music group from South Africa and we had a larger turn out.They also had an evangel IstiWith them and tried to get across thatChrist is the answer.

Do not think that I am neglecting our services but instead ofinfluencing the 2 or 3 high ^chool students that are coming to ourservices this is an opportunity to work with a larger number.

SCRIPTURE CLASSES

Scripture classes continue as in the past. Twice a week 1 teach atHelen McGhie School and twice a week at the junior school. Once aweek I go to the high schooljto teach.BIBLE COLLEGE

Until August I was teaching five times a week at the Bible College.This term I am not teaching there so I will have more time to do thesurvey and follow up on the people I meet by doing it.

HIGH SCHOOL CAMP

In August we had a high school camp in Salisbury. There were nocampers from here but I was glad to go and help with the camp. BillDeLaughter was the Dean and he decided to try to use the camp tolaunch Bible Bowl. We had 25 campers which we divided Into k teams.Ear.h morning the teams spent 3 hours st

Then we had practice games each day. Friday was the tournament. Myteam did not win but they certainly learned a lot of scripture. I wasDean of Women; when I went in after lights out to check, I found girlsstudying Mark by flashlight.

Jack Pennington taught a class on How to Preach and some of his studentshad a contest on Friday. Peggy Pennington taught the girls How toTeach. Friday morning children from the area came for a special timeof learning. One child asked, "Is it true we are having Sunday Schoolon Friday?" The girls lead singing, had puppet shows, taught withflannelgraph and with pictures.

i t was a super week.

CENTRAL AFRICA STORY

Perhaps I have done too good a job. At a meeting In September 1 askedthat a new editor be found as I plan to be on furlough starting inFebruary, 1979' They decided to send the articles to me and let meedit the paper while I am in the States.

THE WAR

The situation is no better, in fact, it has spread to new areas.However, I can see people that were not interested in the Lordstarting to listen. Perhaps the Lord Is using this situation towake people out of sleep. If Christians are killed they just Inherittheir eternal home sooner. No matter how long people live If theydo not accept Christ it has all been in vain.

'The war is even harder on the Africans than on the Europeans as mostof the fighting is out In the rural areas. A large percentage of theAfricans live in the rural areas. In many places Bibles have beenburned and church services stopped.

Please pray that the Lord's name might be glorified through all thetrials and many people might turn from their wicked ways.

PICTURES

/

My forwarding agents have some recent pictures of the work here. Ifyou would like to make use of them please contact the Leasures. Ibelieve that there are about fifteen. Some of them are color printsbut most are black and white prints. Also there will be pictures inthe Central Africa Story of the camp and other events.

FINANCES

Many of you have been supportingthe work in Rhodesia for years.It Is so wonderful to know thatI am not working alone but thatI am your representative to do'God's work here. |It is good to receive news frommany of you through your churchpapers. It is interesting to seethe Lord working through you athome as you also help the work here

Janua ryFebruaryMarchApr i 1MayJ,uneJulyAugust

kso.oo566.33682.33638.33868.33

1018.66SkO.OO823.89

Thank you for your part in His work

PRAYER

Without^'bur prayers we would notbe able to do the work that Godhas for us. In answer to prayersHe has kept us safe and is evershowing us more areas that needto be covered for Him. The numberof missionaries with Central AfricaMission has decreased in the pastfew years but there is still muchwork that needs to be done. Manytimes we feel the need for morehours in the day.

Because of Chr St,

Marcia Kay Thomson

H Wp- r^30 GH- 3W H-

0a\ 3NJ

O V

hO H- n

fttt) H-

ON) tr

C

o

%

3 S ^ G W0 (D n> (D3 CO hj O1 ft 3 w

d H- COh G ftO P .i-h H- Z 0H- 0 O (0 cnft 3 . ft

" fU ^O ^ n>

H (t> wkQ H H-

H- fu .3 H-0 Oi It"H- tn

JO