Bo.January 6, 19bl' ,

Dear Chris-fcian brethren,

The holidays are over, and life is now returning to normal. There is always a lot ofdrinking going on at this time each year, "but there have heen no incidents. Thestudents in the ible Institute had three weeks holiday vacation} this gave them anopportunity to return to their villages and get some food and money. Scane of them,however, are holding student ministries5 these spent their three weeks with theirchurches. Classes will resume Monday. We have just begun to study the Gospels whichthe students and I "both are finding very interesting and profitable.

il is not coming in at all now from the States. It has been over two weeks since Iave received any mail and even that was censored. It is not even sure that this

letter will get to you. The last letter from Betty said that she plans to returnhere in the middle of February. Upon learning this I sent her word to cancel herreservations, for with so much political uncertainty it is unwise for them to be here.The British Consulate in Stanleyville advised a couple weeks ago all women and children to leave the province* So we do not know wheii she and the children will be ableto come back. We hope that it will not be too long yet5 it has been over six monthssince they left the Congo.

As you have probably heard by now, my parents have decided to come over to help in ,the work. Dad was recently pensioned from the Standard Oil Co., and he and Motherhave decided to dedicate the rest of their lives to serving their Lord in the Congo.The doctor said they were unusually healthy. Wj are, of course, doubly happy fortheir decision. There is much to be done that is left undone for there are notenou^ missionaries. We are looking forward to their arrival along with that of theother new recruits, the Batlers, just as soon as the political climate settlesSupplies are becoming increasingly more difficult to get. There is n? ?i]fh ^at all to be bou^t in Stan. Even the;service stations are limiting their sales tothree gallons per customer for as long as the supply lasts. Their is no_loa3j andit' is impossible iven to get bread with meals in the hotels. There are nn ;pprii^batteries, no matches, no keroaene - arid on it goes. Every week the sJLtuation worsensfor L^opoldviTle has cut off all river boat traffic to ^r province in ^ effort tobring it into submission. So no new supplies are coming in, and existing stocks arenearly gone. There is enou^ gas at the mission to last about four or five months,and I happen to like many of the locally-available native foods. So eve^rvthiisrunning fm

While passing throu^ a village recently we saw a dance in progress (which is notunusual). The'unusual thing was that there was a leopard skin hanging nearby. Thismeant that the village had killed a leopard, and they were having a great dalhce ofjoy to celebrate it. They especially hate leopards and always dance when one iskilled.

I?LJUi_filldst, _of all confusion the preachers^are sti3JL.jijcdng their work, we are stillconducting the Bible Institute, the HEHstians axe sWll meeting land most everythingis carrying on as normal. Tha^ you for your interest in the progress of the gospelhere. Please continue in your prayers for everyone connected with His woBk in theCongo.

In Christ,

Ronald Harshe

Missionaries:Miss Zola L. BrownMr. and M. Howard A. CrowlMr, and Mr>. Ronald D. HarsheMr. and Mrs. CUflbrd W. Scbaub

Rtcruits:Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Bittler

Forwarding Agent:Mr, MiUon W. Dills

Letter Bffiin 11 T'limmry 17^

Bomili Station ;Bomili par Bafwasende via StanleyvilleCongo Beige, Afrique

OHna Station :B.P. 3, Nia-Nia via StanieyvilieConi^o Beige, Afiique

Forwatding Address:P. O. Box 996,Cincinnati 1, Ohio, U.SA,

19

Dear Prienda in Christ,

There was a young maii here just a few ainutes ago wanting to "buy a hymn hookand a Bibls, He had just been baptiaed last Lord's Day, and his face tostifie^lto the truth of hie words when he .'>aid his heart was full of joy now. Ha wantsto jet gt3rt

BomiliMarch 6, I96I

Dear Friends,

The mail is now open again, and so I have hopes of your receiving this lettero Lastweek ten letters and one telegram arrived from my,wife. Then this week seven moreletters came. This was the first I had heard from her since December 7

Five churches met at Bafwagali at the end of January for a revival meeting of twofull days. Part of the meeting was rained out, "but the rest went well. I96 peoplewere present, and there were about 30 young people for the youth meeting. One nightafter services the preachers, some student preachers and I were sitting in thepreacher's house talking. One of the students wearied of the conversation andpicked up a bed and started to take it to the house where ho was to stay the night.For some reason he put it down after he got outside and came back in with the rest ofus. At this someone became very excited and told him not to leave the bed out therefor the people in this village were bad people and would smear some charm medicineon it and make whoever slept on it sick. He brou^t it back in. This is just anotherexample of their need of preachers to teach them the Word of God.

In January I was called to the Olina station. Some man tried to make the mission payoutrageous sums to present and past employees for no good reason. He wrangled, plead,threatened and everything else for five hours. He had three policemen with him andthreatened to put me in Jail for not paying. A couple days later the territorialgovernment settled it by putting him in jail. We have found the local administratorsvery fair.

I was in Stanleyville last month when the'word came in of Lumumba's death. Therewere 300 people wishing they were someplace else. The town was closed up tight forseveral days, and with one thing and another it was 2 l/2 weeks before I could getback out to Bomili. When I finally returned to Bomili at night all the people rolledout of bed and came to greet me laughing and piimping my arm off. They had heard allkinds of gruesome tales of what was happening to white people in Stan and thoughtthat I was dead. Everyone called it mirabulous that there was no more trouble thanthere was. '

But it was not long until some were angry with me. Supplies are just not &,vailable,but I did manage to get a very little bit of soap. We cut the squares in two so thatthere would be enou^ to go around to all the mission people. No one said, "Thankyou" but some did become angry because I would not let them have two pieces insteadof only one^^^^hey thought I was not showing Christian love.

There^aTB still little hope for the family's return here. They and the Butlers and mypaj?nts had planned to come in April, but it had to be cancelled. This is the secondJime that a departure date for them had to be cancelled. Incidents are still happen

ing, and the future is still not clear.

Continue, we ask, in your faithful support and in your prayers for this work. TheCongolese need the gospel now more than everj and they, together with us, somedaywill thank you face to face.

In our Lord,

Ronald Harshe

s-

Missionaries:Miss Zola L. BrownMr. and Mrs. Howard A. CrowlMr. and Mrs. Ronald D. HarsheMr. and Mrs. ClifTord W. Schaub

Recruits:

Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Butter

Forwarding Agent:Mr, MiUon W. Dills

/'A*IP.' -

jWi?^r2

llarc.h 22

Bomili Station :Bomili par Bafwasende via StaoleyvilleCongo Beige, Afrique

Olina Station :B.P. 3, Nia-Nia via StanleyvilleCon^o Beige, Afiique

Forwarding Address:P. O. Bov 996.Cincinnati 1, Ohio, U.S.A.

Letter #4

Dear Friends in Christ,

We are novv' at Olina for a fe.v days# We arrived Sunday night and found th'it thepeople had heard that I had left the Congo,so one of theci had gone to Bomili viaanother road from the one -^e oame over on to learn if it vraa true. I sta^- most ofthe time at Bomili and only make monthl.,. short visits to Olina. I passed thenormal time by a coupla :ir0elt is the time it will take to lea if they '.vill start helping their/reaoners.

We found, though, that three of the churches v^sre paying' their preachers well,and one nven had a disable balance left. These same three ohurohes had a Christmaia

^ conference on their own initiative, and over 300 people attended and gave anoffering of 500 francs. One ohuroh geive their ohare to their preacher. We arehappy to see them doin-^ these things on their o-.?n, I did not even know about ituntil it was all ovei*. One of theae three, Mambati, is doing especially well.There ia :i great iuorearse in attendance and they are paying ?ronderfully. It issignificant that thio is the church I -^/rote before about having weekly prayarmeetings.

As 'te came over v/e met a very unoomEnon site. A man was walking along carrying abundle of roofing leaves on his head. Behind him v/alked a woman in a maa's hatand carrying a bo^ and arro??. Their positions^wjre^exactly reversed from what iscustomary. The people^ -/ith me about Kade them^flic^^'laughing at it. One man wasrather x^t cut about it ?,nd ntarted firumblint". One -"oman spoke up and said, "Well,that -.o/nan is paying uhis is my inclepo.'idenoe.

All is calm and -veil here, and the Lorv. is bl .::3ain;',; us and the. work daily thanksto your praypra and faithful 3up.:-'0rt

Have you a hand in hebinq to win the CONGf^f'^FOf''(f^RI^T ?

Dear Brethren in Christ,

BomiliApril 5) 1961

The "biggest hindrance to the progress of the gospel nov/ is that caused by the expectancy of everyone for the new religion which is coming. It is supposed to replace allthe former religions. Just what kernel of truth is in it, if any, is not clear. Ican only guess that it might be a cult honoring the late prime minister or communismor wh t. It is very likely that it is Just pure rumor since this is the fairestrmmor-fbroeding ground in the whole wide world ever since independence. For monthsnow there have been only a very few baptisms. Most people are waiting to join the newreligion. In many churches a group of Christians have left and are awaiting the newarrival. The preachers are all unaffected, though, along with most of the Christians,

Some things that may appear odd to Americans came to ray attention last week as I wassitting in church at Bafwasendej and so, thinking of you, I jotted down a few. Aformer soldier and government messenger was wearing his old army stockings that reachto his knees. The odd thing was that the feet had worn out so he had cut them off atthe ankles aJid was just wearing the tops. He had also taken a piece of old tire forthe soles and strips of inner tube for the straps on the top and made a pair of sandals.Then there was the man sitting in the middle in his obviously brandnew raincoat justglistening purple. The sun v/as scorching outside. One of the deacons was wearing asuit jacket, white shirt and tiec He buttoned the jacket and left the tie hanging onthe outside like a thirsty dog's tongue. He was barefooted. One man was doing afancy job of balancing a bent and crooked pair of glasses on the tip of his nose. Adog was asleep under the communion table. And during the offering the preacher'stwo-yea.r-old son came bouncing in waving a woven uhuru hat around with a feather stuckin it. All this in the most "cultured" tovm where we have a church.

Where the end of stealing is going to lead wo do not know. These things have happenedat the mission v/hile I have been gone on various trips. Someone got into the houseand stole the bedding off the bed and a couple changes of clothing. A couple boardswere stolen and later recovered. A couplo bunches of leaves have been stolen. Twochickens disappOc?-rod during" my last safari. One Sunday a screen door was found layingon the ground in broad daylight. Someone got cold feet after taking it off its hinges.This preacher, thou^, has the best story of all. Someone stole the refill out of hisball point pen and inserted an empty one.

V/hile grading papers for the Bible Institute today I noticed these nicknames that someof the students had taken. "The Prophet Elisha" (his name is Eliasi), "Unlucky Arnold,"and one fellow wrote his in French obviously having only a hazy ides of v/hat it meant,"His Majesty George." One exasperated student after floundering on trying to answeran essay type question made a couple unbright remarks5 then there was a space on thepaper; and in very small handwriting he wroto, "Bwana, I did not study."

V/ell, the mail is clogged again. After sv/allowing all my wife's letters for nearlythree months the mail opened up in March. It lasted a couple weeks, and nov/ it isclosed again. It has been three weeks now since letters have come in from Betty.

Accept our gratitude for your prayers and giving, and rest assured that v/hat you aredoing is being multiplied many times over by the Lord's pov/er in bringing His ownwill and message before the Congolese.

In our coming Lord,

Ronald Harshe

tf[iid

Missionaries:Mias Zola L. BrownMr. and Mrs. Howard A. CrowlMr, and Mr. Ronald D. HarsheMr. and Mrs. Clifford W. Scbaub

Recruits:Ml. and Mrs. Ronald Butler

Forwarding Agent:Mr. Milton W. Dills

Rnmili

./r, A

April 19

-fV

19Si

Station:Bomill par Bafwasende via StanleyvilleCongo Beige, Afrique

Olina Station :B.P. 3, Nia-Nia via StanteyvilleCongo Beige, Afiique

Forwarding Address:P. O. Bov 996,Cincinnati 1, Ohio, U.S.A.

Letter #6

Dea^ Friends in Christ,Aman was just here who asked for work. I told him that T^LHeter'seenworld that I would give work "because he is always drunk. In a , first>iin riot drunk and he lives here at Bomilio ut todayj he was soher for the lii'sttime. He theA said that he has ahsoluteljr given up all drinking heoa^e ttoffovomment agent told him that if he catches him drunk again he will put 3^for two months. Hearljr everyone drinks some, and many getare litirally drunk all the time. Liquor is one of the curses of the Congo.The week-end before last I made a safari to nine churches in the Bafw^dakaTwo and three churches grouped together so I only had to hold fourwe arrived at the first church the Christiana came to greet us md I noticed thatone wfflnan looked very ill. She is a very faithful Christie ^d outstanding incomparison to the rest. As she turned to leave, a man, a heathen, who had heentalking with me said, "That is my wife. She is sick. I asked what _hut he just shrugged and said that he did not know. Later on Isickness she had} he started heating around the bush ^d finallyhad had an argument, I said, "^ou mean you heat her." I then proceeded like a goodmissionary to teach him about the evils of heating your wife. He very gravely agreed

*4.V TT +>iB+ T ani/i "Yoli are riidito It is had to do that* If it had heen anyoneUse beating her I would have become angry, but she is my wife," That made it alri^lAt one church a man said he wanted to be admitted back into the *^church refused him. He had been jailed upon his own confession of practicingcrocodile witchcraft. That is to call up a crocodile to kill someone. So the churchdisfellowshipped him. He later wanted to repent and he taken hack into the fold.The church told Mm they would accept him back whenthe church and destroyed them before their eyes. He thought this was being unfair.He wanted me to set the church straight, but I complimented them instead.It seems like ages since I have seen the family. They left ten ,f *^

""monent there is nothing happening here, but you never ^ tl bfout again. It is good for awhile, and then not so good. The Congoquiet for several months before I would be easy about them being here, ^8you are praying about this. Thank you kindly for your interest and support ofChrist's mission to the Congo. AFKICM SSI OH

Have you a hand in helping to win the CONGO FOR CHRIST ?

JvN 5 1961

Bomi liMay 11, 1961

Dear Brethren,

We have heen made sorry by the attitude of one of the student preachers, and we areafraid he will have to be dismissed. He has a threeyearold son, and one day thewife of one of the other student preachers gave him something to eat. That eveningthe child became nauseated. For several days now the child has not been well, and sothe father has accused the other student preacher of putting a spell on his child through something his wife put in the food# His child was slightly ill even beforeeating the food. He has responded to medical treatment and appears nearly normal now.But the father has it in his head, and so he is going to accuse the other student ofwitchcraft before the chief. Since independence this is even a more serious chargebecause the government now sanctions such trials. I talked with him at length aboutaccusing without cause his brother preacher before worldly judges and the effect itwould have on the gospel. He seemed to be convinced until this morning when heinformed me that he is going to the chief today to make the complaint. Since independence there has been an increase of this sort of thing. Whenever anyone gets sick thefirst thing they think of is ulozi (witchcraft). There has in many ways been a reversion to the old customs.

A man came to me recently as I was in his village saying a young lad "was ill. That isnot unusual, but I v/as not at all prepared for what I saw. I have never seen such asickenening sight here and there have been many bad ones, too. His left leg wasswollen from knee to anklo several times the size of the other leg. It had splitopen and was seeping badly even through several layers of dirty cloth. As we weredriving to the dispensary at Bomili, even with all the truck windows down the stenchwas nearly unbearable. It could readily be seen that he was in constant pain* Ithad all begun months ago with a small sore. He v/as being treated here at the dispensary, but the progress did not please his family so they returned to the village withhim and used native medicine. Over a fev/'months it progressively grew worse, and theythen came to me. It makes you angry to see something like that when it could havebeen prevented. If his life can be saved'at all he will be a cripple and may evenhave to have the leg amputated.

Beginning next week the annual three-day conference begins at Bomili. The followingweek the two in the Bafwasende area will take place, and then the next week the Olina

churches will have theirs. We are prepared for a disappointment in attendance forsome have left the church since last July and some of the others who remain have grownindifferent. We hope we are not disappointed beyond our expectations.

In June of i960 the family left the Congo for what we thought would be a couple monthsNearly a year has now passed. Thoue:h ''"Ho si+n^'tion is better now and has been slowlyimproving the last couple months,we still cannot icel at ease about them coming here.So when Mr. Growl comes back in June I will return to America for a furlough untilthe situation will permit the family to return to the Congo v/ith me. Our first five-year term has expired anyway, and so v/e are eagerly looking forward to reuniting our:^amily soon.

May God bless you for your part in preaching to the Africans, and may He bless thatpreaching of the gospel that the Congolese may share our walk with Him,

Sincerely in Christ,

Ronald Harshe

Missionaries:Miss Zoia L. BrownMr. and Mis. Howard A. CrowlMr. and Mn, Ronald D. HarsheMr. and M's. Clifford W. Schaub

Recruits:Ml. and Mrs. Rooald Bmler

Forwa rding Agem :Mr, Milton DilU

Letter

fiomiii Station :Bomili par Bafwasende via StanleyvilleCongu Beige, Afrique

Olina Station :B.P. 3, Nia-Nia via StanleyvilleCon^o Beige, Afiique

Forwarding Address:P. O. Bov 996.Ciacionaii 1, Ohio, U^.A,

T)ear Frionds in Christ,

The Bomili confors!no3 ha oorae and gone and 90 have 272 p(3ople, This attendj=inoG3.S vastly below thd ?s.v9ra^o for those annii^.l meetings of the Christianso Ther^oord attendr^jice 1959o V/ith tlis advent of In'.lependenoe msjiyji laanythinf2;s have alowed. The people had aof^lected to ])lani; fields thinking; that itwould no lon^"r be necessary to bother v.'i.th the annoyrince of worK. to hs-ve aqOOsI -living oRce Indepsndence comeso Thsrs Giitered a ^eriral attitude of lawlesf^ness. - Tho devil then nRed all this to work on the churoho Some people lefthe church, ^id some of the x-einainiiig (7,rcvv very indifforent There is a. goodgroup of faithful Chrietians in nep.rly every place, thoa/;h5 and some churchesare even proGpfti'in,' bf^v'oud v/hcit they '/fere before. Indepeiidence. '^.e look on tnisar a necond h3gin:iinr", '^ .nd 'vonder if the Lord iB not using thio as a purge 1n? churoh in pr'J7i?im.tion ? or f:rT^.ter things that He vrlll do with io# People artow startin^" i;o plant fields ar-i.injhaving, the folly of their way. -he nevigovernment and pubiiri OTjinion iu i-.enera-i is maicing a drive against criae andv.'itchcraft, and it ip tsTierin^^ off b'^lieve, ton, that i;hO::=;e whooe heartswei'e not v?ii:h the Lord ha-ve left iHe Ghurch, that perhaps tho chux'ch will nlonger be troubled 7;ith the host^^wanl". to "join" because j.t ie tie populax- thinto do

Crur carpenter and hifi v/ife ar-'^ cn vr.ication and visiting in their nome vilxageawjiy. The other day aa X was Gtr:*liin-; ''.hrongh the village I oa>Be bo their xiouse,tind sui'rounding their little garden of Manioc v'as a Jangle vine faatexied on 3tic,

Dear Christian Friends

BomiliJune 10, 1961

The annual conferences have come and gone. The attendance was way down, but thepreachers v/ho had planned the. conference and preached the sermons did very well.The Bomili, Bafwabiago and Bayawa conferences each ran between 250 and 300 in attendance. This is one-half to one-third the usual attendance. The Olina conferencecould not be held. Soldiers had put up a roadblock near Olina and all the Christianson that side of the mission v/ere afraid to try to pass it. Some others who hadtried had been beaten. Then only one man from the three churches on the other sideof the mission came. The others lazily said that they v/ould come when the missionarycame in the truck to get them. This left- only the two churches near Olina who hadbeen left without a preacher due to their falling away. So it was impossible tohave the conference there.

At Bayawa I was awakened one morning about 4s00 AE by the noise of someone shoutingin the middle of the road in front of my house. This is not so terribly unusual soI went back to sleep. I kept waking and dozing. Finally, about 5^00 A.M. I openedthe window and listened. He was berating the American and telling him to "git" likeothers for he was not wanted in the Congo. I v^ent back to sleep again waiting fordaylight, but was again av/akened by an angry voice rebuking the troublemaker. Theagitator's voice then trailed off to the far end of the village. Later, the leadersof the churches at that conference were unanimous and enthusiastic in their lettingit be known to me that they wanted the missionaries to stay.

After leaving Bayawa we passed a wrecked^truck on the main highway. It was Vinreckedrather oddly, though. The top was all bashed in, yet it had not been turned over.We learned that a few nights previously it had encountered an elephant in the road.The elephant would not leave so the driver foolishly tried to pass to one side. Inthe process it bumped Jumbo, and the enraged beast proceeded to demolish the cab,the hood sind fenders v;ith its trunk. He did a first-class job. He even bent thewindshield corner post. It is amazing how much damage it did5 the truck body iswholly beyond repair. No one, thou^, was hurt; unless it might be that the elephanthad a mighty sore trunk the next day.

I had hoped to return to the States this month, but some problems have arisen, and Ido not know now if it will be possible. Next week I expect to go to Stanleyville,and after some inquiring around there I will be able to make a decision. So beforenext month's letter I may be in the States and writing from there - or I may stillbe here. We hope that the former vri.ll be the case for our family wants and needsto be reimited. We know that many of you have been praying concerning this matter,and we appreciate it deeply and are convinced that the Lord will hear those prayers.

Your continued prayers especially for the preachers and the Christians are as neededas ever. There are many times now more obstacles to the gospel, and before His Wordwill be successful here many problems must be overcome. We trust that you will standwith us and the- Congolese.

In the Almighty One,

Ronald Harshe