sinclair sandy charlotte 1980 safrica

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JAMJiiRY 1980 SAiror S SAYINGS  o.y JAHUARY I98O ZULUIAND CHRI ST IAN MISSION, SANDY AND CHARLOTTE SINCLAIR, BOX 111, ESHa® ZULULAND 38l5, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA February lii, I98O Dear Friends a n d Brethren, been 5 weeks since o v r last newsletter and t h e bossiest time of all, fo r since my laat newsletter we have had our prayers answered i n a most ^ significant way with t h e decision by Ron and Cindi Elerick to join us in the Zulu A- work Ron andCindipioneeredthe of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ i n Ma la wi, and more recently moved t o South Africa due t o health hazards which caused problems f o r their family i n Malawi. Since March they haveworkedwith St u Cook a t t h e Aletheia Christian Center i n t h e heart o f Johannesburg s Hillbrow area where t h ^ assumed oversight of the center allowing t h e Cooks to return t o th e States on furlough. We had gone up t o Aletheia f o r the New Year s Eve prayer meeting and shortly afterwards Ron also came fo r a visit t o Eshcfwe, After discussion and prayer, comparison o f ou r ideas and missions philosiDphies, andRon s review of th e type of work we find here i n Zululand, he agreed t o come and make h i s home i n Eshowe. I n doing so , Ron and Cindi were returning t o t h e kind of work they ha d i n Malawi, an d t h e kind they like most, African bush evangelism and new church planting with leadership training. We were able t o findsuitable housing t o rent and a t t h e en d o f January I drove t h e i ougeot tmck I was keeping f c r Don Mechen new missinory going to Malawi, t o Joh annesburg an d we loaded their things i n t h e back and ou r three c ar ccnvoywe return- o d t o Eshowe 3 0 0 away. Since then we both have been ejcbremelybusy getting them settled, many Christian people here i Eshowe donated o r loaned many items o f furniture an d appliances f o r them t o u s e a s a l l their effects were still i n Malawi, an d several trips were made t o Durban together t o complete their move. Yesterday wewent t o Ulundi, t h e KwaZulu s new capital an d were delighted t o learn that Ron an d Cindi s permit t o work i n KwaZulu as missionaries was approved. On Saturday February l6th we will be together at Mtubatuba f o r t h e first big meeting o f I98O a t which time wo will introduce Ron t o o u r Zulu church leaders I n between all. this moving I was kept occupied with a host o f events that took me a l l over Zululand. We h ad a problem i n t h e church a t Xngwavuma that took tw o days t o ge t t o t h e bottom o f. This stands as th e longest meeting I have ever attended, beginning a t 6s00pmon Saturday t h e meeting went nonstop through 3800pm Sunday after noon, only t o finally discover that t h e man who ha d called the meeting only had had his feeling hurt The foUcwing week we went t o Mbazwana, a now church and ha d a wonderfultime o f preaching an d teaching i n t h e little building t o t h e new congregation. This church i s fa r t o t h e north a n d takes about 5 hours t o reach from Eshowe, o f which 3 hours driving i s on gravel roads a n d dirt tracks The children began their new school year January 23rd, and we now have three i n t h e Eshowe High School. Ron s daughter Rhonda i s also i n High School a n d is in t h e same class as our son Wayne, S t d 6, or 8 t h Grade which i s t h e first year of High School here Zululand i s experiencing very h o t weather a n d too, little rain a n d we a r e in a serious drought situation. Many o f pur p ayers are for rain a n d parti ilarly o u r African brethren who farm f o r a living Many o f them ar e facing financial ruin a t this time, f o r i n many areas  i s t o o late now f o r th e crops in th e ground. As yo u pray f o r u s , also join us i n prayers fo r rain over here. God bless, must close f or now, Yours i n Christ/ Sandy  Chariotife Si nc l ai r 5

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Page 1: Sinclair Sandy Charlotte 1980 SAfrica

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JAMJiiRY 1980 SAiror S SAYINGS   o.y JAHUARY I98OZULUIAND CHRISTIAN MISSION,

SANDY AND CHARLOTTE SINCLAIR,

BOX 111, ESHa® ZULULAND 38l5,REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA February lii, I98O

Dear Friends and Brethren,I t*s been 5 weeks since ovr las t newsletter and the bossiest

time of all , for since my laat newsletter we have had our prayers answered in a most ^significant way with the decision by Ron and Cindi Elerick to join us in the Zulu A-

work Ron and Cindi pioneered the work of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christin Malawi, and more recently moved to South Africa due to health hazards which causedproblems for their family in Malawi. Since March they have worked with Stu Cook atthe Aletheia Christian Center in the heart of Johannesburg s Hillbrow area where th^

assumed oversight of the center allowing the Cooks to return to the States on furlough.

We had gone up to Aletheia for the New Year s Eve prayer meeting and shortly afterwardsRon also came for a vis i t to Eshcfwe, After discussion and prayer, comparison of ourideas and missions philosiDphies, and Ron s review of the type of work we find herein Zululand, he agreed to come and make his home in Eshowe. In doing so, Ron andCindi were returning to the kind of work they had in Malawi, and the kind they like •most, African bush evangelism and new church planting with leadership t raining.

We were able to f ind sui table housing to rent and at the end of January I drove thei ougeot tmck I was keeping fcr Don Mechen new missinory going to Malawi, to Johannesburg and we loaded their things in the back and our three car ccnvoy we return-od to Eshowe 300 miles away.

Since then we both have been ejcbremely busy getting them sett led, many Christian peoplehere in Eshowe donated or loaned many items of furniture and appliances for them touse as a l l thei r effects were s t i l l in Malawi, and several t r ips were made to Durbantogether to complete their move. Yesterday we went to Ulundi, the KwaZulu s newcapital and were delighted to learn that Ron and Cindi s permit to work in KwaZuluas missionaries was approved. On Saturday February l6th we will be together at

Mtubatuba fo r the f i r s t big meeting of I98O at which time wo wil l introduce Ront o ou r Zulu church l e a d e r s

In between all. this moving I was kept occupied with a host of events that took mea l l over Zululand. We had a problem in the church at Xngwavuma that took two daysto get to the bottom of. This sta nd s as the longest meeting I have ever attended,beginning at 6s00pm on Saturday the meeting went nonstop through 3800pm Sunday afternoon, only to finally discover that the man who had called the meeting only had hadh is fe elin g hur t

The foUcwing week we went to Mbazwana, a now church and had a wonderful t ime ofpreaching and teaching in the l i t t l e building to the new congrega ti on . This church

i sfa r

to the northand

takes about 5hours to

reachfrom

Eshowe, ofwhich

3 hoursdriving i s on gravel roads and di r t t r a cks

The children began their new school year January 23rd, and we now have three in theEshowe High School. Ron s daughter Rhonda i s also in High School and i s in the sameclass as our son Wayne, Std 6, or 8th Grade which is the f i rs t year of High Schoolhe r e

Zululand is experiencing very hot weather and too, l i t t l e rain and we are in a seriousdrought si tuat ion. Many of pur prayers are for rain and parti ilarly our Africanbrethren who farm fo r a l iv ing Many of them are facing f inancia l ruin at th is t ime,

fo r in many areas   is too la te now for the crops in the ground. As you pray forus, also jo in us in prayers for rain over here.

God bless , must close for now,

Yours i n Chr is t /

Sandy   Chariotife Sinclair 5

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APR 2 1900

KEERUARY-MARCH I98O SAMDY S SAYINGS FEERUARY - MARCH I98OZULUIAND CHRISTIAN MISSION,

SANDY  • CHARLOTTE SINCIA3R,BCK 111, ESHOWE, ZULUIAND, 38X5

April 9 1980 Republic of South Africa. April 9 1980

Dear Friefads and Brethren

I am writing on a warm afternoon after the moat hectie past month since we arrivedback almost 9 months ago now The work is taking shape, the churches are grom^and there are greater and greater demands on our time and finances than ever before

On February I6, and 17th we had the first major meeting with Ron Elerick present atShandu's village near Mtubatuba. As expected the meeting only got under way about9:30pm Saturday night, Ron preached his first message to the Zulu'brethren at aboutmidnight and we continued with prayers and preaching until 3s00am, when we returredto the truck for a few hours of fitful sleep while the brethren preached on. Caxp^had come with us from near Eshowe and his powerful preaching exalted the Savxor wellinto the dawning of Sunday morning. V7e were awoken to cups of tea at 6:00am and wehad a business meeting at 8:30 lasting until churchtime at 11:00 which then ended at

3:00pm at which time we ate for the first time since the day before. This is thetraditional pattern for our meetings, try as we might to try to keep better hours i tis impossible to do sc. We are always exhausted afterwards. Similar meetir^s arebeing held almost every week-end at this time of the year and they will persist untilth e ra in s re turn in September

Minister's Week this year was close by, relatively speaking, at Nfcabaahl^j:© (WhiteMountain) near Estcourt about li-g hours drive from here Floyd Stajmti, missionary in,Durban accompanied me there, Ron Elerick came later as he was on route to Malawi toclose up his affairs there and meet the minister of his hoiuo congregation,,. Hap Proughand his wife Jan on a brief visit to Malawi and South Africa Floyd and I campedout together as did' all the other missionaries who came to this mountainous area

Rain fell every day, the river flooded and we had to walk the last l^ miles to churcheach morning as we could not drive across the flooded river between us and the churchWe had a fine get together, after, minister's meeting, the missionaries stayed for anextra two days for fellowship and group planning. It was a good meeting, another, isplanned for April 11-13 during school holidays (Easter break) so our wives and sohoolaged children can attend too

On March 6th I wrote my marriage officer test but have not heard the results yet,

TfJhen Ron returned with his home church preacher and his wife we headed into theheart of  Zululand again for two lengthy meetings, one at KwaSiqumbe the other atKwaNkulu. Due to time and distance Jan Rrough stayed to visit with Cindi Ele^̂ ck,

but we had a couple of excellent meetings although the heat was intense. Caiphaswas on his annual vacation from his job on the railways so could accot?)any 1^. Whilebetween Mtubatuba and Nongoma I took then for a brief walk to stalk some Rhino nearthe road, after,dosing in on then though we decided it prudent not to get too closeas of the ^ Rhino we could see, only two wore the docile  White Rhino, the otherswere black Rhino who charge everything th^ see or smell. This was the first  blackvariety I had seen in that area although they are knovm to be there in large numbersYou cannot tell a  black and  white Rhino apart by color, but by shape and habits )

On tl:^ way back we ran into two waa^thog and distojrbed a large dark snake (Black mairdia?)

Easter is a big event amouflg the Africans. This year there were tvo meetings, one atMaputa in the very far north, 2^0 miles from Eshowe, the other at Bhadeni another 200milQS from Maputo, We tried to take in both meetings which became an epic jour^y oftremendous proportions. Accompaiving ns was Ron Elerick, T^ank Alexander visiting usfrom Zambia and 5 African leaders. We left Eshowe Friday morning, we never made i t toMaputo, bub did get to Bhadeni where we dedicated the new church bdld^ on Sundayafternoon I will elaborate on the eventful long yeekend in next time

God bless you all, / 1 ( [JiA/nlfoUntil then, ^ VjMMOlAJo

Sandy   h lot te

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APRIL 1980 SANDY S SAHNDS APRIL I98O ' I S fnZULUIAND CHRISTIAN MISSION,

  V SANDY   CHARLOTTE SINCLAIR,BOX i l l ESHOWE ZULUIAND, 381?,REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA. May 2 I98O

Dear Friends and Brethren,

We hope a l l of you are well as we are a l l fine, but we are

afraid that our part of Zululand is facing an imminent disaster. I t i s supposed to

be the w ettest past of South Africa with l-si annual ra in fa l l of or more. As ar esu l t the re are smal l dams for each community as soaking ra ins are frequent and reg

ular But this year, and las t year too for that nat ter , there have been no rains a tall . We simply, and inexplicably^ had one clear day after, another week after week_^right through the height of the rainy season^ Wiile other areas in the interior gotheavy rains, Zululand, and most of Natal province remained dry. In some areas i t hasreached disasferous proportions^ Today they closed the sugar mill at Amatikhulu, atown about 20 miles awayj they plan to evacuate the town as the water supply i s completely exhausted^ Cane cut in the Ging; .ndlovu area (12 miles from E3ho>ra^ i3 only

sucrose (a s opposed to a normal i t is mostly wcod stalks and worthless

as a sugar crop. I t i s re jected by the mills as too Iovt to crush. Eshowe i s on water

rat ioning, the local prison has closed ?-nd a l l the inmates removed to other prisons,

^the High/School hostels plan to close in a few weeks 0 I t i s known local ly as a  greendrought because we st got heavy dew each night that keeps the grass green, but the

water table has sunk out of sight and th e dam is only 10^ fu l l We have only a fewweeks l e f t and t h i s i s j u s t the hc-giniiing of the dry seasch. Seasonal ra ins wi l l not

f a l l before spring ra ins in Octob.:ro iTay fo r us and oiir African church fo lk who are

facing hunger as the i r veget .able gardene f a i l and the i r cash crops and cat t le die off •I t  is the w6Fs''t~di:-oughF in~T00 years~ahd ser ious.

The Easter meetings this year were at Maputo and Bhadeni. We t r i ed to

at tend both but had to tu rn back from tlve Maputo t r ip and head for Bhadeni. On

Easter Sunday morning we dedicated the new building a t BhadoraL. The church there la: a»

f ine congregation under the leaders li ip of Zschari ah Khumalo, their building has been

under construction for several years and consists of brick and cement walls , a cementfloor and corrugated iro n r oo f. The church th ev ; p aid for thei r own building 100^.

We have s tar ted using Bible sl ides during the evening meetings and with a batterypowered projec tor recen tly acqui red, t he Interested of people upjaded by movies and

t e lev is ion i s phenomenal.

During the Easter school break we (our family) werb down to Port ShepataiBfo r a meeting  tJith fellow missionaries in South Afr ica We took Zambian missionariea-

we knew for many years, Frank and Evelyn Alexander and their 3 children down with us,as Ihey were also staying i -j it h us at the tim-io We a l l enjoyed a tremendous t ime of

fellowship, discussions about future goals for South Africa, and a aTi round good time*Our newest arr iva l in South Africa among our missionaries, Alice Fishback was there

too. Alice p lans to work in the Transkei. Missionaries in Natal hope to have bimonthly meetings, the next scheduled for Durban June li^th. Another new family hascome to work within the Durban u rban . jre a, David and Colleen Brown formerly from

Salisbury, Zimbabr-re-Rhodesiao

Apri l i s a busy birthday month at our house, M ichael turned 17 6nApril 25th and Charlotte turned (censored) on April 2^h. Tw o more come upsoon with Richard June 1st (l5 years old) and Michelle July li^th (11 years old)and then thats i t for this year, for those that are s t i l l counting tha t i s

The four of us missionaries here in Eshowe, Ron Cindi, Charlotte andmyself a re ta kin g Zulu, bu t tliis time I have ended up being thei r teacher. So nowI have had to get deeper into Zulu language learning too keep ahead of the students,

and now we hope to maintain the momentum come what may unt i l we have mastered orcome to terms with the Zulu language in one way or another. Perhaps witi the steadyprogress that diciplined leai-ning makes, we can a l l be competent in Zulu by year send. I t i s a l l too easy to stop stud^^ing when you reach a cer tain, conversational a ,level and stay there while there is so much more in a language ntiil to acqui^ei \ l^

I m out of space must close fcr no\ j All our love /0®^ ^^\^ ^Sandy cr^ftarlotta

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MAY 1980SAMDI'S SAYINGS ^ 1980  ZULUIAND CHRISTIAN MISSION,SAND CHARLOTTE SINCLAIR,BCK 111, ESHOWE, ZULUIAND , 3815REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AIRIGA Jwie U 1980

Dear Friends and Brethren

It is a cloudy, windy, blustery day here in Eshowe and aboutan hour ago it actually raiiied, but only -rery little, but looks .like we mi^ht get mora.It has aottially rained a few-times since my last newsletter, but each rainfall was onlya short shower and did little more than settle the dust. Eshowe hM  49 ^left as of today, and plans are being made to pvm^i water up from the Mpush^ fallswhich is still running and also ship -water up in rail tank cais. neighbi^ngGingindlovu (the swallower of the elephant) is dry and all their water is r^led intotown from the Tugela river. 1; - Some of our African church leaders may not te able toattend Conference, this year at ZweUtsha near East London and Kingwilliamst^, d^ totheir crops failing. Some of the -women are making baskets they bring ^ ^them as their gardens are producing no food. We have received many letters from ourreadership expressing their conceni and telling us of their prayers for the people here.

We want to thank you.

The church in Ifoington has been writing me for many months asldng me to come and bewith them for a week-end. Due to the special gift of a friend in Ohio we w^e able tomake the trip 1000 miles each way, by train, and enjoyed a very pleasant trmp ,spite of bitterly cold weather on the way. Snow fell on the Maluti mountains the raghtbefore we crossed the Orange Free State, but as I was offered a ride in the cabsteam locomotive hauling our train i t was a warm and exhilarating tide one which fewpeople in today*s modern world (outside of South Aftica and China) ever see any more.In I^ington we had an unexpected funeral of a young baby sore 60 miles out in the desert.It was a heartbreaking Saturday afternoon, especially for that young mother and herfamily, so the planned program was changed. Saturday night I met with their minister

and elders for several hours and promised to do what I could to solve some of their bigproblems. Sunday was a full day, I preached in Afrikaans, and held other meetings inZulu, even though most of the people understand Xhosa, Zulu is a close related 3.^^age.The afternoon meeting ran li hours, 3z hours of what is known as penny-slapping duringwhich time they raised about R65.00 (|83.00) The Upington church was completed when Iwas involved in church buildings in 1977 as Director of Buildings and Eva^elism, anoffice voted upon by the African Christians at their annual Conference. I had not seenthe completed building until now and must confess it is one of the nicest buildd^ inSouth Africa among our people. Upington lying on the edge of the Kalahari desert looksvery much like western Arizona with the mountains and sagebrush. Upington is as activechtirch with several students at the Umzumbe Bible Institute.

About l HreewGQks ago the Honda dealer called me to say they had a bike like the one we

wanted in stock, but would go quickly and no new 185*s would come in until about Aug^t.Did I want it? As afe that moment I did no know from our forwarding agent i f we had hadany response to our request for help on the biks, but stxU said  Yes and went aheadin faith. Shortly thereafter we heard that nearly 1600.00 had come in earmarked forthe bike, so we were able to make a substantial down—payment OK and finance the balance.We picked up the bike on May 2l|th, and already have done 621 miles, and the savings -menvision over the use of the Mazda truck, and the new areas we can now get to make i t

a va lub le a s s e t t t o th e work h e r e

Zulu study continues with the four of us every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Progressis being made. The most recent mooting was at Kwa-Siqumbe with Shadrack Mazibuko nearMtubatuba. Cindi Elerick was sick so Ron Stayed home, but Floyd joined me in the nest

ing that like all of them, started at 8*00pm Saturday and ended at 3500pm Sunday afternoon.,. it was not on my account, ny Zulu sermon was the shortest of them alii IJPreachers present at the meeting reported 9 baptisms at Sokhulu and In at Nkundusi in May.If you get a chance to see  ZULU DAWN at the movies, i t is very good, although 100ago, according to history, much of the scenery depicts Zululand today many of

5 ^

scenes were f i lmed near?- Eshowe.

Out of space again, must let you go for this month. All our Love, ^Sandy otte 5

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SANIffTS SAYINGS AUG 6 1980 .JUNE 1980 ZULULANU CHRISTIAN MISSION, JUNE 1980

SANDY   CHARLOTTE SINCUIR

BOX 111, ESHOWE ZUUJLAND 381 ,REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA July 21 I98O

lEAR FRIENDS AND BRETHREN, ^Well, our cloudy and rainy day I wrote so optimistlGftiyr last

newsletter disappated within a few hours of finishing typing, so there was no break in

our draught situation and emergency measures are being proposed eveiy few days. Themost serious problem is that of fires and we had to battle a fire in the bush next doorto our house for several hours in high winds last month, for a w^le we thought the -neighbors house was going to go up in flames. The town has no firefighting equipmet tospeak of, but nearby svigarcane farmers brought their tractor-towed water wagons th^usethe tractor*s power-take-off to pump water through the firehose to cjuench the fires. Itwas close. « a.u

This month marks the f irst anniversary of our arrival back in South Airica anathere is a lot to thank God for. Every year we try to realistically trim our mailinglist on or about the anniversary of our return. Mailing lists are made up mostly ftromthe names of those who ha^ve signed our mailing list during the previous furlough ^dof coiu'se those whom we know well and are members of churches that support our work.

At the mement is takes me two fall days to hand copy the addresses on ourmaiiUng l is tMany people we never have any contact with and thus if you miss our next month sletter and you wanted to keep on our mailing list do PLEASE drop me a q^ck postc^d tolet me know. Regular supporters and known persons cf our readership will not be dropped.We do appreciate the spate of regular letters we have been receiving :^om many of you whoget our newsletter and your kind comments iji them.  We really appreciate hearing ^om allof vou. Many items we never get to find out unless a thoughtful persons SQhds us vhenews •• items such as the major league baseball standing at this time of the year. (Hint,hint. Nob even volume two  TIME magazine)carries them.  The Hble is vol^e onel..;

My mother came to stay with us for a few months, arriving June 19th, and willbe here for several months, enjoying our mild winter climate.

July is the busiest month of the year for us and I have been away overthe month. We had our largest meeting et eSiphondweni which is a congregation f^ to thenorth on the Makathini flats. About 300 persons gathered from far and near for the twoday meeting. They preached all night Saturday and well into Sunday and we had 2b baptisms^Albert Masango is the leader throughout the area and Mike Jobe is the elder to charge orthe local congregation. We have a new congregation being established near Ubombo at thistime, which makes 6 congregations with nearly half of our membership up t he re ©njoyworking and camping in that area as it looks like the real  Africa and there is stillplenty of gams in localized places to that area including a herd of about 120 eleph^ts.On the Lebombo mountains that overlook this plain we also have a number of congregationsunder the leadership of Philemon Myeni who is actually the only qualified Church ofChrist minister up there, the other men being untrained, but who ^ caj^blepreachers of the word of God. Masango did complete two years of T under me last tarn.

This past Saturday, Charlotte and I set off for a wedding I was to officiate,at,accompanied by two of our ministers, Sabelo Nzuza and Alfred Mathenjwa and his wife.The wedding was to be  near Melmoth a town about 30 miles away. An ''umfaan littleAfrican boy) was to meet us at Eiyela Store about 10 miles off the main road. We presumed it was nearby...were we in for a shock...2^ hours later the umfaan was daxectingus down a road that would be difficult for an Arizona jackrabbit .to go down. wefinally got there, the bride had not arrived, nor would she as her brother had that verymorning refused his consent to the marriage due to vague financial demands, fortumtelyfor hijn he was not around. It was dark when we made our way out of that valley, timewill tell what will happen, but we for our part made steps today by means of my Zulunewsletter to make sure consent is secured and ia my hands, before the celebrations.

Must close for this time Sandy Charlott

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0 2W80

JULY 1980 Sandy s Sayings JULY I98OZULUIAND CHRISTIAJI MISSION,

SANDY   CHARLOTTE SINCLAIR,BOX 111, ESHCWE ZULULAND 38X5,

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH A5RICA AUGUST 21 I98O

Dear F r i e n d s a nd B r e t h r e n

We were just remarking the other day how much 

felt likespringtime, many of the trees were in blossom and the bright sunshine was so nice.Thsilast week a huge storm swept up from the south, those great empty southernoceans between us and the south pole and antarctica breed tremendous winter storms,which covered South Affica with bitter winter weather. It started snomng at no^on the Natal s southern Drakensberg   Dragon mountains) and continued a ll night aythe next day most of the country was snow covered and below freezing temperaturesprevailed in nearly all places except near the coast. At our house we i^ed up o^coal suppy with cosy evening fires which we enjoyed so much while watching importedUS shows on our black and white portable TV, and hearing the news of the record-breaking heatwave in the US, while our lowest tenqperature was a chilling 3 Fuilesotho.

Wehave enjoyed many responses to our newsletters lately and glad they are enjoyedby you. Many of the letters mention how we are being prayed for and we can cite

numerous incidences where prayers for our safety and weU.-being have Ueen answered.Some of our answers to prayer were really marvelous indications of a watching andloving heavenly Fat her.

The Natal missionaries a ll came up to Eshowe fo r a day of fellowship at our houseon August 8th, We enjoyed the visit from Stamms, Nicholsons, Stanleys, and Elericlraof course, and also with them was Diane Scholey, a 17 year old AFS exchange studentfrom NY who attends the Christian Church in Wapp-Jngers Falls NY who is attending aHigh School in Pinetown, near Durban and who also ultimately hopes to become a miss--ionaiy. -It was fortunate for us as we were discussing our need for new_recr^ts and^how to go about getting our needs set before the right people with the right kind ofappeal which she was able to help us with.

Aug 16 17th

Our largest meeting this month so far was at Nkondibe/ near Mtubatuba at the congregation of David Thwala, As usual the meeting began with singing and choir numbers ataboDut SsOOpm and thd; took us to about midnight, I preached and so did Ron E3^rick,

and then at about IsOOa^ we retired to David Thwala s home for a leadership meetingwith some of our church leaders such as Isaiah Siyaya who we have not seen for someyears and who we thought had left our fellowship. We rejoiced to know that was notthe case, he has been working for the Lord in his area more than ever before, now thathe has retifed on a government pension and actually brought me a church site ajylic-ation to complete for a church he has established and is growing to the point theyneed to build. The spirit of love, unity and fellowship at that meeting was so fine,

I could not help contrast it with some of the meetings in similar circumstances about3 —4 years ago, could this be the same men. God is a wondeiful healer of all men.Albert Masango, another one of the greatest, yet most humble, men we have workir^ forthe Lord as an unpaid preacher, reported that he now has 12 groups meeting in variousplaces on the Makatini flats to the north of Mtubatuba, He also reported a new churchat Ophande to which he invited us all for a meeting on Oatoberltth. We also learnedthat old chief Moses Zulu had died, he had proven a difficult obstacle to the growthand establishment of the church at Maphophoma near Nongoma. The group decided togo to the chief's main kraal on September 27th and pay their respects to the chief sfamily and in a round—about way find out the status of the congregation there nowwith a new chief coming in. The meeting went a ll night , ending for services at HAM.

Next month is the annual Church of Christ Conference, this year at Zwelitsha in theCiskei near King William's Town. Floyd Stamm,pRon Elerick ^ d I will trayel_theretogether for the meeting that will run from Se^ember 1 - ^jh .d Zwelitsha is about8 miles from Eshowe ^ {ikMtSpace is gone must close for this time again, un^fi^ext month^ SariayT^Charlotte

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f tmryyrZTJLU l^U CHRISTIAi I HISSION, AIJG-USTmSEPTEMBER 19o0

  ' Smn H RLOTTE SINCIAIRj C5^BOX ESHCWE ZTJLUIAND 381^,republic of south AERIGA. October 1 I98O

Beax- Friends and Brethrenj \ 4;

We have had to uhange the format of our newsletters because

of new Post Office regulations (In R3A) tliat have abolished second class mailings•Now we have to use an envelope at twice the postage,^ or an airlet ter like this one,

but which usually is very hai-d to feed through the jriimeograph machinee Because ofthis I had to order 300 unstamped airletters which took over a month to come and thuswe are late in sending out this monthhs newsletter

September is the month of our annual South African Church of Christ Mission Conference^when the whole church'gathers for preaching and fellov^ship. This year s conferencewas held at Zwelitaha, Ciskei, near King William's Town about 8OO miles from Eshawe»

  t w as a time for reflection. When you look back on 3? years of missionary work inSouth Africa, i t is inevitable tha t we lock at vrhere we have been and where we aregoingc The  finishedproduct of the missionary task  was represented here, the self-supporting, self propogatihg; independant, indlTersous Chorch. The congregationshere in South Africsi have been planted, they have been watered, and they have grown.An indigeneuus leadcp-ship has emerged, they are making their own decisions.This must be so, and they are maturing as vje can see every year at the annual conference. Just like a child grows up and eventually must leave home and lead his own l i fe,with the prayers and hopes of the parents going with them, so is i t  viith these churchesin South i ifrica todiy. The missionary goec on to work -with new groups, establish newchurches, teach new leadership, open up new areas and thus the process is repeatedwhen these new leaders come to the conference to join in fellowship with the others*

  t has been heartening to see these younger churches maturing and sending out their amevangelists to establish new churches and work with weak and leaderless ^<^ps.

I feel tijere is ar^ 'mDortant distinction that must be made between the minister of alocal ch-orch and tne  missionary (defined as a cross-cultural, commonicator of the Chr^t-ian faith) in thai while the minister works -with individuals, the mi3sionai7 works withchurches^ sometimes with as many congregations as some ministers have church members.All the while, the missionary must relinquish control over the churches as rapidly aspossible and build up the local leadership (ministers) to take over his job so he canmove oHc This vre believe is the New Testament pattern for church growth.Conference this year confirmed our faith in this process (a neveivending process) as wesaw growing Christians and mature church leaders in action. Many of our Zulu men andt h ree o f the worcern a lso a t t ended t h i s yea r

Last- week- cnd, Septembe-r 27, 28, was a busy one for me. We met with most of the Zulu

chui ch leader s  In Nongoma at noon on Saturday and journeyed together to the kraalof Chief Hoses Zulu, uncle of the present Zulu King^who die;f in July this ye^. Wegathered in one of the huts with 6 of his 8 wives and about 30 of his 52 ohil^en.We all had a chance to witness and I preached for about 1|0 minutes on the meaningpurpose of life. It was like somthing out of an old Tarzan movie, unreal. The meetinglasted about 3 hours, and then we all  went to KwaNkulu church at lOmmalo s village.The preaching meeting lasted until 1:30am, resuming at 6:00am with a committee meeting,following late moiTdng by two weddings, preaching and breaking of bread at 3:00pm thatended at 3:oopm. All the while it was raining and we had rivers to cross, fortunatelywe got out at dusk ok before the river rose too high.

With the rains the severe drought has been relieved, but the food sit uation remains

critical. With the help of International Disaster Emergency Service we are dist^but-ing food to those of our churches who are in greatest need. We took 10 bags to Khumalo avil lage ijith us as well th i s t ime.

Space is gone, must close for this time. Do drop us a line soon,

Sandy Charlotte   3

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^UUU jn

CHARLOTTE SINCLAIR, ^  X m ESHCWE ZUHJIANL 381? ^ 1REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA Nov 5 1980

ear Friends and Brethren

This morning our son Wayne  13 got up at nearly ^sOOam totune into the Voice of America to  ret the early returns on the election results.that time it was still Election day in America and only 7:00 pm on to west coast.

By 6 in the morning, our tijne, he was jubilantly waking us an ly as the c^didate  s

his choice were coming in strong. Wayne is the most politically aware of our ^dstakes a keen interest in world events, even reads my issues of Time mgazine fromto cover each week. We bothtod voted by absentee ballot two weeks ago.

month seems to get busier and busier and we hardly know where the time goes.was one such month. I was called to a special meeting in a small town canedin the Northern Cape abcot 6 miles west of Kimberley about o miles from

due to a problem in the church there. We were happy to find the problem wato a lack of communication and understanding as no missionary is n^ residentthat area,for many years now so nobody knew the circumstances at the C^pben

church. I went because I can understand and speak Afrikaans , and returned to Nat^God for a fine church under very capable leadership there.  October 2ii-27;

Closer to home we continued our outreach, traveling to several congregations on weekOne big meeting was held at UmBumbulu where a preacher names Gcuda is leader.an entire kraal  hamlet, which is a village where all llvii^

each other accepted Christ, from the oldest grandfather to the teenage children.this may rankel our western concepts of individual dioision ®

keeping with African decision making processes, and we had hi s to baptizend teach. It was not a spur of the moment decision, bro Gcuda had been worki^

them for some years and the oldest man,the grandfather,had to make up his^mindhat Christ was the One to follow and immediatly all who already believed rejoicedand stood together in their collective decision. The kraal stood on \

hill with a thousand foot dropoff in each direction with streams runmng thro^h thevalleys below. We had to walk for an hour to reach the place.  October li ii;

Anew TEE esctension leadership class was begun oir Thursday evening at a nearby churchwhere Caiphas Ncanana preaches. They are covering the book of Romans now.

We have a new temporary member of our family, her name is Philippa Quann she ^ l8,and has been placed in our care by court order and child welfare. Her personal

is beyond the scope of this little newsletter, but we do ernestly yo^prayers on her behalf and she tries to get away from a bad home environment and seeka tLt beginning for her young see the need to put _Christ into her life and her future. We don t know how long she will be with us,possibly for several month^s until the welfare courts decide where to send her.As my mother is also staying with us now, there are 9 people for each meal, breakfastand supper which puts a load on Charlotte too, who spent three days in the hospitalthis month for a minor operation, but idio has also been suffering from fatigue moreand more lately. Other than that we are all fine the kids Michael, Richard and Waynewrite ther finals for this year *s exams this month and school i s out for the summerat the end of November and early December. Exams are taken very seriously here withmuch more emphasis placed on passing or failing the finals deciding whether you passor f i l the year .

We have several big evangelistic meetings planned for November in various parts of

Zululand which will keep us busy and continue to strain the budget. But the growthis so good at this time we must press on regardless. The first is this coiningSaturday - Sunday at a new congregation called Ophande in the far north. I t willbe the most important as the results of this will  we pray) firmly establish yetanother new congregation on the Makhathini flats. We have not been there before,the new church is the worklpf leader AlbejPt MaSiar^o.

* Charlotte and I that is/Must c l os e fo r now

/i f  iavv al

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Sandy s Sayings Nov I98O 0£q q ^ ^  Zululand Christian Mission ^

Sa ndy Charlotte SinclairBox 111, Eshowe, Zulnland, 3815Republic of South Africa. December 9 19o0

Dear Friends and Brethren

We want to f i r s t of a l l bring you the best ChristmasGreetings from our house to yours. The Christmas season is upon us again andwe remember the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ He came into the world to saveus, and His birth, life, death and resurrection is the reason for the Hope thatlies within us. He abides with us st i l l and our personal relationship to Him givesus the Love, Joy, Peace and Hope both in this life and our eternal life to coiro.

November at our home was a busy month again, but i t was different from all the previousmonths of this busy year and we have come to experience a closer walk with the Lordas a result So much of the time we get so busy going about the Lord s work we neglectto keep in mind exactly whose work it is after all and why we are here and what our

ulitraate purpose in all of it is Then,at times of His chosing the Lord reveals Himself to us again and we are brought into a deeper relationship with Him and as thechorus goes, we fall in love with over and over again.

At the same time I was undergoing a deep inner searching for a revitalizing of nqr ^spiritual life in the Lord, my co-worfcer Ron Elerick was coming to the same convictions by himself. Together we spent the past three weeks in daily prayer andstudy of the word and we sought new momentum and direction to our lives and ourministry. It was truly been a blessed experience for both of tis^ There is_ arenewal already present among our churches. Led by the Holy Spirit revival is breaking out already in two or three areas. We have had our eyes opened to the presence

of Satanic forcesinthe church as leaders have confessed

tobeing involved

inwitchcraft and strong stands are being taken andwill continue to have to be taken in the

near future Many of our studies of God s word have led us recently into strongconfrontation with persons in positions of leadership who continue to work magic andother forms of occult contacts convincing us this is the truereason why in sane areaswe have had no growth and there has been much strife among the brothersWe urgently ask your prayers for us at this time and especially as we begin the new  ea r

It is mid-summer down here now, the children are out of school and Charlotte has amornings only job at a local hotel as a receptionist to try and make a little extraChristmas money. She will only work at the Royal Hotel for this month, bub is

considering working on at another job in January, e.g we are simply not keeping upwith inflation any more. There is an economic hocm in South Africa at the monentand a surge in the inflation rate a rise in the strength of the Rand and a consequent drop in the relative value of the dollar. By the time our salary is depositedin our local bank account i t is less than R6OO. and food costs alone account for. overhalf of that and there is l i t t l e l e f t for the necessities of the seven of us any moreLast year the same dollar amount brought in RS^O and food was 20 less es^ensive.We know the Lord will contine to provide, but we just felt i t fair to bring these factsto the a t ten t ion of our supporters

Christmas will be spent at home this year, but i t will be a happy one at a happy home.

We t rust that God wil l bless you and yours at th is Christmas t ime too

God bless a l l o f you

Sandy   Charlotte Sinclair