0I^tpe Whittles

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The Laughrens,
Pete, Fran & Denzil

Winter, Spring 2003 - Vol. 13, No. 3,4

Furlough Travels 2002

(4th and Last in a series)
As this is written in South Africa after our return

home, we apologize for the lateness of this newsletter. There have been many things going on since our last writing back in October and we shall try to summarize
our lives and travels since that time.

Furlough is always a great year of visiting and traveling. But this year of furlough in 2002 was more hectic than usual as we shortened our furlough by at
least 6 months. This was done so that we could be

back in South Africa in January so that Denzil could

start grade three with his class. School runs from January to December here and when we left in 2001,

he had just finished grade one. On the road traveling over furlough, he and Fran did grade two and finished school work in time for him to get started back to grade three here. So, therefore, since furlough was shortened, we were very busy traveling and trying to visit everyone right through to the end of December. But to go back a few months, we finished up the last three months of the year as it started; mainly on the road. In October we were gone four of the five weekends and saw many wonderful people. The 11'^ of October saw us with friends Dean and Patty Stacy in Sparta N.C. whose house's driveway runs off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. You can imagine how beautiful it is there! After spending the night with them, we drove
to Jonesborough Tennessee and spent the next 6 nights with good friends, Ralph and Mary Edmisten. We spoke for both services on Sunday the 13"" at Westside Church of Christ in Jonesborough. It is always good to be with the folk there as that is the first church we served out of Bible College and we have many precious memories there of the people and times. Thanks Ralph and Mary for the hospitality.
While we were there for the week, we made a

Dewey Christian Church again for their Wednesday evening services. The people there are good friends and we always appreciate the opportunity to be with them again. Thank-you, Bud Gentry for the time together that evening. After saying good-bye to the folks at Jonesborough, we traveled 10 miles east to Johnson City to speak one last time at Lone Oak Christian Church. This is our commissioning church and a valuable part to the ministry here. People here are still asking when the folks from that church are coming back for another visit like the one in 2001. While there, we stayed with Hartsell and Edith Edwards again, and we thank you again for your fine hospitality. We spoke for the morning sen/ices at Lone Oak and attended the Bible Study in the evening. After spending a few nights back in Hampton, GA, we went the next weekend to a new speaking appointment at the First Christian Church in Rock Hill SC. It was a quick trip in that we drove there on Saturday the 26"", spoke the morning of the 27"^ and then drove back to Georgia that afternoon. We had never met the people there before, but we had a great time getting to know them. We spoke for the Sunday

first Cl)ristiap
Cbiircl^
328-9798

side trip to Mountain City, Tennessee to speak at

First Christian Church, Rock Hill, SC.

visit Fran's folks. Fran always needs time with her family and Denzi! with his grandparents, and since
we had to all be together in Oklahoma the next week

for the National Missionary Convention (NMC), it worked out perfect. They went to Texas and I
continued the drive home to Georgia. On the 12*^ I
left in the afternoon to head west and made the 900

d'hiircli >

mile trip by myself to Wichita, Kansas where I met up with them there on the after they arrived from Texas. We were all there for the National Missionary Convention where we met with prospective interns for
summer 2003 and renewed old acquaintances and saw a lot of friends and acquaintances. While there, we also met with prospective interns that might come in July for the VBSs. All in all, the convention was a

Adairsville Christian Church, Adairsville, GA.

tiring few days, but well worth the time. On Sunday

afternoon after the convention, we drove to Stillwater,

School and preached for the morning services. It was

an even more special trip as we had company with us,
my mother and her husband, Flo and Collins Blackmarr.

Oklahoma and spent a great evening and night with John, Bonita and John's mother, Olive Pryor. Driving
on the next morning, we arrived back in Georgia on
the 19'^

They went with us and we had some good family time. On the last day of October we went to Adairsville
GA where Phil and Winnie McPherson minister and

spoke for their Wednesday evening services. We had spoken there during the Georgia Missionary Rally in
1996 and it was good to be back with them this time around. Thanks for letting us come and share the work
there.

After spending Thanksgiving in Hampton, we then started our big job of packing and repacking; both for our container that was being loaded on the 23^^ of December, and for moving out of our furlough house
on the 28"" of December. In the midst of this, we went

As we said, during this furlough there was not much time to sit around. Two days after speaking at Adairsville, we hit the road again and headed north to Virginia. We spent the weekend at Martinsville, Virginia and spoke both morning and evening at Chatham Heights Christian Church. They had a nice apartment set up in the basement of the church and it worked well. After the weekend, early in the morning on the

to Alabama for the day and night of the 5"^ of December. We spent the day with friends Brian and Twila Bierman in Alexander City, Alabama and then we spent the night with Perry and Laura Rubin in Auburn, Alabama after meeting with prospective interns at Auburn Christian Fellowship. Their plans, if they worked out, were to be here the first two weeks in May to work with youth in various locations. Later
in December, we also visited First Christian Church in Newnan, GA for one last visit on the 15"^

4'^' we headed back south. On the way south, Idropped Fran and Denzil off at the Greensboro, NC. airport from which they caught a flight for Dallas, Texas to go and

Getting packed up and ready to return to the

field takes a lot of time and effort. The reason that it

takes so long Is that we must make a list of what is in

'mm"
CHATHAM HEIGHTS

CHRISTIAN
e CHURCH
5irst Christian Chxirch
\c^vnt^u.

Jl
11.3. 2002
Chatham Heights Christian Church, Martinsville, VA.

17. 15. 2002

First Christian Church, Newnan, GA.

We wound up December in Georgia by celebrating Christmas with my family for the first time in 7 years. After Christmas we still had one major job to do in Hampton: that of packing our stateside belongings, putting them into storage, and moving out of our furlough house. With the help of many people, we got that all done on the 28'^ of December and said good-bye to the "little house of furlough" on that Saturday. On Sunday the 29"^ we attended McDonough Christian Church for one last time and said good-bye to the people there. The next morning, we headed
west to Bedford Texas and arrived there on New

Year's Eve. This was also a sad time for us, as on

this visit, we said good-bye to Fran's family after celebrating a late Christmas with everybody who was
stateside.

As you can see, we had lots of help packing the container in Georgia.

each box, and give each item two values; one for insurance purposes, and one for customs values. This, as you can imagine is tedious and time consuming. As is normal, time seems to run out as you are packing and we wound up packing close to 80 of the over 200 boxes in the last two days. We all got the flu three days before the container left but with God's help we got It all done. The container arrived in the front yard of our furlough house at 10 a.m. on the 23'^ of December and within two hours, and with the help of 16 able bodies it was packed and ready to go. I've never seen so many people work so quickly and get that much done in such a short period of time. But thank-you one and all for all that you did to help us pack and get our belongings ready and shipped. The container left our yard that day and the last time we saw it stateside it was heading down the highway headed towards the port in Savannah and on to South Africa.

After ten days there, we flew back to Georgia after leaving our furlough transportation with the owners, David and Carol Bledsoe. Once again, David and Carol, thanks ever so much for your generosity and kindness in providing the transportation for our year of furlough. One last speaking engagement of furlough was to take place in Georgia as we spoke at Berea in Hampton on the 12'^ of January. It was sad to say good-bye to the home base church, but they were very kind in having a meal for us after the service so that we could have some time with the people on this last Sunday. We must say thank-you to everyone at Berea who helped us with furlough in many different
ways. The names are too numerous to mention, but

you know who you are and thanks again for everything that you did to make us feel at home in Hampton for the furlough year. After wrapping up a few loose ends, we finally said good-bye to family on the 14'^ of January and officially ended furlough when we flew towards home out of Atlanta. It was good to be going home.

'iP " ~

1m

/
The container leaves the house in Georgia . ..
and arrives at our house in South Africa.

By George!! Home at Last!!

We flew out of Atlanta the evening of the 14"^ of January and after spending a few days in London having some family time, we arrived back in South Africa the morning of the 21'. After landing in Johannesburg and spending a couple of hours there we finally flew to and landed safely in George that afternoon. I was never so glad to see George Mountain as I was when we flew over it that day. I
am constantly reminded just how beautiful a place
that we live in as we can look out of the back of the

\ **u Muuimmumm

house and see the mountains or drive 6 miles south

to see the Indian Ocean. What a beautiful place. We did not tell anyone here of our arrival date as we just wanted to slip into town unannounced. Two days after we arrived we came upon two sisters from the church who were walking along the road and pulled up beside them and offered them a ride to where they were going. They were very surprised to see us but kept the secret until we saw everyone
else that afternoon.

It is very good to be home again!

Our container was to arrive here during the month of February but with shipping as it is, it instead
arrived at our house on the 5'^ of March. So, as

In arriving in January, we arrived back here in the middle of summer and that was quite an
adjustment for us. We found out after we arrived

soon as we got things unpacked from storage, we started over again. We must tell you the story of the shipping and show you that God works in a mighty way.
When we first arrived back here there was a

that our house had been empty since the end of

December and we were able to move back in as soon

as possible. We got our car out of storage (it was kept at a friend's house) and it started up on the first try. Then came the long job of unpacking and as you can imagine it always takes longer than you plan on. Everything that was packed in a box was stored
behind locked doors at the house in the office, and

while there were a few vines growing under the door and cob webs throughout, everything was fine. All of our furniture was stored at a local storage
company and it arrived at the house on the February. of

notification that we had to go to the customs department and sort out the paperwork. To make a long story short, we were told that after the paperwork was submitted, we were going to have to go to Port Elizabeth and meet the container there to go through it with the customs inspector. Well, about a week before we were to do that, we got a call from the freight forwarder that told us that there was no need to go to Port Elizabeth; customs had just waived it through. It would be delivered straight
to our door on the 5'^ of March. When the truck

driver came with the container, they told us that in delivering containers for the last 9 years, this was

As you can see, the ocean here is beautiful...

and the mountains behind our house are a magnificent sight.

Andrew Calvert. Unemployment is really high here and the prospects of a permanent building seem far off. We were very pleased on our first visit to Knysna in February as they have grown and there were over 60 people in attendance. We have resumed making monthly visits there. Please continue to pray for them to grow in numbers and spirit. Graaff-Reinet is another story. Please pray for
the church there as there have been some

personality conflicts resulting in a split. The church is comprised largely of family members so the split has affected both the church and family. There is such potential there and it is a shame to see what is going on there, so please pray for them. We are busy preparing for this year's VBSs, but since our meetings with interns last fall, all visits

The first Sunday back in George, 1got the opportunity to

preach again.

have fallen through. Fran and I will be doing these alone, so please pray for us. All in all, we are very glad to be home. As they
say, there is no place like home. Denzil started

only the 2"" time that customs had ever just waived
it through not wanting to see what was enclosed! They simply took our list, trusted it and let it come on through. We praise the Lord for his watch care

school the second day we were back in January and has been doing well in grade three. All his friends
were glad to have him back. We are involved with

over these things and were very glad when everything arrived safely. It was good to receive all of the craft materials, Sunday school supplies and everything else that was packed all in one piece,

the youth again and Bible Studies are restarting. Fran is doing the Sunday schools again wherever she goes and I am preaching most Sundays. We
are thankful for the people here and their

faithfulness. They are such a joy to work with. Lastly, we are very thankful for a good year of furlough, but
even more so we are glad to be home and getting

safe and sound. It was like Christmas come early.

We were very pleased to see how some of the

work had progressed since we were on furlough.

Since we have been back we have been with the

settled. Please continue to pray for us during this term of service that we may be of use to the Lord
and his kingdom here.

church in George, of course, but we have also been

with the churches in Graaff-Reinet and Knysna. George has done very well and they are still meeting in a classroom under the capable leadership of

Many people have sent crafts like this package from the youth group from Derrs Christian Church in Derrs, PA.

Denzil was glad to be home in South Africa with his friend,

Emile Calvert.

Since the last newsletter, we visited the

following states, among others.

WELCOME TO

4iit iiTTi

Arkansas
I Mr \ M 11 U \1 S 1 Ml

BUCKLE UP FOR SAFETY

11.19. 2002
A abama
Arkansas

. 18. 2002

Welcome
to
**

V'

'
Louisiana

12.31^2002

DRIVE FfllEHOLY - THE TEXAS WA'

Welcomes

"i-d:
Mississippi

You !

'
12.31.2002

ravers
Please pray for the VBSs that will take place this year in July.
Please pray for the churches here that

ETC
Denzil completed grade two under Fran's teaching (It was a tough year on the teacher) and has started grade three here with great
success.

they may not get discouraged but keep the faith even under trying
circumstances.

We spent five nights in London on our return and we had some good family time there.

Please continue to pray for our great forwarding agents, Mark and Annette
Tuttle.

Thanks must go to Bud Gentry of Dewey Christian Church in Mountain City, Tennessee
and to Don Dorris of Mt. Vernon, Illinois for books that you sent with us for distribution to the

Christians here. They are very thankful for your

help.

Praises
We praise the Lord for a great year of
furlough. We were able to see all of our supporting churches and individuals. We were in 29 states and drove 36,000 miles

We have started traveling again and places are asking us to come for weekends of teaching. We
are thankful for the chance to serve.

in that time. We are thankful for safety in

travel.

Thanks again to everyone who helped us in every way during furlough. We are all a team together for South Africa and we appreciate your help in many ways. See you next furlough!!
May God bless you as you serve Him!!

Thanks so much to Mrs. Rose Crenshaw

of Hampton, GA for the use of your house as a base on furlough. It worked great and we thank-you again very much.
Thanks also must go to David and Carol

Bledsoe for providing our furlough

transportation. It ran great.

We had a good trip back home and we

are thankful for most of the churches here

continuing on so faithfully.

You cannot believe all of the craft supplies that we were able to gather and bring
back for the VBSsI! Even more has come in via the mail since our arrival and Fran

should be set for several years (or rather several 400 children VBSs this year!) Thanks so much for helping with this.
We are very thankful for the safe arrival of the container. Things had shifted inside as you can imagine, but everything
arrived safely. We praise the Lord for how He has taken care of us through his people on furlough.

/
7

While in Tennessee in October, Fran got experience in making Apple Butter with the folks in Jonesborough.

01ztpe W^ixtwB

The Laughrens,
Pete, Fran & Denzil

Summer 2003 - Vol. 14, No. 1

2003 Vacation Bible Scliools

One ofour goals inthe work in South Africa is to help the children hear about the Lord.Statistics have shown that if people are going to make a commitment to serving the Lord,the major ityof them do so before they reach adulthood. Infact, ifa com mitment is made for Christ, it is more likely to be made as a child or teenager than after one is an adult. That is why we feel so strongly about having Sunday Schools and Vacation Bible Schools for the children that we workwith in South Africa. They need to learn about their Lord whilethey are young or they might
never make a commitment.

his golf swing. (Weil, he brought two out of three.) When he arrived on June 12, Fran already had the arrangements made for two Vacation Bible Schools, one here in George and one in Graaff-Reinetand we also had been asked to workat a camp in
Port Elizabeth. The first Vacation Bible School that we did in

Graaff-Reinet was from the 30th of June until the 4th of July. Graaff-Reinet is about 4 hours from George and is a small his
torical town. During the week of Vacation Bible School, it was very cold and we feel that this had a little to do with the atten

dance, which was downfrom previousyeare. We averaged about 150 per day with the highest day being 179. During the two-hour sessions, we had singing, a lesson time, a craft time, and gave
out treats at the end of the day The local Christians were a valuable help in every way and we feel blessed to have been able to serve with them like this. Don was a help in every way, doing everything that he was asked from helping withcrafts, to teaching children's lessons, to handing out. Later in this letter we will detail more of his trip to South Africa.
The second Vacation Bible School that we held was in

Secondly we also feel that summer internships ofAmeri can college students are a great wayforAmericanyoung people
to be exposed to another culture outside of the United States. Most of the full time Christian workers stay stateside and we

need more workers on the field doing cross cultural work. By going on an intemship, students get to see what mission work
is all about and make decisions with some evidence in hand.

Combining the two (internships and Vacation Bible Schools),

we are able to have American students see what life is like in

George, two weeks after the one inGraaff-Reinet. (Don had by this time retumed to the U.S.) In past years, we have had close
to 400 children a day at this Vacation Bible School and it has always been a great success. On the first day this year we ran into problems, as the building and gate were locked and we could not find anyone with the proper keys. After looking to no

another part of the worid and let kids here get to hear about the Saviorthat they mightnot otherwise hear about. We hope, then,
that more commitments would be made to serve the Lord over

seas and that more lives will be changed at an early age. That having been said, we try to have internships inJune and July of every year so we can have Vacation Bible Schools
here for the children during their winter break from school. While we were on furiough, we were in touch with several different people about taking part in this year's internships. Our plans were to have an internship during May for students we were in contact with from a secular university Campus House and then

to have another one during June/July for Biblecollege students

as we have had in the past. Both of these would have wori<ed

with the youth of South Africa, the first one with high school
students and the second with younger children in the Vacation Bible Schools. Due to different reasons, neither intemship took place and we were left to wonder how God would work it all out for this year's Vacation Bible Schools. We know that He never
fails.

After Fran had planned the Vacation Bible Schools for July, we were contacted by a friend in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, Don Dorris, who wanted to come and help for a month in any way possible. Itold him to bring three things: lessons, sermons, and

As you can see, the kids love the crafts that are done at Vacation
Bible School.

avail, we were only able to arrange for the keys to be available the next day and, therefore, were not able to get to hold the School on the first day. On Tuesday, with the problem solved, we had 175 children in attendance and, without other adult help, it was quite a job. On Wednesday, our prayers for help were answered as 4 members of the Graaff-Reinet church who helped in Graaff-Reinet said they wanted to help in George, came to George, and helped us the restofthe week. (TheyouthofGeorge helped where they could, but they were rather timid.) We needed the help as our attendance rose from the first day to a second day number of 379 and itheld that level for the rest of the week.
The kids in attendance were full of life and seemed to really

I do not know who has more

fun with the crafts, Fran or the

kids!

Fran is standing with the leader of the Graaff-Reinet youth, Max well Cudjoe.

enjoy the lesson times, the crafts times and, of course, the singing. Itjust does your heart good to hear these kids sing and praise the Lord like you've never heard before. The only draw
back that we had that week was that we had to cancel the

Friday class because of illness and weather. Fran did a great job oforganizing the crafts, assigning lesson topics, and gener ally organizing the entire Vacation Bible School programs. She has quite a talent and the kids here are the richer spiritually for
It. So, all in all, the two weeks of Vacation Bible Schools went well and God took care of us in every way.

Thanks for prayingforthe Vacation Bible School this year and, if you want to come and help next year, please let us know.
We would love to have you.

Don Dorris, Mt. Vernon, Illinois

During the Vacation Bible School in Graaff-Reinet, Don taught
two evening classes especially for the youth.

As mentioned earlier, Don Dorris of Mt. Vemon, Illinois

came and worked with us for a month from the 12th of June until

the 10th of July. Don is a friend who has been promising to come and helpfor 17 years and we were glad that he was finally
able to come. When he arrived he said, "Put me to use wher

'jf

At the end of a Vacation Bible School that we participated in

Jacksonville, Florida last year at Englewood Christian Church, these shirts were donated for the youth groups here in South Africa. Two different youth groups received them and they wear them as groups on outings. The Graaff-Reinetyouth say 'Thankyou, Englewoodll"

ever you can." He had a very willing attitude to help. The first Sunday he was here, we went to the church at Knysna and he preached for sen/ices there. That evening, he led the BibleStudy at George and was very well received. The next weekend, we needed to make a trip to Barkly-West in the NorthernCape to check on the planning progress forthis year's preaching conference which will be held in October. WhileAn drew Calvert and Iwere busy with that on Saturday afternoon, Don led a BibleStudy for the local church and was amazed that people could meet insuch a ram shackled building. He preached for the church the next day and then, that evening, preached at the local church in Kimberley The next day we drove back to
Graaff-Reinet and he was then asked to speak that evening for their weekly Bible Study. While we were back in George for a couple of days, we

This trip to South Africa was Don's first experience in preaching

with a translator. He was nervous, but did great!

spent the time preparing for the crafts for the Vacation Bible Schools and he also preached for the Sunday morning service here in George. That Sunday afternoon we leftfor the Vacation Bible School which would start the next day in Graaff-Reinet. As noted earlier, he was a big help with the Vacation BibleSchool there and he also led two youth classes in the evening, the Wednesday evening prayer meeting, and preached again on Sunday morning. We kept him busy. After the completion ofthe Vacation Bible School inGraaffReinet, we drove to Port Elizabeth to take part in a youth camp that included the youth from Graaff-Reinet and George. He did

the morning devotionsfortine campers and filled inbyteaching

a class on "Holiness" for a teacher that could not show up. After

all of this busy work, he left us fromthe airport in Port Elizabeth on the 10th of July, arriving back to Illinois on the 11th. Don, itwas a pleasure to have you here and we enjoyed our time together. The people here are still asking for you, pray ingforyouand are wondering when youare comingagain.Thanks for helping us in the work. We lookforward to the next time.

New Vehicle Purchased

Many of you remember the videotape that we showed youduring ourfuriough lastyear ofour 1990Volkswagen Microbus
that we earned 54 kids in to Vacation Bible School. Many of you
Don Dorris with Abram Modupi, the elder in the Barkly-West
church.

said that we should send that tape to Volkswagen or "Funniest

Home Videos" to see ifwe could win a prize. Over the ten years

that we owned it, it gave us great service and it is still serving the Lord in other places. With the help of many sources, we have been able to purchase a new van here for the Lord's work. We have been able to buy a diesel Chrysler Grand Voyager that will serve the work tremendously. During this year's Vacation Bible School we were able to use it and, although we did not get 54 kids in it, we did carry 30 to the classes, it gets great mileage and is a real asset to the work. Thank you to one and all for your help in this effortand you can be assured that itwill serve the purpose well.
Instead of giving a camper of the week at the camp in Port Elizabeth, we gave a group of the week. Here you see the youth group from Cape Town with their trophy.

ETC
While we were at the camp in Port Elizabeth, Fran taught crafts and 1taught a daily class to the youth. We were glad to be able to participate with the youth in this way.

We have changed the weekly BibleStudy in George from Tuesday night to Sunday after-noon because of the winter temperatures, and because itis easier for the local people
to come to the classes at that time.

InApril and Maywe made a couple of tripsto Graaff-Reinet

for teaching and funerals.
The day that Don left the camp and headed home the entire
camp came out to tell him good-bye.

I-1
"You came here to do what??"

This is the entire group of campers and teachers at the camp in Port Elizabeth.

Before you move, please send the mailing label with a copy of your new address to
MISSION SERVICES ASSOCIATION, PO Box 13111, Knoxville, TN 37920-0111.

Non Profit Org.

39750-9998

Mission Sen/ices Association PO Box 13111

Outreach Internotionol
Addresses:

Knoxville, TN 37920-0111

U.S. Postage Paid

Knoxville, TN
Permit #374

Pete & Fran Lauqhren

P.O. Box 10421

Return Sen/ice Requested

George, 6530
South Africa Phone: 011-27-44-873-0448 Fax: 011-27-44-873-0548

e-mail: laughrn@mweb.co.za

Forwarding Agents:
Mark & Annette Tuttle

PO Box 81462

Conyers, GA 30208
770-929-8539

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The Laughrens, Pete, Fran & Denzil

Fall 2003 -Vol.14, No. 2

2003 Preachinq and Teachinq Conference

The highlight of the year for many of the African Christians is the annual gathering that takes place toward the end of September every year. This is when all of the churches gather from all over the country and we have the annual preaching and teaching
conference. It is held in different locales every year, as to hold itin one place annually would be too difficult for one local church. This year it was held in the Northern Cape town of Barkiy-West, about 20 miles outside of Kimberley.

the necessary local preparations. Along with arranging a venue, they had to provide the sleeping places for people who came and arrange for all of the food to be bought in advance. The local sisters then have to
miss the conference as they are in front of the pots

on the fires for all of the days of the gathering, making sure that the food is prepared for the three meals a day. ItIs amazing to me how well they cook and how hard they work to make sure that everyone gets fed. They prepared well for the 400 people who attended.
As Isaid earlier, they have the elections for the

The theme this year was, 'The Attitudeof Christ,"

and all classes and sermons were centered on that

theme. There were main preaching sessions as well as classes for men, women, and three ages of youth. It is always a busy time for us as preparation for this
takes a lot of effort.

For many years we have been in charge of planning the program; but this year we did not have that full responsibility as a local brother from GraaffReinet, Arrie Koeberg, was the chairman of the planning committee and he headed up the program. These officers are elected to two year terms and Arrie headed up the committee with great effect. Fran taught a couple of youth and children's
classes and even a ladies class. I was asked to

planning committee every two years and since this was the year for that to happen, elections took place on Saturday afternoon. After having the job before, they elected me to be chairman of the planning committee again. Please pray for me as Itry to lead the churches and plan the next two conferences. When we went on furlough in 2001 for 2002, they elected Arrie Koeberg to be the chairman and serve up through 2003. After they elected me to be the chairman, they elected Arrie to be the Co-Chairman. It will be a pleasure to work with him. He is well respected among the churches and will again do a
good job. Please be in prayer for next year's conference

preach the opening night's session on the theme of the conference, and then I preached again on Saturday on the topic of 'The Christian's attitude towards money." We felt like the classes were well
received and we were glad to be able to participate. The local church in Barkly-West is a small church, but they worked really well in making all of

which is being planned in Cape Town among the churches there. They are already making plans and preparations for the gathering that will take place the
end of next September.

{see photo spread on page 2)

The local youth of Barkly West painted this banner that graced the hall at the
annual conference.

Here is the wife of the

The cooks work hard at every conference to make sure that the meals are prepared and on time.

leader in Barkly-West who headed up the cooking for

the conference.

Fran does a great job with the children's classes.

Pete preached with two interpreters - into Xhosa and Afrikaans.

We tiy to have classes for ail ages. Here Is the class for the youth.

These are the members of the planning committee of the conference serving for the next two-year term.

2003 South African Missionarv Gatherin

For the last several years, the Christian Church/
Church of Christ missionaries who work in South Africa

have come together once a year for a time of fellowship, worship, and retreat. We have met in several places such as outside Cape Town, Bloemfontein, and Port Elizabeth. Two years ago, before our furlough, at the last gathering that we attended before our furlough, we volunteered to head up the 2003 gathering and make
the plans for it to be in our area here in the Southern

was asking: to which he replied, that as far as he was concerned, when comparing preachers in George, he said, "Other than yourself, Pete, he is the most biblical preacher in the town of George." I told him I took that as a compliment, but would like to meet this man sometime, not having ever met him before. I did not
know that it would be sooner rather than later. When

Cape. Itold those gathered then that, while in the U.S. on furlough, I would be able to speak to people personally to try and get a speaker to come out and
meet with us. We always like to have an outside

our speaker got sick and had to postpone, he said that he wanted to help to get someone to fill in. Having said this, he said that he had a good friend in George that
he would call to see if he could fill in for him. Who was

speaker come and share with us as it is refreshing for

us to hear from the outside.

When we arrived back from furlough in January, I set about trying to find a place that a group of 30 of us could meet at a reasonable price and were very pleased to find a meeting place just outside of George called "Carmel by the Sea." It is a Christian-run organization that caters to Christian camps and groups and they were able to accommodate us very well. I was pleased that that part of the preparation went off without a hitch. As for speakers, it was a different story. For various reasons that run the gambit, I was not able to have a speaker come from the U.S. Several people were able to tell me no immediately, while others took a couple of months reaching their final decision. Winding down to just a couple of months before the gathering, we finally realized that we would not be able to have a speaker come from the U.S. and we did not know what to do. After talking to another missionary that we work
with, he recommended a minister that he knew in his

this man? It was the same person that I had just heard of for the very first time only two weeks before our speaker got sick. It is amazing how the Lord works. When I introduced Errol Wagner, our eventual and final speaker, at the gathering and told the above story, everybody was in agreement that it was God's timing and providence that brought him to us. He did a wonderful job
and we have become friends since that time.

As for the gathering, when all was said and done, it all went very well. I was very pleased how it all worked out and was pleased with the 30 fellow workers who came and met together for a time of refreshment and relaxation. Every family on the field in South Africa, except for one, attended and participated. We had classes every morning and a worship service every evening and even went on a day trip to a local town to see the sights. All in all, we all had a great time together. To end off, let me say that I was very thankful with how the whole gathering went off. There was a

good spirit among those who gathered and Ifeel that all
were encouraged. Looking forward to next year, we are already looking forward to the next gathering and 1 personally am very thankful that next year's speaker is already booked and confirmed .

area that was a great speaker and who would be willing to come and speak to the gathering. He got all of the

details worked out and everything was

set for his coming to speak.
Monday, September 1. On the Wednesday before we were to start, we got a call from the speaker saying that
he had to back out due to an extreme

The gathering was set to start on HgHgn

illness. I went into panic mode. As God would have it, He had a plan. Two weeks before this time, I was talking to a friend of mine from Cape Town who was staying at our house for a few
nights. Out of the blue he asked me if I
had ever heard of a local minister from

George from one of the local churches,

I told him no, and asked him why he

~
We had a goo good annual gathering of the South African missionaries in September. we had

See our town of George. South Africa on NBC

and TNT

Prayers
Please pray for Denzil as he ends up his school year in December. His schooling has been going better and he has
done well.

If you are a golf fan (or even if you are not), you can see our town of George, South Africa on television from the 20th to the 23rd of November, 2003. The PGA Tour is playing the "President's Cup" (the US Team -{Tiger Woods, etc.} vs. and International Team {Ernie Els, etc.}) and it is being played here in our town of George, just five miles from our house. If you want to see the beauty of this area, tune in to TNT on Thursday the 20th between 1 and 6 p.m. or Friday the 21st from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., or on both days on the weekend on NBC from 12 to 6 p.m. You will get to see the beauty of this part of the world, including the surrounding mountains and ocean. Tune in and see how this area of the
world looks.

Etc.
Denzil is finishing up grade three year and has received honor roll status. We are very proud of him. Fran and Denzil made a trip to Texas in August to attend her brother, Jonathan Hamilton's wedding. He and his wife, Teh, are doing very well together.
Thanks to all for all of the craft materials that have been sent for

Please pray for Fran as she recently had dental surgery to have a permanent implant. She has been in a lot of pain, but has managed well. Please pray for the churches here in this area that they may grow stronger in both numbers and spirit. We recently had a strong leader leave when
another church offered a car for
his services and he took his

family with him. Pray that we will be used of the Lord in every way.

the Vacation Bible Schools. They will be put to good use by the
children who attend.

Praises
We praise the Lord that He has provided the van for meeting such a great need here.
We are thankful for the continued faithfulness of the

Have a great Christmas and New Year's!! May God bless.

local minister that we work with,

Andrew Calvert.

We are thankful for your help in

the work here in South Africa.

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