laughren peter fran 2006 safrica

7/27/2019 Laughren Peter Fran 2006 SAfrica

1/24

OlapK ^ixms

Th^Laughren^Pete/Fran &Dentil

October throughD e c e m b e r 0 5

Greetings from South Africa!

The end of th e year sees things generally slowdown since most people go back to their homelands forthe Christmas break. The end of t he y ea r here seesth e beginning of summer, something that we never ge tused to. But we were involved in several different thingspertaining to leadership training.

In October we were part of the Disciple GroupTraining Session for th e National Youth Seminar (NYS)that would be held in December in Cape Town. Christ

in Youth (CIY) of Joplin, Missouri was a partner in th eseminar this year and they sent Gary Zustiak to comeand do th e Disciple Group Training in Bloemfontein.T h e r e w e r e a b o u t 3 0 of u s in a t te n d a n ce a n d Phil Smi th

of East London did a great job in organizing th e event.This got us prepared for th e NYS that would take placethe first week of December.

After being home for one day, we went to Graaff-Reinet and held a 5-day seminar of Bible Survey for th echurch there . We wish and pray that all churches wouldbe a s eager to learn as th e brothers an d sisters there.We had about 30 to 40 in attendance every evening and

it was time well spent.In November we aga in went to Graaff-Reinet for

another week of teaching. The people there get in touchwith us at th e first of t he y ea r and organize the wholeyear in advance to come and t ea ch . I told th em o n t helast visit that t he a ss ignmen t was to read th e book ofEsther, which we would study next. When I returned, Iasked how many had done th e work and presented th ethree people that had completed th e assignment with aNIV Study Bible provided by th e Don Hicks Small groupof Highland Meadows Christ ian Church. This grouphas been a tremendous encouragement to us and th e

SOUTH AFRICA^

Winter 2006 - -Vol .16, No . 3

people in th e work here by their supplying of Bibles forth e work. Thanks aga in mus t go to Don a nd t he g ro upthere for this great help. I was p le as ed that w e w ereable to give them as gifts to th e people who had workedha rd in Graaff -Reine t .

In October an d November we also went to Knysnafor ou r monthly time of teaching. This church ha s hadmany struggles over the y ea rs because of corruptleadership, but we have started to not ice them turningth e corner. Andrew Caivert, th e minis ter in George,helps them out and he ha s noticed that they ar e workingtoge ther bet t er than they have before. Thanks for yourprayers on their behalf.

D e c e m b e r s a w us a t t end a n d work a t th e NYS

in Cape Town that took place from th e 5th to th e 11thof December. Again, Phil Smith of East London did

a tremendous job in organizing th e event an d gettingeverything ready. On e of the bonuses this year wa s thatCIY s e n t ov e r 8 worke r s from t h e US a n d th e UK to do

th e teaching of th e youth leaders and th e guiding of th e

Phil Smith of East London wa s t he local o rgan ize r of th eNYS and did a great job.


2/24

Fran an d I taught a Discipleship Group a t the NationalYouth Semina r.

w7 '

These were the students in th e Discipleship Group that weworked with a t t h e N a ti on a l Youth Semina r.

The CIYworkers were from Left to Right: Greg i-iafer, MikeBowers, Steve Sigler, Andy Hansen, Larry Kineman, JeffI saacs , Shawn C a se a nd Chris Stee le .

seminar. We met some new people that we had notmet before, and found ou t about their various ministriesin the U.S. They were a tremendous encouragementto the 250 youth that showed up and took part in theprogram. The CIY workers were here for 9 days andheaded back to th e U.S. in t ime for Christmas. It wasg re at t o g et to know and make friends with these fineChris t ian workers .

The NYS was a great success with few hiccups.There were 250 youth from all parts of South Africaand the theme that CIY brought was "The Kingdom."All lessons and disciple groups revolved around thattheme. There were classes, worship sessions, outingsand t imes of fellowship. At the end of the week they allre turned to their var ious a r e a s bet ter informed on how

to live t h e Chr is t ian life.

One ofthe other joys ofthe week was seeing manyof th e missionary families that were there that we do notnormally see. We only ge t to see co-workers a coupleof times a yea r and it was good to see and work withthem during th e week.

After th e NYS in Cape Town, we awaited th e arrivalof my folks Flo and Collins Blackmarr of Hampton, GA,who arrived on th e evening of th e 15th in Cape Town.They were here for th e next month an d returned onJanuary 16th. Fran had contacted my mother In advanceof there arrival a nd a sk ed her to gather a few thingsthat would be nice to give th e church members herein George for Christmas that they would not normallyhave access to. They brought three suitcases full ofitems donated by many people in th e B ere a churchin Hampton and it helped t he peopl e to have more for

Christmas than they would normally have. They werevery thankful . They brought so much to give, tha t weh av e a l s o dis t r ibu ted it to th e c h u r c h e s in Graa f f -Re ine t

and Knysna. Thanks, Mom and Collins for your help inthat an d to all who contributed towards th e project.

With family here, we di d some s ightsee ing . Denzll sits hereatop t he Swar tbe rg P as s, o ne o f t he most scenic passesin S o u t h Africa .


3/24

Denzil with his parents and grandparents atop the Swart -berg Pass.

Thanks to all who helped with the Christmas bags!!

l-lampton United Methodist Church in i^ampton, GA sentthese great Sunday School supplies for the kids in th ec h u r c h e s .

Andrew Calvert (r) leads th e sen/ices a t Knysna.

With family being here, we were abl e to have anice family Christmas {something that we cherish beingso far overseas) and we hope that you did too. We ar elooking forward to a fruitful 2006 and we look forward toth e work of th e Lord this year.

^Denzil passed grade 5 withstraightA's and is now beinghome schooled this year in anticipation of having tobe home schooled next year during furlough in th eU.S.. We ar e very proud of him.

*The Hampton United Methodis t Church sent severalgreat Sunday School supply packages that werevery much appreciated. We have distributed itall tot he Sunday Schoo ls in George, Graaff-Reinet an dKnysna. Thanks so much to Paul l a Groover andSusan McBrayer for your help in organizing that.

*A special t reat for me at th e NYS was to see a friendthat I had not seen in26 years. I knew that there wasa worker coming from th e UK, but ha d no idea whountil I s aw t he list t he d ay we arrived. It turned ou tthat it was a friend, Larry Kineman, who serves withCf\/IF in th e British Midlands . The las t t ime w e had

been together was when I was in college travelingfor Johnson Bible College, an d he was a campleader at Rainbow Chri st ian Camp in Converse,Ind iana . W e r em e m b e re d e a c h o t h e r b e c a u s e of a

game t ha t we played th e first day of camp those 26years ago. That day, he introduced me to a gameknown as "Buck-Buck" that promptly put me out ofcommission for t he week by dislocating my knee. Itwas great to renew ou r friendship with him and seehow he wa s doing. That is on e of th e beauties ofth e Christ ian life. We ca n pick up friendship aftermany yea rs and just continue where we left off. (No,we did not play another game of Buck-Buck )It wa s good to see you again Larry, an d thanks forthe encouragement!

*While my folks were here, we did a lot of sightseeing,made a trip to Graaff-Re inet for Collins to see th emuseums t he re , a nd j us t g ener al ly enj oyed their


4/24

OIA

PPOGS

PFem

FMPC7

BM

MPK

R

N3

UKP

'80IABBJddUUAnu0Ad

'M6JVpd

0d0UO0AASS

pM0smABU0LJUBOUB

0B

s

sUBBpUnU

Od|0B0n>

B10M0dBU

'0uBuOosOn

s

'SnO0M}sBBO'01OOH^MOHuBAU

-0dUBA


5/24

l|eCapB tmES

ft GEORGE, SOUTH AFRICA

Laughrens, J Spring 2006--Vol. 16, No. 4^^ran^c^epzil

By Way of IntroductionGreetings once again from South Africa. Fran, Denzil and I hope that you ar e well and serving th e Lord wherever

you might be reading this. This is ou r last year before furlough an d we plan on it s ta rt ing in December 2006 or January2007. We ar e already making plans.

That being said, a couple of years ago we sent out a newslet ter that wa s primarily pictures with not much writing.Many of you remarked about It (I'd rather look at pictures anyway . . . ) and Ithought that we would do it again. Thesepictures will cover many areas of activities that we h av e b een involved in and we hope that you enjoy this "SouthAfrican Photo Album from t h e Laugh rens ."

These pictures will be divided into several categories .

feillSVMaKai)3@aEach year we ar e involved in th e yearly preaching and teaching conference for all of th e churches in th e

fellowship.

We get opportunities tot each both youth anda d u l t s a t C o n f e r e n c e .

One of the local sisters from CapeTown, El iz abeth Boo i ha s b e en afriend for a long time.

In 2005, Fran taught the youth with Pam Leonard from Columbus, Ohio and two youth named Jess ica an d Bradley.

Andrew Calvert, the minis ter in George, helps the lad iesc o o k in t h e l< i tchen.


6/24

We have long felt that the youth have been overlooked here in South Africa, so we do a lot of youth work indifferent areas. For too long they have been neglected. We feel that youth are not the church of tomorrow, but thechurch of today.

i

This is the fuil group that we hosted for the weel


7/24

We believe strongly in exposing American youth to the possibilities of doing cross-cultural work. With the helpof Stacy Garner of Gateway Educational Services inSt. Louis,Missouri,we have internships on a regular basis. Thishelps us to have Vacation Bible Schools in different areas.

m9

yFran teaches th e youth a t Vacation BibleS c h o o l in Graaff -Re ine t .

The k id s line up waiting for rides in Kimberley. Th e numbers double after th efirst days.

aThe singing is like yo u would never believe. In George they line up wai ting to go in for th e classes.

Si i m "

j y\

In Graaff-Reinet, the groups got so large that we had to hold it outsideo f th e s c h o o l r oom .

2004 Interns a t th e beach near George.

2004 Interns at the Cape of Good Hope in Capetown (with Stacy Garner, third from left).


8/24

Ssoff i iMteSouth Africa is one of t he mo st beautiful countries in th e world. We have oceans on three sides and desert in

between. We also se e many different things that catch our interest.

We regularly see baboons in th e mountains.

In some areas of the country, the road goes on and on . . .

South Africa is rich in agriculture a s e vi de nc ed b y t he sefarms in th e valley.

1

Transportation is however it ca n be arranged sometimes.

. . . a n d o n a n d o n a n d o n

S, ' ftLiiM

And, believe it or not, we even got snow on th e mountainbehind our house a couple of years ago.


9/24

(n?to l lyBeing just the three of us here, we miss our stateside family. But, there ar e other special moments that we would

like to share in these pictures.

Pete an d Denzil share a moment a t the Cape of Good Hope, Denzil is a straight "A" student and, for that, we are verywhe r e th e Ind ian a n d Atlant ic O c e a n s mee t . thankful .

This familypicture was taken 6 miles from our house at the Recently, we celebratedour25th wedding anniversary withIndian Ocean. a trip to Mauritius.

A ^

"1t 'f-M ^

Denzil sits atop t he Swar tbe rg Pass near George, on e of th e highest mountainpasses in th e country.


10/24

Utei lMeeQB aAs always, there ar e a few pictures that we would like to share of our lives here and the people and things that

impact them.

w

We a r e s o thankfu l fo r th e D on H ick sSma ll G ro up o f H ig hl an d Mea dowsChristian Church in Colleyville, Texas intheir supplying of Bibles for the peoplehere. P ic tu red here is Max Cudjoe of the

Graaff -Re ine t church who t ak e s s o m e fo rdistribution in the pr isons there. We teach many times e ac h y ea r to t he g roup meeting in th e town of Graaff-Reinet, 4 hours from George. They a re a growing , learning group.

i

We also try to meet once a month with t he g roup in the town of Knysna, an hourfrom George.

Roland Joseph ha s been a faithful minister of the gospel inKimberley since the early 1960's. He came into the churchwhen Fran's father, Al Hamilton, preached there.

One o f t he strong Christian men in South Africa, Max Cudjoe,a l e a d e r in Graa ff -Re ine t .


11/24

E l H HAs always, we welcome visitorsto South Africa. We are looking forward to three groups of interns who will start

arriving on June 6, 2006. In 2005 we had . . .

. . . from Texas, Mark (pictured) andJane tLayman. While here, Mark preached a tthe church in George with Andrew Catvertinterpreting.

... f rom Ohio, Brian and PamLeonard who were a grea tblessing at the year ly preaching and teaching conference.

. . . and from l-lampton, Georiga, Denzii go tto spend time with hi s grandparents, Floan d Collins B la ckma rr , w ho c ame ou t a tChr is tmas .

This letter would not be complete ifwe did not see th e humorous side of things, too. He re are just a samplingof wha t we s e e . ..

As I stood up with these two men at last year's conference, peoplewondered if they had shrunk or if I had grown . . . on e of my favoritelines is to look over them while speaking and ask, "Has anybody seenmy interpreter???"

In th e classroom where we meet in Geo rg e, t hefifth grade students drew t he ir own map of theworld . I w a s s a d to s e e t ha t t he U.S . h a d t a k e n

over pa rt o f Canada ....

And, last bu t n ot least, this young bo y in Knysna

seems to be asking, "You came here to do what??"


12/24

.DDteS.lilQ To me the most beautiful sight in at! of the earth is Cape Point, the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans

meet at the southwestern corner of the continent of Africa. I hope you enjoy this scenery, too, as we end this photoalbum . . . of course, with a s u n s e t . . .

Pete, Fran and Denzil at the Cap e o f Good Hope Cape Point - False Ba y

Cape Point - Atlantic Ocean Sunset Cape of Good Hope Sunset

O u t r e a c hI n t e r n a t i o n a l

A d d r e s s e s ;

Pete 8e Fran LaughrenP.O. Box 10421

George, 6530S o u t h Afr ica

P h o n e: 0 1 1- 2 7- 4 4- 8 73 - 04 4 8

Fax : 0 11 - 2 7 - 4 4 - 8 7 3 - 0 5 4 8

e-mail: [email protected]

Fonvarding Agents:Mark & A n n e t t e Tu t t l e

P O B ox 8 1 4 6 2

Conyers, GA 302087 7 0 - 9 2 9 - 8 5 3 9

Before you move, please send the mailing label witha copy of your new address toMISSION SERVICES ASSOCIATION, PO Bo x 13111, Knoxville, TN 37920-0111.

Miss ion Serv i ce s Assoc i a t i onP O 0 0 x 1 3 1 1 1

Knoxville, TN 37920-0111

Return Service Requested

Non Profit Org.3 9 7 5 0 - 9 9 9 8

U.S. Postage PaidKnoxville, TNPermi t # 3 7 4


13/24

Thrtaughrens ,Pete ,

tieOlape "SltmBS

G e o rg e , s ou th a f r i ca '

Summer 2006 -- Vol. 17 , No. 1

Mission Groups and Interns 2006Greetings once again from South Africa. As you are reading this, we are finally getting overwinter and you are

heading into fall. While the summer school break happens inthe United States, we head intothe winterschool breakhere. There isa three week gap at the endofJune and first of July used for the winter break and it is a great time tohave visitors come and help with the Vacation Bible Schools andcampthat we hold here. This yearwe welcomed threegroups overa period ofsixweeksandwewereable to hold four Vacation Bible Schools (five with theone group that didone alone) and help in the youth camp. Theone group that did a Vacation Bible School alone did it by themselves inKimberley but we will explain that as we go along. This will bea joint report Iwill write more about the groupswhovisited and Fran will give more details about the Vacation Bible Schools themselves. She is the mastermind behindthe planning of the Vacation Bible Schools.

On the 6th of June we met our first group inCape Town that came under the direction of StacyGarner ofGateway Educational Services inSt. Louis,Missouri. Stacy brought nine students with himfromvarious places, such as Oklahoma, Missouri an dIllinois. Many years ago, when we lived in CapeTown, we di d a Vacation Bible School a t th e churcha t Mfulenl with l im it ed success and there has no t

been another one held there since. This year, sincewe were already picking the group up in Cape Townat the airport, we wanted to se e ifitwas possible tohave a school again in Mfuleni. After getting the goahead from the leadership there, wedid. So twodaysafter Stacy arrived with his group, we started a 4-dayVacation Bible School in Mfuleni that went from th e 8th

to the 11 th ofJune. We had no idea what to expectattendance wise, but we averaged about 135 kids forthe four days. The school actually took place duringa week that th e public schools were still in session,so we held it after school hours with good success.It was a good group for th e interns to start with an dthe interns adapted to a different cu lture well. Wemet with the youth from Mfuleni on Friday eveningan d shared in the services on Sunday morning with ^ ^ /* , r.' ^ Stacy Garner and his group from Gateway International Sen/icesStacy preaching for the church at Mfuleni. in St. Louis, MO.


14/24

As always, there is a lot of preparation to be done beforehand.

Craft Time is always a great time with the kids.

Linsey Cox, ofLaston, OK, teaches class in Graaff-Reinet

When we se t up these internships, we knowtha t there h a s to be som e semblance of orde r

in the daily routine. We start out everyday withdevotions at 9 a.m. and, depending on where wea re a nd what we ar e doing, we either prepare forthe Vacation Bible School of the day, sightsee,travel, plan, or get ahead inthe craft preparationsfor the future Vacation Bible Schools. Itworks verywell as a general rule. The biggest obstacle that werun into is our annua l problem with transportationsince we usually h av e mor e t ha n one va n load of

people an d luggage to t ra nspo rt . Thi s year Donand Sue Ellen Shay of Cape Town helped us withou r transportation needs in Cape Town, an d our

friends in George who have helped us twice beforehelped us again in George. God always providesan d this year was no different.

Afte r w e f i n i s h ed t h e Vaca t i on Bib le S c h o o l

in Mfuleni, we returned ou r borrowed van in CapeTown a nd h ad to use th e bu s service to ge t someof th e interns back to our house in George whichwas 5 hours away. When we arr ived in Georgeand gathered the rest off of th e bus, we picked upth e nex t bor rowed van . During th e following four

days, we did some sight seeing (which includedostriches, wild life and bungee jumping), but mainlyFran had th e group doing craft preparation for th efollowing four Vacation Bible Schools, (see Fran'sreport ). We had a gathe ring with th e churchin George on Thu rs da y t he 15th, since theseinterns would no t visit th e church in George andth e Christians in George wanted to spend sometime with Stacy.

After four days of craft preparation, we left forGraaff-Reinet on t he 17t h and spen t th e next seven

days there . Graaff-Reinet Is 3 Va hours away andit is a growing church that Is r eaching ou t to th ecommunity. We have ha d Vacation Bible Schoolsthere with interns for several years now a nd thelocal church an d youth always help to put on th es ch oo l. T hi s year was no different. The first da yw e h a d 1 3 5 kids a nd t he e n d of t he w e ek s a w c l o s e

to 4 0 0 in a t t e n d a n c e . W h e n w e a r r i v ed in Graaff -

Reinet on th e 17th, th e church had gat he red atMax Cudjoe's house and welcomed us with a meal.They continued to feed us every evening, and itwa samazing. We really enjoy working with this churchas they work together very well. Th e school wentwell an d th e interns developed friendships with th eyouth that will last a lifet ime.


15/24

Group from McDonough Christian Church in McDonough, GA. What a great smile!

T h e k id s lo ve th e a t t en t ion .

This is whe re our traveling go t tricky. Fran,Denzil and I ha d to leave the group inGraaff-Reineton th e 23rd to go back to George for th e next groupto arrive that same day. Stacy an d his group did th elast day of Vacation Bible School in Graaff-Reinetand had the closing program that evening. Thenext day, th e 24th, t he n wen t by taxi to Kimber leyto d o th e Vacat ion Bible Schoo l t h e r e from th e 26th

to th e 30th of June. When Fran, Denzil and I gotback to George, we unpacked an d went straight toth e airport to pick up eight people from McDonoughChristian Church inMcDonough, Georgia, who cameto help with th e Vacation Bible School in George inth e township of Thembalethu. They arrived on th eafternoon of th e 23rd and were here for 10 days.They were under the direction of Scott Gregory,th e Missions minister and th e group wa s a greatassortment of talents. We h ad Der ek Sweatman, th e

church's youth minister, some teens who ha d beenon several mission trips, and some adul ts who wereseeing th e foreign field for th e first time. Everyonewas g re at a nd all added to th e week in t he ir ownway. The Vacation Bible School in Thembalethu wasa great success with a few kinks that were workedou t during th e week. The a tt en da nc e went from115 th e first day and ended up also being near 400at th e end of th e week. Contrary to Graaff-Reinet,there wa s little help from th e local church, but it wa sa real learning experience for the visiting group. Onething that I really enjoyed personally, was their "blog"that they wrote every day that was available for allto read back home to see what their days were like.It is still available for you to read if you would like. T h e k id s e v e n s it o n th e f loors w h e n t h e r o o m r u n s o u t .


16/24

The Knysna building where we held VBS.

IVe had over 30 0 in thi s small room in Knysna.

The folks from Berea brought T-Shirts for the kids in Knysna andall 150 were gone the first two days.

Scott Gregory, from McDonough, preached in Knysna.

an d t he web address is: www.georgesouthafrica.hLogspot.CiMn. Derek Sweatman and Eric Hooverdid a great jo b with it.

While t hey wer e here, they did th e VacationBible School (see Fran's report ), but were alsoinvolved in services both at Geo rg e a nd Knysnaon th e two weekends t ha t t hey were here. Scottpreached in both places while Derek an d Jo yThomas led in special music. At th e service inKnysna, th e group got to witness an African stylewedding tha t wa s a real experience. In betweentimes of Vacation Bible School and craft preparation,we took them sightseeing, which included bungeejumping a gain an d th e whole group was a realpleasure to have. Thank-you, Scott , Lindy, Derek,Brittni, Joy, Terri, Eric, an d Stefanie for coming an dbeing a part of th e work for th e ten days that youwere here. You were a pleasure to have and we trulyenjoyed your visit. The group flew out of George onJuly 3rd, an d back to their families in Georgia.

During this group's visit, th e first half of a fourperson group arrived from Berea Christian Churchin Hampton, Georgia . Carol Dudley an d MelanieS tewa r t ar r ived on the 27th a n d w e r e he r e fo r t h e

next three weeks until th e 18th of July. They helpedin t h e l a s t h alf o f t h e T h e m ba le th u Vaca t ion Bib le

School and at th e camp t ha t w as to follow and atth e Vacation Bible School in Knysna. After we saidgood-bye to Sco tt a nd h is g ro up , th e five of us(Fran, Carol, Melanie Denzil and 1) headed to th enorthern Cape to a town called Barkly-West for th e


17/24

Jeff, Marjie, Melanie, and Carol, from Berea Christian Church inHampton, GA.

annual youth camp. After finishing their Vacation |~Bible School inKimberley, Stacy an d his group wentto th e same camp and met us there for their lastfour days in th e country. The t heme for th e campwas "Life Lessons from the Prodigal Son" and the Lteachers and preachers all developed the assigned Htopics of the theme. The only drawback for the Hweek was the weather. Folks, there is cold and then Hthere is HSfitLSl Ihave not been in a place that Swas that cold since Iwas a little boy being raised in Canada. We froze!!.... We hired our bedding ^for the week and all of us just had a blanket and a ^pillow with no heaters until Stacy bought everyone Wextra blankets thanks Stacy, you warmed us all Wup. To show you just how cold it was, S tacy evenwore a warm coat during t he week and th e only time Hahe ever wears a coa t is ifhe is hiking on an icebergor something of that sor t. .. .h a. Coldnes s was th e onlydrawback of the week, but all in all the week was great.

The re wer e a bout 80 youth in attendance for th ecamp an d they came from Cape Town, George, Graaff-Reinet, Kimberley, an d Richmond. The camp ended onFriday morning with people going their separate ways, butStacy and his group flew back to the U.S. the day beforethe camp ended from Kimberley. They grew quite attachedto th e campers and vice versa an d the total internshipwas deemed a great success. We were glad to see threereturning interns this year, and eve ryone worked veryhard and contributed their part. Thanks Stacy for bringingAlex, Jessica an d Leah back, and for also bringing Zane,

/

f

Vicky, Jackie, an d Linsey, Miriam an d Andrea. Thanks toall ofyou for coming and helping inthe work, and for yourfriendships. You were a lot of fun an d a great t eam. Goodluck in your future endeavors.

The camp ended up well and we were pleased withthe a ttendance , teaching and part ic ipation. On Fridaymorning th e 7th, th e five of us went back to George an darrived in George at 4 p.m. We dropped off ou r luggageat ou r house again a nd went straight to th e airport topick up th e last half of t he Ber ea Group, Jeff Jones an dMarjie S teel e. They arrived to be her e t he last ten dayswith Carol an d Melanie. They were all here to help withth e Vacat ion Bible S c h oo l t h a t w a s h el d f rom th e 1 0t h to

Camp Group


18/24

the 14th of July in Knysna. On the morning of the 9th wewent to Knysna where Jeff preached and we made finalplans for th e Vacation Bible School. The school s tar tedon the afternoon of th e 10th and, like the other places, itgrew from a small number th e first day to 350 th e last day.Each of us took a turn teach ing th e daily l esson and withthe drive there being an hour each way, th e afternoonswere pretty well full. Jeff preached aga in on th e 16th,

we did sight seeing again in our spare time from craftpreparations, and an extra bonus of th e sight see ing wasbeing able to take Jeff on a tour of a local school his lastday here. (He is an evaluator of teachers for th e state ofGa.) The Vacation Bible School in Knysna went well, aswe had more local help than before and th e spirit wasgood. After five weeks of doing Vacation Bible Schoolsan d camps, we were all tired In different ways, but it wasa good tired. We felt a sense of accomplishment. To allof t he g roups t ha t came, we say thanks for th e time andeffort, thanks for th e gifts left, and thanks for your

commitment do th e Lord's work in this place. Th epeople in Cape Town, Graaff-Reinet, KimberleyGeorge and Knysna h av e b een touched an d theycontinually as k for you and wonder when you ar ereturning. Thanks one and all of your contributionsto th e Vacation Bible Schools an d camp; you willnever know the impressions thatyou have left. We ^look forward to seeing each one of you next year yon furlough. May God bless. \

By Fran

Greetings folks! Well, I was very pleased onhow our VBS's went this year. It was so neat to beable to have five this year in different places. Lastyear we did not have any interns so we were onlyable to have one. Though it went well and wasconsidered a success in many ways, the fact is:t hi s y ea r, more children were t ouched by th e love

of Jesus an d in formed on how they ca n know hima n d b e like him.

at one time. Everyone of the helpers were so willing todo anything, never complaining, always pleasant andespecially wonderful with th e kids. All were blessed.

We came up with th e theme of "Bee like Jesus",using bees and flowers for decorat ions. We were

a sk ed to leave some of t h e d e cor a ti o ns with each of the

p laces we held a VBS. These folks ar e so hungry and

appreciative for the smallest of things. Itis heartwarmingand humbling.

This year we had one of the teams bring their guitars(the McDonough team) and th e kids enjoyed that for achange, and it was especially enjoyed during th e Sundayservices. Thanks, Derek and Joy, for your beautiful guitarplaying. Th e teams brought CD's that had new songsfor th e kids to learn an d they loved it, because th e kidslove singing along with th e CD's. Though they love most

St J v r

Fran loves to sing with th e kids.

-S-t;

We never know what to expect from on e yearto th e next . Each VB S is a little bi t di ffe ren t d u e to

th e areas and th e teams working with them. Thisyear ou r craft preparations entailed a lot of ho tglue. Th e teams each brought a lot of glue stickswith them a nd S ta cy Garne r' s t eam bought moreglue guns, which helped us have "more hands on"

6

Joy and Derek, from McDonough, did great with their instruments.


19/24

of th e older songs from years past, one of th e favoritescame with th e McDonough team and that wa s th e songt h at went with ou r theme "I wanna be , be , be like Jesus" .

Thank you, Teri, for that one especially.

On e of the hardest things about having a VBS herein South Africa is tha t we ar e not able to pre-register (thishelps give an idea of how many children to expect an d give

information about the children and families which helps inbeing able to do follow up visits, e tc .) . It i s "make your bestgue ss " and p repa re more for th e numbers. There wereonly a couple of times did we not have enough coloringpapers or c ra ft s. But we were able to improvise and makeeveryone happy. And as far as th e follow up problem,this year we tried something new. Th e Graaff-Reinetchurch is very strong an d they have had more VBSs andalways had more of th e church members involved everyday and in th e preparations. So, I suggested they tryhaving a "Recept ion" along with a "closing program" for

the paren ts on the last da y of VBS. This gave th e churcha chance to visit with the paren ts an d us e this time as anopportunity to invite th e families to church, an d make ita wonderful outreach to th e community, etc. Pet e a nd Ihad to miss this since we had to be in George to meet ournext mission team coming in from Georgia. Stacy and thechurch membe r s involved sa id tha t it was a s u c c e s s and

looks hopeful for good follow-up. This is something theywant to continue, so we were very encouraged.

Those of you who know me, know that I have trouble

with memory, but there is on e experience that happenedon e night after VBS in George that Iam sure Iwon't forgetfor a long time. It was one night after VBS here with th eMcDonough mission team. The va n we borrowed wasbeing driven by their team leader, Scott Gregory. It washis first day for making rounds to pick up and drop offkids.He was wonderful, he handled th e change of driving on th eo ther s ide of th e car and road very well, and did not ge tdistracted with so many kids in each load. Th e last thing hehad to do was pick a group of us up at the church buildinga nd take us to meet up with Pete and others for supper.

We got into the van, ready to go after a long afternoon,feeling tired, and hungry. The van would not start. Scotttried everything he knew, it was just not happening. Heasked me if I h ad a ny i de as because the van w e used too w n w a s iden t i ca l to th i s o n e . I to ld h im I h a d n o i d e a .

So we tried pushing th e van, it still would not start . Scottput me in th e driver's seat and all of the guys all pushedth e van down th e r oad while I t r ied to s t a r t it. W e w e r e

coasting so well, I could hear t he g uy s laughing as theypushed, "they must be enjoying this" then I heard Scotttrying to run along s ide t he van an d yelling for me to pop

the clutch I forgot I had to pop the clutch! A goodfr iend of ou r s would call t h a t a "Franism". Ha ! When

I finally did pop th e clutch, it still would not sta rt. Weparked th e van along t he s ide of th e road. It was gettingdark, getting cold and we were s ta rting to a tt ract a lot ofattention in th e middle of th e township. Local g uy s wer e

making passes at th e American girls. We were gatheringa c rowd to see what these crazy people were doing

We were wondering what to do next. We gave up. So Icalled Pete an d he came right away from where he was,jumped into th e van and started it up first try. Icould notbelieve it!! Another "Franism", I had forgot to press th esecurity button which "un-immobilizes" the engine. .. Iwassupposed to know tha t. Two "F rani sms" in on e night isbad. Oh well, we ha d some good laughs an d a lot ofjokes came ou t of that night. Ha!

Concerning th e crafts for Vacation Bible School, Iwa s pleased to be able to use up a lot of th e craft supplies

we had in s tock. You folks who have so faithfully kept usinsupply over the years, have been such a blessing. Wear e seeing the kids ability to work with crafts improving.Every year they are exposed to crafts it makes a differenceinthem inmany ways. They have more confidence, theyge t more creative, and ar e more helpful to t he sma ll erones. The kids never ge t bored or t ired of th e VBS'. Thisyea r we had more dramas for th e lesson times an d theyreally enjoyed that.

Our hopes and prayers ar e now that the churcheswill try to carry on with VBS whether we ar e here to helpo r not . 1 fee l cer ta in t ha t th e Graa f f -Re ine t chu rch will do

just that, and they will be successful. We have tried to bethe example for the churches, and have tried to t ea ch andequip them to carry on. Pray that they will carry on withteaching th e children th e gospel in creative ways such asVBS does. We look forward to seeing you on furlough in2007. May God bless .

DenzH and his pal, Emile Caivert.


20/24

E i a

Franmade a tripback to the US fora monthinAprilto visither brotherJonathanwhowas havingchemotherapyWe ar e glad to say that he is cancer free.

Whileshewas in the U.S., Denziland Iattended theannualmissionarygathering in Johannesburgandwe taughtat the Easter services in Kimberley.

Weagain taught inGraaff-ReinetduringApriland Mayand the group there is always an encouragement.

We are planning furlough for the end of this year and our plans are to be stateside byChristmas. Please pray forus in these preparations.

Thanks for all that you doto help us be here.

Thanks for all that helped interns come andhelp with the Vacation Bible Schools. You have touchedmany lives.

Please pray for the local people here as the rains this Julyhave been terrible andthe mountain pass by theoceanis washing away

Please pray for Ron Butler, fellowmissionarywho is suffering from liver cancer in Cape Town.

Denzil is being home schooled this yearand isa straightAstudent. Where does heget that from??

May God bless you as you serve Him!!

Ou t r e o chI n t emo t i ono l

A d d r e s s e s :

Pete & Fran LaughrenP.O. Box 10421

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

e-mail: [email protected]

Forwarding Agents:Mark & Anne t t e Tut t l ePO 6 0 x 8 1 4 6 2

Conyers, GA 30208770 - 929 - 8539

Before you move, please send the mailing label witha copy ofyour new address toMISSION SERVICESASSOCIATION. PO Box 13111, Knoxville,TN 37920-0111.

Mission Serv i ce s Associa t ionPO 8 0 x1 3 111Knoxville, TN 37920-0111

Return Service Requested

Non ProfitOrg.39750 - 9998

U.S. Postage PaidKnoxville, TNPermit #374


21/24

mijedIapB tmBe

" ISEORGE, SOUTHAFRICA

TbaL^ughfens ,Pet e, F ra n & Denzil

Fall 2006 - -Vol .17, No . 2

Preaching and Teaching Conference 2006For five days at ti ie en d of September, we went to

t he Eas te rn Cape town of Queenstown for t he annua lPreaching and teaching conference. As we had theplanning committee e lect ions las t y ea r a nd I was notresponsible of th e planning of it this year, it was nice to gowithfewer responsibilities. The entire planning committeewas made up of th e local brothers this year -- for that weare pleased.

The theme this year dealt with passing th e batonto th e younger leaders and all classes and preachingsessions were geared towards encouraging the younger

generat ion to get more involved and to encourage theolde r gene ra tion to let go somewhat of th e things thatthe younger generation needed to do. Fran was on the

%

Twoof the strongest men in the church worl< here are Andrew

Calvert of George and David Jantjies of Cape Town.

schedule to t ea ch one Sunday School c lass and a lad ies

class, but wound up doing all of th e Sunday Schoolclasses as sh e was prepared for anything ifother teachersdid not show up. That is what happened. She uses herlove for the children to great use at conference and sh ehad craft supplies for everyone. Thanks to one and allwho keep us supplied with Sunday School materials andyou can b e sure t ha t t hey never go to waste.

I w as a sk ed to teach a men's class on Thu rsday

morning and to p reach the closing sermon on Sundaymorning. Itwas a pleasure to be with the people there andall in all there were close to 300 people in attendance. We

got to spend some time with other missionaries too, asthe Phil Smith family of East London was there and also

III! Mil"'l ll -

y e

%

Simon Peter l\/}ainze is a brother here whose gift is languages; he spea/cs seven different ones! He was pleasedto receive an English Bible made possible by the Don Hicf


22/24

Paul Reyman and Phoebe Rees of Johannesburg werethere . Paul Is now working with Good News Productionsand presented that work there as they ar e opening up awork in Sou t h Africa.

It was sad for us to say goodbye at conference asthis will be our last one until we return after furlough. Theplans ar e already in place for the next on e to be hostedin Kimberley and I am sure that it will carry on with goodeffect withsome tweaks in planning. Please pray forthebrothers who lead this gathering and pray tha t it will befor God's glory.

Itwas myprivilege topreach the closing session at thisyear'sc o n f e r e n c e .

I W

-

\ J >

Fran an d Denzil ar e with three cousins from Cape Town

Peter, Patrick an d Davey --during the annual conference.

We take our furlough once every four to fiveyears.Since Denzil started school, we have taken furloughsfor a one year period starting at the beginning of theyear and going through December. This fits in with hisschooling year. Our upcoming furlough is scheduled to

s ta rt in December 2006 and when you read this letter,we will probably already be in the U.S. The plan is to beinTexas for Christmas and then go to Georgia betweenChr i s tmas and New Years .

The kind folks at McDonough Christian Church inMcDonough, Georgia, have arranged for us to have avehicle for the year, (and hopefully, Paul Leslie, it will notbe the same yellow one as last time ). We wouldlike to thank Scott Gregory (the missions minister therewho came over with a group from the church inJune) forhelping us arrange for this need to be covered. Membersthere have dona ted vehicles for t he c h ur ch 's work and

they ar e letting us u se one while on furlough.We will again be based in the Hampton, Georgia

area, but we do not know exac tly where yet. We havestayed inthree different houses on the firstthree furloughs,and this ha s been through th e generosity of variousmembers of Berea Christian Church in Hampton. Weare lookingat several differentoptions this time, includingthe purchase of a home in Hampton, but nothing firm isin place jus t yet. Concern ing the purchase of a home,we are at the present time lacking inmonthly support foreither a down payment or monthly payments, so we wiltrust inthe Lord to se e what happens. Please pray thata housing plan will be inplace when we arrive inGeorgial a te Decembe r.

We will start traveling in January and if you wouldlike for us to come and share the work, please get incontact with us by e-mail ([email protected]) as thisaddress will also be our furlough e-mail address. We havealready had requests for dates in March, and we plan onbeing in Texas for the month of May, and in Canada in

August for a family reunion. Duringfurlough, we try to seeall of ou r supporting churches for at least one weekendduring the year, and also spend time with anyone who ha shelped the work here during the presen t term of service.That involvesa lotof travelingand visiting. During the lastfurlough in 2002, we covered 29 s ta tes and 35,000 miles.We enjoyed the travel and we saw a lot of countryside.Ou r plan (Lord willing) a fte r all of this is to be back inSouth Africa in January 2008. Please pray for us as wemake final preparations for leaving here in South Africa,our travel to the U.S., and as we make traveling plans for

2007. We hope to see you there.


23/24

During August, 1went to Kimberley and taught fortwo weeks at th e South African Bible Institute. I taughtJames and 1-3 John. The students there were very goodand they did well in their lessons.

*During the months of August through October, wemade three trips to Graaff-Reinet for periods of teaching.This is on e of the most encouraging churches that wework with and they have us se t up our teaching times ayear in advance.

*Stacy Garner of Gateway Educational Services inSt. Louis is once again leading an internship next June/Julywhile we ar e gone. He knows th e country and people wellenough here that he will lead itwell by himself. The churchInGraaff-Reinet is hosting him and they will do a VacationBible School and a camp together. He will also be InPortElizabeth and Kimberley. If you are interested incoming toSouth Africa and being a part of an internship and reaching400-500 kids a week and having an experience that youwill never forget, please contact Stacy at 314-540-4482

*ln September, Fran, Denzil and I made a 4 dayholiday trip to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

*Denzil is now finished with grade 6 and h as madestraight A's again he ha s a good teacher in Fran. Wear e real proud of him.

We had a nice visit to Victoria Fal ls in Zimbabwe in Sept em be r P le as e pray for the country of Zimbabwe a s it is in

d i r e s t r a it s .

This is me with one of my friends in Graaff-Reinet whotranslates when I teach, Pete Koeberg. / cal l us "Pete andRepeat."

One ofmy students at South African Bible Institute inAugust,

Danie l Jul l ies .

Denzil enjoyed hi s boat ride on th e Zambezi River nearVictoria Falls .


24/24

OIA

PPOGS

P

Fem

FM

PC7

M

PK

R

N3

UKP

'Mum

iVs

iH

'3

u

'g69>u

WBUU)UA>InU

s

'

uUSBJ

UBBd

p0Bd

i

A

U}BO

pOSJgJd

-OoU)BB

'AuB9MOUA}d

s

laughren peter fran 2006 safrica

Documents