thomson marciakay 1981 zimbabwe
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Marcia Kay Thomson
P O Box 240
F t Victoria
Zimbabwe Rhodesia Africa
Forwarding Agents
M r Mrs Wilford E Leasure
Route
West Union Dlinois 62477
Apri l 98
Dear Christ ian Friends
Many prayers have been answered since I wrote to you in December
SCRIPTURE CLASSES
Just before school started I heard that we would continue teaching
a t Fort V ic to ria J un io r School as we had l a s t year This y e a r s
grade three class is larger than the one I had l a s t year I went
to Helen McGhie School and taught one time before I was told that
they would handle a l l the teaching from within t h e i r s t a f f
In January I went to Salisbury and took a course offered by the
education department on teaching the new material in high schools
The Fort Victoria High School had decided to use only the teachers
on t h e i r s t a f f fo r t each ing Rel ig ious Education After taking the
c o u r s e I v o l u n t e e r e d and w a i t e d One o f t h e new t e a c h e r s t h a t had
been assigned to teach said she did not want to because she did not
b e l i e v e t I was a s k e d t o t a k e h e r c l a s s The head o f t h e
department told me the other day that I was probably the best
prepared of a l l the teachers in his department
In March
the m in is te rs o f
Fort
Victoria
got permission
to
provide
teachers for the schools in Mucheke Township The schools have
accepted more students than they have room fo r and the teachers
are happy to have some help There are 9 classes a t the Mucheke
Secondary School I have taken one of these c l a s s e s I have also
organized through the education department fo r teachers to come
from Salisbury to give a s h o r t course to the v olu n te er te ac he rs
s i m i l a r to what I had in Salisbury
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The Chikato Primary School has accepted so many students they have
classes meeting in the school grounds under the t rees Twelve
teachers go each Thursday afternoon to teach I have a Grade 7
c l s s th t meets each week but some o f th e t e chers have c l s ses
that meet every other week The l tern te week the students are
meeting in side the school on another subject The chi ldren are
eager fo r education and the new government is t rying to s t i s fy
as many as poss ible
All th i s means th t
l s t year I had 5 c l ss periods a week in three
schools and th i s year I have seven c l sses a week t four schools
YOUTH FOR CHRIST
This year a committee from the churches in town has been formed to
plan programs for the high school students am the representat ive
fo r our congregat ion on the committee and have been e lec ted
s e c r e t r y
c r f t e r the cc ident
Several of us went to Bulawayo to a ttend a Youth for Chris t Rally
February 27 On the way home both cars were involved in cc idents
At p m we were t r ve l ing along a new sec t ion of road th t was
very s t r igh t and wide
Four donkeys
pull ing a
c r t
carrying
mealie
meal cement and two men came running out of a s ide road When I
saw them come from behind the t rees I knew there was no way to miss
them I had le t the high school r t teacher drive so I was s i t t i ng
in the passenger se t The lead donkey on our s ide evidently
reared up on his hind legs j u s t as we reached them He sh t te red
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the windshield and knocked the luggage rack off the top of the
car. The pole on the front of the car t h it the fender jus t above
the headlight. After we stopped we were surprised to find that the
only injury was a half inch cut on my wrist . The donkey had a
skinned place on his shoulder. Four days before
the accident I
had two retread t i res put on my car which probably helped the car
to stop as quickly as i t did. After the police came and took the
report on the accident we drove on home. I have gotten a cracked
windshield
from
another car
put in as
a
t emporary measure
and
when
we have a school break I plan to get the dents taken out and a new
wind sh i e l d i n s t a l l e d
The other car tha t went to the meeting was coming back l a t e r than
we did. They h it a young kudu. None of them was hurt but the
car could not be driven so someone had to go and bring them home.
ONE MEMBER GOES HOME
Uncle Geoff
Eastwood was
a remarkable
man.
Unti l
December
he
st
worked daily a t the police armory. He was baptised a few years ago
and attended church regularly. Shortly after his 86th birthday
a t the end of December he became i l l and was in a lo t of pain unti l
his death on March ]k. Uncle Geof f was interested in young people
and requested that all memorial gi f t s be given to Alpha Cottages, a
home for coloured chi ldren His f r iends from a l l segments of the
population of Fort Victoria attended the service in his honor.
VICTORIA SINGERS
eare practicing to present on April 12 H allelujah What a
Savior by John Peterson.
WOMEN S MEETINGS
Each week I
continue the th ree women's meetings. At the present time
I am leading th e prayer
service with the women a t Pioneer Lodge.
These women are lonely and i t would be good i f I had more time to
drop by and vis i t with them. The Tuesday afternoon meeting meets a t
my house. The Wednesday morning meeting that I attend is growing.
FINANCES
t has been some time since I have
given you a look a t the financial
picture. Since Independence the prices of almost everything have
gone up. The government has passed a minimum wage bil l which they
have s ince ra ised once and t a lk of ra is ing aga in .
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Tl-
The Cent ra l Af r i c a Miss ion froni
t ime to t ime r ev i ews t i ie co s t
of l iving here and recommend a
wage sca le . According to tha t
scale my salary should be 670
per month. I am s t i l l making
car payments of 1^2 a month.
I am
fo rtu na te to
have
a
good
car as the price of cars has
probably r isen fas ter than
anything e l se .
My car insurance, license, repairs
and my housing average 198 per
month With 25 put aside foj
furlough fund and another 20 for
news le t t e r s t h i s makes a t o t a l
of
1055 needed
each
month
May 1980
J u n e
July
Aug
Sept
Oc t
Nov
Dec
J an
Feb
775.00
580.00
698.00
1135.00
1170.00
830.00
5^5.00
1790.00
561.00
706.00
Thank you so much for your
help in th is work fo r Him.
PRAY
Please cont inue to pray fo r us
as we work here tha t we might
keep our eyes open to the ever
expanding
ways
to witness for
Him who gave His a l l fo r us.
ecauseof Christ|
Marcla Kay Thomson.
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^
Marcia Kay Thomson
P O Box 2i|0
Fo r t Vic t o r i a
Zimbabwe Africa
Forward ing Agents
Mr Mrs Wilford E Leasure
Rou t e
1
West Union Illinois 6 ^ 77
September 1981
• 2 3
Dear Chris t ian Friends
The l a s t s ix weeks have been especia l ly busy and e xt re m ely rewa rd in g
m
Fort Victoria Nursery School July 27 1981 with teachers Marcia
Kay Thomson and Margaret Render. Melanie Render visited that day.
She is in the middle of the front row. Philip Pennington is a t the
r ight of the front row
/
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NURSERY SCHOOL
I
Margaret Render is one of the teachers a t the Fort Victoria Nursery
School. When the other teacheriplanned to go ove rseas with her husband
for several weeks I was asked to take her place. I real ly f e l t I was
busy enough but said if they |Ctould not find anyone 1 would help. Since
I was
not
wil l ing to
give
up
the
scripture classes I was
already teaching
Margaret agreed to take bothi classes when i t was necessary fo r me to
leave and teach elsewhere. Ouring the weeks tha t I taught I was able to
get to know students and some of the ir famil ies . Five of the nursery
school students
have brothers or s is ters In my grade 3 class
Once a week I taught a BIbl
aids. The children would askL Is this the day for our special story
1^ story to both classes using my felt visual
:j j is this the day for our special story ?
They also learned songs to goftviith the lesson. Severa-l parents commented
on the new songs tha t the i r chi ldren were singing instead of some of the
nonsense songs they
had
beeni?inglng
previously .
1 I , ^ ,
YOUTH FOR CHRIST
I
[ • - - .
The YFC rallies reach stucj^nts that do not attend church youth groups
when they meet Individuallyj More than half of the students In the
^chool a t t d most ral 1les. , , We have had a sma11 book shop at the raj 1les
and sold merchandise frofri Christian Book Shop and some things printed
at C.A.M.E.L.S. Print Shop./
BARRY
PERCIVAL
AND IAN
PRATjr
I
April 1^ a YFC committee meeting was held a t my house. Instead of the
12-15 tha t sometimes came, Barry, Ian and I were the only ones present .
Barry, the a r t teacher a t the high school , is the chairman and was with
me In the car accident, l^n, the retail manager at Belmont Press, is the
Anglican representative pin the committee Ian had been In junior school
with Barry Stol 1 and Johnrjly Ross; that evening he asked me for their
addresses. A couple of].weeks later he attended our church services for
the first time. May 19jwas another committee meeting to plan the rally
for
May
29
May
3
wasja
picnic at
McDaniel s
farm
for the
YFC
that are
out of high school, lan/^as at all of these,. May 31 Ian came to our
church services and has riot missed since. Two or three weeks la ter he
star ted coming on Sunday evenings. August 7 he was immersed into Chris t
by Ben Pennlngton at Barry s parents house
I
HIGH SCHOOL CAMP
I
Several years ago lar^ had gone to a camp In Salisbury. He decided that
the holiday week-end of August 8-12 would be a good time to s ta r t
our
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camp program a t McDaniels farm. He would be o f f work to help and as t h i s
was the end o f a school term we would be able to ask teachers to help.
Ian did most of the organization for the camp. Tents had to be borrowed
as well as a stove, freezer, pots, dishes e t c . Then there was meal plan
ning and buying groceries, lan s mother was a help In this area. Some
things were precooked at my house and when our official camp cook got the
flu on Friday, Barry s mother helped by precooking a bag of potatoes.
Barry, Ian and I s t a r t e d camp on our own.Ian an d I did a lo t o f the cook
ing and Barry
was
excellent
a t
taking over
for
sports,
hiking
and
singing.
Two other teachers joined us. Cathy came on Sunday and Pat on Monday.
Ben Pennlngton was with us a lo t during the camp teaching classes and a t
campfire, but did not stay a t night, Karen helped with cooking.
In the meantime Chuck and Pat McDanlel were busy preparing for another
group that came from Bulawayo. They had t h e i r own camp near the lake
w i t h b o a t s .
Sunday services were a highlight. Chuck officially opened the camp. Don
S to ll, v is itin g
from
the
US
led
the
song
service
and communion
Doug
Johnson had a prayer, Kenneth Makusha preached and Timothy Tembo closed
In prayer. Those that participated and the Bulawayo camp were a ll served
t e a a f t e r t h e s e r v i c e .
There were times when we had sports with the Bulawayo camp and Monday
night they joined
us for our campfire service. Tuesday night we walked
over to t h e i r camp fo r an unannounced v i s i t . All in a ll i t was a su ccess.
did not have as many campers as we anticipated but with s t a f f getting
i l l a t the l a s t minute we had what we could handle. They a ll expressed
the
wish
to
come back
to our next
camp in
January.
PLANS
It would be wonderful If we had the money to s t a r t buildings ri ght now
before the rains come. The plan for a dorm Is in the Central Africa
Story. Tents were fine this time as we had dry weather even though
It
was cold a t n ig h t. January is in the middle o f the rainy season but i t
is also school vacation time an d th e h o t t e s t time o f
the
y e a r. A fu ll
camp program during the school vacations an d week en d camps a re a l s o
planned.
Some o f
the boarding school
students
could
come
for
a week
end,
but a t the en d o f the term they go home to be with t h e i r pa r e nt s .
Please pray fo r us as we try to take advantage o f the o p p o rtu n itie s to
t e a c h G o d s w o r d In Z im ba b w e,
Because o f C hr is t
MarcI a Kay Thomson
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High school camp at Heavenwardbound amp on McDaniels farm. Leaders
were Marcia ay far left , Barry striped shirt , athy (hat),Ben and
I a n
Marcia Kay Thomson-
B ox 224
Fort Victoria, Zimbabwe
in •t t j* .
H o r i z o n s
Box 177
kempton
IN iiSOhS
U S A
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Dear Christian Friends
His name
ihaH be
ul / CounseUoT/
The mightyQod/
JTic everlasting ^A her
Tbfi TVinccof Reace-
36SUS CHRIST.
ISAIAH 9 .6
Christmas 1981
In the years since I came to this country to work there have
been many changes. e now have a new freedom of travel in most
areas. _
e
are
happy
to have
some
of our former missionaries
return to work here i have
enjoyed having Madonna Burget stay
with me for the weekend and be able to heip her get thlnas that
she needs t Mashoko.
NURSERY SCHOOL
During my substitute teaching at the nursery school in July and
August I started a weekly Bible story with the children. Now
that the regular teacher is back she Is giving me time to go in
once
a
week
to continue the Bible
stories.
I use the
felt
visual aids and the children love It. We also have some time
to sing the songs I taught them.
JUNIOR SCHOOL
The Gideons have given Revised Standard Bibles to all the stu
dents at the junior school . y third grade class has been
learning the books of the Bible. When they got their new Bibles
we
turned
to
the
front
and
they could see
there
what
they
had
been learning. They were so excited and pleased. Now when I
give them a scripture they not only write it in their notebooks
but most of them find It in their Bible.
QUIZ COMPETITION
Youth for Christ have had qulzs for several years. It Is simi
lar to Bible Bowl except they have half the questions on a se
lected passage and half general knowledge questions. We are
working with
some
students here in Fort Victoria so that
at
the
end of the year we will have a strong team for the inter-city
quiz. It Is scheduled to take place in Fort Victoria as It Is
a central place of the other towns to meet. We worked with the
young people that were in camp and very likely most of the Fort
Victoria team will be out of campers. Each team is to have 2
boys and 2 gi r l s
IAN PRATT
Last newsletter I introduced
you
to
Ian and
his participation
in the work here. Some of you may have a chance to meet him
face to face soon as he has sent his application off and Is
planning to be a student at Ozark Bible College in January. He
has given notice at work but will work through the Christmas
rush. It will be difficult to find someone to do the job as
retail manager at Belmont Press as well as he has been doing
It. As far as I know he is the youngest person In this type of
job In the country. He became retail manager when he was 19
and
Is
now
20.
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♦ t i L i
BY AIR MAIL
PAR AVION
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A E R O G R A M M E
A I R - L E T T E R
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OA.
SECOND FOLD
S en de r s n am e a nd address :
Marcia Kay Thomson
P.O. Box 240
F o r t V i c t o r i a
Zimbabwe
An Air-Letter should not contain any enclosure.
If it
does
it will
be surcharged or sen t
by
ordinarymail.
i aii B m ^ - s m x J M O J y A n o j ^ a d Q S x i
FIRST FOLD
FORMER STUDENTS
One weekend I went
to Pietersburg
with
Percivals.
I
stayed
with
a family whose daughter was in my Grade 3 class before they
moved away She went to the Baptist Church with us Sunday where
we met Sherri1 Card who lef t Fort Victoria several years ago.
Sherril was in my class at Fort Victoria High School and was
baptized by Ben Pennlngton while In Fort Victoria. Since we had
lost track of her I t was a real blessing to know that she
a t t e n d s church r e g u l a r l y .
CAMP
Plans
are
underway
for
our
camp
in
January.
We
have a number
of workers that are planning to attend and should have a much
larger camp than we had in August.
PROJECT
I some of you wouid like a special project we could use New
Internat ional Versions of the Bible for those th a t a r e p a r t i c i
pating in the Quiz Competition.
— May the Lord give Vou a
s e a s o n . „ i.
special blessing during this holiday
In His love
0
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