laughren peter fran 1986 safrica

7/27/2019 Laughren Peter Fran 1986 SAfrica

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W BinilteroaEtoinialMISSIONARIES TO SOUTH AFRICAPETER AND FRAN LAUGHRENP.O. Box 18244. Wynberg-Cape 7824. South AfricaTelephone: (Direct Dial) On-27-21-712762 January-March 1986

Dea r F r i e nd s :

Greetings from South Africa, Fran and I hope tha t you are doing wellwherever you may be .

We hope t ha t you and yours had a good hol iday season as we d id h ere ,having Chri stmas in s\immer was stran ge to say the l eas t , but having it 70degrees on t ha t day not to hard to to le r a te .

Since our l a s t l e t te r we have made a couple o f t r i p s . F i r s t o f a l lwe went to the TRANSKEI area of South Africa for a weekend o f meetings andan ordinat ion of an African minister . That par t of th e country i s muchmore primit ive than the r es t o f South Africa . Most roads are unpaved andover and around mountains. When we t raveled to Lusiksiki , the s i t e o f themeetings, for two days and never made our connect ions with the people. Whenwe f inal ly found them on Sunday we had a good ordinat ion service and thewhole t r ip will be one that we will not soon forget.

In December we made a trip to Upington (800 miles north of Capetpwn)fo r classes and meetings and we made our connections there . David Matutuwent with Fran and I and we had a good weekend. As a r esu l t o f the classesand meetings there were eleven decisions.

Christmas came early for us in the form of our belongings. Ourcrate of belongings, which were shipped on August 20th, arrived in ourpossession on December 20th. The crate sa t on the docks of Capetown incustoms fo r two weeks. Customs wanted to check i t thoroughly and so theytried to get inside. In the process, they bent a crowbar, broke a hammer,and after a half a day gave up trying to get into i t . Thanks to Bill Pate,James Tucker, Bill Tingle, and Jim Conley of the Lone Oak Christian Churchin Johnson City, Tennessee and David Giles, now a missionary in Kenya, i twas built too well, i t had the customs people stamped. But I guess i t ' san in knowing which nails to pull, as i t took Fran and I a total of fifteenminutes to get into it . Please see the enclosed pictures for the grandopening.

A special word of thanks is needed here for Dr. and Mrs. Ed Leachof Jonesborough, Tennessee and Mr. Stephen Zimmerman (A1 Zimmerman's son) ofCapetown, South Africa for all their help in shipping. We were able to buildthe crate and pack it in August at Dr. Leach's plant. Without his help there.I have no idea how we would have built the crate and shipped i t . On theother side of the Atlantic, Stephen Zimmerman, through his job, is a man ofmany connections. He was able to get his freight forwarder to take care ofthe paperwork and delievery here at a very reduced charge. To Dr. and Mrs.Leach and to Stephen Zinunerman, we thank you for all you have done to help.NL-86:1

LAVERN & BARBARA CLARK, Forwarding AgentsPhone. (615) 929-1374

Box 403 Mil ligan College. TN 37682


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OAK CHRISTIAN CHURCH14-3A Lone Oak Rd.

City, TN 37601

ulbreac[^otematoniaVHJM & JRAN lA I (.JN

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIU.S. POSTAGE PAIDPERMIT # 14JOHNSON CITY, TN 3760

1

CHESTER AMD FLO LAUGFcHF R330 SOUTI-I DRIVEHAMF-'TOM,GA , 30228

A1 Zirrunerman, David Matutu and I are present ly working on correspondencelessons for the school as i t has not opened yet because of the problemshere. We hope that they are well received and we have already had somer e s pon s e to t hem.

Continue to pray for us as we labor here. We are enjoying the ministryhere more all the time. We feel that we are being used well here. We continueto look fo r new answers o f se r v i c e .

May God bless you as you serve Him,In Chr i s t ,Pe t e and Fran

NOTE: I want to extend my thanks to the congregation of the Lone OakChristian Church for their ministry to Pete and Fran by helping to publishand mail all of the correspondence. Tha.ik you very much.

iUpington

w-,i IOWN

. JOHANNESBURG^ SOUTH _ ^AFRICA mdantsaneyKING WILLIAI^S TOWNTRANSKEI

A r e a

Yours in C h ri s t ./Lavern E. ClarkForwarding Agent


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UtFnEefn oonG 5 1

MISSIONARIES TO SOUTH AFRICAPETER AND FRAN LAUGHREN

P.O. Box 18244, Wynberg-Cape 7824, South AfricaTelephone: (Direct Dial) 011-27-21-712762NEW ADDRESS FDR PETE AND FRAN!!!

P. 0. Box 165Kraa i fon te in , 7570Republic of South Africa

H i You A l l !

March, 1986

Telephone: (Direct Dia l)011-27-21-9020682

February has come and gone, already! I t i s hard to believe tha twe have been in South Africa for six months. The f i rs t month or two (Sept.and Oct.) went by very slowly. S ince then , the days have gone by qixickly.In some ways t ha t i s good, but also bad.

On March 3rd . , A1 and Jean Zimmerman are r et ur ni ng to the good oldU.S.A. fo r an indef in i t e amount o f t ime. Maybe fo r good. This means t ha tPete and I are on our own. The Zimjnermans have b een here fo r almost 26years . That i s a long tim e. They have done well here and they f ee l t ha twe w ill a lso . Please pray fo r us. We need wisdom and courage to carry onwith the work. Pray t ha t more people wi l l be r ea ch ed w it h the gospel , andtha t God wil l be glor i f ied in the work. We are here to serve Him.

With A1 and Jean leaving , they had to s e l l the i r house and f u rn i t u r e .They were asking (or settling for) a very low price. Pete and I have beenliving in a furnished f lat (apartment) in Wynberg. After much prayer, severalca l l s to the Sta t e s , and l o t s o f f igur ing we decided to buy the house andfurni ture . We wil l give you more de ta i l s on the cost , e tc . next month. Wefeel very good about the house. (You can see the garage in the picturesfrom last month's newsletter.) There are several advantages to this house.One, th e A fric an s a re a lre ad y famil iar with the locat ion. They are exci teda bo ut b ein g ab le to come v i s i t us t he re . Two, we wi l l be c l o se r to th etownships we work with . Kraa i fon te in i s abou t 23 miles from our f l a t inWynberg. That means we wil l be further away from Cape Town, but t ha t doesn ' tconcern us. This wil l be our f i r s t house. We are looking forward to theext ra responsibil i t ies--nowand ext ra space. The big move from f l a t tohouse is February 28th. So by the time you receive this l e t t e r , we wil lbe i n t h e hou se .

The month of February has been rough on both of us, heal th wise.We have been sick most of the month with food poisoning and flu. Right now,I am the only one that doesn 't f ee l 100^, yet. Pete is back to normal.

Big "Happenings" fo r February was an ordinat ion se rv i ce fo r Bro.David Matutu. He i s helping Peter with the correspondence lessons in theMatutu attended school at Winston-Salem Bible College in Northc h o o l . Br o .Caro l ina . He i s a f i n e man and a hard worker .SL 86:3

LAVERN & BARBARA CLARK, Forwarding AgentsPhone. (615) 929-1374Box 403 Mil ligan College. TN 37682

(over)


4/16

551 i lAlso, the Africans have been giving the Zimmerman's farewell services.The people sing and collect money for "drinks during their journey home,"(Pictures of this coming in the next Newsletter.) They will be missed bythose of us they are leaving behind.Once a week we go to the Polo Road building to ipaint, cleaji, andwork in the yard. I t has been " le t go" for a long time. In order to use

t he bui ld ing for the school, sometime in the future, we have had to do al o t o f work. There i s still a l o t o f work to be done, bu t it i s r ea l lybeginning to look good.

Every Wednesday, Pete ajid Bro. David Matutu meet to work on "schoolbusiness." There are several Africaji men taking the correspondence lessonsi n all a r e a s o f Sou t h Af r i c a . Th a t means t h e r e is a lot o f work for Pe t eand Bro. Matutu, They have to have each lesson t rainslated in three languages(English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa). They have to mail out the lessons, gradelessons , and do a l o t of book work . Please pray fo r them in t h e i r e f fo r t sto t r a in these men to teach and preach to t he i r own people. Through th i st r a in ing more people wi l l be reached in a more e f fec t ive and f a s t e r way.

Las t week the re were two days o f ra in and cooler weather . It waswelcomed by a l l . It has been in the 100's with l i t t l e wind. Usually thewind blows t e r r ib ly and keeps it cooled down. So when the wind does no tblow, it gets very hot. Oxa: Fal l wil l soon be here while you r Spring i son it's way.

Thanks again for your support f inancial ly , prayerfully, and thit)ughl e t t e r s and packages. With you behind us, we are able to be here. Whilewe are here we t ry to enjoy it as much as possible. With your help, ourstay here i s eas ie r . May God bless you fo r it.

Our hope and prayer is that this l e t t e r finds you a l l well, happy,and strong in the fa i th . So take care and keep in touch.We miss and love you a l l ,P e t e and F^an

P. S. We just heard that our permits have been approved for anothersix months . P .T .L !

i/O fi--I *v>- ^ocMkU / ^


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oteiroalttooMISSIONARIES TO S O U T H AFRICAPET ER AND FRAN LAUGHRENP.O. Box 18244, Wynberg-Cape 7824, South Africa

Telephone: (Direct Dial) 011-27-21-712762Dear F r i e n d s ,

5 5 1 I

April 1986

Once again thank-you for your generous support this month. Without you,we could never be here in South Africa. We thank-you for the oppurtunityt o s e r v e h e r e .

Many things have happened in March and things are going well. The ZlmmermanSil e f t this country on March 3, and are now in tne U.S.A. for a time of retirement.(Fran and I and a host of other workers here hope that i t is only a furlough,bu t I t is being called a retirement. We are hoping for a furlough only.)Since that time we have been busy gett ing our feet on th e ground. The weekendbefore they l e f t , A1 and I went to Cradock for a meeting with a l o t of Africanbrethren to t e l l them more about th e Church of Christ (30 A.D.) and what westood for. They were trying to make a decision whether to work with us or not.The meeting went well and we are s t i l l awa iting the resul ts .Since the Zimmerman's l e f t , we have moved into their house. We originally weregoing to rent the house for th e year that they were gone, but one thing ledto another and we saw that we would be b et t e r o ff buying th e house. So that i swhat we did. We would l ike to l e t you, our supporters know about the d e t a i l so f t h e h o u s e .

The Zimmermans had been trying to sell their house fo r a couple of years.They had never gotten even a nibble. So in order to sell i t they loweredthe p r i c e and we f e l t t h a t we could a f f o r d it f o r s ev er al r ea so ns . F i r s t ,th e price was good even on th e South African market. Second, th e price ofSouth African money (the rand) 1s real cheap because of the situation here.At present, we can By one rand for about f i f t y American cents. That is themost that we have had to pay since we have been here. The only thing s tand ingIn the way of buying was getting a loan in American dollars so that we couldpay off the South African rands while the exchange rate was low. Throughthe generosity of some friends who put up th e collateral needed for a loan,we were able to get a loan for $15,000.00 to t ry and pay off th e house onthis side. The loan we recleved in th e U.S. i s fo r that and i t i s a payas you go loan. That means that at $300.00 per month, we will have i t paid offIn seven years. The Zimmermans gave us six months here to pay i t off i n t e r e s tf r e e , and t h a t s i x months s t a r t e d March 3 .The rand rate has been jumping a l o t in th e l a s t three months. Where weoriginal ly thought a lower loan would pay the house off here in South Africa,with the exchange rate jumping as i t has, our loan l e f t us about $1,000.00short of our goal. We have the next five months to come up with this, or i t sequivalent of R2,479.36. We will be paying on this here as we go, and hope bySeptember 3, 1986, we will have the Zimmermans paid off.SL fi6:4 LAVERN & BARBARA CLARK Forwarding AgentsPhone; (615) 929-1374Box 403 Mil ligan College, TN 37682


6/16

551

One of the greatest things about the house is i ts location. The Zimmermanshave lived here since 1968, so all of our people know exactly where i t is .We are about 25 miles from downtown Cape Town, and closer to our work placesthan we ^re in Wynberg. The house has three bedrooms, a garage, dining room,11ving"and kitchen. We were able to buy most of the Zimmermans furniture, sothat no t only helped us, bu t them. We really feel blessed of the Lord tobe able to buy this house, and know that i t will be put to good use in theyears to come. Many of our African brethren have a lr ea dy s aid they feel morecomfortable here than they did In Wynberg. We really feel that the Lordhelped us in all of this, and as A1 Zimmerman has said, "I know now why forso long we tried to sell and never got a nibble. The Lord had other plans."So needless to say, we have been busy, not only with the house, but withthe work. David Matutu and I still get together to work on CorrespondenceSchool materials. These are going along real well. They are being requestedmore al l of the time. Since the Zimmermans left, we have been to severalchurches in the area visting and preaching. I teach a weekly class atMacassar that is going well, and David is starting one at Mfuleni. Fran andI are going to Kimberley for Easter weekend for services Friday through Sunday.We will tell you more about that in the next le t ter .As for right now, March 25, 1986, we are doing well and keeping healthy.Thanks for your continued support, and a special thank-you for all of you thathave helped us get the house either in advice or financially. You will neverknow how much we appreciate i t .Since we have moved our new phone number is 9020682 (plus all of those othernumbers that are dialed from the U.S. that I do not know about, but I think Vernor my parents do.)May God bless you this month as you start to enjoy Spring at long last.

jh.(: .S -tu .,/ olefk it -4n

V / i 'J /'9 ^ V^ L ^ '-'Vt'S W c' 'W

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@yEreacl[|imtemaEtoinialMISSIONARIES TO SOUTH AFRICA

PETER AND FRAN LAUGHRENP.O. Box 165 . Kraai fon tein 7570 . South AfricaTelephone; (Direct Dial) 011-27-21-902-0682

Hel lo Folks!

5 5 1

May 1986

Today, April 22, is a beautiful day. The last few days have beenwarm and sunny. It wasraining all day every day for awhile. We know the cold weather and rain must come, butwe hope it holds off for a while longer. Don't think that we haven't been thinking about youand the beauty of spring. Enjoy it some fo r us.Since Pete and I have had a year of summer weather, this change of weather has been roughon us. We have been fighting colds like mad. Today I feel like I'm back to normal, afterhaving a bad cold for about a month. 1 had to get medicine from th e doctor twice. I lostmy voice for a couple of days (which gave Pete some peace and quiet), and hoarse the restof the time. Pete only had his cold for two weeks. But other than that , we are well andhappy. We pray that this letter finds you well and happy too.As usual, we keep busy and on the go. During the Easter weekend we went to Kimberleyand held meetings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, It was fun and rewarding. Pete preachedfour sermons and 1gave four flannelgraph lessons. The people seemed to enjoy it as muchas we did. There were around ten decisions made which we praise God for. The people ofKimberley treated us well.Our trip to and from Kimberley was quite an experience. Pete and 1 drove the eleven hourdrive. On the way there, we stopped half way in Beaufort West. We didn't see any wildanimals except a bunch of baboons along the road and I know that I recognized a fewof them. Anyway, Easter is a big holiday here because it is the last one before winter.All shops and companies close down from the Thursday before Good Friday until thefollowing Tuesday. The gas stations and Indian owned stores remain open. So, therewere a lot of people on the road. Well, first we got a nail in our rear tire. Then we stayedin a run down hotel because there was no room anywhere else. That was some experience.The people of South Africa love their liquor, especially during holidays. Drunks were all overthe hotel . The hotel gave us a discount because there was not hot water. There wasonly single beds of which the sides the sidesof the mattresses came overyou when youlay down. The floors did not have carpet of course, and were very slippery. We justabout broke our necks a couple of times. There were dogs in the hallway. People kepttrying to ge t in, thinking it was their room. And we were over the bar heard all kindsof noises all night long, it was funny and interesting. Needless to say, we were upearly the next morning and on our way to Kimberley. It was very dry in Kimberley andthat caused our colds to turn for the worse. The hotel in Kimberley was real nice. Onour way back home, while we were again in Beaufort West, we locked our keys in theca r at Kentucky Fried Chicken (the only American food place here). It took us an hourto get i nto the car. So, you can see, it was an eventful weekend.

LAVBFiJ & BARBARA CLARK. Forwarding AgentsPhone; (615) 929-1374Box 403 Mi ll igan College. TN 37682


8/16

551 ' I

The weekend of the 12th of April we went to Port Elizabeth. Pete had t o a tt end aplanning meeting for the annual conference. The date was set for September 24-28.It will be held at Knysna. All area congregations will attend. Conference is a bigtime for the people. Thev are encouraged spiritually and morally. Please pray aboutthe conference , (ponference is "similar" to a convention.The whole time we were in P.E. it was cold and rainy. It was on this trip we discovereda leak by th e windscreen on the passenger side, of cours e. Our stay in P.E. was aspecial t ime. We mentioned before how the Africans love to s ing, and how they treat usso special. Well, Sunday after th e church service, th e people walked to th e housewhere we were to eat, singing and dancing the whole way. The meal was wonderful!They give you more than you can eat, but it is ok if you can not finish your food. Because,then they know you had plenty to eat. After lunch we visited awhile, then had to leave.As we were saying our good-byes the choir sang a ll verses of "God be with you till wemeet again." As we go t in the car they formed a line on both sides and would touch ourhands as we drove off. At th e s ame t ime they were still singing, dancing and waving tous. It was so neat! It gave us such a good feeling. Many of them cannot speak Engli^,but we were still able to communicate through a smile and a touch. I wish you all couldexperience this. It is so hard to say on paper what it is rea lly l ike. Another thing that wasreally neat is one of the elderly sisters. This sister would always have a t in of baked sweetsfor Mrs. Zimmerman. It was a way of showing gratitude, respect for age and love. Shehad a tin of sweets for me. She said, now tha t sis ter Zimmerman was g on e, s he wasgoing to "take care of the little sister." I almost cried. They are so full of love andgoodness. Someone needs to show them some love and goodness in return. They needsomeone to s h ar e J es us wi th t h em.

Pete and I are doing th e best we can to reach as many people, with the gospel, as we can.It is a big job. We would not be able to do His work here in South Africa without God'shelp and your continued support. Through your support we are able to live and work herefor the Kingdom. We appreciate you and your concern and thank God for you, always.There are now at least 15 students taking the Bible correspondence classes. Pete andBro. David Matutu are pleased with the interest shown. Please pray for these studentsas they try t o l ea rn for their own spiritual growth as well as learn how to tell their ownpeople of Christ .Several tr ips are lined up in t he nex t several weeks. There are still many congregations weneed to visit. Lord wil ling, we will get to them all as soon as we can. They need theencou ragmen t. The re is still some t roub le , but we go on and work around it.We are enjoying the house. The phone is always r inging with someone who wants to comesee us. That makes us happy. I must sign off fo r now. We wish you all t he best . MayGod bless you as you live and work fo r Him.

Love and praye rs ,


9/16

yEreactiolteiroattoocilMISS IONARIES TO SOUTH AFRICAPETER AND FRAN LAUGHRENP.U. box iaif44. wynDerg-Uape bouth AfricaTelephone; (Direct Dial) U11-2'/-21-/12/b:^P. 0. Box 165f Kraaifontein 7570Phone: (Direct Dial) 011-27-21-902-0682

Dear Friends,

5 5 1

June 1986

Greet ings to you from a cool South Africa. Winter is just around th e corner hereand we can rea lly tell it.S ince our last le t ter we have been rather busy. On April 27 Fran and I made a shortday trip with an African brother and sister to Hermanus. There is a small groupof believers who mee t in the f ront room of a house. I t vas th e f irs t tim e th at we hadbeen there and was a good service. On May 16-19 we made a trip to Holpan nearBarkley-West . This is a township that is the most desolate I have seen here in SouthAfrica. The church building there was constructed out of cow-dung and serves th epurpose very well. I taught on Saturday, Fran taught on Sunday and I also preached.There were over 200 people in th e building that was about 30 ft. by 15 ft. As ar esul t o f the services, seven teen people made decisions. On Sunday afternoonwe went to services in Kimberley a t the church where we had Easter services.Fran again tau7ht a flannelgraph lesson and I spoke. Two more dec is ions were madeand for that we rejoice. We give God the glory fo r these , because we know thatwithout Him we could do nothing . Thi s past weekend, May 24, 1 made a quick tripto Knysna to see how th e plans fo r conference and the plans are going well for th et ime in September.Also t hi s mon th , F ran and I did a lot of work at th e Polo Road Ch /rch building.Since th e doors closed there it has been in a state of disrepair. We have j us t aboutcomplet ed the repai rs and hope to use it for the school when we can. In th e meantimeth e correspondence lessons are going wel l.1 recieved a nice surprise this month. Here in South Africa, no one uses pulpits,just tables. Being tall, 1get backaches. After corresponding with our good friendEd Hayes of Gray Tennessee , he constructed a portable pulpit fo r my use here.It breaks down into s ix pieces weighing five pounds. Vern and Barb Clark alsomade a canvas bag for me to carry it in. Both work very good. The pulpit isexactly what I needed and it helps me a great deal. Thank you very much Ed,from the bot tom of my heart and th e middle of my back. You will never knowhow much I appreciate it. And thank-you Vern and Barb for th e carry bag for it.We are sti ll working on getting the Zimmermans paid before September 3. We at presentstill l ack about $900.00 to reach that goal. Please p ray for us in this matter.As of today May 28, we are doing well. We hope the same for you. May God bless.P.S. Look for A1 Zimmerman n

a t th e Sou th Afr ican Chr i s t i anMission booth ai-'t


10/16

ir[niao[nia[M I S S I O N A R I E S T O S O U T H AFRICAPE TE R AND FRAN L A U G H R E N

P.O. Box 165, Kraaifonte in 7570, South AfricaTelephone; {Direct Dial) 011-27-21-902-0682

Dear Friends,

5 5 1

July-September 1986

Greetings from a "wintery" South Africa. Our winter is here and you will never knowhow s tr ange i t is to have cold weather in May through September. We could takesummer in Novembe r thr ough Mar ch , b ut th is is a l i t t le harder.We are doing well. Since our last newsletter we have made several trips. On Easterweekend we went to Kimberley and had services for three days. I preached and Frangave flannelgraph lessons. Ten people made decisions as a result of the weekend. Wework with Roland Joseph, a man that Fran's father t ra ined to be a minister twentyyears ago. Two weeks later we made a trip to Port Elizabeth for a planning committeemeeting for our conference. Conference thi s year will be in Knysna on September 24 to28. So p lease p ray for that.In May we again made another trip to Kimberley to work with the church in Holpan.Seventeen decisions were made. On that Sunday afternoon we aga in went to thechurch in Kimberley and two more decisions were made. The next week 1 went toKnysna for a day trip to see how plans were going for conference with some of thebrothers from Cape Town. And the following week, David Matutu, Stephen Zimmermanand I went to Upington fo r th e weekend of services there. Da vid and Stephen taughtand I preached on Sunday morning. That is a part of South Africa that few missionariesgo to, so they were gtad for us to come. We have been busy here but are enjoyingthe work more than we ever dreamed possible.1 recieved my appointment from the government to do weddings among all racegroups here. I already have four weddings to do in May. Weddings here seem to bea lot of fun. I am the only one in this area among the Church of Christ (30 A.D.)allowed to do weddings, so they are keeping me busy.Some of you probably wonder how close .ve are to th e trouble. Where we live herein Kraaifontein is about 10 mil es f rom Crossroads where a lo t of the r e c e n t troubleh a s b ee n. Some o f t h e m e m b er s a t t h e Mfuleni c h u r c h l iv e t h e r e and have b e e n insome danger. One brother could no t get to his home fo r three days and wore the sames e t of clothes fo r that t ime. We have n ot been in dange r, but p le ase con ti nue topray fo r us and this country in these times.We are presently lacking $500.00 in getting tiie Zimmermans paid of f for the househere in South Africa by September 3. We ar^njoying the house and the room thata house affords. We always have someone calling wanting to come over. We areglad that they feel more comfortable coming to Kraaifontein than to Wynberg.Continue to p ray for us as we know you are. We will continue to be your servantsin South Africa. Until next time, may God bless. ^

Love ,LAVERN & BARBAR/^ CLARK. Forwarding Agents

Phone; (615) 929-1374Box 403 Milligan College, TN 37682


11/16

LONE OAKCHRISTIAN CHURCH1914-3ALoneOak Rd .JohnsonCity.TN 37601

PETER & FRAN LAUGHREN A no te from Vern ,

E:S-:Tiarr.3

5 S l

AMD FLO Lf .:aPHErJ1 CRIVE0A30 2 2 8

NON-PROFIT OU. S. POSTAGE PJohnson Oty, TPermit No,. 14

Since Peter wrote th i s newsletter we have r ec eiv ed th e t ragic newst h a t h is fa th er died i n a ca r acc iden t on the 17th o f Ju ly . The fune ra lwas on Jid.y 21st in the Berea Christ ian Church of Hampton, Georgia. Pete rand F^an flew "back to the s t a t e s fo r the funera l and arr ived only a fewhours "before the funeral . Please be in p ray er fo r them and t h e i r family .At th i s time we do not know how long they wi l l "be in the United Sta tes ,but they wil l "be re turning to South Africa a f t e r they have had a chanceto "be with h is mother and the r e s t of the fajnily,

I would also l ike to l e t you know tha t I have j us t moved. I havec alle d to the ministry a t the Salem Christian Church in Peru, Indiana.I f you have any questions or correspondence for Peter and Fran pleasecon t a c t me a t : Out r e a ch I n t e r n a t i o n a l

c/o Lavern E. ClarkRoute 1 , Box 15Bunker Hil l , IN ^691^Telephone: 317-689-7085

We want to thank you for your prayers and support that you havegiven to Peter and Fran. They appreciate your prayers and support verymuch .

God/be with each one of you,

Vern C l a r k


12/16

d0MISSIONARIES TO SOUTH AFRICAPETER AND FRAN LAUGHRENP.O. Box 165 , Kraai font ei n 7570, South Africa

Telephone: (Direct Dial) 011-27-21-902-0682 November 1986Hello fr iends!Greetings from springtime in South Africa. We hope that you are doing well wherever you m%b e .

Asyou know from the last supporters' letter, conference this year went real well. All of thepeople were greatly encouraged. Since that t ime, we have been busy still . Right afterthat, Brother Martin Khota, a longtime translator in Xhosa for A1 Zimmerman, came byand helped me by translating and correcting some correspondence lessons for me. He livesin Knysna and was here for conference. So he helped me greatly. We started getting readyfor a convention of the colored churches in the northern Cape. On October 17-19, we madethe trip to Barkley-West for the three day meeting. While there, Fran spoke twice usingflannelgraph and I also spoke twice. We met many missionaries there that we had nevermet before and it was good to see other people doing the same thing as us here in SouthAfrica. It gave us great encouragement.We have begun working with a new group of believers in Bishop Lavis, which is a coloredtownship in the Cape Town area. They are just a small group of people, but have an intensedesire to learn more about the Lord. Fran teaches the children Sunday School wheneverwe are in town, and I also teach every Sunday morning. Stephen Zimmerman, who has beena great help on trips with me, also teaches a class every Tuesday evening. Please pray forthe people in Bishop Lavis as we strive to work with them and bring them closer to the Lord.The class that I teach at Macassar on Thursday evenings is going well. We have just starteda study on the book of Revelation. Please pray for me as I lead this class .The work here has suffered a setback recently with the withdrawal from the work by DavidMatutu because of personal problems. Please pray for David that he might sort his lifeout of the problems and again be a strong voice for the work here in South Africa.In November, we are making a two week trip to Graaf-Reinett, Butterworth in the the Transkei,Johannesburg and then finally Mafikeng in Bophuthatswana. The missionaries that we metat Barkley-West from Mafikeng have invited us up for an 'American'Thanksgiving, Soweare looking forward to that and to also learning from their work. Please pray for this longt rip o f preaching and teaching.Until next month, May God bless you in all that you do. Thanks so much for you supporto f our work .

Love, ^

LAVERN & BARBARA CLARK, Forwarding AgentsPhono: (61S) OgO 1374 Koato. J, Box 15Boh 103 Milligon Collogo, TM 37682 BunkeA IN211_ fo.n r> c r

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LONE OAK CHRISTIAN CHURCH'1914-3A LoneOak RdJohnson City,TN 37601 5 5 1

non-prof i t oU. S. POSTAGE PJohnson Oty, IPermit Now 14

n ' S

FLO LAUGHREiM3 3 0 SOUTH DRIVEHAMPTON,GA,30228

PETER & LAUGHREN

Dear Friends,Greetings from springtime in South Africa,you are, as we are doing well here.

October-December 1986

We hope that you are doing well whereThe last three months has been full of activity, some of i t planned, other of i tnot. In July, Stephen Zimmerman and I made a weekend trip to Mdantsane whichis near East London. We both taught classes on the Saturday and then I preachedon Sunday morning. The services went well and there were two decisions.Four days later we recieved word that my father had died in a car accident on hisway home from work near Brooks'Georgia. Fran and I immediately made plans togo back to the United States, and after spending a long layover in Madrid Spain,arrived in Hampton Georgia three hours before the funeral. I t was a sudden shockto us a l l , but we know the kind of l i fe tha t Dacf lived and know tha t he i s ina much better place now. Dad is, as Paul says, "...absent from the body and presentwith the Lord." we thank all of you who helped with this expense of getting fromSouth Africa to America and back again. Yc.' will never know our fee lings o fgrat i tude. A l i s t of a ll who helped in this memorial fund for Dad i s enclosedwith t h i s news l e t t e r .We arrived back in South Africa on August 20, and immediately fell victim to jet-lag.Once we got going again, we made a trip to Knysna to check on this years conference.We had to change the previous plans and move everything to Cape Town and to the churchin 'Mfuleni. We planned the conference, bought al l of the groceries for 300 peoplefo r four days and prepared our lessons in three weeks time. During the conference,Fran taught five times and I taught seven. While we were in America, we were ableto buy a complete flannel graph set for Fran to use in her lessons. She put this togood use in her lessons. We also had classes for young children this year, andthey too were well recieved. All in all , conference was a great experience andeverybody learned from all that was taught. Some of the brothers said that i t wasone of the better gatherings that they had been to.We are doing well getting readjusted to South Africa. We still thoroughly enjoythe work and feel that we are being used of the Lord in a might way. Since wehave been back, we have been able to pay of f our house on the South African side, andwe praise the Lord fo r t ha t .For now, may God bless you in all that you do. We hope that you have a goodholiday season with a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Yours for South Africa.


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CBBSTBR B . I JGSREN MEMORIAL FUNDThe following is a l i s t of those gave'towards our expenses of going to Americaand back to South Africa durJ :h e time o f my fa ther 's recent death and funera l .Thank-you very much, eact .-very one of you, for your help during this time.

Pete F r a n*Note: These names are not in any specific order, alphabetical or otherwise.

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uEireacliirtarriff loonalMISSIONARIES TO SOUTH AFRICAPETER AND FRAN LAUGHRENP.O. Box 165 , Kraai fontein 7570, South Africa

Telephone: (Direct Dial) 011-27-21-902-0682

Dear f e l l ow -wo r ke r s ,December 1986

As t h i s i s t yped on Kovemher 25 , ve a r e p r e s en t l y in Johannesburgin the middle of a two week t r i p . We l e f t home on the lUth and wil lno t "be home until December 2 . We a re p re se n t ly a t a t th e home o fI Bi l l and Verna Weber , missionaries to Johannesburg unt i l we go home.

II vI S inc e ou r last Suppo r t e r ' s Le t t e r we have kep t up ou r busy p a c e .S ince Dav id M atu tu has s top ped doing church o r schoo l work , I havehad t o start w ri t in g h is co r r e s pondence l e s s o n s . I have c omp l e t e done and have had it translated into Af r i k a a n s and am i n t h e p r o c e s so f ge t t i ng it t r a n s l a t e d i n to Xhosa . I was ab l e to g e t all l e s sonscaught up , graded and sen t back to s tuden t s . I t i s a hard processwhen I am wai t i ng o f t r a n s l a t o r s . Plea s e pray t h a t I migh t be ab l et o keep ahead o f this.The work in Bishop Lavis is going well . On November 9 and l6 , wehad t h r ee bap t i sms . We p r a i s e th e Lord fo r t ho se . The church inMfuleni also had eight baptisms on the l6 th .On the l^vth we l e f t on th i s t r i p . We spent the 15th and l6 th inGraa f f -P . e ine t and t a ugh t l e s s on s on Sa tu rd ay and p reached on Sunday ,F r an a l s o t a u g h t w ith h e r f l a n n e l g r a p h and that was v e r y we l l r e c i e v e d .We had an e nc ou ra g in g t im e wi t h t h e s e b r o t h e r s and sisters.We l e f t t h e re on th e l 6 th and drove to Eas t London. From th e ITtht o th e 2 3 rd , we he ld e ven i ng mee t i ng s w i t h th e b ro th er s in Bu t t e rwo r t hwhich i s in th e Transke i , about 70 mi le s from Eas t London. We had g r e a tmee t i n g s t h e r e and d u r in g th e week I p r e a ched s even t ime s and Frana l s o t a ugh t th e ch i l d r en wi th h er f la nn elg ra ph t h r e e t ime s . On Sundaythe 23rd, we held an ordinat ion service for the m inister in Butterworth, 'Colben Mngonyama. A ll in all, it was a g r e a t week o f s e r v i c e s wi th20 dec i s i o n s . We even had an o pe n-a ir s erv ic e which was a new expe r i encef o r me. We d r ove ye s t e r d ay f rom Ea s t London t o Johanne sbu rg whichwas a 13 hour t r i p cover ing 1,02T k i lome te r s . So needle-ss to say ,we a re tired. Be fo r e a r r i v i n g home, we w i l l be in Maf ikeng inBophu t a t swana f o r two days fo r an American Thank sg i v i ng d i n n e r .We hope t h a t t h i s letter f i n d s you we l l . We t h ank you f rom th e bo t t omo f our hea r t s fo r your suppo r t t h i s month and s i n c e r e l y hope t h a tyou have a g r e a t h o l i d a y s e a s o n . May God b l e s s .

/LAVERN &BARBARA CLARK. Forwac^M AqefiWPhone: (615) 929-1374rA^-/ ''hyGyhBox 403 Milligan College. Tri'37682' {


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laughren peter fran 1986 safrica

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