I\'n(lers Reijort

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Tlic Pcihlers

Arkuin Lvaiigelisni

Feb. March 1983

Dear Friends:

We are home in Zimbabwe. Left the States Jan. 1, and arrived Jan. 3* Dad and Mom

Martin & some of our missionaries living in Harare (the new name for Salisbury) met
us at the airport. We were very glad to be back. Although this is supposed to be the rainy season, most of the country is very dry.

On the ^th. we came out to Chidamoyo, and for about 10 days we received only a fevc showers in this area. Then it began to rain and has continued until now Feb. 8th. & we pray God will continue to send rain up into April. Crops around here now look good. But in parts of thecountry they have had almost no rain. Around Masvingo (new name for Fort Victoria) it is very dry. In Chibi Tribal Trust Land where I staarted a work in "73" and our son David is continuing to work with them some, it has been

reported that 6000 head of cattle have died. Ifevid says it is like the end of the
dry season, with no grass for the remaining cattle & goats to eat & of course no
crops. Please pray for them and people in other areas almost as bad. I continue to vrork with the congregations around here. Ti-70 Sundays ago I and the

hospital chaplain left to go where Mr. KLambo, who used to preach here, is now liv ing & preaching. Roads were flooded and we had to take the long way around. On arr
ival at Mr. KLambo'house we found he had left & the services were to be held at some

members home. We drove part of the way, then started walking, asking at villages
directions to this house. After about 2 hrs. we found them, Services hadn't started, so I was asked to preach. Soon as I caught my breath I preached & soon as the serv

ices were over we started back as it looked like rain. Going back to where we left

the old S/Wagon we went as direct as possible, having people who knew the area to
guide us. It still took hrs. to walk it. We crossed streams and climbed hills, I was panting and puffing. One of the older couples at the service asked for a lift &

rode almost to Mr. Mlambo's house. We stayed only a short time there as we still had two rivers to cross coming back & wanted to get back before it rained. Vie arr ived at the i4ission around ^ p.m. tired and hungry. Since then I have had a meeting here with five African preachcrs from this area, including I'lr. Mlambo, He reminded me of the African lady who had rode with us. When he saw her later she said to him " If you give a white man a gun & tell him to go to war he will walk a long way to shoot someone," Obviously she was thinking of the way we had walked that day. But she said "If it is looking for lost souls few white men would walk very far. In between rains I expect to visit several congregations where I i-dll have to walk and where few white men go or have gone, oxcept perhaps as soldiers during the war. It is a sad commentary that men, including Christian men, will as a general rule, walk further and expend more effort to kill than to save. Betty has been very busy, helping with a well baby clinic here and one many miles

away. At one they had 446 babies and didn' get back to the mission until around
11 :30 p.m.

Wo have two T>rayor"Tcquests". i-i We^need 20-3^"hyTnn booics f or-Brblc Study night when we sing and speak in English. 2. You all know wo asked everywhere for help to >t>\ty a new pickup truck for me to use in going to remote churches nnd for hauling suppLios, Wo have now learned the price of the truck has gone up and customs, duty and sales tax has almost doubled. We are at present about ';$2500-^K)00 shw-t when we use tlio last of oui* -jxii'sonal savings. Pleas be in "prayer about both of , .
those things.
Because of Christ,

Hugh and Betty

roru Hrdinfi Afjonl.i.

M/M John Gilliland
Route 1. Box 596

Georgetown, IL

61846

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Ponders Repitrt

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TIm* PciuUts
Dear Family in the Lord:

April Ai|r^g^ Evangelism

We havo a lot to tell you and find it hard to get in all we want to sayI We have our new pick-up truck I Betty & I went to South Africa the middle of March and got it. It is an Isuzu, as we planned to get, & like it very much. We thank all of you who helped in any way toward its purchase. On our way back from S.A. we spent a fevj days with our son David & his family in

Masvingo (Ft. Victoria). We were there on Sunday so I went to Chibi i-jhere I had

preached for about 3 yi*s. with Mr Job Juma who often went with me back in 73-76. I
wanted to see the people again as most of themwere baptized into Christ while I was preaching there, but also because that part of the country is in a terrible drought Mr. Juma & I arrived at 9:30 A.II. & called on Chief Matsveru, who helped me while

starting that work. Many of his family always glad to see me, as I am him. He has a son less than a yr. old. all his We talked about the drought, & he said
now he has 6.

accepted Christ, but the Chief has not. He i:-: is well and must be at least in the 80's, but other children from 3 wives had been daaghtev before it hit he had around 35 head of cattlc?

As we drove along the roads I saw nothing green growing in the people's gardens &
certainly nothing in the fields. Most fields hadn't even been planted. The paople need vegetables to eat T-rith their sadza, but the Chief said "we have nothing". We saw 2 cows lying down, which nwither of us believed would get up again. We saw no goats. With the grass gone the cows had eaten the leaves of the trees higher up
than goats c?.n reach.

One of the ponds where we always baptized had no water in it at all. We did have
one baptism, a man in his 60's or 70's & the only way we found enough water to bap tize him was because the tank for a Dutch Reform Mssion had run over for quite a long time & tho vjater had run into a pool in a small stream. The people knew about

it as did the cattle, but we kept them back until he was baptized. The people's spirits scorned to be good, but we have just begun our normal dry season. Tnoy can't
expect any rain until Nov. or Dec..

Here at tho Mission we had a 3 day meeting at Easter. Hie meeting was well att ended & some acccpted Jesus as their Saviour.

In Jan., the Govt. started classes for Form 1 (which is tho equivalonco of rhe 1st

yr. of High School over there.) They had no building so for the first term which one ed April 15 wo let them meet in a part of tho hospitc-^.l. Hiring this term Margaret

Dennis has been teaching the book of Matthew to about 1^0 students. On Apr. 12 the
Headmaster of this secondary school camo to see mo to talk about the school, tho
church and himself.

It soon bccame apparent that he was concerned about the spiritual condition of the
students & himself. Ho was not a Christian, but was under conviction. IVe now havo a

minister, l-Ir. Zidyah, who for several yrs. has boon preaching in Karoi & has known this man ' his parents for many yrs.. Mr. Zidyah had talked to him many times, but as ho said, he was rebellious. After talking awhile I found that he had repented & wanted to bo baptized. On the eve of the I4th, ho & other teachors camo & brought
the students to tho church St wo had a sorvice. i-lr. Zidyah proachod on "How to bocome a Christian", & when tho invitation was given thoHeadmaier & oneteachorpiis 30 otbrs made their confession & were baptized. Unfortunately i-fi.5s Dennis wasn't on th^ mission at the time, but we are all thrilled at the ^^ay this term ended. There is much more to say but no spao. I am still trying to keep things going
around horo as the ^sses haven't arrived yet.

Betty plans to open the Pre-school on May 17th. Be in prayer for both of us & iv:people here, that thci Lord's t^III might bo done.
Because of Christ, Hugh and Betty

Funvardinfi A^enis:
M/.VI Hugh Pender Chidamoyo Mission
P. O. Box 330

M/M John (iilliland

Route 1, Box 596

Karoi, Zimbabwe. Africa

Georgetown, IL 61846

Fenders Report

The Fenders

African Evangelism

June-July 1983
Dear Friends:

cold to us-so I checked the temperature on our front porch. It was 6k, Sure seemed
colder.

Greetings from Zimbabwe in tho middle of the winterl As I began to xjrite it was

Our work with the churches is going very x^elll Not having space to write about all
of them here is a brief account of 2 of them.

Several yrs. ago missionaries from Chidamoyo began working with a church at i'larere

moved back out here I didn't even know of the place. While we were on fur].ough Dad Martin^went there twice, mostly because a young man who used to work for his son Ivan, is now living vxith his parents near there. After one of Mr. Martin's trips, the fellow, whose name is Special, said he wanted to be baptized. There was little or no water around there so he brought Special back to the mission, taught him more
and he was baptised. This was less than a yr. ago. Due to lack of leadership all church groups in that area had dwindled to a few^so

School. It is about 40 miles from the mission, but takes an hr. & a half to drive iz From "77" until we evacuated po missionary went there due to war, and after we

they all met together,After his baptism Special began looking for members of Church of Christ in the area. By the time I went there 2 mos. ago there were more Church

of Christ members meeting each Sunday than the other groups (Methodist, Catholic, Salvation Army, etc.) combined. The others were meeting with the Church of Christ be cause they had no leadership. After the sermon that day 7 confessed their faith in
Jesus and were baptized.

There were 104 in attendance (not counting babies) and 21 were baptised. There were
a few Methodists at the service (men) who seem at present to want to remain Method
ist.

Because of the large number of churches to visit I didn't get back until July 3-

Prior to July 3 there was only one older man & Special, who altho is in his early twenties is considered a boy. To our surprise he was preaching and presiding at the
Lord's Table almost every Sunday, Special is a boy by African standards. He is a new Christian and his knowledge of the Bible is very limited. He told us he know only

Matt. 26:26-28 to use when serving the Lord's Supper. But he is willing, he does the best he can and the Holy Spirit is using him to reach the hearts in that area. Pray

for him & the people of that congregation & all the others. Hero at the mission the church is also growing. Mr. Zidyah, who came here in Ifer. to be the minister, is a good preacher who knows his peoolo cS: is willing to servo

them. He does much calling in the villages <3: has been effective in bringing many backsliders back into an active role in the churchi and especially effective in lead ing men to Christ. From April to the end of June there have been 78 baptisms. All
congregations have shown some growth and the amount largely depends on the kind of

leadership they have. Pray for men, young and old who will do what they can for
- Chiii-s4,

3-6 yrs, old and are really learningt Their parents are amazed. She has bought them
all a tooth brush, which they use each day after snack time & are learning the
proper way to brush their teetia, Ehch day she gives them fresh milk and either

The Christian Pre-School Betty started about 2 mos. ago has I6 students. They are

cookies or crackers with peanut butter for their protein. Anyone wanting to he3.p with this project should write to Betty and she could toll you what is needed. Noah's Ark Pre-School in Indj anapo].is has helped get it started and wAH.l continue to help in many ways but in+.orost sho-\-jn by others will be appi-ociatod.
Booaii.r.o of Christ,

Hugh and Betty

Forwarding Agents:
Mr. & Mrs. John Gilliland R.R. 1 Box 596

Georgetown, Illinois 61846

FR.-7.'tY\hcK.hM/^

Fenders Report

The Fenders

African Evangelism

Sept.-Oct. 1983
Dear Ones in Christ:

As usual much has happened since we last wrote. Most of it good, a little not so good. Lets get the not so good over \n.th quickly. Aug. 12 was the beginning of the first nation-wide conference of our churches in
several years. I and several from around here went. It was held at Devuli l*iission,

about an 8 hr. drive from Chidamoyo, but only about a little over an hour from Masvingo, where our son David and family live. On the morning of the 13th, I didn't feel well, so that afternoon I drove on to David's and spent the night. Before
morning I decided I would head back for home as soon as possible, or I might not be able to drive it. I arrived home around k p.m. on the 14th, and x-7as in bed two weeks i-rxth. pneumonia. It is a good thing we have an R. N. living here and a Dr. here part of the time. They took care of mo as well, or bettor than if I had been in a hospital in Harare, It isn't the first time in my life to have pneumonia,- but

the first since a lung operation in 1975* I doing 0. K. now. The good is two-fold. First Mr. & Mrs. James Bp.ss & son Craig arrived Aug. 17th. Wc are ovor-joyed they are hero. Already Jim has torn down one of our generators that hasn't been running right for some time, and has gone to get parts to fix it, I didn't attempt it for I know nothing about diesel motors or generators. They xvill
be a big asset to the work here. The second half of the good is the way people are responding to the Gospel. I

have had two weekend meetings since I last wrote. Starting Friday evening and end ing Sunday afternoon, these are primarily teaching meetings at established cong

regations. Besides the building up of these congregations (usually there arc two or more meeting together) we naturally evangelize. A total of 17 accepted Jesus as
their Saviour at these two meetings. I go out almost every Sunday to one of our congregations. Most times there are re sr)onses ti the preaching. This last Sunday 5 were baptized. Almost all streams

have dried up. Finding enough water to baptize in is difficult, if not impossible. However, Dr.d Martin had a portable baptistry made while wc were on furlou^hc V/e used it this past Sunday and will be using it until the rains come. Fx-on then the well they were getting water from was so low only 3 buckets of x-fater could be pumycd, then after a ten min. wait we could pump 3 more. Took a while, rv.t there was finally enough. After the baptisms the water was poured in a trou|,-h for cattle, goats 3: donkeys to drink. Also a woman wanting to wash c".othos took a bit of it I have 2 wk. ends meetings scheduled for Oct. & expect to schedule others each moc. The 2 in Oct. are at places I won't be able to go when the rains come. The pre-school is going well. We are in need of coloring books, new or old & ar;y toys you could spare. Especially would like to hr.ve some building blocks or educat ional toys of any kind. -- Wo arc appealing-t-o al3^of~yeu fop-mere us<3dospooially for ohildron, women & small sizes of mens clothing. Because of drought, food is scarce & ex^ pensive so the people have even less money than usual for clothing. Help if you can
May God continue to bless and keep all of you.
Tours in Christ,

Hugh and Betty

P.S, Please pray for good rains this year or many may starve.

Forwarding Agents:
Mr. & Mrs. John Gilliland R.R. 1 Box 596

Publicity Directors: Mr. & Mrs. Archie Gustafson

R.R. 1

Georgetown, Illinois 61846

Georgetown, Illinois 61846

71 f ^

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Fenders Report

y..

K-\mi
The Fenders

African Evangelism

Dec. I9B3

Seasons Greetings to You and Yours:

Isn't our Lord wonderful!! As we come to the timo of yc^.r when wg put emph^nsis on

His birth, let us also remember His de.ith and Resurrection. Because of Him wo have
the hope of eternal life.

Our Lord has abundantly blessed us this year as He has in all the previous yearsWe love the work He has called us to do and are grateful Ho can use our scrvicus..-

Many have come to know His word better this past yr.. He is really working in the lives of people so much so that \^q have trouble keeping enough Bibles on hand- For
that we are very thankful.

Hugh keeps busy preaching and teaching. He is also still doing quite a bit of the
rr.alntjnance. The Bass's have boon busy getting settled in and have done several

major projects. He is in the nrocess of fixing the two holding tanks we have for our water supply, has pulled a well to fix one of our boreholes and now has a big leak
in the main water line to fix. So you can see we are keeping him busy. Hugh takes care of most of ttie day to day maintenance problems, like small leaks, mowing, roof rcpa.irs, etct. He probably will continue to do this until Jim gets the major pro
jects out of the way.

The Pre-Sehool is going very well. Wo have

pupils and out of that 6 will be

going into school in Jan.. I am looking forward to a new group plus rest of this

group in Jan-. I am so proud of themi They learn quickly and are eag;jr to luarn. Wo
use cnrriculum from Standard Publishing, so it is all Bible oriented. We are as
anxious to touch their hearts for Jesus as we are to teach them.

Cn Oct. 8, our youngest daughter, Cathy, married Al^n Fathauer, and they arc living in Catlin, II,. I was sure sorry I couldn't be there for the wedding. Our next daughter Diana and her husband Jim, presented us with a baby boy on Nov. 1^th, wGighir.g in at 3|- lbs. Thoy live in Champaign, II.. I sure hated not being
there f^r th;it too.

Our son Tony has moved back to Californis and is working there,

Roland, Bonnie, Jennifer and Sarah all still live in Indianapolis. Jennifer start
ed school and Sarah is in Pro-School.

Havid, Eargaret, Melanie and Michelle are here in Zimbabwe. Doavid is manager at
Belmont Press in Masvingo (formerly Ft. Vic.) The Lord has been very good to us, in that we have very sweet grandchildren on
both sides of the occan. We don't sec any of them very much but arc close to them daily as we bring them all before the throne of God.

We wish you all the best for

May you have a Merry Christmas and a blessed

--

J-oy-sus-NowYeai*.

Because of Jesus,

Hugh and Betty

..Christjiias i\-om Tho-C%illilaitd,'a-o-iwl Itie . Ctnptafnon's and a

Ww Tfwr-

Forwarding Agents:
Mr. & Mrs. John Gilliland
R.R. 1 Box 596

Georgetown, Illinois 61846