The other couple is John and Val Miles. These folks, an American couple, were transferred here from Zambia in June 1960, because of the need of a district overseer. They could no doubt write a book about their experiences. But here is one. They were visiting a small congregation close to the main road. Brother Miles relates:

“For the week we decided to camp at a lovely secluded wayside on the main road close to the congregation. However, the local brothers felt we should camp at another place even closer. Although we would have preferred the place we chose, for the sake of convenience we decided to move to the closer spot.

“During the week, while we were having our evening meal, we heard something like gunfire, but dismissed it as the sound of a truck backfiring. Next day, while eating lunch we heard on the radio that there had been a gun battle between the police and ‘freedom fighters’ right at the lay-by where we had planned to camp. During the battle three ‘freedom fighters’ were killed, and some police were wounded. You can imagine how we felt when, later, we saw the bullet holes in the camp table and benches and the surrounding trees. How thankful we were to Jehovah that we were moved to change our camping grounds!” Brother and Sister Miles are now serving faithfully in Lesotho.

DISTRICT EXPERIENCES

Would you like to hear more about the unusual experiences of some of the district overseers and their wives? We already mentioned Don and Marj Morrison. On one occasion in the western part of the country, at a place called Kariba, Brother Morrison was sitting outside his tent one evening, doing some typing. Sister Morrison had gone to bed in the tent. As she says: “I was lying there in bed when I heard a strange puffing noise. I called Don, but he did not hear me. Again I heard the noise. This time I went out where Don was, to tell him about it.”

“I then took the torch [flashlight],” says Brother Morrison, “and went into the tent. There, between the edge of the tent and some literature in the tent I could see the middle section of a snake, thicker than your fist. Quickly I went out and, taking an iron pipe, went around the back of the tent. There was the tail end of the snake sticking out. I hit it with the pipe. Suddenly the head of the snake appeared and it raised itself, puffing at me. It was a puff adder. I had already crippled it, and now I finished it off with the iron pipe.” Needless to say, Sister Morrison did not sleep too well that night.

“Our first experience with scorpions,” says Ruby Bradley, “was the first time we put up our tent in the district work. We were just ready to go to bed when we noticed something crawling in under the tent. It was a scorpion. Quickly we killed it. But then another came, and another. It was not until we had killed four of them that we realized it was our light that was attracting them. So we decided the best thing to do was to put out the light.”

In March 1962, another missionary couple arrived here, John and Irene McBrine. Brother McBrine had gone through the ten-month course at Gilead School and was sent here to take over the duties of branch overseer. First of all, however, he did some district work to get used to the field. He tells us what happened:

“George Bradley from the branch office took Irene and me to a small circuit assembly in the bush about 55 miles from the nearest town. As it happened we caught the tail end of a hurricane, and it was raining in torrents.

“The location for the assembly was across from what had been a small stream. But now it was a raging river. It was quite evident the assembly sessions could not be held that night, so the African brothers found what shelter they could.

“What were we to do now? Actually, there was nothing we could do but wait. Soon after our arrival we had erected our tent. But fearing it would leak in the heavy storm, we three decided to sleep in the van, George trying to lie across the front seat, and Irene and I were in the back portion. Well! What a night that was! Outside, the storm’s fierceness became more intense with the increasing velocity of the wind. At one point we looked into the tent, and what did we see? The entire floor was under four inches of water! We were thankful we had decided to sleep, or try to sleep, in the van.

“The next morning things looked brighter. The rains had eased off. Soon the local brothers found a schoolroom where we could have our assembly program. The warmth of our brothers, who endured much more than we ourselves did, more than made up for all we went through.”

[Picture on page 143]

John Miles (shown with his wife, Val) served in the district work and in the branch office from 1960 until 1979, when they were assigned as missionaries in Lesotho

[Picture on page 145]

Gilead graduates presently serving in Zimbabwe. From left to right, back row: George Bradley, Irene McBrine, Lester Davey, Keith Eaton, Don Morrison; front row: Ruby Bradley, John McBrine, Anne Eaton, Marj Morrison