"The Grandfather I Never Knew" Part 7

The Grandfather I Never Knew Part 7

For ease of reading I have posted links to the previous 6 parts of this series.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

With the house at 4 Taylor Avenue built, church meetings continued to take place there. This was a great blessing to Idris and Iris who wanted the place to be used as often as possible for these purposes. On 28th June 1960 Idris received this letter from two congregants

“To Idris,

To remind him of the part he and Iris have played, and are still playing in showing by word and by deed that there is no better life than that which is in Christ;

to tell him that the warmth and love found in his home has left a permanent glow in the lives of these two souls, who are endeavouring to emulate this Godly attribute;

to show him that though he is in Christ, he is also in our hearts;

To express in such inadequate terms the gratitude of us both for the “nursing(1)” and “bottle-feeding”1 he so painstakingly gave us as babes in Christ;

With fondest Christian love

Tom and Joy

Job 42:10”

Job 42:10 reads as follows: And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Original Letter from Tom and Joy(3)

Another member of the church, Howard Amm recalls the time he was baptised there with 7 others.

“Yes we were the first group of about eight or so young believers to be baptised on Whit Sunday (21/5/61) in a font especially built by Idris in his backyard ... an amazing experience followed up by many of us being baptised in the Holy Spirit2 at the pastor's (John Stegmann) manse across the road after the evening service ... an awesome day in my life ... funnily enough I don't remember all those who were baptised that day but I do remember a young pastor from SA whose name was Gerrie Hawes who was here at the time ... really great days ... some others who were there which may bring back some happy memories were Vera Potgieter and her young sister, Billy Morgan, Marilyn and Caroline Bush, some Welsh (They were actually Scottish.) friends of Idris and Iris Davies' from Salisbury who played the violin so beautifully…”

Staying in touch with the family in England was important but much more difficult to do in the days before cheap international calls, the internet and Skype. When phoning overseas you had to book a call for a specific time and it was £10 for just 3 minutes. Idris and Iris set off on a trip to England around 1962, visiting Iris’ sister and Idris’ brother while they were there. I believe this was also the last time that they saw Iris' father Harold before he died.

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1. It is not uncommon for new Christians to refer to being nursed spiritually. This comes from the scripture 1 Corinthians 3:2
2. Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a pentecostal tenant, where they believe the Holy Spirit gives them each of the spiritual gifts mentioned in the bible. 1 Corinthians 12 mentions these: 8 To some people the Spirit gives a message of wisdom. To others the same Spirit gives a message of knowledge. 9 To others the same Spirit gives faith. To others that one Spirit gives gifts of healing. 10 To others he gives the power to do miracles. To others he gives the ability to prophesy. To others he gives the ability to tell the spirits apart. To others he gives the ability to speak in different kinds of languages they had not known before. And to still others he gives the ability to explain what was said in those languages.
3. As of 2017 the letter is in Glyn Davies' possession. Glyn is the eldest son of Idris and Iris Davies.