Page 81 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

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Father had great joy being in full work. Since the surrounding tribes also wanted to have a baruti, it was father’s duty as head to take care of this.
1866 He travelled to Natal with a couple of wagons to fetch the missionaries who had newly arrived with the Candace.
So, I saw my dear parents again after about three years and also my younger brother Hermann. Father had brought along wagon drivers and forerunners and oxen and when everything was ready he could return to the Transvaal with a big trek of ten wagons and many people. The trek drew much attention and the whites wanted to know where “the commando” was heading, yet they were only missionaries.
Back home, there was much work in the following years with the establishment of the stations Phalane Matlhare, Kana, Eben Ezer Saron etc. Everything happened under father’s hands with the permission of the government. In Bethanie, this is what he called the former Mandabale, because among the first people baptised there was a Lazarus, a Martha and a Mary, father bought the first property of 3000 acres from Tjaart Kruger, the brother of President Paul Kruger.