lES

Missionary Fund, Box 347, Lancaster, Oy.'o#

Pt'oth a -pftr^ftnt letter by Mr and Mrs Lester Cooper, Missionaries, Mashoko Mission, Southern Rhodesia, Africa. American address is Cooper

African address is Mashoko

"
22 April, 1961

Mission P/Bag 56s Zaka, Southern Rhodesia, African

Dear friends,

"How firm

a foundation!"

We have one almost com

pleted for our house.

One kiln of brick is being

burned and another is almost ready to be fired# We

are taking over construction of a home which Berry Kennedy started. Berry plans to go to Guelo when Pembertons get back and take over the work of the
Gruvers who are retiring.

We are building the home on faith instead of finances just like we have done everything else. We pray
that it works out as well. We will need every dollar

as fast as they come in.

and windows next week.
are steel.

We are going to order doors

All door casings and windows
We have three terms per

One term of school is over.

year. We have received 150 applications for teacher training for next year. I can hardly imagine how
many we will get before next school year opens.

We are having lovely autumn weather.

and sweet potatoes.

are harvesting monkey nuts { peanuts) maise (corn)

days shorter^

The Africans

The boys, killed 4 young cobras where

The nights are cooler and the

we were levelling an ant hill near the classrooms*

White ants are the mound-builders of Africa. Best wishes to all of you.
In His Service,

Lester Cooper

(1>>^
m

'h

W. ' ^

Diii/IN
Church of Christ

if

PUBLISHED FOR COOPER MISSIONARY FUND

By

Fifth Avenue
Box 347

Lancaster,

Ohio

A LETTER PROM LESTER

Dear Friends:

August 10, 1961

This is a wonderful place#

One comes face to face with

It is chall

nature a nd sin in it*s crudest forms here

enging and rewarding^ We Tr- -nessed the baptism 6f ^ young people Sunday in a river infested with crocodiles
and hippos o The setting was so primitive that One it
John

must -r-/'
the .

have resembled the Jordan 2000 years ago when

Baptist was preaching and baptizing there#

They talk about it for weekse.

seminary students who was along remarked that it is a great.'.,

day for the Africans when the missionaries come to visit

of

the

The Pembertons were along on the tripe Their ten year old son traded an empty egg carton for a baby leopard skin# We slept in a school house with cow-dung floors v/hich had been freshly "waxed"# It is O'^st two weeks until the end of this school term, followed by the annual church conference and the dedicat ion of the hospital. That will be time long remembered
at Mashoko# It is hard for us to realize the significance

of a modern hospital sitting out here in the middle

"npwhere"#
In His Service,
Lesto" Cooper

of

OUR

OPPORTUNITIES

Along with the letter on page one, Lester enclosed a pic-"

ture of the hippos made from the banks of the same river

in which the new converts were baptised, and a picture of four of Carmie^s 8 pupils, Mrs, Cooper teaches the
children of the missionaries at Mashoko - a function most

vital to our work in that great land.

We are having these pictures copied and will send them to
our contributors.

Recently Lester asked for copies of a photo of the 25 men

in his teacher-training class, so that each man might have

one. These men will guide the destinies of the Federat

ion in perhaps only a few years. It is so imperative that they be properly trained in all branches of knowledge, but especially in the knowledge of the Bible, That is why
the Coopers are there. Upon their work may hinge the future destiny of a large portion of turbulent Africa.
We have NOW the chance to make Rhodesia a Christian nation

in the finest senses of that v/ord.We dare not fail opportunity. As important as our hospital is, it
nurses -

this will

for many years be dependent upon American doctors and

but the schools are NOW in the hands of the men

whom Lester is training for leadership. R. S. Garfield Todd, former prime minister of Rhodesia, says that no part of the work is more important than this.

OUR

NEEDS

gifts for the house the Coopers hope to build on the mission station, V/e cannot expect them to live indefinitely in the same house with Dr. Pemberton and his family. This is not fair to either family, and does not contrib
ute to good morale.

monthly pledges to care for the cartons of books

and supplies that Mr Cooper now pays for out of his own meagre living link salary.

OUR
Coopers.

HOPES

That many will prepare a Ghristmas box for the

Here are some hints -

. Welcomed items are packaged foods, prepared foods, powdered drinks, hard candy and gums,
toilet articles# These cannot be obtained

in the "bush" country at Mashoko,

Packages should be mailed not later than

November 1 to insure delivery by Christmas.

# Pack very securely for there's a lot of
bouncing between the USA and the Mashoko
mission.

Keep estimated values as low as honesty will

permit.

.... Send to Lester Cooper, P/Bag 56, Zaka,

Southern Rhodesia. AFRICA.,

DO NOT SEND IIOF"-"

547 T, nr cit- ' -v

.; ;-.f. : .

n.f,

Reflecting on the words of Jesus, "As the Father hath sent me, so send I you," E, Margaret Clarkson wrote
these words:

SQ

SEND

YOU

E. Margaret Clarkson
So To To So send I you - to labor unrewarded, serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown. bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing. send I you - to toil for me alone.

So send I you - to bind the bruised and broken.

O'er wandering souls to work, to weep, to wake.

To bear the burdens of a world a-weary. So send I you -r to suffer'for my sake#

"

So send I with :heai<; Forsaking So send I

So To To So

you - to loneliness and longi,ng, a -hungring for the loved and ImOwA, * home and kindred, friend and dear one. you - to know My love a^one^

send I you - to leave your life's ambition. die to dear desire, self-will resign, ' * labor long and love where men revile you. send I you - to lose your life in Mine.

So send I you - to hearts made hard by hatred.

To eyes made blind because they will "not see.
To spend, tho' it be blood - to spend and spare not

So send I you - to taste of Calvary.

FIFTH GBUaCIl OV CHRIST FIFTH AND BROAD STREETS

LANCASTER, OHIO

lOil-PROPIT^WGH. U.S.Postage Pdo

Permit NOc27

Florence Douglas
Flora,
Illlnoia

Lancaster^ Ohio
SL-': .K