Letter from Stafford and Rae Cowling

Dear Mike and Ally

Great to hear all of the news from you and the church and thanks for
sending it on. Over Easter we attended a conference for teachers in
Christian schools and there were two main themes: one to integrate
Biblical principles into our everyday teaching and the other to regard
children as of great importance (including in evangelism) so your
comments about the status of the ministry to children is along the
same lines. The man from ‘Compassion’ (Wes Stafford) pointed to many
Scriptural passages where children were used by God and the NT example
where Jesus was firm in his command to let the children come to him.
He estimates that 80% of Christians were converted by the age of 18.

Here the school year has less than 10 weeks to run, and for Rae’s
students it is only about 4 weeks to the beginning of Cambridge exams.
She is praising God that some of them are doing better than expected,
but asks for prayers for some others who need to work very hard on
their revision. She also has been teaching flute and clarinet to some
of the students in the school’s band program and helping to coach a
middle school soccer team. These activities give her the opportunity
to establish relationships with younger students.

Teaching English at the midwife college is also coming to a conclusion
for this year because in a few weeks time they will go on clinical
placement for several weeks before their long break. There will be a
new group of first year students in about September to teach, and
possibly some help with writing for the second and third years.

A family here has just unexpectedly lost their father/husband to
pneumonia so please pray for the two children, two boys age seventeen
and thirteen, and their mother, as they return to Zimbabwe for the
funeral and eventually to live because their father had the work
permit permission to live in Ethiopia. The whole school prayed in
their classes for the family. The students in Stafford’s class were
deeply touched by what had happened. They spontaneously got themselves
into a circle and each one prayed.

The photos are just for fun. The tall Eucalypt in the school grounds
was cut down by axe and rope and a nest containing a young Kite came
with it. One of the Australian teachers rescued it and gave it a nest
in a dish. It is much bigger now and with the Bennetts at the Fistula
Hospital. The small patch of garden is in front of our place and
further back (out of sight) are some cape gooseberries. A shot of the
Rift Valley Academy in Kenya as we were leaving.

Best wishes and love from us

Stafford and Rae

We will be back in Adelaide late June so we will be able to visit your
new church location. Praise the Lord for all he has been doing in your
part of the world.