..and Ann Cooper
April 8, 2010 (Thursday)
Last night at our church’s mid-week service, Mrs. Ann Cooper spoke to us about the work she is doing in the Fiji islands. She goes to Fiji three times a year to establish Christ-centered kindergartens, and to enlist and train teachers for the work. In three years, 27 kindergartens have come into being in villages on the islands. Teams of volunteers go with her at their own expense to help with the project. Boxes and boxes of costly materials for the kindergartens are taken to Fiji with them. She and her husband, David, paid all the expenses and bought all of the materials as long as they could, but the current deep recession has impacted them severely and they have set up a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that accepts donations. The address is Fiji Kinde Project, P.O. Box 4104, Laguna Beach, California 92652-4104.
Ann is the daughter of Ruth and Troy Conner, who is the minister of music at Timbergrove Baptist Church, Houston, where I am pastor. She is one of the sweetest people in the world and I am happy to have the privilege of praying for her in this missionary work. This did not come into being through anything other than prayer. She is a former kindergarten teacher. God laid this on her heart. She obeyed and the Lord has richly blessed her commitment to Christ.
The villages served by these new schools have no electric power or running water. Consequently, they have none of the modern conveniences or distractions. This early education project is eagerly received because there is no pre-school education other than these kindergartens. Ann’s vision, which is shared by everyone involved in “The Kinde Project,” is to send teams of educators to Fiji to share, train, teach and provide. One by one, village by village, she and those who voluntarily work with her, will set up a Christ-centered kindergarten program using a well-planned, comprehensive classroom model. Ann needs and wants your prayers for her and the Fijian people.