Message #35 from Helen Sturges, Brother Juniper, and Joan Liebler dated May 1983

Page 2

#35, Page 2 Mission, and the word "retirement" became a sort of family joke! And we did our best to conform to the Bishop's request that we be '"'resource people" and support the priest in charge of St l'fJary of the Moonlight. As Father Liebler used to put it, "We do our best ; angels can do no more!" All this has been a bit of a struggle for me, as I have been responsible for the monthly bill-paying, and I am quite sure my Guardian Angel is getting tired of frequent trips to the Heavenly Throne with my pleas for "enough in the bank to pay our bills!" And the Lord has provided us with enough good, faithful friends to ensure that we have never actually been "in the red" - though perilously near it at times. And for that we are deeply grateful to. you all. I have recapitulated all this because I have to do what we never like to do - ask directly for your continued support until such time as Brother Juniper and I have found somewhere else to live. A move at this time has its traumatic aspects and for that reason we hope we shan't have to rush it too much. We have several possible loca­tions in mind, but there will be much work we hope to accomplish before the actual move - for one thing I shall try to get to work on sorting Fat.her's books and papers as soon as possible, but I must confess to being a chronic worrier when it comes to money matters and it is difficult to concentrate on such tasks with one eye on the calendar - and the 10th of the month comes around all too soon. And of course the daily round goes on - I never know when someone may come in with some problem or need which must be attended to. Hat Rock Valley Retreat Center still exists, so any help you feel you can send us is tax-deductible, and your gifts will be most gratefully re­ceived. We haven!t made any plans for a garden this year, as someone has to be around at all times to k3ep it irrigated and see the fence is kept in repair lest the cattle stomp arouncrAWreck it. Anyway, we have had the strange sort of weather the rest of the country has had, and the nights have been very cold. I was rather too enthusiastic about banana squash last year and the vines, with their huge leaves, tried to climb on to the porch. But it worked out quite well, as we were able to share some of the huge squash with our neighbors. I also discovered that string beans did very well, and we had a splendid crop of tomatoes. Two cottonwood trees that grew from branches of another tree and were planted by our friend Sam Chee have grown until they are higher than the house. It is so restful to look out of the window and see the lovely green Imves. We hear such good news about the young man, Ray Begay, who, you may remember, had such a hard time finding a school to go to off the reservation. Eventually Bishop Putnam found him a home with the Rev. Hugh Duncan and his lovely wife Beverly, in Moses Lake, Washington. Ray attended the local High School and is now at Big Bend Community College. His foster parents love him very much, and he loves them. They are very pleased with his progress. His English shows great improvement, but mathe­matics seems to be the present stumbling-block. He will attend summer school this year in an effort to catch up. Then he hopes to visit his family here in Navajoland for a few weeks, before returning to college. He got a scholarship for his tuition, and earns his own money with a paper route. Track is his favorite sport. He never misses church on Sunday and is an expert server and acolyte. At college he has the opportunity of meeting students from many other countries, and when they have school dinners he prepares Navajo tacos (Navajo fry bread with taco filling), which compe'te very well with the exotic foods prepared by other students. So those who have helped Ray with travel and clothing money can congratulate themselves on making a very worth-while investment. Those who might wish to continue helping him in this way could send their contributions, earmarked "for Ray Begay" to the Rt. Rev. Wesley Frensdorff, Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Navajoland, P. O. Box 720, Farmington, NM 87401, for him to forward to Ray's foster-parents. To end this message I would like to share with you a very comforting scripture from one of my Bible-read­ing lessons this week. In II Cor. 1:8-11 St Paul seems to be referring to some unspecified danger to which he was exposed, but the general tenor of his words are also applicable to the spiritual and emotional troubles of those who have suffered bereavement and have to en­dure periods of wandering through the valley of the shadows and feel threatened by change. So I hope this will be of comfort to others besides ourselves: " ...•. we should like you to know, dear friends. how serious was the trouble that came upon us in the pro-vince of Asia. The burden of it was far too heavy for Ros£ At(. ..... & br,bing Samw' .. E.. .. ~irt'\\\,.. us to bear, so heavy that we even despaired, of life .... aM Lad tc fJcs£ w\~ ~of b\~-ts! This was meant to teach us not to place rellanc€ on Ros, ",t IS -t-o £,,+€.r C£n~nz.\ A~'J~"a ourselves, ,but on Go~ who raises the de~d. ~lR such Co\\f'~£'~ ~o\,b~ ~,~ -t-a\\. -PO$~ ~n'l mortal perll God dellvered us; and he wlll dellver us l.. :&, l'~£ w,~ln c,oyW\Mu..~'nf a,~" again, he on whom our hope is fixed. Yes, he will con- "La""','!, 'ftn~ if sO C.D~~ -thc." A'U.u- 1 . f 'II t b . -. ~"c. · t""1, ~ I -,I , tinue to de iver us, l you W1 co-opera e y pray1ng • a .folt'£r.holW\~ L-The $C."'''' '11Af". for us. Then, with so many people praying for our de- • ~ ~- . liverance, there will be l many to give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour God has shown towards us."