| OCR Text |
Show • r ,I THIS IS IT 1 s.w. I .M. NEWS BUllETIN NO. 1. Re - st. Christopher's Mission to the Navajo, Bluff, Utah. August 25, 1943. some w'eeks have passed since our last official meeting, and during that time much has happened that will be of interest to the mombers of S.W.I.M. Our Missionary Group, under the wing of Father Liebler, havo accomplished their trek westv'vards to utah, whore they are now in the process of establishing themsolvos. Yes, they arc w'oll, and all is well with them. However, becauso ' I know that you will prefer to learn of somo of their experiences first':'hand, there follow some excerpts from letters which Father Liebler wrote to me, but Which I knew he intondod for all of us. "\'loll; after wrestling with a half dozen ration boards on the way, seeking tires, we roached hero Thursday afternoon, and pitchod ca~p in the shadiest place we could find; noar a good garden spot, vJ'hich we have ploughed (40' x 100') and irrigated, today we expect to harro'.'1 nnd start planting. Wo've had l1ass every day, on Sunday we' sang the Mass (without incense) and I must say the community did a nico job. Vle have a Navajo 10SS011 nenrly every day. We;; had two visitors at Mass sunday, w'atching from the top of the cliff about k mile away. Have visited two families who live on this side of the river. Four tents aro pitched and this moring I'm having my slaves erect what the Navaj 0 call a' Shade at the place whore the cooking is ' done. we can move around for eating, but the fireplace is pretty stntiOllary. The white residents of Bluff are more thn.'l cordial, invited us to come to sunday school Sunday morning -- they don't havc'''church'' except once a month when a preacher comes, but they "just sing a hymn, and have the sacrament and everybody partakes and then go to classes" -- but they "don't have church". As I write I can henr tho Navajos to the East Singing -- I don't know if they are having a ceremony or just singing for happiness. Esther (nurse) is planning to go see. We arc in an exquisite canyon, the walls north and south of us aro beautifully colored especially in the evenings when the sun strikes parts of them, contrasting with other parts in shadow. The irrigation ditch is above us and a smell lateral ditch just at hand. Flies are bad, but strangely fm. mosquitos, considering. We have to carry our drinking wG,ter from tOVm; I'm trying to get a drum to save frequent trips. A spirit of friendship and cooperation exists which is very satisfying. SUnday we wrote letters after breakfast (Mass was at 9) then about 2 we had lunch; visitors came from the village who stayed for supper, and more came after supper -- so it was a busy o.ay. We tried to do no unnecessary work. Since v.rriting the above we've had our first real'visitor from the Navajo -- a man named Randolph -- that's his "American mune", they are very loath to speak their real or Navajo names. He speaks a little English, end is very friendly. Is going to try to get us some frosh meat, which is hard to find hero. It |
