OCR Text |
Show Nt Spr ~ ng 1948 -GliJ'R R}t lCY of non int;;erfe rel1 c 8 f .." l.th Navajo ways was put to a sev~l'~ t~$t early' thi s V'1nter. ft p~gan couple camping be~ide the ~eh~~ of one of our Church I'Hmllles a rr&nged f6r a ce'r emo-nial k'~in.,g1f a t thelr tentj neatly 1;1:11 our converts c.ttem:led it on sundC'l.Y morning instead of coming t 0 M(~ ss. Fa ther Liebler blew a fuse and told them in no uncertuln words tha t their conduct was . un worthy of their profession as ChristiclDS. He 1111[:. 5 rni squoted as hLving s aid tha t Na va jo prayers were bad. For days the atmos ~ phere was tense. We \'ere begi nning to wonder if we should have to start allover agaill! But e xplanations were finally made -- it wa s clearly understood that we. believe that Nav2cjo prayers,and all s i ncere acts of prCiyer,are 112 intention offered to t.pe True God , but t ba t for Christi ans . to attend them in place of the Holy 8c:.crifice 011 a Sunday morning wa s definitely wrong. The following sunday morning we had Pl:actically 100 per cent. a ttendance, and we h<: ve hE'.d ever since. After a Lent of conc.entrated instruction, the p<;t gan coupl e who had tha t tI Sing II were bapti sed on Eas ter Eve.) and. on ' E,~ ste'r Dti'yreceived their fir!;?t Haly .communion. . iH~ ** * ';1- THE 'tERM 1I1,ong-HDtr ll is appliBr'j by loca l Whl tes to N2.VC1 jo m.en , who areuheducated and ha ve no desire to _ ) 1 ... . \.. . . .._... '-f cl':- :ake Nava jo wnys . We had a lesson on ',,/ '~/7 . ~-;:. . .... ...: ..-,-, thi s subj ect the Qtbe:r day. ourF:l.ymouth ['f~ I.? .,-"""-- coupe asn't getting the ga s,ln spi te ·of E ·, b,,!.;;' If l:~.· a new fue1 pump j c;nd 1Ii,'e were fussing wi t. h /~_ . r~~\.---.{ j it when t1 riCkety ~~odel ,6. Foz:d came . gasp- ( ' Dc( ~ ',,- ing Emd purfing 2, 10 ~ g, a "Long-Hair" a t the , \~-.~-- wheel. He got out, and in perfect Engli sh j ." . -\\ i-.: s :·{(;d ;,,~rhi.l t seems to be the trouble?" In 11/.-,,') ) \ t wenty minutes the Plymouth VICiS purring contentedly! The next day he wn s cbcmt l ng,in his c·apacity a s medi-cine m2n, over a seriously slck youngman] OUR N A~AJO tATECHISM is growing fin a lly into ~sable form and we hope to .have it mimeogra phed by midsumfuer. It is .not a direct transla tion. of the Pray~r Book Offices ~f lnstruct ion) but follows the s a~e liheSj and is f ~ r more explitit--Qspeci ally in expounding the Apostles' Creed. We could hardly use a direct translation anyway,since the very opening "What is your name 7'lis about as crude as any question in Navajo, and would immediately put all hearers in a resentful frame of mind. . We are usi.ng the catechism in day school as well a s in Sunday school, and so working it into shape .,.by actual trial. . SPRING has been late, ~ s in most ~ & rts of the country, but as there h2s been an unusua l amount of snoyv during the winter, our hay field lB in good condition, &nd the gctrden is r eady for planting as soon as the iirigation ditch work is finished and water turned in . One peach tE:ee is cf\;; r ~ :. d \"j. th l)ink blos porns a s we wri te ... ( |