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Show SAlINT CHlRlISTOlPHE1R9§ NEWSLETTER To POSTMASTER:- If addressee has moved, please notify the sender on form 3547. Postage is guaranteed. -:- Sec. 34.66 P. L. & R. Permit Number • 1 S.AINT CHRISTOPHER'S MI SSION TO THE NAVAJO - BLUFF, UTAH December 1950 IT HAS BEEN a summer of rebuilding after the fire which destroyed the east wing of our Mission House in June. We were greatly cheered by the prompt and generous help that came from devoted friends. Knowing that the news of the fire wouid spread quickly over the Reservation, we feared it might grow into rumors of destruction and abandonment of the work; so we started almost immediately on a series of visits and meetings, first in the Montezuma Creek area and then in Monument Valley. It was good strategy -- in many places we beat the rumor! S~lER HELPERS made our advance work more effective. Fr. and Mrs. Platt from Crystal Lake, David Wedden from Wellesley, Gary Miller and Alan Tull from Salt Lake, Raymond Bartholomew and Raymond Aldri ch all pitched in according to their gifts. A great deal of sweat went into the irrigation ditches and the gardens, and to very little avail as the River water failed in July. They also helped in the building program, especially the construction of a new and larger root-cellar - and in the filthy job of sifting the ashes after the fire in search of valuables. THE "McGIMPY CONSTRUCTION COMPANY" is hard at work! Yes, believe it or not, the official name of our Navajo mason is J. P. McGimpy! He knows his trade, bid an acceptable figure, hired three Navajo helpers, and is doing an excellent job. By the time you read this we may be moved in again! FATHER BOTELHO has made marvellous progress in the Navajo language! Thirteen months after his arrival he preached his first sermon in Navajo. He is now conducting the school at Montezuma Creek, with good attendance and wide interest. He baptised Eugene Benally August 27th. A LOVELY CERAMIC STATUE of Our Lady, portraying her as a Navajo Mother, with Infant on a cradle board, has been erected on a stone pedestal in the Chapel. It is, of course, the work of Martha Platt~ We hope it will stimulate among the Navajo people a wholesome love and veneration to the Mother of Our Lord. |