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Show In the field of religion: our 75 communicants have all been carefully and thoroughly ins1.-:- ucted in the Faith, in their own tongue. Each knows his Christian duties and responsibilities. It would be untrue and unrealistic to claim that all live up to these - we should ~ h cn ~e claiming what no mission or parish on eal-t h has ever achieved - but they do know h(,w to pray, they know the meaning of sin and penance, how to prepare for and receive the life giving sacraments and to live in accordance with the grace received. And we have several h :;ndred catechumens scattered over our vast a:'ea; these receive instruction as often as we can reach them, and should in a few years he ready for the sacraments. In the field of medicine: we have in ih'..! last six months alone treated over 15flO ou 'patients, and admitted 15 to our all too limited hospital facilities. At least six children who would be dead of tuberculosis, and could not be admitted to sanatoria, are playing or herding today, due to our care. Last winter the oxygen tent saved several patients too w e~k to be transported to Governmen t hospitals. In the fie ld of education : we have the only non-Government schools for Navajos in Utah, and have been able to maintain standards vc!" \, close to those required throughout the Stat ; . Our children compare favorably to white children of corresponding grades - a c:Jnd ij ion almost unheard of in Navajo lanel b(~ r 'lW' '-' of the great gap between horne life and I ~~_~ first years of school. -4- And so-we feel we have a right to come bef.o=-e our fr iends and helpers and ask them seriously to do what they can to make our lac ors fr uitful. A man can dig a ditch with his hands; he can do it better and faster with a shovel, still better with a dozer. We are giving our lives to this work, and that is all we have to give. Weare ready and willing to continue digging with our hands if that is how it has to be, but we know we can do a better job with proper equipment. We took on this work because we asked Bishop Moulton for it, and we will see it through without complaining. But we do believe that you, our friends, want us to do a good job, as good as possible, and that you will give generously to make the gift of our lives truly effective. In 1942 the Rt. Reverend A. W. Moulton, then Bishop of The Episcopal Church in Utah, author ized the undertaking on St. Christopher's Mission to the Navajo. In August, 1953, on the occasion of the Mission's tenth anniversary, he w 'iL,:,: 1 t has been a source of happiness and satisfaction to me to have had something to do with the beginnings of our impressive work among the Navajo. I consider that St. Christopher's is the most intelligent and far reaching of Ch ristian endeavor in the lives of the Navajos. It is creative, for it understands the Navajos. Its work is fundamental and basic. I believe h eartily in it and am convinced of .' its endurance. It would have been a great and foolish mistake to have declined to help in this undertaking when the opportunity was presented. It is an inspiring and intelligent Christian enterpr ise, a child of the Holy Spirit. Arthur W. Moulton, ~ Retired Bishop of Utah. ' |