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Show 5 on the floor to the west of the fireplace; aiready a number of people had assembled and within minutes there was a congregation of about thirty. We offered prayers in Navajo, sang some parts of the Mass, and the Padre launched out into his earliest "stock" sermon, the only one he knew practically by heart, and which covered such simple points as the being and na ture of God, Crea tion, the Fall, Redemption, the Church and the Sacraments. A late comer, never to be forgotten, a man whom we afterwards came to know well as Mr. Little Wagon, shook hands in order (sunwise, of course) with everybody there, including the only slightly perturbed preacher, before sitting down to listen to the rest of the homily. Then we closed with prayers for the sheep, the goats and horses, and of course the adults and children of the family and all relatives. Well, it seems that the little boy in the red shirt, like many of his brothers, scattered after the father's dea tho His name, Dan Big Bitterwater, in its Navajo form was a bit too much, probably, for the schools or the traders, and it became J ones. Possibly due to the good influence of a Mormon Bishop and his wives in Bluff in olden days, the name of Jones has become very widespread. Dan, then, married, and as Providence would have it he picked a girl who had had Church teaching in school. They had a radio. Every Sunday they tuned in on our broadcast - in which, together with items of local news and general interest, it has been our aim to cover the content of Christian revelation several times in th~ course of each year, not to mention making hymns and Navajo language prayers well known. Of course, you have guessed it. The family that came in on the eve of Memorial Day was one to whom we had been ministering unconsciously for many years. We thought we had lost track of the boy but we had not forgotten. A red shirt is easier to remember than a faded gray one; a little boy who asks for prayers is easier to remember than one who asks for candy. 'How many more there are we cannot tell, but with your help we plan to stick around and try to find out. |