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Show #27, p. J After one Sunday, when I had been turned away by the sound of an Indian ceremony in pro~ress. a beautiful young mother stopped me as I went by the following Sunday and Mid, "We missed seeing Jeu last Sunday. ~1y 5-year-old daughter got up very early, brought in water from the outside water bucket, and washed her hair. When I asked her why, she said, 'I am goir~ to the church at the mission where I was baptized. I like to go to church there, I like to sing with them there. Helen will come.' When you didn't come, she said, 'I can walk. ,,, And the mother went on to tell me that about half an hour later the little girl dragged her short legs back into their hogan, saying, "I am too tired. Uext Sunday she will come". And she dropped on her blanket and slept. The next Sunday she was ready and waiting with five of her young neighbors! AND F'ROI1 JOAN .... Hello, there once again .... As most of you I think a:re aware, the original purpose of sending out a message was to keep our friends informed of what we're dOing, and enjoy their letters and visits, as well as the comforting knowledge that we are remembered in your prayers. Your generosity in sending us financial aid to maintain our small mission has made it unnecessary and, we felt, inappropriate for us to directly solicit money, except for three special needs - the building of the Church of St Mary of the I'Ioonlisht, help with a new priest's salary j and building and eqUipping a wash-house. However, as the ever-so reluctant Treasurer of Hat Rock Valley Retreat Center (by default, I assure you, not because of either talent or inclin~ tion - when the time for the monthly reconciliation of our bank balance comes around my list of Tremendously-Important-Things~I-Must-Do-RIGHT-NOW would fill a legalsized sheet of paper!) -- well, anyway, as Treasurer I'm the one who has to look dismally at the bills cominE; in for the preparation of the Ground for semi-retirement home, and c~ingingly write out the checks! You see, when I filled out the application for the 'lITO gIant it was early in the year, and it wasn't until September that the good ladies met at General Convention and voted us the grant. By that time, due to galloping inflation (which I know I ought to have foreseen, but didn't), the grant of $25,000 only just covered the actual cost of the house. And the cost of graders, concrete mixers and labor for the foundation is, at least in our eyes, astronomical. Put concretely (no pun intended), we have to face up to an additional ~1500. Plus the as yet unestimated cost of some extensive repairs which must be made to the existing single trailer to which the new house is to be attached by a covered breezeway. It's just a trifle unnerving! Of course, this move has been discussed, dissected, and agreed upon by us all, in consultation with Bishop Putnam, and we're all persuaded it's a Good Thing. So, once again we ask your help to complete this move - which will make it possible for a new priest (early next Jear, we hope) to take over the big house - 14 rooms - and rearrange it as seems most appropriate for a private apartment for himself (and family, should he have one), and space in which to hold meetings, classes, or whatever he sees fit to use it for. At all events, we hop~ this will give him the space and freedom he will need to carryon and expand the miss~on work, and, above all, raise up an indigenous ministry of committed Havajo Christians, who can carry the Good News to more and more of their own People, for the salvatioh df ",their souls and to the greater glory of God ....... One of our benefactors recently sent us a package of clothing which included a charming ankle-length little girl's dress in a patchwork pattern. I gave it to a visiting Navajo woman for her little grand-daughter. Have you ever seen an elfin-faced, waif-like little girl who arrives at )Our house dressed in skimpy, rather grubby, little sweater and pants, and before she leaves is clad in a pretty dress and is smiling shyly and trying hard not to exhibit unseemly joy in her new finery? I have, and all of a sudden I found I was developing a slight cold and had to reach for a piece of Kleenex rather quickly. Hay the love of the Holy Child comfort and gladden you all this coming Christmastide. In Him ...... Joan |