Draft of St. Christopher's Newsletter dated Christmas 1959;
Subject
Indians of North America; Indians of North America—History; Indians of North America—Religion; Religion; Missionaries; St. Christopher's Mission (Bluff, Utah); Health; Children; Newsletters;
Place names
Bluff (Utah); San Juan County (Utah); Utah;
Keyword
Navajo; Navajo Indians; Navajo Indians -- History; Father Liebler; Brother Juniper; Liebler, Harold Baxter 1889-1982; Missionaries; Religion; St. Christopher's Mission; St. Mary's of the Moonlight Chapel; Hunting;
Tribe
Navajo;
Description
This newsletter describes a favorable hunting season, the end of a two-year drought, a fire at the Mission, work at the Mission's clinic, births and deaths, and the Mission's need for more priests. The newsletter also thanks its readers for their donations;
Publisher
Digitized by: Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library;
Date.original
1959-12;
Type
Text;
Format
application/pdf;
Source
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives;
Language
eng;
Coverage
Bluff (Utah); San Juan County (Utah);
Rights
Reproduction for publication, exhibition, web display or commercial use is only permissible with the consent of the USU Library Western and Mormon Americana curator, phone (435) 797-2661;
Holding Location
Utah State University, Special Collections and Archives;
' 59 Xmas NL
OUR HE.I\RTIEST CHR ISTMAS GREETI NGS GO TO LL OUR
FRIE IDS A D BENEF CTORS !
It i s our fervent prayer that God 's richest blessing
may descend upon you all. Every evening throughout the year,
before We disperse from Our Evenin Prayer in the church,
we offer our intercessions fo r you , but as we come to the
festival o f joy, when the whole world gives thanks f or t he great
Gift to Mankind, \vhich is God taking Hu man Nature into Hi mself ,
We most particu larly desire that e veryone of you may share
the joy that 1s ours in s erving the NavajO People , and bringing
to them t h e Good News of Noel - - Emmanuel God with us.
RAI N DEER
r~ I NCE OU last Newsletter a few spectacu l ar events ~
~ must be shared with 10u. We had c r i ed a bout the
drought . No rain for full t wo y ears -- except s light
sprinkles that scarce l aid the dust. Our prayers for rain
seemed to receive the answer "No t yet , my chi ldre n" - - until
t he f i rst o f October. Our weekly trip t o Aneth had t o be
omitt ed, as the washes were running high and trails washed
away and i mpassable. During d e er season \veather was f or the
most part ideal, but towards the end came more and more r a in.
Before and a f ter All Sai nts ' Day came deluges; even our monthly
trip t o Olj e to was i mpossible -- lakes covered what had been
desert -- u ntil a week after our regular announced dates .
Deer season was t he bes t in our history. As loyal supporters
of the State of Utah and its ish & Game Department , we
h ave every yea r b ought a number of licenses , a nd hopefully put
in a few days,as we could spare them from ou r work, i n the
mountains. This yea:r, for t he first time, 'fIe were a ble to
f ill our licenses -- 13 head -- and our deep-freeze. Sounds like
a lo t of meat , and it must have felt like a lo t of meat f or
Brother Juniper to prepar e f or t he freezing , but when you
think of well over 2 thousand meals each month, it will not
be too much. NHz~EKZgx I f it lasts until Christma s, we shall
be f ortuna te.
FIRE! FI RE!
A sudden column of smoke .in tbis dry country -- especia lly
during such a drought -- is a smoke signal for "grab a shovel and
run, not walk!" But befor e we a t the J.: ission saw. t he bla.ck
s moke from Leona's shade made of dry branche s and her tarpaper
shack , the five children who had b een left home a lone
had begun their rescue worko Beth, the eldest., has spent (;tiT
many months of her young life i n Salt Lake Ci t y ~ Shriner!'
hospital, where she was successfully treated for a severe congenital
hip def ormation . We wonder i f t hey c ould have i ncluded
first-aid procedure in~heir program! For--- when finally
We got the story pu t t ogether, it seems that she got t he efi i l4:lPen .tJ-11_ out of the burni ng bui l ding, __ i j f $ife1B .yf! ~r~e y" HeJ:!. l~,
([ l)nt t ~ e e~ clothing w..e ablaze and t h e tender flesh already
seare • Beth rolled her in the sand like an expert.**
