Dear Family,
Hello there! Sure was great talking to you all last night! Too bad tho about the bad connections. Guess that is what I get for being way out in the wilds. I kept losing my train of thought. Actually I called with the excuse to wish Dad & Uncle Bill "Happy Fathers Day" but didn't. Guess it must have been the bad connections!
The training sessions so far have really been great! So far we have had meetings on Indian culture, contact & visitation, and now get this -- song-leading! You know how to "swing" your hands. Golly -- can you imagine me leading a song? My hands are really stiff -- they just seem to hang there -- either that or they are all mechanical.
Just wait till September & I'll be leading the Church Choir.
We have also covered food packing, as well as Bible School packing, etc. We had to pack last night for the whole summer.
They told us that a couple of years ago the mission was given alot of cans without any labels on them. Only numbers. I guess all summer a couple of boys ate this "stuff", fried "it", etc. Well. At the end of the summer they were back at Thetis and they saw the same numbers on a can with a label on it. They read the label and "it" was cat food !! I'm happy to say that this year all of the cans are marked with labels!
We started packing about 8:00 last night & got done a little past 11:00. Most of the food was put in gunny sacks -- by us. We ended up with 14 sacks of food, etc. One sack (actually a box) was our Coleman 'stove', and then about two boxes of Bible School material. We filled the bags about half full because we'll be the ones to carry them.
We got an awful lot of soup -- various kinds. Tomato (6 cans), Chicken Noodle (6 boxes), etc. etc. Alot of pork & beans (I should say beans & pork), 8 cans of that I think; beef stew, alot of canned vegetables, spam (6 cans), large bags of cereal -- cheerios, corn flakes, rolled oats; then about six packages of Kraft Macaroni stuff, instant milk -- 6 boxes of -- I think 12 quarts a piece.
I think I'm going to 'learn' how to eat (& fix) alot of foods I'm not all that crazy about! Um -- maybe I'll lose some weight!
"They" say that 'if and when' you get to be friends with the Indians that they will be generous with fish, etc. Actually, Dixie said that last year everyone was really friendly.
The sessions yesterday on Indian culture were really interesting. They said that the Indian people in general don't look into the future. Instead they want to satisfy & take care of their immediate needs. Where "we" are usually very interested in the future. Examples would be of us buying life insurance, going to college, etc.
Also how our society's security is usually wrapped around a job, money, place to live & transportation. Where their security is found in their family.
Then there is what is known as "Indian Time". They aren't suppose to be all concerned with running on a schedule. You say something starts at 1:00 and people will start coming maybe at 1:30 up till ?
Lyn is from Alabama -- as I already said. Her nickname is "Dixie" so if I ever refer to Dixie you'll know who I'm talking about.
Well, I better be closing. We have a session to go to. I'll try & write again while I'm here. I wrote Aunt Mary & all of them a long letter too but maybe later if I'm behind in my letter-writing you all can send my letters down. I'll let you know.
Got to go. Nice talking to you all!
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