Element-Protagonist: Father Marie Latour

In this chapter William Miller showed a life of faith and persistence. He had faith in our religion and was never satisfied with mediocre knowledge of the Bible or of God. He always looked for more spiritual growth, studied more than what was expected, and prayed more. Ok wasn’t good enough. I was impressed by his persistence to reach the people and to follow the truth he knew. It gave me hope that he was a human just as I am a human. I can connect with the scriptures like him if I earnestly pray. I seek enlightenment for the understanding of the scriptures that are unclear to me and God will show me the truth just as he showed William. Finding the Lord and making Him your anchor in this life is the only way to be settled. William Miller wasn’t

This period, which deals with the world the Indians knew before the arrival of European explorers, poses difficulties flowing mostly from the lack of the usual evidentiary foundation for doing history: written documents (for example, letters, speeches, treaties, constitutions, laws, books, newspapers, magazines, almanacs). This lack need not be a major obstacle to historical study, however. Indeed, one of the most important things we can accomplish in teaching this period is devising ways to give students a sense of the spectrum of methods that historians use to investigate and understand the past. We can give students a sense of the breadth and depth of the historian's task and the

Although Cather does not tell a great deal about Father LaTour's service as an active entity, his action is revealed through the reaction of the different people to him. He has earned the respect of his servants, the well-to-do in his community, the poor Mexicans and Indians in his community, and his peers. Father LaTour is defined by how he reacts to others and how they react to him. He earns their respect and that is a response that is not given lightly. "The Bishop kept his word . . ." (Cather 132). In these few words much of the respect Father LaTour received from all people everywhere is explained. When Jacinto takes Father LaTour to the secret cave, he demonstrates complete trust in the priest's character. Jacinto recognizes that Father LaTour has a respect for the people that will cause him in turn to respect one of their holy places and that

She describes an experience where she and her son witness a man inflicting pain on an innocent animal and she is unable to stop him. During this distress of not being able to stop the abuse, she is reminded that Christ loves her. She is also reminded that even the main inflicting the pain on the dog is loved by Christ. She finds comfort in knowing that God’s love is not based on our behavior. Lamott tells her readers about the stones of faith that she sees in the path of her son. She talks about watching him work through different struggles as he finds his own path. She shares the understanding that things in life are temporary and it is the process of achieving them that is the true value. This idea is one of the stones she wants to pass onto her son to help him as he builds his path of

As a new and mysterious world awaits to be discovered, daring conquistadors leave their home country of Spain in a journey of exploration. Two men by the name of Narvaez and Cabeza de Vaca set sail to thwart the untrustworthy Cortez who, behind the backs of Narvaez and Cabeza de Vaca, sailed to the New World with half of Narvaez’s crew in search of treasures. However, the journey would prove to be treacherous as the conquistadors would have to encounter hostile Native Americans and strange terrain they have never seen before. Throughout the expedition, future encounters between the Native Americans and conquistadors were heavily influenced by the personalities of the individuals and past experiences the Native Americans faced.

In the book Voodoo and Power by Kodi Roberts, holds an interview with a man in the 1930’s that was an eyewitness for one of Laveau’s ritual. A seventy-two-year-old man named Raphael explained how he worked for her when he was in his teens. “Singing at her weekly ceremonies… Laveau kept her an altar in the front room of her house for good work, ‘good luck charms, money making charms, husband holding charms, etc.’ A number of saints (most notably- Saint Peter) decorated this altar” (Roberts).

“They have something to say to every minister of the gospel who has remained silent behind the safe security of

Hernan Cortes’s first encounter narrative, besides justifying his illegal trip to Mexico, displays the cultural and spiritual roles colonization played when he conquered the Aztecs. Cortes displays a very eurocentric outlook, “for they had left their native land so long ago and as I had only recently arrived from there, I would better know the things they should believe” (Cortes 58), the “native land” (Cortes 58) Cartes refers to is Europe. With this idea that Europe being the nucleus of the world signifies that Cortes has a cultural and religious duty to return these “long lost Europeans” back to the fold. Cortes having painted his view of the world creates a sense of belonging for him and all of Spain, in that since all life orginates in Europe all life and prosperity in the world is simply waiting to be plundered. He goes about this plundering by using Christianity as a moral justification for the colonization of the native population. He begins by destroying “idols”(Cortes 58) and setting up “images”, presumably of Christ, God, or The Virgin Mary, as they are superior to that of the natives and simply is what “they should believe”(Cortes 58) . This narrative of cultural and spiritual superiority is echoed in John Heckewelder’s retelling of the “Lenni Lenape”(Heckewelder 68) colonization myth wherein a group of Dutch missionaries visit the new world and are revered as God’s. Before they depart they distribute gifts among the natives of “beads, axes, hoes, and stockings” only to return on their second voyage to see the natives wearing them as “ornaments”(Heckewelder 70) wherein “the whites laughed”. Now Heckewelder’s purpose in relaying this oral tradition is very similar to Cortes’s it’s to display the cultural and spiritual superiority of the Christian in “helping” the natives for they are too stupid to help themselves. Where they differ is that in the “Lenni Lenape”(Heckewelder 68) tradition this colonization myth ,for me, serves as a warning to the tribe. For while Heckewelder’s original intention was most likely to display European superiority whether advertently or inadvertently it’s original intention was to serve as a warning where if the “Lenni Lenape”(Heckewelder 68) continued to allow the

Christopher Columbus’ expedition had a lasting contact with the Americas. Upon landing in the colonies of the “new world”, Columbus found inhabitants which he called “indios”, Spanish for “Indians”. At first, the “Indians” felt that Columbus was some sort of a prophet because he often quoted from the Bible. Christopher believed that he was accomplished in spreading the Christian religion. The Indians soon found that Mr. Columbus was taking advantage of them. The Indians response to the Europeans was one of fear, however, they thought Columbus came down from the sky.

One of the most central ideas found in the Bible is the concept of faith. However, faith used in Biblical terms is much broader than that. Faith is a commitment built on belief and trust. Stories of faith can be found throughout the Old Testament. Faith is not only our commitment and trust in God, and also God’s commitment to us. Youngblood defines faith as “the complete dependence on a dependable, and trustworthy God.” This paper will view the story of the fiery furnace, my step of faith in coming to Crown College, and God’s faithfulness to His people.

Tucked away in Sonoma County is Westminster Woods, which has played a significant role in mentoring me into the leader I am now. In college, I attended a weekly worship, which included an individual sharing his or her testimony, and I saw this as a special addition to the high school conference. I introduced this faith reflection time at the Woods, allowing campers to hear from their counselors and leaders about faith. However, once testimonies began, the wheels came off the wagon quickly – I had listened to speakers share a piece of their faith succinctly, but now our counselors were sharing their entire life story, rather than focusing on transformational points. Soon, counselors were only willing to speak if something traumatic had happened

“‘It’s a miracle of human perseverance, I tell you. And that’s just what I’m going to do from now on! I’m going to persevere. Yes, I’m going to persevere.’” (pg. 449)

In both Momaday’s The Way to Rainy Mountain and Erdrich’s Tracks, the importance of the oral tradition reiterates itself time and time again. However, each book captures the oral tradition in its’ own way; Tracks through Nanapush, and The Way to Rainy Mountain through Kiowa oral stories which Momaday brought to paper. The importance of storytelling in both texts lies in how it preserves Indian identity. The oral story communicates a tale which embodies aspects of history, myth, and reason in a simplistic way which all can understand and relate to. One might call the genre historical fiction where the storyteller got carried away and exaggerated more than a few details. The oral tradition is a mindset interwoven with the Native identity, such that words themselves can maintain the essence of a culture. This proves to be the goal of both Momaday and Erdrich; to capture and preserve a slice of their native culture using a transcription of the spoken word.

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A friend decided to come visit the missionary and help her with the burdens of the people. When the friend arrived she offered to meet with the people to see if she could be of some help. The missionary allowed her friend to try and be of help. Within a short time the people of the village started to show visible signs of change in their behaviors. Several of them were breaking free from the bondage of sin in their lives and the changes were very obvious. The missionary went to her friend and asked her what she had said to the individuals during their visits. The friend shared that when she met with the individuals she listened to them, allowed them to share their struggles, and then asked them: “What do you think that God would have you do about that problem?” Each individual would re-iterate truths from scripture regarding their particular struggle and talked about