have no budget funds. It seems like emergencies
are always coming up. The wife of one of our preach-
ers needed to come here to the hospital for medical
assistance during the last couple of weeks of her
pregnancy. The preacher at Gonaives (Canal Bois)
needed a new saddle blanket for his horse and re-
pairs on the saddle. Of course, we can't give money
for everything, but sometimes there are things that
are really necessary. We're very careful how we
spend both the mission money and ours too. In fact,
in some quarters here we have a reputation for being
stingy! But that's good-it has scared away some
mercenary preachers who wanted to join us.
 Yesterday morning I was writing letters and Mary
yelled from one of the front windows that there was
a "marchande" [street vendor] in front of the house
with Christmas trees. We had given up the idea
of a Christmas tree (even though we have our lights
and decorations with us) because we hadn't seen
nor heard about any at all. But here were some
peasants who had brought them in from miles away
in the "Foret des Pins" ("Forest of Pines") in the
south toward the Dominican Republic border. I
rushed out in front and began looking them over. I
soon found a shapely little pine (no firs or spruce)
and haggled the "marchande" down to 60c for it (4
feet 2 inches high). This morning we took it to
church with us only to find that E- had one al-
ready there gaily decorated with tinsel and balloons.
So we brought it back home with us and decorated
it in our dining room where it looks very much like
Christmas. We have received about 70 Christmas
cards. We're enjoying them so much.
 I've had a sore throat for the past several days
and today after getting home from church I felt sort
of weak. So this afternoon I was in bed most of the