My name is Monica Gallegos-Laeupple. I have lived in Havre for 33 years and am an active member of St. Jude Thaddeus Church. I am on the Hays Mission Board, and on learning there were 5 nuns coming to Hays from Africa with no winter outerwear, I pledged Havre Courts of Catholic Daughters and Parish Council of Catholic Daughters would adopt one of the nuns. Ours is Sr. Lillian. My younger sister Maria Gallegos is living with us while Student Teaching in the Havre High School Art Department.
January 12, 2019, Maria and I drove to St. Paul Mission, Hays, Montana. My little car contained the supplies we would share. We were greeted at the door of the convent with squeals of delight and heart-felt hugs from 5 very enthusiastic nuns. We gathered in “the great room,” and they danced and sang the welcome song of Nigeria, their home country in Africa, as they did so, they encouraged us to join in, which we enthusiastically did. We received a lesson in making oat bread (including the grinding of the oat “grains” as well as old fashioned oatmeal.) The recipe is rather basic in ingredients, kneading was the key. I began the quiet lesson in loom knitting. One of the nuns had woven baskets in her village in Nigeria, and the way she held the loom, and the way she went about placing the yarn on the loom did not match what I had taught, but the result was the same, and she was a natural. Lunch for the nuns was a bitter herb and fish soup with a side of rather stiff cooked oatmeal, which they made into balls with their right hand, dipped into the soup, and ate. In their country, this soup and oatmeal combination is simply known as “swallow.” Maria and I had piping hot home-made bread, which was delicious. Maria taught them the simple art of print making. Each of them had their own Styrofoam printing surface to create on. We taught them to embroider, as they had discovered an entire coffee can of floss left by the previous occupants of the house. They shared beautiful stories about their families in Nigeria. All that we taught, they wish to bring to the classroom. It is their hope to teach the children to sew, to ink print, and to embroider. As we were preparing to leave, we prayed in a circle, and then they broke out into their native song with accompanying dance. These nuns, who have travelled have left their home country to teach on a small Indian Reservation in Montana were very warm, caring, delightful, and enthusiastic. It is their greatest wish to tour Montana, but not one of them has a Montana driver’s license. At the present time, they catch a ride to Havre to shop Walmart.
My sister Maria and I returned to St. Paul Hays Mission on January 27th and brought a sewing machine for their home and hobbies. We also brought a few items of warm clothing, a handful of books, and three containers of fabric. We taught them to make simple receiving style blankets. They have been a joy. Every day, they are in prayer.
Submitted by Monica Gallegos-Laeupple
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