I didn't notice your letter saying you were praying for the Southwest people who are in the path of smoke and forest fire.  The letter was probably published while I was evacuated ten days because of smoke, on doctor's orders.  I am back, but this summer, and any other summer the Lord allows us on earth, will be "iffy" and anxiety ridden because of the drought bringing conditions conducive to many repeats of huge fires and huge layers of smoke blowing around.

Especially I appreciate your prayers for the Indians who live in these lands, and for those who live in the area of old contaminated mines in the Four Corners areas.  Not only have these mines been left unsealed, sometimes, to pollute the Indians' land and water, but there is a new company trying to set up uranium mining in the Navajo area.  The Indians have said "NO" to them, even at economic loss to themselves, but the greedy ones are trying to push this new project, which could be set up in an unsafe manner.

And furthermore, Gerlinda, I have written to Doves about how the Indians have not received the best protection from fire that other have received here, especially in the fire of 2011, where the town I live in was saved by 1000 firefighters battling blazes right up to the edge of town, but the Indian Pueblo of Santa Clara was less well defended, and much of their ancestral hinterland and watershed was destroyed, including sacred lands.  Many of these Indians are Christians, and we should defend them with our prayers!  Not all are Christians, and we should pray for their coming to Christ!  

In our present fire, the Thompson Ridge area of the Jemez Mountains, which was badly burned and produced much smoke, is also a sacred area to the Jemez Indians.  But in this instance,
there was a tremendous effort to save their lands (from what I heard on TV), and those who were fighting the Jemez fire were the "hotshots" who were later killed in Arizona a few days ago, in the Yarnell fire.  Horrors!  

58 fires were still burning in America a few days ago--I have not had time to keep track of it since then.  The smoke is less or absent on most days in my town now, but it could return.

I wish I could move to the coast and get rid of yearly expensive evacuations, but it is expensive to live on the coast.  Some people say the coast will be inundated by a great tsunami.  So there is no sure-fire place to live any more.  I have been praying, and having others pray, for my discernment in this matter--how and if I should leave here and go to an area near the coast before the next fire season.  

Mariel Rowina