David Berg
DFO 168812/83
1. WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE STAFF IN THOSE GIRL PICTURES, WHAT DO YOU THINK IT NEEDS? (Fam: A crook on the end?) Right! Won't that give it a better flavour?—The Little Shepherdess of Kingdom Come! That is identifying & significant & we've had a lot of comment about that in the past! (See "The Shepherd's Crook!", No.99.)
2. THIS BOOK IS GOING TO BE SOMETHING THEY'RE GOING TO PROBABLY SHOW TO OTHER PEOPLE! It's a tool! It's going to be a utility book & not just something to read. So since I hope they're going to be able to show it to others, I don't want to put too much extraneous material in it.
3. IN PUTTING TOGETHER THE GIRL BOOK I HAD TO THINK ABOUT A WHOLE LOT OF FACTORS, making it sort of a progressive continuing story, beginning with her personally‚ then her early ministry, just like we're doing now, & then it gets into the heavier stuff later. It wasn't exactly easy to try to apply these in modern context to make it some sort of a story that is believable.
4. THIS IS KIND OF CHILDLIKE, but anyhow, I guess I'm just simple-minded! I just thought I'd make it so easy, [everyone] could read it & connect the two facing pictures. That makes it a worthwhile sentence then & the little narrative couldn't be any simpler!
5. I MADE IT SORT OF A CONTINUATIVE STORY TO END ON A VICTORIOUS NOTE! On the next pictures we can just start all over‚ but this in itself will be a nice little book. It starts beautifully & ends victoriously! We can even use the booklet separately if necessary‚ I hope.
6. I TRIED TO MAKE IT EXTREMELY SIMPLE FOR [EVERYONE]. I was thinking of [someone], how she turns the pages of a book & reads slowly word-by-word & just as few words as possible. She could just really move along that way. You've gotta keep things moving to keep [people's] attention, sort of like watching a moving picture. That's why I tried to make it as simple as possible & opposite pages as continuative as possible to make it real simple to read it!
7. (FAM: THANKS FOR YOUR TIME ON THIS!) Oh, it's my pleasure, it's my job! I've never had one quite like this before though, this is kind of unusual, but it's shaping up! It's coming together, thank the Lord, & I think maybe we'll like it. I try to keep thinking of something simple that [anyone] can read & appreciate.
8. I'VE GOT GOOD NEWS FOR YOU, I JUST TESTED THIS BOOK ON [SOMEONE] & SHE LOVED IT! And she read the whole thing in ten minutes all the way through, looking at the pictures & reading the captions! She only had difficulty with a few big unfamiliar words like "embodiment" & "miraculously" & "supernaturally." She got that one after I divided it. I'll go over it one more time & if I can think of a way of making it any simpler without words that are too big, I might revise those titles a little bit more.
9. SHE LOVED IT & THESE WERE ALL NEW TITLES AS FAR AS SHE WAS CONCERNED, & SHE READ'M ALL PRETTY WELL! She had one question somewhere which I quickly explained to her & she understood then. So there was nothing serious, but I found the biggest difficulty was turning the book back & forth. So I went through it again & I've got some order changes, in other words to give longer stretches of horizontal pictures & longer stretches of vertical pictures.
10. I'M GOING TO TRY TO GO THROUGH IT AGAIN & CHANGE THE WORDS WHERE SHE HAD A LITTLE TROUBLE. [Some others] wouldn't have any trouble at all with those, but I was trying it on [her] because I figured she was the real acid test!—And she just went through it like a breeze! So I think it's done the job. She understood all the pictures except one, I've forgotten just now what it was, but I'll let you know in case it needs any changes. I want to make it as simple as I can for [everyone]. I'll tell you, if [she] can do it‚ they can all do it. Amen?
11. I HAVE A FEW TITLE CORRECTIONS OF THE ONES THAT WERE A LITTLE BIT DIFFICULT [HER]. One thing I noticed was that in all these titles they capitalise all the words. Now that makes it difficult to read, those capital letters. And where the two sentences are united & continued on the next page, there shouldn't be another capital letter. If it's one statement it should all be lower case except the first word.
12. OKAY‚ I'VE GOT SOME CORRECTIONS THAT I THINK WILL MAKE IT SIMPLER FOR EVERYBODY. Page 34, "She's God's love in the flesh." That makes it a lot simpler instead of that big word "embodiment." She had a little struggle with page 39, she didn't know the word "performed." So that's simple, we can say "And does miracles." On page 48, she didn't understand what "She parts the waters of escape" meant, so I suggest we change it to "She parts the waters for the escape of the forces of the Lord."
13. AGAIN, WORD ORDER IS IMPORTANT , & when you have an interpolation like on page 54 it's kind of confusing. She sometimes reads just sort of by association. She read it: "Her guardian angel Flames" instead of realising Flame was the name. Apparently that hasn't been emphasised so she didn't get the point. So I think it's better to put the name Flame first: "Flame, her guardian angel, smites the Sodomites with blindness." On page 57 she didn't know what "unscathed" was either, so that's simple, just change it to "unburned": "Escapes boiling oil unburned." Some people may think we're too childlike, but that's okay. She got the "untouched by fire," how about that!
14. GOD BLESS YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE ON THIS! It didn't take a lot of proofreading, but it sure took a little organisation! But testing it on her was really the test & that worked‚ thank the Lord! We didn't strike too many snags. And that's when I found out that turning the book back & forth was hard for the little ones & kind of confusing.
15. I LIKED EMAN'S REVISIONS OF HER CROOK‚ ALTHOUGH MARIA & I BOTH AGREE IT SEEMS HIS CROOK IS A LITTLE SMALL. It wouldn't hardly go around a lamb's neck, much less a sheep's neck! On the Sodomite picture it would be almost impossible to hold her crook in that position! I'm more convinced than ever that it needs to be held in a more defensive position here under these circumstances. It ought to be in her right hand where it is, but like she's holding it right in front of her in self-defense, like I did my umbrella that time, in a sort of a defiant position.
16. SO THOSE CROOKS ARE JUST TOO SMALL! Crooks are made that way so they can be gotten around a sheep's neck, if necessary, to pull it out of water or bramble bushes or whatever in order to really pull it out, & those just are not hardly big enough to go around a lamb's neck!
17. THE MOUTH OF THE CROOK NEEDS TO BE IN SORT OF A CURVE. The end of the curve in some of them didn't curve out enough. The reason it has to curve out is you're trying to get that thing around a sheep's neck & you want it shaped a little bit funnel-like. The end of the crook should come out a little more as it ends & tip out away from the rest of the rod so you could easily slip it over a sheep's neck or a leg or something. In proportion to her, the mouth of the crook needs to be about five inches wide, about the length of a 3x5 card, & that's a pretty big crook. I realise I said to draw a sort of a small crook, but I meant not too long for her size, I didn't mean that the head should be reduced proportionately.
18. IF THIS WERE A MUCH LARGER CROOK FOR A LARGER PERSON, LIKE A LARGE MAN OR SOMETHING‚ IT MIGHT BE A LARGE ENOUGH. But since the rod is so small, as short as she is, it makes the crook too small. So although she has to have a shorter rod for her size, the crook still has to be virtually the same size as it would be for a shepherd, because the size of the sheep remains the same! Because of her small size, the mouth of the crook should not be less than 4 inches wide. You could get that over the neck of a sheep if you could get it through all the wool, because they're pretty skinny when they're sheared, & you could certainly get that around a leg or something.
19. I LOVED HIS "SHINING FACE" PICTURE & IT'S THE PERFECT THING FOR THE BACK COVER! Here's my title for it: "Her face shines with God's glory as she tells of victories!" Isn't that a happy ending?—For this chapter anyhow!
20. I WAS LOOKING AT THIS MASTHEAD, & YOU KNOW WHAT WE SHOULD DO? It would read a lot better if we would switch the GN104 with the "God is Love," Otherwise you have a tendency to read it: "God is Love—Good News—GN104," but the GN104 is really not the most important thing so that's not in the proper order. It should read: "GN104—Good News—God is Love!" What's the Good News?—God is Love! Don't you think that's an improvement?
21. THIS ONE PIC ON PAGE 50 HAD ME WORRIED THAT [SOME] WOULD THINK THAT FROGS WERE SOME KIND OF A PLAGUE‚ WHEREAS WE COUNT OUR FROGS HERE AS OUR FRIENDS! So I changed the title to read this way: "She commands her friends the frogs to attack the Antichrist forces!"—Like they're her friends! The [younger readers] would like that. Also on the "Fight" pic, the Devil doesn't actually go around with a sword in his hand so let's take it off. I want to make this as realistic as possible! I hate to be a nitpicker on this, but this is going to be used & re-used & re-used over & over. They're probably going to memorise these titles!
22. I LOVED IT! EVERYBODY'S CRAZY ABOUT IT! It was a big hit! Really terrific! I just have a few little suggestions. Jac really got to be an expert on crooks, terrific! He did a beautiful job on touching up some of these & making them bigger, just gorgeous!
23. MY FIRST REACTION IS, LOOK AT THE REFERENCE ON THE COVER: No.304:56. That only means "no" to [younger readers] & they can't understand that! I think it would be much more sensible to use "ML" throughout instead.
24. MY NEXT SUGGESTION IS ALONG THE SAME LINE: WHO STARTED THIS BUSINESS OF BOILING THE BIBLE REFERENCES DOWN TO ONLY TWO LETTERS? I never did! I never abbreviate them that small. That's almost impossible for [younger readers] to understand, if they're going to read it at all. And on page 21, for example, when they see Ac.‚ the abbreviation for Acts‚ it only means one thing to them, Antichrist! Why should we have to abbreviate little words like "Acts" & "Peter" & "Mark"?—Even "Thessalonians" or "Matthew"! I really hate to complain about that, because that means you've got to change them all the way through, but when we're doing a book [that'll be read by some younger readers], I don't think we ought to use those abbreviations. They can read the words, but they don't understand those abbreviations at all. We've got oodles of room for'm! Otherwise it's just gorgeous & everybody's thrilled with it & excited & oohing & aahing!
25. ON PAGE 21 I THINK WE OUGHT TO ADD THE WORD "SHE," SO IT READS "SHE WITNESSES," otherwise it's a little incomprehensible in some ways. You've got to make it real clear & spell it out for [everyone]. And do you notice anything peculiar about that picture? Don't look too high!
26. IN AN OLDER WOMAN, WOMEN'S BREASTS IN NORMAL REPOSE ARE ALMOST EXACTLY AT RIGHT ANGLES WITH EACH OTHER‚ BELIEVE IT OR NOT!—So that if you look at them straight forward‚ the breasts normally are pointing off at about 45 degrees in each direction, a total of 90 degrees or a right angle from each other. Maybe we ought to give dear Eman that tip. He's making too many of these look like [someone younger] when it comes to the breasts pointing straight forward & barely formed.
27. THAT'S A SMALL MATTER, BUT THERE'S SOMETHING ELSE: DON'T YOU THINK THOSE HANDS ARE ENORMOUS FOR A GIRL LIKE THAT? They're as big as a man's! They are terrific! I've noticed that several times & keep forgetting to mention it. So I think we're going to have to have Jac correct those. Otherwise it's just beautiful & the texts are good. On page 24 we need another "she" there. And I don't remember exactly, but I could have sworn that on page 25 she had her left hand on the baby's head! I'm sure some other people will find some other corrections, sad to say, but it's good to say, I guess, that they do!
28. ON PAGE 40‚ TAKE A LOOK AT HER DRESS. The bosom line is incomplete. It may seem infinitesimal‚ but I don't see why it shouldn't be [more] accentuated. That's a very important part of her anatomy! That's the second thing I look at after I look at a girl's face!
29. ON PAGE 41, I HAD A LITTLE PROBLEM WITH [ONE READER] ON THIS ONE: "FEEDS THE REFUGEES WITH MANNA & QUAILS." She was almost incensed that they should think about feeding that quail to the people! She said, "She's not eating it, she's petting it!" I don't think [younger readers] are going to like that, they love the birds, so I suggest we just cross out "& quails" completely. They love the birds. When they're eating chicken they don't think about that, they don't see the chicken. So I think manna is sufficient, because it's obvious that she has the manna in her hand. In fact‚ when He fed them with the quail in the wilderness it was almost a curse!—They died by the thousands because they overate! So I think we can skip the quail.
30. DO YOU SEE ANYTHING FUNNY ON PAGE 43?—SHE'S GOT TWO RODS!—Unless the little boy's carrying the other one, & I don't see how he could be because it's right there where her hand is. I think maybe I caused that mistake. I may have drawn the other one in without seeing the one in her left hand, because I notice Eman almost always draws it in her left hand. Apparently she's left–handed! Eman's left-handed so he's got a preference for lefties! Well‚ so have I! I've got a preference for lefties! But could you erase the one in her right hand & put a head on the one in her left hand? There's lots of room there for a nice big beautiful head.
31. JAC JUST DID GORGEOUS ON THOSE CROOKS! He not only made the crook, but he made it really look like real wood. He made'm just the right size on every one, I'm just amazed how well he did. God bless Jac! Where would Eman be without Jac?
32. JAC SINCE THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE ALL ABOUT THEIR SOJOURN IN THE WILDERNESS, the Church in the Wilderness‚ on page 44 the [younger readers] are going to wonder, "When did she come back to town?" And boy, when she gets to page 45, she has really arrived in the city!—Wash basin, faucets & all! You know, because I connect these two pictures, isn't there some way we can erase that basin & maybe put the edge of the well there? Right where that black is I think you could turn it into a water well & make it curve around maybe just to her stomach there & come out around about underneath her elbow, like the same size well maybe. I'm saying, "She turns it into wine," the reference being that's that well water.
33. AND COULDN'T WE AT LEAST ERASE THAT TV ANTENNA? THAT'S TOO CITIFIED! Those others could be maybe cottages out in the desert. They do have some water wells in the desert. But for goodness sake, take off that TV antenna! We don't want to have the Church in the Wilderness watching television! That's what this Series is sort of supposed to be! I don't know whether you realise the sequence that I worked up to.
34. IT STARTS OFF WITH NORMAL WITNESSING, FFing & ALL THAT SORT OF THING, THEN GETS INTO THE MORE HEAVY STUFF LIKE MIRACLES, ETC. Then they are apparently by this time driven out into the Wilderness & are refugees preserved by these various miracles, etc., & finally they're being apparently pursued by the Antichrist forces & actually have fights & battles with them. Eventually she's actually captured & put in the lion's den & boiling oil & fights the planes & tanks & fire at the stake & all the rest. The final worst captivity is she's buried alive, but then she gets out & clobbers the Devil & her face shines with victory! Do you get the general sequence of the story? That's sort of the way I see it!
36. SEE, THEY'RE OUT IN THE WILDERNESS & SHE'S FEEDING THEM & GIVING THEM WATER & ALL THAT SORT OF THING & THERE THEY FIND A WELL IN THE WILDERNESS. They had wells in the wilderness. In fact, Abraham, Moses & a lot of them dug wells in the wilderness, so I think that's good. I like that well out there, but I sure don't like it reverting & going back to the city with water tanks & TV antennas! And for God's sake, get rid if that wash basin & faucet! I can't imagine the Church in the Wilderness having things like that. Maybe you can but the edge of the well on that one too, instead of the tank.
37. ON PAGES 48 & 49 THERE'S KIND OF A SWITCH BETWEEN THE PARTING OF THE SEA & THEN HAVING THE EARTH SWALLOW UP THE PURSUING FORCES, BUT WE'RE KIND OF MODERNISING THE STORY. In this case it was the Earth that swallowed them up instead of the sea. It says: "She parts the waters for the escape of the forces of the Lord & commands the Earth to swallow their enemies." You mean she commands the Earth to swallow the Earth's enemies? I originally had the word "their" as "her," & when [someone] read it "her"! She goes a lot by the pictures & the general context & she just naturally assumed it was "her" & just read it that way. So I think we'd better change it back to "her." "Their" is confusing & you don't really connect it with "the forces of the Lord" in the preceding picture.
38. HOW'D YOU LIKE "HER FRIENDS THE FROGS"? [One reader] liked it much better. I explained, "Look, she's commanding her friends the frogs to attack the enemies!" She liked that!
39. ON PAGE 59 IT LOOKS LIKE SHE'S ACTUALLY TOUCHING THAT EXPLOSION WITH HER ROD & IT MAKES IT LOOK LIKE THE PLANE IS ALMOST HITTING HER! I think we just need to make a little space in there, maybe half-a-centimeter‚ because you can't tell by the perspective exactly where that explosion is. They said it looks like it's almost about to hit her, it's so close, & that it looks like an awful small plane. See, some people get funny ideas when they can't really comprehend the perspective. What would we do without Jac to correct all of our mistakes? He's like the Lord! PTL!
40. EVERYBODY JUST LOVES THE GUARDIAN ANGEL PICTURE ON PAGE 60, THEY'RE CRAZY ABOUT IT! They want to make posters out of it & colour it, etc. Well‚ maybe we can have another colour poster one of these days if things don't get too tough. But you know what we thought would look nice?—Jesus up there in the corner looking down. Remember that picture we had of Him on the cover of "Lands of the Rising Sun," His face up in the corner looking down smiling at the scene? Isn't that a good idea? Just stick Him up there, I think it's about the right size. So PTL!
41. ON PAGE 62, I'VE NOTICED THIS SEVERAL TIMES BUT I'VE HAD TO RESHAPE THAT STONE SO MANY TIMES I THOUGHT IT'S ALMOST TOO MUCH TO ASK TO HAVE HIM CHANGE HER EXPRESSION TOO! But when I saw her in the dream lifting that stone off, she wasn't having to grunt & "ugh" like it was any great strain. It was a miracle! She looked happy, victorious, delighted & she came up smiling! So maybe we could make her look happy. You don't necessarily have to change the eyes, nose or anything else, just how about a nice smile? She's happy! She's coming up seeing the light of day & tossing off the stone & happy!
42. AND DO YOU SEE ANYTHING FUNNY ABOUT THE FIGHT PICTURE ON PAGE 63? There might be lots of funny things, but anyhow, I can't understand what that line is under her chin! It's not a part of her dress. On this one he hadn't gone to the one-strap dress yet, so maybe one of those lines would have been her shoulder or a strap, but what's the other one on the left? I don't see any point in it myself. It just is not comprehensible to me.
43. FRANKLY, THIS COSTUME HERE IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH OUR FINAL UNIFORM‚ so why not correct that & erase that clothes line & then maybe we'd understand the neck line! If there was anything over there‚ maybe it was a shoulder, but it looks to me like her shoulder would have come out further. I think if you'd put that shoulder line out further in front of her chin it would be much more understandable, almost level with her mouth. And besides, she hasn't got a choker on. She's gotta have a choker & then they'll understand what the line is.
44. I'D SURE RATHER YOU WOULD CHANGE HER SANDALS TOO & give her sandal strings instead of those leather straps. It's much more consistent. That picture was also before we corrected the length of her ponytail & I think if it was hanging down it would reach her knees! Don't you think it's a little too long? I think it shouldn't be longer than maybe about the first curve.
45. WELL, THOSE ARE MY SUGGESTIONS‚ YOU CAN TAKE THEM FOR WHAT THEY'RE WORTH! Sorry to have to make so many changes, but this is going to be a study book for [younger readers] & they really get into'm! They really study'm & they ask you more questions about "Why's this?" & "What's that?" etc.‚ & I don't want to have too many questions to have to answer! I think everything else is just beautiful & God bless you! Everybody's thrilled with it even as is, & not everybody noticed those things like I did. This is a work of art, thanks to both Eman & Jac! Lord bless & keep'm & give'm wisdom & skill & inspire their art‚ Lord, just like You have already & really make it a blessing to many!
46. SOMEONE NOTICED THAT THERE ARE HARDLY ANY SOUTHERNERS OR EASTERNERS IN THESE PICTURES, THEY'RE ALL WESTERNERS IN WESTERN GARB. Well, that's a good point. Of course‚ we figure that probably the Antichrist government will be pretty Western, but there is some guy who keeps following her around who certainly does look very much like one of us & definitely a Westerner. So before Eman draws too many more pictures he'd better put in a few more Asians & not have everybody Westerners all the time. He must have not learned that lesson yet like Jac did.
47. LOOKING AT PAGE 43 I CAN SEE THAT EMAN HAS CERTAINLY NEVER OPERATED A WELL!—Ha! Do you see what's wrong with that well? Have you ever been on a farm where they had a well with a bucket? The side posts have to be exactly perfectly vertical, because that thing on top is a round pole. It's about the right size, they were usually about 4 or 5 inches thick, I can remember lots of'm when I was a kid on the farm, & they were pivoted on both ends, with bearings in other words on both ends, so that you could turn it with a handle like an axle. That's how you wound it up & got the bucket up & down.
48. WHAT WE USUALLY DID TO PUT IT DOWN, THE WEIGHT OF THE BUCKET ITSELF WOULD PULL IT DOWN TO THE WATER. We'd just stand back out of the way of the handle & it would just whirl around while the bucket zoomed down & hit bottom, usually about 20 or 30 feet below. The bucket was shaped so it would tip over & fill with water & then we'd crank it up on this thing.
49. SO I'M TERRIBLY SORRY BUT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE THOSE UPRIGHTS VERTICAL SO THAT YOU CAN TURN THE HANDLE. On top of these side posts there was usually an iron strap. We're getting into the mechanics now. The top of each of those posts was like a half-circle & the pole across there fitted into that half–circle. Then over the pole was this iron strap & they usually greased it on both ends so you could turn it easily. Then on the right–hand end there—because most people are right-handed—the pole would have to stick out a little further.
50. MOST REAL WELLS AREN'T QUITE THAT BIG, BY THE WAY, OR THAT WIDE. It's funny I never noticed it till just now! Dear Eman, I don't know where he got this picture of the well! God bless him, I guess he was trying to draw from memory. They're hardly ever that big, usually they're about half that wide, but I wasn't going to argue about that. After all, I don't know what Abraham's Well looked like! Maybe they didn't have buckets like that either, they probably just threw'm in by hand.
51. ALL YOU'VE GOT TO DO IS MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THE UPPER ROD IS ROUND & CAN TURN ON BOTH ENDS WITH A HANDLE STICKING OUT THERE ON THE RIGHT. The handle arm was about a foot-&–a–half long attached rigidly to this round beam that went across the top of the well, & it would be hanging straight down, close to the same size as the pole that's going across. Then there would be a little round piece for your hand sticking out horizontally like a crank handle. Usually it had a piece of round wood there to grab with your hand which usually had a metal bolt through it so that it would rotate & didn't slip around in your hand. You could hold it firmly & crank it.
52. WE DIDN'T REALISE WE WERE GETTING INTO SO MUCH MECHANICS ON THIS WELL BUSINESS! I frankly think probably the wells that Abraham & them dug didn't have such mechanical equipment! That was quite an advance when you could use a crank handle like that to crank the water up. The buckets were pretty heavy. I can remember in the old days on most farms the buckets were made out of wood. I don't know whether you remember "The Old Oaken Bucket," it was a famous poem in the old days. They're made out of wood with an iron strap or two around them. Anyhow, if you could make it look like that too it would look a lot more like the original, especially on these close-ups.
53. DO YOU KNOW WHAT A WOODEN BARREL LOOKS LIKE? The wood runs vertically with at least one iron strap around the top & another one around the bottom to hold it together. So we will assume by this time that on this farm or wherever they are that they have made this much progress at least. But as you can see, with that rope wrapped around that beam there's no possible way of turning that beam in his pictures, so that shows dear Eman is no mechanic!—Ha! Well God bless him, he's a good artist! And I apparently am not a very good observer or I would have noticed that sooner! I just looked at it & thought, well, it looks like a well. But it is impossible to turn that thing the way it is at present, it's rigid. It's got to be a round beam across there & turnable on both ends. Anybody that's been on a farm & seen an old-fashioned well is going to notice that!
54. AND THAT IS ONE WHOPPER OF A WELL! I NEVER SAW A WELL THAT BIG IN MY WHOLE LIFE! I figure, well, maybe that's the way they had'm out in the desert, but I don't see how they could. Actually out in the desert they were small enough to cover with a stone. And just like the wells on the farm, they were usually hand-dug, therefore they were only big enough for the body of a man to get down in there & dig it‚ about 3 feet wide. This one looks like it's at least 6, 7 or 8 feet wide!
55. MAYBE HE JUST OUGHT TO DRAW THE THING ALL OVER AGAIN. I think it would be easier to re-draw it without the scaffolding & the bucket hanging there & all that stuff. Of course, that does symbolise that it's a well, that's true, & they may not recognise it if they would see it like they actually were, a small round stone opening only about 3 feet wide with a big heavy stone on top of it.
56. THE WELL EMAN DREW IN "HOLY HOLES" IS A TYPICAL REAL GENUINE WELL THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET & THE METAL STRAPS. See the handle hanging down on the right? You can't see the wind pole‚ but I think you're going to have to put it on yours because you can see the whole thing. So now that I told you how to build it‚ you might as well go ahead! I'll tell you something though‚ that post on the left is so flimsy it would never have held the heavy pole & the heavy bucket full of water. They were usually what you'd call about a four-by-four, about the same thickness as the wind-up pole across the top. You're going to have to finish the whole thing there. Good thing I told you how it's built, & you're still going to have to have the top in because you can see the top in this scene. There's lots to learn to go back to the old-fashioned ways! Sorry to cause you all this trouble, we have to just teach Eman how to draw these, especially when he gets into mechanics.
57. DO YOU THINK SINCE WE INSERTED JESUS' HEAD UP THERE ON PAGE 60 THAT WE OUGHT TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT HIM? We could say: "The Lord & Flame guard her from the lions." I think we'd better because they may wonder why we don't mention the Lord. This is going to be pretty important! They're not just going to look at it once, they're going to go over it many times with the [younger readers]. I certainly wish you'd change the face on page 32 to where it looks a little bit more like her, & on her sandals, please put the cords instead of straps.
58. ON PAGE 39, [ONE READER] ASKED WHAT THAT SNAKE WAS DOING THERE. I never could understand why the Lord let Moses do that miracle anyhow! Eman drew these two pictures before I got word to him to cancel the pictures that I thought were inappropriate, but I think we might as well use them. If we move the snake up we'll have room for a two-line title there: "—And turns her rod into a serpent to bite her enemies!"
59. THEN YOU COULD HAVE SOMEBODY'S FOOT & HEEL STICKING IN THE PICTURE RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE SERPENT LIKE THEY'RE RUNNING AWAY! [Everyone's] gotta be able to understand why. They're going to ask so many questions! "Why did she turn her shepherd's crook into a snake, of all things?" Well, I guess we have artist's & writer's license on this to try to explain it‚ because we can't show in this case the serpent swallowing up all the others. We don't want to get too complicated. So be sure you show that foot of the fleeing party. It's modern times now & it would probably be a man‚ so how about a military boot? It doesn't seem like the guy would be so afraid, though, if he had boots on, but I think a military boot is fine.
60. ON PAGE 38, [SOMEONE] WAS WONDERING WHAT WAS GOING ON THERE! She said, "What's that ?" I said, "The bush is burning." She said, "Why?" Well, I guess [we] are just going to have to explain a few things to'm. Maybe it'll be a little mystery.
61. I SURE LIKE THE CHANGES JAC MADE ON PAGE 62‚ THE STONE PICTURE. That's a sweet face there & she looks happy to get out! And how about putting the face on page 20 onto the one on page 32? We're sort of creating a character here & it's our first try at this sort of thing, having a consistent character in all these pictures. So I guess we can be forgiven for trying to learn a little bit & make a few mistakes.
62. THOSE HANDS ON PAGE 21 STILL LOOK WAY TOO BIG! This girl's about Maria's size & you have no idea what tiny little hands she has! These still look as big as a man's hands. You're going to have to shoot'm down to almost half that size! Find one of your [smaller] girls & take a look at her hands as a model.
63. DID I TELL YOU WE GOT A LIST OF PAGES & PAGES OF SUGGESTIONS & CORRECTIONS TO "HEAVENLY PICTURES"? I told you, when you ask [young people] they can be quite frank & blunt & they don't pull any punches. They don't mind telling you just what they think. We sent a copy to one Unit who had their [young people] make out lists of how they thought the book could be improved.
64. OF COURSE, I DON'T THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE GOT THE POINT THAT THESE WERE OTHER ARTISTS' CONCEPTIONS WITH WHICH WE MAY NOT ALWAYS EXACTLY AGREE! What are we going to have to do with that Book in order to give'm the point that this may not necessarily be the way we would have represented things? They expect everything from us just to be perfect, so I guess they were kind of surprised when they saw some of that art, that it wasn't exactly in accordance with the former Heaven pictures. The [young people] especially, they are perfectionists & it's just gotta be right. They just didn't get the point.
65. I'M BEGINNING TO WONDER WHETHER I SHOULD EVEN PUB IT, but I thought they'd be interested in some of these other different ideas. Some of them were excellent, I thought they were beautiful. Some of them of course look a bit crazy, & others are just Heavenly & Heaven-like, they're not necessarily Heaven.
66. I THINK WE'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THE GIRL! I was looking through all these other New Testament miracles & what's left of the Old Testament, etc., & it's almost repetitious. How much more can you do in the way of miracles than heal‚ etc., it's almost all the same thing over again, just more of the same. As you've seen by these recent pictures that Eman sent, it's just more of this same stuff of fighting, destroying, healing, etc.
67. I THINK WE'VE PUT THE POINT ACROSS, DON'T YOU? Don't you think this little booklet was enough? I think it's enough. He's got other work to do & we can't be bothered with so much of this stuff. I'm going to make him a tape & tell him to get back to work on his colour slides for Maria, & then he can be working on perhaps colouring his best Girl pix‚ like the one of the Lion's Den, for a colour poster.
68. WHAT WE'RE THINKING ABOUT DOING IS TAKING THE BEST PICTURES, BOTH HIS & JAC'S, WHICH WOULD MAKE GOOD LITTLE COLOUR POSTERS. We could get about 16 panels of that on a poster the size we just printed & they would be within the folds, between the creases so the pictures themselves wouldn't have to be creased at all. Each one would be about an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet. We could pick out our best other pictures, some of those that Jac did that we felt were good enough for a poster like "River of Life" & things like that. If we could get'm coloured & enough of'm‚ 16 of them, we could make another poster. We'll have to find out for sure what would be the cheapest way to do it, how many & what size, etc.
69. I JUST WANT TO STOP HIM ON THE GIRL PICTURES BECAUSE I THINK WE'VE GOT ENOUGH. The thing that brought me to that was I was looking over the New Testament list & it's just almost like more of the same. I mean, how much more can you do than raise the dead, heal the sick, etc., etc.? It's already all been pictured. So I really think we have enough‚ this Book puts the point across & that's it. Thank God I didn't have to write a longer one‚ that just worked out fine. PTL!
70. TIME IS IMPORTANT & WE DON'T HAVE TOO MUCH TIME TO FINISH A LOT OF OTHER THINGS WE NEED TO DO, SO I THINK THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH, DON'T YOU? If I get inspired to do more later, fine, but right now I'm not very inspired about it. We'll find some way maybe to use a few of these leftover pictures that he has already drawn of her, maybe insert'm in a GN or something. But you notice these last ones he drew are just more of the same stuff, fighting the anti-Christs, destroying cities, etc., the same thing all over again‚ & I don't like too much of that kind of negative stuff.
71. BRINGING WATER FROM THE ROCK IS ALMOST REPETITION OF THE WELL, bringing down fire from Heaven, rod budding, I can't even figure out how we'd figure that in! There's just not too much that's going to fit & I think we're done, at least I am, for the time being, so I'm just going to tell him to quit on that series & go back to his other work. Then maybe Jac in his spare time can pick out what he thinks are his prettiest pictures & get inspired to colour them. Sara suggested doing one of Heaven Girl & children cuddling together & the angel hovering over them while they're sleeping.
72. I'M GOING TO GO AHEAD & MAKE EMAN A TAPE TOO SO HE'LL HEAR IT STRAIGHT FROM ME OR HE MIGHT THINK I'M FED UP WITH HIS PICTURES OR SOMETHING. He's been doing real well, but when I see how it's getting to be so repetitious on the same kind of stuff, I think we've about exhausted the subject in some ways. If we could think up a lot of things that weren't in the Bible, then I might get inspired to do that later‚ but I'm not very inspired right now while I'm sick. That's enough of her for awhile I think. We don't want'm to get so much of her they get fed up with it. Later on if we have time & whatnot, maybe we can do it again. We had a good start on it though, the basics & the looks & the figure & the costume & character & everything else, so I think if we wanted to resume it would be easy to do. I hope nobody's going to be too disappointed, but that's the way I feel about it.
73. I LIKED THE REVISIONS ON EACH PICTURE, ESPECIALLY THE ONE WHERE THE GUY'S RUNNING FROM THE SNAKE! But you guys still don't realise how tiny my dear little girl's hands are! It's amazing. Well, they're down to normal now, at least, so praise the Lord!
74. ON THE GIRL BOOK, I JUST LOOKED THROUGH ALL THE NEW TESTAMENT MIRACLES & IT'S JUST LIKE MORE OF THE SAME. I never realised before how many similar miracles the Lord has had to perform for His people, such as not only protecting them, but feeding & healing them. That seems to be the preponderance of most of them—protection, feeding & healing—& how many pictures can you draw of that? I think he did pretty well as it was & we've covered the subject pretty thoroughly. If we ever think of anything else we can do it later. Meanwhile we've got to kind of spread ourselves around & do as much as we can!
75. THAT'S ENOUGH OF HER FOR AWHILE, THEY'LL GET THE IDEA! Amen? If someone else wants to write the story, I'll let them write it, but I think that's enough story. They'll love it & go through it again & again!—She'll make a good example to inspire them all! Amen? GBY! Tx!—Love, D.