Clear as a bell! how many of you remember the clear deep tones of the Dublan bell. I do, I remember as a child in the first grade hearing in our home the big bell bong!!! bong!!! Bong!!! a half an hour before school was to start and a half an hour before church was to start. Especially in the morning before Sunday School the deep resonant tones sounded on the clear cold air of Dublan. I don't know how the Relief Society managed to get the biggest bell in all of the colonies for their building and hang it in the special bell cupola on the top of the Dublan Relief Society building.

After the church house in Dublan burned down the ward held services in the old Tithing Office that still stands, but soon that became inadequate and they moved out to the, in that day, beautiful Relief Society building. Here is where I went to school in the first and second grades. I just accepted then the deep tones of the bell without really knowing why they were so loud and clear and deep. Bells have long been the way to unite the people and bring them together. especially before clocks and watches were so cheap and available..

In the early 1600s a Jesuit Priest journeyed into the Barrancas of the Sierra Madre in northern Chihuahua. In the lower part of the Utique Canyon, before it became the Barranca de Cobre, and gathered some Tarahumara Indians together and began to teach them. He immediately began to build a big beautiful Mission with a large round chapel complete with baptismal font and a holy place for the Saints to be placed. Of course there must be a bell tower and a big bell from spain. In my imagination I can just hear that bell that called the Indians to worship and see them in their colorful dress. When that Mission was complete this ambitious Priest left his work in the hands of some monks and went deeper into the mountains and in the lost Canyon of Batopilas he repeated his great feat and built a replica of the mission in the Urique Canyon. When all was finished and the bell came from Spain, probably carried into the canyon by Tarahumaras because there were no roads and hardly a passable trail into the rugged canyon. When this noble priest was in the tower placing the big bell in it's place, he fell to his death. This mission was abandoned and became known as "Satevo" (the lonely place). Later when the Old Batopilas Mine was in full swing the mission was discovered and was known from then on as the Lost Mission of Satevo. Today these missions are a thing to see and people from all over the world come to marvel and wonder at the audacity of the Jesuit Priests and Monks.

I am reminded of Liberty Bell of the United States which is still held in a sort of reverence. The bell in the church of Dolores that Father Hidalgo rang to bring the people together and unite them with the Grito de Independencia.     

After the old Relief Society building was abandoned and was falling apart I decided to rescue the bell. This was quite an undertaking because we had to lower the bell from the decaying tower with block and tackle. We found that it is very heavy and was cast using a half ton of copper. even the clapper was a heavy ball about 4 inches in diameter. We lowered it and managed to get it on our rubber tired wagon and with "Chata and Mischief' our little team of mules we hauled it down.to the school house placed it on the water tower of the school. I was the director of the school and I taught the seventh and eighth grades. The privilege of ringing the bell for the day was passed around to the students. It was rung to gather the Students to school for flag drill and then they were marched into school. then it was rung again to indicate recess time to begin and end. then it was rung to begin and end the noon hour and again for the afternoon recess and again to end the school day. It was really something to ring that bell especially at night or when it was not supposed to be rung. I really couldn't blame the kids for doing it because it was a real thrill to ring the bell especially against the rule. That bell was cast to last for ever to ring true whenever it was struck with 'the heavy clapper. It will ring loud and clear with those deep resonant tones' never changing always responding with beautiful tones of the Dublan bell. May we be as faithful as a bell always responding to do what we were created to do and may we call the people to worship and unite them with our clear tones of testimony and Gospel principles. That is the real goal to be unchanging and willing always to do our duty. We love you all and pray for your well being and blessing.