Don has been interning for 2 weeks now, it has gone very fast. Our first week was a whirlwind. We had friends from Bremerton, Washington, from our home church come visit. They came on a Saturday, not aware of how busy the schedule had become. That Saturday Prairie Star had a dinner with a tour of the place and things to buy. We got there and 2 women were there to greet us. As my mind is a sieve these days, I cannot remember their names, but are friends of Ethyl Mae Nelson, who by the way we had visited with at St. Olaf at the end of July, and they greeted us as though they knew us. It was heartwarming to see them as they stood out in the rain patiently waiting for us to arrive. We stayed long enough to buy some candles and I got some homemade jam, and then Joe and Nancy took us out to dinner at the Dundee Steak House. It was good conversation. Joe and Nancy had to drive back to Worthington on a country road in the pitch black, I am grateful no deer came prancing out in front of them. The next day was Don's first day at the churches, 2 of them, First of Dundee and Grace of Worthington. Not being familiar with roads, Joe and Nancy accidentally took a wrong turn and instead of coming to Dundee made their way to Heron Lake; needless to say they had to back track to get back to Dundee There are no landmarks around here, only corn, corn, beans and more beans. Where are the tall buildings to help you out when you need them, oops, I am forgetting, there are grain elevators and water towers, but unless you know what you are looking for, it is easy to get lost. Both churches had planned a potluck after the service, so we ended up eating 2 meals within 1 hour of each other. The same thing will happen on September 28, at this rate I will forget how to cook. Needless to say, Joe and Nancy's visit with us came to an end all to soon. It was so good to visit with them and a nice reminder of home.
Our second week was more quiet except for the fact that we held an open house for people to come visit with us. Don and I baked cookies, putting together a cheese platter as well as fruit (actually with all the excitement I forgot to put out the fruit platter, we are now eating a ton of fruit) . We had a fairly good turnout and a fair representation of all the churches. Some of the people had not met each other yet, Prairie Star is only about 3 years old, so it was good for them.
Don will be working with the youth this year. There is a trip planned for St. Cloud the end of November and I do believe they are planning a trip to Louisiana in July, Don may just get to go to that, if I play my cards right, maybe I can go too, hint, hint. We will see.
This year has only started but these 2 weeks have been a blur and have gone fast. Am learning lots about small town life and I know there is more to come...will write about the journey that we are undertaking with God's help and understanding and guidance along the way, this will be a fruitful journey I am sure. Blogged by Anna
4 comments:
Sounds somewhat similar to here, although we have at least some villages dotting the landscape to break up the miles and miles of corn, wheat, potatoes and sugar beets grown around here.
Glad to hear you are getting settled - you win on having the Open House before we did! Although, I think we both had house guests at about the same time in the moving-in process.
Gee, I thought the grain elevators and the water towers WERE the skyscrapers of rural America. At least the water towers have the names of the towns on them compared with urban tall buildings which remain anonymous.
boB
Yes, the water towers have the names of the towns on them but when it is a tiny dot, it is hard to read, let alone know which grain elevator belongs to which town or farm, but this is from a gal who has lived in the city almost all of her life and looks to tall and misshaped and nondescript buildings as landmarks:)
At least in the PNW we have mountains and large bodies of water to help us tell north, south, east, and west. The mid-west is pretty flat, and rural mid-west really looks the same whereever you go. Can you say GPS...
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