Dance, Dance, Dance!!

Anna and I have started doing something fun, just for us. We saw an ad in one of the local papers for Swing Dance Lessons and decided to try it out. It turns out we like swing dancing! We have learned quite a few moves in just the three lessons that were covered by the course and we have the opportunity to try out our moves for real this Saturday night, when there is a big band dance in Fulda to benefit the ambulance association. We're looking forward to that, but in the meantime we practice. We have been playing some of our swing CD's and dancing through them. It takes some getting used to. One thing I have a little trouble with is that the man ALWAYS leads. That means I have to decide constantly what moves we are going to do, and then give Anna very clear indications with my hands and feet so that she knows what to do to follow my lead. There isn't much pressure involved really, because we love each other and forgive each other's missteps.

Another thing to get used to is that in swing dancing, even though the man leads, the woman gets all the flashy moves. Anna gets most of the turns and spins and dips, and I just lead her around and let her look good. The last part is easy, because, come on, she's a cutie! But the leading part I have to be just a little careful not to put too many turns in all at once or the poor woman gets dizzy! Still, we're having a blast, and I have a terrific dance partner. Good thing I like Glen Miller! Blogged by Don

God's joy and mercy

I do not write like my husband does, I am a little more on the deep side, so forgive me as I revel a bit in God's glory and his peace.

For quite a while, at least since this last May, I have been searching for answers, searching for understanding, going through an abyss of grief and wondering what it all means and why I have to go through it, and where was God in this journey I was to take, not of my choosing. For months I have been in my own dry desert, treking forward but with no feeling inside one way or the other that God was with me. I had to my amazement quit listening to him and myself, had stopped trusting in him and myself. This year was a year of change, all too much and all too soon, with no time to digest it all.

Here it is 8 months later. There was a bible study at one our churches. I had not attended one yet, mainly I did not know they were having them on Sunday after church, which is the only time I could attend, and it also meant that I did not join Don in his church for that day, but God was pushing me towards going to one of our smallest churches in a mid winter storm, snow blowing everywhere making it hard to see, but I still made it. It was in this bible study I was reminded of three men who were thrown in the fire and God, instead of plucking them out of the fire, instead of dousing the fire, walked with them and helped keep their clothes from catching fire. The point being, God walked with them, they were not alone. And so once again, I am reminded of God's love for his children, and once again reminded of his faith in us and how he works through others. It has not been easy living here in Dundee, it can be a little on the lonely side, at least for me it has been, which has left me more to think and ponder a bit.

I am reminded every week, living here among these people, of God's grace and mercy, his loving kindess and forgiveness. The grief I have felt this past year no longer tears at me. I have given that grief over to God and said to him once again, I do not know who to deal with this by myself, please help share with me this burden and graciously he has taken it once again upon himself to do just that.

How I have been feeling these last few days reminds me of a song that we have sung at church;
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart, a fountain ever springing! All things are mine since I am his! How can I keep from singing?
Blogged by Anna

The Bullhead Feed

One of the things I have decided to do while on this internship is to engage in community interaction as often as I am able; and one of the most popular community activities in Dundee is the annual American Legion Bullhead Feed. I had never eaten bullhead before last Friday night, and as a matter of fact, Anna had never eaten Bullhead before last Friday either. But since some of the members of the community said the Bullhead Feed is something not to be missed, I convinced Anna that we should go down to the Legion Hall and give it a try.

As luck would have it, the big night of the Bullhead Feed there was a snowstorm. Still, when we got to the Legion Hall there was no place close to the building to park, so we ended up walking a half block to the building. I know that doesn't sound inconvenient, but in the middle of a snowstorm it felt like a bit of a distance. Mind you, the Legion Hall is only four blocks from our house, but since the temperature was in the single digits, and it was snowing like crazy, Anna and I opted to fire up the Iron Prairie Schooner and venture into the fresh powder.

In case you didn't know, a bullhead is a kind of fish. As it turns out it is apparently what they call here in Minnesota a "rough fish" or a "junk fish" because it is not as desirable to eat as many other species of fish. The most sought after fish around here is the Walleye, but apparently they are too expensive and prized to catch a bunch of them for a mass feed. The bullhead are plentiful, and apparently they just seine the lake to catch whatever they need. I am told that when one goes walleye fishing around here, nine times out of ten you will catch lots of bullhead and very little walleye.

So with that as background, it is hard to understand why the bullhead feed here in town is so popular. In a town of less than 100, the legion commander reported that they had fed 175 people that night! When Anna and I got there we met some people that had come up from a town over 20 miles away to eat this bullhead, and they were filling their plates for a second time when we sat with them. They mentioned over dinner that they normally make the rounds to all of the bullhead feeds in the area, and there are about ten of them. They were comparing the way the fish is prepared, and the side dishes, and pronounced the Dundee bullhead feed as "pretty good." Along with the fish, there was homemade potato salad and baked beans, as well as buttered bread. Not a healthy fare, to be sure, but "pretty good."

As far as the fish itself goes, it was served deep fried, and tasted okay, but it was rather greasy and bony, so I think I still prefer walleye. I described it to Anna as fish that tasted as if it had been left in a Skipper's fryer too long. It was okay, but not great. We, of course, told the natives that we enjoyed the bullhead feed. That isn't a lie, because the fellowship was great. A lot of the people we have met from town were there, and they were happy to see that we were willing to try their bullhead. All in all, a successful first bullhead feed. Please pass the walleye! Blogged by Don

A Real, Live Blizzard!

Well, we are currently experiencing a blizzard here. It is the 12th of January, and it is snowing hard, with wind blowing at between 45 and 50 miles per hour. The radio has been announcing cancellations all afternoon, and school is canceled around the area. The cold is not what bothers people, but what happens in a blizzard is visibility is drastically reduced. Anna and I were visiting a church member when the blizzard hit, and when we headed for home we had trouble seeing where the turn was. It would be a real problem if a school bus couldn't see where the road was and went into a ditch with a busload of kids, so that is why schools are closed.

With the wind whipping that hard we are getting some impressive drifts around the house. The snow piles that Wayne has made as he has scooped out our driveway on previous snow storms are doing a great job of steering the snow from the driveway, which is what he said they would do, but everywhere else in the yard we are getting some heavy and deep drifts. I don't know if the pictures do them justice, but here they are anyway.

In the meantime we are spending our time indoors at home, which is fine with me because it gives me time to play with my new toys! I purchased three of the volumes of the Saint John's Bible, with four more to go to complete the set of seven. They are beautiful, even if they are only shadows of the stunning originals. Here are some pictures of that, too, so you can see a little of what I'm talking about. It will be fun to read from these books on feast days at church! That's why I got them. I hope all is well with you. Winter here in Minnesota sure can be cold! But then, I knew that already. Blogged by Don.

The Glow in the Snow

It's officially the first day of winter, and it's not kidding around. I'm writing this between 8:30 and 9am on Sunday the 21st, and it is currently -11 Fahrenheit outside. I have no idea what that is in Celsius, but believe me, it's just plain bitter cold. On top of the cold temperature, the wind is blowing at about 30 miles per hour, which makes the wind chill about -40. The Minnesota Department of Transportation has issued a "no travel" advisory, so we have canceled church services throughout the parish. It feels weird to have a Sunday morning with no church, but I am finding out that this is one of the realities of rural ministry. Sometimes God gives you a day off, even if you don't want one. My sermon is all ready, I have an awesome children's message prepared, but no place to take them, so they will wait. It may be three years before I get to preach this sermon, if the lectionary is followed accurately.

Part of the reason for the no travel advisory is that we got a whole lot of snow yesterday. It snowed hard through the night and all the way through the morning and into the afternoon, finally stopping around 3pm. Since there is a lot of wind, the snow is blowing around, reducing visibility and making driving hazardous. I went to Fulda for a Men's Bible Breakfast yesterday morning, and since there was so much snow I was concerned for the safety of the men of our parish, and my intent was to send anyone home who showed up. As it turns out, I was the only idiot that ventured out that way, and a little later one of the other men from the parish came in because he usually has breakfast with his uncle at this same restaurant on Saturday morning, so he and his uncle sat with me and we had a nice chat, mostly about how to shop for a bargain on a tractor.

This morning, after all the snow and the wind, I looked outside and noticed that most of our lawn Christmas decorations are getting buried in snow. While Jesus is the reason for the season of Christmas, in our front yard he is now the "glow in the snow." The lights around the front steps are hardly visible anymore, and our Rudolf on a pole is having a shorter and shorter flight. We are fortunate, however, because one of the men of First Lutheran lives here in town and has a small front loader. He has come by faithfully after each snow storm and plowed our driveway so we can get out. It is really nice that he performs this service, because I have shoveled the driveway in the past, and it is quite laborious. I am grateful for his plowing. The result of his plowing, though, is that we are getting some impressive mounds of snow in the front yard! This being the first day of winter, I am curious how big the snow piles will be by February! I used to try to keep the sidewalk clear between the parsonage and the church, but after this last snow storm there is now a huge pile of snow on the sidewalk, so I will be walking in the street until the spring thaw. Since we live in Dundee, that is not a problem. My chances of being hit by a car are slim to none. I was just trying to keep the walk clear for my own benefit anyway, but now, forget it! We're supposed to get more snow on Tuesday. I can hardly wait! I wonder if our Nativity Set will be completely buried by then. I'll keep you posted. Blogged by Don

Winter has begun

The temperature is below 0 believe it or not. One would think that it would warm up when it snows but not here, it just gets colder. This first picture of Joseph and Mary was taken last week, you can see how much it snowed just today.




We got back from visiting Kathy and John's and we noticed the electricity had gone off but not sure of the length of time. The cats looked sheepish, like they knew a secret and they were not telling us. They were glad to see us nonetheless and eagerly awaited a fresh bowl of wet food.

We spent the weekend with the Jarvis clan helping to decorate for their Christmas season. It was fun and it was great catching up with what was going on with each of us. John just got himself a job with his old company, and so is traveling a bit in his capacity as sales person. He is now selling what he has invented, so he is seeing another spectrum. The girls are doing well as is Kathy. We attended a concert at their church Sunday night and it was fun, the music was great, and their was plenty of participation from the audience. But we had to say good-bye the next day and make our way back home to our kitties so that they could eat once again and keep their humans close to hand.

Today it snowed, the heavens opened up. Our front step is no longer visible. Yes we are settling into winter on the prairie. Blogged by Anna

Long Time, No "C"

You see, I have been very busy with parish business lately. I have been to Wilmar, to the Junior High Youth Gathering, and I have been all over the parish, looking after people in need, and doing my best my best at being a pastor for these people. I also had to fill-in for Pastor Mark when he was needed suddenly to see a parishioner in a Sioux Falls hospital after he was found to have a heart aneurysm, and I have been up to Slayton to visit a man who has been a long time member of First Lutheran, but is now living in a nursing home twenty miles away and is feeling a little lonely. That, along with writing and giving sermons and leading worship have kept me pretty well involved in parish work.

In the meantime, there have been things that have been lots of fun. For instance, ( Notice, that is the first "c" in this whole post, hence the title. I figured one whole paragraph was long enough.) at the Junior High Youth Gathering some of the kids decided to have their hair dyed at the play beauty salon. Of course, none of them wanted a "normal" hair color, no, Kenny went with pink and Rachel went with purple with gold glitter. Perfect. There was also a rock band that the kids had the good sense not to enjoy, and some very good speakers that the kids had the good sense to listen to. All in all, I was impressed with the theological interest of these Jr. Hi kids, and impressed that their questions were both pertinent and thought provoking. I think when I was a kid in Jr. Hi, my interest was pretty much limited to music and trying not to get beat up by the school bullies. I wonder which of these young theologians will hear the call of the Holy Spirit to go to seminary?

For Thanksgiving I had two services to do, one on Sunday the 23rd and on on Wednesday the 26th. Both were fun, and both involved other pastors besides me. The one on Sunday was at First Lutheran, and was co-led by Pastor Mark and me. He had me preach so that he could have an opportunity to listen to me. The one on Wednesday the 26th was in Heron Lake at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and was an ecumenical service with Father Andrew Olson representing the Catholics, Dan Brewer representing the United Methodist Church of Heron Lake, and yours truly representing Evangelical Lutheran Church. It was fun, and Father Andrew was a gracious host, and a funny guy. Dan was fun, too, although Dan is kind of a quiet guy, and it takes a while for him to warm up to a situation and say something candid and funny. But once he gets going he's a riot. The service itself was fun, and afterward the Methodist women hosted the coffee hour with delicious goodies. It's a good thing I'm only here for a year, this area is trying to make me fat!

Now it's Advent, and things are not slowing down. As a matter of fact, things are picking up by a lot. Tomorrow night I have two mid-week Advent services, and for the next two weeks Anna and I will be singing in the Advent musical at two different churches. It will be fun, but it will also be busy. On Christmas Eve I will also have two churches to preach in, and after that, on December 28th I have two churches, plus Anna and I are hosting a holiday open house here at the parsonage. Feel free to drop by if you're in the area. It should be fun. In the meantime, as time allows, there is always calling on people to see how they are doing, checking up on the family across the street, where it appears that both adults have lost their jobs and are sliding into a depression that is affecting their son and dog negatively, and their is the couple down the street that are suffering with health issues. She needs a liver transplant and he is suffering from cancer. Still, in all of this, God remains faithful and just, gracious and merciful, and abounding in steadfast love. I hope you have a beautiful Christmas season. Enjoy Advent, keep your candles burning in anticipation of the coming Messiah, and stay close to those you love and cherish the time you have together. God be with you. Blogged by Don