In Which No One Complains that There's Not Enough to Do

We did a lot today, like most days here. Just in case some of us were harboring hopes of a quiet J-term of rural relaxation on LSTC's time, those illusions should certainly be gone. The Nebraska Synod takes this immersion business seriously.

Today we toured a funeral home and talked with the funeral director. The outfit seemed very well run and professional. I was surprised to find out that it's a one man operation. That one man took time out to talk to us about the business, what he does and how the pastor fits into the picture. (I really liked the cookies that he fed us too. The chocolate chip ones were especially yummy.)

After that we went back to St. Matthew's and not only were able to see the ladies in action at their Wednesday quilting group, but had a chance to get in on the action.



Featured above are Adrianne (yes, the other contributor to this blog) and Zach, another one of our classmates, showing off their mad skills.

Next we toured the local hospital and our host pastor in Johnson, Pastor Catherine, told us how they work out chaplaincy for the hospital, because there is no hospital chaplain. She also talked about her work with the rescue squad, which is entirely volunteer (much like the local fire department). Then we headed over to Good Sam's, the local assisted living facility, and immediately sat down for lunch. We toured the facility, talked with staff, sat in on bingo, and stayed for coffee time (And yes, there were snacks, why do you ask?) Our final tour of the day was of the local grain elevators. The trip taught me that there's a sort of conveyer belt, covered in little metal buckets that scoop up grain, which goes straight up and dumps the grain when it gets to the top.

After a break, relaxing and playing cards, I joined the males of our group (Zach and our professor, Peter V.) in observing Pastor Catherine's confirmation class (which had three students). However, before the class ended, I had to leave and join the other females in going to observe the confirmation class at Long Branch (which has 13 kids in its program). During confirmation, they made sure that we didn't starve with pizza and goodies. The confirmands did skits and tried to answer the question of who Jesus is. When confirmation ended,we were allowed to wander around the church and discovered that behind the altar, they have a large cross lit with pink neon. It's not what I was expecting to find in rural Nebraska, that's for sure. I suppose it just goes to show some of the assumptions I make, conscious or not.