The Last Supper!

We got one final day in Nebraska, and what a day it was. We have learned, loved, laughed, cried, and let’s not forget eaten our way through Nebraska. Ten days with people who have become great friends, and now our trip comes to an end. As I reflect on the day from my apartment in Chicago I am saddened that we have left our new friends, but grateful for the time we spent with them and the things that we learned from them.

Today we got to witness first-hand the workings of a two point pastor. Beginning with a 9 a.m. service from the old red book and moving quickly to a 10:30 service from the green book, we saw the quick changes and hard work of a pastor serving two parishes. We then had the opportunity to sit in on a fifteen minute annual meeting, followed by a free lunch. We enjoyed our final Nebraska meal, lasagna and garlic bread, with Pastor Katherine and her congregation.

After lunch, the Spruth-Janssen family and some of our other friends from SE Nebraska came to see us off. We took pictures and told stories, then ended with a blessing ceremony. After the ceremony we said our goodbye and headed for the airport.

Now we are home preparing our projects and reflecting on our time in Nebraska. As I look back on the last ten days I can’t help but smile. Thank you to our host families and the pastors who gave us your time, your homes, and your wisdom over the last ten days. I speak for us all when I say we will never forget you. May God continue to bless all you do. And may this crazy world of ours bring us together again someday.

In the words of Green Day, “So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind. Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time. Tattoos and memories and dead skin on trial. For what it’s worth it was worth all the while. It’s something unpredictable but in the end it’s right. I hope you had the time of your life.” I know that we did.

May God bless you all. And God bless Nebraska.

~Josh

Seeing yourself in Nebraska

There are several recurrences that have risen to the surface during the course of our immersion in Nebraska and truly stuck me.

The first thing people want to know is where you come from – more precisely, what place on this planet – outside of Nebraska – helps to make up the your cells and your soul? A strong sense of place is as innate and instinctive here as my ability to detect any hint of crisis in the voices of my children. There is no separating the soil, the air, the waters of Nebraska from the people who come from the towns and rolling hills we've visited.

My standard line has become, “Well, I'm from Chicago originally, but I've lived in Michigan most of my life and feel most connected to the Upper Peninsula.” They'll nod with tacit approval. My response is acceptable for now, but I have the feeling that if I were here for the long haul there would be more efforts to determine if I really have an unbreakable connection to the place I call home. The fact that I have moved around a lot in my life might undermine that ultimate determination. I think the way Lake Superior has changed me and, in part, made me who I am today may be at least similar to the way the people here feel about the incredible expanses of land that surround us tonight like waterless seas waving and whistling in the winds.

The second thing I'd note is that I've witnessed three men cry in the course of this rural experience. Each time it is somehow connected to relationship with the land – the ability to pass the stewardship and legacy of the land on to children; watching helplessly as the Missouri River rises up and swallows crops row by row until it is 17 miles across and mistaken by passersby for a lake; pouring hard work and vast amounts of expertise into the vocation of farming only to be dismissed and misunderstood by people who may too often make assumptions about what it really means to be feeding the world.

There are always many angles to a story. Nothing is as black and white as we might like to be, especially where people are concerned. Divisiveness, I once heard a wise man from Rwanda say, is born of failures of conversation. We need to have a lot more conversation in this world and start working as hard to understand each other as we do to build fortresses around our opinions.

Finally, many people, particularly those working in rural ministry already, have asked us something like, “What has surprised you most about Nebraska and what has caused you the most concern?” Typically the conversation roles around to the topic of whether or not a seminarian studying and working toward ordained ministry in Chicago, can see himself or herself in a place like Nebraska. A place where, in the more populated parts of the state, your nearest neighbor might be half a mile away. Or you might be an hour away from a place to buy good fresh produce. Or an initial trip to visit a shut-in from your congregation may lead you down unfamiliar, unpaved, unnamed roads where you have to flag down a gravel truck driver to help you figure out where you are and where you are trying to be. A place where stewardship of God's creation comes up in daily conversation at the local filling station/breakfast cafe. A place where breaking bread together happens many times each day. A place where your absence is noticed in real time.

I don't know if it's what the Spirit has in store for me, but my answer to that possibility over the last over the week or so has become, like Samuel in this week's Old Testament reading, “Here I am!” We shall see what happens.

Blessings from the Heartland, Ann

The Runza Experience!

Today began with breakfast provided by Pastor John Sipf. After a wonderful breakfast, we listened to Pastors John Sipf and Andrew Chavanak, tell us about the difficulties of rural ministry. John spoke especially about the intricacies of two-point parish ministry. Then we received a tour of Pastor John's parsonage, and heard about what it is like to work with a council trying to make changes to a parsonage.

Then it was time to leave for text study. We drove down to St. Thomas, the local episcopal church. Here we got to meet many of the local church leaders and participate in the weekly, ecumenical, clergy text study. This gave us an opportunity to begin to see how important ecumenical partnerships can be to rural ministers.

After text study, it was time for another meal. We headed to the local Runzas, where Zak and I had our first experience with a Runza. After hearing countless stories of Runzas, we were pleased to finally have our own Runza and frings. After yet another delicious meal and wonderful conversation, we were ready to move on.

We met up with Richard Martin, the head of the chamber of commerce in Falls city. He spoke with us for an hour and a half about working with the chamber of commerce in a rural community. It gave a great chance to learn about commerce in rural settings.

We got a short tour of Falls City, seeing both the new medical center and the library. After that we headed for Rulo. From there, we headed over the river into Missouri and made our way to Big Lake, here we were able to survey the damage from the flood last year. As we drove through Big Lake, population 274 pre-flood, our hearts began to break for all those affected by last years flood. Five miles from the river, we could see water lines eight-foot tall on the trees and houses. While we had been hearing stories of the flood from those affected, we did not understand what we heard until we saw what could have been mistaken as the Indiana Dunes in the middle of fields. Our hearts and prayers go out to those who have been, and continue to try to put their lives back together after they were devastated by the 2011 flood.

After finishing our surveying of the land we headed back to the library in Falls City to hear the story of how pastor spouses deal with first calls, and to debrief on our day. After we leave the library, we will be going to dinner somewhere in the city, and hopefully ending the evening at the local bowling alley.

Blessings from Nebraska,

~Josh

The Days of High Adventure...

Let me tell you of the days of high adventure…in Nebraska today. We started out with coffee at the local gas station in Johnson where we met with Pastor Catherine Burroughs as well as Gary and Larry (no relation to Mike and Ike), who were volunteer EMTs for the area. We talked about their role in the community as volunteers and the joys and difficulties that come along with it. As per tradition we were offered an opportunity for coffee, tea and breakfast if we so choose. Lois our host and resident breakfast expert at the Johnson Quick Stop presented us with some local comedic relief. After offering drinks she conned me out of a quarter that she had gotten me to unknowingly offer up to her, and ended our visit with a quick witted joke that left me in suspense…and this was just the first stop.

A picture of the Lois

We then toured the local K-12 school Johnson-Brock with superintendent Jeffery Koehler. We were offered doughnuts and coffee…as per tradition, and it was amazing to see a school with clear hallways and lock free lockers (which made me wonder is a locker still a locker if it can’t be locked!?!). We next headed to the Whiskey Run Creek Winery where we learned about and sampled the wine whilst conversing with Bishop David DeFreese of the Nebraska Synod about the needs and issues of the rural church. We then traveled to the Indian Cave State Park to survey the flood damage. As we drove around it was shocking to see the destruction as the trees and fields that looked as though they had been through intense warfare. It was truly moving to see this destruction, which became even more apparent as we later traveled to St. Peter church in Barada Hills to speak with a farming couple that lost their crops and farm to the floods last year.

A picture of the destruction from the floods.

We traveled down the road to Fall City where we had dinner at A & G’s with Pastor Andrew Chavanak and Pastor John Siph and their spouses along with the Honorable Curtis Maschman in Fall City. We had a wonderful meal with enlightening conversation, which lead us to Pastor Andrew’s congregation (St. Paul) in Fall City where we experienced confirmation class…oh boy! We talked about why Jesus was baptized and this included a picture treasure hunt of baptismal reminders (some of which were interesting choices, but reminded us nonetheless!) and Jesus’ Life themed Pictionary. Talk about a whirlwind day! And speaking of whirlwind days the weather today turned very cold and windy…very windy and we also got our first Nebraska snow experience (just a bit).

Our Busy, Busy Nebraskan Days

So, you might think that life in rural American is kind of laid back and carefree, but you'd be wrong. These folks are busy and they are keeping us busy and very engaged in learning about day to day life in southeast Nebraska, especially in regard to what it means to be in ministry here.

We started our day having coffee with some folks in Talmage and got a bit of an inside look into the things like the challenges that go with managing cemeteries that have been in use since about the 1880s … sometimes with little or no accurate record keeping of where people were buried. Then we were off to a cluster meeting of pastors who are in many stages and types of ministry to our Nebraskan brothers and sisters and Christ. One pastor serves as an interim anywhere he may be needed throughout the statewide synod, a couple of them were first call pastors, another was a pastor who has been in her first call for 15 years, still others were brought to Nebraska specifically for their multicultural perspectives, or to serve very small congregations or growing churches and the list goes on. They were gracious enough to take the time to tell us how they came to rural ministry and what it means to them, what they've learned about themselves and the communities of people they serve. Overwhelmingly, despite challenges big and small, they have found the experience “rich” and feel it's truly a gift to have the opportunity to provide ministry in the Heartland.

We also had the opportunity visit Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City, an impressive hotel, restaurant, conference center, farm, conservation and family activity complex in the middle of a relatively small Nebraska Town. We learned about everything from J. Sterling Morton, who founded Arbor Day about 120 years ago, to how the Lied Lodge on the property uses scrap lumber to efficiently heat and cool the facility in an innovative and sustainable manner, to how trees often go unrecognized for the key roles they play in many movies.

Then we returned to our growing circle of familiar faces at St. James (Long Branch) Lutheran Church near Humboldt to visit with women who gather weekly from January to Easter all day on Tuesdays to make quilts for Lutheran World Relief. They typically send off 100 quilts a year from this tiny corner of the world to keep people warm and wrapped in Nebraska quilted love and compassion.

Finally, we were off to a experience some high school basketball in Beatrice. Basketball, like many other sports, are an important point of community gathering in these communities. Our host Pastor Amalia Spruth-Jannsen commented that St. James will often have youth on different teams in the area so when the rural pastor goes to basketball games they often have to cheer on all the teams.

Tomorrow we head out for another fun-filled day of Nebraska life and we are all looking forward to the new insights and people it will bring. Here's a little photo essay our adventures today. It starts with a lovely little angel ornament in the morning sun at the home of our host family for the last couple of nights, Kim and Terry Hahn and their three children. Each year they put up their "Angel Tree" to remember family members who have died. The next two photos are from Arbor Day Farm ... a grand old Burr Oak tree and Josh and Zak at the top of a tree house. Then there is a little montage of the quilting operation we had a chance to visit at St. James. Prof. Swanson even pitched in to help create one of the quilt tops. The last photo is from the basketball game, which, by the way, ended with a sweet Hail Mary three-pointer at the final buzzer. You don't get to see too many of those!

Sweet Dreams & Blessings from Nebraska, Ann

Going to Prison: the less glamourous side of ministry

Today we packed our things, left the Blecha home, and headed for tecumseh…after Marvin made us enough pancakes for ten people. While we were sad to leave the Blechas behind, we were ready for the day ahead.

The day began at the Belle Terrace nursing home and the Ridgeview Towers assisted living facility in Tecumseh. We were unable to enter Ridgeview because of a stomach flu bug, but received a nice tour of Belle Terrace. We then had time to eat donuts and visit with some of the residents before devotionals. At that time we met Annette, the sweetest old lady in the world. Annette told us all about herself and got teary eyed as she told us of her painful transition to the nursing home. And during devotion we learned that the elderly woman that I was sitting next to was present at Jesus’ baptism.

After the nursing home we toured the town hospital, which is the only hospital around that delivers babies. We talked with department heads and learned all about the hospital.

By that point it had been well over an hour and a half, so we went to lunch at Frazier’s Café, with the Lutheran volunteer ministers at the Tecumseh prison. The portions were, not surprisingly, enough for two people to eat.

After lunch we meet the local sheriff and saw the inside of a jail cell. Then it was time to go to prison. After making our way through the metal detectors and pat downs, we were ready to enter the Tecumseh prison. We were given a tour of all the offices in the prison, and the hospital section of the prison. After that, we walked across the yard were there was nothing separating us from the inmates. We were allowed into the substance abuse cellblock were we were shown the inside of a cell and got to ask an inmate about his rehabilitation program. We were also given the chance to speak with the death row chaplain about his job before leaving the prison, and as it turns out he does not receive a prison cell as a parsonage. This was a great reinforcing experience for my interest in prison ministry.

Then it was time to eat. We headed for Luther Memorial church in Syracuse for dinner. There we had dinner with Pastor Mike Widner and three members of the congregation. The members were all third generation farmers and talked to us about their views of farming.

Now Ann and Dr. Swanson are at the home of Kim and Terry Hahn, and Zach and I are staying at the home of Lori and Jeff Broady where, in case we had not eaten enough today, we were given more snacks than we could eat in a week. After four days, more miles than we can count, and more food than we ever imagined we could eat, we can’t wait to see what more is in store in the week to come.

~Josh

Wonderful Ooze?!?

What is tired, immersed (rural-ly of course) and well-fed all over? Answer, all of us! Here we are in just our third day in Nebraska and I feel as though we've been here for months. After the excitement of tractor rides and endless food yesterday, today was filled with church services and guess what...more food. This morning we experienced a Sunday worship at St. James and it was wonderful. A service including "baptism Remembrance devices" (including but not limited to fonts, bathtubs and yes of course squirt guns) and some great Epiphany/Christmas hymns were the highlight of the service. Following the service there was a Q & A session with the congregation where the joys and perils of rural ministry were discussed amongst treats and snacks. Shortly after this session was some fellowship shared over...wait for it...another meal (Chinese cuisine to be exact)! An afternoon of rest and a video concerning the wonders of corn (which let me tell is indeed full of wonders!). This evening was a community gathering for worship and music in the "Singspiration" service at St. James. What a show of talents to be followed by more snacks and fellowship (because after a few hours of not eating we were obviously withering away). My favorite part of the fellowship was being told that we as a group have a "wonderful ooze" (we took it as a good thing...as we should!). This may be our last blog post "from the outside" as tomorrow we shall be put in prison (or at least visiting Tecumseh prison, same difference)...although to be honest no prison can hold a group of LSTCers determined to be immersed rurally!

A picture of "the crew" including Pastor Eric and Pastor Amalia Spurth-Janssen

Hello Nebraska!

“History is alive, active and oral in ways not often found outside small towns.” “The heart of the rural congregation beats to the rhythm of the Creator God's bounty of the seasons.”

These are just a couple of the insights I gleaned from the books on rural ministry we read for the J-Term Rural Immersion 2012. In our first 24 hours in Nebraska, I and my travel companions – Josh Buzbee, Zak Wagner and Prof. Rosanne Swanson – have already begun discovering the truths in these statements. This is our travel crew in the middle of one of Ervin Gobber's 5,000 acres of farmland in southeast Nebraska.



We arrived yesterday in Omaha to the warm welcome of members of of the Nebraska Synod Rural Ministry Committee and were treated to lunch in historic downtown Omaha and stumbled across this awesome payphone. It's not the first working pay phone we've seen so far.



On our way to the home of our first host family, Candy and Marvin Blecha of Humbolt, we stopped at three ELCA churches. This is the nave of the First Lutheran Church at Avoca. It's important to note, however, if you asked a local where First Lutheran was they might not know what you were talking about because many of the churches are identified by name of the river or creek they are closest to, so despite what historical documents may say, this is really the North Branch church.



This is Moose – he provides important ministries at North Branch and we fell in love with him. We are sure our spouses and roommates will be very excited to find out that we may want to add a Bouvier to our Hyde Park apartment lives now.



We ended our first day in Nebraska by participating in an Epiphany potluck and Service of Light at St. James near Humboldt with Pastors Amalia and Eric Spruth-Janssen. It was a lovely evening. This morning we were back at St. James for a Rural Ministry Workshop where we learned a lot about the flooding that devastated this part of the country and its people last summer. Hearing the stories of the devastation and loss was powerful. I found myself amazed that we heard very little in national news of what these people were and continue to go through because of the flooding.



Our last outing of the day was a farm tour with Ervin Gobber which included tractor rides for me and Zak. It was amazing. Here's Zak getting ready to take off on his tractor adventure. We were actually witnessing something quite rare: the winter has been so mild here this year that the Gobber's are tilling in January in preparation for next year's crops, a time of the year when the ground is usually be frozen and covered with snow.

And now we are all back at the lovely Blecha abode, well fed, in comfy clothing and reading to sleep through our second quiet and dark Nebraska night.

I close with part of a prayer from Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim by Edward Hays.

Gracious Lord, Open my heart and pour in all that is lacking. Saturate my words with love and encouragement, so that I may truly be an expression of your presence in this world. I thank you for the countless blessings of this day: gifts of sight, sound, hearing and smell – for wonders without end. Amen.

In Peace, Ann

Gifts Given and Received

At the beginning of our voyage, just after Epiphany, I pondered what gifts we might bring to the Christ child we found in the people of Nebraska.

Reflecting upon our trip, I am confident that gifts we brought to them were: a gift of open mindedness; a willingness to learn, to hear their stories, to understand their way of life and their relationships with each other, their land, and God. An extension of this gift is that we will bring this understanding back to the city with us, to share with our families, friends, and future congregations this experience of rural life that is so often misunderstood by those who have not been there.

The magi who brought gifts to the child Jesus in turn were given a gift to bring home with them: the gift of having experienced God incarnate, the ultimate expression of love in the person of a little boy.

Like the magi, we also return with an unanticipated gift to ourselves from Nebraska. Pastor Mike asked us over our last two days in Nebraska, “Where have you seen God at work among these people?” The answer was challenging, only because it was hard to think of times when we did not experience God in the people we met. We experienced God in their hospitality: in sharing their homes and lives with us, we were welcomed. It was Matthew 25:35 personified: they welcomed us as they would have welcomed Christ. We experienced God in their relationships: in the responsibility they feel towards their families, friends and neighbors, the closeness of the community, the pride in their work, the respect for the land, the dedication to their church, and the devotion to God that is inherent in each of these. God is love, and if the ultimate example of relationship is love, then the people whose lives we were blessed to share in embodied the love of God. I am certain we received the greater gift.

Bearing gifts we traversed afar… and like the magi, we also experienced God incarnate: in the remarkable people and beautiful countryside of an unexpected Promised Land… Nebraska.

Many thanks to all of you who have followed our adventures on this blog. It honors and humbles me to have been the teller of our tales. I wish you all Godspeed. Until we meet again…

Spiritual Treasure Seekers

Friends and followers, I give you for a last time the 2011 Spiritual Treasure Seeking team of LSTC’s Rural Immersion adventure in Nebraska:











Thanks for reading the blog, everyone!

10 Things I Learned from Our Nebraska Trip

One of my favorite quotes is from the great Negro League baseball pitcher Satchel Paige, who said,

“Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.”

Yesterday, I did some of the latter, and quite a bit of the former. Much of it involved considering what I had learned in Nebraska. Somehow, seemingly on their own, the thoughts coalesced into a list. This is by no means comprehensive (if you want comprehensive, read the whole blog). I give you the list, numbered but in no particular order of significance:

1. Bruce Springsteen’s song “Nebraska” is far more depressing than the state actually is.

2. When people say that Husker football is the “official religion” of Nebraska, they’re not kidding.

3. The odor from a feedlot will stick to your vehicle for days.

4. Most churches have big worship spaces, big fellowship areas, and big kitchens.

5. If getting dirty is a real problem for you, think twice about doing rural ministry.

6. Rural and small town ministry can be way more fun than people who don’t know what they’re talking about say it is.

7. Even people from the country have a hard time pronouncing the word, “rural.”

8. Nebraska has potentially the coldest temperatures of any place one can reasonably expect to visit.

9. Jeans and boots are perfectly acceptable clergy attire for nearly every ministerial occasion outside of actual worship services – and may work even in some of those.

10. A person’s life, love, work, church, friends, and family are often intertwined – and that can be a beautiful thing to behold.

Farewell, but Not Really Goodbye

Argh! The last day! How can it have arrived so soon? Didn’t we just get here?


The troops met up at Immanuel-Zion in the morning to speak to parishioners during the Sunday School hour, during which we expressed our profound gratitude for the hospitality shown to us, explained personal highlights from the trip, and described how we had witnessed God at work during our journey (like Steve Bygland bringing us CAFFEINATED coffee this morning!!!). Expect reflections upon the latter category (minus the coffee) later in the week.

Immanuel-Zion's sanctuary before worship.

The “Breaking of the Bread” and “Sharing of Peace” during a celebratory worship service with the IZ folk preceded the “Breaking of the Doughnuts” and “Sharing of Goodbyes” after worship. Many of us were close to tears as we smiled, laughed, and exchanged well-wishes with some of our host families and many others who had helped to make our adventure so memorable and inspirational, including and especially, Pastor Mike and Alison.

Patricia with her last host family, the Lees.

Lyn Bygland, Patricia, Alpha, Kaila, Steve Bygland, and Becca pose for a farewell photo.

Then, for the last time, we piled back into the van (which I swear still smelled like the feedlot) and made the two hour trip back to the Omaha airport, pondering the transition ahead of us.

Lorin, Alpha, and Patricia ponder how the journey just completed may impact the journey ahead.

It felt so strange to think about plugging back into our very urban existences after ten days visiting churches, driving and walking through corn and soybean fields, and enjoying overwhelming rural hospitality. It was unreal to watch the sea of lights rolling away in every direction as we descended in to Chicago-Midway airport, to realize as we exited the plane into the terminal that there were probably ten times as many people in the airport as there were in the county we just left… and upon returning to campus, it was bizarre to hear a siren for the first time in ten days. Welcome home!

We have two free days for working on final projects, then two days of classes for presenting the projects and collectively reflecting on our trip. Pastor Mike and Bev Adam will be flying out to join us for the two class days.

You, my faithful and diligent readers, can expect at least two more blog entries later this week: one related to the upcoming classes and our projects, and a final wrap-up entry. Stay tuned!

Green and Red

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15 – Rising early again, with a full but less hectic schedule planned, Lorin and I and our host family, the Krohns, had a lovely breakfast at the Albion gourmet coffee shop, the “Brewed Bean.” Yes, even small rural towns can have a gourmet coffee shop!

The major activity for today is the Nebraska synod’s Rural Ministry Taskforce’s annual Faith and Farming workshop, with the theme, “Green Before ‘Green’ was Cool.” The event brought several dozen pastors, farmers, and other interested folk to Zion Lutheran Church in Albion for a day of presentations and breakout sessions centered on stewardship, conservation, ministry in rural congregations, and agricultural genetics.

Patricia (front, in red sweater) and others engage in dialogue during Kadi's class on Stewardship and Tithing.

Our gang and the attendees at our fourm to close the workshop.

Late in the afternoon after the workshop, our group visited via teleconference with the new senior pastor at Zion, David Frerichs, who begins his call there next month. He shared with his perspective on taking a call in a small community after spending the last 8 ½ years in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was clearly excited about coming to Albion, and we all enjoyed his enthusiasm.

After dinner at Subway – yes, they have one of those too – in high anticipation we headed for the Boone County high school to watch the varsity girls and boys basketball games.

We have heard consistently about how much rural communities love their high school sports, and we saw that love personified in the gymnasium.

The Boone Central faithful pack the house.

The stands were packed and there was electricity in the air as we watched the lady Cardinals pull out a victory over their previously-undefeated opponents. The boys’ team, which has struggled this season but came out strong against the number 2 team in the state, ultimately fell to defeat. Several of us enjoyed the nostalgia of attending high school games. We had also heard that it is a meaningful gesture for a pastor to at least make an appearance at the high school sporting events. Most if not all of us enjoyed ourselves so much that we didn’t think that would be a problem at all!
The Boone Central girls get it done against West Point Catholic Central.

The boys won the first half with scrappy play and accurate shooting, but couldn't hold it together to finish the game.

Healing Souls & Bodies, Feeding Us & Cows

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14 – Another early start to another jam-packed day began at 7:45am at the home of our host pastor, Mike Kern, his wife Alison and their energetic toddler Noah. Over wonderful cinnamon rolls, banana bread, and coffee, Alison and Pastor Mike spoke intimately of their hesitations about coming to Nebraska and a rural community, the adjustments they had to make, but especially about how much they have come to love this community and the congregations of which they are a part. As a senior about one month away from regional and synod assignment, I have found words like these to be among the greatest gifts of this visit to rural America.

With Pastor Mike at the wheel, we set sail for the nearby town of Newman Grove (population 700) where we visited with Dave Lapka, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church. Among his many inspirational messages, Pastor Lapka explained to us a critical role that a pastor can play in a rural setting by being involved in the civil life of the community, asking the hard, challenging questions, and like John the Baptist, pointing the way toward “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

Our next port of call was to the Mid-Nebraska Lutheran Home, a long-term care facility also in Newman Grove that is owned collectively by the three Lutheran churches in the town. It is a pleasantly clean and “homey” establishment that serves a growing need in the area. The social services worker said that one challenge in his work is helping residents who have spent their entire lives on farms through the difficult and frustrating shift to living in a facility.

Becca demonstrates the emotion behind such memorable hymns as "Hold the Fort" and "Fight the Good Fight," as found in the Lutheran Home's hymnal.

Navigating through the rolling snowy fields of corn back to Albion, we enjoyed a tour of the Boone County Health Center, a 25-bed hospital that serves a 60-mile radius around Albion. In yet another stereotype-shattering experience, this tour showed us a clean, modern health care facility that would rival any of the huge hospitals in my home city of St. Louis. As social worker Valorie Schlizoski introduced us to several employees, the message became clear that perhaps the largest difference between this hospital and larger ones in more populated areas is the personal attention that the patients receive, because the workers very likely will know personally most, if not all, of the patients. The health center has eleven general practitioner physicians, and specialists come in from larger cities either weekly or monthly depending on the specialty. Rural communities may be a general state of decline, but this hospital delivered 120 babies in 2010 - a reality that should inspire joy and hope.

The Boone County Health Center sign.

This gorgeous stained glass window depicting the four seasons in Nebraska dominates the hospital chapel.

The main entrance to the hospital.

For lunch, we finally we made the long-awaited visit to RUNZA! For those of you who are not from Nebraska, a Runza is ground beef and cabbage wrapped in a roll and baked. Unfortunately, we all remained a bit leery of beef and no one ordered an actual Runza. The employee who filled our order insisted that we could not leave Nebraska without having a Runza, and so she brought us one for free, cut into bite-size pieces, of which most of us partook – though I’m sorry to report that none of us were particularly impressed. Maybe it’s an acquired taste?

While at Runza, we were joined for lunch by Kim Young, a reporter who interviewed us for an article in next week’s issue of the Albion News. They’ve promised to send us copies.

After lunch, Pastor Mike had us hitting the ground running again to make up for our “lost’ day on Monday, so we headed to the Boone County Schools for a tour and meeting with the superintendent, Cory Worrell, before spending time discussing the local economy, prospects for growth, and roles of the churches in town at the Albion City Hall with Shannon Landauer (economic development), Andy Devine (city administrator), and Jill Anding (chamber of commerce).

A quick tour of the Albion grain elevator, operated by Cargill, was next on the docket. If it seems that Cargill comes up a lot, we found out that it is the largest privately owned company in the world. The local elevator was built in 1979, and in 2010 it handled approximately 44 million bushels of corn, nearly all of which went to the ethanol plant just across a field.

Albion's Cargill grain elevator from a distance.

This is what 700,000 bushels of corn looks like.

This is what one pastor, one professor, and six seminarians in front of 700,000 bushels of corn looks like.

The hits just kept on coming. Our last and most… odiferous tour of the day was to the Niewohner feedlot, where cattle are fattened before being sent to the processing plant, most commonly to the very plant we visited in Schuyler the day before. The Niewohner’s hold around 80,000 head of cattle between their three feedlots. Mark Niewohner, operator of the lot we visited, showed us the different types of feed that the cattle eat, and then led us to watch the actual feeding process in which a specially designed truck drops the feed all along a trough that runs the length of the corrals. Mark was kind enough to spend some time with us after the tour to answer any questions we had.

A sample of the thousands of cattle corraled at the feedlot.

The grain loader invented by the Niewohner sons.

This cow won the popular bovine version of "King of the Mountain."

Cows doing what cows do at a feedlot.

Dinner with our host families was a treat, as always. Lorin and I are spending our last three days in Nebraska with John and Sheena Krohn, and their infant daughter Kasey. For dinner, Sheena prepared homemade potato and chicken noodle soups that we could not stop praising, so much so that she wrote out the recipes for us. They are a delightfully friendly couple with such refreshing good humor. As with nearly everyone we have spent time with in Nebraska, the Krohns have overwhelmed us with their depth of hospitality. What a blessing!

Meat, Greet, Retreat, and Eat

THURSDAY, JANUARY 13 – Ah… today’s main activity was the one we had probably most anticipated/dreaded of any in our entire journey: a tour of the Cargill meat processing facility in Schuyler (pronounced “skyler”), a community about an hour south of Albion. Our guide for most of the day was Ruth Boettcher, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Schuyler, who joined us for the tour. Upon exiting the van at the plant, we were immediately assaulted by an overpowering odor that one of our group described as “sickening,” and another pronounced as “chunky.” Mmmm.

A distant photo of the massive Cargill meat plant in Schuyler (photo from Wikipedia)

After signing in we were introduced to Christian Perversi, a Cargill manager who was our personal guide through the facility. I’m afraid that cameras were not allowed and thus I have no photos to share, and for the sake of brevity (I know, I know – none of this blog has been brief), I will omit some details that you will probably be just fine with leaving unsaid.

According to Christian, the Cargill plant at Schuyler processes 1.3 million head of cattle per year, or about 5,000 head per day. Per head, the process takes 500 gallons of water, of which 80% is reclaimed and recycled by the plant.

We began at the end of the process, so as to minimize the possibility of dragging harmful bacteria from the beginning of the process (you know what happens at the beginning, right?). The two and a half story high automated sorting and distribution system organizes packed boxes of meat and sends it to specific pallets based on the specifics of the particular customer’s order. Our vantage point for the rest of the tour would be from catwalks about 12 feet above the floor. Next was the cutting room, in which large portions of beef are gradually sliced by specially trained workers to create specific cuts of meat that are then vacuum-packed before being sent via conveyors into boxes and then into the automated system described a moment ago.

We were led next to the slaughter floor. When it comes to details of this area, it might suffice to say that “less is more.” Live cattle come in one end of the room, and hideless sides of beef go out the other end to the cutting room. We all watched the entirety of the process, and none of us left unaffected by what we saw. I believe we all were impressed by how humane the slaughter process was, how critically important animal welfare before the slaughter is to the company, and how extensively the meat is cleaned to minimize harmful bacteria. We could not say enough about the graciousness of our tour guide, Christian. He explained every process in detail, and told us in precise detail about what we were about to see, and offered us the option not to if we so chose. Some of us became more committed or recommitted to vegetarianism, while others appreciated knowing the process of how the beef they enjoy as food comes to be on their tables. Regardless, it was clear that we would all be taking a break from beef eating for a few days at least.

Shellshocked, not really hungry but in need of nourishment, we adjourned to the Schuyler Senior Center for lunch and a meeting of the local ministerial association. We found out at Cargill that 90% of the employees are of Hispanic origin, and of Schuyler’s population of 5500, 60% are Hispanic.

After visiting the Schuyler Chamber of Commerce and having a quick tour of Pastor Ruth’s lovely little church in Schuyler, we headed four miles north for an all-too-brief visit to a Benedictine retreat center. After the events of the day thus far, I think we all enjoyed the quiet beauty of the retreat center.

The entrance to the chapel at the Benedictine retreat center.

Lorin contemplates the mystery of the cross.

Becca and Brian looking reverently Catholic in front of St. Benedict's statue.

Boarding the Magic Bus once again, Lorin shuttled us the 25 minutes over to the city of Columbus (population 20,000) and Hope Lutheran Church, a mission start now entering its sixth year. We met with some lovely representatives from the church, including Linda Shepherd, a licensed minister serving as their pastor, and we were also joined by Chris McArdle, a personal friend who is a pastor at St. Luke’s United Church of Christ, whose members have been strongly supportive of the mission community. We were inspired by the faith, love, and yes, hope, that the members expressed that sustains their community and gives them the strength to continue despite small numbers.

Joined by Pastor Chris, we ended our day with a fabulous meal at a local restaurant, The Picket Fence, which not only provides a number of vegetarian options (which we were in the mood for!), but also serves slices of some incredible pies! It was a perfect ending to an exhausting day, with another promised for tomorrow.

The gang hunkers down after a great dinner at the Picket Fence.