On Monday we were part of a guided tour of Kalona, IA; an Amish community located about 15 miles southwest of Iowa City. The "English" (anyone who is not Amish is called English by the Amish) tend to live in Kalona while the Amish live on farms surrounding Kalona. Mennonites also live in and around Kalona. The Amish and Mennonites have a common heritage and set of beliefs. The main differences between them are that Amish use buggies and avoid electricity while Mennonites drive cars and use electricity.

Amish quilts

Old building with a display of washing machines

The Figgins home built in 1842

Sunday School statistics posted in a Mennonite Church

A buggy repair and manufacturing shop. Depending on options, a new buggy costs between $6,000 and $9,000. The owner of this business is so busy that it takes a new owner two years to get delivery.

Four-seater

A new buggy frame and wheels

A tractor with metal wheels used by an Amish farmer

14 temple missionaries at dinner in a Mennonite home.
We held hands and recited the Lord's Prayer before eating, which is traditional.

The roast beef dinner was prepared by Salina Bontrager and her granddaughter Tiffany. Salina is an 82-year-old conservative Mennonite who loves cooking. 

After attending Church yesterday in Iowa City, we and the Cluffs went to Bishop and Sisters Stewart's home for lunch. They live in the country a couple of miles southwest of Iowa City. Bishop Stewart teaches business at University of Iowa (Hawkeyes).

Bishop & Sister Stewart

Brother & Sister Cluff

Scenery on the way to the Stewart's home

 

View from the Stewart's backyard

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Today we are touring the Amish settlement of Kalona, IA., located about 15 miles southwest of Iowa City. Rather than drive back to Nauvoo yesterday and return this morning, we stayed at The Burford House in Iowa City. The house was built in 1903 and is now a bed & breakfast. Our room was on the third floor in the attic.

 

 

Yesterday and today we mentored new ordinance workers, Norman and Evelyn Boehm. Brother and Sister Boehm served as president and matron of the Sacramento Temple the same time we were at the Redlands Temple. Brother Boehm was also a regional representative when I was stake president, so we attended several meetings together.

We went to the temple early Wednesday morning to get ready for the Boehms and took this picture.

On the main road into Nauvoo, and a quarter mile from our apartment, is a community tree and brush burn pile. People dispose of branches, etc., by bringing them to this spot and the city controls the burn. When the wind blows to the west we get the smell of burning wood in our apartment.

 

Tuesday afternoon we went to the Witch's Rib BBQ in La Harp, IL. We've become friends with the Hansens who live near St. George.

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I've mentioned before that miracles happen all of the time in the temple. Some folks might be inclined to say that these events are just coincidences. We have seen too many "tender mercies" to attribute them to chance. This afternoon Brother Anderson (Seattle) told me the following experience he had in the temple today. His daughter lives in Germany and has not been active in the Church for four years. He was in the Baptistry when a woman came to see the Baptistry before leaving the temple. Brother and Sister Anderson visited with the woman and learned that she is German and is their daughter's Relief Society president. The Relief Society president has seen their daughter's name before, but never met her. The president left the Baptistry with an address and phone number for the Anderson's daughter; she plans on contacting the daughter and letting her know that she met her parents in the temple.

We received two letters from the Church today, both from the office of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion. One letter stated: "This couple will teach Institute classes and reach out to young single adults in the area to involve and activate them in Institute and Church. They will assist with Institute activities and work together with local priesthood leaders."

The second letter informed us that the week following the normal MTC training for senior missionary couples, we will attend three days of Institute and Seminary training.

It's nice to know more about what we will be doing on our mission.

We spent the day in the Amana Colonies (see yesterday's entry to learn what's special about Amana).

World's largest rocking chair.

Christmas Room, located in the General Store.

Store front, 1850 German architecture.

We had lunch in this restaurant, which has been open since 1940.

Store front.

A refurbished barn from the 1800s

Merchandise.

Clouds visible on our drive back to Nauvoo.

More clouds.

Sandy took this picture as we were driving. It's one of our favorite landmarks between Nauvoo and Iowa City.

After attending church at the Married Student Ward we drove 21 miles NW of Iowa City to the Amana Colonies. The Colonies consist of seven villages settled in the 1850s by a German religious group, the Community of True Inspiration.

The seven Colonies are: South Amana, West Amana, High Amana, Middle Amana, Amana, East Amana, and Homestead. They were built one hour apart when traveling by ox cart. Each village had a church, a farm, multi-family residences and communal kitchens. The community owned all the land and buildings. This communal system continued until 1932.

We are staying tonight in the village of Homestead. It was not included in the original purchase by the Amana settlers. The railroad and stagecoach came through Homestead, so the settlers later purchased this area so they would have a way to ship their goods, such as woolen fabrics, back east. We are staying in a bed & breakfast hotel called Die Heimat, which means "the place of my roots." The building was built in 1856 to house the stationmaster.

We ate dinner at Ronneburg, a German restaurant in Amana. The food was good, including several side dishes.

Yesterday was a particularly enjoyable day in the temple.

• A couple from Atlanta, who arrived unexpectedly, wanted to participate in live and proxy family sealings, and I happened to be the assigned sealer for that hour. I thoroughly enjoyed performing the following ordinances for them:
• Sealed her deceased mother to her deceased parents.
• Sealed her deceased parents to each other.
• Sealed her to her deceased parents.
• Sealed 11 other deceased relatives as couples or as children to their parents.
• Sandy and I were assigned to assist in the Noon endowment session, and to be the witness couple if there was no other patron couple in attendance. No one else arrived for that session, but the temple president told us to proceed anyway. So Sandy and I were the only patrons in that session and served as the witness couple. I was proxy for one of Sandy's relatives, Niels Christensen Westen, who was born in Denmark in 1752.

We went for a walk at sunset.

Canadian Geese

Canadian Geese in flight

Five white-tail deer

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The Nauvoo Temple has 30 pilasters (rectangular columns projecting from a wall) with a sunstone atop each one. There are nine pilasters on both the north and south sides of the temple, and six pilasters on both the east and west sides.

Pilaster

Sunstone

Brigham Young said the following about the sunstone: "There are thirty capitals around the Temple, each one composed of five stones, viz. one base stone, one large stone representing the sun rising just above the clouds, the lower part obscured; the third stone represents two hands each holding a trumpet, and the last two stones form a cap over the trumpet stone, and these all form the capital, the average cost of which is about four hundred and fifty dollars each. These stones are very beautifully cut, especially the face and trumpet stones, and are an evidence of great skill in the architect and ingenuity on the part of the stonecutters. They present a very pleasing and noble appearance, and seem very appropriate in their places." (BYU Studies, Volume 7, Chapter 25, p 323)

The Church's historical web site states the following:  "To early Church members, the sun breaking through clouds symbolized the dawning of the Restoration and the coming of gospel light to illuminate a dark earth. It is little wonder, then, that sunstones were featured prominently on the Nauvoo Temple. Above each sun are two hands holding trumpets, heralding the dawning of the gospel in this dispensation." (https://history.lds.org/article/nauvoo-temple-sunstones?lang=eng)