We took advantage of the 2nd week of our Temple closure to become familiar with a few more places in Iowa which we had been interested in discovering. Thus far, we only knew about the vast farms we pass by on our drive to Mt. Pleasant each Sunday where we attend Church, the well driven road to the Keokuk Walmart, and the beloved Dutchman Store. We broadened our horizons of Iowa this past week by exploring some ancient Indian burial mounds, enjoying Tulip Time in the little Dutch town of Pella, and exploring the lovely Amish countryside in Kalona. We invite you to share those most interesting sites through our blog today.
On Monday, April 24th, we took a tour hosted by Cal Christensen, a Nauvoo resident who has a great interest in the several ancient Indian Burial Mounds which are located around this area. It is illegal to dig for or retrieve any artifacts from these mounds. The first set of mounds he took us to were along The Mississippi River, about 15 minutes north from where we live, along the hill where his home is located.
On Monday, April 24th, we took a tour hosted by Cal Christensen, a Nauvoo resident who has a great interest in the several ancient Indian Burial Mounds which are located around this area. It is illegal to dig for or retrieve any artifacts from these mounds. The first set of mounds he took us to were along The Mississippi River, about 15 minutes north from where we live, along the hill where his home is located.
Our Tour Group- Elder and Sister Mabey, South Jordan, Utah
on a mound Elder and Sister Adams, Snowflake, Arizona
Elder and Sister Peterson, South Jordan, Utah
Our favorite mound we saw that day was located in Keokuk, Iowa, not far from where we go to Walmart for our grocery shopping. It is nicknamed Turtle Mound, because it has a huge boulder on one end that looks like a turtle head and the mound looks like a turtle shell. It's actual name is "Little Mound Cemetery". It is an actual cemetery in use today. Rather than trying to describe it, I will share some pictures from that beautiful site. The picturesque barn featured at the top of this blog was located directly across the way from this mound.
Tuesday, April 25, we took a 2 hour drive to Holland. Well, actually we went to Pella, Iowa, a very enjoyable and surprising place to explore. Pella is the headquarters of the Pella Windows and Door Company and Factory. Clever name, Pella! "Pella is referred to as, 'America's Dutch Treasure'. Pella lies in central Iowa just 40 miles SE of Des Moines. Pella was established in 1847, under the leadership of Domine Hendrik Peter Scholte. The Hollanders claimed their new home as Pella, 'city of refuge.'"(pella.org) We were interested to note that the Dutch people were seeking religious freedom in Iowa the very same year that the Mormon pioneers were seeking religious freedom in the Salt Lake Valley. "Each year the Tulip Time Festival, held May 4-6 this year, draws over 150,000 guests. Hundreds of thousands of beautiful tulips bloom every year around the community." We were grateful NOT to be in attendance with those 150,000 guests. However, we thoroughly loved seeing their hundreds of thousands tulips of every color standing proud and gorgeous all around the town. Of course we ran into 2 other Nauvoo Temple Missionary couples, The Adams and The Sorensons, while we were in the town square at the beginning of our visit. Sister Adams took this funny picture of us being your typical Pella tourists!
Love the YELLOW Wooden Shoes!
Here is a little sample of the thousands of tulips we saw on in this beautiful Dutch town. Sorry we don't have 3-D pictures, but at least you will get a hint of Tulip Time in Pella, Iowa, 2017.
" Pella today boasts the largest working grain windmill in the Untied States, the Vermeer Mill, a treasured gem, now fully restored from the 1900's." (pella.org) We took the Windmill Tour and climbed through the windmill amongst its inter working and gears. We also strolled through the Miniature Dutch Village display which they have crafted after several actual villages in Holland. My maternal grandmother, Vera VanSchaack Cadwallader, has Dutch heritage, so I especially enjoyed seeing this miniature village display and picturing my ancestors living in such a place as this.
These pictures from the gardens outside the Windmill
The following pictures are from various locations around Pella
After leaving Pella, we drove to Coralville, a suburb of Iowa City, It was a big treat to find out that Red Lobster and Costco were both just down the freeway about 10 minutes from our hotel. You can probably guess what we did in Coralville that evening! Red Lobster did not disappoint us. We really appreciated the chance to eat somewhere special like this. We live less than 10 minutes away from a Costco in South Jordan, Utah, so going 6 months without entering a Costco is extreme. We wandered around, but left with much less than usual. It is interesting to be living in a situation where abundance isn't that important. We are apartment dwellers and we have what we need and lots of fellow missionaries around us who would give you whatever you don't have. We like it here and this has caused us to plan ahead better.
It was threatening rain as we left our hotel on Wednesday, April 26th, for a 30 minute drive to Kalona, Iowa. We had heard so much about that town and were excited to finally see it for ourselves. It was fun to notice the name of the street that our GPS told us to take, "Mormon Trek Boulevard".
According to Kalona's website, "Kalona is the Quilt Capitol of SE Iowa. It has the largest Amish settlement West of The Mississippi".
There were no crowds the day we visited which was good. Before going into the village we drove around the countryside admiring their well kept farms and homes. We visited the Kalona Historical Village and drove by the Livestock Auction where we saw a trailer loaded with goats they had purchased at the sale. There were several buggies with horses tied up along the fence while their owners were at the Livestock Auction. The Amish buggies have metal wheels and all the country roads are gravel and dirt.
We happened upon "The Golden Delight Bakery, 2 miles" sign, and of course instantly went that way. It was wonderful! They had breads and cookies and pastries all freshly homemade from scratch. There was a section with jams and salsa and other sauces all lined up. We bought a jar of jam called "Traffic Jam". It is made up of every type of fruit all mixed together, a true traffic jam in more ways than one! Inside the store was also a section of homemade wooden furniture of all types. Here are a few pictures from the inside of the store. The Amish people do not allow pictures to be taken of the front of them. They consider taking pictures of themselves to be "worshipping graven images."
We went to their Kalona Historical Village, including the Mennonite Museum. They were having their annual Quilt show just a couple days after we were there. Below you will see 2 of the quilts displayed at the Historical Village which were being raffled off at their Quilt Show. They are masterfully handsewn and and very lovely. We also visited the quilt shop in town called, The Woodin' Wheel. Even the sign in their Chamber of Commerce office was a quilt wall hanging.
We took the Chamber of Commerce bus tour around the countryside. We were the only ones on the 90 minute bus ride with our great tour guide. He drove us around though the farms and countryside telling us about the various customs and lifestyle of both the Amish and the Mennonite people who live there. We saw an Amish school house where he told us that their children attend school through the 8th grade. After that, they work in the homes and in the farms helping their families. Many of the farms had the farmhouse and a smaller home they call the "Grandfather House". The grandparents move to the smaller house and turn their farms over to their children as the generations progress. We wondered which of our children were planning to build us a "Grandfather House"!
On our tour we also went to a large woodworking store, JK Creative Wood and Gifts, with a connecting huge shop which is a family business. They made beautiful things, none of which we purchased. They also sold gorgeous quilts which were hung all around their store. Most of the Amish Quilts were priced around $!,000. This made me appreciate even more all the hand pieced and stitched quilts my mother made throughout her life for all of us! There was a very nice wooden swing in front of the wood shop and our driver took a picture of us surrounded by the Amish countryside.
Our tour bus and guide
On the JK Creative Wood website, the owners, Joel and Karma Brokaw, who attend a Mennonite Church in Kalona, explain the differences between the Amish and the Mennonite people of Kalona. "All Amish are Mennonites, but not all Mennonites are Amish". They go on to say, "In our area, there are a dominant presence of the Old Order Amish which means they would not use electricity, cars or modern commodities. Their outward dress would be plain with no buttons or unnecessary decoration. Women would wear a cloth or mesh white bonnet (worn at all times) underneath a black bonnet to be worn when leaving the home for errands, school, etc. They drive a horse and buggy and farm equipment with steel wheels. In contrast, most Mennonites in this area use electricity, drive cars and wear modern clothing. In our family, the women wear makeup and jewelry. Men wear baseball hats (especially the St. Louis Cardinals) compared to the Amish straw hats. Come to Kalona and experience the differences yourself!" They are very good representatives of their most unique community. We are grateful we were able to take their advice and visit Kalona first hand.
We enjoyed seeing the Amish Community Store Annex in Kalona The porch was filled with handmade wooden swings and rocking chairs. They carried lots of dry goods and baking supplies. There were black shoes of every size. I was attracted to the line of tiny black children's shoes. This house next to the store had huge birdhouses in their neatly manicured yard.
One of the endearing things we saw were the farm animals which play a very important role in the Amish family, both for transportation, farming and food.
The highest goat wins!
Believe it or not, this whole blog took place in just 3 days time! It probably feels like it was month long adventure as you were reading this. We truly were "Enlightened in Iowa" and hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the diversity of Iowa through our eyes. We were called to serve our mission in Nauvoo, Illinois, however, Iowa has become very important to us, too. Iowa is a place we would have never experienced, but as you can see, it has expanded our horizons forever.,
Our Nauvoo Temple closure ended with a bang on Thursday, April 27th, when 23 new Temple Missionary couples arrived to begin serving 6 months missions as we prepare for the increased number of people who will come here for summer vacations and to participate in the Pageants. We have been the host couple to 2 of those who arrived, Elder and Sister Thompson from the Logan Utah Temple and Elder and Sister Brown from the Denver Colorado Temple. It was great to meet them face to face after talking and emailing with them over the past few months.
Elder and Sister Thompson
Elder and Sister Brown
President and Sister Nelson
1st Counselor in our Temple Presidency and Assistant Matron
We haven't ever posted their picture yet. This is at the Missionary Welcome Dinner
For 3 days following the arrival of the new missionaries, all of us, both old and new missionaries, met together in the Historic Nauvoo Temple Assembly Hall for training from our Temple Presidency. That special room is only used through permission of The First Presidency of the Church. We had only looked at that holy place through the doors until this weekend. The Spirit was strong there and the acoustics are amazing as we all joined in singing hymns including, The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning, Praise to the Man, Joseph Smith's First Prayer, Called to Serve, etc. Our Temple Recorder, Brother Richard Marshall, sang "I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked". I couldn't help but picturing Our Savior, Jesus Christ, walking the halls of the Nauvoo Temple, His Holy House where we serve, as I listened to the words of this sweet music. It was a special gift to be part of that memorable weekend.
What a blessing it is to have all the new missionaries to learn to love and to serve with. It is a humbling thought that when they all complete their missionary service here and are released to return home in 6 months, we will also be joining them. Meanwhile, we started our new schedules and have served the past 3 days on our shifts, both old and new alike, "Called to Serve Him, Heavenly King of Glory". It feels very good to be back inside the Temple each day, surrounded by the Spirit of the Lord, for that is where we belong during this season of selfless service unto Him. We do love the Temple!
Thank you for your love and prayers and support. We send blessings and love to each one of you!
Elder and Sister Peterson in Nauvoo
How fun! We were both visiting windmills and tulips last week :) Those quilts are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteGreat fun seeing so much in Iowa. We had to go all the way to the Metherlands to see windmills and tulips but they look the very same. Hopefully we will be able to see a little more of Florida after we figure out our way around Crescent City. 😁
ReplyDeleteFrom your comment on our blog I was surprised to learn hat you have so many Spanish people there in Mt. Plasant. Sounds like we are having very similar experiences.