Trip to Utah

Once I got to Utah, I couldn't believe how different it was from Wisconsin. I remember the asphalt at the airport was so hot I could feel it burning through the soles of my ballet slippers I was wearing. It was 120 degrees the day I arrived, and I remember thinking, "Boy, am I in trouble!" I didn't especially like hot weather.

During the 2 hour drive back to the farm, in the dusty, dirty old car, without air conditioning, I was feeling rather sick. Perhaps it was the skuzzy water bottles in the back seat of the car next to me that were "in case of an emergency", or perhaps it was the suffocating hot air blowing in the window, but I was definately not feeling right about this trip.

When we finially arrived, I met the rest of the family, and began to figure out who they were, I couldn't help but notice there was something different about them. They prayed before meals. They were genuinely helpful and caring to each other. They said things like "Amen" and "Praise the Lord!". But perhaps the most amazing thing was that they worked harder than any people I had ever seen. They worked not only their farm, which was 7 miles on the outskirts of town but also the Ruby Ranch, as they called it, which was another 120 miles into the desert. Literally, they worked from dawn to dusk every day. They got up at sunrise and worked until breakfast was served at 8:00am, they they were off to work again, until dinner was served at 11:00pm, after their evening chores were completed. But, the really amazing thing was that they took Sunday's OFF.

They constantly invited strangers into their home, of which I was one. At times, they would have traveling musicians, preachers, even misplaced ranch hands, cowboys and struggling juvenile delinquents stay in their home. It was amazing to me, I was completely flabbergasted.

My oldest cousin, Kirk, was the preacher at the only Bible Church within a hundred miles, in a town of two hundred Mormans. It was a small church, perhaps 50 people in their congregation, but it had a thriving Sunday School program. Someone plunked out hymns on the dusty, old panio, and even though they couldn't sing, they were worshiping and praising God with their voices at the top of their lungs. I was shocked! Most of them didn't have anything else to wear to church but their Sunday jeans, (we had always been taught you HAD to wear a dress to church). Later I found out that some of them would drive 1 1/2 hours to get to church on Sunday morning!

I was in culture shock. This was so radically different from my safe little Midwestern upbringing. It destroyed all my ideas about what a pleasant, comfortable life was supposed to be like. But, I couldn't ge over the fact that they were SOOOOOO happy. I couldn't get past the idea that they had such a small church, (my home town Methodist church had been a congregation of more than 300 people), and yet they were so devoted to worshiping God. I was astounded that anyone would consider wearing jeans to church, and that people would drive nearly two hours for the priviledge. I had been only 3 blocks away from our church as a small child, and yet I walked away.

How far do you drive to church? I only drive about 10 minuites, and if there is a Packer football game on Sunday morning, with the game traffic, it can take me as long as a half hour to get there. It seems like FOREVER! Can you imagine driving two hours? I was positively aghast that anyone who was obiviously tone deaf would sing at the top of their lungs in church. (My Mother was an opera singer, and I also was a musician, singing off key would drive us crazy!) Can you imagine?

But there was more, the morning church service was just the beginning. After church there were picinics in the park, and potlucks, or swimming at the lake that lasted ALL afternoon. The entire congregation would attend. Then, at the end of the day they would come back to church for an all church bible study that lasted another two hours. Sundays were for worship, all day long, from after morning chores until evening chore time.