stories from shipshewana

Barby and I are in the USA for a week celebrating her father's 90th birthday with family members. It is just the third time in thirty years that we have gathered like this. The family's Christian roots lie with the Mennonites...

A highlight for me has been the visit to the Menno-Hof (kinda like a museum) in Shipshewana (Indiana). A stirring apologetic for the Amish-Mennonite story.

Here is a little story (click on it to make it bigger):

On opening the latch, the story continues like this:

[It reminds me so much of the story about the five men martyred by the Auca tribe in South America going on for fifty years ago now. Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and Co. The ones doing the killing eventually became Christians (with their leader later working closely with one of the martyred men's sons - Steve Saint). A key element in their conversion, as it emerged later, was the intrigue caused by the fact that the missionaries had guns, but chose not to use them. Why?!]

Then this display caught my eye (click on it to make it bigger):

And for good measure, a photo of Dad with his five kids that ranks already among my favourites. It says so much...


nice chatting


Paul