Married To An Ex-Mennonite: Part 1

            I have always had an admiration for those who lived the "plain" lifestyle and devoted their lives to work, family, and God. My mother once remarked that I was born in the wrong century. As a child I couldn't get enough of sewing and canning with my grandmother. A house full of children was always a dream of mine.....and I am blessed to say that childhood dreams can come true!
        When I met Daniel, I met a man in suspenders and a straw hat. He was recently expelled from the Tennessee Churches, a conservative Mennonite group with members mostly in Kentucky and Tennessee. His six sisters had moved out of his house shortly after he was expelled and though he still attended his former community's church meetings, it was not a pleasant or worshipful experience. His isolation was palpable. But he was making his way, forming new friendships and alliances with the rest of our farming community.
        I tried to understand how he had come to be expelled and why their was no answer or resolution for his condition. But the story he shared was long, spanning years, and the twists and turns of events was confusing. I wanted to think the best of all involved...the ministry and brethren that expelled him and his sisters for walking away from him. I thought, "Maybe it is just a misunderstanding where high emotions and hurt feelings had interfered with the process of reconciliation."

Mt. Hermon Mennonite Meeting/School House

        Regardless, I saw a man who was struggling with truth and truly seeking to understand what was right. So often I think our "values" and identities and our beliefs are something we seek to protect, even if it is unconcously. But Daniel was seeking in such a way that he was willing to lay aside traditions that he had been indoctrinated in since he was a boy and yet at the same time, was not willing to lie or pretend, even if it meant missing the opportunity to rejoin community life. All this sifting was a long process over the span of years. I was not a believer when I met him. I was more of a seeker or agnostic. But it was through Daniel that I first saw "the face of God" and was so deeply humbled by his expressions in his search and actions.

        And just as I had always imagined, his childhood and youth was filled with examples of intentional living. That is to say, his community sought to live in such a way that God would be pleased. As they cast aside patterns and options that were viewed as harmful in society, they sought to live lives where Christ showed through.
      I love to hear stories about his childhood and how he was schooled and raised.
     Life, from birth, was centered around the family unit and loyalty to the community and its leaders. Young families might work for others in the community, but often with an eye on occupations where they could involve their children. Many would work towards starting their own businesses when they could so that husbands could work alongside their families as much as possible, sharing the noon meal and helping with the children.
      Children work alongside their parents and begin using tools and carrying responsibility at a young age. Daniel was milking the family cow at 8 with his brother on one side of the cow and him on the other. By 9, he was milking for neighbors on the weekend in a commercial dairy. He was welding by 11, driving tractors by 9, and built a well house out of concrete blocks by 12! Work expectations were high and thus began a work ethic that has served him well through out the years.
       

      He describes his chores as not fun exactly, but that he and his sibling made them fun and remembers that if they worked ahead enough, they might could carve out a little free time for the following day. He remembers summers of hand hoeing sweet corn in a 10 acre field, spraying that same corn on foot with Seven, and then hand harvesting corn to sell in town. He remembers helping to shell 300 quarts worth of peas to freeze, racing to see who could shell 100 pods first. They canned bushels of beans and tomatoes and apples, each summer. They hand dug their basement as a family and added to the house several times as well. They fixed tractors, built their own tractor to harvest sorghum, built barns, repaired machinery and cars, and generally got a decent education in just about every basic trade their is. He even sewed a shirt for himself when he was 13 during a time when he was too injured to work outside. (He was pretty proud of himself except he sewed the cuffs on inside out. LOL)
     Check out Married To an Ex Mennonite: Part 2 !
     and Married To An Ex Mennonite: Part 3 !