We went to worship in the church where John’s grandfather was the pastor from 1913 to 1924 in Hayward, Minnesota. The original building was replaced, but we are sure the bell behind John, Barbara, and Chris was heard by their mother.

We chatted in the sanctuary with a parishioner and Pastor Enderson. That pastor was a one-man band! , He played the prelude on the piano, doing an improvisation based on the first hymn. Making the announcements, he said the organist was away and he’d be playing and conducting the service. He sang the chants with a beautiful voice. Switching to the pulpit, he read the gospel for the day and preached the sermon. Back at the piano, he played the offertory, and so it went.

After the service, we went to see the wall of photographs of former pastors. In my picture, pastor Enderson is putting the photo of our relative, Pastor Ellertsen, back on the wall. We found out this young pastor is the grandson of the pastor who followed our relative! That was our Sunday surprise.

Our three posed before the former parsonage. It is next to the church but no longer belongs to it. This was the house where our relatives lived. It did not have running water in the early days, but it must have had a fence. The children were told they could speak Norwegian inside the fence, but outside the fence it had to be English.

In the afternoon we went to the party for Sid and Jacob, and what a party it was! We began with a tour of the farm by cousin Kirsten. Her daughter Erin and Ben own it, having expanded it over the years. (Erin and Jacob are first cousins.) There were appetizers in the barn, pizza from a food truck, and salads in the barn.

We sat in the climate-controlled root cellar for the toasts and roasts. Sid and Jacob knew each other from grade school on, so the people who spoke were classmates from 20 years ago. I love these teasing speeches that make you feel you know the couple better. The ending was a grand finale – all kinds of cakes to choose from. I had eyes only for the chocolate, but there were others for non-chocoholics.

Here is the happy couple we were celebrating, Sid and Jacob. God’s blessings on your life together!