Mennonite Visit

Work done with a willing and grateful heart becomes a joy.

c e hollis

Our old barn lit up the night sky one January. The hay caught fire then the wood pile and soon the whole structure and everything in it was burning. Firemen arrived, but nothing was salvaged. We built a new barn this year–a big one 80 by 40 foot. The first task was to level the ground. Then a crew of Mennonites came to put in the concrete floor. They worked all day and in the dark under lights. It was a cold winter day so it got dark early.

The workers were hungry, so they happily stopped to eat when their wives came bearing a hot meal. It was cold, windy and dark outside so I insisted they come in to eat. What fun it was to meet them and the children that came along. Soon the men went back to work polishing the concrete with big circular buffers. I’m certain they grew tired and cold but they kept working until 1:30 a.m.

After our pecan orchard was harvested and the nuts were trucked to the processor to be cleaned , shelled and packaged, the Mennonites returned to glean pecans. In Bible days gleaners cleaned up after the crop harvest. This helped feed the needy and prevent waste in the fields. They came again on a cold dreary day with their children and filled buckets. The women in their blue pinned dresses and sweaters and their white caps. They worked hard crawling across the ground and picked up about two hundred pounds of nuts that would have been otherwise wasted. They were cheeerful and never complained about the cold and the damp. They found joy in the promise of cracking and shelling nuts by the fireplace on cold nights and the thought of pecan rolls, breads, and pecan pies to feed their families.

They returned a fourth time two nights before Christmas and stood outside the front door in a circle of light with bright faces to carol for us. They sang Silent Night, Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in the Manger, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. They gifted us with a loaf of delicious cranberry bread and a Mason jar of homemade apple cider. Then they–twenty five in all–came inside for hot chocolate, orange slice candies, and cookies. What a joyful time to serve them cocoa and visit and laugh with them! They are a gentle and happy people.

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So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
Ruth 2:17

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