Mennonite Community, Muddy Pond TNMar 27, 2007
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Don Guenter, the Variety Store owner, quite a character to talk with.
Gotta love those signs!
Shop owner repairing a saddle. He took us on the tour of...
| We drove to the Muddy Pond Mennonite Community today. The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist (radical Baptists) denominations named after and influenced by the teachings and tradition of Menno Simons (1496-1561). As one of the historic peace churches, Mennonites are committed to nonviolence, nonresistance, and pacifism. There are about 1.5 million Mennonites worldwide as of 2006. Mennonite congregations worldwide embody the full scope of Mennonite practice from old fashioned 'plain' people to those who are indistinguishable in dress and appearance from the general population. With a few notable exceptions, Mennonite experience in Europe and North America has been, and continues to be, predominantly rural.They have their "stores" right near their homes. The first place we stopped at was a little "variety store". When we drove up, a man came out of his house next to the store and said to go on in and he would be there in a minute. It had everything you could imagine inside except for the kitchen sink! They also had fresh breads and sweet rolls that his wife had baked, herbs and spices and homemade goats milk soaps and lotions. It was very cluttered and kind of dusty inside, but charming non the less. I purchased a cookbook that was written by the Muddy Pond Mennonite Women to add to my cookbook collection. It has a whole chapter about their beliefs. I also puchased a book written by a local lady who is a spiritual healer. It is all vegan and she has all this philosophy in it. Kind of interesting to see such a radical arm of the Baptist church. In their little village which is tiny, about 1 mile long, there were 3 Baptist churches and one Mennonite church. The women wear a head cover of some type and long skirts, kind of like the Amish, and the men have beards and wear wide brimmed hats which are taken off immediatly when they enter a building. I asked Don, the variety store owner, if I could take his photo and he agreed. Then he asked me if I was in "good favor with the Lord". He was very charming and we had a little discussion. He told me the women don't like to have their photos taken, but the men don't mind. "You have got to have something to remember your trip by, so it doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother you". They seem to be pretty serious folks, but I got Don to smile his big teethy smile. We went into the "Leather Shop" up the road a bit. We were the only folks there and I struck up a conversation with the shop owner. He offered to show us his "special" places in his new shop. He took us up the stairs to a huge room filled with crutches, rolls of bulk fabric, medical supplies, and used shoes. He was so proud of all of it as he told us that they gather up materials and ship them off to other countries where poor people are in need. That was the real focus of the communtity. It was impressive. Then, he took us through some more doors into the very back of the shop where he stored all his bulk leather, harness supplies, buggy repair stuff, rope to make horse leads, and stuff I just didn't know what it was. It was amazing. I tried to get photos without being too obnoxious. I bought two pieces of scrap leather for a buck each. Maybe I will try to make myself a new wallet. After that we went into two more shops that were definitly focused on tourists, so they were not as cool as the first ones. We passed a woman out trying to pull weeds by the road and I took a quick photo of her. They must not pay taxes to the highway dept. because as soon as you get to their "village", the road turns into a terrible potholed mess. It stays that way until you exit Muddy Pond Road, and then it turns immediatley into a newly paved highway like before the village. We thought that was kind of weird. They use cars and machinery, even though they do have buggys and draught horses, so we are not sure what is up with the road. It was a fun day learning about another way of thinking. |
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