christmas letter 2011

MORRIS MN CHRISTMAS 2011 O holy night! The stars are brightly shining; it is the night of our dear Savior’s birth. “. With the words of this familiar hymn I greet you once again with my annual Christmas letter. Weather news: 2010-2011 was memorable for having a long, cold, and snowy winter. It started with a snowstorm in early Dec, and lasted into Apr with a lot of snow and storms that kept snow removal equipment busy thought-out it. For a while it seemed like every time I was going to go someplace, I had to dig out. Thankfully I had some very kind hearted neighbors that helped me out when I needed it. Spring was slow to arrive, and when it did it was cool, and wet, so it was late before most farmers were able to get all their fields planted. My neighbors had some fields they had to leave unplanted. Abundant rains throughout the growing season helped crops along but an early frost put a quick end to the growing season. As a result crop yields were down this year. Mid July brought a spell of very hot and muggy days and nights that lasted for several weeks before finally ending. A dry fall enabled farmers to get their crops out, and fall fieldwork done by mid Oct. We are now in the midst of a drought not having had any significant moisture for many months, as of this writing we are still in a fall like mode, with only a light dusting of snow and fairly mild temps. We did get a preview of winter in mid Nov when we had about 4 “of snow but most of that quickly melted. As usual I spent a lot of time on the road again this year attending various events in the area (community celebrations, fairs, farms shows, parades, threshing shows etc.) It is something I enjoy doing, it often affords me the opportunity to see different things, and to visit with some people I do not normally see very often. The annual Donnelly threshing bee had another successful run this year, with the 12 horse pull and Don Duffner from Buxton ND bringing his triple tractor to the show. Next year’s show will be on Aug 25th and 26th and will feature Oliver. The annual ice cream social and community meal were well attended again this year. In July I took off on a mini vacation, traveling to walnut grove MN to see the wilder pageant again, as well as doing some sightseeing in the area. I stayed overnight at Sandborn, then in the a.m. traveled to Springfield MN to attend church at St. Paul’s Lutheran church, where our former pastor Luther Johnson is pastor now. I had an opportunity to visit with him and his family some after services. A few weeks later he and his family returned to Donnelly for the funeral of a mutual friend. Church news: the highlight of the year at STJ/Kong was a block party held on Aug 6th. A member of Kong raised some chickens during the summer then had them butchered and cooked. The meal also featured beans, salad, and chips with the money raised going to the food shelf. In conjunction with rally Sun, on Sept 11th, cake and ice cream was served in honor of the 135th anniversary of Kong. Other events included two ss programs at STJ and Kong, the youth helping out during Lenten services, confirmation and baccalaureate Sundays a west central word alone meeting at Kong featuring a presentation by Dorothy (Libbon) Desens, a birthday dinner, annual July 4th celebration on the 3rd, the KCLW brunch on Dec 3rd, the St J beef supper and the Kong fall festival, several joint services and of course the usual assortment of pot luck meals. The highlight of year for Good Shepherd Lutheran church of rural Morris was the dedication service of the “new” church in June. While work on remodeling of the church, and building of a fellowship hall onto the church went on during the winter, services were held at the Prairie Inn in Morris. On Palm Sunday work was completed enough for us to have our first service out there. In Apr .we voted to call Rev. Mike Hanson of Glenwood as our pastor. He accepted the call and was installed on May 22nd. He was the chaplain at the Starbuck nursing home, and Glenwood retirement village. He grew up in the Hoffman area, is married to Martha (Spohr) and they have two boys Charlie (5) and Arnie (1). She is also a pastor, and is currently serving part time at St John’s of rural Starbuck. She, Rev Norm Olsen of Starbuck, Rev Fred Jenson of Willmar, Rev Paulus Pilgrim (grandson of a former St J (Donnelly) pastor) of Hutchinson were among the many pastors who filled in until PR Mike was installed. By the time we moved into the new church, we had over 100 members. There is still more work to be done on the church and possible expansion is already being discussed. Other highlights included 4 nights of vbs, advent suppers and services, the godly women out history play, bible studies and forums after services. In Sept it was decided that we would declare the present mission of the local word alone chapter accomplished and discontinue meeting. The new mission will be to start a learning center at Good Shepherd in conjunction with the Institute of Lutheran Theology, in Brookings SD. Sessions are expected to begin in the spring. In May Bp. Dean Mthethwa from the SW MN synod’s companion synod in South Africa was the guest preacher at Faith in Morris. In June I enjoyed the homecoming concert of new wine youth group at First in Morris, the band Dakota road was in concert in May at Trinity in Cyrus. I also attended the conference assembly there in Apr. In Apr I attended the farewell open house at the Christus house for “PK”, the Lutheran campus minister who accepted a call to Northfield. In May several students who were on a mission trip to California during spring break, gave a presentation about it. I also attended the open house their during homecoming and a banquet at faith in Morris featuring Rev Jon Anderson from the SW MN synod Family news: It has been a year of change for me, and several members of my family during the past year. As the top line indicates, I am no longer living out on the farm. After several years of consultation with friends, family, my financial advisor, and others, and a lot of thought, and prayer, I made the very difficult decision to sell the farm and buy a house in Morris and move there. It was not something I really wanted to do but the time, work, cost and effort required to live out on the farm all alone just got to be too much for me. So after spending about a year looking at houses, I settled on one in Morris, finalized the sale in Sept, and started moving in. In Oct I had a moving sale on the farm selling my tractors, some furniture, and other things. I am slowing getting settled into my new house at 11 e 9th St. I miss the farm some esp. the privacy, it afforded but living in town has its advantages too. I am close to downtown so I can walk to most stores, and it is nice to have a place to rest in between events and it is also in a quiet neighborhood. I got a very good price for my land, so hopefully if I am careful, and prudent I can live comfortably the rest of my life and still enjoy a few luxuries. I had planned to take my “family” with me to Morris, but after I got here I decided to give my dog (“Duke”), up to the humane society, feeling it was not right to try and turn a country dog into a city dog. I felt he needs to be on a farm where he can run around to his heart’s content. At some point I may get myself a small dog to replace him. My cat “Buttons” is still with me keeping me company. The low point of the year occurred on Aug 21st when I returned home to find that somebody had cut the padlock off my front door, and stole a couple of computers, a printer, and monitor. Thankfully I had them insured, and most of my data backed up, but it was still a loss. I assume it happened when I went to church, somebody knew that I do that and was watching and waiting for me to leave.My new telephone # is 585-6435 cell 288-8692 e-mail aeandes@fedtel.net. I am slowly getting settled in, but still have a lot of boxes, and stuff to sort through. I am continuing to write the Donnelly news for the Morris Sun Tribune. It is a fun job, and I have received a lot of compliments about it. I am still a member of the Donnelly community club, and a board member of the Stevens county genealogical society. I am still taking medicine, and doctoring for my diabetes. There were also changes to other family members as well. My cousin Bev had to have part of her leg amputated last summer; she is now a resident of the Barrett Care center in Barrett, after the place where she was living closed up. She was in the hospital in St Cloud at the same time as my aunt Pearl, who had heart surgery. After recuperating for a while at a local nursing home, she moved into an apt at the sunrise apartments in Morris. She will be selling her house and furnishings, at an auction next spring. She is still an “Avon lady” .My cousin Elnora was involved in an auto accident in S.C., although she escaped injury, her car was totaled. Her brother Carl (Billy) and his wife Pat still live next door to her. My cousin Jan and her husband Dennis continue to live and work in Alex. Spending time going to visitations and funerals for friends and relatives is a part of life. Happier occasions are attending birthday parties, and wedding anniversary celebrations. Now may the" peace of Christ" go before you during the upcoming year. Sincerely yours; Allen and “Buttons” The Anderson’s