Signs, wonders seen on road to Worthington Church ice cream

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As some of you may have read previously, Dan and I headed out to an ice cream social over by Earlham only to find out that it was to be held a week later.

I tried again Sunday, Aug. 12, heading out about 4:40 p.m. to the Worthington Community Church near Earlham.

Dan could not go because he was vacationing with his family. I used to work in Earlham and surprisingly remembered how to get to the church.

My drive to Earlham was leisurely as I remembered working at USA Healthcare in Earlham from 2001 to 2002, when it closed. I cannot even find where the facility used to be. A lot of houses are now built on this lot.

When I got into Earlhman, I drove around and then headed for the church. The Sunday that we went on the wrong date, and again this week, found the same Earlham policeman sitting on the road where the speed limit changes, trying to catch speeders.

In Earlham there was a sign in the middle of the intersection advertising the event and another sign showing where the turn to the church, which was on the gravel road. I soon got to the church, which took 50 minutes to get to.

I had to park quite a distance away, and there were cars all around the church and on the gravel road.

I entered the church and dropped off my donation. I got a number, which was 111, and had to wait for someone to seat me when room in the basement became available. A lady from the church played the piano and talked to the people waiting.

I noticed in the pews there were Bibles containing only the New Testament. The hymnal appeared to be non-denominational. The church was well-cared for. The pews were very old but in good shape. The backs of the seats with the hymnal holders resembled those in my home church back in Vinton, which was constructed in 1910.

The Worthington Community Church was once a United Methodist Church. For some reason, it separated from the United Methodists. Dan once talked to the Rev. Walter Sieck, who had served as the pastor of this church when it was still United Methodist. Walter said the church split with the United Methodists because they thought the United Methodists were too conservative. Walter was still upset about this.

If you know your Methodist politics, then you know that about 40 percent of the United Methodist members are very liberal, so you will find Walter’s statement amazing. Another 40 percent of United Methodists are very conservative, and the remaining 20 percent are oblivious. They are probably the ones who keep the liberal and conservative factions from splitting every United Methodist Church.

While I waited, I sat by two ladies who had what I believe to be German accents. My dad’s mother came from Germany, and these ladies sounded like Gradma Wood’s older brothers and sisters.

I finally got called to go down to the basement. I was forgotten, and another lady in a group of four who sat by me and came in after me told the hostess of my plight, which was very kind of her.

I went through the line, and they had a self-serve buffet offering pork loin sandwiches, potato salad, potato chips, mixed fruit and several choices of pies and cakes. All of the signs advertised homemade ice cream, but apparently something happened to this plan because I saw no ice cream at all. It was a very good pork loin.

This annual event is more of an opportunity to get together and raise some money for church needs and various mission projects that come up.

When I got out of the church, my car sat alone and far, far away. I then headed back out to the interstate. I have always been fascinated with an old grain storage bin along the rode. It says that it was built in 1919 and has a symbol on it that once was a sign of peace and later in the 1930s used by a group for hate.

During this trip and a couple of trips to Indianola, I noticed a lot of political signs along the way, mostly supporting Republican candidates for public office. On the trips to and from Indianola and Earlham, there were nearly no political signs supporting Democratic or Libertarian candidates. This suggests to me that Iowa farmland owners support Republican candidates.

It will be interesting to see, when the votes are counted, whether the signs truly represented the support of candidates in the area or if the Democrats are using another means of advertising that I am not aware of.

The Minburn United Methodist Church will be hosting their ice cream social this Saturday, and the Panther Creek Church of the Brethren will be hosting their event Sunday evening. After that, I will have to go to Texas for a meeting.

Watch for reports of these events.