My Mennonite Experience

So yesterday in class I talked a little bit about the Mennonite population near my hometown of Iowa City. Growing up surrounded by Amish and Mennonite communities, I've been exposed to a very different type of religion and world that I always took for granted. Therefore, I thought I'd share a little of what I know about Mennonites and their lifestyles from what I've personally experienced.

First of all, here's some information (provided by the ever-helpful wikipedia) about Mennonites:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonites Mennonites are described as Christian Anabaptists, and their religion (along with Amish and Hutterites) evolved in the 16th century during the Radical Reformation--a response to the belief that the Roman Catholic church was corrupt.

Anyway, I could write all day about my many experiences with Mennonites and Amish people and go into great detail, but for now I'll just hit on some of the more interesting tidbits. One thing to know is that there are varying degrees of Mennonite followers...just like the Rastas living in the mountains vs. Bob Marley, some Mennonites are much more orthodox than others. One of my brothers best friends growing up was Mennnonite, but he dressed and did all things that a non-Mennonite kid would do (the only major difference was that his family didn't have a tv in their house). A few miles from my house though, in a small town called Kalona, is where the really orthodox Mennonites live. They live just like the Amish (be aware that I am putting some cross over between the orthodox Mennonite and the Old Order Amish communities in Kalona...it's hard to tell the difference between the two)...they travel by horse and buggy, farm their fields with horse-drawn plows, and don't use electricity. As I talked about in class, some of them do interact with the 21st century world more than others...I've seen 'old-fashioned' looking Mennonites shopping in Wal-Mart and taking the bus.

One totally awesome thing about the Mennonites is this store in Kalona called Stringtown Grocery. Every Wednesday and Saturday they open up the store at 8am to all people, and it's like a madhouse! The Mennonites get damaged and/or outdated merchandise from surrounding stores in Iowa City and then they sell them a discounted price. A very discounted price. I remember going when I was a kid and having to get to the store at 6am to wait in line with about 40 other people--2 hours before it opened! Nowadays, it gotten to the point where they've set up a system where you get a ticket number so you can leave and come back in a couple of hours instead of having to wait outside for a long time. Then they call out your number to let you in the store...otherwise people storm in and crash carts. It's really competive! But that's because the prices are so cheap...where else can you get a jar of peanut butter for 50 cents or a box of Frosted Flakes for a dollar? And it's first come first serve, so once it's off the shelf, it's gone.

Alright, I'm done with my tangent now. The point of my telling about Stringtown Grocery is that it's similar to what the Rastas in the video from my last post do...even though they follow a strict way of life and try to separate themselves from the outside world, they still have to support themselves by selling hand-made brooms to the towns below. The Mennonites do the same thing with their store, and the general public is more than happy to help them.

So if you ever find your way to Iowa, stop on down to Kalona and check out their awesome store. Or right down the road is the Cheese Factory...which has just as good of cheese as Wisconsin. But make sure to bring lots of cash, because they don't take credit or debit :)