ELMER FROM PINECRAFT

Today I am answering some of your questions again.  One of the questions is if we retire here what does the church say about the different rules and lifestyle in Pinecraft than what we have up north.  Really, they don't say anything.  It is odd that the church will allow things at Pinecraft that they don't back home.  I guess they look at Pinecraft like an adult rumspringa.  Things that are not allowed at home are allowed here.  But, of course, there are no wild parties, drugs, liquor,  etc.   It is also a whole group of Amish, Mennonites, Englishers, all together.  The Lord is still the center of our lives here, just a little different. 

 

Do I think the Pinecraft lifestyle would influence John to leave the church and go the English way?  Not really.  I think that the north is more of an influence on him than Pinecraft here.  If John had done something that was not correct, in our views, in the outside world while he was here - Anna and I would have known by ten people before he got home.  In Pinecraft, the young people are more or less kept on an eye on.  People don't patrol the young folks, but you can't do anything at Pinecraft that you don't want everyone to know.  Even outside of Pinecraft, if he was to do something wrong there, we would know it.  Up north, with us doing our work, and being spread out in a wider area, we can't watch young folks as we can here.  Also, there are more evils up there than here - like drugs, liquor, etc.  Yes, outside of Pinecraft, these evils are here, but I don't think young folk would try something like that here as easy as they would up north.  I am sure there exceptions to both in both places.

 

Am I allowed to wear zippers in my jean's here?  Yes, I am.  How do I wear different jeans in Pinecraft?  Both legs in them.  No, really, different clothes are allowed here.  They must be presentable.  You won't find any Amish wearing shorts, sleeveless clothes or alike.   I wear my straw hat here, but some don't - except at Sunday service.  The day, we leave for home, we will dress as we do up north.  In our suit case, we pack all the jeans, flip flops, etc. that we are not allowed at home.  We won't wear them until we arrive in Pinecraft next year, Lord willing.

 

What do we eat?  Food.  Seriously, oranges and grapefruit are  easier to get down here at this time of year.  So, in addition, to orange juice and pieces are orange pies,, cakes, muffins and more.  Key Lime pie is another recipe that is know down here.  Pecans are in reason so pecans pie, pecan butter and more are here. 

 

As, I said in my post last week, I am trying to keep Anna from cooking as much as I can, so we are going out to eat a lot.  Sometimes we get a big breakfast and dinner with maybe a sandwich for lunch.  Also, we go to the benefit  meals that they have here.  We also walk to Olaf's Creamery as do many of the other Pinecraft people.  Olaf's has the best ice cream.  They have sundae's banana splits, floats, milk shakes, malts and alike.  Olaf's is a very popular place. 

 

Do we get a lot of tourists trying to take pictures?  Not to much at Pinecraft .  It is sort of known that pictures are not wanted here. 

 

As far as booking the bus to come here, we usually do it by family and not as a group although there are exceptions to every rule.  We decide when we go usually a year ahead.  Then we call the bus company and make reservations for going and when we plan to return.  The space is limited to how many people the bus can hold.  If something comes up, we can change the reservations. Like we are staying an extra month, so we had to change the return reservations. We do advise out Bishop when we are leaving and returning so he knows we will not be at church.   In our case, our Bishop owns the cottage we stay in, so we have to make sure it will be available when we want to come.  As our Bishop is also my friend, he would like us to buy the cottage we stay in for our retirement.  Then we would be side by side when we retire.  Anna and I are thinking about it.  If we lived here full time, we would want to take this cottage down and build another one.  It's just in the thought stage right now.

 

Hope I have answered some of your questions regarding Pinecraft.  If you have more, please ask.

 

Trust God's Wisdom,

Elmer