IF YOU’RE NORWEGIAN (which I’m not), appreciate historic country churches (which I do), rejoice in the preservation of old buildings (which I do) and value worshiping God in a rural setting (which I do), then venture into Monkey Valley this weekend.
If you can’t resist a tasty meal in a church basement (which I can’t), love strawberries (which I do), enjoy good fellowship with the locals (which I do) and delight in a beautiful and historic country church (which I do), drive south of Monkey Valley to Moland on Sunday.
A rear view of the Old Stone Church, a simple structure with three shuttered windows running along each side of the building.
Within miles of each other, two area churches are celebrating this weekend, first with a Norwegian church service in an 1875 limestone church, appropriately called the Old Stone Church and located 2.3 miles south and west of Kenyon along Monkey Valley Road.
A stone’s throw from the Old Stone Church, a view of Monkey Valley.
The road name alone was enough to draw me to this ethnic worship service three years ago. As one story goes, monkeys escaped here from a traveling circus and fled into the woods. True or not, I’m buying it.
During a worship service filled with music, choir and congregational members sing in Norwegian, “Ja, vi elsker.”
To read about the Norwegian worship service I attended in 2010 and to learn more about the Old Stone Church, click here and here and here.
Sunday’s once-a-year worship service begins at 9:30 a.m.
Moland Lutheran Church, a Norwegian Lutheran church south of Kenyon in Steele County near Owatonna.
About the time the service wraps up at the Old Stone Church and you’ve finished mingling, you’ll start thinking about lunch, conveniently served at Moland Lutheran Church a few miles to the south and west at 7618 84th Avenue N.E., rural Kenyon, close to where the counties of Rice, Steele, Dodge and Goodhue meet.
From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Moland folks will serve pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, strawberries with angel food cake and/or ice cream, chocolate cake (if the menu is the same as in 2010) and beverages. As church meals go, I’d highly recommend this one for the food, the hospitality and setting.
Be sure to check out the sanctuary and history of this 1884 country church before leaving. Moland reminds me of the Lutheran church I attended growing up in southwestern Minnesota.
The Moland folks serve a generous amount of strawberries with two scoops of ice cream.
To read my 2010 post on the Moland strawberry festival, click here.
My Moland post, “In Praise of Preserving Country Churches,” was featured in WordPress’ “Freshly Pressed” on July 9, 2010. That’s a huge honor for any blogger, to have his/her work selected as among the best of the day from WordPress blogs world-wide. You can read about that honor by clicking here. Last year I was also featured in WordPress and you can read that post about the Faribault Heritage Days Soapbox Derby by clicking here.
The real honors, though, go to all those men and women out there who preserve country churches and serve all those delicious meals in church basements.
FYI: To read about more church dinners/meals, check out the Faribault-based blog, Church Cuisine of Minnesota, by clicking here.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
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