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silentreader wrote:

YorkandAdams wrote:

KingdomBuilder wrote:One group I talked with while visiting said I should join because "[they] need some new genes".......

The comment made to me on my second visit to a conservative Mennonite church was that it was good for them to have "New Blood" coming into the church. That freaked me out for a while.

Can you explain why it freaked you out? Was the person totally serious, do you think, or attempting a mild jest?

Well, you have to remember that I was still in a cultural shock being from "the outside", and this was the first time I ever talked to the man.

Just for some context, I was mentioning to the him that it seemed everyone in the church was related. That is when he made the "new blood" comment. He had also just a few minutes before introduced me to his family which consisted of his wife and single daughters. At the time I thought that this might be some weird Mennonite dating ritual, but now I realize how far off I was.

YorkandAdams wrote:

silentreader wrote:

YorkandAdams wrote:
The comment made to me on my second visit to a conservative Mennonite church was that it was good for them to have "New Blood" coming into the church. That freaked me out for a while.

Can you explain why it freaked you out? Was the person totally serious, do you think, or attempting a mild jest?

Well, you have to remember that I was still in a cultural shock being from "the outside", and this was the first time I ever talked to the man.

Just for some context, I was mentioning to the him that it seemed everyone in the church was related. That is when he made the "new blood" comment. He had also just a few minutes before introduced me to his family which consisted of his wife and single daughters. At the time I thought that this might be some weird Mennonite dating ritual, but now I realize how far off I was.

Yes, I see that might make you uneasy, he could have been considered to be practicing good herdsmanship, perhaps.

I once met a leader of a Mennonite missionary association whose last name is Yoder. When he heard my name, he tried to connect it to Swiss Mennonites, but my last name is not Germanic at all (though it sounds like some Swiss German names).

I told him that my name is not a Mennonite name. He smiled and said, "well, it's a Mennonite name now!"

YorkandAdams wrote:Is there any way to "solve" this `predicament?

Evangelism.

Bootstrap wrote:I once met a leader of a Mennonite missionary association whose last name is Yoder. When he heard my name, he tried to connect it to Swiss Mennonites, but my last name is not Germanic at all (though it sounds like some Swiss German names).

I told him that my name is not a Mennonite name. He smiled and said, "well, it's a Mennonite name now!"

During the time I was a Christian Hippie, an "English" friend & I visited a small Mennonite church in Minneapolis. (He is American, but is related to Queen Mary of Scotts, and George Washington, for that matter, so he really is 'English'.) When we met the pastor, he took me for the outsider, I guess, and mistook my friend's family name for 'Sudermann' a common Mennonite surname. But now, living among the Swiss Brethren, I get that all of the time. 'Buller' (my family name) is usually taken as 'Byler', or 'Miller'. If my wife calls in a pizza order, there's no telling what name it will be under.

Neto wrote:If my wife calls in a pizza order, there's no telling what name it will be under.

I thought all pizza stores east of Chicago had online ordering, which would solve that problem, but it looks like yours actually doesn't.

ohio jones wrote:

Neto wrote:If my wife calls in a pizza order, there's no telling what name it will be under.

I thought all pizza stores east of Chicago had online ordering, which would solve that problem, but it looks like yours actually doesn't.

I never thought of that. We don't have smart phones, so she just calls it in on the telephone. Land line, even. (And it's the East of Chicago in Berlin, Ohio. Closest pizza shop - just up the road from us, maybe half a mile or less.) I never call in orders like that. I also refuse to use a drive thru. I just don't like talking on those deals, and have "phone-a-phobia" besides. I think that's why I like email so much.