Out and About

Seattle, Washington, July 17 and 18.

Jackie and Art, Poetry Editor, Mampel hosted two days of meetings in Seattle in July. Karen and Arvid, Philosophy Editor, Adell, Kate and Tom, Navigation (& History) Editor, Tredway, Sandy and Phil, Managing Editor, Johnson, Marsha and Carl, Sustaining Critic, Blomgren, and Becky and Karl, Online Editor, Nelson were the hosted ones. Copper River Salmon only begins to tell the food story.

Seattle is a hotbed of young pietists who are outstanding citizens and readers will be hearing more about them and their ilk from about the country in coming issues.

Rock Island, Illinois, October 19.

The Swedish American Historical Society held a conference at Augustana College, Rock Island Illinois. The theme of the conference was: “Friends and Neighbors? Swedes and Norwegians in the United States.” Thomas Tredway, President Emeritus, of Augustana College opened the conference on Friday evening presenting the 2007 Fritiof Ander Lecture in Immigration History entitled: “Pinching Pennies in the Provinces: The Mid-Century Finances of an Immigrant College.” Several hundred attended and expressed deep appreciation for Tom’s lecture.

Christina Johansson and Director Dag Blanc of the Augustana Swenson Center provided wonderful hospitality and gave Pietisten a warm welcome as well. Mark Safstrom, doctoral student in Swedish Studies at the University of Washington and contributor of articles to Pietisten was on the scene after spending much of the summer studying in Sweden at the University of Lund. Mark’s focus is Paul Peter Waldenström. Dr. Phil and Karna Anderson of North Park, came south from their place in Hovland, Minnesota, on Lake Superior. Phil talked about the North Shore settlement of Norwegians, Swedes, and Swede-Finns in Hovland from 1888 to 1932.

Augustana College is hilly and lovely. President Emeritus Tredway planted a lot of trees during his Presidency and they were taking on lovely autumn colors. Sandy and I had a baptism to attend in Kansas Sunday morning so we said goodbye to the Tredways and Augustana before the Saturday sessions began.

Prairie Village, Kansas, October 21.

Hazel Evan Ecklund-Johnson received the blessing of Baptism at the Old Mission Methodist Church. As the sacrament progressed and we watched Hazel, her parents, Jennifer and Eric, and her big sister, Violet, with sponsors Steve and Lisa Strong, some folks thought about the Methodist heritage that comes down from George Scott, the Scottish Methodist missionary to Sweden who founded Pietisten in 1842. Is it only coincidence that Pietisten’s Sports Prophet is Hazel’s father and Irene (Green with Reene) Ecklund and Sandy (Copy-Editor) Johnson are the Grandmothers? It was a great day. -Phil J.

Petersons call trip to Kenya “a bath in hope.”

In January, Don and Elaine Millam and Judy and Carleton Peterson delivered ten solar ovens to Kenyan families living on Lake Victoria. In the photo below, women in Migori, Kenya are doing a welcome dance for the ovens.

Here is Carleton’s and Judy’s report:

Trip Purpose: Part mission (solar ovens and church visits), part pilgrimage (site of archaeological digs where very early human skeletons have been found—predating Lucy); part pleasure (safari in Maasai Mara and touring Nairobi).

Trip Consultant and Forerunner: Dr. Theodora Ayot, Professor, North Park University and friend of the Peterson family.

Trip Precedent: Our son, Matt, studied at Kenyatta University in Nairobi in 1999 and Carleton visited him at that time and met some of the folks who assisted in the mission.

Trip highlight: Meeting “Nyisanga”, Daughters of the Lake, 28 women in Nairobi and who remember their roots and help organize women’s groups along Lake Victoria.

Trip Summary: “a bath in hope.” — Carleton and Judy Peterson