WWW.OARINGINTHERIVER.COM Master Directory
"Sa langt som osten er fra vesten later han vare misgjerniger vare langt fra oss."--Psalm 103:12
To return to Part 1:
Plain View Heritage Farm Home Page, Part 1
To return to Part 2:
Plain View Heritage Farm Home Page, Part 2
To go to Part 4, Conclusion:
Plain View Heritage Farm Home Page, Part 4
PART 3, PLAIN VIEW HERITAGE FARM HOME PAGE
The graphic in the center of the brochure features a "torch-tongue," burning, inclosed by a heart, with the Bible verse from Psalm 39:3:
"My heart was hot within me while I was musing, the fire burned, then I spoke with my tongue." What is being spoken? The vision of the Glory of Plain View Farm! What is the Glory? The Glory is Christ, Who came to rescue perishing souls, saving them. The Torch? It is Faith in Jesus Christ, which is like a flaming torch to be carried by each generation and then passed to the next generation. Are we passing it to the next generation? In a vital way, we can pass the Torch of Faith through the Heritage Center.
This Plain View Farm Heritage Brochure is now out and available in an easy to mail (without envelope), printed and illustrated format! Please write and order some to be sent to you, and it has all the information you will need to show people what it is about, plus contact information.
PLAIN VIEW FARM HERITAGE CENTER MOTTO: That His Light, Jesus, Shine Through Our Heritage--"To God be the Glory!"
As we know well, the Gospel, Christ's Church of which He is the Head, and all worthy projects lifting up Christian heritage and values costs money--that is a fact of life. We must raise the money, what part of the needed amount we can, and our faithful God will provide the rest--which will probably be at least $100,000 to do the facility adequately and well! He has proven this time and time again, that He is Our Provider!
HERITAGE CENTER PROJECT MANAGER STEVE STADEM WRITES TO HIS AUNT PEARL: "We sure have an exciting year ahead in relation to the Farm. Jesus in PLAIN VIEW. It's exciting to realize that the Heritage Center will be officially dedicated and quite possibly all framed up. We'll have to do the project in phases. 1st phase: foundation/plumbing/some electrical; 2nd phase: frame and shell all in; 3rd phase: finish work, etc. Thanks for your enthusiasm for this project! Know that your Mama and Papa had tent/revival meetings on the Farm has been a huge motivation for me. I can't wait to have a praise/thanksgiving/worship service in the Heritage Center/Barn. Hallelujah! We all love you bunches and bunches out here in South Dakota. Thanks be to God for you, your family and how you've lived out your faith. Your faith has been a tremendous example for us all! We want to pass our heritage to all the world in need. To God be the glory!! Lovingly, your nephew Stephen
Pearl Stadem Ginther's Brief Bio:
"A Pearl is formed by years of an oyster's irritation [Pearl had eight "irritations"),but eventually it becomes a pearl of great price."--Captain Wendy Morris, Salvation Army, February 17, 2008
"Let's Get Acquainted With...Pearl Ginther," A Brief Bio by The Golden Rose Community, Puyallup, Washington
"The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hands to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you."--Deuteronomy 28:8.
Our poor old Plain View Farm saw many years of being forsaken, the grass grown up like a field in the house and barn yard, the paint flaking off the old farmhouse, fences falling down, the hedge and gate lilacs overgrown, unwanted guests in the house like mice and passing, stranded people (these people seeking winter shelter still leave nice notes, but the mice leave only their droppings!), and general shabbiness to take the place of the once neat, trim, much beloved farmstead. It was sad that PVF, which gave us so many golden memories, was so neglected--but that is all going to change dramatically:
"Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah, for the Lord delighteth in thee."--Isaiah 62:4
See how God multiplies the Widow's Mite to Pay for the Entire Heritage Center in the coming weeks:
PRAYER BY PEARL STADEM GINTHER AND SON AND DAUGHTER, NOVEMBER 7, 2008:
"Scripture says it so we believe that where two or three are present, there the Lord is present in our midst, and we believe for the Heritage Center to go forward NOW in ministry of souls to be saved and healing by Jesus' Grace--and that we will be a testimony there to the Bryant Community and surrounding area just as (Grandpa) Alfred and (Grandma) Bergit Stadem were all their lives. Therefore, we pray that God will come through for us Stadem Families at P.V.F., NOW, for NOW is the day of salvation."--Signed: Lovingly, Pearl Ginther, Ron Ginther, Roberta Lee Ginther
LONGTIME CHRISTIAN FRIEND OF THE STADEMS AND THEIR ATTORNEY, ART HENDRICKSON, GAVE THIS GODLY ADVICE TO THE STADEM RELATIONSHIP IN 1971:
"There is another thought that comes to me. As a result of the Christian [way or mold] in which your father and mother [Alfred and Bergit Stadem] raised their family, you are all living Christian lives, and laboring to spread the Christian gospel, far and wide, and yet each one in a different manner, as well as in different denominations. In this time, when differing denominations are planning and attempting to unite in their Christian activities, perhaps the Stadem family, and their families, should get together, and try to unite their efforts. We are living in a new age--a new era: Who knows how the Lord might be able to use the Stadem families, with preachers, missionaries, lay people working in the Kingdom, and not to forget the Ewalt Memorial Bible School, Incorporated, of P.O. Box 518, Atascadero, Calif. 93422, which I assume has publication facilities [Russell Schaefer, instructor at Ewalt, indeed had a printing press]. Perhaps the Lord has a plan. If He has, and we all join in praying Him to lead and guide all of us, we may be certain that He will do just that."
WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT? THANKS TO PAPA ALFRED STADEM, PVF ONCE HAD A BEAUTIFUL CEMENT-SIDED POND WITH WATER LILIES AND FISH, AND PEARL STADEM GINTHER WANTS IT RESTORED AND RUNNING, WITH A RECIRCULATING BROOK ATTACHED TO ANOTHER POOL FURTHER UP THE YARD IN BACK, AND A FOUNTAIN TOO! WHO CAN DO IT? PLEASE COME FORWARD! PEARL DREAMS OF SEEING THAT POOL PAPA MADE RESTORED, FOR NOW IT IS FILLED WITH DIRT, BURIED BUT STILL UNDER THE GROUND AWAITING RESTORATION.
We have a new story hot off the griddle from Pearl Ginther! It is short but here it is:
"Pearl's "New" Dirty Cow Tail Story"
"When milking, the worst thing that could happen was the cow kicking over the pail of milk after a hard job of milking her to get that precious milk! The next worst thing was getting swatted in the face with the cow's filthy tail, which was usually wet too!
A cow's tail is no small thing to smack you in the face either when you least expected it! That didn't just surprise you and get you dirty, it hurt! It weighed a lot, especially when wet and covered with a lot of barnyard 'dirt'. You really felt it, like getting smacked in the face with a wet broom, for a cow's tail end has hard matted hairs that stick together and feel like straw and sticks together. Well, our getting swatted like that wasn't something intentional the cow was trying to do to us to make us mad or miserable, it was just our poor cow trying to get rid of a pesky fly biting her flanks. So whenever I milked the cow, I had this problem to deal with besides her sometimes kicking and upsetting the pail of milk.
Somehow I thought of a solution. This cow I milked had the longest tail, which helped me do what I had decided to do. When milking her, I put her tail against her back leg, then put my knee against that to hold it, so she couldn't swat me in the face. I never had any trouble with her slapping me in the face with that awful dirty tail. Papa didn't tell me how to solve the problem, I thought of it myself."
Please see the "Minnow Story" by Pearl Ginther about her Papa's fish pond, and how she got fish for it. This new story will appear on-line, with a link beneath her Uncle Andrew Vorseth's picture on this page!
CALLING A VOLUNTEER DRAUGHTSMAN WITH A HEART TO GIVE OF HIS DRAUGHTING, ARCHITECTURAL TALENT AND SKILL!
In this reunion 2008 picture, Ron Ginther, his mother Pearl Stadem-Ginther in the driver's seat of the Plain View Farm golf cart, and her Great-Grandson and his banner picture of an angel presented to his Gr Gr Grandma!
September 13, 2009, Pearl Stadem Ginther turned 100 years of age (which passes the age by two years when her beloved Mama went to the Lord at age 98!). Her dream is for the Heritage Center to be raised on the Farm soon, so that the heritage she received can be preserved and passed on to the younger generation.
For gifts donated, the Plain View Farm Heritage Center Appreciation Certificates are available and are made to be framed by you if you want yours on your wall. Her address for mail is at her address: 10709 63rd St. E., Sp. 28, Puyallup, WA 98371.
The Heritage Center could use some more MOO-NEY! How about being a:
A picture taken especially for daughter Pearl, with Alfred Stadem and Bergit his beloved wife sitting on son Art's land he bought before his passing. Papa Alfred wrote on back of picture: "9-13-1957, In Memory of your Birthday, Pearl"
PLAIN VIEW FARM HERITAGE CENTER PROJECT LAUNCHED ON THE WATERS OF FAITH IN A BOUNTIFUL, EVER-FAITHFUL, PROVIDING GOD!
We have a new, thrilling project going at Plain View Farm, destined to launch us forth into this new era of ministry as the Stadem families! Called the barn heritage center, this structure will house a kitchen, apartment for caretakers, a loft for storage, a wheelchair access bathroom and shower, a sound and light system, a stage for Plain View Farm productions and events, archives display cases, and space for a good amount of people to enjoy the facility and the various events and presentations--not to mention space for children to play on the rainy days or during thunderstorms. Reunions, church retreats, heritage classes, crafts, preaching, evangelism, potlucks--there is no end of the wonderful use God is going to make of this barn heritage center. We hope to have sketches of this facility, both floors, for you to view, which will be on-line, with a link to them on this page.
This fulfills a need felt and evidenced for years--having a big enough, well- equipped center for the growing activities and attendance at Plain View Farm, not only at Reunion time, but through the rest of the year when churches sent out groups for renewal and various classes. The matriarch of the Stadem clan is Pearl Ginther, who is the eldest daughter of Alfred and Bergit and now the leader of their family (once numbering nine, 7 girls and 2 boys). Alfred Jorgen Peter Stadem built the barn (portrayed in his grandson Stephen Stadem's watercolor picture) that this beautiful center will replace. Alfred, known as "Papa," did it himself, with his pioneering, sodbuster's brawn and a mustard seed of genuine faith--and pioneer Norske smarts, needless to say! With such a little seed of faith, Jesus said we could move mountains of impossibility, for nothing, he said, is impossible with God! We believe the Lord Jesus. We believe God's Word over man's. Vain is the help and strength of mere man. With God we can do all things! But we need that little mustard seed faith to begin and carry through to the completion of the project. Do we have that much faith, a little mustard seed of faith? Yes! Pearl Ginther already demonstrated this overcoming, believing faith, this wilderness-conquering, pioneering faith that is worthy of her dad and also her Norwegian forebears--in the saving and restoration of her church's unique and beautiful original church building (now called Mt. View Chapel, Edgewood, Washington). The story of that dramatic rescue of Mt. View Lutheran church's heritage and its beautiful, landmark chapel is given on other pages of the Plain View Farm websites listed on the main PVF directories. But now again, she rises valiantly to lead us to raise funds and contributions to get this wonderful barn heritage center going and completed in a year's time, so that it can be dedicated at the next Reunion in 2009.
We have started the Bibliography of Norwegian and English items in the Archives/Library. Please go to the Archives/Library Center page for the initial listing.
From the Archives, the grand Hayti Parade in the 1940s, never repeated, with John Ginther, grandfather of the Bob Ginther family, winning the award for his merry-go-round float:
A Valentine from the 1940s, given a friend by a schoolmate:
Also from the Archives:
"Tena" Holbek Lundring was Bergit Holbek Stadem's elder sister, as we have previously said. Here she is again, a proud grandmother in the picture along with Pearl Stadem Ginther, her niece, who was born 100 years ago in Canton, SD, in Tena's bedroom of her Canton home, and Tena's husband, Albinus Lundring, and not to mention, Larry Lundring their son and his lovely wife Verna Hester Costain Lundring and young daughter Carolyn Louise Lundring (Gatlin Roberts). Thank you, Cousin Carolyn, for the full name of your mother and identifying the little granddaughter as yourself!
Larry Lundring found that he could not accept Alfred and Bergit's invitation to their 25th Silver Wedding Anniversary on PVF, so he sent a telegram from Pakistan:
"Why Give Memorials--Some Good Reasons You can Think About
The John Morrell Meat Company of Sioux Falls, SD, Celebrating 100 Years in 2009, Supports the PVF Heritage Project!
We prayed for a big check, as our God is a Big God--and not even 1,000,000 is an impossibility with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!Well, we got a big check, from John Morrell Companies! We know some of you Stadem descendants are worth at least a million--okay, cough it up, will you? Just kidding! [People in ancient times used to carry their money, usually a single coin, in their mouths to keep it safe from robbers, so that is where the expression "cough it up" comes from! Imagine confronted by a robber, the only way to keep your money was, you guessed it, swallow it!). But the Bible does exhort the rich to give generously, not hoard riches, and the generous giver is blessed by God.
Memorial Gift List and Donors Page for the Heritage Center:
Memorials and Donors to Heritage Center
"Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore."--Ps. 16:11
OTHER PROJECTS FOLLOWING HARD ON THE HEELS OF THE BARN HERITAGE CENTER PROJECT ARE:
1. Rev. Henry J. Peterson Memorial Chapel
2. Claire Hobart Memorial Garden of Peace and Fountain of Healing (with two pools and recirculating brook)--Please go and read the new story, "Pearl's Minnows," located under Andrew Vorseth's picture on this page!
3. Windmill to replace the one that once stood on PVF (see Pearl Ginther's story about her stopping the runaway windmill)
Nary a day goes by that Pearl Ginther, on the phone, does not tell someone about the Heritage Center and how much she yearns to see a windmill there again! We can do it! Let's get up a windmill worthy of Plain View Farm. Steve Stadem knows of several in the Sioux Falls area alone that are standing unused, and could be re-located, perhaps without having to pay for them, as land around them is being developed from farm land to residential. Do you have a windmill you can donate? Let us know. Contact Steve Stadem or Eloise Hefty.
Contributions will be accepted for memorial gifts toward these and other yet announced projects (you might see the list of prospective projects offered in this site), as well as the furnishings. Six stained glass windows in the chapel, for instance, can be dedicated to various loved ones who have gone Home to Heaven. Pearl Ginther has already donated a money gift for one window in memory of Tom and Ruth Harrington. Five windows remain to be made commemorative and contributed and designated. The carillon in the steeple of the chapel, which can be a digital or CD-based system that can play chimes and bell sounds and also hymns, can also be contributed and memorialized. A Bogen Public Address System and Chimes Carillon were given by Alfred and Bergit Stadem to Augustana Academy in 1952 in memory of Arthur Stadem, a graduate of AA in 1941. The Dedication service bulletin reads of that memorial gift: "Through the music and messages that go out over this public address system Arthur Donald Stadem will continue to speak to us of the Savior he loved and for whom he had planned to live. Thru these sounds, the blessings of his memory will fall upon us who shall live and work on this campus." Surely, those blessings can continue with a new system donated to the Chapel and the Heritage Center of Plain View Farm! Would you be the one or ones to do that? We will also need contributions (or the donated items themselves) for such as the pulpit, the altar railing, the picture of Jesus Christ in Gethsemane, and the pews. Heating can be provided by a medium or small-sized house electric furnace.
Many, many sacrificial labors of sweat and brawn, not trumpeted and a lot of them enjoyed but unrecognized by the recipients as such, have been performed to make the Farm what a tremendous blessing it is for reunions--and donations given that have not been itemized or even known by others. We have made the effort to name and thank all we know of who have contributed over the years to Plain View Farm and the reunions, but we ask your forgiveness if you are one we have failed to mention. It may happen, despite our desire to give honor where honor is due! Recently, the Stadems and Iserman family have labored hard and long on stripping the farmhouse roofs (for it had a number of roofs, laid on, layer upon layer!) and replacing them with new roofing. I worked one day on a roofing job for a roofing contractor in Tacoma, Washington--and that was enough for me! I retired early on in life from that trade forever--deciding it wasn't for me, so I think I know a little how hard, grimey, gritty, sweaty, exhausting, and even dangerous such work is. Half the roof was replaced by the time of the June Reunion 2008. We know that roofs are essential items on any structure, so this was essential work, and so our hats are off to all those who labored on this task! Thank you so much!--Ronald Ginther, Grandson of Bergit and Alfred Stadem, son of Pearl Stadem Ginther
"I have so far addressed only fellow adults in my serious "adult" way. But now a word to those who are just as important, and perhaps more important, as they are our future. I am speaking just as seriously, and from the heart, to:
Dear and Precious Children of the Stadems and Holbecks! The Heritage Center is really for YOU! It is mainly for you that it is being built. You are our future, spiritually and physically. We do not want what God has richly given us to be lost, so in this way we are passing the best of our blessings to you in this way. You are that important to us. Yes, YOU! You may not have even heard about the Heritage Center. Please ask your parents about it. To make it we need YOU too. We need YOU to pray Jesus about it, first of all. Can you pray to Jesus that people will give us the money we need and the helping hands of people who will build it on Plain View Farm where the old barn once stood? The barn might have been a place for us to use to meet in, but it fell down in a storm. You may have heard about it or seen it. But we can build this Heritage House in its place, and it will be even better for us to use than the old barn Granpa Alfred Stadem built, though it will look like it on the outside. In the Heritage House, we can share the Lord Jesus with others in many interesting and also fun ways, and also enjoy together the many, many good things that we have as God's children, which Jesus has blessed us with. We will have games, music, Christian plays, Norwegian cooking, Norwegian dancing by boys and girls in Norwegian clothes, crafts and painting, a Christian Puppet Show, all sorts of fun events that can teach us things and keep our wonderful heritage alive. Imagine taking a sleigh ride in the snow, all bundled up in warm blankets, and a horse pulling the sleigh to Bryant from the Farm, and everyone singing Christmas carols on the way and in town to the people and back again to the Farm! What fun that would be! Best of all, the Heritage House is where we can share the good things God has given with our guests and where we can reach out to others, making them know they are loved by God and us, and always welcome on Plain View Farm at the Heritage House." Pearl Ginther says that that children might want to give a penny for each year when they have birthdays, so they can contribute to the Heritage Center that way! SO, PLEASE, PARENTS, ALL YOU STADEMS, LUNDRINGS, SPILDES, TEMPLETONS, TAYLORS, RANGENS AND ALL YOUR FAMILIES BY OTHER NAMES, TELL YOUR SWEET KIDS HOW THEY TOO CAN BE A BIG PART, WITH THEIR PRAYERS AND PENNIES!
--Ronald Ginther, Grandson of Alfred and Bergit Stadem
The Plain View Farm wool carders, used by Mama Bergit and her daughters to card wool to make filler for quilts, the wool produced from their own sheep's wool.
At the Heritage Center we can feature carding, spinning, and weaving.
Pearl Stadem Ginther recalls how she churned butter on PVF--a hard job, but she marvels to this day how it miraculously turned butter out of cream in the wooden churn, after pressing the butter out from the cream with a special wooden stick she rammed down into the churn again and again and again! The butter was delicious, especially with Mama's wonderful jams and jellies on slices of Mama's homemade wheat bread! But it took a lot of elbow grease to make butter, and store-bought butter, when it became cheap came to be a substitute, but it could not equal the taste of real Plain View Farm butter.
"Mama's Old Cook Stove," by E. C. Stangland
This account by E.C. Stangland in verse is followed by Marion Dralle Kirschenmann's fond remembrance of her own Dralle farm family's cookstove, which is very much like the one known to the Stadems and the Stanglands, as you will see [we plan to have her entire account in the Archives Center on-line, so that it can be enjoyed by all). Please go to Estelle Stadem Rangen's reminiscences as well, for descriptions of Mama Bergit's cookstove, which can be found in the series, "God's Little Acres" listed on home pages of the Plain View Farm websites. God willing we will also be putting online Marion's (she was a long-time friend of Pearl Ginther's) extensive reminiscences of her Dralle family's farm in rural SD on the James River, as they are fascinatingly detailed.
Norwegian Girl appears here in the Gubrandals costume, with the "snazzy" grass-roofed house in the background.
BACK TO US ADULTS! THE MEANING OF HERITAGE--WHAT IS IT? IT IS A GOOD QUESTION! Why should our Stadem-Holbeck Heritage be preserved? In the Psalms, it says that God's people were to walk around the Holy City of Jerusalem, observing her walls, fortreses and palaces and holy temple, in order to tell it to the next generation--which means, they needed to pass on the glorious workings of God on their behalf as a legacy to their descendants. It was something God commanded them to do--pass on their legacy of God's mighty works in their midst to the young--and it is something He commands us to do today too.
What is there worth preserving about our Heritage? Let us try to answer that! Someone is going to wonder why all this fuss and bother about "Heritage," when it hasn't been properly defined. For a description of Heritage, which may prove helpful as we pick out the still gleaming, golden threads of it in the life, character, and achievements of Alfred Stadem and devoted helpmate Bergit Holbeck Stadem, please go to:
"Pioneering, Godly Heritage-Building in the Life of Alfred Stadem
But now we would like to call your attention to projects that would greatly enhance the value and use-ability of the Farmstead and the wider extension of its ministry to others:
The most recent project is a Plain View Farm cookbook called "The Flavor of Plain View Farm." Pearl Ginther and her daughters and son will work on it, with Morris Press Cook Books of Nebraska doing the printing if the costs are within reach. Otherwise we will have to seek another means to get the book printed. It will have about 135 recipes. On the Home Page 1, we have the categories, if you wish to check them out and possibly submit a recipe. We want to feature any Scandinavian recipes if you have any. Family members will have their names printed along with the recipe, or if you prefer, you can be "Anonymous." We are going to order 150 copies, which we hope to sell to raise money (above the cost of printing) for the PVF Heritage Center and missions. Please say a prayer for this undertaking. Thank you!
Stadem Projects (First Presented 1997 at the Plain View Farm Reunion gathering!):
Stadem Projects That Will Earn the Savior's "Well Done!"
"I'm anxious to see what the Lord has in mind for the 'Heritage Center.' I'm expecting GREAT THINGS that will glorify the Lord. I love you."
"Days
Not To Be Forgotten"
"Pearl, my only sister, remember the day Papa bought that Santa Claus sled, and fit all of us into it. I was so amazed he would do that as he never would give Santa the glory. Then when the winter was getting colder by the week, he built a hood over the top with
glass windows to see where we were going. [It was so cold out evenso] I recall I still cried and my tears froze hanging over my face as we [after
riding the Santa Claus sled to school] we piled around the big wood stove at the school house. Our only teacher Mrs. Ruth Olsen hugged me while she peeled back the frozen tears. Then do you recall we'd put on ice skates and go down to the slough to skate? I have a proof that if one falls backwards, like I did hitting my head on that frozen ice--I saw stars!
No kidding!
"Just received your letter and all those 100th celebration pictures of you and posters. Wow!
"Papa also made a simple, long board for us to ride on the snow with. Just think, 7 girls all standing, holding on to one another facing the same direction. He hooked one horse up and away we would go. If one fell, she would pull the rest off unless she fell in a nice deep snow ban. No crying, just laughing!--Your only sister, Cora"
HOW DOES THE HERITAGE CENTER FIT IN TO TODAY'S CRISIS OF A DRIFTING SOCIETY THAT HAS CLEARLY LOST ITS MORAL COMPASS? BILLY GRAHAM, RECEIVING WITH RUTH GRAHAM THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL OF FREEDOM, WARNED AMERICANS AND SAID AMERICA HAS FORGOTTEN GOD AND WAS HEADING DIRECTLY TOWARD JUDGMENT! HOW? WE NO LONGER DEFEND HUMAN LIFE, IN THE WEAKEST MOST VULNERABLE FORM--THE CHILD IN THE WOMB! IT IS SAD WE HAVE TO MAKE THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS, BUT WE NEED TO DO IT, LEST WE STADEM DESCENDANTS COVER UP WHAT NEEDS TO BE STOPPED AND REPENTED OF--NAMELY UNIVERSAL "ABORTION" GOING ON THROUGHOUT SCANDINAVIAN AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES, INCLUDING AMERICA. THERE IS A VERY DARK CLOUD HANGING OVER AMERICA AND THE WESTERN COUNTRIES TODAY. THAT DARK CLOUD IS GOD'S JUDGMENT, FOR OUR KILLING THE INNOCENT, LITTLE UNBORN CHILDREN IN THE WOMB. WHAT IF WE STADEM AND HOLBECK DESCENDANTS LOSE OUR TRADITIONAL, GODLY REVERENCE FOR THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE--WILL WE ULTIMATELY LOSE OUR MOST CHERISHED VALUES AND FREEDOMS? THAT IS CALLED A RHETORICAL QUESTION, AS THE ANSWER IS OBVIOUS: YES! YES, WE WILL CERTAINLY LOSE OUR MOST CHERISHED VALUES AND FREEDOMS, FOR REGARD FOR THE SANCTITY OF GOD-CREATED LIFE UNDERGIRDS ALL OUR OTHER VALUES. GOD'S "THOU SHALT NOT KILL" PROTECTS EVERYTHING ELSE FROM HARM AND INJURY. HOW THEN CAN WE CONDONE STEM CELL RESEARCH USING AND DESTROYING HUMAN EMBRYOS IN ORDER TO CREATE NEW MEDICINES? THAT ISN'T GOD'S WAY OF DOING THINGS, AS HE WOULD NEVER SANCTION DESTROYING HUMAN LIFE IN THIS WAY, KILLING HUMAN LIFE TO PERSERVE OTHER HUMAN LIVES. A DEAR FRIEND OF THE GINTHER FAMILY, A PASTOR, HAS JUST COME OUT WITH HIS NEW BOOK WHICH SHOWS OUR COUNTRY'S CHRISTIAN FOUNDING AND HERITAGE. "CAN THESE BONES LIVE", WHICH SHOWS HOW THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD ESTABLISHED AMERICA, IS A MUST-GET BOOK FOR ALL OF US! PARTICULARLY YOU PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS NEED TO GET A COPY AND BE INFORMED TO SHARE WHAT THE BOOK HAS GATHERED TOGETHER FOR US IN ONE EASY
FORMAT. SERIOUSLY, WE MUST NOT RELY ON OUR GRADE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY, WHICH WAS SO DEFICIENT. SO MUCH IS AT STAKE IF WE LOSE AMERICAN VALUES AND CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOMS AND OUR GOD-GRANTED INALIENABLE RIGHTS. WE MUST TAKE THIS EFFORT NOW, WHATEVER OUR AGES, TO KNOW WHAT WE WERE GIVEN BY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS IN AMERICA, LEST WE BE ROBBED OF IT BY REVISIONISTS REWRITING THE HISTORY AND DISTORTING ALL THE FACTS. YOU CAN ORDER THIS BOOK DIRECTLY FROM THE AUTHOR, PASTOR DAVID PETT. HIS EMAIL ADDRESS AND WEBSITE ARE BELOW THE BOOK. WE WILL BE BRINGING SOME COPIES TO THE REUNION IN JUNE OF THIS YEAR TO ACQUAINT YOU WITH IT EVEN MORE, IF YOU HAVE NOT YET ORDERED AND READ YOUR COPY.
"Pearl, it was you whom the Lord used to turn me from the World to Jesus Christ! I stayed with you in Sioux Falls one night. I came home from a filthy movie (with a guy of course) and you looked at me so lovingly and intently and said, 'Myrtle, you'll lose your faith if you keep living like this.' It resulted in me going to Bible camp next day where I made a personal commitment to Jesus!! Praise God!!"
"Thanks for the lovely Christmas Cards, they just arrived today. Carleen says thanks too. I'm so glad you add verses of Scripture to the cards that you send them [to the Seafarers, added to the gift packages Pearl makes up each year for the foreign seamen off the ships]. It could be just what they needed. I lived 19 years before I understood Salvation was only by Grace. I tried to figure out how I could be saved by that little water on my head [sprinkling of water in infant baptism]. It wasn't until I was at the Academy [Augustana Academy, Canton, SD]and they had invited a young Lutheran pastor to take over the 2 weeks of "Special Emphasis Weeks" at 10 a.m. Chapel, morning and every night, and he used so much scripture I realized I needed to admit to the Lord I was a lost sinner and said to Jesus, 'I take you as my Savior, praise your
Name for forgiving me of ALL my sins.' Praise your name, Jesus. Love, Cora."
There is no reason why we cannot have a fruit stand, with prime vegies too, and maybe some honey products, for sale at Plain View Farm. Think how people are preferring organically grown items today, just like they were grown on Plain View Farm in the past, without pesticides and all the sprays commonly used now on commercial farms.
PRAISE GOD, HERE IS A LETTER OF SUPPORT FROM CORA TAYLOR, WHO IS THE ONLY OTHER SURVIVING SISTER OF PEARL GINTHER IN 2009 ON TO DECEMBER. Cora Stadem Taylor is 60 yr. plus missionary with the New Tribes Mission in Brazil, and she is a dearly beloved
sister to Pearl Stadem Taylor! She has just turned the grand age of 94! And she is still on the job, though officially retired.
Cora Taylor, Heritage Center supporter, writes to sister Pearl Ginther and son Ron:
Cora Taylor sends this Feb. 2010 reminiscence:
Please go soon to the new Cora and Carl page, with Cora's "Died with His Shoes On," telling of Carl's homegoing in 1990 in the Southern Cross of the May issue.
"Died With His Shoes on," by Cora Taylor
Her account contains the miraculous conversion of the Brazilian telephone lineman, right after Carl Taylor's tragic accident--a direct connection to God's miraculous grace through the fulfilment of a scripture verse he had marked in his devotions shortly before the fatal accident on the road! So don't miss it!"
GOD IS MOVING ON MORE LOVING HUMAN HEARTS TO GIVE! The funds are coming in for the Heritage Center from friends outside the family circle but still well within our circle of love. A former landlady and longtime friend to Jerry Ginther, Pearl Ginther's son, has contributed $100. This below represents the hundred dollar bill given in honor of Pearl Stadem Ginther by her eldest son Darrell R. Ginther. We would like to see many more such bills! Got one to give, this heritage center would be a wonderful investment in children and adults and countless visitors!
THIS AND THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS ON THIS PAGE FOR YOU!
To order Pastor David Pett's book, CAN THESE BONES LIVE?
Somebody who knew full well what "born again" by the Spirit of God really means: Here is Pearl Ginther's sister Myrtle giving her testimony Sept. 13, 1989 to Pearl in a birthday card, about how she was saved and born again as a teenager thanks to Pearl's timely, loving admonition:
"I knew and was loved almost to pieces by Aunt Myrtle, and can testify she went through all storms of life and the onslaughts of the Enemy with her
flags unfurled and her spirit undaunted. She was truly a victorious saint of God, her strength based primarily on prayer and daily intercession for needy people and the church, and her own commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ as her saving and sustaining Savior, as well as her submitting to the cross daily and obedience to the Lord in all matters. I mean every word of this and more. It is not just words that sound nice. She stood in the most extremes test of her faith in Jesus, and triumphed as pure gold! Her life bore fruit that is stupendous to behold.
Her memory is sacred to me, as it should be. You can tell a tree by its fruit. Her life testifies she is a child of God, a woman of God, and now a
glorious,
heavenly saint of God. She left an incredible legacy for her children and
relations to enrich their own lives with. I did not get to give my tribute to the Memorial given her at the Farm by the Svanoe Family, but this has to be it, besides my previous writes in tribute to her and Uncle Bill.--With love and eternal gratitude, her nephew, Ronald Ginther
Cora Stadem Taylor, in a New Year 2009 letter, also writes to Sister Pearl about her conversion and salvation experience:
For Pearl Stadem Ginther's Scripture Garden, the Reunion Graphic for 2000, and Janet's Smith's Ancient
Norwegian Calendar Stick
THE STADEM FAMILIES REUNION OF 2009 WAS A GREAT SUCCESS. Please read the account by Rennard Svanoe, Historian for the families:
Stadem Reunion 2009 Account by Rennard Svanoe, Historian
Stadem Families still on vacation after the 2008 Reunion stopped
at the Black Hills and its manifold sights, including this magnificent replica of the all-wooden "stav" churches in
Norway, which are 800 years old or even older. There is the Hopperstad stav church, in Vik, that looks just like this one in the Black Hills.
Pearl Stadem Ginther, oldest surviving Stadem in the Alfred and Bergit Stadem clan, now matriarch of the clan, is pictured in the center with some of her family beside the Black Hills stav church. She is "only" 99 years of age in this picture. But a reunion for 2010 will no doubt include some more celebration of her centennial birthday at the Farmstead, for those who were not able to attend the birthday in Washington State, her home since 1942.
Both children and adults are delighted when they see the herds of magnificent buffalo restored in numbers like this herd, one of many now grazing the pastures and mountain slopes in western South Dakota and in the Black Hills.
Pearl Stadem Ginther has appeared in the Lutheran Water World Ministry Newsletter (Summer 2008):
With picture, quote from Pearl Ginther: "Sometimes God brings special projects into our lives and gives them a home in our hearts."
A new series: Stadem reunions!
Stadem Reunion--1994, "Memories of Reflection"
A tribute by Estelle Stadem-Rangen to her beloved Mama!
Estelle Stadem-Rangen's "Tribute to Mother"
PLEASE PROCEED TO PART 4, CONCLUSION OF THE PLAIN VIEW HERITAGE
HOME PAGES:
Plain View Heritage Farm Home Page, Part 4
Our
New Master Directory of
Nine Sites:
WWW.OARINGINTHERIVER.COM Master Directory
We at the Plain View Heritage Farm Website thank Almighty God, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ and His faithfulness and grace, and for giving us yet another year in the bud to serve Him and His glorious kingdom, a year which we pray He will
cause to be very fruitful! May the Holy Spirit guide and direct us in every thing we say and do! Amen
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