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0 By Mary Ellen Mitchell
When we were 24 (in 2005), Meridith and I took a trip up the east coast to visit intentional Christian communities and imagine what our futures might be.
Our last stop was the Bruderhof, which Meridith described as “kind of Amish, kind of Catholic worker.” We stayed with a family, worked in the laundry, and saw their peace barn.
Years passed, Lydia’s House was born, and we looked to lots of places to get help and inspiration for this work. In 2019 Bethany Kurtz came to us, as she was leaving the Bruderhof, having discerned that she wanted to live independently of their model of community, but continue in service to women and children. We learned more from her about how the community worked, and hoped we might have future opportunities for interaction. We also got to know Toby and Johanna Mommsen, who served as liaisons from the Bruderhof to other expressions of Christian life and service.
In the summer of 2023, that opportunity came in the form of Melinda Thomson, who came to do a “sabbatical” of sorts from her life as an accountant on a Bruderhof. She made apple salad for us, and shared with us her community’s unique ways of celebrating new births and new mothers. Shortly after Melinda’s stay, we then hosted a large group of Bruderhoffers for the Christian Community Development conference in our region. Around this time Mary Ellen wrote an article for the Bruderhof’s magazine, Plough.
In Spring of 2023 we also met Tim and Fran Hochstetler at the Bloomington Catholic Worker Intentional Community retreat. They came from the Spring Valley Bruderhof, had kids the same age as Annie, Sam and Jacob, and shared our sense of humor and sarcasm. We had some other common friends as well. We were excited to be making a connection with people who had such a different life but also similar values.
We finally decided that it was time to visit a Hof as a family! This Thanksgiving we packed the car snacks and winter boots and headed to Pennsylvania. Tim and Fran, along with Toby and Johanna, planned an action packed weekend for us. We hiked on the community’s land, played on their nature playground and sawdust pile, shared a delicious Thanksgiving meal, journeyed to Ohiopyle state park, made candles, built in the wood shop, played indoor soccer and even used the community sauna. We were pleased to sing some Bruderhof songs and share our camp songs with them. We ended our trip with a Family Dance off. Eilerman’s danced to “Fancy Like” and the Hochstetler’s replied with a “Great Balls of Fire” rendition. The kids, wanting to show us all up then danced together to “Apple Bottom Jeans.” We laughed a lot!
We’re unsure what the future holds but we’ve invited the Bruderhof members to spend time with us next summer, as we plan to run literacy and swimming camps for Lydia’s House kids. We hope to include the Hochstetlers and many others in life at Lydia’s House for years to come! Thanks Bruderhof for your friendship, help and for a fun Thanksgiving.
P.S. Dear Bruderhof, Please come fix our Norwood asphalt. You’ve got the art of ashphalt patching down.
