Mennonite Communitiy

Kim reminds me that it has been a while since I have placed a new blog. So I thought I would mention my experience today. I had the opportunity to be apart of medical education and see patients in a local Mennonite Community. This community is a very conservative order of Mennoite, no running water, no electricity, no zippers, no photos etc. Each month a group of Western Kentucky University Nursing students, University of Louisville Physicians and retired local physicians give a medical lecture/discussion time and see patients from the community. I grew up having Amish as neighbors, so it brought back memories of my childhood watching them from a far as they harvest the corn in the field across from our house. I recall a few occasions that we actually went inside one of their homes, but not in much detail.

I spoke on seasonal allergies, with a few questions about food allergies. The intelligence of their questions were great. They wanted to know western medicines as well as herbal/natural treatments. I enjoyed my time immensely. I hope I have an opportunity to go back before I leave for Baltimore. I had an interesting discussion with one of the men. I mentioned that I was in China last month for 5 weeks and he became excited and began asking me questions about my time there. When I told him I was in Macau, he knew before I could even speak that it was a former Portuguese colony and the oldest European Colony in China. This completely caught me off guard. Most people I have talked to have never heard of Macau, let alone know the facts he so quickly rattled off. Come to find out he is a convert to the Mennonite faith. He used to be involved with international business.

How amazing to go from a completely different culture half a world a way one month and visit another completely different culture 30min down the road!!

Check out this link to learn more about Mennonites and how worldwide spread the faith is!