Yesterday, we had a full day of visiting friends in the Visalia, California area. We began with a visit to the “coffee shed” of a dairy farmer at 9:00 a.m. when, every morning except the Lord’s Day, family members and friends—most of whom are dairy farmers—gather at their parents’ farm for coffee. After coffee, a son-in-law gave us a tour of the family farm, which included impressive Friesian horses (picture #1) and old carriages (picture #2). We then had an enjoyable visit with the parents, who are 93 and 94 years old respectively; the father nostalgically explained to us how he was instrumental in getting Friesian horses from Europe, which opened the way for these special horses to be shipped to eighty countries all around the world.
Next we had great fellowship over lunch with our hosts both of whom live busy lives on their dairy farm and serve the church in a variety of capacities. This brother is chairman of his consistory and also serves on a number of committees for various ministries in the community. They had much practical wisdom to share with us and we felt enriched by our conversation. From there, we had a pleasant, interesting visit with a new friend who is an engineer in a company that he co-owns which works to create technology related to dairy sustainability.
We then enjoyed a delicious steak dinner with two couples we knew from the past. One brother is involved with a fascinating ministry that reaches political leaders around the world with the gospel and is also involved in various agriculture ventures. He showed us some old, beautiful vehicles, and let Mary and me sit in one of them—an old Duesenberg (picture #3). The other brother, a retired hoof trimmer, and his wife serve as high school youth leaders. The four hours of great fellowship we had with these dear couples just flew by.
