Who knew??

This past weekend, about a dozen of us Nauvoo temple missionary couples went on an excursion planned out by a member of the temple presidency and his wife. We went to some places in northern Iowa that we probably never would have found on our own.  The first was basically a farm, one of countless Midwestern US farms among millions of acres of corn (and soybean) fields. This was the location for the movie "Field of Dreams". It was not near any major city. I'm amazed that the movie people found it. 

 Near the field of corn is a baseball field. Visiting there that day were two teams of baseball players wearing uniforms patterned after those worn by players over 100 years ago. They were gathered from several places around the country, here to play for one evening in the "old style" with original clothing, shoes, and without gloves. We watched them warming up but didn't stay to watch the game.

 The farmhouse had been slightly remodeled by the movie company. There is a large information board with before and after pictures as well as the story behind finding the farm and how it all came to be. There was also a little "gift shop" which I'm sure was added after the movie became such a hit. They enlarged the porch and added the swing that was prominent in the film. We saw it long ago and I couldn't really remember it all. We could have bought a copy of it there but chose not to.
Not far from this farm was a fairly good-sized town with primarily Catholic residents. Long ago, they pooled their resources and built a basilica to rival many in Europe. We arrived just after they had  finished a mass which was attended by high school kids about to attend Homecoming, all dressed in their teen-aged finery. The priest there was a really down-to-earth pleasant man and we were welcomed to come in to look around, even taking pictures. This one little picture hardly does it justice.

I like to think the Catholics here were just as comfortable with us as we felt toward them. Some of us talked quite awhile with the priest and some other parishioners.
From here we went to a pre-arranged golf course restaurant for dinner before heading to the hotel and/or homes where we would sleep.