Newcomers at church

"The first time there were services after our arrival was Palm Sunday, and they wanted us to go to church with them. Oh my! How embarrassing it was. Only strange faces, not a soul that we knew, and we felt that everybody stared at us, and, of course, we were odd in that we were "newcomers." 

It was summer and warm weather. Everybody was dressed in summer dresses, and I wore my heavy homespun wool dress--the only dress I had. We were invited to Eric Himle's for dinner (Gjertrud Lillehaugen's home)  and there were lots of grownups, both boys and girls at home, so I was not very much enthused about the idea. And I said something to that effect to Mrs. Himle, but she only said that they "had seen newcomers before." 

At Gjertrude's (wife of Lars) I got some clothes washed, learned to make bread and fried cake (doughnuts?) and with this knowledge of American food, we moved to a nearby farm on June first. This place was vacant. We rented the house, got our wood from the wooded pasture nearby. We bought two cows and one calf, two hens and one rooster from Lars (Lillehaugen)."

Final excerpt from Sigrid's account of her journey to America, written in 1919.