Small Town USA

I have the sense that many people who may read this blog like myself, before moving to Underwood, ND (pop. 800), have no idea what a small town looks like. So I thought I might jot down a few thoughts to give you a picture of our life here.

We don't have any stop lights and only a couple stop signs, all the rest of the intersections are yields (though its rare to need to do this). We have two exits on highway 83 that runs to the east of town. This stretch of 83 is four-lanes, 70 mph and runs from at least Bismarck (50 miles south of Underwood) to Minot (55 miles north). County Road 14 runs through town and is where our church is located off of.

We have two restuarants (one open 6 days 6-2, the other 5 days 11-8 - neither on Sunday) and a bar. There are two gas stations, one serice shop, and a body shop (mainly for damage from hitting pheasants and deer!). We have a small grocery store, a mom and pop hardware store and a old-fashion soda fountain/pharmacy/knick-knacks/office supply store. There's a lumber yard, a grain elevator and a couple of farm related business. We have an insurance office, post office, and funeral home.

K-12 meet in the same school and currently have about 200 total students. The are five churches (2 Lutheran, a Catholic, an Assembly of God, a small Methodist and ours). There's a senior center, a nursing home, a clinic w/ 2 RNs, a day care, a 55 and older apartment complex, a general apartment building, a "motel" that is mainly used by those here on short job assigments and my favorite, a nine-hole golf course.

The biggest employers seem to be the power plant, ethanol plant, coal mine, nursing home and school. There are a number of families that do not live in town but live in the surrounding farm land. Apparently many more people used to live out on the farm but as people got older they stopped farming and moved into town and farming is now a big operation meaning that there are only a handful of families in Underwood in which farming is their sole occupation (maybe a dozen or so). Some may still raise cattle but also work at one of the plants in town. in addition to cattle, come of the main crops include wheat, corn, soybeans, sunflowers, and flax.

I may have missed a few things but that should at least give you a picture of what Underwood looks like (and probably many of the other small towns in the Dakotas and elsewhere).

Please continue to pray for Harmony and I to be able to meet people in the community and begin to develop quality relationships with those outside of the church. If you'd like to listen to this week's sermon, "Abstinence Glorifies God" (1 Peter 2:11-12), click here.