I am quite fond of this church. No, I have never attended the service, but I know the history of…read moreit. This church's history and my history have a bit in common. My German ancestors came over during the establishment of Nebraska, laid their roots here, and actually were one of the founding families of this church. Generations of my ancestors lay here to rest in the cemetery too. Waltke, Menninga, Aden, and Johnson are those among my late relatives. : I am adopted. I met my birth family 5 years ago, and when I met my birth mother, she told me about Nebraska and this particular church. She told me how her mother's family immigrated from Germany in 1869 and landed in Gage County, Nebraska. Considering I was born and raised in Tennessee, I had absolutely no clue I had roots in Nebraska. Learning all this was a bit of shock. A bigger shock was coming to this magnificent church in the middle of no where. It is so lovely, well preserved, and clearly still has an active congregation. When we visited the church, it was during the middle of a week day. It is 2 stories high with a lower level and then a balcony that over looks its grand sanctuary. The stained glass windows are absolutely stunning. I'm not sure if they're original to the 1874 construction, but they're very beautiful with Jesus on them. The front of the sanctuary is very ornate. It has the pastor pit that overlooks the congregation, and a pipe organ that has the pipes reaching up towards the ceiling. All is very well kept and maintained. After touring the church itself, my birth mother led me slightly down the road to their cemetery where many of my late relatives are buried. On the grave stones you'll notice a great portion of them are engraved with German. I really wish I knew German so I could have translated and understood what they said. The newer graves had English. With my ancestors that are laid to rest here, they mainly consisted of German. I really appreciated the grave yard visit. I was able to connect names with pictures that my birth mother had shown me. There are many names that were recycled from generation to generation in my family, so to see that 2 Marie's with different last names rested in the same place was interesting to me. I literally had 4 generations here from my mother's side. To think that at one point they attended this church. They were baptized, married, and had their funerals here. I truly felt a connection to my roots and hope to visit Zion Lutheran again soon. I'd love to come worship here one Sunday. Hopefully it will happen!

I literally grew up in this wonderful church and church family. I have always felt fortunate to…read morehave been a part of the beautiful history here. My father and mother were always very involved in Sunday School and confirmation here. Sadly 19 years ago my mother's funeral was held here and sadly on Saturday, so was my father's. Regardless of the reason to return to Zion, it always feels like home.