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Vacuuming after Mass. Every 12 seconds, just as the tone almost falls silent, Johnson reach es up and tugs the rope again, ensuring that the spirit of the beloved church doesn’t die. To comment or to access websites of the organizations mentioned, click on this story at www.americanprofile.com. •-r "• < * l e. £-*.• ;'' *“■*■ ai "* *! r^ t: : ||||» K"' iijPmi «HHHr| The Story of d Prodigal Son Still, some church caretakers, such as Johnson at the Swede Church, stubbornly cling to tradition. He and other descen dants of the farmers who built the church dug into their own pockets to match a $7,500 grant from Preservation North Dakota to repair the steeple and install new siding last year. Each June, they picnic on the church grounds, a reminder of the socials held 75 to 100 years ago when the kids enjoyed rare treats of bottles of soda pop. “We used to have a whole bunch of bananas that they'd hang in a tree and we could take a knife and cut one off for a nickel," Johnson recalls. On Christmas Eve, Johnson and a few neighbors gather in the bitter cold at the Swede Church to ring the bell for 30 minutes. They phone people across the United States with ties to the old church and let them listen. k ON DVD | OCTOBER 9! ft | WES ; ' \2 ■ ' ML a r , m* jf i $L :fp;. i v #>*•- «. ' hcmm&mtms GMP..OHM! 1w et cau * n a l au 9hter and song and discover that there’s nothing like forgiveness and there’s no place like home/ SAVE WHEN YOU BUY VEGGIETALES® The Wonderful Wizard of Ha’s ON DVD lfc <*m wfawifc * fan >ab *V few* Wt «f iwbm you *t Im nlk *1 *» worn At U IWlDllUi»(MlMakaßD«>.«m3,lfiMSoi,Ml^nnMU)iAf.W<.lWA* Co ' /rr €fl^^ orth Bentley Co J/' , jpf North Qqkota/Dale R. Bentley X b 0073 5 74644 00082 o (8100)0 60073 RICjUPEA © 2007 Big Mm Ik. VEGUfTAIB •, chafacfer nmes, Iftenesse and indkia are Irademafta of and copyrighted by Big Idea, Im., www.bigida«,«om an Ewertaintnam Sghh jttup company. M righH (esstvad. " sy ofPrt vatloh Norih bakota/Dale R. Bents)|H