Houses of God

"I sang my first solo, 'Jesus Loves Me,' in 1934 when I was 5" at Highland Lutheran Church in La Center, Wash., writes Douglas Moe. Moe's grandparents were among the Norwegian immigrants who founded the church with German families in 1883-making it one of the oldest church structures west of the Mississippi. Early services were held in German, Norwegian, and then English. Last year the still-active congregation celebrated its 125th anniversary. Inside the nave on the wall behind the altar the young Moe's grandfather, Peter, designed and painted a mural depicting Christ. "As you can see," writes Moe, who lives in Vancouver, Wash., "Grandpa's mural is still in good shape."