As measles — a preventable disease the U.S. considered eliminated in 2000 — spreads through West Texas’ rural expanse, Klassen is sticking to an approach on vaccines that is a key tenet for Mennonites. Family leaders are the top decision-making authority — not outside recommendations, certainly not government mandates.

Gaines County is a vast, flat expanse far in the west of Texas: more than 1,500 square miles of sparsely populated farmland. And right now, this is the epicenter of a measles outbreak the likes of which this state hasn’t seen in more than 30 years.