If you were to ask me, what is the hardest thing you do in ministry, I would have to be honest and tell you that it is writing the newsletter update. But when the newsletter is finished and ready to go out the door, it gives us a strong feeling of satisfaction. That satisfaction comes from knowing that the Lord, once again, did so much through the MAP Ministry.

Esther and I took some time off last month and went to a Marriage Refresher Seminar in PA. When we got there we were told that the church had no seats left. After waiting for awhile they came back to us and said one couple called off and we ended up getting a front row seat. Rachel has her Bible out, and is writing a letter to Grandma Keim who lives about 20 minutes from our house. Rachel is 13 and has only met her grandma a couple times in her life. She has had a real burden to reach Grandma Keim with the gospel, and we all want to believe that it will happen one day. One of Jonathan's favorite things to do is cook meals. He will definitely spoil his wife some day. Jonathan keeps busy mowing grass for people who go on vacation. He spend a good part of a day passing out flyers, which seems to have paid off. I tell him all the time that the money he makes belongs to me because I always had to give it up to my dad until I turned 21. He disagreed and won the case.

You just can not imagine how great it feels for us to tell you that our finances are all up-to-date. At times like these I feel like I could do somersaults, flip flops and cart-wheels all at the same time. Thank you so much for your faithful and continued support. It is also my great pleasure to tell you that over the last two months, three more churches took the ministry on for monthly support. Our online prayer partners just keep right on increasing too. Thank you all so very much.

I have three brothers who are no longer Amish. Just recently I was given the honor of marrying my brother William to his fiancé, Jennica. Esther was in charge of cooking an Amish style dinner for 300 people. As you can tell in the photo, the fellows were all dressed up in western outfits-it was a sight to behold. One of the things that touched Esther and I the most was how Glenn and Molly (left photo) came around William and acted as parents. Several years ago Glenn and Molly adopted William through the adopt-a-person ministry and ever since then they have just gone out of their way to be there for him. They have also adopted three other former Amish people. Sometimes it amazes me to see how quickly these young folks are adapting to the English culture. Three more of our young people are getting married this month.

Abe is only 16 and about three weeks ago he left the Amish to join his brother, who had stayed with us for a while. Sometimes it is hard to know how to handle situations like this. We try our best to discourage underage teens from leaving. There are so many young people here now and to help them you almost have to go with the flow. It will be over a year before Abe is able to get a driver's license and any type of work in the business world. When I took Abe to the MAP Donation Center for clothes he told me that even though he only lived 15 minutes out side Ashland, he had never been inside any city limits. For all of his 16 years he lived and stayed within a 20 mile radius from his house. He had never seen a grocery store or Wal-Mart. When he told me that he was hungry I took him to Wendy's, and explained how to order a combo.

The young folks love to go bowling. Some time ago a small group went bowling, and as one of the young former Amish guys was admiring the people and surroundings, a stranger all of a sudden popped out of nowhere and wanted to start a fight with him because he felt the young fellow was staring him down.

Most of the time we try to share the highs, but lately we have had some very troublesome and heart breaking lows. Quite a few of the young folks that are leaving the Amish come from troubled home lives. More often than not, there was some type of sexual or physical abuse that went on in the home, and the young person had no way out but to leave the Amish. Unless these acts of abuse are dealt with properly, the teenager often finds him/herself dealing with the situation in the wrong way. Many times, we get caught in the middle. At the time of this writing we have had one young adult in jail for 10 days, and a couple of the single girls are pregnant. We have learned one thing more then ever, and that is we cannot live another person's life. Ministry on our part is mostly about loving, caring, serving and living a good example.

Andy

Katie

Julie

Randy

Ben

It is this kind of ministry that keeps a man going. We have written about Andy and Katie before and now you get to see their baptism. They just finished a 7-week Bible study that covered all the basic doctrines of the Faith. Julie grew up Catholic, and after accepting the Lord she was baptized by Levi (center). Randy and Ben were drinking buddies for a number of years. They recently got saved, and after some discipleship from Levi Jr. (two left photos) decided that they needed to get baptized too. They have all been faithful in attending church services. Thank you Lord for using us! I need to add, too, that just recently Levi Jr. (above / age 19) was voted in as a deacon in training. He reminds me so much of young Timothy in the Bible. He has such a zeal for God.

For years we had a desire to put a Discipleship Bible study together, but it seemed as if God wanted us to spend our time in hands on ministry rather then writing materials. Just recently my cousin, who also pastors a church in Kansas, finished a 7-lesson Bible study course. It is somewhat aimed toward helping a person, with an Amish background, in becoming grounded in the Faith. The book is formatted in such a way that the student fills in the missing words from Scripture. Topics deal with Salvation, Baptism, Local Church, Tithing, Prayer, etc. He is selling them for $5 plus postage. If you have a desire to place an order, please feel free to contact him. Here is how you can get in touch with him: Albert Schrock, 1407 Central Ave, Dodge City, KS 67801, or call (620) 227-6525.

We have also been working overtime in putting a very simple, but in-depth Bible training program together that covers every book in the Old and New Testament, along with some special electives. Our students will earn credits for each course they take and a certificate of completion. We have made the LivingRoom Bible Institute available online at http://www.MapMinistry.org/institute or you can write us and we will send you the whole Bible Institute on CDs. The cost for going through this two year program is $100 for the OT; $100 for NT or ($150 for both). We have more information and a sample of II Corinthians online if you or someone you know is interested in joining those who have already enrolled. We have also tried to make it accessible by allowing a person to pay by credit card, and then log-in online to get to our courses. After the payment is received you will automatically get a username and password.

I hope that you do not mind, but at a local art fair last weekend, I had a custom leather wrist band (leather bracelet) made for me. It has "MAP" on it. I wear it to remind myself to pray for your ministry when I look at it during the day.