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P.O. Box 128     Savannah, Ohio 44874    (419) 962-1515     WWW.MapMinistry.org     JKeim@MapMinistry.org

It is our hope and prayer that this ministry update finds you doing well in every area of your life. As for us here at the ministry, we are doing exceptionally well, with so much to be thankful for. God continues to use us for His service in spite of our imperfections and short comings. His storehouse of mercy is bottomless, so that we can say with David in Psalms 81, I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations.

It is our desire to follow a tradition that started in 2007, and that is to send you the July copy of the Amish Voice. We can't help but stand in awe as we watch God use all kinds of gifted servants to make this bi-monthly publication such a great success.

1. In January of this year, we added four more pages. This extra space has allowed us to add a 5th writer as well as give us all more writing space. If you look right inside the front page, you will see who our writers are and where they come from
2. It has been my own personal privilege to study and write articles on "What Is The Church". Originally I was only going to write one or two parts but as you will see in this edition, I am on part VII and it just continues to get better and better.
3. We are praying that God would burden local churches and individuals to get behind the Amish Voice by sponsoring a certain number of Amish households in their own backyards. The way it works is... (a) we write the publication (b) you sponsor a certain number of families in your area by paying for the cost of printing and postage - right now that amounts to $.45 per household, 6 times a year (c) we allow you to include a personal 8.5x11 sheet of paper with each one of your households. -- call us for more details.
4. At this time we have a total of 6 churches, 2 Sunday school classes, and 4 individuals who are sending the Amish Voice into their Amish communities; two of the sponsoring individuals are Amish men.
5. Here are some of the more exciting results from recipients who have been receiving the Amish Voice:
   
   
   • Quite frequently we get calls and letters from people-saying, we were handed a copy of the Amish Voice and would like to know how we can get on the mailing list.
   • An Amish preacher from IN called to find out how he could get a copy of the (advertized) 98 page Bible study on the Church. Another man from PA called to find out how he could get 10 copies of the same study for his whole family.
   • One concerned Amish man has been paying the postage and printing cost to send the Amish Voice to 110 Bishops in Lancaster, PA. A second man from IL has been helping out with the cost of sending the Amish Voice to his community.
   • One man said, Joe, I want you to know that the last Amish Voice caused me to get my dictionary out and study the article called "Gifts vs. Rewards" -by Eli Stutzman. He went on to say, and that particular article has quite a few of the men in my community talking; we have all agreed though, Eli is right. And we say Amen! Lord!-- the whole idea behind the Amish Voice is to cause THINKING GEARS to start turning again.

Testimonies of Approval (All Names Withheld)

1. Hello, this is just a small offering in support of the Amish Voice. I wish it could be more. I do appreciate the Amish Voice; I like to read the articles and the Amish News.
2. Sir, sometime ago I heard about your Amish Voice newsletter. Please put me on your mailing list.
3. Hello, thank you so much for the Amish Voice. My husband and I really enjoy the issues as it has helped strengthen our faith. It speaks of God's truth in terms easily understood. In our community many people are rejecting the truth, with some ministers wanting to stop all the mailings to Illinois. Please don't let this discourage you! Keep up the excellent work and may God bless you richly in all your work for Christ. Rejoicing in Him! Please use the small donation to help out with the Amish Voice.

Testimonies of Disapproval (All Names Withheld)

1. Would you please quit sending your mission paper to our community? ... A big waste of money. It grieves me that you lost the faith of your forefathers, which is such a precious belief according to the Bible. Please think over the commitments that you made to God and our church when you got baptized. And also please think of the serious bann by the church, that youns are living under day after day. And that youns are disobedient to both sets of parents, of what their will was for youns. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him. (I John 2:15) I am sending youns a copy of a letter from a man that left the Amish and come back later, repented and made peace with the church again. I am hoping and praying that it can be a help to youns.
2. Please remove my name from your newspaper, the Amish Voice. It is very deceiving. The community does not need this. I would like to see this paper stopped completely. This is not the way I was taught. We fully believe if we stay in the same faith we are born in, it can be a help to our salvation.
3. Look we have all these German books. Why just why would a person think he so much better than the Bible or Testament. Plus, we have our prayer books. Please just please stop this stuff. Please do yourself and us all a BIG favor. Just think all the people you deceive will someday have to be answered. Please just please stop these papers. I will not sign my name because I don't want any part with your doings.

And with that, we will let you return back to your other duties. Please don't forget to pray that God would open hearts and ears to the eternal truths of the gospel. Time is ticking away and one day it will all end very quickly.

Acts 1:11 is a reminder for us all ... Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

To read the July issue of the Amish Voice, please click HERE.