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| Dear Friend | May 2004 |
We live in a fast-paced age where everyone rushes just to keep up. It is easy to get caught up in our tasks, becoming too busy for what God says is most important-waiting on His leading. Sometimes we can't help but wonder how many things we do from day to day that were good but not necessarily of God. Anyways, we have lots to update you on. God gets all the credit, for it is by His grace that we have something to write about.
It is a real joy for us to tell you that our son Jonathan preached his first message not long ago. He preached on the Lords Prayer and did a great job! As you can tell though we may have to sew his pockets shut the next time he preaches. It has always been our prayer that the children God gave us would grow up to be servants for the Lord. When Jonathan was small he was sure that he was going to be a cowboy. That soon changed to policeman and then computer tech but somehow we have a feeling that God is raising him up for the ministry. He has always been a student of the Word and we know that all of this is nothing less then God's grace.
When Raymond left the Amish community from Michigan he stayed with us for a week before going on to join his two older brothers in Texas. It was during his stay at our house that we got into a discussion on how a person gets to heaven. And you guessed it, before the morning ended he gave his life to Christ. My it was exciting. Everyone was calling each other and praising the Lord because we all knew that his brother Isaac from TX had been praying for months that his family would find the truth of salvation. As soon as Raymond made it to TX he told his brother Isaac that he would like to be baptized. Several weeks later on Easter Sunday he got baptized (photo on the right). Raymond has been going to church every Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening. You might consider adding the rest of the Schlabach family to your prayer list for salvation.
What a blessing it was to hear these two brothers share their 4-week missions trip to Papa New Guinea. Chris wrote a short message for you...My experience of PNG is one of many blessings and a lot of memories. It is a very enriching experience to be able to give of yourself. The work was very hard but rewarding. Being able to give of my time to help with the work that God is doing there is exciting. And I am thankful that I had the opportunity to go. One of the things that Christ has taught me through the experience of this trip is that it takes faith. As the writer of Hebrews writes, Without Faith it is impossible to please Him. As most of chapter 11 is about those who had Faith. Their actions backed up what they professed to believe. That is what I am continuing to learn. It is not enough just to believe something. I have to take the next step and do something about it. Only then will I truly be a man of faith. James pretty much writes the same thing in a different way. 2:18...SHEW ME THY FAITH WITHOUT THY WORKS, AND I WILL SHEW THEE MY FAITH BY MY WORKS. It was also a time of drawing closer to God. I have gained a greater understanding of just how much He loves me. I am very Blessed and thankful that He gave His life in order that I might be His child. And that is the GREATEST Blessing of all.
Last year we sent out a total of 13,000 Bible lessons to some 1,500 children and adult students. We were amazed and excited to see how God worked and quite honestly wondered how it could get any better. Well it has gotten even better. Last week alone we sent out over 1,700 lessons. Since these Bible lessons are sent out at no cost to our students we have to depend on God's family to help with the postage and Bible material costs. I guess at this time I would like to alert you of our need. When we got ready to mail out the lessons in this photo last week we couldn't because we didn't have enough money available. We were not sure what to do so we emailed all of our online prayer warriors and supporting churches and just asked them to pray that God would bless some people financially so that they could in turn transfer it (as the Lord wills) toward this important need that we had. We are thankful for our home church because through their special gifts we were able to get all of the lessons mailed out. We urge you to pray with us in the coming months that God would provide as needed. Many people have gotten saved through these Bible lessons since we started sending them out 3 yrs ago..
We have sure appreciated all the people that donated items for the Donation Center. A good number of former Amish and Amish have been able to get established because of people's generosity. Several months ago we began the process of getting grant money from a local community foundation to update/upgrade the Donation Center and last week we were informed that we were awarded $8,100 to help us fix the building up, add heaters, buy tables, shelves, and clothes racks. We are very thankful to God for this. Tina (MAP secretary) done a great job in making this happen. We appreciate all that Tina does.
God has blessed us with some of the most outstanding volunteers anyone could ever dream of having. If you don't mind we would like to tell you about some of our locals now and then in our next mailing tell about some of the ones that are working in other states.
Fannie is a member of our home church. She comes out several days each week and helps grade the tests that our students send back. As you can see she has a pen in her hand. There is not one test returned to the student without a positive compliment scratched on the side and often several Bible references to answer questions that the students have about the Bible. She has never accepted a dime for her time. On a number of occasions when we didn't have money for office supplies she would get her checkbook out and write a check or give a cash donation. You'd never believe it but she is quite the wise crack at times. We are truly blessed to have Fannie on our team.
It is hard to know just where to start with Wilma but one thing is for sure, it is just not possible to keep enough work before her. Not only has Wilma sent out hundreds of first time lessons but she has also added many a name & address into the computer for the Voice of the Amish mailing. We would like to share a short testimony that was written by Wilma specifically for you. She writes...The M.A.P. Ministry is a Blessing to me! As always I can't wait for the MAP newsletter to come out. With each one the burden on my heart became stronger. As I was reading the last one, I came across the prayer needs, one of those was sending out first time lessons. It said all you need is time and commitment. The Lord spoke to me and said "You can do this". The tears started to flow as God filled my heart with Love For The Lost. I wasted no time in contacting Bro. Keim. I came out with a book on Illinois Amish and 125 lessons (Ages 4 -106). I prayed over each person as I addressed them. These aren't just endless names, each one represents a lost soul. Humbly, I realized I am God's hands. I do this for Him. It will never repay the debt I owe for what he has done for me. He took the nails, He took the cross, He forgave me. Praise be to God!!
We appreciate all that our good friend Rich has done in helping us prepare for the Voice of the Amish mailing. We had been praying for some time that God would give us a person that could help in this area and one day we received the following email from Rich...I can help with some of your tasks. I am currently in Cleveland, OH. I'm totally disabled, and cannot travel far without a great deal of hassle. I have some 22+ years of experience with computers. I could help you with the fitting of articles into a newsletter and the entry of addresses into the Excel spreadsheet. I'm not sure what all you need in the "writing grants" area; perhaps I could assist with that. I have an admiration for much of the Amish lifestyle, but have always felt there was something not quite right with the teaching. The single and only way to fulfillment in this life, and, more importantly, eternity with the One who loves more than we can grasp, is Jesus Christ.
It is never easy for an Amish person to accept Christ as their only way to heaven much less understand that a person can have eternal life and know it. And more times then not, when an Amish person does receive salvation by grace through faith it becomes utterly hard to leave their Amish roots. For the past three years we have worked very close with six Amish families in a close by community. There were so many, many times when discouragement took us over and it would have been so easy to throw in the towel. But several weeks ago there was a breakthrough when two of the families who were excommunicated for the very reason that they decided to take a stand for the One who saved them. One man told me, "I made a vow that I was going to follow Christ no matter the cost". Since he made that decision two of his daughters got saved and God has done an amazing work. We have been in contact with them on a daily basis. Two of the families started coming to our Tuesday night prayer meetings and we believe that the rest will follow. Please pray for us as we seek direction in what God wants us to do. They would like to start a church in their area and if this is what God wants then we would need some help and support from all of our Christian friends. We have certainly appreciated evangelist Dean Myers and his family for the impact they have had on these families and the two that got saved last week.
One husband and wife got saved several years ago and then started coming to our weekly Bible studies. When the news surfaced in their community they were immediately threatened that if any sort of communication ever took place again between them and us the church leadership would separate the family. Two weeks ago the husband told me that at one point it had gotten so bad for him and his family that he was going to commit suicide. His wife had to send the children across the field for help. He told me later, "all I asked for was to have a Bible study but no one would do it." Both this family as well as one of the other families have gone through a lot of depression. They desperately need our prayers.
I thank God for the privilege of working in the MAP Ministry. These past few months have been a joy and a blessing. I took a Medical Office Course but God had other plans for me and I feel very blessed to be able to work with the "Spiritual" instead of the "Physical." The biggest part of my job is the Sonlight Club. I love getting pictures and letters from the students and having them write how much they enjoy the Bible lessons.
When I began working at the MAP Ministry on October 6, 2003, we had about 1,761 students. Today we have over 3,100. We are growing, and growing fast. It would be impossible for me to do the job without our faithful volunteers. I want to send a personal thank you to everyone that has helped us with our mailings. It would not have been possible without your help. One day there were eleven of us in the office working but not all at the same time. Some will come for an hour or two hours or whatever time they have to spare. If anyone out there in "Newsletter Land" has some time to spare we could sure use you on a Tuesday or a Thursday. Just call the office at 419-962-1515 and let us know.
It costs 17 cents a lesson to do our bulk mailing. So in April we spent $773.16 to mail out 4,548 lessons. When a student finishes a course we send them a certificate in a 6x8 envelope. This takes 60 & 80-cent stamps to mail. In April we sent out about 120 certificates, which cost us approximately 72.00 dollars. Even though our funds have gotten very low, it is God's ministry, God knows our needs and I have no doubt that God will meet those needs. Every time we do a mailing I feel that we have been given the privilege of touching that many lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all of you out there that have helped us financially are a part of that.
Love in Christ, Tina Duffield
