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

For some reason it feels like it has been a while since we sent our last ministry update to you. I trust that you are doing well, serving the Lord, and enjoying life. We are all doing great and thank God for His daily protection and provision.

During the first week of April, our family had the blessed opportunity to go to the Bahamas on a cruise ship. We were told that in this part of the world the weather conditions are near perfect, year around. The water probably stood out to us the most-it was a beautiful turquoise color. Towards the end of the week we went snorkeling, way out in the clear blue ocean. There we literally swam with hundreds of fish that were all rainbow colors and sizes. It truly was a whole new world that we don't often get to see. Our family would like to publicly thank our very good friends-Harvey & Lizzie, for making this vacation a reality.

Care Packages For Those Starting Out

The picture above shows only a small portion of all that our friends from Calvary Baptist Church, Byesville OH gathered together for care packages. Each gift bag had at least one shampoo, soap, tooth brush, deodorant, comb, razor etc in it. Each bag also included a Bible or Christian reading material. Albert was the first one to come through and leave with a smile. -->

We praise God for all of you who continue to give so generously, month after month. God bless you!

The Amish Voice Publication

The responses that we have gotten back from The Amish Voice mailings have been many and mostly positive. I think the best one of all was a phone call from an older lady. She said, "I just received the Amish Voice and I want you to know, I immediately took it down to my basement to keep from getting caught, and I read it from cover to cover... And, I want you to know, I agree with everything you wrote." She went on to say, "...and you know that LivingRoom Bible Institute you had advertised, I want to do that! -my problem is, I don't have the $150-can you help me out?" I said, Sarah, in a couple days you are going to receive all the work books in the mail and it will cost you nothing. We continue to receive requests for the Bible Institute materials (a two year in-home study, that takes the person through the Old and New Testament).

MAP continues to receive calls and emails from individuals and churches on a regular basis, asking if we could help them reach their Amish community for Christ. Maybe it is too early to say, but I truly believe that one of the greatest ways for MAP and the local church to make an impact in any Amish community is for us to team up together in sending out The Amish Voice.

In short, that means that Church-A... (1) adopts and becomes fully responsible to their local Amish community (2) pays for all the printing and postage expenses for that community (3) provides a bi-monthly insert for The Amish Voice that goes to their adopted community.

Here are the end results... Every other month, all the Amish households in Church-A's area will hear from both the MAP Ministry and Church=A (their local church). Part of our challenge for not moving faster with this idea has simply been because we don't have enough man power and finances to put this plan into action. There are some guidelines being put in place for those who are interested in partnering with MAP and the Amish Voice mailing. If you have not already signed on but would like to so, please don't hesitate to contact Tina at her office phone, 419/962-1515 or email address, TDuffield@MapMinistry.org for more of the details.

Don & Rosie: Sharing Our Home

Don & Rosie are not only board members but they also act as the Benevolent Fund Coordinators for MAP. They put a guidelines and application process together that will be used to help the ones who need short term financial help. The MAP Ministry has a special bank account set up, just for this ministry.

Rosie Writes: Earlier this year, Don and I opened our home to God for use in ministry. First, Tonya and her six children moved in but after eleven days, Tonya returned to her husband. Please pray for Tonya, Billy, Neil, Samuel, Danny, Rebecca and Caleb Mullet.

Last month, 16 year old Mattie from New York moved in with us. We are helping her get her birth certificate, social security card and GED. She is enrolled in the SonLight Club and we are working on daily devotions and prayer. Our main goal and prayer is for Mattie to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We are also working with the parents and the NY & OH Children's Services to get legal custody of Mattie.

On another note, Don met with a mother and two boys, also ex-Amish. The mother was having some financial difficulties and as the Benevolent Fund Coordinators for MAP, we helped her by paying a month worth of rent. We also tried to encourage this family by having them over for dinner and fellowship.

There are a lot of singles, not to exclude the married, ex-Amish that could really use spiritual encouragement and Christian friendship. Don and I would like to encourage everyone who reads this newsletter to be open to reaching out and doing something special for those who God lays on your heart.

Update on JD

One of my favorite nights of the week is Sunday night. It's the night that I get to meet with my three Bible study boys. We have covered the following topics...the New Birth, Assurance of Salvation, Missions, Baptism, God, the Enemy, Family, Obedience, Prayer etc.

JD is one of the three Bible study boys and lives in our basement apartment. The picture to the left shows him getting baptized. You can read his testimony online by going to WrittenTestimonies. Please pray for JD--at times he gets discouraged because of how long it is taking the state to come up with a birth certificate for him.

MAP Makes The Move

2001: My home church gave me a small Sunday school room for an office. 2003: Tina was hired so the church gave us another Sunday school room. 2006: Amber was hired and again the church gave us a small storage area. At times we had to pack 7 tables/desks, 3 computers, chairs, shelving and 8 workers into a 12 X 14 room. These tight working conditions led to several challenges-our biggest one was trying to keep the Bible lessons from getting mixed up and sent to the wrong students.

The board finally decided that we needed to cut back on our donated items that were being housed in the Donation Center and then move all of our offices out there. Well praise God, we laid some carpeting, installed some phone & computer lines, added some paint and with help from several of our local supporting churches, we were able to move in on March 24th. Now we have lots of room and windows to look out of but no rest room facilities or running water. We are located about 500 ft behind the church. By the way, we still have an area for donations but are more limited to what we handle.

SonLight Club Student testimony: One who was involved in the school shooting in Nickel Mines, PA.

Hello SonLight Club,
April 2007

I'm sorry I didn't send this out sooner but I was too busy the last while. I'll explain it to you. I went to West Nickel Mines School and I am the girl who escaped. Please don't make a fuss about it. Well anyhow, this January 19th I got another little brother. We were still busy and getting LOTS and LOTS of visitors because my sister died. I still have Barbie and she is almost better so I had this Bible lesson a half year. Sorry!

Did you know that you can listen in on a special song that was written and sung by one of the girls that was involved in the Nickel Mines shooting? Here is how to do it - Using your phone, dial the following numbers:

        Step 1: Phone# - 712-432-3997 | Step 2: Conference ID# - 6607421# | Step 3: Selection - 0#

Information that might interest you...

• In April we were asked by a public school official from the state of CA, if we would assist them in adding a chapter about the Amish to their new school text books. We were blessed to find out that our interviewer was also a born again Christian Author.
  
  
• In 1900 there were approximately 5,000 Amish living in the US. By 2000 there were over 200,000. According to national statistics, the Amish population doubles every 20 years.
  
  
• Amish Mennonite Conference Line: Listen in each Thursday evening as certain moderators discuss varies topics about the Bible. Dial 1 + 712-432-3950 and at the prompt enter the conference ID number 299540 plus the # key.