October 2022
IN THIS ISSUE:
Bible Club Report
It has been a very busy summer at New Beginnings. We have had a steady interest in young women wanting to leave the Amish and start a new life here with us. We have received calls from all over the country, with girls showing interest from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Maine, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Most of them were invited to move to New Beginnings, but not all chose to come. Those that chose to come arrived in June, July, & August. Since arriving, they all have adapted well to their new environment, have obtained a job, have an interest in getting their GED through our GED program, some are working on their driver’s license, and all are doing very well with Bible study.
Each month we try to do something fun with the girls to spend quality time with them and get to know them better. In June, we had a cookout on the back patio. We enjoyed tasty food and had a great time of fellowship.
On July 4th we celebrated one of the girls’ birthday. It was a fun day full of activities. First, we had a small birthday party for her that started with a meal, strawberry pie for dessert (her favorite), and the unwrapping of gifts. We then headed off to Columbus for a baseball game. This was a first for the girls who had never attended a baseball game before, and boy were they excited. After the game we stayed in the stadium and watched a great display of fireworks, but it didn’t stop there. On the drive back to New Beginnings, we were amazed at the number of fireworks that we could see from the highway. Everyone had a great time and the birthday girl said, “It was the best birthday I’ve ever had.”
In August, we took the girls to see the movie Top Gun Maverick. They enjoyed the movie so much that they asked us to take them a second time, for which we did not hesitate.
The girls that come to New Beginnings are often eager to get a driver’s license. In case you are not familiar with the process; we take them to the BMV so they can obtain their permit, we sign a car over to them to use for six months, we teach them how to drive, and we take them for their driving test. They then continue to use the car for the remainder of the six months at which time it will be signed over to another girl. We signed over the one car we have to one of the young ladies and began teaching her how to drive. We started her off in the parking lot, then out on some country roads, and then into town. She has made a lot of progress along the way and should be ready to take her driving test soon.
The problem we ran into this past summer was that we only had one car, but multiple girls wanted to get their driver’s license. We reached out to the supporters of the ministry asking folks to consider donating a car to New Beginnings. I am pleased to say that multiple people contacted us and at least two cars have been donated to the ministry for the girls to use. Thank you for your generosity! The cars should be arriving at New beginnings soon with girls eagerly waiting.
Buggies and Cars
In 2010, MAP started tracking buggy accidents in the US and listing them on our website…
www.mapministry.org/news-and-stories/amish-buggy-accidents
Metal cars moving along at 55mph and wooden buggies traveling at a speed of 5mph are no match. There really is no protection for those in buggies.
Every year, hundreds of cars plow into buggies. Every year, parents, teenagers, children, and horses die.
Some Amish communities, like the one in our own back yard, have multiple casualties year after year. And still this group rejects the idea of adding slow moving triangles or battery lights of any kind.
After a lot of pressure from former Amish and the state, the bishop allowed his members to add two 8” white PVC pipes on the outside rear wheel spokes and a rectangle piece of gray materiel on the back. This same community would not allow their members to add more than one kerosene lantern for the longest time. Why? Because the bishop did not want buggies in his community to appear like worldly cars and have two tail lights.
In June of this year, OH Governor Mike DeWine signed a bill requiring all horse-drawn vehicles to display a yellow flashing light while driving on public streets.
As of this month and many meetings, this community is still refusing to display any type of worldly lights on their buggy. In September, the local sheriff met with a group of about 200 from the community to let them know that they would begin to hand out fines if they got caught without lights.
Amish families are not handling the pressure very well. Some are preparing to move away to another state. Others are willing to go to jail if they have to.
Some men are already sitting in the local jail and serving prison sentences for molesting their children and grandchildren—proof that legalism is a friend of Satan and an enemy of God.
Jonathan's Testimony
Jonathan is from the community Joe Keim wrote about on the left—Buggy and Cars.
I grew up in an Amish household. I viewed God like He was friendly and always good. However, I was miserable because I didn’t feel that being Amish was the way that we were meant to live. I wanted to go somewhere that I could find out more about Jesus. The Amish taught about Jesus, but would mix some Old Testament in with some New Testament to make the rules.
About two years ago, I started to go to a different Amish church. We read out of a Pennsylvania Dutch Bible instead of a High German Bible. This Amish church preached more about salvation, and I could understand better.
I left the Amish in March of 2022. I was the 7th of 14 in my family to leave. I thought that I was saved when I left the Amish. I wanted to get baptized to have all of my sins forgiven. I was connecting baptism with salvation.
On the night of August 2, 2022, Joe Keim opened his Bible app and explained the gift of salvation. I now understand that baptism comes after salvation. I prayed and put my faith in Jesus that night.
