I want to introduce you to Tyler and Justice Dick. They recently moved in at New Beginnings Homestead and have begun serving a two-month internship.

The couple finished two years at Word of Life Bible Institute in Schroon Lake, NY and are now ready to put their education and spiritual gifts into action.

While Tyler will serve most of his time at our home church, Justice will serve her time with the MAP ministry. If the two-month internship works out for the Dicks and us, we will make a two-year commitment to each other.

We are thankful and value all the prayers you have offered on our behalf and would greatly appreciate your continued prayer as we move forward.

In the meantime, don’t hesitate to contact us if you know of any single women who have left the Amish and need a place to live and get started in life. We have extra room. —Joe Keim

I’m Larry Lepard, a retired middle school English and reading teacher. I retired from my third career in 2020 at age 73 when automation and the covid pandemic ended my job. I am now a volunteer lesson-grader at MAP. In church, I have been a longtime Sunday school teacher, superintendent, Awana commander, and elder. I wanted to serve the Lord in retirement, so I was looking for a Christian ministry where I could volunteer a few days a week.

When I read Joe Keim’s book on Kindle, I realized that grading children’s Bible studies would be the perfect volunteer job for me. As a teacher, I had always enjoyed grading papers and writing positive and encouraging comments, which turns out to be a “job requirement” at MAP.

An enjoyable part of the job is responding to children’s letters, notes, comments and questions, and thanking them for the pictures they draw and cards they make for us. The children consider us friends and share with us about their families, school, farm life, and church activities. They occasionally ask us challenging Bible questions.

Some lessons ask the student when and how they accepted Christ as their Savior. Every day we receive responses that our lessons led someone to accept Christ, or that the lessons have been instrumental in spiritual growth. Some children answer the question about accepting Christ with replies such as, “When I was born,” “I come from a Christian family,” or “I’m not old enough to be baptized and join the church.” Those who do not fully understand salvation will find God’s plan of salvation recurring throughout their lessons and offering several more opportunities to accept Christ as they age.

It is gratifying to see that many teens continue to faithfully continue the Bible lessons after they have graduated from school in the eighth grade. Many of the teens share solid salvation testimonies. We have a few special-needs adult students who love to read the children’s stories and do the children’s lessons.

I drive a half hour each way to volunteer. It is worth the time and gas for us retirees to have the opportunity to be “home missionaries” to thousands of students whom we will never meet this side of heaven and to have a strong sense of purpose and fulfillment in our retirement years.

If you live within driving distance, I strongly encourage you to consider volunteering at MAP for the wide variety of tasks around the office at whatever frequency suits you best. —Larry Lepard