March 2020 MAP Update
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| 575 US Highway 250 | Greenwich, OH 44837 | Office: (419) 962-1515 |
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Wedding Bells and Voting Why I Volunteer at MAP
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| New Life - Baby Garwood |
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On Tuesday, February 18th, we were blessed with Grandbaby number three: Emma Joy Garwood. Emma weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz., and measured 21 inches long. She is such a cutie! She has an older sister, Lily (5), who just adores her. Big sister Lily got to choose her little sister’s middle name! Her two-year-old brother, Jack, has also accepted the role as big brother very well. He oohs and aahs over her, and, of course, wants his turn holding her. Her Great Grandma’s name was Emma (Esther’s mom). It sure would be nice if she was still on this side of eternity to celebrate with us. 
Grandchildren bring so much joy and purpose to our lives. David and Rachel do a great job taking them to church and teaching them about God. As grandparents, we love the privilege and feel the responsibility to come along side of them to help support where we can. We praise God for a safe delivery and healthy baby! He has certainly blessed our family! Joe and Esther Keim |
What an honor and a privilege it has been to be called Grampy and Grammy!| Why I Volunteer at MAP |
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I will never forget the day that as a young girl of 17, I was visiting a nearby Amish farm with my father. I don’t recall what took us there that day; perhaps my father was using his truck to haul things for the Amish family. As my father took care of business, I was engaged in conversation with a young Amish girl who was around my age. She was noticeably stressed and emotionally exhausted. Her mother had recently passed away as a result of being electrocuted while touching an aluminum ladder that she had been using to pick cherries. As the oldest daughter at home, she was overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for the household and her younger siblings. When I left that day, I was crushed by her need and the weight of the responsibility that she carried. It broke my heart that she was in desperate need of God instead of the trappings of her religion. That day, I became burdened for the souls of the Amish and began to pray that they would know God. I struggled with this weight at different times during my life and always felt that God was calling me to work with the Amish in some way. After retirement from my career in nursing, I learned of Mission to Amish People. I read Joe Keim’s book, My People, the Amish, and began to volunteer at MAP doing data entry for the Bible Clubs. I never forgot that overwhelmed Amish girl, and was now glad that I was, in some way, reaching out to the Amish people with the gospel. Every two weeks, volunteers at MAP mail from 4,000 to 5,000 Bible lessons to people who range in age from four years old to adult. Each lesson includes an age appropriate story, a parallel Bible connection, and a memory verse. When the student finishes their lesson, they complete a test and mail it back to MAP. Six to ten volunteers diligently grade these tests and write a personal note to each of the students on their test page! I, along with four others, volunteer in data entry. Each completed Bible lesson that comes back to MAP needs to be logged into the computer so that the next sequential lesson can be mailed to the student along with their test results. There are typically around ten lessons in each course that MAP offers. When a student finishes a course, the data entry team will make sure that they receive a certificate of completion along with the first lesson in the next Bible course! At this point, the process begins again with the army of volunteers who will fold the new outgoing lessons and stuff them into envelopes to be mailed out on a bi-weekly basis. On December 10, 2019, at the MAP office, some of the volunteers were talking about electrocution. As the discussion progressed, one of the volunteers related a story about a local Amish woman who had been electrocuted years ago and asked if I knew the grandkids. I realized that this was part of my story; the very story that gave me a burden for the Amish people! It turns out that the overwhelmed Amish girl that I had been talking to on that day long ago, was Joe Keim’s aunt! It was her mother – Joe’s grandmother – who had been electrocuted. Joe was either very young, or not yet born when these events took place. As I was driving home from MAP that day, it dawned on me – Joe Keim and the MAP ministry is the answer to that prayer that I began to pray 50 years ago! Many volunteers are needed at MAP to keep things running smoothly, especially in the data entry department. If you live in the area, won’t you consider joining our team of volunteers? —Rhoda Brubaker |
My name is Rhoda Brubaker, and I grew up as an Old Order Mennonite. I received my GED and went to nurses training in 1970. During that time, I sought out God's truth verses the cultural clutter that Old Order Mennonites teach as they interpret the King James Version of the Bible.
