April 2023 MAP Update

In This Issue

Providence                                                                From the Girods  

Alan and Katie Update

Read this letter written to MAP by a former Amish woman, and marvel with us at how God brings people together to accomplish His purpose!

Many years ago, when I first read The Secret of the Strength, the Lord laid it on my heart to take on the responsibility of getting a copy of the book to each Amish home in my community. I searched for ways and means to do it, including calculating what it would cost to purchase copies and mail them individually. I also explored the possibility of printing and mailing a few chapters at a time from a free online pdf file.

All of my ideas were way more than I could afford in costs, time, and labor, so I settled with putting a small excerpt of The Secret of the Strength in a local Amish publication with instructions on where the book could be purchased. However, I never felt completely released from the mandate that I felt I had been given. I eventually forgot about it, for the most part, only remembering it from time to time with a regret that felt like I had failed God. Although this was a several years ago, I remember at one point finally praying, "Lord, if You want me to do this, You will have to make a way."

When I saw the first few chapters of The Secret of the Strength as the lead article in The Amish Voice, March 2023, I immediately felt, "This could be how God is answering my prayer!" When I called Joe Keim, I was amazed that he, too, has a desire to make The Secret of the Strength available to the Amish at large. It was confirmation to me.

I am not sure what is in the mind of God concerning this, or why the Lord would choose this particular book - since I have read many other books that I am sure would be equally beneficial. But that is not my concern, is it? My concern is to be obedient to what I sense the Lord is asking me to do. So, I am committed, Lord willing, to pay for the printing and mailing of The Amish Voice that have portions of The Secret of the Strength included, for the Amish addresses in the zip codes in this community. I understand this may take up to 2 years, but I really feel I need to do this. 

Thank you for being obedient to the leading of the Lord in printing this book in a series of The Amish Voice which will enable me to be obedient to the Lord's request of me as well! God is faithful!

Note: The Amish Voice is one of our greatest tools in reaching Amish people with the gospel. The publication goes out to 13,000 households, every other month.  Today, I invite you to partner with us in sponsoring 25, 50, 100, 250, or 500 households. We will write the articles, do the folding, tabbing and mailing. All you need to do is cover the cost of printing and postage.

Details: Sponsor the Amish Voice

Step Out of the Boat Conference

If you have time, please go to the following website and listen to all of the amazing stories that were shared at this year’s conference. In the midst of it all, the Lord saved two souls. One person in particular, came walking up to me after the session was over, with tears running down her face, she asked, "can you tell me how I can be saved?" This is something that I was praying for, because I was almost sure we would have lost people attend. 

Details: 25 testimonies and Sermons of the 2023 Conference

Young Couples

Esther and I are so grateful for the couples who invited us into their lives and have asked us to take them through premarital counseling and help them with their weddings this summer. We are also grateful for the young couple who invited us to come along side and fight for their marriage. We were brought up to believe that marriages are for life. We still believe that with all our heart.          

— Joe Keim

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We traveled to KY to celebrate Thanksgiving with my cousin Susie, and more of our family. I would like to ask you to pray for her. She is single, desires to be married, and has had relationships that just have not lasted. This is how it was for me before I left the Amish. I was single and desired to be married—so I know the emotions that she is experiencing,

We currently have a young man living with us in our apartment. I was able to share the gospel with him a couple of times, but as of now, it seems he has no interest. Please pray for doors to open.

Another young man who had been adopted into a Mennonite family, had left and came through our area for a few weeks. He decided to make some money at a rodeo by trying to get a ribbon off of  a bull’s horn. He was gorged, thrown into the air, and ended up in the hospital with a broken collar bone and a few ribs. He had no family come to see him since the relationship had been severed, so we went and visited him. He has since moved on.

Prayer requests:

Please pray for Polly as she is pregnant with our 9^th child, due on August 1^st.

We are planning a trip to Canada to visit a family who has two little boys with I-cell disease (the same condition that our girls had). April 18^th will be one year since Loretta went to heaven. Some days are hard. I can still just see her playing in her toy house that I made for her. I remember what it feels like to have her in my presence. Pray for our family as we continue to mourn her loss. She is very much missed by all of us. 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”  (1 Peter 1:3-5).

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It has been a while since we have given you an update on Alan and Katie (not their real names). So many of you prayed and are still praying that God would reconcile their marriage. Don’t stop. 

Alan and Katie have 8 children, and until mid 2022, the whole family was still Amish. In time, the church pressured Alan into selling his furniture-making business to the community so employees could continue to work after they excommunicated him. 

If you recall, Alan got saved, started attending a non-Amish Bible study, and bought a vehicle while he was still Amish. When the church came down on him for going against the system, Alan stood his ground. Next, family members and the church got between husband and wife and began to support Katie who chose to elevate her vow to the church over the vow that she had made to her husband.

Last fall, Alan moved into a trailer at a campground. The church, eager to support Katie, came around her and the children.

The following letter was written by Alan’s bishop and handed to him right after the business was transferred out of his name. What is so troublesome, is that church leaders justify turning a member over to Satan and splitting up a marriage and family all because of someone claiming assurance of salvation. In the process, they use God’s Word such as in the example at the right. 

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