Jonas Swartzentruber

May 11, 2007

I left the Amish on Sept. 11, 2005 because I never liked the man-made rules. Sometimes (I told myself) I was born with English blood.

I knew of Jesus when I was Amish but I never really learned about him until four months after I left the Amish. Then in June of 2005 a ladder slid out from underneath me. I fell fifteen feet and hit my forehead on the ladder. The impact was so great that it broke my forehead and I had to go to the hospital.

The first night that I was in the hospital my Pastor, David Greenich from Crestline came to see me at 11:30 pm and asked me if I was ready to get saved, I said sure and I did. Three weeks later I got baptized and my life really changed and I started praying a lot for myself and other people.

My parents never got me a birth certificate when I was born so I tried to get one made through Ashland Court. I worked at it for six months and got nowhere. I finally started asking God for help. It was then that I got a good Christian friend to help me and with all God's good help, it only took three and a half months more to get my birth certificate, social security card, State ID and drivers license. Four good Steps! What a grateful God we have. So let's all enjoy our day and God will forgive us if we ask him from our hearts.

Recently I started having a bad day at work while building barns. Everything went wrong. I started acting mad; soon I went around the corner. But in my head I knew I needed to tell God that I'm sorry and to ask for forgiveness. It was then that tears started rolling from my eyes and a chill went through my body. Back to work I went with a smile and had a good day. Thank God!

-Jonas M Swartzentruber

^{This testimony has been published with permission from the owner.}