Eli Miller

August 16, 2009

I grew up in Wayne County between Kidron and Apple Creek on a farm we farmed with horses and milked cows. Now I have to tell you, I did not like farming. I would try to get out of doing work all the time, and that caused a lot of problems between me and my Dad; we never did get along.

When I was 14 years old, my family decided to move to Danville Ohio. When I was 17, years old I was going through a very rebellious stage in my life; I was drinking a lot, and always had questions about all those church rules we had to follow. It just didn't make sense, so I decided, I am done with all these rules and I left the Amish. The drinking continued on the weekends and I lead a lifestyle of not caring if what I did was right or wrong. I did all those things I thought would make me happy, even went on a lot of vacations.

I traveled to at least 25 states, which had always been my dream. But after I did all that, I still felt this emptiness and I started searching. I did not know what I was searching for, but one day I was reading a book about how to have a fulfilled life and this book said there are four things you need in life, and one of them was, you had to be right with God. So I thought, well, I will go to church and try to get that taken care of. I went to a few different churches and I found one that kept my interest, so I kept going back to church and the pastor would talk about salvation and that everyone needs the Savior, and that I could have eternal life. One Sunday after service, I was talking to the pastor and he asked me if I would like to set up a meeting with him to answer some of my questions. I said, sure! We met at the church on May 3rd 2004. One of my questions was, how do you get saved, and he shared the plan of salvation with me. That day, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I can not even begin to describe the freedom I felt----WOW! This time I really was Free.

How I found MAP Ministry: The question I have, how did they find me? I do not know to this day. God must have had a hand in it. I started getting there news letter and I never signed up for it. The news letter was coming to me long before I accepted Christ. I even moved a few times and somehow it followed me. It was during the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009, not sure of the exact dates, but I was reading MAP newsletter, and they were looking for mentors and I had been praying that God would lead me to my calling in life; I wanted to give back by helping people that didn't know Christ, so I called Joe Keim. We set up a meeting with him at the Mt Vernon Bob Evans. That is when I became a mentor for MAP. I have a Bible study at my house almost every Saturday morning from 8 to 9 am. Every Friday night, I call about five to ten ex-Amish guys to invite them to come. We usually have 1 to 3 people show up. I really have a passion to show Amish and ex-Amish the truth about the Bible. I am now 29 years old.

Eli Miller
Bargain Homes,LLC
PH: 740-427-2800
Email: ourbargainhomes@yahoo.com

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