2002 May

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Well praise the Lord—April 1st marked the first year’s anniversary for the MAP Ministry. It has been a full and exciting year indeed.

March and April have been very busy. The Lord has definitely been working in the hearts of some Amish communities as well as opening up churches for us to go into and present the MAP Ministry.

Thank you for your continued faithfulness in supporting the MAP ministry through your prayers and financial gifts. To those of you who have given to the Bible project—Thank You!!! Each month we have special people giving postage stamps to help out with the Sonlight Club—Thank You!!! Our hearts were humbled beyond words when a stay at home mom of 6 came to us and shared a rather large gift to help out with postage.

Many of you have donated items to the Clothes Closet and Household Supply ministries. The ministry has received everything from a kitchen table, lawn mower, dishes, deodorants, microwave, step ladder, and bathroom supplies. We explain to the ones who benefit from these ministries that Christian men and women who want to make a difference in their spiritual lives have donated all the items. How we wish that you could see the impact you have made on the ones who receive these items.

It has been great to see the Adopt-a-Person ministry be a success. Every church we shared MAP with has taken a very strong interest in this ministry and several saved and unsaved individuals have been adopted into spiritual families.

Don’t forget that the former Amish reunion is coming up Saturday, July 27. Each year seems to get better and better as we see and hear the testimonies of lives that have been changed for all eternity. If you have any questions please call Tom & Ada Lendon at (330) 263-0782 or Joe & Esther Keim at (419) 962-1515.

Joe had the opportunity to present the MAP Ministry via radio in Clyde, Ohio last month located at Harvest Baptist Temple. Immediately after the interview we received a call from a listener who donated 500 New Testaments to the MAP Ministry. We received another call from a fellow who shared how he had been witnessing to an Amish preacher for quite some time; he was just thrilled to hear of a ministry that is reaching out to the Amish people.

Five young people as well as a whole family recently left the Amish and we have been helping them get their birth certificates, social security numbers, jobs, driver’s licenses and most of all, share spiritual truths. Two out of the five young people have accepted Jesus as their Savior. PTL!

As our family was preparing to make a week long trip through Missouri to present the MAP Ministry to several churches, we got word that there was an Amish preacher and some young folks in an Iowa community that were questioning the Amish religion. After seeking the Lord’s direction we felt that we needed to start our Missouri trip several days early and swing by this Iowa community to see how we could be of help. When we arrived at this preacher’s house (his name is Yost Miller) we soon found out that this man had a real hunger for the Lord and just needed some guidance. His dad, who is the Bishop of the same community, had taken his English Bible away and advised him to stick with the German translation. After several hours of Bible study we left several English New Testaments for he and his wife. We then traveled all over the community and passed out many more New Testaments to the Amish only to find out later that every one we passed out got burned.

While in Iowa we also got to visit with Clara and her children. Clara really needed encouragement and friendship. Her desire to grow in the Lord is very obvious. She is doing three different Bible studies, the Sonlight Club, ABC’s for Christian growth and attending a ladies Bible study from her church. She also had been witnessing to a young man named Jeremy. While we were at her apartment he stopped in to pick up some things. The Lord impressed on Joe’s heart to witness to him. Before the night was over this young man accepted Jesus as his savior. PTL! They all continue to need our prayers.

After spending some time with Clara we traveled on to Columbia, Missouri where we presented the ministry at Faith Baptist Church. After the Wednesday evening service a lady came up and offered to go with us and help find several former Amish in their area. We passed out Bibles, Bible studies and preaching tapes to a number of several former Amish.

Next we traveled on to Kirksville, Missouri where we were a part of a Missions Conference at South Side Baptist Church. It was truly a blessing to see a good number of former Amish attending there. It was also great to see how this church had accepted those that have left and have a desire to reach more.

On Saturday our family went visiting some of the Amish families in the area. We saw one couple named Willie and Sarah make decisions for Christ. Right before leaving to come back home we stopped in to see and encourage Willie and Sarah. We asked Willie what he was doing and he said, “ just reading the Bible” (that made us want to hug every person in the State of Missouri).

If you are on our email list you received an email asking for prayer over a phone call we received from Yost Miller asking us to come back out to Iowa because several of them had questions and they wanted to know what the Bible had to say about it. We didn’t waste any time but headed for Iowa a day later. We got there around 9pm in the evening and found that preacher Yost had invited others who were also searching and hungry for truth to the Bible study. Soon after we got there we opened our Bibles and began to search the scriptures on what the Bible has to say about salvation, communion, foot washing, baptism, parental obedience, head covering, ex-communication and what happens if a person breaks a promise that he made to the church. Yost and his sister Mary explained to us that they got saved by just reading the Bible. Sometime around 4:30 the next morning we all went our ways but not before giving each person a copy of God’s Word along with some Bible lessons and tapes with a cassette player. Please pray for Yost’s wife Edna who is not yet saved and is really struggling with everything.

What a surprise it was upon our return home from one of our trips to find a whole stack of thank you cards along with a gift waiting for us from those we have worked with over the past several years! We look forward to going out as a family with this generous gift.

Jonathan and Rachel are counting down the days as the school year is coming to a close. We barely made it back in time from our trip to Missouri for the testing week. But we are thankful it worked out and is out of the way.

We enjoyed a weekend marriage retreat with an area church, which was refreshing and much needed.

It has been a great joy to be able to be a part of the MAP Ministry through helping with the household supplies. I feel limited in how I can help since I use crutches to get around. But praise God that he saw fit to use me in this unique ministry. I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you for the items that you have donated. Through your generosity, I’ve been able to help eight different individuals with much needed items. It’s been a blessing to see the joy on their faces and listen to their words of appreciation, as they were able to help themselves to whatever they needed. Sometimes they hesitated taking things that they haven’t paid for but after encouraging them that the Lord had provided them and that they are welcome to it, they gladly accept it as a gift from God. Philippians 4:6,9 Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God ... my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. - Lucy Hackman

Amish leaving their traditional lifestyle many times choose to wear “English” type clothing as one of the first changes they make. It is among the many concerns they face upon entering the “English” world. We hope to eliminate this one small area by establishing the MAP Clothes Closet. It is located near Cardington, Ohio. Seasonal clothing of all sizes for men, women, and children as well as shoes, coats, curtains and blankets are available. If there is a need for an item not in stock, we will work to provide it. Caring individuals donate items that are in good condition, as the need arises. They are sorted according to size and gender into storage tubs. At the present time we have over 40 tubs that are full. Quite a number of men, women, and children have benefited from the MAP Clothes Closet. Our greatest desire in helping out with this ministry is to help influence each person that comes through for Jesus Christ. - Mary Lou Yoder