2006 March

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It is an honor for us to stop by today and visit with you again. How are you? Are you gearing up for springtime yet? Our family is doing great. Jonathan just finished his Drivers Ed this week which means that he will need a job now to support his transportation privileges. Last Monday we spent the day looking for a job for him and had a few good responses but no calls yet. Rachel has participated in several plays at a local art center in town and does quite well in playing out her parts. She also enjoys tutoring some of the 2nd and 3rd graders at a local elementary school once a week.

The ministry is doing well financially. Thank you for being so generous in your giving during the months when heating bills are also higher. Actually, our staff has been so blessed and honored by your faithfulness that we felt led to set an hour aside on Thursdays to pray for you and ask God to bless you. It has been a joy for us to do that. Over the next few months you may also receive a phone call from Levi Yoder, simply asking if there is anything that we can help you pray for. We hope that is OK with you.

In February about 50 people got together at our house to celebrate Harley Yoder’s GED accomplishment. It was a difficult road for Harley to travel but he hung in there all the way through and succeeded. Since he is a full time employee at the Ashland University he has the opportunity to go on to college for zilch.

Miriam Miller is another young girl that is working herself right up the ladder in getting her GED. Just this week she passed her pre-test. We are all so happy for them and the hard work they put into their education.

In February three of the young people in our area went on a 2 week mission’s trip to Kenya along with 15 others from Holmes & Wayne County. When they came back home Levi shared how his eyes were opened to the many needs that people have in Africa. Nicky had asked us to pray that God would help her overcome her shyness and use her in some way. When she came back she shared how she was able to do the devotions one morning in front of everybody. Ben came to prayer meeting several days after they came home and when he started sharing about his trip he almost burst into tears because he said God really got a hold of his heart. Ben and I meet every Tuesday morning for breakfast at McDonalds for an hour to talk about life and how to handle the stress and pressures that come a young person’s way. It can be such a struggle for a single guy to live a strong and sold out Christian life but Ben has done so well. We’re all so proud of these three.

Do you ever stop to marvel at the work that God is doing in your own personal life? So often when I pause and pay attention to what God has done or is doing through the MAP Ministry it brings tears to my eyes to think that He would use an imperfect person like me to accomplish His eternal purpose in our generation. Those have been the feelings that I have experienced more then ever this past year. It seems that God wants to send even more missionaries to the Amish by using MAP as their support base. Our board has formed a missions committee that is working on putting together the qualifications and application process that will be used to accept oncoming missionaries. The direction that we are being lead to go: (1) each missionary would have to raise their own support (2) MAP would handle their finances (3) they would be able to use MAP for their support and resources. Andrew, Jody and Jennie are one of the missionary family’s who are making their way through the first stages of coming onboard full time. They live in PA and will eventually minister out of their home area. Andy and I had shared numerous conversations over the phone and then in January the whole family came by for a weekend visit. Andrew transports milk for the Amish and has learned how to speak the Dutch dialect very well.

The Vallowe family from Elyria, OH has also wanted to become more involved in taking the gospel message to the Amish people. At this point we have gone through two interviews and some paper work with them and are praying for an open door to start a prayer meeting in the Amish community north of us. It has seemed to us that the Amish are less threatened by a prayer meeting then they are when you ask them to have a Bible study.

Diane is from PA and has helped the ministry out tremendously by drawing up more then a dozen world class logos and pieces of art work. She is the person that formatted and added clipart to the “My Amish Vows: Are they Binding” booklet and came up with the “Prayer For 7 Forever” idea. Diane has put countless hours and days into her work and has never charged the ministry a penny. Diane writes…I wish I could relate a fantastic explanation of what specifically led me to the MAP website. It must have been the leading of the Holy Spirit. I sent one email to Joe Keim at MAP Ministries, one thing led to another and here I am. In addition, I have to say that whatever involvement I do have with MAP is not on a grand scale by any means, but hopefully, the little I do contribute counts for something in the Lord’s eyes as a gift from me to Him.

My ultimate prayer, in addition to the salvation of specific people that I personally know, is for the bishops here in Pennsylvania to collectively have their own “Upper Room” experience, which I believe would usher in the most awesome revival here, and that the anointing of the Holy Spirit would overflow down from them into their churches.

Here is an example of a single struggle that a former Amish person might have and not even realize that it is necessarily a problem. "Boy, I sure am hungry", said Darren (who is English). Laughing, Alvin (former Amish) said, "huh, as fat as you are I thought you'd never get hungry. Later on that same day. Darren said,' My, it's getting chilly in here. I'm going to turn the heat up. Again Alvin came up with his impolite remark; as fat as you are I didn't think you'd get cold. Needless to say Darren was really hurt and Alvin on the other hand thought his remarks were very smart. One of the reasons why Alvin talks like this is because his English language is very limited. Words like overweight, plump, chubby, big, heavy and large are all explained in one word and that is “FAT”.

The typical Amish guy that moves into someone else’s home to get on his feet will also expect the home owner to do everything for him just like his Mom did. They might stay with you and just expect you to cook and wash their dishes, pick up their clothes, do their dirty laundry, pack their lunch etc. And never even think once of thanking you for it.

Leaving the Amish and joining the English culture can be very stressful and sometimes sincerely embarrassing. That is why Esther (my wife) and Miriam Miller have taken the last 3 months to write up a three page outline called “I JUST LEFT THE AMISH; NOW WHAT?” This outline will be handed to the ones that leave the Amish; it explains in very simple terms what they should expect now that they want to live in the English culture. It starts out with...WELCOME: I know how hard it is to get started in a complete new and different way of life; I went through it too. This life is much different than what you were used to. Amish have their own rules and they expect you to live by them. The English people also have their ways and you are expected to live by their manners and customs. After all what is the point in leaving, if you are going to keep your Amish rules and attitudes. Of course you can choose to keep your Amish rules and attitudes; we will still love you, pray for you, and help you in any way possible. Please understand, you will be accepted a lot better if you change and adjust to the new life style. We know from experience!

Here is a sample of Esther and Miriam’s 3-page brochure:
(1) Be well-mannered when going to the fridge and don’t drink out of the 2-litter pop bottle or eat the ice cream out of the box — (2) When making a call let the other person know who’s calling (Example: Hi, this is John) — (3) Make sure you introduce the person that is with you — (4) Say excuse me if someone is in your way instead of just shoving your way through — (5) Take a shower every day and wear deodorant — (6) Girls need to shave their armpits and legs especially when wearing a dress — (7) Don’t be fooled by a news paper ad; if it sounds to good to be true it probably is — (8) Don’t honk your horn; walk to the door and wait till she is ready — (9) Use your restaurant voice (keep it down, there are other people around) — (10) Early to bed early to rise, until you make enough money to do otherwise.