PO Box 128
575 St. Rt. 250 N
Savannah, Ohio 44874
Last month we introduced you to
Mary. She came from Kentucky
and is now staying with Joe and
Esther Keim. Mary accepted Jesus
as her personal Savior and is plan-
ning to follow the Lord in baptsm
shortly. This month Mary wanted
to share with you some of her tes-
tmony as to how God is work-
ing in her heart.
Mary Says: I was born into the
Amish and lived most of my life
in Michigan. When I was 15 my
father passed away on Decem-
ber 22, 1997. Then on May 20,
2005 my brother passed away
in a farm accident. I always
thought the Amish church wor-
ried more about the rules than
people. The night of my brother’s
funeral proved that to me. The
Bishops came and ex-
communicated me, that night,
because I knew my brother had a
stereo and we had gone to visit my
ex-Amish sister. The day afer that,
they announced it in church. I was
eventually allowed back in but was
constantly at odds with the leader-
ship over various rules.
In February of 2006 I lef the Amish
Church. I was ex-communicated
and separated from my family. I
had a friend who helped me leave
and I was taken in by people who
helped those in need. For almost
four years things went well. I was
working steady and taking care of
myself. My feelings toward God
were that He was there, but other
than that, if people lef me alone
about the subject, I would leave
them alone. I would go to church
with friends, but it had no real
meaning to me.
In March of 2009 I met a guy who
seemed to be my friend. Unfortu-
nately, he led me down the wrong
path. I let my feelings cloud my
judgment and got involved in a
sinful lifestyle. Things fnally got so
bad that I just wanted to die. God,
however, did not permit this to
happen. I was in bad shape emo-
tonally, physically and spiritually. I
had no hope. I was blessed with a
good Christan friend, Barbara. She
would always listen to me as I
poured out my heart. She was in
Ohio and I was in Kentucky but she
stll cared and tried to help.
One day she told me about Joe
Keim who is part of Missions to
Amish People. Joe called and we
talked. He then had Robert call
me. I really was not sure, since he
was a complete stranger. We
started talking and eventually be-
gan communicatng on a regular
basis. I liked the fact that he was
positve. We talked a lot about
God and who He was. I wanted
God to take away all my prob-
lems. Robert explained that I
needed a personal relatonship
with Him. I realized that I was
missing Jesus. At the tme I was
stll in Kentucky living with
friends and going to church
with them. It was then I real-
ized that I needed Christ as my
personal Savior. One day in
church I went forward and asked
Christ into my heart! What a
change! I had been sufering from
depression for so long. Now that
Christ is my Savior I know God
cares and will be with me always. I
stll have problems but I do not
have to go through life alone.
I would ask you to pray for me as I
grow in Christ. Robert and I are
having regular Bible studies and
Pastor Bouquet has been a real
encouragement. I am spending a
lot of tme helping in the ofce at
MAP. Please pray that I would be
able to fnd a job. I have been
looking and praying that God
would lead me to the one He has
for me.
I Wanted To Die; I Had No Hope!
—By Robert McCallum and Mary Troyer
Mary | Robert | Beth
It is obvious that MAP is at
a point of needing their
own counselor. In the past
year, we dealt with numer-
ous situatons that were
desperate and needed im-
mediate atenton. And, up
untl this point, we have
always leaned on other
ministries to help us out,
however, many of the
counseling ministries that
work with a plain people
background, are booked
full for 1 to 3 years and live
in other states.
Afer spending the past two
years researching various
counseling programs, we
have come to the conclu-
sion that “
Caring for the
Heart Ministries, by John
Regier
” is exactly what we
are looking for.
In order for us to become a
certfed counseling minis-
try with Regier’s program,
we would need a minimum
of $3,500 to get started.
If the Lord would lay this
ministry on your heart and
lead you to partcipate in
fnancing it, please let me
know. I would be more
than happy to give you all
the details.
—By Joe Keim
The Need For
A Full Time Counselor