2006 November

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Fall is here and that means two things: 1) No more mowing 2) Start thinking abut snow shovels. On September 20th, my wife Esther made it to the top of the hill in her life. Our Rachel did a grand job of organizing a Friday evening surprise party that brought about 50 friends in from near and far. Jonathan is home schooling again this year. He is also working 25 hrs a week at Ponderosa and has been doing exceptionally well in his computer business. The picture shows him putting his first computer together. In October he had the privilege of speaking to two different church groups made up of young people. Rachel on the other hand, completed a 4-yr quilting project with some help from mom. She turned 15 years old this month and is going to a Christian school this year. She is a people person all the way and mom says she gets it from her dad.

I have not kept track, but over the past few months, numerous Christians have come to us and said, I want you to know—I pray for you and the MAP ministry every single day. And each time I hear those words, my heart just melts with unspeakable joy, because I know immediately, here is another person that has the calling of God on him/her to stand in the gap and pray on our behalf. Finances were slim during August and September but a couple of special gifts got us back in the ball park. As hard as it is to accept, I have come to believe that slim times are ordained by God because it keeps us on our toes all the time. Thank you for sticking with us and giving so faithfully and generously. God bless you!

Do you remember reading in our Sept/Oct Update of the 81 year old man who got saved? It has been exciting to watch this man grow, one baby step at a time as our friend Levi disciples him in the Word about every week. Shortly after our update went out, we received a very special testimony from the Wengerd's, our good friends from the south.

Ida writes…After reading of 81 year old Daniel who put his faith alone in Jesus Christ, it really gave me a high. We know how he feels and what he is going through—we were 53 and 55 years old. Four years ago when we left a strict Amish church of man made rules it was an awful awakening to find out the truth in the Bible. My Mother was hurt when we left the Amish and said I couldn’t come home unless I wear Amish clothes. This is 80% of the Amish cult religion ways! So, before I got rid of my last Amish clothes I went to see her in my Amish clothes, but being that we were from the Amish church, they said, “don’t you talk about the Bible”—We did! I told her that her clothes or mine will not get us to Heaven. God said to dress modest. It’s what’s in our heart for Jesus Christ.

Even after writing letter after letter, I still couldn’t go home without wearing Amish clothes. My brothers and sisters are so scared of man made rules. After three years of not seeing mom, she died two weeks ago—I had to find out through a friend that she died. Then I got a call saying that if I come without my Amish clothes on, I would be turned away. I was very close to my dear Mom and loved her dearly. It was heart breaking but I stayed at home. I did not think of making a scene as being a Christian. I cried, prayed, and sang songs to Jesus for what he did on the cross for us. I decided, I can go on. I had to think, Jesus would say, forgive them and I did with His help. If we carry the love for Jesus and His people, He will see us through anything. Even if we have to leave our Mother and Father to follow Jesus, we have to do it. Jesus has to be first in our lives. We were to Mom’s grave yard the day after she was buried. We said our prayers. Mama, I love you.

Response from Joe: Ida, we are very moved by your testimony; we dream of a day when this will not have to be so any more. My three brothers and I went through a very similar experience 2 years ago when our grandma died. We received word on the first day of her passing that we are not allowed under any circumstances to show up for the viewing or funeral. Several months later, Dad and Mom moved to another state and once again we had to deal with the fact that they never let us know. Jesus said in Mat 10, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Here are some of the young people that have left their families and culture behind in recent weeks. MAP is usually their first stop because they have no money and are in need of housing, English clothes, birth cert, SS cards, etc. Each one has his/her own story of why they left but it usually boils down to two things—they don’t want to live the Amish ways anymore; they want to experience freedom from all the church rules and strict regulations.

Five weeks ago, Harley (4th from the left) came to our door on a Sunday afternoon. He had just arrived from KY about 2 hours earlier and this is what he told us. My hired driver told me he would bring me to OH for $240 so I told him to take me because someone would have the money for him when we got there. Sure enough, Eli (5th from left) forked over the $240 and the driver went home happy. I asked Harley how much he had in his own pocket and he said, “six bucks”! As of yesterday he has been out 5 weeks—he was over to our house to practice the cones for his upcoming driving lesson on Monday.

On the other hand, we had been helping Ervin (3rd from left) with different needs over the space of several weeks. One Tue night I asked our prayer/support group to pray because God was very clearly working in Ervin’s heart. The following day we went after his Birth Cert, State ID and SS card. When that was all over with we pulled into Bob Evans and spent several more hours going over God’s simple plan of salvation and in the end Ervin understood and trusted the Lord as his Savior. By Sunday night I received a phone call from Ervin to see if we could do our first Bible study—that of coarse is every soul winners dream come true. Now, I would like to invite you to partner up with us in prayer for each one of these young people because as we know, true freedom only comes when we are released from our heavy burden called sin which was placed on Jesus Christ, 2,000 years ago. Their names from left to right are, Ruben, Mattie, Ervin, Harley, Eli, Sam & Alma.

I had been needing a tooth brush for several weeks and one day I came close enough to Wal-Mart that I dashed in and right back out (well not really—God had other plans). On my way through the check out line I ran into Lizzie (with her two boys) who I barely recognized from 17 years before when Esther and I had led her to the Lord, soon after she had left the Amish. After an hour of conversation with Lizzie at Wal-Mart, I invited her to come to our house because I soon realized that we were in for something that was almost to big for us to handle.

It would not be respectful for me to go into all the details of what Lizzie has been through in the last 12 months but I can say this, after four weeks of daily counseling, establishing goals, sleepless nights, tears, frustration and dealing with human services and case workers, we have finally gotten her and the boys out of the homeless shelter and into an apartment of her own. It had been close to 12 years since I “baby sat” or changed diapers, but I made up for lost time in just 4 weeks. Actually, I changed enough diapers to last me for a life time. I guess when you are called to minister, you do whatever it takes to build the Kingdom of God.

This December will mark 7 years since I first met with my pastor and asked him what a man was supposed to feel like when God calls him into ministry. The journey has not always been pleasant or easy to travel but when you know you are in God’s will, there is no greater joy. Since our updates go out to thousands of people, it is hard to know exactly what should or should not be said at times. At this time we would like to remind all of our readers that the MAP Ministry—(1) does not exist to change people from living the Amish lifestyle, and (2) does not exist to tear families apart. But (3) we do exist for this purpose—it is our desire to teach Amish people that salvation is a gift that cannot be earned.

Recently a former Amish man from Missouri (who is going back to the Amish after 20 years) dealt the MAP Ministry a severe blow—more specifically the SonLight Club. We have no idea how everything will end up but we know this, God knows that our hearts and motives are only sincere and passionate about making sure every Amish man, woman and child gets the opportunity to hear and accept the eternal plan of salvation, laid out by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
It was interesting to see how the power of God worked in the life of an Old Order minister from this same Missouri area two weeks ago. This minister had called to give us a piece of his mind. For the first 15 minutes of our phone conversation I just listened while he got everything off his chest. When he was all done, we ask him some basic questions—this always works best because people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. An hour and a half later this same man apologized for his anger and even agreed that the Amish are too caught up in their traditions and man made rules. Let’s pray for this minister as well as the former Amish man who is going back to the Amish. Special note: God worked it out for me to physically pray over an Old Order Amish preacher in Southern OH a couple weeks ago. It was glorious because this same preacher had dodged me on an earlier trip!

In our next update we would like to focus mostly on the Bible studies that are happening in our groups. We have been working on doing a year end special for several weeks and I think it will be a real blessing to you. Until then, we would like to wish you a great time with your family and friends during the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year season.