Mission to Amish People
P.O. Box 128, 575 St Rt 250 N
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Savannah, Ohio 44874
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(419) 962-1515
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WWW.MapMinistry.org
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JKeim@MapMinistry.org
September 2011
Dear Friend:
Ever since my early teens, my dad and I have
had a stressed relationship. Dad was a man of
dreams and many talents, which led him to
getting involved in every thing under the sun.
He was known as the community blacksmith,
machinist, veterinary, dentist and doctor. He
also owned a 200 acre farm, wrote several
books and developed a burn salve that is now
in most Amish households in the US and Can-
ada. His salve has even gotten the attention of
medical doctors in various hospitals across
America.
In my struggle to find acceptance from my
father, I found the Lord and received him as
my Savior—a love and acceptance I had sel-
dom experienced during my growing up years.
In 1987, Esther and I clung to our Savior and
left our families and Amish community be-
hind, knowing we would never return.
During the next 25 years, dad mailed us letter
after letter, reminding us that we would end up
in divorce, turn our backs on God and end up
in hell. We were told not to ever come home
for family reunions, weddings and funerals.
Five years ago, however, two of my Amish
sisters invited us and three of my brothers who
also left the Amish to attend a family reunion.
There are only two stipulations, they said:
“you have to dress in Amish clothes and park
your cars a mile away from the reunion.”
As the years went by, my heart ached for one
more visit with my parents before they passed
away. Several months ago, I asked my brother
William if he would go with me, if I drove to
PA where they had moved to a few years ago.
On August 5, we found ourselves heading east
toward Ulysses PA. While many people
prayed, we prepared ourselves for rejection.
By the time we found dad and mom’s place
way out in the middle of nowhere it was al-
ready dark. Both dad and mom were out doing
chores, and when we walked up to them, they
wanted to know what brought us there.
It would take up a small book to tell you all
that happened during the next 18 hours, but in
short, here is the email I send back home to
our wives, children and prayer partners:
To all: Where do I start? We just left dad and
mom's house. I cannot even begin to tell you
how awesome and powerful our visit was. We
got there at 9pm and talked until 3:30am.
Per their invitation, we got to sleep in their
house. This morning we got up and ate a big
mom style breakfast; of course at a separate
table. And then we continued talking until
3:30 this afternoon.
We tried to leave at least 6 times and always
got called back. The last time we tried leav-
ing, we were already in the car and dad came
out and asked us to come back to the house.
While there, we hugged each other, wept on
each other's shoulder until our shoulders were
completely wet. We apologized and forgave
each other for all the pain we caused each
other. At one point, dad and I wept on each
other’s shoulder so loudly that
people on the outside of the
house could hear us. We held on
to each other and made up for
25 years of separation. Even
now as I write, the tears are
running down my cheeks.
Thank you all for praying, and
please go see your parents eve-
ry chance you have. Love them!
Hug them! They love us.
During our time with them, I
asked if they would allow us to
pray for them. They said, “that's
fine”, however, mom said,
“maybe we should let dad do the praying.”
We all knelt and dad prayed without a prayer
book. He prayed and wept; all of us wept too.
It was one of the most powerful prayers we
had ever heard dad pray.
Brother William quoted John 3:3 and asked if
they are born again. To which dad and mom
replied, “we can say, we have a very strong
hope that we are.” As much as we wanted to
hear greater assurance, we did not hear it.
At the very end, dad said, “thank you for liv-
ing godly lives all these years; I give my bless-
ings to you and your families. Please tell your
wives and children that we love them.”
As we walked away for the last time and got in
our car to leave, William said, “after hearing
dad pray and describe the new birth, our trust
in their salvation rose from 20% to 90%.” We
could tell, they struggled with the idea that we
were so confident of our salvation.
What more could we have asked for?
Thank you Lord for all the work you did in
both our hearts during the past 25 years. We
messed up thousands of times but, today, we,
the Keim family, rejoice together in the Lord
Jesus Christ our blessed Redeemer and Sav-
ior. All praise and glory to our King! The
painful past has been forgiven; we look for-
ward to what lies ahead.
We are so glad that we were able make things
right with one another before one of us laid in
a coffin and it was forever too late.
There is so much more to write, but this in a
small nutshell explains
how our 18 hours went
with our precious and
beloved parents.
—Joe and William
Keim
The day after we got
back from visiting our
parents, I started writing
a letter to dad and mom,
explaining all the things
that God has done in
our lives. Literally, tens
of thousands of lives
have been touched
through the MAP ministry. No, it’s not being
done dad’s way. And no, it’s not being done
Joe’s way. It’s being done God’s way. He
alone gets the credit for all eternity.
After my letter to dad and mom reached
15,000 words, I got this crazy feeling inside:
this is not a letter; it’s a book. And some day,
if the Lord tarries, you might get to read about
the many things God has done and continues
to do through clay vessels such as us.
Note: If you Google
“John Keim B&W Oint-
ment”
, you will find that dad’s ointment infor-
mation is all over the internet. When we were
at his house, he informed us of two other natu-
ral remedies he is working on. One removes
radiation from the human body; the other
helps people overcome depression.
Dad and Mom