Friends and fellowship among the Amish

6/12-6/15 After surviving a cross country trip and getting the older kids off to
camp, Micah and I headed to Ohio Amish Country. We stayed in a little
town called Mt. Eaton. You know, before we left on our trip, I had
explained to the kids that we would see parts of the country where
people grew up reading the Bible more and worshiping in church. Well,
in New Mexico, we found casinos everywhere...and a lot of unhappy
people. In Oklahoma, we found friendly people, a lot of old churches, but
only old people attending. When we crossed in to Missouri
(remember--part of the "Bible Belt"?), we were greeted at every exit on
the interstate with giant billboards for "Adult Superstores". Lots of
very nice people in MO, but lots of things that made your heart ache. Of course we realize, you find sin everywhere--even in church! However, we had expected something
different.
That something different we actually found in Ohio. The RV Park we stayed at had a church right on the premises. It was a very small church, but quite active. The pastor preached a great sermon on Sunday and the people were wonderful. I met a nice Mennonite woman, Ruth Hershberger and we had quite a chat.
Micah and I had a great day of rest, because everything (and I mean everything) shuts down on Sunday. There were no stores, no restaurants, not even a gas station
open on Sunday. There are a lot of non-Amish that live in this area,
yet everyone honored--at least in business--the Lord's day.

On Saturday, Micah and I shopped at Lehman's. Some of you might have heard of them from their catalog/internest sales. What a fun store! It was like a whole mall in one store. It had everything you might need for cooking, baking, canning, working in the garden, feeding the animals. They carry quite a bit of non-electric
home supplies needed in an area where many people don't use electricity.
We also shopped for quilts and Amish maple baskets. But mostly, we just
toured the countryside.
What beautiful country! Everything is so green! As a Californian, in the middle of summer, I appreciate that. The farms stretch for acres and acres. The Amish farms have large, neat houses all painted in white. There are large fields and no electric or gas machinery equipemnt to work these farms. You see large (usually four)sets of matched work horses all pulling wagons or threshers or giant hay wagons. These farms look like they would have in ourgrandparent's or great-grandparent's time. What's more, the Amish start their children working very young. I saw boys as young as eight driving the team, so the older boys and father could throw the hay up and over the wooden bin into a 15 ft high pile on the wagon. These people work very hard, and yet they are quiet and friendly and seem very happy.
I got to meet Henry Hershberger(no relation to Ruth above -or maybe distant)He ran a farm and he and his wife made baskets on the side. He invited me to their home to buy
baskets any day, but Sunday. When I showed up Monday, I met his wife, Sarah and their nine children. (Sarah is only 32 and their oldest child is nine)
Emmanual Miller gave us an Amish buggy ride that Micah will remember for the rest of his life. Emmanual surprised me by explaining that he and his wife grew up in Berlin Ohio and live there now for seven months of the year, and then during the hardest part of winter, go down to Florida, where they "have a place". I didn't hink to ask how they travel to Florida.
I made a new friend at a furniture store, Ada Yoder. It's amazing to me how you
can walk in a store and just take care of your business, or you can
pray and look for the Lord's leading and walk out with a new friend.
She and her co-workers spoke Pennsylvania Dutch while they were
working together. What a gentle, soft spoken language. Ada explained
that Amish children grow up speaking this specific dialect of German
and then learn English before attending school. No Amish attend any
public schools, but attend their own community schools.
One of my favorite people I got to meet was Alma (yes, Hershberger). I met her in an Amish house Micah and I toured. She was cooking in the kitchen and had
cookbooks to sell. We toured the house quickly and then went back to
the kitchen to chat a bit with her. She cooks all day long in that
kitchen canning, baking and making candy--then goes home and quilts or paints. She contracted polio as a child and has had a very difficult life and yet lives joyfully and thankfully, working hard everyday. I hope I never complain again about my feet hurting after cooking in the kitchen for long periods of time.
I could go on for ever about our three days in Mt Eaton, Kidron and Berlin, Ohio. It was the first time on this trip that I really relaxed. I will post pictures below. Don't look for a lot of people in them. Most Amish folks don't take
kindly to having their picture taken. I was able to snap a few while driving, at a distance and then cropped to get closer. Enjoy.

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