The Miting
by Dee Yoder
Description:
Leah is seventeen and Amish. Like many her age, she has lots of questions, but the temporary flight of freedom known as rumspringen is not the answer for her. She does not desire Englisher fashion, all-night parties, movies, or lots of boyfriends. Leah is seeking to understand her relationship with God, to deepen and broaden her faith by joining a Bible study hosted by an ex-Amish couple. She wants to know why Amish life is the only lifestyle her family accepts, why the church has so many rules, and . . . most disturbing, how godly men can allow her best friend to be abused in her own home.
In the pressure-cooker environment of church and family, Leah is not allowed to ask these questions. When finally she reaches the breaking point, she walks away from the Old Order Amish life that is all she has known. Though adapting amiably to the Englisher world, Leah is tormented with homesickness. Returning to the community, however, entails a journey of pain and sorrow Leah could never have imagined.
The miting—shunning—that will now be Leah’s unendurable oppression every day is beyond her most devoted attempts to believe or understand. All the bishop and her family ask is that she abandon her practice of reading the Bible. Is that a price she is willing to pay?
MY THOUGHTS ON THIS BOOK
This is an amazing story! Leah grew up Amish, but she had so many questions about the Amish faith, and the ordnung, and the strict rules the Bishop made their community abide by. Should she stay Amish, or should she see what the Englisch world was all about? Then Leah finds out about a couple who actually helps Amish leave the Amish faith, and she was very interested in a Bible Study they have in their home. She slips and goes to one of the meetings, and when her father finds out, he demands she stay away from this couple. And as the story unfolds, it is heartbreaking at what happens, and how her family reacts.
I have to say this is the first book I’ve ever read about a ministry for those leaving the Old Order Amish Faith! I really felt for Leah because she wanted to follow the Bible and what it says, but her father, the Bishop and the other pastors of the Old Amish community demanded that the devil was taking over her life and demanded she repent of reading her Bible and the life she was living.
I have read many Amish fiction, and it seems the men of the Old Order Amish are so rude and hateful. And to be people who lived so strickly, these men sure do show a lot of true anger. It is evident that there is an anger control problem. I know they act this way to try to scare or force their members to follow their orders. And these leaders and this father went even beyond this anger, something else I had never read about. Thankfully in this story Leah had an Amish boyfriend that was willing to stay by her side, no matter what. But in real life, what would happen to a person that didn’t have additional help? It give me chills, and not in a good way!
I really want to encourage you to pick up a copy of this book to read. This is Old Order Amish in reality. I appreciate Dee Yoder for writing this book, and I look forward to more from her in the future. I have listed several site in this review that I hope you visit, and I will add this one again so you can check out this ministry for yourself.
I received this book from Kregel Publishers and the author Dee Yoder to read and review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 55.
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
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Dee Yoder’s fiction is based on the lives of her former-Amish friends. She is actively involved in the Mission to Amish People ministry as a mentor, volunteer, and author. In addition to writing over eighty short stories, her coming-of-age novel, The Powerful Odor of Mendacity, won the FaithWriters Page Turner contest in 2011. Dee lives in central Ohio. |
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDeeYoder
And to find out more about The Miting, and the ministry for those leaving the Amish faith, here is some awesome information you will want to read!
http://store.kregel.com/client/guide/978-0-8254-4300-8.pdf
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