Amish Latter-day Saints: Blending Two Worlds into One

[Music] the Amish are hard-working humble people who live apart from the world to outsiders they are curious grueling people have a hard time understanding the Amish and how they live an anomaly whose mysteries and lifestyle seem foreign in a modern world though to the Amish anyone who is not part of their Amish culture their church their clothing their habits their structure is English it's a lifestyle that takes a lot of work because you don't have a lot of tools there's no electricity there's no TV there's no radios there's no cell phones or any phones at all that's a life that's very much sheltered from the world knowing an Amish person helps the misconceptions fade away they are warm and gaging and cheerful they're kind to their neighbors they serve their neighbors they seek to be separated from the world although living in the world they certainly love their family seven boys and three girls now they're all in the same congregation church as I am and they're all Amish they live strict standards usually around twenty twenty-one years of age they have to make a decision you're gonna join church you're gonna go English are fiercely self-reliant we don't take any benefits or handouts from the government and believe in helping one another in times of trouble we had a neighbor that the barn burned down a big barn and the next day everybody come in and they just cleaned everything up and two weeks after his fire he had a barn full of hay and that's that's a wonderful thing we have and if you ask them most can't imagine any other lifestyle I don't know how people do it without the support of the church in the community [Music] so when three Amish families chose to leave the church for another religion it sent shockwaves through their community she passed my order to end of snake oil we were not looking to leave the Amish church at all in no way we were probably some of the last people they ever expected to leave their church we were to me and Raymond Levi all all three of us families were just doing the trying to do what went right he had this book he said it it says there it's another testament of Jesus Christ but I just felt so peaceful so excited there was just joy and happiness there this is their journey of faith they sought to follow truth no matter where it would take them devotion all my life growing up I believed that God is good and anything from him is good sacrifice everything that we have faith isn't very well worth the sacrifice and discovery we had prayed as a couple that her father in heaven would show us the way to get back to him with our family we had no clue how that prayer was going to be answered a blending of two worlds this is made out of Florida oak and he made like this one here I'm Raymond Weaver I grew up in the Amish community I guess I was a little different than most Amish probably I just look it up here I was always looking to improve my business Raymond at the time had owned a a retail furniture store in Danville near his home he wanted to grow his business when he heard of the book seven Habits of Highly Effective People and borrowed it from his local library that was a maze of the principles that had taught we knew that we wanted to apply those principles into our family a while later Raymond was discussing ideas from the seven Habits book with a customer and he'd befriended a member of the church and they began to have a friendship in a relationship and through that friendship of members shared a copy of the Book of Mormon with Raymond I was a little scared at this point about what kind of book this is because I I believed in the New Testament I wasn't sure what another testament of Jesus Christ would mean to me but he was intrigued and read the book in three weeks Raymond described that he he had no desire to to eat to eat or to drink or to sleep but to continue to read I knew that this was from the Lord I knew that the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints was his church I knew that if I move forward to change this church everything would blow up including maybe even losing my own family [Music] so after many restless nights worrying Raymond went outside in the moonlight and found a quiet place to pray I felt weak my mouth was dry every joint in my body hurt my mind was felt disturbed almost like there was two of me fighting with each other just a very harrowed up experience this lasted for three days you know I was to the point where I thought if I if it didn't change I was going to die I didn't know if I could live through this as I pondered I had another thought that nothing Bad's gonna come from Heavenly Father and nothing good is going to come from Satan so why not just pray to Heavenly Father that he would let his will be done whatever it is he wanted direction on what to do next I often wondered why me why did I have to be the first one to do it a feeling of great peace and joy filled my heart I knew that Heavenly Father lived and that it really was his church that the Book of Mormon was true I knew and what I was feeling was the Holy Ghost I felt like I was whole again that I wasn't battling he shared with me that we needed to be rebaptised and as I described to her what had happened she started weeping and I told him no I said we cannot get rebaptised you know what that it's like you know we will be shown so I knew by the direction that I received that I would have to teach my wife the gospel what I had learned and I did that for the next two weeks every day we would talk about it and I share it with her things that she needed to know and it all made sense she asked what do we need to do and I told her that we needed to meet with the missionaries Raymond told them you know we need to cram as many much lessons in one as we can because you know if we do this too often our families will find out I'm Bob Nelson as my wife Kathleen and we were the mission president couple for the great Ohio Columbus mission we had the great opportunity to meet the weavers through a member doing missionary work [Music] the Nielsen's first met the weavers after they felt prompted to go to their home late one Sunday night this was just days after their son eNOS was born he was prompted to leave a sacrament meeting in southern Ohio and and come seek us out Raymond came out unmet me in the barn a little bit shell-shocked just the suddenness of the whole thing and I said Raymond I I don't know much all I know is I'm supposed to be here can you help me do you know why and Raymond looked we looked at each other and then I just gently said Raymond wouldn't we would love to give you a blessing a priesthood blessing in the humble surroundings of the barn they turned over an old bucket for Raymond to sit on and he gave him a blessing and I'm telling you the the the power the feeling of the Spirit was so strong as we finished Raymond was just was weeping this began what has become a lasting friendship it was just a privilege to begin with to be in the community that has Amish people it's such a rich heritage and and culture and the people are so pure and wonderful we then set up lessons to start teaching them and would start at 10:00 or 11:00 at night so the kids were in bed and we would oftentimes go until two three even four in the morning I'm not sure how we did it but the time passed in seconds the spirit was so strong it was one of the most powerful beautiful experiences I've ever had in my life it was like a dream world really I look back on it now and I think how privileged were we to be a part of that you know we'd sit in their homes we'd sit in their home at midnight or 1:00 in the morning teaching them discussions and look out the window and there's the moon and you can hear the the gas light's hissing a little bit and I felt like we could just be sitting in Joseph and Emma's home right now and there was many many a time I got on my knees and pleaded with said if we are making a mistake please don't let us you know go in their own direction and then the baptism eventually came up and they agreed to be as they would say rebaptised and we said a baptism date for January 3rd of 2012 and I will never forget that evening as we went into the Mount Vernon Ward house and there were just a few of us it was so foreign because we they had never shown us the baptismal font I did not know what to expect they changed into clothing that was not part of their you know their whole Amish way I don't know how this is happened but I knew you will be dressed in white you know I mean lard never worn pants in her life and she's I'm in the bathroom helping her and she's using a zipper zippers or taboo and she's putting on this jumpsuit his pants you know it was not the most comfortable thing sitting behind her and just thinking you know what faith what great courage really this is taking to just watch them do whatever the Lord wants them to do it was really humbling to all of us to see that this was just the beginning of the many changes that would take place for the weavers prior to their baptism Raymond and Laura had always been faithful members in their Amish community and were highly respected humbly they again prayed for guidance Heavenly Father didn't only give me a testimony of the church he also showed me what to do to help the gospel move forward in the Amish community so we were prompted to continue to go to Amish churches if nothing happened that was every two weeks church services in the Amish community are held in the homes of the members each family taking turns hosting the three-hour service typically a meal will follow as a result the congregations are kept small and everyone is closely connected we knew that it got found out too early that the life we knew would would end this is about about the heights that it was Raymond Weaver and Levi Troyer are close friends and neighbors they first became acquainted through their Amish congregation both they're businessmen when a builder of the other a shop owner who through the years met together frequently to discuss ways to be more successful Raymond wood many times in the evening walk to our house and we would sit in my office and we just talk about all different things for a long time they gathered to talk about the seven Habits of Highly successful people and how to use the book to improve their lives then at one of these meetings Raymond showed Levi a book of Mormon that one of his customers had given him he started telling us about this book he said it it says there it's another testament of Jesus Christ and he was like let me read it first and I'll show it I'll let you guys know what I think of it a short time later Levi asked Raymond if he could get a copy of the Book of Mormon I would come home and rush through my work and I sit down and I read I which is reading it just became you this exciting feeling and it it just gave me strength at this point Raymond introduced Levi to the stake president and the mission president and I would call I go to the phone booth I call him up and ask him what this meant or else we'd get together somewhere so I had all these notes and they would help me understand and then one day Levi noticed something about Raymond had changed and I could tell something had happened to him it was something I couldn't put a finger on what what it was with a little bit of time I I knew it was something something spiritual but I sensed whatever this is I I want this it was then that Raymond decided to tell Levi that he and Laura had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints he told me about baptism by immersion by what I had to be by the proper authority and all of this was just so fulfilling I think he was a little shocked at the time but he believed dr. kieny thoroughness there was nothing that I had learned up to that point and even to this day that that dozen that took away from the newer Old Testament what we had believed before during this time Levi's wife Laura was distressed by all the late-night meetings because they were happening so often they sat there until after midnight and I put the kids to bed and just being very frustrated and I fell asleep crying and because I didn't know what are they really talking about that night after hearing about Raymond's baptism Levi went to bed and found Laura upset I woke up crying do you want to do you want me to tell you what we talked about and then I told her that yes I really think we need to be baptized by immersion if we want to follow our Savior Jesus Christ and when he said that I quit crying right then and I said I know I didn't know if she's gonna believe me I didn't know if this was going to tear my family apart it is gonna what it's going to even do to my marriage just think how did I know you know how could that have been that I just said I know but I just felt so peaceful so excited there was just joy and happiness there that I haven't felt you know before at that very moment I knew that the gospel the true gospel of Jesus Christ wasn't gonna split my fame my marriage and I'm just so thankful to this day that the Lord prepared us in a way that we had the strengths to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ [Music] not far from the weavers and the Troyer's Paul and Mary Hostutler were on their own faith journey I was kind of the repple and always being I don't know I had preachers visiting me left and right you're doing wrong here you're doing wrong they had been questioning some of the strict Amish rules and traditions they were required to live by one example II like to talk about they could use a ball glove to play ball all the ones rules change now they can't have ball gloves so he finds but what's an old basketball thing and he makes himself a glove similar so you can catch where did he come from you know well they just got together and decided to do this you know so it's a man-made rule I know that's I don't I'm not gonna go with man-made rules but things are so regimented even like the color you could paint your house the type of drapes you could have how many pleats had to be in your bonnet the color of your dress how many buttons could be on the men's shirt only 3/4 is to lavish while the host ed lers were struggling with this Raymond and Levi had been wondering who else from the Amish community might be interested in the gospel we were praying about who should we share the gospel with next even though neither Raymond nor Levi knew them well the hosts dead lers came to mind I knew I needed to go see them and share the gospel with them I was scared I didn't know what was going to happen if I did that and as we were pull up to the hitching post to tie the horse your Paul comes walking up the driveway from his barn the timing was perfect when he saw them Paul thought Raymond and Levi were there on behalf of the Amish community I was so used to have an Amish coming see me that okay whatever bring it on we talked with him and asked him if he would invite his wife to join us we'd like to talk to them a little bit so I come into the house to get Mary and when Mary's sleeping you better let her let her sleep especially the situation like this I think their main question were was how would you like it if we could keep the family together I love it and then we met the next Monday I was thinking that you know they had something where we could work within the Amish community and that they would understand did not or not that way we found out they were baptized we met and really shared with them everything that had happened oh yeah we talked like till 3:00 in the morning or something like that Paul and Mary shared with us that they had been searching and looking before a new church at that point in time I had lost so much trust in the Amish that I knew that they I didn't want what they have they sought to follow truth no matter where it would take them finally it's like this is true it is not an it not it's just another testimony of Jesus Christ well we were baptized in June it was just the kids didn't know about it until you know like August does up to that point I didn't have a clue where we come from yeah that's a self and then learning that you're a child of God and just more exciting you know we are actually we're here on earth for a purpose and there's the things that happen are for a purpose and it's like okay going through what I had to go through to get where I'm at that was all for a purpose the Hostetler's adult children were still deeply tied to the Amish community and news about Paul and Mary's baptism caused a deep division in the family it was hard it was hard you have a lot of kids and they're all you know watching every move you make I just wish we could all be back together the way we were at well you know and I think we sometimes will sometime they will see that what we done was the right thing we were to me and Raymond Levi all all three of us families were just doing little trying to do what went right the baptism of these three couples started a journey that would have them bridging two worlds they continued attending their Amish church and to keep their families and community from becoming alarmed also met late at night during the week for their own latter-day Saint Sacrement meetings the first ten month after we joined the church we met in our kitchen the spirit was so strong prompting us in these unique different situations that we were in and said continue to do this it's not wrong but just add this to it at this time none of the children from these families knew about the baptisms so the Lord was even protecting it from our own children it wasn't time for them to know [Music] but once word got out everything changed or fuh had a really hard transition at first because she heard from her friends that's how she figured out was from her friends and so she kind of heard the negative before the positive or fuh was 14 years old at the time and struggled to make sense of what was happening and she was very confused and more on their side I said mom did you really decide to step away from the Amish believe that what we grew up in and she's like yeah I just said how could you you know this is what we were taught this is what we've done our whole life but then I was just like oh my goodness what can I say that will change her and that moment is when my mom for her testimony of what she believes she said I know that this is from God and when she said that the Spirit was just so strong and it just touched my heart and it was turned around I've been running forward since then this was my first sacrament meeting and then after that I remember that that was the fall I turned 12 years old and when I was tested the hardest is when my testimony became the strongest if you look in Joseph Smith history where he talks about his experience I can very much relate to that I mean probably the biggest thing I can feel feel same as he did is being different but I mean where he he had the vision no one believed him and for me I knew no one would believe me I mean if I saw I wouldn't even I didn't even even try to describe it but I felt different and there were many times where I looking back I know there was help unseen health fair the first is elder bull like he was that he was the tall cowboy I liked him a lot the families have said the right people were in the right place at the right time to help teach inspire and strengthen them we were the first missionaries that they really had met and interacted with I didn't want to let him let him down it was really exciting and scary kind of at the same time so the first lesson was 1st of October and by the end of October I was baptized and I wanted to present the gospel in a way that that I could let the spirit work it in a way that they would be able to fill the spirit and felt what what their parents had felt and those lessons or it is the Hayward the water to my Dre the dry sponge so I think that they're Amish upbringing has really helped propel them in the gospel because they've been doing this their whole life being there to watch them get baptized and seeing their fathers being able to be the ones to baptize them the spirit that was just was just strong I definitely am grateful that I am where I am and for the decision I made once we were teaching the kids and they were baptized it was really awesome just to see their family unit come together so it's helped me in my life just always remember that no matter what you're going through there's probably somebody that's been through harder going through something harder than you are when it became public knowledge of their membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints Raymond knew that the shiney would commence it came in and talked to us and told us that you know we will be shunned if we continue to do this and that's when reality set in when the shunning began several of the hosts dead lured children decided to remain Amish one of the saddest of all and most difficult things is that Paul and Mary basically lost all of their older kids we have seventeen total nine still Amish nine are still Amish they're shunning me because they think if I'm not Amish I'm gonna go to hell the shunning deal was just it was before the official shunning began many people in the community tried to convince them to renounce their baptisms preachers from other churches came one time to Lauren Raymond's didn't remember this saying saying just don't join the Mormons or you know renounce that it doesn't matter what other church you want to join just not that one and they these weren't even Amish people we got flooded with all this anti stuff from every which direction and even harder still extended family members begged them to remain Amish they all gathered here actually in this very room and asked my mom walked in the door she shook my hand and stood right next to me and just stopped like a child she just couldn't believe what she had heard that we had joined some other church so it was hard on everyone and hard on the parents hard on those who had to shun because it's shun or be shunned family members would have no interest in speaking to them and no interest in conducting business affairs no interest in contact whatsoever they just didn't really know how to deal with it because they hadn't had anyone who'd been shunned and stayed so everyone struggled with how does shun and still live among them tried cutting four inches off and then angle it on a 45 all three families lost their businesses and it took several years for them to recover there was some hard times yes all my employees didn't walk out the door at the take it this way just slightly I couldn't recover quick I couldn't go out and hire new employees that quick I couldn't I couldn't do it Levi Troyer lost his business and the business that they did have it that time was a bakery and so he learned to make bread and he would be up early in the morning making bread with her family Raymond lost his businesses and so he was trying to figure out what was he going to do to be able to support his family everything I had invested in the business as far as on the property I lost but it was a huge hit to take for to not have income for three years and it was hard for the host Ehlers many of the children that were teenagers at the time that worked in the shop left and joined this shunning and so they all struggled with how are we going to make it financially and every day they would have faith and just take one day at a time and one footstep in front of the other and there were miracles that they saw their faith overcame every fear today things look much brighter each of their businesses is back on track and thriving a lot more resources than I had seven years ago when we tried the church and now looking back is like me how did that they credit their new friends and ward members for helping them during these most difficult times so we would do laundry we would butcher their animals with them we would just be by their side all we could do was to love them and let them know that they were loved by Aspen especially by the same year with the shunning came another blow this is the one a little Amish schoolhouse this is where our children went to school right here at the very beginning when the families were first shunned the kids were quickly dismissed from school they gathered here and put all of her children's belongings in the bakong enough cardboard box brought it down to our house and slit the box in on the front porch and said that your kids are done coming to school well we used to be really good friends with our cousins but we don't see them very often anymore so I would be the the kid down the street you don't play with and it was heartbreaking for me because I had I had so many good memories and I had so many fun times with him they wouldn't talk to us they wouldn't come visit or even play with us kids and it was just it was really hard and he comes in almost blaming her how cool the parents say it's heartbreaking the children were shunned because they had not yet been baptized into the Amish church and we asked the children you know so do you ever get to play with your cousins and they said no we try but they say we can't play with you got mom our mom says you're English now it was hard because you wanted to play with them and like be with them but you weren't like really allowed to because then they would get in trouble the mothers for a long time tried to home-school them but it was just their businesses were struggling at that point because of the shunning and it was just too much and so the church called senior missionary couples to come and teach the children for about three years we first got there it was just the Troyer family and the other families and they were very close-knit in the shunning they lost everybody they lost every friend they had they lost every cousin they had so school became I think for them a retrieval of some of those important contacts that they would not have had without the opportunity to be together in school we kind of just developed a curriculum that we hoped would encourage all the things they would need to eventually graduate from high school and so much of the things that we studied was a brand new to them the fun thing was that we got to introduce and work with the students in history and science as well which stuff the Amish students hadn't had in their armor schools the were like a sponge they they were very anxious to learn and it was a pretty special experience to be able to start and finish every day with these pure children morning Andrew we just share with John in the backpack after the church stopped calling senior missionary couples to teach school to the children a new school was organized in the home of a local member this next type of writing that we're going to be doing is called instructional writing and this is where we teach someone how to do something that we do well one of the things that most impressed me was how much the Lord's hand was over it the parents thought that maybe they'd have to send their kids to public school which was scary because they wanted to keep the they wanted to keep the cultural life and it'll be harder and now we have more friends who ever did I feel like one thing they learn is they could stay culturally Amish and doctrinally be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints a church is pretty much like family to us and give me a family is definitely hard everything that we have faced isn't very well worth the sacrifice I wouldn't I wouldn't trade it for anything [Music] that's yes yes sir sir it would have been a lot harder than the trailer just had it joined the church because then we wouldn't even have them to play with yes after these three Amish families were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints there was power in having each other to rely on we needed more than one family to be for the gospel to move forward and Heavenly Father knew that it was a time of transition a period when their honest life style was being blended with their new faith there's things that we want to hold on to that we love and we want to keep okay kitty kitty I mean we had to learn so much the love of Heavenly Father as they knew him prepare them so well for the gospel of Jesus Christ for three years after their baptisms the Amish families met together for church services as a special group at the host Adler's workshop we felt gentle promptings to be careful and be tender and to not take over and to let them emerge slowly the first time we had Church in the woodshop we all stayed in primary because we'd never seen it before do you I open your scriptures and John 13 it was a sacred time and we felt it thank you perfect I think what it was they had to get to a certain point where they understood the gospel enough so that when they came here they could be integrated into classes and and and understand what people were talking about I remember the first time we watched conference with them we projected conference onto a wall and it was so remarkable because little kids had never really seen a TV they were going up trying to touch them and you know the innocence of the the children the faith the courage is just absolutely extraordinary and with their new faith came new freedoms I feel like I don't ever have to sleep again I just don't like going and going if it's so uplifting I felt free about so much freedom there's rules about everything all of a sudden all these rules went away and life became a lot more simple well the change is hard and the shunning and all those things have been almost impossible they are strong people used to doing difficult things you know Amish they don't have phones in the house after their baptisms it took some time before the families traded in their horses and buggies for Motor Vehicles added electricity to their homes and businesses and abandoned their shared phone booth for cell phones and computers we did not leave the Amish church because we wanted to dress different or we want it to drive a car or we wanted a cell phone or a computer and not at all we switch because we wanted we we read The Book of Mormon and we knew it to be the Word of God in the past six years there's been a lot of a lot of hard times but a lot of rewarding times there's been a I'm in your your your brightest moments will come in your darkest times the impact that the gospel has had on these convert children is astounding look around you and look for those people that you are starting to get to know or that you've known for your whole life and share them with your share them with the missionaries three of the Amish children are currently serving missions in all four have served the mission was hired but it was the best thing he ever done very rewarding the stories are still unfolding but they're out in the mission field now and that's a little bit what we wanted to share with you guys today I'd say the biggest lesson I've learned of being on a mission is truly seeing people as Jesus Christ sees them [Music] although a lot of them reject us I love being able to look in their eyes and literally not having bad thoughts about him but just truly loving them next right Henry credits his parents for helping him develop his own testimony and for having the courage to accept the gospel despite the difficulties they experienced I have a great feeling of love and respect for my parents they've literally they've given up pretty much everything but they too had a had an experience with the spirit that they can't deny and to see them push through that and to continue to push through it it is remarkable I always say I said I want to be a dad just like my dad was he's my greatest hero of my life you know then Saturday we have a baptism I wish there was even more missionary work happening in the Amish community because if I if I had a hundred and seventy other hosts tellers the work would boom he's just such a remarkable young man it is a great blessing it is a miracle that we get to be here he loves the gospel and he's paid a hefty price for it and the newest missionary to join the ranks I was like this is like the coolest mission you know to literally have your best friend come to your mission is it's a feeling you can't really describe I mean regard was very going you know as that's where the Lord wants you so you know he has a plan for me there and there's no doubt whatsoever that that their influence will be far and wide I've always felt that if we could take the Amish culture and the latter-day saint culture and bring them together it would be the perfect culture there's a good game or why despite the difficulties of being shunned each family still lives in the community Laurie was directing us to stay here now I just lived right in the middle I lived right exactly where I was before got amish neighbors all around me and deep play deep play deep place to start with it was very hard but I got friendly neighbors now they most generally they'll wave and we can talk oh yeah they're always on guard I think but I guess that's up to them I'm I don't know I'm just gonna be me and they would realize it's possible to leave the Amish faith and still be Amish if you want to so that was the best game all season so far I just I want to keep some of the culture that I learned because I know working hard has never hurt anybody they were who they were because of their Amish background but add to the gospel to it just enriched their lives and everybody who came in contact with him and they have something that most other people don't have I am so grateful to my parents for for all that they've ever taught us but I'm just so grateful to add more to that to have more knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ and and that's the foundation where I'm trying to base you know my motherhood on now and for the eternal perspective not just you know for this life knowing more now adds just a lot more to life life in general and the purpose of life I know that Christ lives I know that Heavenly Father is right with us that's something when I was with the Amish that I did not realize I didn't realize that he'd be right here with us and now I know he is I know as well as we sit here talking that he lives and that he loves this and he wants only the best for us a year after their baptisms each family was sealed in the temple for eternity joy is what comes to mind when seeing these families dressed in white with her little children kneeling over the altar the spirit was so strong he just felt could feel the peace and the and the joy and the happiness of those families knowing that they would be together as a family and that they had made the right decision they loved their temple worship there's nothing greater than joy in witnessing that experience we realized that this moment that we would be able to be with our family forever just a feeling of almost being in heaven having them come in and kneel around the altar with us and being filters and the feeling that we came home with the power of being endowed and sealed is amazing it was a feeling that [Music] and they changed my life forever what's one thing you like to do place the kids my name is Duane and I am 7 my name is Andy I'm 9 years old being Amish and more Mystere Mormon my name is Martha and I'm 11 planning seeing this and I'm Dixie also and I'm ready to go on a mission ready to serve in the Orem Utah mission [Music]

Channel: KSL News

Views: 232,629

Keywords: #KSLLive, KSL, Utah, TV, General Conference, Amish, Latter day Saints, Documentary, LDS, lds documentary

Id: BKXTcFwLp7k

Length: 44min 59sec (2699 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 05 2019