Hope And Courage Across America Journal

It is no surprise to see that headline in the Goshen News.  This is Indiana
Amish country.  I didn’t expect it to be about us, though. 

Let me bring you up to date on our Hope and Courage Journey Going Home.
After reaching the Statue of Liberty on Sept 12 we spent a few days in the
city.  Jeanne, my sister and amazing support person for the summer, flew
back home while Darla and I started driving to Washington with Grant and
Chanel.  Our first stop was Lancaster County, PA.  We squeezed one day in
our schedule to minister to the Amish there.  It was a busy day.  I spoke to
four Amish schools and presented my testimony to a group of adults in a
cleaned out shop building on a farm.  We would have stayed longer but I had
a middle school with 1200 students expecting me in Austintown, OH.  

From Ohio we headed to Fort Wayne, IN.  A church was having a Disability
Awareness Sunday.  They asked me to speak there.  They have a great outreach
to the disabled community (mostly developmentally challenged) called One
Heart.  We were so honored to be a part of their day.  After the service we
went to the hospital to visit one of the group.  He had very recently had
his leg amputated below the knee due to a moped accident.  He had a
wonderful attitude along with solid support from his family and One Heart.
I was able to assure him the pain would go away and his co-workers (he had a
dishwasher job) did not think he was letting them down.  I also told him to
make sure he orders his prosthetic foot the same size as his other one.
He’ll save a lot money on shoes that way.  

From Fort Wayne we moved up to Shipshewana, Indiana.  We arrived on Monday
and set camp for the coming week.  We had made friends in this Amish
community when we pedaled through in July.  There were several Amish schools
on our schedule as well as a Sunday service at Waterford Mennonite Church in
Goshen.  Monday evening Darla and I took a short bike ride through the area
before the sun set.  It is beautiful here and peaceful.  You can hear the
clop-clop-clop of horse drawn buggies just about all the time.  Tuesday
morning we went to the Amish school where Marilyn Miller taught.  We met
Marilyn and her mother, Ruth, in July and became quick friends.  Marilyn is
15 years old and has a twin brother, Marlin.  After school we went to their
home for supper and fellowship.  They invited us to go on a horse and buggy
ride before dinner. 

A pleasant afternoon, quiet country roads, an Amish buggy ride…what could go
wrong?  We found our spots in the buggy.  It was actually an open cart with
two bench seats.  I sat in the middle of the back bench.  The twins found it
fascinating to see me climb to the floor of the cart and maneuver myself up
onto the seat.  Chanel and Darla sat on each side of me.  Marlin, the
driver, sat in the middle front with Grant and Marilyn on each side.  We had
traveled a few miles and were heading back to the house.  We passed an Amish
house and a little boy ran out on the porch to wave at us.  He was wearing a
“Hope and Courage” button we had given him in the school earlier.  I was
watching a dump truck coming toward us in the other lane.  No problem, we
had been passed by cars and trucks going both directions during the entire
ride.  As soon as the truck reached our cart the horse turned directly in
front of it.  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  I shouted, “Watch for
the truck!!!”, but it was too late.  The truck hit the horse and the front
of the cart.  The cart spun as the truck rolled past dragging the horse with
it.  I fell to the floor of the cart while all the others were scattered to
the road. 

The cart and truck stopped and for an instant there was an eerie silence.  I
made a quick assessment I had not broken anything and pushed the cart debris
away and sat up.  Grant was coming toward me and I saw Darla up and moving
toward Chanel, who was also getting up.  “I’m OK! Darla? Grant? You alright?
How’s Chanel?”  They were all OK.  Then we looked for the Amish twins.  They
were both down on the road and they didn’t look good.  I climbed over the
side of the cart and lowered myself to the road.  I scooted over to Marlin
while Darla went to Marilyn.  Darla was calling out to God as she moved.
Marlin was folded onto the road and at first glance looked as if he had
broken an arm along with a lot of scrapes.  Marilyn was still at first,
became conscious, shuddered with convulsions and went still again.  Darla
was afraid she had died.  More prayers.  She regained consciousness and
stayed awake.  Darla and Chanel sat next to her.  An Amish woman came out of
the house with a cell phone and I heard her giving directions.  Good.  EMTs
were alerted.  I looked up and saw the horse try to stand.  It was seriously
wounded and we all became aware of how vulnerable we were if it panicked.
More prayers.  The horse fell back to the ground and never got up again.
Marlin half sat up and I asked him to move his arms.  He blankly obeyed and
I could tell they were not broken.  Great.  I asked Grant to stay with
Marlin and not let him stand up.  I scooted over to Marilyn to check her
condition.  She was conscious but disoriented.  We kept her down and awake.
How long does it take for the EMTs?

The driver got out of the truck and came around to see the scene.  He was a
21 year old Mennonite and he was shaken up.  He stood in the grass shaking.
Darla got up and went over to him.  She hugged him and told him it was not
his fault and everything would be OK.  Another couple came around and
offered help though there was nothing they could do.  They considered
getting a gun for the horse.  It wouldn’t be necessary.  The horse would
pass soon.  We asked the Amish woman to call Ruth, the twins’ mother.  We
were close to their home.  Ruth came up the road on her bike just before the
first EMT and Sheriff.  We directed them to the twins as they tried to
figure out what happened.  The ambulance came shortly after.  A crowd of
Amish started gathering behind the yellow tape.  Many were children from the
school we had spoken to and their parents.  We saw “Hope and Courage”
buttons on most of them.  The Amish community is amazingly geographically
close.

As the EMTs took over we were able to relax.  Chanel came and sat next to me
on the ground.  “Daddy, I didn’t want to say anything until the twins were
taken care of but my leg really hurts.”  I called an EMT over and had him
check her thigh.  He said it would be good to have it checked out.  “Who
else was in the crash?”  All of us, I said.  “All of you?”  We rechecked our
wounds.  Darla had a pain in her knee and chest.  Grant had a laceration on
his heel.  I had a pain in my shoulder blade.  We decided I would drive to
the hospital for x-rays.  The ambulance took Ruth and the twins.  We told
Ruth we would meet her there and see her through it.  We called the
Stoltzfus’, Mennonite pastor friends, and asked them to meet us there.  

Marilyn was released with some serious bruises and a lump on her head.
Marlin was kept overnight to watch a cracked sternum.  Chanel was bruised.
Grant did not require stitches.  Darla’s knee would swell and still is
tender.  I bruised but am OK.  One EMT said it was a miracle. (We are not
surprised.)  Typically when a buggy crashes with a big truck they sustain
very serious injuries and need to be flown to distant hospitals.  Another
EMT told me later when he got out of his truck and saw me sitting on the
ground he thought, “This is really bad.  That guy has lost at least one
limb.  I better call the helicopter.”  I asked him if he was ready to start
looking alongside the road for my limbs.  He said, “Yes, I was!”  I assured
him I arrived at the crash in this condition.

In the six days following the crash we took Wednesday off to comfort our
family, spoke in seven more Amish schools, one Mennonite school, preached at
a Mennonite church, had supper in three Amish homes and made several visits
to the Amish disabled.  It is amazing how we have been accepted.  We had
Amish come to the Mennonite church to hear us.  One very elderly member of
the church said she had never seen an Amish come through those doors.  Vic
Stoltzfus, our friend that took us out to our first Amish acquaintance in
July, said he has never seen an outside family so quickly trusted and
accepted by the Amish.  I don’t know what all of this means.  I just know
that Hope and Courage Across America did not end when we got off our bikes.