Relic DoAll bandsaw welder brought back from the dead!

Yeah, what they can do/use and can't varies depending on their church order. Their church order typically varies by their settlement. Around here, they all try to live within 7 miles of each other since they have church every other Sunday at one of their homes and beyond 7 miles can get tough on those horses and buggy! The local order's bishop (that is the correct term) lives just down the road from me and I know him well. The church elders control and make local decisions on topics like these. Even the color of clothes they can make/wear. The women don't use buttons on their tops. They are pinned close with straight pins! No cell phones around here for them, but they can use mine. Even their dialects vary from order to order. My neighbor told me they met with an order out of a town just 15 miles from me and they had to speak english because their dialects were so different. They use english when they write. We've copied letters for them and they are all in english. The kids don't speak english until they start going to school at 5 and then at school that's all the end up using. They started with one school house here but had to build a second because of the number of kids and how spread out they were getting. I bought a book with CD on how to speak Amish when I was in Millersburg OH. I showed it to my neighbor and it wasn't even close to theirs. They do speak some what they refer to as high german when they have their church services.

I've become good friends with several of them. They are fantastic people and would do anything for you. Great neighbors.

Ted
 
You have to respect and admire folks who can live their lives with such conviction. If there is ever an apocalypse, I think the Amish will have the best chance at survival.
 
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