Hitch Clarification
To clarify the hitch request, we are looking for a hitch receiver – the part that bolts onto the frame. It has to be specifically made for a 1996-2007 Dodge Caravan.
thanks,
Darrell
02
May
Author Archives: Darrell Hershberger
02
May
Trailer Hitch Needed
Hello Pilgrim folks,
I wasn’t sure what the best method of reaching out to you was, so I hope this works.
I’m looking for a trailer hitch for Jeff’s Dodge Caravan. It would be awfully nice if they could have more cargo space for their trip to Florida. They’re leaving Saturday morning.
The van is a 2005 Dodge Caravan. Anything from 1997 – 2007 should work.
Let me or Jeff know if you know where we could get one.
Thanks,
Darrell
05
Apr
from Ray and Wendy
Hello church family,
We would like to thank all the men & ladies who helped us in various ways, snacks, manual labor, boxes, etc. to get us on our way to Oregon. And we’d also like to thank everyone who helped and encouraged us throughout the last 10 years. It means more than you’ll ever know. And, Lord willing, if anyone should like to visit the Oregon coast, give us a heads up, and stop by for a visit.
Sincerely,
Ray & Wendy Cranfill
P.O. BOX 483
Otis, OR 97368
28
Feb
Invitation to Anniversary Celebration
Dear folks,
I failed to make this announcement last evening.
Please find here an invitation to Mom and Dad’s anniversary celebration on March 19.
RSVP details inside.
Thank you!
Darrell
13
Jan
Letter from Philip Z
Letter from Philip from prison:
January 8, 2019
Dear Precious Friends,
“For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory for beyond all comparison, while we look not at the tings which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” II Corinthians 4:17-18
“. . . Who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, your also joining in helping us through your prayers, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many.” II Corinthians 1:10-11
I sincerely echo Paul’s sentiments and thankfulness to God for each one of you, for your prayers, support, encouragement and activism on my behalf.
I apologize I never made time to write to each of the 350 or so individuals who wrote letters on my behalf to Judge Arcara before my sentencing. I believe God miraculously used your letters to soften Judy Arcara’s heart to grant me bail, allowing me to be free pending my appeal to the Second Circuit. Plus, he set the fine at a mere $200 while the minimum recommendation in the guidelines was a $50,000 fine – with a maximum of $500,000! I was he first person he has allowed to walk out of his courtroom free on bail, I was told in a career that spanned nearly 40 years. It truly was a miracle. Thank you so much for your part!
Yet, here I am now in prison. I was ordered to self-surrender by Judge Arcara on December 5th of Ashland Federal Correctional Institution in Kentucky, once the Second Circuit District Court refused to overturn my conviction. I won’t go into the injustice of the decision. My lawyers are requesting certiori with the Supreme Court. [Denied January 10, 2019]
I know God has a purpose, and He is on our side. Kathie and I praise Him anyway, and we count it all joy, even though it is difficult – particularly for my dear wife, who I’ve never been apart from in our nearly 38 years of marriage for more than two nights.
The biggest blessing about being here in prison, however, is I have time to delve into God’s Word as never before. I am learning so very much!
One thing that has never really dawned on me to the [extent] I’m realizing now, is that we as believers are to anticipate with eagerness suffering for Christ’s sake. Jesus Himself said you and I must, when we desire to follow Him, take up our own cross.
In Matthew 24, Jesus promises to us that we will be delivered up to tribulation and even death . . . hated by nations for His name’s sake. Matthew 24:9-13
But there is a true blessing that comes from this (Luke 6:22-23). Se we as true believers are to embrace suffering for His name’s sale with all eagerness!
Indeed, suffering, is one of the main themes of he entire New Testament! It is subject, expectation and realization that is constantly repeated over and over and over again!
God has truly answered many prayers!
Since December 5 was a Federal holiday due to President Bush’s funeral, the first 18 hours in prison I spent in the “shoe” – where they shut up all of the trouble makers. That was torturous for me. And also it was an entire week till I was allowed to communicate with my family.
But the next morning at 9:30, they transferred to me my permanent unit, which reminds me of a stark college dorm – without comfort or amenities. The only bars are on the outside windows.
God gave me what other inmates claim is the best cell in the unit, with only one of three (out of more than 50in our unit) “spring” bunk beds, in the best unit on the compound – the only one with air conditioning. He gave me a terrific cellmate who looks out for me, and three men to disciple. We’ve begun a prayer time every evening and will soon begin a Bible Study. Pray I may have God’s wisdom and insight. I feel very unqualified.
As a matter of fact, my cellmate told me shortly after he came to this prison, God gave him a vision that God would bring a cellmate who would be the catalyst for a new direction for his life.
So please, continue to pray for me regularly, for whatever might be my ministry here. And for Kathie, whatever ministry God is giving her while I am gone.
I thank God for you nearly every day!
Also, I’ve been writing a daily journal that should soon be available on line. You’ll read my experiences and the observations God is revealing to me.
Please also pray for my son, William, who is suddenly responsible for running the business I began 40 years ago.
I am still expecting, in God’s perfect timing, to be released miraculously from prison. But it’ll be in a way in which God gets all the glory! Please pray with us it will be sooner, rather than later. Pray that in the meantime we will have peace, joy, patience and endurance!
This is a very difficult ordeal for all – especially for Kathie and William, and my other family. Pray for Kathie’s health. She’s been in a lot of pain and is only sleeping two or three hours a night.
If you would like to send me a note of encouragement, make sure it’s on white paper with black or blue ink only, and in a white envelope. Thank you everyone who has already written me. Send them to:
Mr. Philip Zodhiates 18649-084
FCI Ashland
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 6001
Ashland, KY 41105
Kathie and William
PO Box 1842
Waynesboro, VA 22980
Again, you are very special to me. Thank you!
In His Service,
Philip
08
Dec
Lifesite news article about Philip Z
NEWSFAMILY, FREEDOM, HOMOSEXUALITY, POLITICS – U.S., POLITICS – WORLD
Fri Dec 7, 2018
Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
December 7, 2018 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Christian businessman began his federal prison sentence Wednesday after being convicted of the crime of “international parental kidnapping” for helping a mother and her child escape control of an unrelated lesbian “mother” imposed on the child by a Vermont court.
Philip Zodhiates, 61, is president of the direct mail fundraising company Response Unlimited, which helps conservative organizations raise money for their causes. Following prosecution by the Obama administration for driving Lisa Miller and her daughter Isabella to the Canadian border in 2009, Zodhiates is now inmate 18649-084 in the Ashland, Kentucky Federal Correctional Institution, where he turned himself in yesterday according to the sentence of a federal judge.
Lisa Miller, an ex-lesbian and revert to Christianity, sought to escape from the U.S. following court-imposed visitations of her daughter Isabella with lesbian Janet Jenkins. Jenkins is biologically unrelated to Isabella, but was named by a Vermont judge as Isabella’s other “mother.”
Miller and others testified that Isabella appeared traumatized by the visits with Jenkins, but the Vermont court refused to rescind its visitation order. Miller then left the U.S. with her daughter in 2009, with the help of Zodhiates, who allegedly drove her to the Canadian border. From Canada, Lisa and Isabella flew to Nicaragua. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
At the time of his sentencing, Zodhiates told the court that he was motivated by a Christian desire to protect Isabella from sexual abuse.
“In 2009, newspaper reports were that Lisa’s child was being sexually abused,” said Zodhiates. “When people are suffering abuse, poverty, or injustice, and I am asked to help, I do so. Thus my natural instinct was to help her and her daughter become free of the abuse. Helping others is always a primary motivation for me, especially so when children are involved.”
Zodhiates is the adoptive father of six children from Central America.
After federal appellate judges refused to hear Zodhiates’ last appeal in October of this year, his attorneys began to prepare an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, and asked the court for a stay of sentence pending the filing and the court’s ultimate decision. Although Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg turned down the request for a stay of sentence, Justice Neil Gorsuch decided to place the petition for the stay of sentence on a list of conference items for January 4 of next year, allowing all the justices to vote on the matter. In the meantime, it appears, Zodhiates will remain in federal prison.
‘Court-ordered sexual abuse’ at service of LGBT agenda
Zodhiates regards himself as the target of a politically-motivated prosecution that served to promote the LGBT agenda embraced at the time by the administration of Barack Obama. He maintains he broke no law in helping Lisa and Isabella to leave the country, and that federal prosecutors manipulated the case to achieve a guilty verdict against him. In the process, said Zodhiates, they managed to exclude evidence of abuse against Isabella by Jenkins.
“Lisa Miller had full custody of her daughter when they left the country,” Zodhiates told LifeSiteNews a few days before his imprisonment. “They had no travel restrictions and had legal passports. No laws were broken by anyone, except by Janet Jenkins, who sexually abused a very young child.”
“The Vermont courts refused to admit the affidavits by social workers who testified that Isabella Miller was being abused by Janet Jenkins, and they buried the very considerable evidence of sexual abuse because they had a political agenda of nullifying the many marriage amendments of so many states and the federal Defense of Marriage Act,” said Zodhiates.
Lisa Miller and her daughter Isabella
“It was nothing less than court-ordered sexual abuse,” Zodhiates added. “The courts were adamant about sanctioning the sexual abuse of a child in order to push through a vile political agenda. They are the ones that should be serving prison time.”
Zodhiates said that he refused plea bargains offered to him by prosecutors because “I’d have to plead guilty to aiding and abetting an international parenting kidnapping, when there was no kidnapping.”
“I could not forsake Christ’s Word even if it meant no prison time,” Zodhiates said. “So prison has been expected all along. But that’s okay. We are all to expect it, and count it all joy. God promises to bring us through the trials and tribulations, and I have to say, it’s drawn me closer to the Lord in a tremendous way. He wants to bring us to the point where we are totally dependent on Him, where nothing we can do can make any difference.”
Zodhiates is third to be imprisoned for aiding Isabella’s escape
Zodhiates is the third person to suffer imprisonment for the cause of helping Lisa and Isabella escape the forced visits with Jenkins. Two Mennonites, Timothy Miller and Kenneth Miller (who are unrelated to one another and to Lisa and Isabella), have been imprisoned as well. Kenneth Miller in particular served more than two years in prison for his role in the escape, and risked more prison time for refusing to testify about the involvement of others. After a judge sought to induce him to speak by placing him in jail before serving his main sentence, Miller said that his time behind bars had only made his convictions stronger.
“As non-resistant bearers of the Truth, we should not sit by as ‘the quiet in the land’ while society around us falls into ruin,” wrote Miller from prison. “Rather our lives should be a prophetic protest, an exposé of Satan’s tyranny, and we should not hesitate to oppose His lies with the Truth, by word and action.”
The Mennonites of the “Nicaraguan Brotherhood” have also suffered persecution for allegedly harboring Isabella, but have refused to cooperate with Nicaraguan police in their search for the girl, stating that they would rather die than deliver her up to her persecutors.
“The fact is that suddenly we find ourselves having to choose between obeying God and man made laws,” the Nicaraguan Brotherhood wrote in a public statement issued in 2012. “We have chosen to obey God. We are willing to give up our rights, go to jail, or even die, for the cause of helping anyone become free from a sinful life and helping that person to live in obedience to God’s Word.”
Sworn affidavits submitted to courts regarding trauma suffered by Isabella
As LifeSiteNews has previously reported, a number of affidavits were submitted to the Vermont courts regarding troubling behavior and symptoms of trauma from Isabella following her court-ordered visits with Jenkins. Moreover, Lisa Miller herself spoke to LifeSite in 2008 about disturbing evidence of trauma suffered by her daughter following the visits.
Lisa Miller told LifeSite in an extensive 2008 interview that her child had shown anxiety and vexation regarding her visits with Jenkins, and complained of being required to bathe with Jenkins while Jenkins was naked. At one point, according to Lisa, Isabella placed a comb to her neck and said she wanted to kill herself. Lisa also noted that the child began openly masturbating following visits with Jenkins, something she had never done before. Miller also recounted to LifeSite that she herself had fled from Jenkins and had dissolved their civil union because of Jenkins’ abusive behavior towards her personally.
Miller and several other witnesses gave testimony about the trauma Isabella appeared to be suffering as a result of her visits with Jenkins in sworn affidavits submitted to the Vermont courts.
Among them is testimony by clinical therapist Sylvia Haydash, who had two clinical sessions with Isabella and observed her for an hour on another occasion. She concluded that the visits with Jenkins were doing serious harm to the child, causing anxiety, renewed bed-wetting, and general psychological regression.
“Isabella appears to have been traumatized by the limited visitation thus far, a serious consequence, taking Isabella in a negative direction as compared to Isabella’s condition before the recent visitations where she was a child that was well-adjusted, flourishing, above-the-curve developmentally, verbally gifted, and readily able to separate from Lisa and meet with other people,” wrote Haydash in 2007.
Zodhiates can be reached by mail at the following address:
Philip Zodhiates 18649-084
FCI Ashland
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 6001
Ashland, KY 41105
Contact the author at mhoffman@lifesitenews.com.
08
Dec
1095 Days to Go
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30
Nov
Support gathering for Philip Zodhiates tomorrow
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07
Feb
Sunday evening small groups
The Sunday evening committee is planning small groups for the upcoming Sunday evening on February 11.
The new groups are shown below.
Since this is the first time the groups are meeting, the suggested activity is simply getting together and having an informal time of getting to know each other.
Group leaders – you are responsible to contact everyone in your group and arrange a time and place. Not everyone has email, so not everyone has received this message.
Small Groups 2018
The name in bold is the person responsible to lead and organize the group and its activity. Please feel free to give comments or ask questions.
The Sun. evening Committee
Anthony Miller
Irvin Miller
Kenneth Troyer
Pat Wright
David Miller
Laura Summy
Bennie Byler
Titus Hershberger
Dan Chupp
Ray Cranfill
Darrell Hershberger
Julia Hershberger
Sadie Kinsinger
Jonathan Troyer
Jason Yoder
Fannie Mae Yoder
Tom Swarey
Paul Hershberger
Simon Schrock
Jarry Young
Ben Hershberger
Willis Miller
Duane Weaver
Allen Beiler
Jeffrey Miller
Edwin Summy
Larry Beiler
Jr. Beachy
Jonathan Miller
Maynard Miller
Fannie Miller
Katura Troyer
Jesse Hershberger
LaVerne Miller
Randy Miller
Wayne Troyer
Ivan Swarey
Ken Miller
Joey Miller
Duff Browne
Arlen Miller
Sadie Schrock
James Hershberger
Kenny and Rolanda
Wes Sensenig
David L. Miller
Becky Chupp
Allen Miller
Monroe Chupp
Noah Malinda Yoder
05
Feb
Pilgrim Announcements for Sunday, 2/4/2018
See last Sunday’s announcements for Sunday School information.
Announcements:
- Sister’s sewing tomorrow. Click here for Devotional Paper. For those who do not have e-mail but plan to be at the sewing, please call Ruth Weaver at (540) 280-1879 or Duane (540) 649-2643 and we will get one to you.
- Virginia school meeting here at Pilgrim on Friday. There will be a food list at the sewing tomorrow. Most people will need to sign up since we are providing 3 meals. You may call Sharon Troyer today to see what is needed.
- The youth should check the youth calendar for this week’s events
- Jonathan is preaching next Sunday
- Duane plans to be in Slanesville next Sunday