Jerry S Eicher’s ‘My Amish Childhood’ opens with all the rural atmosphere and close family tradition you’d expect of an idyllic Amish country novel. But this is no made up fantasy. This is the real life story of two Amish families told from the recollections of one of its youngest members. Now matured into one of the most authoritative and engaging of Amish writers, Jerry S Eicher reveals the joys of an Amish boy and the hardships of a family focused community trying to forge a new – yet still traditional life, in a foreign land.

‘My Amish Childhood’ takes you from the Amish homelands to an Amish community ‘plant’ in Honduras; where the solid hard work of a plain people meets the colour and vitality of a Latin culture. It’s a true of story of hardship and happiness, triumph and tragedy as the best efforts of a Godly community struggle to establish a foothold in a foreign land.

Jerry relives his school days in the Amish community of Aylmer, Ontario and the move to Honduras. He shows you life in a beautiful, Central American Amish community seen through a boy's eyes, explains the family’s return to America and shares his life changing conversion to Christ and its effect on his childhood traditions and faith.

This is a book that fills out much of the essential background to Amish life and culture that will enrich your reading of novels, faith based fiction and other historical accounts set in the romantic Old Order Amish landscapes and communities.

My Amish Childhood and In The Land Of Blue Burqas

Jerry S Eicher, author of ‘My Amish Childhood’ was born in 1961 to a 19 year old Amish girl following a marriage contract that committed his mother to continue working on her father’s strawberry farm. But, arriving only a few days after the wedding baby Jerry reduced grandfather Stoll’s plans lay in tatters, and the new born innocent carried a burden of guilt that would haunt his later life.

Grandfather Stoll although jolly, was a regal with a quick temper that knew no distinction on rank or station – family, friends and even bishops alike suffered the fiery outbursts of his rage.

In the end, it was the old grandfather who would change the family’s fortunes. Grandfather Stoll had married the sister of an Amish intellectual who founded an Old Order Publishers, ‘Pathway Publishing’, with some of the old man’s sons. Jerry’s paternal grandfather - Eicher, ran the company’s print shop and worked the machinery. Jerry’s parents lived in the Stoll house until his father built the growing family of five a house near the Amish school.

Jerry paints a detailed and revealing picture of Amish domestic, educational and working life. The house of his family and grandparents is the focus for an existence that is plain, hard and satisfying simple in its joys and pleasures. Life looks set to continue in the time honoured Amish tradition until a dull glow red is seen on the horizon. Only later does Jerry learn that, a cooking accident in grandfather Stoll’s house had caused an explosion and a catastrophic fire. Although no one was hurt, his mother’s family home had been reduced to ashes.

The community rallied around to rebuild the old man’s house, but the fire had kindled a new idea in the patriarch’s mind – a calling to mission. An outsider, an ‘Englischer’ had told the grandfather of a children’s home mission begun in the South American country of Honduras. At the same time, an Amish ruling – an ‘ordnung’ was about to have a severe impact on Jerry’s father’s construction business.

Against this background, the families set in motion a search for land in Honduras where they could settle and begin a new life and found a new Amish community. In 1968 the Stoll-Eicher families and others that joined their exodus to a new Canaan took possession of the 550 acre Finca Sanson farm 3000 miles away and 3000 feet up a 3500 foot mountain.

This is the setting for Jerry S Eicher’s ‘My Amish Childhood’; his Honduran adventure and his return to the Amish homeland when the dream eventually evaporated. The book is an unusual insight into the workings and relationships within and without the ancient community, its struggles to survive and the resilience and determination of its members. It’s about loyalty faith and discovery.

Write a review

Over 14,000 churches and schools have upgraded to an Advance Account and we‘d love to welcome you into this free program. We know that church volunteers and school teachers often use their own money, then have claim it back on on an expense form. We can take all of that hassle away by invoicing your church or school directly and delivering your order straight away.

Opening an account is quick and easy, with most accounts being approved and setup within a few hours of filling in the form below (on weekdays, not weekends). As soon as we‘ve approved the application we‘ll send you an email to let you know that its done.

Upgrade to a FREE Eden Advance Account