An Amish Teen Faces Forbidden Interracial Love And A Life-Changing Choice

An 18-year-old Amish woman from Ohio writes us a letter that stops us cold: she met a young man during Rumspringa, fell hard, and now she’s staring at a rule her community does not bend. Michael Jace is respectful, faith-driven, close with his family, and serious about her. There’s only one problem her parents may never forgive: he’s Black, and interracial relationships are treated as forbidden in her corner of Amish culture.

If you care about Amish Rumspringa stories, interracial dating advice, strict religious communities, and choosing happiness without losing yourself, you’ll feel this one. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with your answer: would you follow your heart or protect your place in the community?

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Transcript

Rebecca Shares A Forbidden Love

Amish Rules And Community Life

What Rumspringa Really Means

Courting Customs And Bundling Explained

Following Love Across Race Lines

Talking To Parents And Facing Shunning

Final Advice And Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Yes, yes, yes. How's everybody doing out there? Y'all doing all right? Sorry, little technical difficulty there. I'm like the stupid candle and the wick is gone. Y'all doing alright out there? I'm good. It's been a great week. It's been a interesting week, but it's been a fun week. You know? The world's still in hell, uh, thanks to this idiot dumbass present that we have. But hey, we're still here, right? We're still here. Okay, so um what else? It's been a good day, good week. Uh just grinding, working, trying to get ready for my daughter's graduation. But hey, it's all good. So, in any event, we are going to uh get into a letter that was sent to me from a young lady who is apparently Amish. Truth be told, the surprising thing is that she actually caught an episode or two, which not even sure how the hell that even happened, but she caught an episode, so it is what it is, right? Oh god, I love V. So what else? There was something else I want to talk about before we got into this letter. But I can't for the life of me think about it what it was or what it is. In any event, uh I guess we're just gonna get right into the show and uh see how this letter takes us. So this letter is left, it's called entitled The Life I Left Behind. And again, this young lady is from the Amish community. Um, and we'll get into that because there's three different types of I mean I want to say three different types of religion with these people. There's Amish, there's Quakers, and there's Mennonites, but we'll get into that, and we will uh kind of take it from there. But for right now, let's go ahead and get into this letter. Ah, I still keep there was something I was supposed to tell you guys, but I don't know what it was. Any event. Here we go. The life I left behind. Ms. Hello, Mr. Icon. My name is Rebecca, and though I have heard of your show, I now get to enjoy it and listen freely. I'm sorry if my words don't make any sense, but I hope my story will. I'm 18 years old, I really don't need your advice, but then again, I kinda need an outsider's advice on my questions. That's kinda odd. So my name is Rebecca, I'm from Ohio. I'm an Amish lady that's somewhat experienced the outside world, but not quite. I'm curious about the outside, but not too curious. I'm not sure if you know about my Amish faith and what we do. Well, my time is about to end with Rumsfringer, we'll get into that too, and though I found love, I feel that the community will not accept him. But this is why I need your opinion on the matter. We met a few years ago during a county fair. Though we weren't allowed to have any kind of technology in the home, we always found a way to keep in contact. I never felt this way about a person such as him, but he has a kind heart. His family either owns a farm or does something with farming. But he is well put together, and his family is well known in church, which is what I like and holds dear to my heart. But the problem is, Mr. Icon, he's a black boy. Okay, black boy, yeah. I truly don't care because my heart is calling out to him, to me about him. But in our faith, in our culture, race mixing is unheard of and is forbidden. I'm the third youngest, and my Pa has four girls, Pa. Huh. They call him Pa, I don't know. And though the two oldest decided to follow their faith and come back to the Amish community and even married to an Amish man, both of them did, but I don't want that. I want to be with Michael Jace. Oh, I'm sorry, that's his name. Michael Jace or MJ. When I went to Rumspringer, Rumspringer, I hope I'm pronouncing this right. There, me and Michael Jace talked about everything. My heart was filled with love. The love that I have for him because he's such an honest man, but he's the wrong color in my parents' eyes. But we don't get many people like him in our community because everything is stays in-house. That's what I can't agree on. We usually don't have much connection outside of the world, but I honestly know what I want to do, but my family would be disappointed with me. But I honestly don't care. I went to meet his family and I was very surprised because they were very religious and welcomed me in with open arms. We sat down, we talked, and you can tell that Michael Jace had been courting me. My heart is filled with even more joy because on the way on the way on the way his family was with Wait, my heart was filled with even more joy because of the way his family was with me. There are six of them, with Michael Jace being the middle child. I've never experienced a family like this, partly because I'm Amish and we don't get to do things like this. They've even invited me for Sunday dinner. In my word, Mr. Icon, the food was like nothing I've had before. They also attend a Baptist church that I'm not familiar with. Well, why would you be? But hey. I honestly don't know much about their about other cultures besides my own culture. We don't really have anything else besides our businesses that are often sold. Wait, we don't really have any else besides our business that are often sold at our local store. We really just get a lot of people that look like me and occasionally other races, but nothing like what I've experienced with Michael J's. Mr. Icon, we haven't even kissed, just held hands, he's really a gentleman. I know that if I leave my community, my life will still be good because I talked to his mother and she's offered me a job with the family business, and they really accept me. And I told them that my faith in God is above all, and she said hers is as well as her family. I love my family, and I appreciate everything they have taught me. But I really want to take this step, and though I wouldn't be far from my family, it's just that they wouldn't believe that my heart wants and desires that the love of another race and culture. I don't know what others will think of me and my family, but I hope they won't look down on them for choosing on look down on them for me choosing to live my life the way I want. My sisters think I'm doing what's right. They said they wish they would have waited, but they would be happy for me. They also came with me to meet Michael J's family, and we had a great time with them. And though I wish our community wasn't so sheltered about the world sometimes, I understand. I don't because there's a lot of good people in the world. So, Mr. Icon, I'm asking for your advice as well as your opinion, please. Is this what happiness is like? I feel this is what I want. What would my parents think? Is there there's also lots of god there's also a lot of gossip in the option community. So I honestly don't see how it's any different from common folk. Okay. Signed a Amish love. Well, definitely a lot to take in there. Um Miss Rebecca, wow, that's definitely different. Um never have I ever had a an Amish person right to me. Thanks for catching the show. I mean, not even sure I even got to listen to it, but hey, whatever. I appreciate it. But um so Miss Rebecca is Amish. Amish are the much more stricter of the Mennonites and the Quakers. Now, I'm gonna break down what their religion is involved in, but for the Amish, technology is strictly limited, they don't use any type of electricity, cars, or even internet in their homes. Um, transportation is a horse-drawn buggy. Um, of course, if you guys have been in the world long enough, maybe you've seen them, maybe you haven't. I know we have an Amish community here, but it's kind of on the outskirts of the uh city. Sometimes you'll pass one of the country roads and the horse and carriage or the buggy or whatever, and you'll see that. Um their faith is strictly, very strict, um, it's mostly held in private homes on a rotating basis. Um, they dress strictly in plain solid colors, no buttons, no specific hats or bonnets. Um and they practice strict social exclusion. Um, so that's what the Amish do. Now, Miss Rebecca, which I'm assuming is all Amish, um, she has it kind of rough, but there are good qualities about being Amish because, like she said, they do keep everything in-house, everything is done strictly in-house, there's no contact with the outside world, and what I can say that I do like about the Amish community is that though it is a community, they don't they keep everything in-house. If there's a disagreement with somebody, they sit down, they work it out. Their faith in God is above all anything else. I mean, that's the way it should be, but hey, you know, it's it's what it is. I believe in God, I love the Lord, and I pray to him every day. Um but I don't know. So she's in love with a black young man. Now, I've never ever ever seen an Amish girl fall for a black man or black boy as she called it, but it's okay because she doesn't really know. So um getting back to the different types, Mennonites are somewhat like in between, they're in between the Quakers and the Amish, but not too they're not too bad. They use cars, electricity, and cell phones, mostly cars to an older group, or still or some still use buggies. So they have their church in designated buildings or meeting house. Um they dress traditional, plain dress, standard modern clothing, generally uh lenient and do not practice no form of shunning. So shunning in the Amish community means that you can't go against something that the Amish community believes in. Like this is what Mr. Beck is talking about. She has been known to be courting with an outsider um that is not only of different race, but um not only is he a man, but he's a different race, what I meant to say. So that is strictly forbidden in the Amish community. You cannot date against your race. I don't know why that is, I don't get it. I I I honestly don't know. Um, but what she's saying is that she's afraid that if she takes this step, oh, hold on. Rumspringer is a um hold on, I had it here. Rumspringer is a type of um, I don't understand. Um okay. So Rumspringer is a running around kind of period that adolescents go through. They are um they're basically going out into the world to see if they allow teenage to explore the world, the worldly lifestyle, and before deciding to get baptized and come back into the fold of the Amish community. Now, I know we've seen uh shows on TV, growing up Amish and stuff like that. That stuff is kind of not real, somewhat real, but not kinda, because we know reality TV is not always what it used to be, isn't always not what it seems. So um Rumspringer starts around the age of 16 and can last up to 18, so technically they have two years to decide if they want to stay with the community or they want to go out and start their own lifestyle. So that's what I gather from Rumspringer. Now, um the crazy thing is that when they go out and do this, they're still in their Amish attire, so they don't really have you know different type of clothing or nothing like that or anything like that. So this is what they do. So um that's basically what Rumspringer is. So now getting back to the dating of and courtship. So courting means oh, courting means it's it's basically like you're just getting to know this person and you're trying to um see if they like you. It's just basically just another term for dating. You know, you're getting to know this person, you're getting to see if you have feelings that they can because I learned this in the Philippines, they use courting a lot. They don't say dating, they say courting. Will you court me? And that's just a idea of you trying to get to know them and for you to make the young lady try to fall in love with you, or y'all develop some kind of feelings. Now, I yeah, this is very different for me. Because again, I've never heard of an Amish young lady dating a black man, but during the whole dating process begins at 16. Um, boys and girls they sit across from each other, they sing hymns. Afterwards, the boy may often drive her home in a buggy. You know, it's it's what it is. They don't have cars, they have buggies. The dating process often takes place on the weekends at the girl's home, involving shared meals, board games, or buggy rides, where in some community relationship is kept relatively secret until an engagement is near. Now, get this betting, bundling, bundling, bed courtship. This is crazy. A couple may participate in bundling, where they lie in the bed fully clothed, talking together. Now, how freaking weird is that? I guess it's not weird because we do that now, but if I'm in the bed with you, damn it, something's gonna go down. You know, I'm not just gonna sit in here with my clothes and we're gonna be talking about, you know, oh, how was your day? Oh, you know what's good. No, we are coming undone, and we are getting ready to do the do. That's just me. But I mean, unless your heat is on, I could that could be the only reason why I see you in a lot of clothes and y'all sit on the bed talking or whatever. But it's it's it's different. It's different. So um Now, for the Quakers, Quakers are they use the same thing as Mennonites do. They're not really um They're not really too strict, but they do follow their values. Um the clothing is Molly. Uh it's just it's it's just the same. I mean, you can't really tell them apart unless you know what they're about in their community. The only thing I can say about the options is that they do everything, everything. They build their own homes, they have their own food, and man, can they bake the hell out of some pie? Oh my gosh. They can cook. I give it nothing, they can cook. Now they don't use no seasonings, or so I'm told they don't use no seasonings, but that's basically what they do. Oh crap. Any event, um that is in a nutshell, what she's kind of faced with. Though with the strict community, the Amish community, they don't really deal with the outside world. They don't even keep in contact with the outside world. Now, for her to like this young man means that her family could face some backlash. I'm not really sure. Well, no, I don't think they'll face backlash. I think she'll just be talked about among the community because in the community, it is like uh there's a lot of gossip. Now you gotta figure out these people don't have TVs, they don't have any contact with the outside world. So, what more is there to talk about? I mean, that's what I'm saying. So, I think Miss Rebecca, I think you should follow your heart. If you think that you're gonna have a good life with this young man and you don't want to make your parents pissed off, well, this is what your rumspringer is for. You're 18, you're coming to the end of rumspringer, and you're going to get ready to come into adulthood, or if you have an RDR, then so I think that you should definitely. I mean, I know it's gonna be hard going against your parents because oh boy, god forbid if y'all have children, because I'm not even sure what that's gonna look like. You know, I never really thought about this because I've never seen any Amish people date outside their their race or their culture because of their faith. Usually, when they do this, when they get married, it's somebody within the community. Um, there's a guy, there's a guy in the community that they're courting with or whatever, but I mean it's just gonna be different. Now, I know that your parents are probably gonna be hurt behind this, and I can understand why then the same kind of don't because the Amish community is not a community that's gonna let anybody in, so it's gonna be hard for a man, especially a black man, to try to get into the Amish community and try to convert to being Amish. Because I've never seen any Amish person, any black man convert to being Amish, I've just haven't seen that. So, what I think is gonna be an uphill battle is because that she's basically gonna lose her family, but she wants to follow her heart, and with that, to me, I think she should follow her heart because if you stay within the community, and let's say you got through the rumspringer and you decide you want to go back to the faith, well, you're not gonna be happy, you're gonna be probably miserable because, like you said, Mr. Michael Jace is somebody that you can relate to, and somebody that has your heart and that you like everything he stands for, and his family either owns I don't know what they do something with farming. So, apparently this family is well off, and the mother said that even though you didn't explain much about it, but I'm pretty sure the mother knows about your religion and about your faith, so I think that she's going to not really supplement um who your mother is, but I think she's gonna try to give you an opportunity for you to work with her family because I gotta be honest with you, it sounds like this family is a really good family, and it sounds like everything that you want to happen is going to happen, but it has to be all up to you. Yes, there's gonna be heartbreak, yes, your parents are probably gonna be upset, they're probably gonna be more upset because you fell in love with a black person, a black man, black boy, whatever. You fell in love with this black boy, and though it's frowned upon, I can see the mother kind of sneaking away, but the well, I really can't see that neither because I don't really think they go against their I don't think really think they go against the man, or do they? I don't know. Hold on, yeah. I know I gotta get some drink. So if you two desire each other, the heart wants what the heart wants. I would simply say that you should go for it, and when you go for it, it's gonna be hard because you're gonna be without the backing of your family. Now your sisters said that they are happy for you, and I guess that's okay, but I know that if you decide to get married to Mr. Michael J's, which I'm sure you will, um, because you guys haven't even had kissed or did anything, so this is a downright definition of a good dude right here. Jesus, Lord of mercy. A really good dude. Because this guy is a man, and he's brought up really his upbringing is like his upbringing, no cap is like top tier, you know. So I know you're getting a better guy or better person in your parents' eyes, he's just the wrong color, and I can't say that you're gonna take him back to the community order. I'm not even sure that's even if you can do that. Maybe you will, maybe you won't. I don't know, but all I can say is if this is somebody who makes you happy, what's stopping you? You are about to be a younger one, a young, a young lady who is clearly about to make her own choices, and though it's gonna be frowned upon, you might you're definitely gonna get shunned. Um, that word shunned is like wow. So they're definitely gonna out you in the community, but and I've seen some documentaries on YouTube where how much people have taken to the world and decided that they want to stay in that world, and majority of them go out there to live better lives, they have a good life, they do great things or whatever, they just don't want to stay in that community. Because though it's a strict faith-based community, it's not really made for everybody, you know. But when they give you guys this chance to go to Rumspringer and you guys go out there and you see the world, well, I don't know how many what percentage goes back, I don't know what percentage stays there, or I don't know what percentage, I don't know none of that. I don't all I know is that if you want to be happy, be happy. Don't let nobody stand in the way of your happiness, not even your parents. I would tell my kids the same thing. I mean, it's let's be honest, not like this guy is he's bad news, he's clearly somebody who that you like and that you both have profound respect for, and it's clearly the guy that is going to make you happy. Why not be happy? Just be happy. Well, that's one of the experiences that you get to experience, you know, being Amish and growing up in this world, which is different because when you're in this kind of community, you're shut off from everything. There's no contact, no nothing with the outside world. Everything you know and see is done in the Bible. I'm not sure what kind of Bible that they read, um, or what they do, but according to this, men hold the authority in church, you know, men ultimately have to say so. So it's not like the woman has to well, it kind of is. The woman is the homemaker, she's responsible for cooking, cleaning, taking care of the household. I honestly don't see how the Amish people do it, because but then again, if you're born and raised in that lifestyle, then I understand. But if you've never seen a TV, read a newspaper, or heard anything outside this com this this your community, I mean, I guess you're doing right, I guess you're doing good, I guess that lifestyle is just working for a lot of people. I mean, I honestly couldn't do that lifestyle, but then again, because as soon as I would have hit Run Springer, I would have been like, Yeah, this is this is definitely this is my life, this is what I want to do. So, while I give you credit, again, I know this is gonna hurt, and I know it's gonna hurt your family, but you have to do what's gonna make you happy. Nobody can control your happiness with you, and unless, like I said, if you stay there and if they find you a guy or you or another guy starts courting you, well, your heart's not gonna be 100% invested in that guy because your heart's gonna be with Michael Jace, and you're gonna end up not knowing the road you could have taken if you didn't take that road. So, I think that you should have a talk with your parents, uh, let your parents know the way that you're feeling. There's gonna be some kickback, there's gonna be some drawback. Ultimately, you're probably gonna kick out the community, but if love trumps all of that, then nobody should be able to stand in the way of love for you. So, while I think it's a good thing in this letter is a good letter that you wrote to me. Um, I think you gotta go out there and choose what's gonna be best for Miss Rebecca. And as I said before, if his parents are welcoming you into their family, I don't really like saying this, though you're gonna lose a family, but you're again you're gonna gain another family. And let's be honest with you, Amish people, they're not really stubborn, but they're kind of set in their ways. And when I say they're set in their ways, there's no looking back with them, there's no going back and saying, Well, oh, we're gonna go ahead and you know, um, welcome you back into the fold, even though you've done this thing. And if your parents have been in this community since the dawn of time or the or the beginning of time, only way I can see them getting out of this is if they decide they want to leave the community too as well. But you don't know if that's gonna happen. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Um, I don't even know if how much parents leave the community. You know what? I can look that up right quick. Um give me just a second. Okay, okay, so it does say that they do. It says that almost parents and individuals can leave can do individuals can and do leave their communities, though retention rates are high, roughly 85 to 90 percent staying, leaving usually encouraged on the rum spring before baptism to avoid strict shunning. Some baptized adults also depart, reasons including seeking freedom from restrict regulations, modern technology, or disagreeing with the church leadership. So I get that now. So it says here that you know parents can leave the community. Now, Miss Rebecca, I'm gonna put something else. I'm gonna give you something else to say, or something else to think about. I don't know if this is gonna be good for you or good for your parents. I know it's gonna be good for you. I don't know if it's gonna be good for your parents, maybe, but I don't know because it seems they're really in tune to this community. So maybe if they do decide to come out and see you and support you, I don't know, maybe they could think about leaving the community, but I don't know if they would though, because I think if they've been in this thing since the day one, since the beginning, well, I know leaving the community would be a lot harder for them, um, versus you because you're younger, they're older, and I think for them they don't want to start all over and you know try to put down roots somewhere. I mean, let's be honest with you. Homes people they're crafty, they're crafting with wood, they can build like furniture, they can build a whole house, and they have like wow, they can do it all. But I don't know if they want to leave that lifestyle just to risk seeing you or the life that you're gonna have. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Um I know that it's gonna be a lot of kickback and a lot of drawback um when you do decide to leave because your Pappy or your Paw has four girls, and I know he wants to see all his girls stay within the community because you didn't say anything about well, I know that they're they're strict there, and I know that they have disagreements with technology and the way that this world is being run, I get that, but you didn't say if there's anything else besides just you being in love with Jace, Michael Jace. So, while I think that you should definitely take a chance on this and see if your parents would be on board with you know, maybe getting out or just trying to meet this young man and to meet his family, because you never know. This could go in a good way, this could be a good thing for them to get out and to meet this young man. Now, I don't think you've told them that he's black, um, because if you did, this letter would probably go a totally different way, but at some point you're gonna have to tell your parents, you're gonna let your parents know that you do love them, but this is my life, I want to take a chance on him. His faith in God is strong as well as our faith. So I don't think it's going to be that bad. And if he's in a Baptist church, um, I don't know what religion Amish people practice. I don't know if they're Baptists, I want to say they're Baptists, but I don't know, huh? But if they so if they if they do decide to leave their community, um maybe something good can come out of this. But I'm not saying they're gonna do that. I'm just putting this bug in your ear. That if they do decide to stick with you, stick with you, but I'm not sure why they're doing it because there's three other girls. Let's just say hypothetically that they did leave. Let's just say hypothetically that they left and that they decided that they wanted to follow you. How do you think that's gonna make them feel? Do you think they're gonna be good about it, happy about it, or because let's be real clear about something. Though Amish people do everything in-house, I'm not even sure how they spend currency within their community. I don't know, you know how that works. I don't know. I guess I probably should have done a little bit more homework, but my focus is uh is on you and your happiness. So I hope that you're gonna be happy. I want you to be happy. I hope that this podcast brings you some kind of joy, but I would definitely talk to your parents because talking to them is gonna be not really the final the final decision because it's ultimately your decision to do what you want to do, but you gotta outweigh the good with the bad. And so far, I don't see anything that's bad with Mr. Michael Jace because I see that everything that you're telling me in this letter is a good thing, and while it's a good thing, I think that you should take this chance upon your life and just go for it. I mean, if this was me, I would probably do that. Because if I found somebody that's outside the community, and I'm not trying to say that you can't find anybody within your community, I think that I think that when you find somebody that you love, you you want that love, and though he's a different color than you, though he is not white, um, it's definitely gonna be a lot of kickback, definitely gonna be a lot of talking among the honest people. They're gonna be there's gonna be words like why could she why couldn't you just choose a good wholesome man here? You know, there was a video that I seen um going around, I don't know if it's on YouTube or TikTok, but there was these Amish girls that met these black boys, and they were like smitten with her from the beginning. And then the Amish boys, the white boys, of course, they were looking like, oh my god, they're black. And then the white girl, the one white girl was describing the black boy as he was just so handsome, his chest, oh my god, and I was like, Yeah, I lost that one. So I honestly thought that was a little I was getting, but I don't think it is. I don't think it is. I'm just saying, but it's it's okay to feel the way you feel, you know. Eventually, and I'm not saying that this is bound to happen, but the hard one, what's the hard one? So you gotta take your faith in your heart. I'm pretty sure you pray to God every night, and you're probably asking if this is the right decision for you. You're probably waiting for a sign that asked this the right decision for you. Listen, there are no red flags here. I don't see any red flags, I see all green flags, all gold flags, I see it all. I don't see anything that's gonna be wrong with this relationship besides that you're just two of two different backgrounds, you're two different cultures. Now, you met his parents, they welcomed you into the fold. I think that's going to be a good thing for you. I think that you're going to be successful. I think that though your family might not approve of this, well, his family does, and as long as you have the approval of one family, then maybe eventually the other family will come around. Who knows? Maybe they will, maybe they won't. But you can't really control who you fall in love with. Well, hold on. You can't control who you fall in love with, but this is what your heart wants. If you lay up all night, well, not lay up, no, okay, we'll say layup. If you lay up all night, you're thinking about this young man, he gives you butterflies, you give him butterflies. Why not just be happy with that? Now, I don't think that I just don't think that it's bad. And for the life of me, I can't find anything that's gonna suggest otherwise because you're not doing this to despite your family, you do this because you fell in love with a young man that you didn't know that you could fall in love with. Now, I'm not gonna say you're gonna be corrupted by this world because I know that if your faith is strong and you hold that dear to your heart, then anything and everything is possible and limitless. So don't go into this thinking that what you're doing is wrong. Yes, this community that you that you that you're living in, it's though it's a small community, it's not really the world, it's not people that's gonna look down on you because after you leave, the sad thing is you may or may not see these people because of I'm not sure how far you stay from Mr. Jace, but you guys talk about you at a county fair, so clearly this is a small town, so you guys are kind of close to the town, and I'm saying that if you're close in the town, then that means your family the family has a business in town, so but I hope that you and Mr. Michael J's can meet your parents, whether it be on someplace outside the community or someplace outside the community, because again, I don't and I'm not saying that nothing bad is gonna happen to them if you bring them back there, but it's just gonna be a lot of talk again. Like you said, y'all don't really see that many people of color that come through unless they're coming to your stores and they're buying goods and they're moving on. But nobody anticipated that you were gonna fall in love with a Michael Jace, which I'm not sure how old he is, but pretty sure he's around the same age as you. But you gotta be optimistic about this, you gotta be happy about this, you gotta be overjoyed about this because nobody's gonna stand in between. Your happiness and his happiness. Like I said, this young man sounds like a well-respected young man. He comes from a good family background, his faith is strong, and he's doing everything right to make you happy. And the crazy thing is, as young as you guys are, yeah, I ain't even had no sex. I'm like, whoa, holy crap. It's amazing. But you said you didn't really need my advice, but here you are taking my advice. But I hope the advice that you receive is good advice. Because at the end of the day, I want you to be happy. And let's be honest, there's a lot of cultures out there that just don't like race mixing. And I'm not sure why that is. Um, for this particular community, I can't really say it's to ensure that their people survive because their people are gonna survive. Now, what I'm talking about is that um will you be looked at among the world? Probably not, not really, because race mixing is all over, and it's all over, and it's not really uh it's all over in the US, so to speak. Other cult other countries, other cultures, not so much because everything is kept in-house. I mean, you have these one culture countries that don't really see a lot of people like me, or maybe you and your Amish girl in other cultures. So you said you didn't hear anything. Well, you haven't heard anything bad about this young man, which that's also a good thing. So, my guess is that this guy is keeping himself or he's saving himself for you, and you're saving yourself for him. That is commendable, that is good, because in this day and age, we know that um lore horny teens just like to run around like rabbits and eat or dogs in eat. Oh my goodness. But that's just to be left as something to be said. I mean, I honestly managely don't know because you know, I'm raising teenagers, and though majority of them are not sexually active, but it's it leaves a lot to say that what in God's name is that oh, hold on. Trying to figure out what the ring was. What was I saying? Okay, so like I was saying, you're 18 years old, and it's like you bought you guys are both saving yourself for each other. That is very commendable, that is very admirable, that's very honorable to tell you the truth, because truth be told, you don't really see that these days, and though you don't see that these days, it's a rarity. But I think what you have is somebody who is really who's really invested in you and who really enjoys you and you enjoy him. So I hope you guys take this time to get to know each other and to understand each other and to really be happy with each other. Because that's all we can have in this world is being happy. Now I'm not saying your community is gonna come around and welcome any and everybody there into the fold because it's just not gonna happen. So it's not gonna happen because it's their culture, that's their beliefs, that's their faith, and it's weird because goodness, how do we even get here? You know? I don't know. But if I was in Mr. Michael J's position, I would be going. I would be doing what he's doing. I almost said something else, so I had to catch myself. So, Miss Rebecca, I wish you the best of luck. I wish you all the happiness in the world. I wish that hopefully your parents may come around because, like I said before, I'm pretty sure you guys are gonna be um not having kids now, but maybe you guys are gonna wait until after the fact. I know your wedding is gonna be something quite different because I don't know, maybe your parents could be there. Maybe they can be there, and maybe they can. Oh, goodness gracious. Maybe your parents can be there. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Hold on, folks. Okay, so like I was saying, I hope that you guys share a good life together. I hope that everything is going to be good for you. I hope that everything that you want that you achieve in life is going to be good because I think it's gonna be good for both of you guys. And I want to say thank you for writing me this letter because I do a little homework on this one, but it's all good though. So, like I said, I encourage you guys to talk to your parents. If you can bring Mr. Michael J around your parents and they can see him for the man that he is, maybe just maybe they may have a change of heart. I don't know if they will, you know, like I said, because almost people are kind of setting their ways. When I say they're setting their ways, they are really setting their ways, they are just yeah. But as we get ready to close the show out, I want to say thank you to my listeners. Thank you for the downloads. Thank you for you guys coming in here and just listening to me talk about other people's experience, trying to give them good advice. So I hope you guys have a good week. I hope everything goes well. There's still something I had to say, but I forgot what it was. I don't know what it was. But this letter was definitely an eye-opener for me because I've never had an Amish person writing to me, and I'm still trying to figure out how you can listen to my show or how you even got a hold of my show because y'all have zero technology. Zero. I mean, how y'all got a cell phone in there in there it's like seeing a phone through jail in jail, it's like contraband. Phone check, homie. But hey, you got it, so I don't know. But here's something that's also fascinating. You know, the Amish people, their school usually ends around eighth grade, so Mr. Beck, you're gonna have a lot, not really a lot, because I think that though this world's gonna be kind of hectic for you, I think you can navigate the world because you have Mr. Michael J's parents who's also gonna help you through this. So I think that while you're in love, but you're gonna have a lot of learning to do in reference to the relationship, the type of relationship that you want, the type of relationship that he's gonna want, and it's just gonna be different for you. But I think um, as long as you guys stay grounded, stay in faith, I think you'll both be alright. I don't think there's anything that can ever come between you, the both of you guys, because it sounds like you are really happy with this young man, and I hope in my heart that you guys um get together, you guys stay happy, and you just stay in love forever. Because love is a rarity these days, it's very hard to find. And though I was very impressed to see this letter, because you're just a different type of young lady, let's be real honest, and different is what I'd like. Uh, I can't say I'm gonna go out there and find Om Scroll because I wouldn't even know the first place to look if I did see one. So, but hold your value true to your heart, stay in faith, you guys take care of yourself and each other, and until next time, I will talk to y'all later. But right now, we're gonna leave you with this last track called Keep Up by Nissa. So, I want to say thank you for listening to the show, and we will see y'all next time.

SPEAKER_02 55:33

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