“I shouldn’t promise,” Anna said, still trying to fathom the possible reason for this unexpected invitation.

“If you’re concerned ’bout fitting in with the womenfolk as far as dress and whatnot, I guarantee you will,” Marianna said encouragingly. She waved and went back to the main farmhouse, her long dress swishing through the grass.

Intrigued, Anna’s mind whirled at the prospect as she warmed up to the idea.

Maybe I should go, just this once. . . .

Anna enjoyed her Friday morning drive to Gabe and Emmie’s house. All the autumn colors were competing for superiority; even shrubs that were ordinary-looking all year long were decorated in beautiful hues that dominated the scenery.

Today she had remembered to bring along an old blanket, which Sadie had gladly donated to “cozy up” Emmie’s tree house. And because the weather was turning warmer than Anna had expected, she and Emmie only had to wear sweaters again, like last Friday.

Emmie had brought along a book of her own for Anna to read up high in the midst of the orange, leafy canopy. And looking at the front page of My Bible Friends, Anna noticed an inscription from Emmie’s mother, who’d also written the date. Feeling a twinge of sadness again for Emmie, Anna quickly moved on to the first story and began to read.

When she had finished reading, Anna suggested they climb back down and have some sliced apples and popcorn. Emmie nodded, and they headed to the house.

Recalling the conversation with Gabe about her stovetop popcorn, Anna made enough for the three of them while telling Emmie more Bible stories from memory. The child’s eyes brightened when hearing about little baby Moses being discovered in a basket in the bulrushes and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. And Anna found her heart touched once more by this dear little girl without a mother.

Anna ended up taking her car to Gabe’s uncle’s farmhouse at Peaceful Meadows, where Preaching service was being held that Lord’s Day morning. The round pen was especially quiet as she drove in to park, and fields of stubble where soybeans had been harvested caused her to think of her brother Wayne, who planted a big soybean crop of his own every spring. From thoughts of him, she began to ponder how Dat and Mamm would react to her attending an Old Order Amish Preaching service. Would they be terribly upset? She knew they would only want her to be baptized into the fellowship back home if she was ready to promise faithfulness to God and to the Beachy Amish church. Yet how will I know for sure if I don’t visit other churches? she wondered.

Getting out of the car, she saw many buggies already parked and noticed Marianna and Sadie discreetly waving her over toward the line of women, children, and babies, all of them waiting to go into the temporary house of worship.