My Experience with The Budget 📰🗞️

My Experience with The Budget 📰🗞️

I’ll never forget the time I wrote in the Budget………

Ted and I plus our little son Jed were attending a Mennonite church in GA. We were learning a lot about how Mennonites live, and enjoying knowing our new friends there. They were such warm and caring friends, ready to help take on jobs that were open to fill. One of those jobs was writing for the Mennonite/ Amish newspaper called “The Budget”. 

“The Budget” consists mainly of columns written and sent in by scribes in various Mennonite and Amish communities all around the world. The Budget scribes document community events such as baptisms, weddings, births and funerals, as well as information on church attendance, visitors, weather, accidents or illnesses, agricultural happenings, special church and school events. It is similar to a collection of circle letters allowing folks to keep up with friends and relatives who live in far away communities. 

My friend Ruth was, at that time, writing for The Budget about the news of the Mennonite church and people there. She would let me read her copy of the weekly Budget newspaper and tell me interesting tidbits of different communities and people. It was intriguing to me and I enjoyed reading parts of it. 

After some time, it was announced at church that it was time for another scribe to take a turn writing for The Budget. No one volunteered right away which seemed unusual. My voice then softly squeaked out that I could do it. Most everyone looked over at me and seemed willing to let me try.  

I wasn’t sure what I had gotten myself into. I liked to write letters to friends but I’d never written anything of this sort. Not only that, I did not grow up in Mennonite or Amish communities. 

I started writing my first post by saying who I was, where I came from, and about our little family. I also wrote about when I was born again at 13, and some about when we met Mennonites, when Ted and I were newlyweds. I liked details so I wrote plenty of them! I’m not sure that was always a good idea!🫢

Next, I wrote about the events going on at our church, and special services. Things were written about the church school and about students graduating. More was written about visitors coming to church or a family gone on vacation, or to  a wedding or funeral. 

This scribe also wrote about families in the “family way”….. Mrs. So and so is expecting a baby in November! Mr and Mrs have 3 other children. Also written was an announcement of when Mr and Mrs So and so’s baby was born, name, weight, etc. I was really enjoying this new position of scribe for our community! 😊

Well one day I found in my mailbox a package from someone I did not know. It was addressed to me. I opened it to find a lengthy letter and a couple of books. The letter was from an older man from KY, I believe. He had read my epistles in “The Budget”. He wondered if I was REALLY born again. He had questions about what I had written. One of the books he sent was called “ No Graven Image “. It was like no other book I’d ever seen before. Very plain and to the point. It talked about pictures being a graven image and that God was against them. After reading some of the book, I admit I was kinda scared about it all. I took the package to my friends who were also our neighbors. They said “oh this is nothing to worry about!” “There are many different kinds of Mennonites and this group doesn’t believe you can have pictures of your family.” My friends assured me I was doing a fine job as scribe. Well that was a relief! I kept writing and sending my epistles to The Budget. 

In another day’s mail I received a letter from “THE BUDGET”…….. Hmmm….. I opened and read the note. The kind person told me I was doing a good job but there are some things that are not appropriate to be written about; they are taboo. See, in Amish communities they don’t talk ever about a woman expecting a baby. They wait until after the baby is born to say anything. Seems like there were a couple other things I had to be careful about but I don’t remember what it was now. I was put “on trial” for a time, but continued writing until it was time for a new scribe. The realization that I grew up so differently than their culture helped make it easy to keep on writing in “The Budget”.     I learned quite a bit about Mennonite and Amish culture through that time. I wonder if I was the only scribe for the Budget who was not born into a Mennonite or Amish community? I’ll probably never know, but I’m thankful for the time I was a scribe on behalf of our little community . 😊