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On October 2, 2006, a mass shooting occurred at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township, Pennsylvania. Thirty-two-year-old Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and shot ten girls (aged 6–13), killing six unsuspecting citizens (five in the initial incident, and a sixth who succumbed to her injuries in 2024), before dying by suicide in the schoolhouse. The emphasis on forgiveness and reconciliation in the Amish community's response was widely discussed by the national media. The West Nickel Mines School was later demolished, and a new one-room schoolhouse, the New Hope School, was built at another location. It is the deadliest school shooting in Pennsylvania history. [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=122136889371248652&set=p.122136889371248652&type=3] https://amishamerica.com/20-years-have-passed-nickel-mines-amish-school-shootings/ |
20 years ago on October 2, 2006, a mass shooting occurred at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township, Pennsylvania. Thirty-two-year-old Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and shot ten girls (aged 6–13), killing six unsuspecting citizens (five in the initial incident, and a sixth who succumbed to her injuries in 2024), before dying by suicide in the schoolhouse. The emphasis on forgiveness and reconciliation in the Amish community's response was widely discussed by the national media. The West Nickel Mines School was later demolished, and a new one-room schoolhouse, the New Hope School, was built at another location. It is the deadliest school shooting in Pennsylvania history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Nickel_Mines_School_shooting
I will post two articles on this incident before a prayer. Let me give my thoughts first, I offer my condolences to the loved ones of the victims and I also admire the forgiveness and reconciliation in the Amish community.
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Today marks 20 years
since the Nickel Mines Amish school shootings. https://amishamerica.com/20-years-have-passed-nickel-mines-amish-school-shootings/ [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19TnZUnEd1/] |
Today marks
20 years since the Nickel Mines Amish school shootings.
Naomi Rose Ebersol was 7 years old when she lost her life that day 
Her parents, Amos and Kate, still keep a cabinet of her toys, her dolls, and
dried flowers from her memorial.
Among the keepsakes is a model state police car, still in its box.
It was given to them by the trooper who carried Naomi Rose out of the school
that day.
Full story in first comment.
(Image: LancasterOnline/YT)
https://amishamerica.com/20-years-have-passed-nickel-mines-amish-school-shootings/
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19TnZUnEd1/]
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Oh friends…. I just saw
that Today marks twenty years since the Nickel Mines Amish school shooting in
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where five precious girls lost their lives. We
remember those children, the survivors, and the families whose lives were
forever changed. [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14qc8SPrFRj/] https://amishamerica.com/20-years-have-passed-nickel-mines-amish-school-shootings/ |
Oh friends….
I just saw that Today marks twenty years since the Nickel Mines Amish school
shooting in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where five precious girls lost
their lives. We remember those children, the survivors, and the families whose
lives were forever changed.
Did you know that the wife of the shooter once wrote me a letter? She was so
sweet and I felt God’s love and forgiveness had penetrated her heart!
Amish America shared a reflection about Naomi Rose Ebersol’s parents. They
still treasure their daughter’s keepsakes, and they spoke about having to
forgive “again and again.”
Those words are worth sitting with.
Sometimes we think forgiveness is something we do once, and then our hearts
should never hurt again. But grief doesn’t follow a timetable. A memory comes.
An anniversary arrives. And we may find ourselves bringing that same sorrow
back to Jesus.
Forgiveness doesn’t make what happened acceptable. It doesn’t erase the love or
the loss. We can grieve deeply and still ask God to help us forgive.
And sometimes that prayer may be very simple: “Lord, this still hurts. Please
help me.”
In Ephesians 4:32, we are called to kindness, tenderheartedness, and
forgiveness because God has forgiven us through Christ. How much we need His
grace to live that out, especially when our own strength feels so small.
When I talk about the Simple Life, keeping God at the center is the heart of
it. Making time for prayer. Loving the people He has placed around us. Allowing
Jesus to shape how we respond to hurt. Depending on Him for the grace we need
today, and returning to Him tomorrow.
A life centered on God can still hold deep sorrow. We don’t have to hide that
sorrow from Him.
I would never want to use these parents’ forgiveness to rush someone else’s
healing. Their story invites us to reflect gently, and to remember how much we
all need the Lord.
Please join me in praying for the Nickel Mines families and for the family of
the Robert’s family who were also devastated.
Jesus, draw near to every heart still grieving. Hold these families close.
Teach us to walk humbly, love tenderly, and extend the grace we have received
from You. Help us trust You with what still hurts. Amen. 
Susan Hougelman
Feeling
sad amongst the Simple Life
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14qc8SPrFRj/]
https://amishamerica.com/20-years-have-passed-nickel-mines-amish-school-shootings/
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25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? – John 11 vs 25-26 (KJV) “Teach your children that worshipping God is the greatest calling in our lives. Teach them that they were created to glorify God.” — Joel R. Beeke PHOTO CAPTION: An Amish Family praying together [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.belovedspear.org/2007/03/taking-best-seats_05.html] https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2025/11/leading-family-worship-by-joel-beeke.html https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2025/11/leading-family-worship-by-joel-beeke_27.html https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2026/04/easter-prayers.html |
Blessed Father, I pray for the souls of our loved ones taken too soon. I pray that justice will be served as you see fit. I pray that those mourning souls left behind to grieve their loved ones be lifted up and carried by you through their pain. Give them STRENGTH to face another day, HOPE that their loved one is comforted in eternal Paradise and HEALING so that they will remember with love and joy in their hearts and minds. Continue to hold our loved ones in your Grace, comfort them and protect them. We know you gave your only begotten son so that he may suffer for our sins and give everlasting life in Heaven. For this Jesus, we thank you! Please bless every person who reads this and is touched, every person who writes and is moved and every person whose life is affected by the taking of one life by another. In your name I pray, AMEN!
Stiftung Schleife & Täuferhöhle Links:
“Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” – Psalm 85:10 (KJV)
A PRAYER FOR RECONCILIATION AND UNITY FOR THE PROTESTANTS AND THE ANABAPTISTS
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2026/08/a-prayer-for-reconciliation-and-unity.html
“Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” –Psalm 116:7 ESV
Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. – Psalm 116:7 (KJV)
Kehre zurück, meine Seele, zu deiner Ruhe, denn der Herr hat dir wohlgetan! – Psalmen 116:7 (SCH2000)
Sei nun wieder zufrieden, meine Seele; denn der HERR tut dir Gutes. – Psalm 116:7 (LUTH1545)
“We thank you from our hearts that you have come as a table of fellowship to break bread together with Jesus our Lord. We bless you that these days will be days of refreshing, for your days when friendships and relationships will be released anew where hope will return. It says in Psalm 116:7 (KJV): Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee…… And I want to speak this over the Anabaptists. Your souls shall return to rest, because the Lord has been good to you.”
THE PASTOR OF RECONCILIATION: GERI KELLER (JUNE 19, 1931 TO APRIL 23, 2023)
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-pastor-of-reconciliation-geri.html
“We can no longer hide secretly that we feel you are right about baptism. I do not want infant baptism to be just a throw-away experience of infant blessing. It is not something cheap, an instrument just to control people. Infant baptism before the eyes of God has its meaning. How can I refuse to take the child of the confused parent and pray blessing down on that infant child? There are baptisms which are a betrayal of all that Jesus stood for. No minister or priest has the right to perform such baptisms; the symbols and signs of baptism belong to Christ and not to the church. If people have a heart for radical repentance then we must rebaptize those people. We self-righteous ones need to be rebaptized as much as others. Jesus did not celebrate when man saw men as trees. He touched him again. It is good to see but I want you to see more clearly.” – Pastor Geri Keller
‘HEAL OUR LAND’ CONFERENCE 2003 - RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE ANABAPTIST AND THE SWISS REFORMED CHRISTIANS
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2024/05/heal-our-land-conference-2003.html
In a word, live together in the forgiveness of your sins, for without it no human fellowship, least of all a marriage, can survive. Don't insist on your rights, don't blame each other, don't judge or condemn each other, don't find fault with each other, but accept each other as you are, and forgive each other every day from the bottom of your hearts. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
‘UNLOCKING OUR INHERITANCE’ CONFERENCE 2005 - RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE ANABAPTIST AND THE SWISS REFORMED CHRISTIANS
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2025/04/unlocking-our-inheritance-conference.html
For the first time, the Lord is truly freeing the devout hearts and consciences from human worries, delivering them from bondage.… Christ has liberated them all and set them free.… Have no doubt that the only freedom we can have is the freedom of Christ, not the freedom of the flesh. We are made free by God alone through Christ, redeemed and saved in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. - Jakob Hutter
490TH MARTYRDOM OF JAKOB HUTTER (FEBRUARY 25, 1536)
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2026/02/490th-martyrdom-of-jakob-hutter.html
NEW ORDER AMISH & PARA-AMISH LINKS:
Para-Amish refers to newer, similar Christian groups that adopt Old Order Amish lifestyle elements like horse-and-buggy travel and plain dress but are often founded by seekers from outside the traditional Amish faith, aiming for a simpler, communal life with more English language and openness to new members, exemplified by groups like the Christian Communities founded by Elmo Stoll. They mimic Amish ways for spiritual renewal but aren't official Amish affiliations, focusing on community and avoiding modern materialism while sometimes differing in doctrine or technology use.
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-para-amish-80th-birthday.html
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-new-order-amish-60-years-in-making.html
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2026/02/amish-in-prince-edward-island.html
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2026/02/titus-morris-and-henson-creek-house-of.html
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2024/05/joining-amish-chef-amish-convert.html
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2026/01/meet-jordan-jungle-boy-of-pagan-island.html
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