Amish enjoy Expected boom in numbers – Washington Times. <–worth a look.

Amish are rapidly spreading across the United States, with their number of communities more than doubling since the 1990 census. There are now estimated to be 456 settlements in 29 states. With a strong belief in family life, the Amish, as a general rule, would rather be farming, or running their own businesses. Where populations of Amish are larger, (such as Pharmer’s region), they also work  for outside businesses in construction, carpentry or other industries requiring their skills and strong work ethic. They’re also at local farmers’ markets, selling the best stuff. Your’s truly is still experiencing a happy buzz from the last market we attended, because the Amish experts dropped by to inspect our  ginormous sweet peppers.

Why is this religion is growing despite it’s strict limitation of technology?
Amish regard reproduction and kids very positively, taking over where so many U.S. Catholics wimped out. Young people respect The Rules. Even though Amish teens are permitted an opportunity to enter the outside, high tech world, and go nuts for awhile, about 85% of them choose to  go back to the ‘Old Time Religion’, and are baptized as adults.
In stark contrast, the push-over religions, which have shed their strong ethical directives, are bleeding  membership.

Have the Amish moved into your ‘hood?    Lucky you!   There’s a lot to be learned from them.