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their own people only a couple of hours away on the bus was a gift. The knot of worry that had been plaguing her despite her confidence that God held Simon in His hand loosened just a little. The evil one took every opportunity he could to sow doubt, and now this good man had allowed himself to be used by God to sweep it away.
    “Where have your travels taken you?” Amanda asked shyly, handing him the bowl of salad.
    He picked up the tongs and was about to take a scoop of it as he answered her, when he stopped. “Is that a flower?” He laid it on his plate.
    “It’s a nasturtium. I like them in the salad, so Sarah puts in a few for color.”
    Sarah added, “There are tiny pansies and some marigold petals, too.”
    “It has color, all right. Are you sure they’re safe to eat?”
    “Oh, ja ,” Sarah assured him. “And good for you.”
    “Sarah is an herbalist.” Amanda took back the salad bowl to steal the last nasturtium and crown her little pile of greens with it.
    “Herbalist-in-training, you mean,” Sarah said. “Jacob’s sister Ruth is the real Dokterfraa in this area.”
    “Ruth Lehman in Whinburg?” Zeke asked. “Fannie, wife, we should go up there and pay them a visit while we’re here.”
    “I can take you on Tuesday, if you like,” Sarah said. “I go for lessons with her every week.”
    “That would save us hiring a driver.” Fannie helped herself to chicken and dumplings. “ Denki , Sarah. Silas, why don’t you come with us? You’re always interested in new things. Maybe you could learn a thing or two.”
    “I’m glad he takes an interest in what’s around him,” Sarah said with a smile. “He’s been telling me about Colorado, where my boy is working.”
    “Better you should tell these girls about your farm, Si, and your plans for it,” Zeke said. “Did you know, Sarah, that the phone company wants to put up a repeater tower on his land? They’ll pay him a fortune and he doesn’t have to do one thing to earn it, just let them build it.”
    What on earth was a repeater tower? “What do those do?”
    “Pay money,” Zeke chortled.
    “They pass on a signal to cell phones,” Silas said quietly. “And it’s not for sure. They came around many of the farms to ask permission from our men.”
    “They wanted the same thing from Deacon Moses Yoder in Whinburg,” Jacob said. “I think he was wise to turn them down. What does it say of a man when he can work and doesn’t? Sitting back and watching a metal structure sending its signals doesn’t glorify God.”
    “And it puts one whole field out of commission,” Silas agreed.
    “I’d say you could plant beans or corn for six generations and not get the money for them that a tower could bring in six months,” Joshua put in.
    “And there’s no sin in being clear of debt. ‘Owe no man anything, but to love one another,’” Zeke quoted.
    “Maybe it does contribute to the use of cell phones,” Corinne said, “but at the same time, a fruitful field is a fruitful field, and if the phone company is willing to pay fairly for it, I don’t see any sin in it.”
    “I have had this discussion with myself many times,” Silas told them. “And come to no better conclusion than we have right here.”
    “What does your bishop say?” Sarah asked him. “You would be guided by his thoughts in any case.”
    Silas nodded. “He is in favor of it.”
    Jacob shook his head. “You’re lucky you don’t have a bishop like Daniel Lapp in Whinburg, then. He told Moses no, flat out. Of course, Deacon Moses had to be an example.”
    “I am not a deacon,” Silas agreed. “But the Lord’s will could change at any time.”
    Every man in an Amish community had to be prepared for that. When the lot fell upon you, there was no declining it, or putting it off, or asking someone else to take your place. A man simply submitted himself to God’s will and entered upon a life of service to church and community that would not end until his