Road Trippin’ with Tyndale and Jolina Petersheim: Stop #3

Some details:

~ The adventure begins on Wednesday, August 1. You’ll have two weeks to make your way through all the stops (giveaways will close on Tuesday, August 14).

~ While you do not have to start at Stop #1, keep in mind that the grand prize giveaway phrase will begin with the word you collect at that first stop.

~ To complete your submission for the grand prize giveaway, be sure to collect the key word within each author’s blog post, submitting the final, completed phrase in the form hosted on this page.

~ Also, be sure to enter the giveaways these authors are hosting on their blogs!

Enjoy the journey—we hope you’ll discover new books along the way as you hear from Tyndale Fiction authors about road trips, the settings of their novels, and more!

Happy road tripping!

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I’m super excited to be hosting the sweet and talented Jolina Petersheim on my blog today. Jolina’s bestselling debut, The Outcast, was a modern retelling of The Scarlet Letter set in a Mennonite community. Four books later, Jolina is still capturing readers with her unique slant on the genre. Her last book, The Divide, just won an INSPY Award in the speculative fiction category. (You read that right—Mennonite setting, speculative fiction category!)

I loved Jolina’s story of a road trip that eventually led to her own love story and can’t wait to share it with you. Welcome, Jolina!

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My love story began with a story. Or I guess you could say it began with a trip.

When I was fifteen, my parents, my younger brother, and my best friend Misty went out West for three weeks. But my dad wanted to make a “detour” at Strawberry Lake Christian Retreat in Minnesota to visit a pastor named Gerald Derstine. Gerald’s daughter, Joanne, had written a non-fiction book called Following the Fire, which recounted the revival that had taken place among the small Mennonite congregation her father led. My dad, raised Mennonite and with a heart for revival, had been impacted by this book while visiting relatives in Pennsylvania.

I was fifteen when we took this trip. Therefore, I was old enough to know that Minnesota was not “out West” but, unfortunately, I was not too old to sulk. I still remember that day at Strawberry Lake. I was bored, so I checked out the bookstore while my dad tried to locate Gerald. I purchased a book and then walked the grounds. I walked past a row of offices, and one of the doors stood open. A white-haired man was writing over a square, wooden desk. In my mind, I can see him clearly, but I more clearly recall that only natural light filled the room.

I asked, “Are you Gerald Derstine?”

He told me he was, so I told him my dad was looking for him.

My dad and Gerald spoke that afternoon, and my dad spoke at their church gathering that night. I didn’t want my dad to speak. I wanted to go “out West.” I wanted turquoise, cacti, and—being slightly boy crazy—cowboys.

However, little did I know, as I complained to my best friend while swatting mosquitoes on a dock, that this detour would redirect the course of my life.

One of the main characters in Following the Fire, Amos Stoltzfus, an ex-Amish father and grandfather who lived in Winchester, Tennessee, lived a few hours south from where I grew up. So, when we returned from “out West,” my dad called Amos. They spoke on the phone for close to an hour, and Amos asked us to come visit the church he attended, pastored by his son.

My parents went first, and I visited a few weeks later. Turns out, Amos Stoltzfus had a large, bustling family. He also had a handsome grandson, named Randy Petersheim. Randy was twenty-two when we met, and I was a few weeks shy of sixteen. But I was not shy. After talking to Randy (I loved his Pennsylvania Dutch accent!), I decided I would hook this quiet mountain man up with my nineteen-year-old best friend, Misty, since their age-range made more sense.

But that next summer, on the fourth of July, sense didn’t come into it.

I brought Misty down to meet Randy—talking him up the whole way there—but as soon as he crossed the church grounds over to where we were, I knew that I’d talked him up so much because I really wanted him for myself. I wasn’t brave enough to break the news until later that night, when Misty and I were sprawled across a trampoline in Randy’s parents’ front yard, and being the kind of long-suffering best friend/big sister she is, she forgave me. And then she forgave me again when we went hiking the next day, and I left her at the bottom of the mountain with my older brother because I didn’t want to lose sight of Randy.

(Did I mention I dedicated my debut novel, The Outcast, to Misty? I figured I owed her.)

Sometimes, life’s best destinations are found in the detours. If my dad hadn’t insisted on visiting Strawberry Lake, I would’ve never met Gerald Derstine, who introduced us to Amos Stoltzfus, who introduced us to Richard and Betty Petersheim, who introduced us to Randy Petersheim, my husband to-be. Through the Petersheims, I learned the story that would become the basis for The Outcast, my modern retelling of The Scarlet Letter set in a Mennonite community in Tennessee.

Proverbs 16:9 states that we can make our plans, but God determines our steps. I don’t know about you, but I am grateful for the divine detours along the way!

Has God ever led you on a “divine detour”? How did it change your life?

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Beautiful story! Thank you for sharing, Jolina!

Here’s the Stop #3 Important Information:

• You can purchase Jolina’s book, The Midwife, here.  
• Clue to write down: life-changing
• Link to Stop #4, the next stop in the scavenger hunt, on Jolina’s Site!

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Heidi’s Giveaway

But wait! Before you go, I’m giving away a signed copy of each of my novels, a beautiful American flag scarf, and a Massachusetts notepad! To enter, simply sign up to receive my quarterly e-newsletter here, or note in the comments if you are already a subscriber.

I will reveal the winner on August 15th! (Due to shipping costs, giveaway is for US residents only.)