<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Elsa Batica,<div><br></div><div>Thank you so much for your kind words and heartfelt Amazon review. I had an opportunity to visit the Azpetia HDP in the 1980s when my mom and sister Teresa lived in Lima. Learned recently that Pope Leo worked close to there when he was sent to Peru in that same decade. I also spent time at the Jamaica and Berlin HDPs.</div><div><br></div><div>Other former Order Adults - If you read “Iron Boy” and have similar reactions, I would welcome your Amazon reviews as well. This helps a lot with my low-budget marketing to spread the word and help more families. If you do, please don’t mention that you know me, because Amazon sometimes disqualifies such reviews as bias.</div><div><br></div><div>Much appreciation, 🙏</div><div><br></div><div>David</div><div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone<div>David Marshall</div><div>www.marshallbooks.net</div><div> </div></div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Jul 22, 2025, at 4:52 PM, Elsa Batica via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="ydpb98eb186yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">I thought I'd share with you what I posted on Amazon. Thank you so much for writing and sharing your memoir. </div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">I read your book "Iron Boy" and I could
hardly put it down. I reread it again for good measure on our recent
trip. It is very engaging, evocative, and thought-provoking. It is a powerful
memoir that explores the resilience of the human spirit amidst good
intentions and reality. I resonated well with your sentiment, "I
hated the Order for breaking up our family, but sometimes I loved it just the
same." We were one of those families separated from our 13-month-old
son and I could not reconcile how an Order of Family would separate families
even for a young baby at that! Like you, I also love our work in
community development, especially our time in the Azpitia Human Development
Project. The book is emotionally engaging, particularly in its portrayal
of the complex relationship between The Order, its members, and the families.</div></span><br></div><div><br></div><div class="ydpb98eb186signature">Elsa Batica St Paul, MN</div></div>
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On Sunday, June 15, 2025 at 03:01:50 AM CDT, David Marshall via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
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<div><div id="ydpb98eb186yiv1868357000"><div dir="ltr"><div>Dear Former Order Colleagues & Friends,</div><div><br></div><div>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:sans-serif;" class="ydpb98eb186yiv1868357000MsoNormal">Sunday “House Church” Blastoff! (Father’s Day - appropriate launch day since Order fathers loom large in this book)<span></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:sans-serif;" class="ydpb98eb186yiv1868357000MsoNormal">IRON BOY is officially for sale today on Amazon as both a
paperback and e-book.<span></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:sans-serif;" class="ydpb98eb186yiv1868357000MsoNormal">The Iron Man statue is still alive and well in Fifth City sixty
years later. In 2021, I visited Chicago with my wife, daughter, son, and their
partners, and we all went to visit Fifth City and the Iron Man—they for the
first time. Attached are some photos, of me in front of the Iron Man with the
Program Center in the background where I took part of the Academy, the
still-running “Iron Man Can” Fifth City Preschool, and my old elementary school,
now renamed Leif Ericson Scholastic Academy. </p><p style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:sans-serif;" class="ydpb98eb186yiv1868357000MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:sans-serif;" class="ydpb98eb186yiv1868357000MsoNormal">Also a vintage wintertime Iron Man
statue photo that I used for the front cover of IRON BOY.<span></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:sans-serif;" class="ydpb98eb186yiv1868357000MsoNormal">And finally a little artifact from that era I just received.
I visited my 93-year old dad Gene and 91-year-old step-mom Joyce in Texas recently, and they
gave me this seven-inch-tall metal Iron Man statute that they had picked up along
the way from the Wichita Religious House. Did all the Religious Houses have one?<span></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:sans-serif;" class="ydpb98eb186yiv1868357000MsoNormal">When I raise up my hands like the Iron Man, I think of these
words from the Order song, “Free, free, free to decide, what this world is
going to be.” We've still got a lot of work to do!<span></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:sans-serif;" class="ydpb98eb186yiv1868357000MsoNormal">Much appreciation for putting up with my 10-week House Church
countdown to IRON BOY’s debut. If you read it, or share it with others, please
let me know the impact. You can obtain both the paperback and e-book now on Amazon,
and through other bookstores soon. <span></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 6pt;text-align:justify;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:sans-serif;" class="ydpb98eb186yiv1868357000MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/IRON-BOY-Searching-Freedom-Religious/dp/B0FCMMVHDC" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/IRON-BOY-Searching-Freedom-Religious/dp/B0FCMMVHDC</a><span><br></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 6pt;text-align:justify;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:sans-serif;" class="ydpb98eb186yiv1868357000MsoNormal">Grace & Peace,</p><p style="margin:0in 0in 6pt;text-align:justify;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:sans-serif;" class="ydpb98eb186yiv1868357000MsoNormal">David Marshall, <a href="http://www.marshallbooks.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.marshallbooks.net</a></p><br></div>
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