I know some of you are in California. I served my mission in San Diego in 2001. Right as I was leaving, Apostle Haight came to the stake and told us that they were going to start sending almost only Spanish-speaking missionaries to California, becuase the latinos were the chosen people who were accepting the gospel.

That was before LDS shifted its entire focus to fighting gay rights.

When Prop 8 hit the fan, I noticed that many of the upper-middle class, non-latino LDS I knew in California did not agree on the focus.

It seems to me that during the past decade, the church would have had to do a lot of damage control with the non-latino tithe payers in Cali. All over the country, though, support for anti-gay measures has plumetted.

Has the focus in California remained on the non-latino population. Are they struggling as much as I imagine they are with retaining upper-middle class white people who are disgusted by right-wing social politics?

Can anyone who has been to church in Cali over the past decade englighten me?

I'm in an area near where you served. Mostly upper middleclass to very wealthy (Rancho Santa Fe etc). I have not attended church for almost 9 years, in the five years before I quit going I did not hear of any convert baptisms in the wards I was in; our ward boundaries changed 3 times. I went on splits with the elders about 3 times. They were mostly teaching the typical investigator (someone who had a big life crisis, low mental functioning). Our ward had a fight with the spanish branch that attends in our ward house, I have heard they closed the spanish branch but I do not know if it is true. We hire a cleaning lady who used to attend the Spanish branch but she has fallen away too; we have a friend who works at a restaurant we frequent from the spanish branch, he is inactive too. The missionaries have been at my house 4 times this year, it appears they are mostly focusing on reactivating potential tithing payers. My sense is that a lot of the Mexicans in the church in San Diego, use the church as a ticket to staying in the US, most become very disillusioned after a couple of years.

Thanks for the insight. I had the impression that the Spanish branches were weakening, instead of strengthening.

Well, I stopped going just before the Prop 8 campaign and seeing those scrubbed white teens on street corners with signs being taught homophobia made me too angry to ever have anything to do with the LDS church again. It narrowly passed but was hardly ever effective because Jerry Brown refused to enforce it as Attorney General or Govenor. It has now been tossed out by the Supreme Court of CA and gay marriage has become so much more accepted in the meantime that I doubt they could ever come close to passing something like that again.

I am one of those white middle class folks you speak of - there are big pockets of active members like that in areas where its possible to afford life with a stay-at-home mom. Of course, if the best kid ends up being gay ... I think the acceptance in general society would pull a family right out if they truly cared about their children.

Oh yeah, prop 8 was the last straw for my wife and she stopped attending in 2008.

My sons were already out of the Church, but prop 8 convinced them that not only was the church non-sense it was evil and lied to cover up their political activity. This opinion was held by several of my kids' friends. Very few of the kids in my ward who were my children's ages served missions. Prop 8 apparently had a lot to do with this.

There are of course a core of white and delightsome wealth TBMs who keep the church running mixed with a few right wing military families that move in and out of the area.

I know a mishie (from Utah) who has been called to the San Bernadino Spanish Speaking Mission. She will be leaving the Mexico City MTC shortly to 'hasten the work' in Cali.

San Bernadino is a high crime area.

No way in hell would I let a child, much less a female, go there.

I agree, San Bernardino is a very high crime area, and has become that way since the air force base and the steel plant closed sometime in the 80's. My 90 year old grandma still lives there, and her neighborhood is still one of the safer places, but I still wouldn't walk around there at night. There's no way that I would want some 18 and 19 year olds who have never left Utah to serve there because it's too risky, especially for the females.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2013 03:20PM by adoylelb.

Agreed. San Bernardino is a sewer of a ghetto town. Prop 8 was the beginning of the end for me. Haven't been to church in a few years but I know that at least in upland the missionaries, when they do baptize, usually dunk the poor saps who either live "below the tracks" or who happen to live in the apartments where the missionaries live. Either way, they all go inactive within a few months.

I'm quite worried about this young woman. She is from utah but has traveled and lived other places. So I am hopeful that she'll use some common sense and protect herself but who knows what can happen when someone feels that "have the lords protection."

Yes.

Wonder if I know you...was in the 5th ward... can I post my e-mail here?

I'm not from upland but have lived there for 10 years or so. Attended the building on 21st. You should attend the monthly Orange County exmo meet ups. You will see posts regarding meetup usually the week before the event. I think posting emails is forbidden.
Best

I've lived in the bay area northern California for 25 years now. I don't know a single practicing mormon. Also I have never met a Latino mormon.

Here in no cal we get 1 set of Spanish elders per stake. Not really a focus if you ask me. They are the only ones with a car though.