When I went off to BYU, I had never heard of the Mormon colonies. But in the old 35th Ward, there was a large number of kids from Colonia Juarez and Colonia Dublan, the two large surviving Mormon colonies. The colonies look like very neat Utah towns, and most of the work revolves around pear, cherries, and pecan orchards. These kids were tough believers. I admired them for their undying faith, and for the fact that even though they were Anglo, they had native fluency in both English and Spanish. Anyway, Now I find myself wondering what happens to any Mormon in such a tight group if they quit believing. Does it even happen? If so, would they be shunned? Or are the people such devoted Christians that they would accept non-believers?

Is anyone here from the colonies?

I don't believe the LDS church has colonies in Mexico. At least not any that are actively sponsored by the Salt Lake LDS church. The Mexican colonies might be places like Cardston, Alberta - places that started off as colonies, but are now just regular places even though they still consist of a heavily Mormon population.

The only Mexican Mormon colonies that I am aware of belong to the fundamentalists. Do the fundies find their way in to BYU? It's hard to imagine that the Salt Lake Mormons would allow this to happen.

LD$, Inc. has a temple in Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua.
There is also Colonia Dublan.

Yeah, those are the only two remaining after the Mexican civil war. The other LDS colonies there were permanently abandoned. To answer "Strength in the Loins," Colonia Juarez even has a temple. It is a very pretty place, and looks just like an extension of any rural Utah town.

I always shudder when I hear the word 'colonies' because some people still apply it to nudist parks & other clothing-optional locations.

I don't think social scientists use the word 'colony' in professional papers or research.

:P

I like to think about our colonies on the moon, and Mars, and in the asteroid belt...

I hear they're taking applications for the new colony on Europa! Imagine ice fishing on Europa!

Relax, guy, help is available; check to see if good people are in your network!

Ah, yes, the Sirens of Titan!

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2019 10:32PM by caffiend.

As opposed to Roller Maidens from Outer Space:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04GoVJXavUs&t=362s

Put down the Heinlein and slowly step back.

"An armed society is a polite society." And you know I'm a perfect gentleman. (With apologies to RAH.)

Put down the Heineken and slowly step back.

Ah, yes--Pancho Villa.

Did I ever tell you-all that my Grandpa and Grandma on my mother's side homesteaded in Mexico?

P.V. was the Robin Hood of Mexico.

He came to take from my grandparents, and give to himself (and his helpers?).

They lived in a house with a hard dirt floor, and my grandmother had her first baby there--of course, no doctor, but maybe a friend helper. The baby died. In those days, the parents cut a lock of the child's hair to keep as a memento.

My grandfather didn't believe in paper dollars, and only silver dollars.

So, when they felt forced to leave (due to P.V.), he put my grandmother on a train which crossed the border, and he himself put his bags of s.d. to take with him to cross over the border (on a dirt road) in his car, to Douglas, Arizona. (Later they moved up further into the state, to Thatcher, Arizona, in the house where my mother had two babies in her mother's bed--one of them, me.)

pollythinks Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ah, yes--Pancho Villa.

> So, when they felt forced to leave (due to P.V.),
> he put my grandmother on a train which crossed the
> border, and he himself put his bags of s.d. to
> take with him to cross over the border (on a dirt
> road) in his car, to Douglas, Arizona. (Later
> they moved up further into the state, to Thatcher,
> Arizona, in the house where my mother had two
> babies in her mother's bed--one of them, me.)

Polly: How do we Thank your mom & dad?

My story is similar, Pollythinks.

My mother was born in Jerez, Zacatecas, in 1910. In 1911, Pancho Villa came riding in and scared the crap out of people. The family fable is that grandma heard a bullet fly by her head... So my maternal grandparents got the hell out of Jerez, and settled in Morenci, AZ, a copper mining town. Later they moved to Fresno, CA.

That Pancho Villa, what a card!

And Señor Villa has been a mormon since 1966!

https://www.exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1959228,1959229#msg-1959229

(Scroll down to Part 15)

Your grandparents lived in Fresno? How fortunate for them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2019 01:03AM by scmd1.

...well, those idiots sacrificed their own lives by venturing out into cartel turf without security.

...second, an functioning MG42 or MG3 could have eliminated any threat.

...hopefully they learned.................no.

Just like a gazillion other tales in the church, I doubt any such dialogue and interactions ever happened. It makes a nice fairy tale for mormons to gush over.

Had my ancestors suffered attacks and harm from PV's raids, I'd be floored that the church had a welcoming seat in the CK for him. Just goes to show that the church welcomes any dead rat into their glorious heaven, but preaches to the faithful that they will be kept out for not paying tithing and maintaining a temple recommend.

I am not from the colonies, but it is my understanding that in Colonia LeBaron, there are two non-Mormon, non-FLDS "Christian" churches, presumeably started by LeBarons who didn't want to be any kind of Mormon any more.

The very fact that they are there and that they are tolerated is evidence that there is some effort to promote harmony among people with differing beliefs.

Imagine that.

The colonies are doing their own thing MX.

I visited Colonia Juarez a number of times in the early 70s. Some of those visits were the whatever-that-thing-was-called youth outings put on by the El Paso stake. I think Utah does "Trek" as an equivalent.

My experience was the teen boys (my age group) were like any other in suburban USA. They spoke standard western american English as their first language. They had posters of Jimi and Deep Purple on their walls. Played basketball and no doubt stoked their little factories as did we. It was like a US military base anywhere in the world at the time - enclaves of Americana somewhere else.

I wonder how many of those lads are still there.

My best friend in El Paso was a Pratt. Yes, one of those Pratts. He married a Cardston, yes, one of that clan. Their family bogie stories were of Poncho Villa. All our church gatherings were supplied by Romney Produce. Yes, that Romney clan. What's a little graft amongst True Believers?

Who knows, maybe they're the real mormons now, given how much of a tangent the SLC org went off during the GBStinkley reign.

All I know for sure is that I count every lucky star there is that I am no longer part of any of it. Excepting carping here, of course. Carry on.