Amish/Mennonite Communities (St. Louis, St. Joseph, Canton: motorhome, to live, storage)

[ShadowCaver]

Somewhat dated info, yet may be of interest: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online GAMEO (broken link)

A good informative read: The Amish in Missouri

Recalled reading this earlier this year:
firstamendmentcenter.org: news
Mennonites to leave state over photo IDs

Neat story: seMissourian.com: Story: Amish help their own rebuild after deadly storm (broken link)

Here in NE Hoosierana, there are many communities; kinda to see the buggies along the roads, the special parking for buggies at stores [esp. Wal-Mart... ], the good restaurants, and shop/stores... The house that I sit in was built by 'em; and my Husqvarna riding mower was bought at a dealership ran by an Amish gentleman [lol - was different when had to call for parts/service, since they do not own anything electronic, and can only use it, this was actually his neighbor's phone,,, kinda frustrating at times, but unique...]. Interesting culture...

[kareybear]

Originally Posted by xamish

We used to live at Jamesport & still have lot of family there. Sorry you feel you were not treated right. It was defiantly not because you are handicapped. Also there are not 2 food lines and they do NOT serve horse meat. I know Elmer & believe what you say about him.

Hey xamish I have a question? if you don't mind me asking. Since you grew up as amish are you banned from your family because you left that cultural? Do you still have friends from there? Can I asked why you got out? Maybe to personally Sorry!! but I am just fascinated by this amish culture.

[xamish]

Originally Posted by kareybear

Hey xamish I have a question? if you don't mind me asking. Since you grew up as amish are you banned from your family because you left that cultural? Do you still have friends from there? Can I asked why you got out? Maybe to personally Sorry!! but I am just fascinated by this amish culture.

Hi Kareybear. Yes we are banned from my family. They are very strict traditional amish and they feel we are going top hell for leaving. For the most part they are honest hard working people. Strong family values, they don't believe in birth control so most have 10 to 16 kids. Reason we left is they live by rules, traditions and commandants of man and not God and the Bible. Most amish are not born again Christians.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by xamish

Hi Kareybear. Yes we are banned from my family. They are very strict traditional amish and they feel we are going top hell for leaving. For the most part they are honest hard working people. Strong family values, they don't believe in birth control so most have 10 to 16 kids. Reason we left is they live by rules, traditions and commandants of man and not God and the Bible. Most amish are not born again Christians.

How prevalent are the very strict traditional amish in Missouri compared with the less strict Amish and Mennonite groups? I had no idea that the strict amish have so many kids. I find this discussion very fascinating. It seems like many of the Amish and Mennonite groups are found in the rural Missouri counties that have not experienced very much economic development at all.

[ShadowCaver]

Originally Posted by Plains10

How prevalent are the very strict traditional amish in Missouri compared with the less strict Amish and Mennonite groups? I had no idea that the strict amish have so many kids. I find this discussion very fascinating. It seems like many of the Amish and Mennonite groups are found in the rural Missouri counties that have not experienced very much economic development at all.

Interesting way of putting that... yet, maybe they desire and actually require the rural areas, as gives them then the opportunity to live their lives as they want, w/ a very minimum of outside influences and/or lowering temptations. When I was in PA a few months ago, talked w/ some PA Mennonites that were also visiting a local scenic area, and could tell that they are quite proud of their heritage, of their ways and culture, yet,,, could also detect a bit of curiosity, tempered w/ guilt, of all these 'modern' conveniences that we all take for granted [anything electronic]. They also said that there are many sub-groups within the broader defining Amish and Mennonites - some are much stricter, whereas some not as much. Guess be like saying differences w/in Baptists - ya have how many different varieties of just that one denomination? Anyhow, back to the main point - I think that they are not necessarily wanting to be w/in an area of economic development, as that would provide temptation and/or be too much of a contrast from their life styles and beliefs. As said, being here in NE Indiana, there are many communities in this area too - so get to see, hear, read quite abit about them, and is indeed quite fascinating as you say to learn more about.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by ShadowCaver

Interesting way of putting that... yet, maybe they desire and actually require the rural areas, as gives them then the opportunity to live their lives as they want, w/ a very minimum of outside influences and/or lowering temptations. When I was in PA a few months ago, talked w/ some PA Mennonites that were also visiting a local scenic area, and could tell that they are quite proud of their heritage, of their ways and culture, yet,,, could also detect a bit of curiosity, tempered w/ guilt, of all these 'modern' conveniences that we all take for granted [anything electronic]. They also said that there are many sub-groups within the broader defining Amish and Mennonites - some are much stricter, whereas some not as much. Guess be like saying differences w/in Baptists - ya have how many different varieties of just that one denomination? Anyhow, back to the main point - I think that they are not necessarily wanting to be w/in an area of economic development, as that would provide temptation and/or be too much of a contrast from their life styles and beliefs. As said, being here in NE Indiana, there are many communities in this area too - so get to see, hear, read quite abit about them, and is indeed quite fascinating as you say to learn more about.

Good points Shadow Carver. I agree with most of what you said.

[Versatile]

Originally Posted by xamish

We used to live at Jamesport & still have lot of family there. Sorry you feel you were not treated right. It was defiantly not because you are handicapped. Also there are not 2 food lines and they do NOT serve horse meat. I know Elmer & believe what you say about him.

Let's see here. You agree with me about Elmer but not the rest of what i have said. I guess we just have to agree to disagree. I have no grudge to grind against any Amish at all. Old Elmer got to me for a little cash but hey! That is horse trading. I split that team up and sold them off individually; because i didn't want it on my conscience when they hurt someone. Yes there were two lines for people to eat. The farm was on the main hwy heading into town from the west and it was on the north side of the hwy about a mile or so out of town the best i remember.. A friend that was with me at the auction said it was horse meat and i took his word for it. Sometime later i was talking about it to some friends and an old military man asked me what it looked like. I described it as a very red meat with a short fiber. The man then said "Yep that was either horse or a mule".
As for the being handicapped part. After more than 50 yrs of being what many consider to be "severely handicapped" it is much like you know the sun comes up in the east(is a given) and when someone treats you that way it is just plain as can be. No matter how subtle it maybe it sticks out like a sore thumb. Please don't anyone think i am whining or looking for any sympathy because i am not. I am just stating facts about what i have experienced with (some)Amish.

[Lake Junkie]

Originally Posted by ShadowCaver

Interesting way of putting that... yet, maybe they desire and actually require the rural areas, as gives them then the opportunity to live their lives as they want, w/ a very minimum of outside influences and/or lowering temptations.

Anyhow, back to the main point - I think that they are not necessarily wanting to be w/in an area of economic development, as that would provide temptation and/or be too much of a contrast from their life styles and beliefs.

This is also my understanding of their ways, from having gotten to know a few Amish when we first moved here.

For the same reason they went to the Supreme Court about whether they had to allow their children to attend public schools...the contrast, the temptations are too great.
Back when Amish attended public schools there was a much larger percentage of the teenagers who left the order, even though they knew they would be shunned.
Since they started their own schools, the number of young people who leave has dropped dramatically.

[kareybear]

Originally Posted by xamish

Hi Kareybear. Yes we are banned from my family. They are very strict traditional amish and they feel we are going top hell for leaving. For the most part they are honest hard working people. Strong family values, they don't believe in birth control so most have 10 to 16 kids. Reason we left is they live by rules, traditions and commandants of man and not God and the Bible. Most amish are not born again Christians.

Thank You so much for answering my question. I am truely sorry that you have been banned from your family & friends. I did not know that amish people only believe in only one religion when there are so many out there. How does one pick the religion in your amish group or is that perticular religion for all amishes?

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by xamish

Hi Kareybear. Yes we are banned from my family. They are very strict traditional amish and they feel we are going top hell for leaving. For the most part they are honest hard working people. Strong family values, they don't believe in birth control so most have 10 to 16 kids. Reason we left is they live by rules, traditions and commandants of man and not God and the Bible. Most amish are not born again Christians.

The traditional Amish have 10 to 16 children per family? I am not surprised that some of the younger folks want to break free and enter the "real world" after living under such an extremely traditional and conservative lifestyle.