Elmendorf

When it just doesn't fit anywhere else.
lesterb
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Re: Elmendorf

Post by lesterb »

Peregrino wrote:
Soloist wrote:the amusing thing to me is when I was reaching out to the closer Hutterites to myself, they actually told me I couldn't join, in fact they would not permit anyone to join them but I should look into the Elmendorf community and gave me phone numbers to call them. I lost the number though...

Does anyone know how Dean Taylor was with them and his advanced medical training? I was told that even if I could join the Hutterites, they would not permit me to practice any medical of any kind because it would make me prideful. Is Elmendorf similar?

For the record, the Hutterite stance on witnessing only through business partners is troubling (at least the few colonies near me) and I don't want to spend years before really understanding the Germanic sermons.
Dean practiced anesthesia regularly while living at Elmendorf as well as at Altona. I believe he dropped it for now to focus on other ministry opportunities that have come up. He and his family are headed to Lesvos for a few months.

I am curious what you are referring to by "the Hutterite stance on witnessing only through business partners"? Elmendorf is very Hutterite in some ways and very unHutterite in other ways. As an outsider, I haven't figured out everything about the culture yet.
It would take a lot of grace to be part of a Hutterite colony. They tend to lack many of the common manners we take for granted. I thought maybe RC would be different that way, but I talked a while ago with someone who lived there for a number of months but left again because of their family. They wanted their children to be polite to strangers, etc. and realized that this just wouldn't happen if they stayed there.

It is amazing how that Hutterite flavor sticks to people. Our congregation split from the Hutterites probably sixty years ago, though they kept up the colony structure for another 20 years or so. But you can still tell which family lines in church came from that background. There are a few exceptions, but not many.

As far as joining a Hutterite colony, I asked one of them whether I would be able to join them if I wanted to. He looked at me as if I was slightly off the deep end. Then he said, "I suppose you could, by why would you?" Then he added, "I think you have to be born here to fit." Unfortunately, Hutterites who leave the colony often find it just as hard to fit in elsewhere.
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Soloist
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Re: Elmendorf

Post by Soloist »

I am curious what you are referring to by "the Hutterite stance on witnessing only through business partners"? Elmendorf is very Hutterite in some ways and very unHutterite in other ways. As an outsider, I haven't figured out everything about the culture yet.
I spoke to two of the men in the Washington community since I couldn't get in touch with either of the two colonies in Oregon. I asked what they did for outreach and listed some random more "evangelical" outreach things. The response was "of course we witness"
"How?"
"through our business partners"
"No other way?"
"No"

That was roughly the answer I got. The women didn't leave the community, the men didn't unless they were one of the bosses?

So I can only speak for two colonies and their plants in Oregon.
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Peregrino
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Re: Elmendorf

Post by Peregrino »

lesterb wrote: It would take a lot of grace to be part of a Hutterite colony. They tend to lack many of the common manners we take for granted.


Tell me about it. I know first-hand what you mean. In Hutterite culture, you are expected to say exactly what you think and if you get left behind, it's your own fault for being too timid. Although most of the young people at Elmendorf are very aware of this and are trying hard to improve, when the pressure is on, what comes out is what they heard growing up.
I thought maybe RC would be different that way, but I talked a while ago with someone who lived there for a number of months but left again because of their family. They wanted their children to be polite to strangers, etc. and realized that this just wouldn't happen if they stayed there.
In RC's defense, since that family left, all the Hutterite background people have moved back to the U.S. There are only two Hutterite girls left who married into the two Canadian extended families who form the nucleus of the community today.
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