Anabaptists in the South American country of Bolivia

[readrevelations1to22]

I have read that “2% of all newborns in Bolivia in 2024 were born to German Mennonites, up from 0.2% in 1980. German Mennonites have a Total Fertility Rate of 7 kids per woman, while for Bolivia as a whole it is 1.7 kids per woman.”. That would make Bolivia have a higher percentage of German speaking Anabaptists than even the USA. Another comment in that discussion said: “the actual share of births in 2024 was around 4%”. Apparently 80% of Bolivian Mennonites use horse and buggy.

Also it seems that Bolivia is home to the only Amish community in South America:
“In recent years, their members in Bolivia and Argentina have faced financial problems and isolation, so they wrote to an Amish publisher in Canada and eventually got in touch with a New Order Amish group in Ohio that permits its members, under certain circumstances, to make airplane trips.
After ministers with the Ohio Amish visited South America, they sent two families to settle there to create communities the existing Mennonites can join. North American Amish generally do not proselytize or do mission work. They also have sent teams to help with building projects. The Bolivian community, known as Colonia Naranjita, is about 75 miles southwest of Santa Cruz”.

Apparently there are people loosely affiliated with the Lobelville TN congregation who settled in Bolivia as well. Including families with beliefs mixing Anabaptist and Adventist type ideas as stated in these comments in a discussion about Anabaptists in Bolivia:
“Actually there were quite a few people who loosely fellowshipped w/ the Lobelville group that moved to Bolivia but to different areas of the country.”
“the first 3 photoes are of joseph beiler s”
“joes are of amish back ground but are christians who keep sabbath (saterday) as the commandment says l have been there visiting and belive we share a common faith david johansen p.o.box 60 spanish look out belize central america”
“they the beiler ,also belive in immersion baptisum, no trinity etc”

Local perspectives: From the anecdotes I’ve read it seems they are liked by some for their nice peanut butter, cheese and hard work. While certain locals view them negatively for their association with cutting down forest in order to farm.

If anyone has further information on these communities in Bolivia I would like to learn more. Especially about the people with mixed anabaptist/adventist type ideas and also more information about the New Order group in Bolivia (how it's doing nowadays, what it's like)? And if any Anabaptists in Bolivia are similar to Delano/Noah Hoover Mennonites, pure church movement, or any group similar to the Elmo Stoll Christian communities there? (Open to seekers and low tech)

Sources:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10 ... 266#d1e172 (Study on Mennonites in Latin America)
https://amishamerica.com/amish_in_the_ju/ (Discussion/comments about Lobelville affiliated people in Bolivia and mixed Anabaptist/Adventist ideas)

Search on Reddit: "[OC] Percentage of people who speak German as a first language in Bolivia " (Map of German Language in Bolivia)
https://amishamerica.com/2016-amish-pop ... ent-132805
https://www.thebugle.martins4u.com/issu ... 202006.pdf (page 16 Nichols Anabaptist family in Bolivia)
https://anabaptistworld.org/low-german- ... n-bolivia/ (source for claim 80% of Bolivian Mennonites use horse and buggy)

[Thomas_muntzer]

I have read that “2% of all newborns in Bolivia in 2024 were born to German Mennonites, up from 0.2% in 1980. German Mennonites have a Total Fertility Rate of 7 kids per woman, while for Bolivia as a whole it is 1.7 kids per woman.”. That would make Bolivia have a higher percentage of German speaking Anabaptists than even the USA. Another comment in that discussion said: “the actual share of births in 2024 was around 4%”. Apparently 80% of Bolivian Mennonites use horse and buggy.

Also it seems that Bolivia is home to the only Amish community in South America:
“In recent years, their members in Bolivia and Argentina have faced financial problems and isolation, so they wrote to an Amish publisher in Canada and eventually got in touch with a New Order Amish group in Ohio that permits its members, under certain circumstances, to make airplane trips.
After ministers with the Ohio Amish visited South America, they sent two families to settle there to create communities the existing Mennonites can join. North American Amish generally do not proselytize or do mission work. They also have sent teams to help with building projects. The Bolivian community, known as Colonia Naranjita, is about 75 miles southwest of Santa Cruz”.

Apparently there are people loosely affiliated with the Lobelville TN congregation who settled in Bolivia as well. Including families with beliefs mixing Anabaptist and Adventist type ideas as stated in these comments in a discussion about Anabaptists in Bolivia:
“Actually there were quite a few people who loosely fellowshipped w/ the Lobelville group that moved to Bolivia but to different areas of the country.”
“the first 3 photoes are of joseph beiler s”
“joes are of amish back ground but are christians who keep sabbath (saterday) as the commandment says l have been there visiting and belive we share a common faith david johansen p.o.box 60 spanish look out belize central america”
“they the beiler ,also belive in immersion baptisum, no trinity etc”

Local perspectives: From the anecdotes I’ve read it seems they are liked by some for their nice peanut butter, cheese and hard work. While certain locals view them negatively for their association with cutting down forest in order to farm.

If anyone has further information on these communities in Bolivia I would like to learn more. Especially about the people with mixed anabaptist/adventist type ideas and also more information about the New Order group in Bolivia (how it's doing nowadays, what it's like)? And if any Anabaptists in Bolivia are similar to Delano/Noah Hoover Mennonites, pure church movement, or any group similar to the Elmo Stoll Christian communities there? (Open to seekers and low tech)

Sources:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10 ... 266#d1e172 (Study on Mennonites in Latin America)
https://amishamerica.com/amish_in_the_ju/ (Discussion/comments about Lobelville affiliated people in Bolivia and mixed Anabaptist/Adventist ideas)

Search on Reddit: "[OC] Percentage of people who speak German as a first language in Bolivia " (Map of German Language in Bolivia)
https://amishamerica.com/2016-amish-pop ... ent-132805
https://www.thebugle.martins4u.com/issu ... 202006.pdf (page 16 Nichols Anabaptist family in Bolivia)
https://anabaptistworld.org/low-german- ... n-bolivia/ (source for claim 80% of Bolivian Mennonites use horse and buggy)

It’s very interesting—who knows what will happen in the future? But if they maintain their birth rate, they will soon be the majority in some municipalities in Bolivia.

Copied from the reddit link you posted

Largest cities in Bolivia in 2100:

Sankt-Kreuz-der-Bergen

Die Höhe

Der Frieden

Zucker edit: oops, forgot that Sucre wasn't the Spanish word for sugar. Let's change that to Suiker

Schuhplatttlersau

Jahintern

Dreiinigkeit

Die Watch

[Disciple of Christ]

Note that Plautdietsch isn't High German, it's a separate language (a variant of Low German). Germans would hardly understand the Bolivian Mennonites. The Old Colony Mennonites teach High German at their schools and speak it in their servives - at least what they think to be High German. However, Germans hardly understand that too.

[Disciple of Christ]

The Mennonites of the Florida colony in Uruguay are presumably Beachy Amish. There are several colonies of the Beachy Amish in Paraguay (Luz y Esperanza, Florida, La Belleza). The Amish colony in Bolivia is defunct.

[lmcdoss]

I have read that “2% of all newborns in Bolivia in 2024 were born to German Mennonites, up from 0.2% in 1980. German Mennonites have a Total Fertility Rate of 7 kids per woman, while for Bolivia as a whole it is 1.7 kids per woman.”. That would make Bolivia have a higher percentage of German speaking Anabaptists than even the USA. Another comment in that discussion said: “the actual share of births in 2024 was around 4%”. Apparently 80% of Bolivian Mennonites use horse and buggy.

Also it seems that Bolivia is home to the only Amish community in South America:
“In recent years, their members in Bolivia and Argentina have faced financial problems and isolation, so they wrote to an Amish publisher in Canada and eventually got in touch with a New Order Amish group in Ohio that permits its members, under certain circumstances, to make airplane trips.
After ministers with the Ohio Amish visited South America, they sent two families to settle there to create communities the existing Mennonites can join. North American Amish generally do not proselytize or do mission work. They also have sent teams to help with building projects. The Bolivian community, known as Colonia Naranjita, is about 75 miles southwest of Santa Cruz”.

Apparently there are people loosely affiliated with the Lobelville TN congregation who settled in Bolivia as well. Including families with beliefs mixing Anabaptist and Adventist type ideas as stated in these comments in a discussion about Anabaptists in Bolivia:
“Actually there were quite a few people who loosely fellowshipped w/ the Lobelville group that moved to Bolivia but to different areas of the country.”
“the first 3 photoes are of joseph beiler s”
“joes are of amish back ground but are christians who keep sabbath (saterday) as the commandment says l have been there visiting and belive we share a common faith david johansen p.o.box 60 spanish look out belize central america”
“they the beiler ,also belive in immersion baptisum, no trinity etc”

Local perspectives: From the anecdotes I’ve read it seems they are liked by some for their nice peanut butter, cheese and hard work. While certain locals view them negatively for their association with cutting down forest in order to farm.

If anyone has further information on these communities in Bolivia I would like to learn more. Especially about the people with mixed anabaptist/adventist type ideas and also more information about the New Order group in Bolivia (how it's doing nowadays, what it's like)? And if any Anabaptists in Bolivia are similar to Delano/Noah Hoover Mennonites, pure church movement, or any group similar to the Elmo Stoll Christian communities there? (Open to seekers and low tech)

Sources:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10 ... 266#d1e172 (Study on Mennonites in Latin America)
https://amishamerica.com/amish_in_the_ju/ (Discussion/comments about Lobelville affiliated people in Bolivia and mixed Anabaptist/Adventist ideas)

Search on Reddit: "[OC] Percentage of people who speak German as a first language in Bolivia " (Map of German Language in Bolivia)
https://amishamerica.com/2016-amish-pop ... ent-132805
https://www.thebugle.martins4u.com/issu ... 202006.pdf (page 16 Nichols Anabaptist family in Bolivia)
https://anabaptistworld.org/low-german- ... n-bolivia/ (source for claim 80% of Bolivian Mennonites use horse and buggy)

In Bolivia there are 2 colonies affiliated with the mennonites of Lower Barton Creek in Belize( this colony is not Noah hoover mennonite), in terms of technology they are the same as noah hoover, as they have always have had a link to upper barton creek( now defunct because its inhabitants moved to other colonies) which are part of the noah hoover. The main difference would be schooling, where the noah hoover teach the language of the country and these ones do not( all the horse and buggy old colonies dont teach the language of the country in schools btw).
The belizemennonite website classifies this colonies as Ultra-Conservative Old colony mennonites, and that they are more conservative than the Noah Hoover.

[lmcdoss]

The Mennonites of the Florida colony in Uruguay are presumably Beachy Amish. There are several colonies of the Beachy Amish in Paraguay (Luz y Esperanza, Florida, La Belleza). The Amish colony in Bolivia is defunct.

Naranjito is not defunct. You are probably mixing it with the Argentinian one.

[MennoSimons1998]

The Mennonites of the Florida colony in Uruguay are presumably Beachy Amish. There are several colonies of the Beachy Amish in Paraguay (Luz y Esperanza, Florida, La Belleza). The Amish colony in Bolivia is defunct.

The Mennonites of the Florida colony in Uruguay are presumably Beachy Amish. There are several colonies of the Beachy Amish in Paraguay (Luz y Esperanza, Florida, La Belleza). The Amish colony in Bolivia is defunct.

Naranjito is not defunct. You are probably mixing it with the Argentinian one.

Interesting to learn this!; from the outdated material that I could find, I read that Beachy Amish colonies in both Paraguay and Bolivia were all defunct, but I am glad to learn that this is not the case!

[lmcdoss]

The Mennonites of the Florida colony in Uruguay are presumably Beachy Amish. There are several colonies of the Beachy Amish in Paraguay (Luz y Esperanza, Florida, La Belleza). The Amish colony in Bolivia is defunct.

The Mennonites of the Florida colony in Uruguay are presumably Beachy Amish. There are several colonies of the Beachy Amish in Paraguay (Luz y Esperanza, Florida, La Belleza). The Amish colony in Bolivia is defunct.

Naranjito is not defunct. You are probably mixing it with the Argentinian one.

Interesting to learn this!; from the outdated material that I could find, I read that Beachy Amish colonies in both Paraguay and Bolivia were all defunct, but I am glad to learn that this is not the case!

Naranjito in Bolivia is New order amish, not beachy amish. The vast majority are of old-colony origin.
Coordinates:-17.497166851451354, -62.68042209070904
I remember reading somewhere that they are New Order Fellowship, which are the most liberal ones though.

[Disciple of Christ]

The Mennonites of the Florida colony in Uruguay are presumably Beachy Amish. There are several colonies of the Beachy Amish in Paraguay (Luz y Esperanza, Florida, La Belleza). The Amish colony in Bolivia is defunct.

Naranjito is not defunct. You are probably mixing it with the Argentinian one.

You're right. But it's called "Naranjita".

[Disciple of Christ]

The Mennonites of the Florida colony in Uruguay are presumably Beachy Amish. There are several colonies of the Beachy Amish in Paraguay (Luz y Esperanza, Florida, La Belleza). The Amish colony in Bolivia is defunct.

Naranjito is not defunct. You are probably mixing it with the Argentinian one.

Interesting to learn this!; from the outdated material that I could find, I read that Beachy Amish colonies in both Paraguay and Bolivia were all defunct, but I am glad to learn that this is not the case!

Naranjito in Bolivia is New order amish, not beachy amish. The vast majority are of old-colony origin.
Coordinates:-17.497166851451354, -62.68042209070904
I remember reading somewhere that they are New Order Fellowship, which are the most liberal ones though.

There is an extension at -17.45806, -62.69061.