Real Life Fundie Encounters: Part 6

[louisa05]

Behind this car in traffic this morning. I feel like there’s no chance they’re not fundies. 
 

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

[traditionallynothing]

On 3/18/2024 at 4:48 PM, mango_fandango said:

I got an Instagram account fairly recently, mainly so I can check out fundie accounts without getting the “you need to join Instagram!” pop up when I’m trying to scroll. I don’t have anything on there myself. I was scrolling through the search bit, and a video caught my eye. It was someone getting ready for Mass. They dressed very modestly - not just a below-the-knee dress, but a full-on veil/mantilla. Then she added a fidget toy (or stim toy as she called it) and ear defenders. Turns out she’s autistic and TradCath. Her bio states that her account is a way to document her autistic life with Jesus. Not my thing (I’m autistic too but atheist), but obviously there are millions of believers in the world. The thing that made me double-take was that she’s apparently 21 and getting married this summer, but she legit looks about 10/12. It was so weird. Oh and she’s Canadian, I think. 

It made me think of something I once read about autistic people. Obviously this is a big generalisation and not all autistic people fit this! But autistic people tend to think in a very black-and-white way, and so (as an example) they can either be super-religious or very atheist, if that makes sense. I guess I was just particularly intrigued by the fact that this woman is autistic, plus the noticeable modesty/religious-ness in her profile. 

I haven't been able to fully discern her history either, but I don't think she's one of those influencers who wants to pretend it never happened. I do wish she would stop doing the reels with music to try to explain what she is saying because the songs that she picks are rarely relevant to anything and just confuse me further. 
 

I actually created an account so that I could come on here and say that there is something about her that is off and I can't put my finger on it. it has nothing to do with being on the spectrum, I don't have ASD but I have severe OCD which is now considered to be its own spectrum of disorders (completely separate from the ASD spectrum though certainly there are people with both). 
 

One of the things that really bothered me was a series of stories earlier this week where she ranted via text on the screen about how she doesn't ever want to be labeled as called a "trad wife" and that yes she is planning on getting married in a couple of weeks and she is going to be a "homemaker to her husband," but don't call her a "trad wife" while she's busy being a trad wife. 
 

Also is the child/baby voice she uses her natural voice? I know she's only 21 but the voice seems like part of a character she puts on for social media. 
 

She does seem like a very sweet girl and like someone else mentioned if all influencers were like her the world would certainly be a better place. There's another religious influencer that I don't follow but watch occasionally to see if she ever produces new material- "@malkalevanna" who is not ethnically Jewish at all, despite her ultra orthodox community requiring members to have Jewish ancestors through the matrilineal line. Somehow, she has managed to convert from Episcopalian to the most restrictive and orthodox form of Judaism. she is exceptionally rude to anyone who asks even genuine and respectful questions and she also has zero hobbies outside of talking about dressing modestly and how it's her choice and no man made to do it or talking about how she does not touch men she is not related to. Most boring influencer ever. It blows my mind how she has acquired so many followers. 

[indianabones]

A group of FLDS women came into my workplace today. Their hairstyles were much more relaxed than the ones I'd see when I lived close to Colorado City, and they were wearing baseball caps and sunglasses but they still had the prairie dresses on. The dresses were a surprising variety of colors- no red, of course, but more jewel tones than the pastels I'm used to seeing.

I didn't get to ask where they were from. Our local FLDS branch is AUB, so they dress fairly normally. I think these women were probably from Canada.

[Bluebirdbluebell]

Last week I was at the park and these young women approached me. They said they were missionaries and they asked if I wanted to go to their church. I asked which church and they said the current name for the Mormon church.  They were dressed in nice semi-formal clothes including skirts and namestags that said "Sister Theirlastname" on them.  I politely said no, but it's one of the few times seeing missionaries and Mormons in this state. We have a lot of JWs though.

[SwimmerBoy29]

Was at an amusement park this past weekend and saw the following:

 

1. A family of I think 4 or 5 people. The mom and daughter were in denim skirts that were definitely more current Duggar-esque (especially considering how hot it was out), but the dad had a sleeve on one arm. 
 

2. A group from Pensacola Christian College. Everyone was in jeans despite it being like 90 and sunny.

On a side note- I’ve run into Orthodox Jewish groups probably 3 of the last 4 times I’ve gone to Busch Gardens.
 

[Bluebirdbluebell]

Not exactly real life, but there's a woman I followed off/on for a long time on-line. She has always admired fundies like the ones we follow here. She was single for a while, but in her late 20s/ early 30s she met a widower with slightly larger than average family. He's fundie and now she's a fundie homeschooling stepmother. They also had a baby together. Now she's set up an account to be social-media homeschooling Quiverfull SAHM.  Because of the stepkids, they have biggish family (not Duggar big, but bigger than average.) She seemed like a sweet person, but this seems like a risky move for many reasons. 

[BlackberryGirl]

Absolutely amazing encounter today. We were at the pool in our hotel and I needed a chair to watch the grandberries swim. A woman in indeterminate Amish/ Mennonite garb was also sitting and she got up and got me a chair. 
I apologized and point blank asked which she was, because the garb was certainly not strictly what I associate with either. She had a white cap, dark jersey dress, a light tan sweater, dark socks and black rubber sandals She said she is Amish.  Her daughter age 11 was swimming in a cute 2 piece modest swimsuit, bright coral sleeveless top, and shorts. Her husband was swimming in regular swim trunks. Their 15 year old son was around, buying soda and hanging out, indistinguishable by his clothes.
We had the nicest conversation, they were visiting family here in Montana, heading home to Holmes County Ohio tomorrow. The littlest grandberry latched on to the hubby, talking his ear off, and later he and I had a nice chat about  Amish near us, and he was just delighted by our kid. 
 

not my photo but this is the closest to what I could find.
 

Edited July 29 by BlackberryGirl

[Howl]

How interesting and what a fun encounter!  Only two kids, spaced widely apart? I wonder if she kept traditional but the husband did not. 

Of course, so glad this little girl knows how to swim and can enjoy the water! 

Amish in Montana

 

Edited July 29 by Howl

[justpassingthru]

Amazing she didn't feel the need to have her children dress "modestly" in street clothes to swim 🙄

[JermajestyDuggar]

8 hours ago, BlackberryGirl said:

Absolutely amazing encounter today. We were at the pool in our hotel and I needed a chair to watch the grandberries swim. A woman in indeterminate Amish/ Mennonite garb was also sitting and she got up and got me a chair. 
I apologized and point blank asked which she was, because the garb was certainly not strictly what I associate with either. She had a white cap, dark jersey dress, a light tan sweater, dark socks and black rubber sandals She said she is Amish.  Her daughter age 11 was swimming in a cute 2 piece modest swimsuit, bright coral sleeveless top, and shorts. Her husband was swimming in regular swim trunks. Their 15 year old son was around, buying soda and hanging out, indistinguishable by his clothes.
We had the nicest conversation, they were visiting family here in Montana, heading home to Holmes County Ohio tomorrow. The littlest grandberry latched on to the hubby, talking his ear off, and later he and I had a nice chat about  Amish near us, and he was just delighted by our kid. 
 

not my photo but this is the closest to what I could find.
 

She is probably in one of the more modern groups. It’s a pretty wide range in Ohio depending on the group. 

[Bluebirdbluebell]

10 hours ago, justpassingthru said:

Amazing she didn't feel the need to have her children dress "modestly" in street clothes to swim 🙄

With two kids, they can probably afford modest swimwear.

[indianabones]

I always see Amish in the Mission Valley here in Montana. I believe it's the Westernmost Amish community in the United States.

I was at Glacier National Park two weeks ago and there were two Amish families we kept seeing around the park (they were taking the shuttles around it). It was 95° at lower elevations and they were all in long sleeves and dark colors. They must have been sweltering.

[BlackberryGirl]

A second fundie encounter, this one in Sheridan WY. At breakfast BBB started chatting with a man who was accompanied by several kids ranging from about 18 to a year old baby.  Turns out they are missionaries living in Alaska, they have 7 kids and came down to the West to visit supporting churches. The girls were wearing tshirts and shorts, the boys in T’s and jeans or shorts. Articulate, nice kids. The baby was 16 months old being handed from kid to kid and they all seemed to enjoy her. They weren’t preachy or weird. Dad had a great sense of humor. 

[Howl]

Kinda fundie adjacent.  I was running errands on my bike and went past the First Baptist Church, where three ladies were setting up a little rummage sale on the corner.  One lady had on an ankle length denim skirt, the other two ladies had on very conservative not-quite-midi length dresses and I'd guess that none of them would ever show up in public in pants and never ever to anything church related. 

[SwimmerBoy29]

Not fundie at all but would appreciate some insight on this:

My cousin got married this past weekend. Her husband is about a decade older than her (second marriage he has a preteen daughter), his family is Irish Catholic (we’re Polish Catholic). In his best man speech his younger brother (23 and 17 years his junior, not sure whether he was a half brother from their dad’s second marriage or just a surprise and obviously none of my business) mentions not being allowed to read Harry Potter as a kid. He also mentions dressing up as Venom for the Spiderman 3 premiere.

I’ve never met a single Catholic who was against Harry Potter (like even my deeply conservative pastor growing up brought up Harry vs Voldy as a comparison to Jesus v Satan after the final movie came out) so I would love to know why he wasn’t allowed to read it (unless it was just a “you’re too young” for this).

[EmainMacha]

4 hours ago, SwimmerBoy29 said:

Not fundie at all but would appreciate some insight on this:

My cousin got married this past weekend. Her husband is about a decade older than her (second marriage he has a preteen daughter), his family is Irish Catholic (we’re Polish Catholic). In his best man speech his younger brother (23 and 17 years his junior, not sure whether he was a half brother from their dad’s second marriage or just a surprise and obviously none of my business) mentions not being allowed to read Harry Potter as a kid. He also mentions dressing up as Venom for the Spiderman 3 premiere.

I’ve never met a single Catholic who was against Harry Potter (like even my deeply conservative pastor growing up brought up Harry vs Voldy as a comparison to Jesus v Satan after the final movie came out) so I would love to know why he wasn’t allowed to read it (unless it was just a “you’re too young” for this).

Irish Catholic here. My mum didn't like my older brother playing Dungeons and Dragons because someone told her it was demonic. Our Ladybird book on the History of Man had the bits about Evolution crossed out with 'Not Proven' handwritten beside it by her. It makes her sound nuts but she'd grown up very religious, brought us up as religiously as possible and veered between extremes. She was the main earner in our house (in a science related area!) so not a tradwife or anything

[Howl]

Driving home across New Mexico, we stopped in Moriarty (on the interstate, east of Albuquerque) for gas and snacks.  A nice late-model SUV pulled up and girls in long dresses started popping out, I think some type of Mennonites? The dresses were light cotton (it was still quite warm) with a little flower print, all made from the same pattern (not store bought), long but not floor length.  The girls wore their long hair in braids; the older women (there were two) wore their hair in buns, with just the bun covered with a fine lace caplet.  

Dad would not stand out in a crowd, any crowd, because he was wearing the middle-age man's business casual uniform: khaki pants, button up short-sleeve shirt, leather loafers (not running shoes).  

My husband: DON'T GET EXCITED!!!