So... I've been posting here for some time. I originally joined CF in November of 2006 and posted on and off from then on. I've mostly been "on" before, during, and now after the upgrade. These past few months have probably been the most active for me.
Anyway, I thought I could talk about some of my history because people seem to be interested in that sometimes. I don't mean to sound prideful or anything... it's just that when I've talked with individuals either on CF or off they've always been interested in FLDS history and mine.
As many of you already know, I was born on May 18, 1988 at 8:18 am in Colorado City, Arizona (formerly known as Short Creek). Yes, I do come from a polygamous family. I'm an 8th generation polygamist through my mom's side. My dad was a convert to the FLDS Church and was raised in the Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times in Chihuahua, Mexico. My grandparents left after Joel died and moved to California where my dad later joined them after divorcing his first wife in Oregon. My one and only paternal uncle never left Mexico and instead joined Ervil's church. Now he leads a church spin-off group in Panama and has been at war with some of the other spin-off groups as well as the main Church of the Lamb of God. Luckily for me, I've never met the man.
Back to my dad... he married my mom (making her 1st wife) and had 8 children. He had two children for that previous marriage whom he later divorced from so that's ten altogether. I'm the 10th. I had three full sisters and five full brothers. One of my sisters committed suicide after she ran away and then my two older brothers (born right before me) were twins and one of them died less than 24 hours of being born.
When I was about 2, my dad received instructions to marry a second wife by embracing polygamy and my mom left taking one of my brothers and myself with her with the agreement that she would not take any more and my dad would continue to support her in protest. He followed through on his word, but life was a living hell growing up. She had no idea how to be a parent so after graduating from Junior High in 2002, I left in the middle of the night with my brother. It may have seemed wrong to do to the blind eye, but it was survival to me. She became violent when my brother and I told her we wanted to live with my father saying I was betraying Jesus and would suffer in hell with my father (which she made no shy effort to let me know for the majority of my life - my dad was condemned to hell and was beyond forgiveness in her eyes).
On my periodic visits with my dad, he taught me things about the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and Joseph Smith. I remember listening to the stories he or his wives (my mothers) would tell about the Book of Mormon. By the age of 8, I had a testimony of it and was baptized into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Then around 2002, when I left, I was again baptized. I was able to have a better relationship with my older sister and another brother who were still living with my dad.
The one that I lived with in California never embraced Mormonism and was kicked out after finding pornography in his room and a bunch of broadway musical CDs (YUCK!). I heard he was arrested for fraud sometime later... refunding money to credit cards when he wasn't buying anything... REALLY stupid.
Another brother (the twin) "got saved" and came back with the hopes of telling us all we were going to hell and that we would accept it. He was kicked out previously for drug use. He and I were never really close and he used to pick on me when I was younger. I hated his guts pretty much, so I was glad to see him leave. He was arrested too, ironically (hmm... do you see a pattern?).
Well, in any case, I was able to grow closer to my older brother Joseph, who converted to the LDS Church and is still on good terms with the family, and my older sister Jeslie, who is now numbered among the folks in Centennial Park.
My oldest full sister is married to Warren now.
Umm... OH! Back to 2002...
Yes, after I arrived around March/April, the prophet Rulon passed away. At the time my family wasn't super close with the Jeffs family, but it was devastating for everyone. It was Rulon that coined the term "Keep Sweet" and taught us how to behave with the opposite sex. Even if he didn't hold any priesthood authority, I believe he was still a man of God. Over time, my family became somewhat close with the Barlows, Jessops, and Hammons.
My father used to be friends with Sam Barlow and sent my brothers off to the "God Squad" who would chase out unwanted individuals. They're the folks with the big trucks. Later, my dad also joined for a short period of time and I remember riding with him a couple of times around town as we would patrol. Those were real father-son bonding times.
Also, because my mother was a Barlow and her half-sister married a Barlow, I have lots of cousins both in and out of the FLDS Church that are Barlows.
As for the Jessops, I share my middle name with them. My family and Merrill Jessop and his family would head over to Warren's house occasionally to be taught doctrine (that's what it was mostly to me). If I wasn't getting enough doctrine in my classes, I would get them from Warren. When I moved up to northern Utah, he actually came up a couple of times to make sure I was getting my doctrine right and gave quizzes and worthiness interviews etc. I failed a couple and then he'd scold my dad for not being good enough with teaching, leave a schedule of tapes to listen to, and asked my father to pay up tithes and then moved on. It was about the time of 2006 after graduating that Warren ended up getting captured in Nevada.
As for the Hammons, Jeslie ended up marrying a young man from Centennial Park who was a close family friend of my dad's a long time ago. They hadn't spoken in a long time and so it was nice to see them travel back through time together and hear all of the stories. He would also become my father-in-law as I married my "step-aunt" (it's not as weird as it sounds... trust me), uniting our family once again through marriage.
While most weren't allowed to attend public school (even Colorado City High School), my dad convinced Warren that I could be a worthy spy to see how they were doing and maybe convert some back to the FLDS. That eventually happened with a couple of the Hammon girls... one of which was the one I married.
Most of my time in northern Utah was tough. I still attended public school and was hated by a good majority of my teachers and peers. I didn't find a crowd to eat lunch with until the spring of 2005 where I had met my best friend eva. He was the first friend I invited over to my house and the first of my friends to invite me over to his house (and I actually accepted). Growing up in California, I was literally isolated from friends and was also unpopular there too.
While in northern Utah, I went to a variety of Kingston, Allred, and independent Mormon Fundamentalist functions. My dad gave me the opportunity to see other ways of living plural marriage, which was a nice well-rounded education. I made some really good friends in those times and those friendships still continue today.
Now, I'm out in California and my dad has been in the process of moving himself and family out of the creek and into modern society... which I'm sure is good or bad actually.
Anyway, that's a bit of a glimpse at my life in my shoes. Hope you found it interesting, but not too disturbing...
Anyway, I thought I could talk about some of my history because people seem to be interested in that sometimes. I don't mean to sound prideful or anything... it's just that when I've talked with individuals either on CF or off they've always been interested in FLDS history and mine.
As many of you already know, I was born on May 18, 1988 at 8:18 am in Colorado City, Arizona (formerly known as Short Creek). Yes, I do come from a polygamous family. I'm an 8th generation polygamist through my mom's side. My dad was a convert to the FLDS Church and was raised in the Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times in Chihuahua, Mexico. My grandparents left after Joel died and moved to California where my dad later joined them after divorcing his first wife in Oregon. My one and only paternal uncle never left Mexico and instead joined Ervil's church. Now he leads a church spin-off group in Panama and has been at war with some of the other spin-off groups as well as the main Church of the Lamb of God. Luckily for me, I've never met the man.
Back to my dad... he married my mom (making her 1st wife) and had 8 children. He had two children for that previous marriage whom he later divorced from so that's ten altogether. I'm the 10th. I had three full sisters and five full brothers. One of my sisters committed suicide after she ran away and then my two older brothers (born right before me) were twins and one of them died less than 24 hours of being born.
When I was about 2, my dad received instructions to marry a second wife by embracing polygamy and my mom left taking one of my brothers and myself with her with the agreement that she would not take any more and my dad would continue to support her in protest. He followed through on his word, but life was a living hell growing up. She had no idea how to be a parent so after graduating from Junior High in 2002, I left in the middle of the night with my brother. It may have seemed wrong to do to the blind eye, but it was survival to me. She became violent when my brother and I told her we wanted to live with my father saying I was betraying Jesus and would suffer in hell with my father (which she made no shy effort to let me know for the majority of my life - my dad was condemned to hell and was beyond forgiveness in her eyes).
On my periodic visits with my dad, he taught me things about the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and Joseph Smith. I remember listening to the stories he or his wives (my mothers) would tell about the Book of Mormon. By the age of 8, I had a testimony of it and was baptized into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Then around 2002, when I left, I was again baptized. I was able to have a better relationship with my older sister and another brother who were still living with my dad.
The one that I lived with in California never embraced Mormonism and was kicked out after finding pornography in his room and a bunch of broadway musical CDs (YUCK!). I heard he was arrested for fraud sometime later... refunding money to credit cards when he wasn't buying anything... REALLY stupid.
Another brother (the twin) "got saved" and came back with the hopes of telling us all we were going to hell and that we would accept it. He was kicked out previously for drug use. He and I were never really close and he used to pick on me when I was younger. I hated his guts pretty much, so I was glad to see him leave. He was arrested too, ironically (hmm... do you see a pattern?).
Well, in any case, I was able to grow closer to my older brother Joseph, who converted to the LDS Church and is still on good terms with the family, and my older sister Jeslie, who is now numbered among the folks in Centennial Park.
My oldest full sister is married to Warren now.
Umm... OH! Back to 2002...
Yes, after I arrived around March/April, the prophet Rulon passed away. At the time my family wasn't super close with the Jeffs family, but it was devastating for everyone. It was Rulon that coined the term "Keep Sweet" and taught us how to behave with the opposite sex. Even if he didn't hold any priesthood authority, I believe he was still a man of God. Over time, my family became somewhat close with the Barlows, Jessops, and Hammons.
My father used to be friends with Sam Barlow and sent my brothers off to the "God Squad" who would chase out unwanted individuals. They're the folks with the big trucks. Later, my dad also joined for a short period of time and I remember riding with him a couple of times around town as we would patrol. Those were real father-son bonding times.
Also, because my mother was a Barlow and her half-sister married a Barlow, I have lots of cousins both in and out of the FLDS Church that are Barlows.
As for the Jessops, I share my middle name with them. My family and Merrill Jessop and his family would head over to Warren's house occasionally to be taught doctrine (that's what it was mostly to me). If I wasn't getting enough doctrine in my classes, I would get them from Warren. When I moved up to northern Utah, he actually came up a couple of times to make sure I was getting my doctrine right and gave quizzes and worthiness interviews etc. I failed a couple and then he'd scold my dad for not being good enough with teaching, leave a schedule of tapes to listen to, and asked my father to pay up tithes and then moved on. It was about the time of 2006 after graduating that Warren ended up getting captured in Nevada.
As for the Hammons, Jeslie ended up marrying a young man from Centennial Park who was a close family friend of my dad's a long time ago. They hadn't spoken in a long time and so it was nice to see them travel back through time together and hear all of the stories. He would also become my father-in-law as I married my "step-aunt" (it's not as weird as it sounds... trust me), uniting our family once again through marriage.
While most weren't allowed to attend public school (even Colorado City High School), my dad convinced Warren that I could be a worthy spy to see how they were doing and maybe convert some back to the FLDS. That eventually happened with a couple of the Hammon girls... one of which was the one I married.
Most of my time in northern Utah was tough. I still attended public school and was hated by a good majority of my teachers and peers. I didn't find a crowd to eat lunch with until the spring of 2005 where I had met my best friend eva. He was the first friend I invited over to my house and the first of my friends to invite me over to his house (and I actually accepted). Growing up in California, I was literally isolated from friends and was also unpopular there too.
While in northern Utah, I went to a variety of Kingston, Allred, and independent Mormon Fundamentalist functions. My dad gave me the opportunity to see other ways of living plural marriage, which was a nice well-rounded education. I made some really good friends in those times and those friendships still continue today.
Now, I'm out in California and my dad has been in the process of moving himself and family out of the creek and into modern society... which I'm sure is good or bad actually.
Anyway, that's a bit of a glimpse at my life in my shoes. Hope you found it interesting, but not too disturbing...
