It's important to note at this point that I had been thoroughly trained to spot cult groups (those that have crackpot leaders or bizarre origins or anything that deviates from what our forefathers allegedly brought to this land under the name of Christianity). And Mormons were high on the list.
But these folks seemed harmless and were quite friendly (at least the mother and children). We later learned that the family was growing rapidly due to the fact that they desperately wanted a boy. The mother would get pregnant as soon as possible after the last delivery, only to give birth to yet another girl, despite the doctor's warnings that each pregnancy was a danger to her health (she had to undergo Cesarian section each time). From what I read of the Mormons (probably from Christian fundamentalist writers), it was a special blessing for a family to produce male offspring because these lads were in line for godhood over eons.
The next thing that we noticed was seeing the family taking a walk around the block together. It was nice to see them together, but it was odd to see the father walking ahead of them reading out loud to them. The radar again went up, and the scale tipped toward the negative side of our relationship.
One time when the mother had her kids over at our house, she asked me if I knew much about the Mormons. I replied that I had been taught some things, but wasn't sure how much of it was true. She offered to give me a book, not the Book of Mormon or The Pearl of Great Price, but another book that explained the Mormon faith. Like a good Christian leader I accepted it and promised to give it a close look. In fact, with highlighter in hand, I began to go through it methodically, checking references to our Bible against what was actually in our Bible.
I found so many discrepancies and misinterpretations that I gave up on my analysis less than a third of the way through the book. On a later visit with her I told her that I just couldn't justify the statements in the book with my own beliefs. She seemed to take it well and acknowledged that further discussion may prove helpful. I also thought it odd that I was having these conversations with the woman of the house rather than the man; another of the core teachings that I had received was that the woman was to be silent and subservient. So this was a stretch for me to be talking with her; I don't recall having any contact with her husband, aside from the occasional wave while driving by their house. She had revealed to Lois at one time that she had come from a matronly-structured family and was used to being in charge.
Our families' relationship began to wane when our girls were invited to their house for a sleepover (they were never allowed to sleep over at our house --- should have been a clue). The girls seemed to have had a good time, but reported to us that the mother was teaching them some "special" songs and talking about things that they didn't understand. That's when we drew the line. No more sleepovers. We began to reduce all communication. And then it was done.
Our last exposure to our neighborhood Mormons was through a local radio program on a contemporary Christian station. Lois was listening to a call-in program about home schooling. Segregation was still going strong in the south, and Orlando officials had ordered busing to enforce integration into the schools. We opted to put the girls in a private Christian school. Other talk around town was to home-school, which was still a relatively new concept in that area. In the mind of the Christian community home-schooling was only done by cult groups.
Back to the call-in show. One call came from a woman who was sympathetic with the dilemma that parents were facing and offered to help educate folks on the home-schooling option. She was very pleasant and gave a number for people to call. Lois heard it. She recognized the voice and the phone number. The cult alarm went off. She called me. I called the station, and they said that they would look into it. But nothing happened. And that was that.
We had always acknowledged that God had taught us to love, but, looking back, love never seemed to take priority in our encounters. There was us, and there was them. Right must prevail.
Along with foolishness.
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