Aside from my mission and BYU years, I am a lifelong Californian. Now well into my forties, I cringe when TBMs here obsess over the supposed Utopia that is Utah. Things such as: Oh, I cannot wait to move to Utah. Oh, we are counting down the minutes until we can retire to Utah. In Utah, our lives will be perfect. In Utah, (insert anything here) is better/superior.

And what I always want to say is pack your bags and don't let the door hit you on your way out! Seriously, instead of obsessing about how wonderful Utah is, just go there already! Since I spent four years living in the belly of the beast that is Provo, I know better, but by all means, these TBMs clearly belong there...

My step-dad, an attorney, married my mom in 1976. He was a fairly recent convert to the church (had been a member about 4 years) then.
He always talked about how he wanted to move to "Zion" (Utah). He was frustrated with the "evil" around him in SoCal, and wanted to go live among the saints.

He finally took the Utah bar, and they packed up and moved in 1983. He set up a practice in Sandy.

Three years later, they moved to Montana.

He was so disillusioned. Members would try to get free legal services from him, because he was mormon. They'd lie to him and cheat him, then shake his hand and pat his back at church on Sunday as if everything was great. He was constantly getting hit on to join MLM scams. After three years, he couldn't stand it any longer, and they bailed.

I found the whole episode hilarious :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/21/2016 06:04PM by ificouldhietokolob.

Mormons will pay for stuff, but they hate with a passion bordering on neurosis paying for professional service. Labor should be free, just like it is for LDS Inc.

Utah, and SLC in particular, is the spiritual home of LDS everywhere. It's where the great leaders are and where the big decisions are made - and with all those LDS there, how could it be other than a wonderful place ?
My personal experience, on visiting Utah, was that physically, it was as good a place as any to live, but that the good saints there seem to live in a bubble. Apart from missionary endeavours and the need to service LDS in the wider world, why would you need to be anywhere but God's headquarters ' here on the Earth '?

I still can't get past everywhere else in the world being called the "mission field" Hahahahahahahaha!

When I lived in the South and the Midwest, I noticed this, too. Mormons who had lived in Utah talked nonstop about how they wished they were still living there. Those who had never lived there talked about it like it was Mecca or Valhalla. In the late 90s/early 2000s, they still referred to everywhere non-Utah as the "mission field."

Now that I live in Utah, I find it not terrible but certainly not amazing. There are plenty of other places better or as good. The churchy bubble here is getting thinner all the time, especially in Salt Lake City. If any of those mission field Mormons spent time here, they'd be in for a rude awakening.

IMO, they can have it!

I will never forget the time back in the 60's when some members from the midwest came to Utah on a vacation and were shocked! shocked I tell you, to see that there was a state prison right there at point of the mountain. They could hardly believe that Utah had any criminals.

I'm also one who is thinking when TBM's talk about moving to Utah, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out." My TBM ex-husband's former roommate moved back there, mostly because his family lives there, and also because he hated the evilness of southern California. I found that out when curiosity got the better of me and I looked up that former roommate on Facebook.

I know other TBM's who are looking forward to moving back to Utah when their husbands retire, and their oldest children are going to college in Utah, but not BYU.