Hello!

I just moved to Saint George, Utah with my fam until I can save enough money to go some place else with my new baby. I'm finding it really hard to meet people since most people living here (esp where my parents live) are all friends through the Mormon church. I feel surrounded. They have people visiting all the time to give lessons and they see it as rude when I don't sit and join. I hear so much narrow minded beliefs. All of my family is mormon, I am the only non and need someone to relate to out here! I'm finding it hard to cultivate a new relationship with my family since not being a member of the church, they always judge me and I feel they are always so concerned that I am not living to my fullest or happiest potential.

Any advice?

Thanks,
Rachelle

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1972166

They usually post a thread here about their get togethers. You might attend the next one and see if you meet someone you can connect with.

Let them think it's rude. That's their problem. Sit with your new baby instead. Holding your new baby in your arms, is where heaven is at anyway.

I agree. The only people who think it's rude are the mormons. In normal families a young woman is off doing her own stuff not hanging around the 'rents house pretending to be interested in their assigned friends.

You'll never be able to please everybody, so you might as well please yourself.

Hope you can afford to move very soon, and until then hope you can find people your age and with your interests to hang out with.

I'm glad you're working to find a way to leave. You'll fully appreciate being among normal people.

In the meantime, get out of the house and try to meet people in non-mormon settings. There must be other churches, clubs, and classes in the area.

If you can get away one Sunday, try something like "The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Southern Utah"

https://www.facebook.com/pg/uufoswu/about/

That's a face book page, I do not know if you can view it without having an account.

You could also try one of the other churches.

You might also try groups that do not typically attract Mormons, like a feminists group...

Register with "meetup.com." It's a system of sites and individual groups where people can "meet-up" on the basis of interests. You might find a single mother's group, a walker's, literary, cooking, single parents, nature, music...all sorts of things. If nothing strikes your fancy, for a reasonable fee, you can post your own group and see if it attracts any interest.

I'm involved in a few writers groups, which I've found to be very rewarding.

Family is a mixed bag, so think of the cult thing as the one of you family's flaws, and nothing more.

Remember that out in the rest of the world, Mormonism is very tiny and UNIMPORTANT. The Mormon cult is just--a stupid con--so please don't let it ruin your relationship with your parents. Don't let it ruin your happy time with your new baby.

You are in a very, very weird place! Don't be fooled into thinking the cult members are the majority--they are not!

You are the sane one. In order to keep being sane, I would make any lame excuse possible to avoid "lessons", meetings, and activities. If your parents insist on having the baby blessed, consider it nothing more than mumbo-jumbo voo-doo. My friend had a drum ceremony performed on her grandchild, and she said, "Oh well--whatever makes people happy. The Mormon cult has no power over your inner life or private thoughts. It has no hold on you, except to threaten you, and guilt you into being "polite" to your parents.

I'm sure you will be able to handle the situation. Get a stroller, and go for lots of walks, before it gets too hot. If you have a car, you can explore the desert. I know some non-Mormons who love St. George--but they are over 60.

Go to a store -- Smith's, for example, or Starbuck's -- on a Sunday. See all the people not in church. Say hi. Strike up a conversation.

I moved to the other side of the planet to escape...

I moved to another state to escape.

When I bought my house in a Mormon city In southern Utah, the door had a "no soliciting" sign. I left it up. I have never been bothered. Also, I do all of my shopping on Sunday, because the rest of them are in church.

Mormons are "kings and queens, priests and priestesses" of their own tiny world. You are part of the Planet Earth, and you are with the majority of the planet's population, looking at the tiny Mormon cult as something very weird and insignificant. I look at them, as a group, as patients in institution. They are haywire on the freeways. They stalk and harass normal people, but they probably won't hurt you.

Out here on Planet Earth, we are 99.99% of the population. If you feel like you are the only non-Mormon around, then you are buying into their insanity!

Even within the tiny cult of Mormondumb, I wonder how many members really believe in all of those lies. I'll bet most of them, including the children, are just faking it, to keep the peace, or out of fear.

Tourists come from all over the world to see the rock formations, so enjoy! There must be some hiking groups, mountain biking excursions, some rock-hound clubs. You could take up golf, since you have built-in babysitters, and play 9 holes, or pitch-and-put, or just go to a driving range or a putting green. Sign up with your baby for a "baby-and-me" gymboree class--I don't know what they call those--and some babies take swimming lessons at 6 months old--but that's down the road. Meet other mothers. There are some situations where religion doesn't matter. I liked volunteering in the schools, where I met very nice people. Our common interests were the children, teaching, socializing, fund-raising, financial planning, problem-solving, keeping everyone happy, and just making the schools better.

Are you interested in animals? Horses? Music? Native American history? Drama and theater? Art is popular in St George, too.

New mothers often feel alone, because they really are isolated at home with the new baby--even in nice places they love--even with a helpful husband and family. Most of housework and child care, you do by yourself.

St George is beautiful. There are young and artsy people there. You just need time to meet some. Go to places where you're likely to meet others. With a baby you don't have much time for anything else, but there are lots of things to do with children and families in St George that don't involve religion.

Look at the local publications and community directories.