Day 0006:

   I feel so out of the loop in Mormon Central over here. Last night I went to FHE (Family Home Evening) and there were dozens of people! Just for a prayer, song, spiritual thought, and another prayer. A few girls and guys got in a water fight. I learned games like Ninja and Lumberjack. Then a small group of us went to Bradley's house where I learned to play scum and to never trust a guy in Twister. He will push you over mercilessly. We had great hot chocolate and listened to music. I learned about EFY (Especially For Youth) and had to teach Mike that flirting with me in front of his girlfriend wasn't a good idea. She was pissed because she thinks I'm pretty and at that point he asked me for my number...that may contribute to the fact that he's hitch hiking to Idaho today...
   My discussion piece is as follows; where have you gone on vacation, moved to, or even seen, that's been a huge culture shock for you? Somewhere where you learned a bunch of new things or been a 'novelty item'? My answer is Utah. In Princeton, there's, what? 20 people my age, and I only like about 3 of them. Here there are hundreds of people my age just 10 minutes away. A bunch of Mormons all go to activities to fellowship and because it's the right thing to do. They enjoy the spirituality of church. It feels like back home, only the few people serious about church and the gospel show up. The Granite City Ward is probably 1/4 the size of the ward I'm attending here.
   They took a ward photo last Sunday. We had to go to the gym and the photographer had to stand on the other end of the full sized gym to get us all in the picture...we were on bleachers, too. At home, we can all sit in the Relief Society room and occupy half of the chairs and the photographer was maybe 6 feet away.
   In Utah, they live so close to each other and church that they could walk if they wanted. In Minnesota, I have to drive 45 minutes to get to church. At least 20 minutes to get to a friend's house (Excluding Maddie, who lives about 5 minutes away).
   People in Utah go on dates for fun. People in Minnesota go on dates because they want a relationship. It is rarely just for fun. Not to say people here only date for fun. That's a large part of it, but they want relationships, too. They just focus on having a good time first.
   The few people here that I've told about my divorce have a hard time believing me. They think it's so weird that I haven't been to EFY or BYU. They're legitimately confused by my living conditions and religious situation. They're curious, and say they're really gonna miss me...so they intend to party with me until I leave on Saturday. I could get used to this.
   Don't hesitate! Please comment on this. I wanna know!

Sincerely,
Monotonous Me