Geographic Density

[Korihor]

We spent the Holidays with my folks in Utah. They live in a very dense LDS area in Davis county.

There was map of their ward boundaries on their fridge. Their ward is comprised of 105 houses on 2 streets.

[FiveFingerMnemonic]

We spent the Holidays with my folks in Utah. They live in a very dense LDS area in Davis county.

There was map of their ward boundaries on their fridge. Their ward is comprised of 105 houses on 2 streets.

Dang dude, you might have been describing my neighborhood. We could have hung out!

[glass shelf]

I've lived in branches that stretched an hour drive from one edge to the other. The ward boundaries that we currently live in are at least 30 minutes from one side to the other and cover half of a decent sized city.

I hate people being in my space and knowing my business. Your parents' ward sounds like a flashback to my BYU days and absolute torture to me.

[FiveFingerMnemonic]

I've lived in branches that stretched an hour drive from one edge to the other. The ward boundaries that we currently live in are at least 30 minutes from one side to the other and cover half of a decent sized city.

I hate people being in my space and knowing my business. Your parents' ward sounds like a flashback to my BYU days and absolute torture to me.

Actually, as soon as you make NOMments in sunday school you find yourself very alone in the middle of the herd.

[Unendowed]

That could easily be my ward as well. I think that describes most of Davis County, at least southern Davis County, it's more "diverse" north of Kaysville.

[Just This Guy]

Sounds like my ward growing up in West Jordan, a suburb of Salt Lake. I think there were maybe 120 houses in the ward, basically one block.

It was a big change to move to West Virginia where the ward covered over 500 square miles and had people in three states.

[shadow]

I grew up in south Davis county. Ward consisted of three blocks. Even with such a small area, there were 17 young men in my priesthood quorums growing up. What this did was make the church a major part of my social upbringing in addition to spiritual upbringing.

As I look back and wonder why I never questioned the before I did, I had no reason to based on my lived experience. Nearly everyone living around me seemed bought in, and I had some incredible neighbors and role models. The church exposed me to them. All of my friends were there, too. In all honesty, it was a fantastic community.

Now that I live elsewhere, I've found it much more difficult to really know my neighbors. We're new to our established neighborhood. Another new family held a neighborhood BBQ this past summer. A lot of the people there have lived in the neighborhood for decades. In one of the more awkward neighborhood moments ever recorded, one lady had to inform her neighbors that lives across the street on their cul-de-sac that her husband had died the past winter after a battle with cancer. These were people that knew each other!

While I don't believe the doctrinal teachings of the church, and I think a lot of the teachings are harmful, I console myself at our continued church attendance with the sense of community I hope it gives to my children. I would prefer to find that community elsewhere, particularly since I feel so isolated at church, but I'm trying to find the positive aspects if a change isn't in our immediate future.