Mormons in Austin? (Round Rock, Mission, Spring: neighborhood, live, moving to)

[jhwest]

I'm Mormon and DH and I are thinking of moving to Austin. Is anyone familiar with the LDS community there? We're thinking of Dripping Springs in particular.

[GANKS]

Sorry, what's DH?

I'm LDS but we are moving there in June so I can't help you much.

[jhwest]

DH is Dear Husband. I think we'll bring our kids too

[GANKS]

We attended church in Round Rock a few weeks ago and were very impressed. Everyone was friendly and helpful. Where are you moving from?

[jhwest]

We are moving from Salt Lake but we're NOT Utah Mormons. (Actually, we're kind of sick of Mormons.) Our kids range in age from 1 year-11 years. A big primary is good, and since our daughter will be in Young Womens soon, a good YW/YM program is important too.
Where we live now has no kids (so bizarre for Utah), so we're trying to find a neighborhood with lots of families.

[GANKS]

That is weird for Utah. Don't blame you for wanting to leave Utah. I graduated from the U and served in the Utah Provo Mission. Had my fill but would never ever raise a family there. Austin is great. The primary we found in Round Rock was big. Ours near Seattle is 160 kids which is huge.

[Pathwalker]

I don't understand, what's the difference between Utah Mormons and, well, other Mormons? (Not trying to start a discussion about religion, I'm just curious after reading your post.)

[cmalmond]

In Utah, because there are so many Mormons, the religion is a culture there. It's hard for some people to separate the cultural aspects and the religious aspects of the church.

[GANKS]

Exactly, in Utah many attend church as a social thing and not because they feel a strong spiritual conversion. It's hard to explain but when you've lived in Utah and out of Utah it's like night and day. It's really weird. My wife is from Utah and agrees now that she has lived outside of Utah.

In Utah being LDS is nothing unusual and you rarely talk to friends and neighbors about your beliefs. Being LDS outside of Utah I'm asked every week about why I don't drink or smoke or a million other things without me bringing it up. Also, in Utah there is a larger amount of people who don't practice what they believe so it sends a very confusing message to non-LDS people (that's everywhere with every religion but it stands out a lot in Utah).

[jhwest]

Exactly. There's a lot of hypocrisy. Plus Utah Mormons seem to really believe that Utah is "Zion", and it's the greatest place on earth, and why would anyone live anywhere else?