LDS Church to create new missions in Utah and Washington in 2015

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865618033/LDS-Church-to-create-new-missions-in-Utah-and-Washington-in-2015.html

More news from the morg's so called "missionary surge"???

Yakima, WA is near the geo-center of the state, in what is considered Eastern WA., the 'dry' part.

Yakima is heavily dependent on agriculture, and has a high Hispanic population. I'm not aware of much Hi-Tech in the area, but I haven't visited there for many years.

Eastern Wa is the politically conservative area, it is close to the Hanford complex that is troubled by attempts to clean up Nuclear Waste from the WWII era; leaking storage tanks close to the Columbia River. Constant friction between Dept of Energy (contractors, delays) & state officials.

I'm not aware of a 4 yr college in / near Yak, but the U of Washington, WSU, or another might have a branch campus there. Mos Love having an institute for the college students who 'Need Direction' from Mother Morg...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2014 12:06PM by GNPE.

i was in the washington spokane mission from 89-91 (eames), though i never served in yakima, i was in the tri-cities and ephrata. high-tech in yakima? maybe to service the casinos on the rez. ellensburg might have some high-tech. but i have to laugh at the thought that a mission is needed in central washington as there is nothing much to speak of there.

and this despite the surge.

It's telling that 1 of the 2 missions in is Orem, UT— the heart of LDS inc. Mormonism. On birth rate alone there are probably a ton of unbaptized 9 year olds that are ripe for the "conversion". Other than that I can;t imagine the mission will be anything other than a huge circle jerk.

Seems to be a lot of that going on. A friend from Modesto sent me this article talking about a new mission there. Said that the LDS in Modesto are very excited about it.

http://ldsdaily.com/church-lds/breaking-news-church-approves-new-orem-lds-mission/

Modesto? Yakima? Orem?

Geez.

I talked to two Senior Missionaries (Husband & Wife) in Northern Utah
county who serve basically full time missions in the ward they live in.

When I asked them how the work was going I got the same old,
"Oh, it's going fantastic. We're working with lots of people," BS.

However, it's almost all about reactivation, except for one immigrant
husband & wife they (and a set of full time missionaries that were called in)
were deceiving, I mean teaching, about the church.

Each ward in this stake has a similar set of Senior (or retired) Missionaries.
TSCC has combined all of these senior stake missionaries, from adjoing stakes,
to form its own mission, separate from the regular missionaries.

This mission of senior missionary couples even has
its own mission president, someone who also lives in the same area.
All of this is under the umbrella and leadership
of the regular full time mission president for that area.

If TSCC is claiming that senior couple's missions are now
newly added missions it gives the false appearence of growth and success.
Very misleading, but typical of TSCC.

As guy who still owns a house in Yakima (where I hope to retire), I am disturbed by having a mission in town. Still, it is an "exclave' of Mormonism. In fact, the Tri-Cities (Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco) are almost part of the Morridor and even have their own temple. Mormons moved en masse to Moses Lake and nearby ares after the Grand Coulee Dam was built, offering cheap, irrigated farmland (Mormons were still mostly agrarian back then). And Yakima is right in there somewhere. Lots of LDS chapels in the town. In a couple of small, nearby communities they even have those large McChapels you see in Utah. DW walked to church from our house, reminding us both of Utah. The school system was 91% Mexican/Latino, so there are lots of opportunities for Spanish-speaking missionaries.

Still, pretty disturbing.