Fun With Maps of Our Yakima Mission

Monday will be the first P-Day (Preparation Day) for our new missionaries.  They and many others serving here will be in new areas.  Wednesday after our transfer meeting, all the moving happened for this transfer period.  By late evening we received word that everyone was tucked into their new areas, safe and sound!

Transfers take place every 6 weeks.  You stay in an area a number of transfers.  It’s like clock work.  It’s interesting how missionaries calculate their time here by transfers.  “I’ve been in this area 3 transfers,” is how they would let you know they’ve been here 3 times 6 weeks, or 4 1/2 months.  We’ll all need to get used to that math.

1 transfer = 6 weeks = 1.5 months
2 transfers = 12 weeks = 3 months
3 transfers = 18 weeks = 4.5 months
4 transfers = 24 weeks = 6 months
5 transfers = 30 weeks = 7.5 months

Here is a helpful tool for you to use to see the areas where your missionary is serving.
Go to  https://www.lds.org/maps/
Sign in with your lds account.  Then you can click on North America and the Washington Yakima Mission to see the map above.  Below shows our relation to the missions around us.

This next map shows stake boundaries and the stake centers.  You find this by clicking on the search options in the column on the left.

You can zoom in on either a Google road map option or this Google Satellite viewing option with the icon in the lower right hand corner of your screen.  The map below shows some stake boundaries and stake centers in Moses Lake, Othello and Ephrata up north.  You can zoom in on any of these areas for a closer look!

You can also look for ward boundaries and buildings.  The map below shows ward buildings in Yakima and Selah to the north.  The area enclosed in blue is the ward our Mission Home is located in here in Yakima. 

Below is a look at our Mission Home from above.  You can see we are situated in a lovely neighborhood between an orchard and a wooded area.  Top row, third house from the left shows you where our missionaries played badminton in the back yard this week.Below is the Mission Office in Yakima.  It’s across the street from a community college:

This next screen shot shows the area of Quincy Ward.  We’ll be in that building doing training next Tuesday.  You can get a feel for what the area is like on these satellite maps.  You can see the amazing patchwork of sprinkler irrigation here.  Every inch that is watered, flourishes.  The Quincy ward building is marked in the small town.

Here is a ward in Othello.  Can you see how fun this is to see what our Yakima Mission looks like?  You can move in and out over any area, learn where the wards and stakes are and the church buildings.  You can see road map views or satellite views.  

You can zoom in closer and closer.  Here’s the ward building in Othello even closer.And even closer below:Take some time playing with this fabulous web site and resource.  Get to know our mission better.  Take a look at the areas where your missionary is serving.  It won’t take long to see that we are in a beautiful fertile spot, surrounded by wonderful people.  You can feel it by just hovering over the land.