Welcome to Our Yakima Mission Blog! This is a spot where we will celebrate Missionary work and those who do it. We are glad for a space where we can share the joy that we feel as we are involved in the work of bringing friends closer to Jesus Christ and the things he teaches.
We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and are serving for a period of three years. This blog represents our own opinions and experiences for these three years. And does not represent or speak for the doctrine or opinions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Thank you for joining us!
John and Ann Lewis
Our Washington Yakima Mission 
My son Lance will be serving in this mission. It’s exciting to get to know you better. I know he’ll be in good hands. 🙂
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Wonderful!! Can’t wait to meet Lance. Where do you live? This is going to be fun. Thanks for checking in!
Ann
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We live in West Jordan. It will be something new that’s for sure. He’s my oldest, so we have lots of new experiences with him.
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My son Kasen got his mission call Sunday he will be with you soon he leaves July 15th were from Mesquite Nevada
Josh
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Excellent!! We are so excited to meet him soon. This is going to be wonderful. Please keep in touch with us. Best wishes as you prepare. Please give Elder Tiejen our love!
Sis Lewis
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My daughter read her mission call on Sunday, and she will also be reporting to the MTC on July 15!
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Dear Elder and Sister Lewis, my little girl, Sister Atkinson, will be joining you in the Yakima mission. She will report to the MTC on July 15th. We are very excited for her and have no doubts she will be in the greatest place ever! We have a couple of questions. Will she be riding a bike, walk or drive? Just making sure we have everything she needs. Looking forward to get to know you better.
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Hi Ana! What great news! Thanks for checking in. This is going to be wonderful. I can’t wait to meet Sister Atkinson. Where do you live? We’re not sure yet about the cars or bikes. I’ll see what I can find out. I know we have a missionary couple in charge of cars, but I’m not sure how many of the missionaries have them. We’ll be starting out with about 110 missionaries as of July 1st, then will grow from there. I heard we’ll receive about 16 or 17 entering the MTC on the 15th. It sounds like we’re headed to a wonderful place. Please keep in touch! Ann
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We live in Provo, although I am originally from Spain and my husband, John is from California. We are very excited to learn all about this new mission, and I can tell you will be absolutely fantastic!!!!
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Our farewell will be June 21st at 9:00 a.m. at the Stonewood Stake center at 450 South 100 West in Orem. Come if you are able so we can meet you!
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My oldest son will be joining you in the Yakima, Washington mission. He reports to the Provo MTC August 26th. He is my oldest and this is a new experience for us. His name is Braden Dalton. My dear friend Beth Whitaker has spoken so lovingly of you. We are so excited to have our son join you both!
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Hi Melanie! We are so excited to meet Braden! This will be so fun. We’ll take good care of him. We are lucky to be going to a fabulous place, where the work is growing so quickly. Our farewell will be next Sunday, Father’s Day at 9:00 at the Stake Center at 450 South 100 West in Orem. Come if you can–we’d love to meet you! You are going to LOVE having a missionary out. Our youngest is in Chile now. It is a wonderful thing for families. We get lots of extra blessings and goodness in our homes as our kids serve. Thanks for checking in. I’ll try to keep posting info about the mission and our missionaries as we go along.
Ann
Tomorrow Elder Bednar will set us apart.
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Dear President and Sister Lewis, it was such a great honor to meet you at your farewell. As a mom sending my first daughter on a mission, is such a comfort to get to know her parents for the next 18 months!!! I know Sandra, Sister Atkinson, will be in the best hands possible. I already love you both!!! Sandra’s farewell will be this next Sunday, June 26th. It’s coming to us really fast, but now we are ready to let her serve with you in beautiful Washington and Oregon!!! Best wishes settling up and I know you will be absolutely great! Ana Atkinson
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Thank you, Ana! It was wonderful to meet you this morning. We will take good care of Sister Atkinson. We are going to love serving together!
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Zach Carroll will also enter the MTC on Aug 26th!
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Excellent! We look forward to meeting him. He is going to love it here! Glad you found us. We’ll do our best to make this a great missionary experience for your family!
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President and Sister Lewis – We are so excited for your new calling in the Washington Yakima Mission. My son, Elder Zack Decker, is currently serving in the Washington Kennewick Mission with President and Sister Ware, and will be reassigned to the Yakima Mission with you. He is engaged in the work and anxiously awaits your council and direction. He will be at his year mark on July 1st, so he will serve the entire second half of his mission with you. Thank you in advance for your sacrifice and service to the missionaries and wonderful people in the Yakima Mission. Also, thank you for creating this mission blog. I have learned so much about you and President Lewis and have complete confidence in you. We are so grateful the Lord leads His work and church with inspired calls.
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We are thrilled to “inherit” Elder Decker!! Can’t wait to meet him. We’ll have our first 4 Zone Conferences to meet everyone on Thurs and Friday, July 2-3. It won’t be long now. We’re so excited to step into this mission and become involved in the fabulous work being done there. We head to the Mission President’s Seminar Weds. Tomorrow is our last day with our family here, so we will be eager to embrace our new family there. Thank you for writing. I’ll do my best to keep family members in our loop of missionary happiness here on the blog, so you can keep an eye on what’s happening. We’ll do our best to take good care of your son and all the missionaries. I already feel my heart swelling.
Love from Pres Lewis and from me.
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My son will be leaving on August 26th for your mission. He is so excited! We are grateful for your service.
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President and Sister Lewis – Thank you SO much for your blog, I especially appreciate seeing pictures of the missionaries that you come in contact with as you visit with them from time to time. Our daughter, Sister Naomi Wilson, has only been in the mission a short time, and we love hearing about the wonderful experiences that she and Sister Marcom are having – – seeing pictures of her makes it a little more ‘real’ to us 🙂 Thank you again. We’re keeping everyone in the mission in our prayers!
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It was so fun to visit with your daughter this last week! She’s doing a fabulous job! We love her and Sister Marcom. Thank you for preparing her so well!
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Sister Lewis, our daughter Sister Atkinson will be arriving to the mission home next week!!! We are so excited!!! I’m so happy that we got to meet you at your farewell. It makes me feel so much more at ease knowing who she is going to be with. Thank you for this blog, it’s just awesome!!
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We are so excited to see her again. I’ve got her bed ready! This is going to be FUN! Send her with love and we will receive her with love!
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Dear Sister Lewis, you have no idea how much I LOVE your blog. I love reading all about the area, about all the activities in the mission. Thank you so much for keeping such a beautiful record of the Yakima Mission. It helps us, the parents, to feel part of this amazing, sacred work. I can’t stop crying seeing my little girl there, and they are tears of joy, because I am so happy she is there, serving the Lord, and so happy she is with you. Couldn’t have asked for better, more caring mission presidents. I am eternally thankful to you. Love always. Ana Atkinson.
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It has been a pure joy to have Sis Atkinson here in the mission home this week. She’s arrived in her first area this evening. She will love her new companion. She is going to be such a wonderful missionary. We will take good care of her!
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Sister Lewis – – Quick question when you have a minute (do you ever have many free minutes?)… Could you please share with us the size of the monthly planners that the missionaries decorate? We loved seeing all of the personalized planners that you pictured and thought it would be fun to include some potential decorating images In our next care package. Thank you so much! 🙂
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https://yakimamission.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/monthly-planners-let-the-creativity-flow/
Thanks for the great idea. I’ve just posted about the planners!
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I am so excited to have met you at the Othello Stake Conference. I felt strongly of your spirit. I am so enjoying working with Sisters Averett and Hirsche. They are amazing, hard working, tenacious women serving the Lord the best they can. Thank you for sending my ward your best missionaries. We are trying to work them into the ground. 🙂
I also have a favor to ask of you if you could reply. I am trying hard to further the work in our ward, and I think you could be of some help in that effort.
Sincerely,
Shane Provost, Ward Mission Leader, Othello 2nd Ward
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Please let me know how I can help, Shane. Thanks for taking good care of Sisters Hirsche and Averett. My email is annlewis@byu.net. I’m happy to help in any way I am able.
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Sister Lewis – Thanks again for all that you and President Lewis are doing for our missionaries and the people in the Yakima Mission. Your blog is such a blessing to me and my family. I am so grateful that you are taking the many hours to document all that you can about the mission and area. I love it!
Also, you have mentioned a mission Facebook page a few times, but we haven’t been able to find it. (I’m sorry, Facebook challenged I guess.) Can you please help direct us to the page? Maybe provide the link?
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Sister Decker – I’m just a missionary mom, but I thought I’d leave you the Facebook information quickly while our amazing Sister Lewis is in the middle of transfer craziness right now. 🙂 The web address for the “Washington-Yakima Mission LDS” Facebook page is:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1736134569947452/
This is a closed group, so simply request to join the group and the Rantas (the wonderful missionary parents who started this page for us) will get back to you in a day or two.
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Thank you so much! We will check it out tonight!
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Dear Sister Lewis, thank you so much for all the updates in the yakima mission facebook page and your blog. I absolutely love to read and see all your posts and pictures. It makes me feel like part of the mission, seeing all the many things you are doing there. Thank you for ALL you do for our children and for loving them so much!!!
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Hello! I’ve been called to serve in your mission! It’s been sooo fun to see what it might be like. The wait has been crazy agonizing. I’m so excited to meet you and get to work. I report to the MTC on March 2. 27 more days!!! I sometimes get a little mission sick(I call it my pre-mission nostalgia), it’s been so nice to look at this blog and think,’That’s my place, that’s what I’m working toward. Those are going to be my favoritest people.’ I will be Spanish speaking…as I continue to study. Thanks for everything! I love you already! <3-Hermana Powell
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We are so happy you are coming to Yakima. This is the best place ever. I love the way you describe your feelings–pre mission nostalgia. This IS your place and these ARE your people. You will love them soon, more than ever. Thanks for checking in. Sis. Lewis
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Ann, could you please get in contact with me. I would love to talk with you about how you organized this giant Days for Girls service project. I am the leader of the Cherry Hill NJ team and I am currently organizing the Days for Girls volunteer session at the Soroptimist Convention in July in Florida. I have never organized such a large event and I would love to hear the logistics of how you did it all! Thank you so much.
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Can you please send your email or ph#?
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Today I received my mission call to your mission and I just want to say how excited I am! I am reporting the MTC June 15th. Can’t wait!!!
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We are thrilled to have you come here, Elder Johnson! You will be happy here and we need you here. Congratulations on your decision so serve. It’s the beginning of huge blessings that will come to you from here on out!
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Dear Sis. Lewis,
Thank you so much for this blog! Thank you for the pictures! I was thrilled to see the pictures of our missionary, Hermana Hull. What a wonderful service this is to all of us at home!
Thank you for taking care of our missionaries!
Love,
Becky Hull
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I just got called to serve in this mission! Its so fun to see these photos and learn about those serving and the actual mission!! Can’t wait to join you in Washington!!
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YIPPEEEE!!! When do you get to come?
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I report to the Mexico MTC July 18th so.. August/ September I should get to the mission field! So excited!
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I have a referral for the Yakima Mission, what number should I call to relay the info?
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Thank you, Mike!! The number for Elder Call, our Referral Secretary is 509-594-2696.
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I have a question for you about using a picture from your other blog: Anna’s words from Sept. 2013 for the Tucson Temple Cultural Celebration. If you could email me that would be great!!!!
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My daughter, Ryann, just got called to serve in the Yakima Washington mission. It looks like she is going to a wonderful place with amazing people!
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I just opened my call yesterday for the Yakima Washington Mission! I am so excited!!! I report to the MTC on January 24, 2018
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