HOUSE OF PAYNE INTERNATIONAL: History
The Utah Ogden Mission
This is a map of the mission circa 1994 that I took home and scanned. If they haven't changed the mission boundaries since I was there (94-96), then it goes south as far as the Davis/Salt Lake County line. That means Bountiful, Woods Cross, and even North Salt Lake are in the mission. From that point on north, all of Utah is in the mission. We get a corner of Idaho, which you can see on the map. The next mission north of us is Pocatello (Idaho). We also cover a huge chunk of Wyoming. Jackson Hole and Yellowstone national park are just outside the mission boundary in the north. (The Mormon gold medalist in wrestling, Rulon Gardner, is from Star Valley, which is the northern limit of the mission.)
East, we go out as far as Rawlins and Sinclair, which are not places you want to see. Out there, it's ugly-- even for Wyoming. Almost every elder gets a turn out in Wyoming (or Idaho), to make sure we get our quota of tumbleweed and sagebrush. You can also see on the map that the mission includes Cache Valley, the area surrounding Logan, Utah. That's a heavily Mormon area, so it's a lot of less-active work up there. Just west of Cache Valley is Box Elder County, which includes Brigham City. Box Elder County also includes the westernmost point in the mission: Park Valley, Utah, almost to the Nevada border. It's pretty remote, but beautiful country in its own way.
There are three temples in the mission: Ogden, Logan, and Bountiful. When I was there, we got to go every four months, if I recall correctly. Also, when I served in Ogden, we also got to do service at the temple, usually on the grounds. We coveted the "Temple Security" jackets, but were unable to get our hands on one. There are also two university campuses in the mission-- Weber State in Ogden, and Utah State in Logan, with missionaries on both campuses.
Well, there's more to see, but I'm done writing for now. Maybe one of these days I'll get a little more time and write a bit more about the area. For now, if you want more on the mission, check out Cristopher Hogan'sUtah Ogden Mission Web Site, the replacement for Phil Beaman's now-defunct Utah Ogden web page.
(Adapted from an email sent to prospective UTOG missionary Paul Schramm in February 2001.)
This webpage was last updated on Friday, April 6, 2001.
All text and images copyright � 2001 John Payne. All rights reserved. Except for the map. I don't know who owns rights to the map, but I didn't make it. So I grant everyone else out there my permission to use it as you please. Knock yourselves out.