NORTHERN IDAHO AS A PLACE OF REFUGE FROM THE WORLD

I have always wondered about the Spokane area - which sits on a fault line that the rivers run down (including the Post Falls) the I-90 corridor to beyond the Montana border on the east.  I have met some amazing people there and then I have seen the opposite extreme.  I dated a non-member from that area while I was in college and did not hear too much that was overly positive from her.  I have always maintained that these fault lines that run through Spokane from the south and east to west will give away in a massive way and there will be more "oozing" of lava, etc when this happens.  I ride the train and car across a massive viaduct that crosses this geologic feature to the west of downtown - and I always wonder after it.  When I go thru the industrial areas of the old downtown, I feel sorry for the people who live in the 100+ year old buildings who most likely will not make it thru a monumental shaker in those buildings.  They simply cannot take what will come through that area.  One of the conjoining plates there is already tilted at about 10 degrees.  I think there is more to come.

Just my random thoughts.  If forced to move through the area to points east, my impression is that I would have to skirt that area to the north for social and geological reasons.

I know there are some pretty great people hidden away in areas of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho.  I have met a few.

This is what got me spun up and got me motivated to finally put my thoughts down about the area:

Post Falls residents share memories of church progression

By: Kara Houser

Post on: February 22, 2010

It was just about three and a half years ago that President Henry B. Eyring spoke to the members of the Coeur d’Alene Stake and told them that they should prepare to be a gathering place for many people seeking “refuge” from the world.
The Post Falls, Idaho wards in the Coeur d’Alene Stake have seen this prophecy come to pass recently.
Two weeks ago the Stake Presidency announced boundary changes, which included a new ward, creating a total of four in Post Falls. Two of the wards will meet in the newly built McGuire meetinghouse.
Post Falls church membership began as a branch that met in Coeur d’Alene, but in 1972 they were given permission to meet in Post Falls and their meetings were held for a short time at the Odd Fellows Hall, a building that no longer exists.
Sharlyn Merkley, a member of the Post Falls Fourth Ward who moved to the area in 1970, remembers that they met in a room above a tavern.
“Sometimes when you were waiting for someone to start praying, you could hear the jukebox downstairs,” she said.
Deon Pollock, a member of the Post Falls Second Ward who arrived in 1967, also recalls that the siren for the volunteer department was housed in the building, so that also interrupted their meetings from time to time.
“It was a riot,” she said. “When they announced that we would have our own building, it was very exciting.”


The original floorplan for the first Post Falls meeting house built in the 1970s. Note the line where member’s could pledge money to aid with the building fund. Today, tithing funds paid by church members pay for 100% of all building costs in LDS meetinghouses. Contributed Image.
At that time, members earned money to contribute to the construction of their building. Pollock says they manned a fireworks booth at the local fair and even went to other churches to serve lunch and help clean up.
“I remember the primary children bringing pennies,” she said. “It was nickels and dimes that built it.”
Pollock also recalls that it became a ward social tradition for everyone to gather a before Sacrament Meeting in the afternoon (ward meetings were split at that time) and walk across the prairie together to see what progress had been made on the building during the week.
The Post Falls Ward moved into the building even before construction was completed. Merkley was one of two sisters first called to work in the genealogy library.

An image from May, 1980 showing the original staff of the Post Falls Geneology Library. Left to right: Wallace Krahn, James Jewett, Nancy Steele, Clyde Marks, Sharlyn Merkley, Paula Zircle, Sandy Doutre, Peg Anderton, and Lynn Anderton. Contributed Photo.
“We only had our own books and genealogy papers to start with until other people began to donate their own information and books,” she said. “They set us up in a closet at first, but when the stake president found out, he got us moved into a bigger room.”
The library itself officially opened on May 6, 1980 but only two short weeks later Mount St. Helens erupted and they were forced to close until cleanup was completed. Merkley remembers the police coming in during Sacrament Meeting to ask everyone to return home because the cloud of ash was moving toward the area.
Since those early days, the church in Post Falls has expanded to almost 2,000 members.
“We are so grateful for the blessing of having another building in Post Falls,” said Aaron Nicholes, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Stake President who oversaw the construction of this beautiful new structure. “It is tangible evidence of the faith of our members. We have had a great need for this building for quite some time, just logistically speaking, and it is a great day to see it finally come to pass.”