Another Generation Joins the Historic Holyoak Wall

It isn't very often you can revert back to being a kid. That is, doing something where you really don't have any responsibilities. But this was my kind of trip. After spending a hard-working week dealing with Lori and Aubrey helping Lori's mom pack up her home in southern Utah, the ride home was the exact opposite: relaxing, reminiscing and a whole lot of fun. 

I hopped in with Aubrey, Kenny and kids for the long but scenic ride back home to Montana. We left Hurricane and headed to Zion National Park. It had been decades since my last visit. What a magnificent and beautiful country! Called the Grand Circle, the region includes amazing natural geologic landmarks such as Zion, Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks and stretching down to the Grand Canyon, with many not as well-known places in between. 

Don't get me wrong. Zion is an awesome place (see a short video of our drive here) but that was not our focus or destination on this day. We just drove through it so we could get to one of my favorite place, period! In fact, as I wrote in a past blog post, it is my "happiest place on earth." And I could not wait to introduce the latest generation of Holyoaks to it. 

I'm talking about Spring Hollow. Carved in the sandstone just a few miles south of Glendale (a small dot on the map along the Highway 89 where my mother was born), you'll find this amazing drainage formed over thousands of years. It is a place I've visited and hiked well over a dozen times during my boyhood, youth and subsequent years. However, the last time I was there was about two decades earlier.

Because Spring Hollow is not accessible via public land, I had to get permission to access it. Before our trip to Utah, I reached out to a woman who grew in Glendale with my mother. I don't really member, but I think we may be some sort of relatives. It was a nice chat. She was so friendly and eventually secured permission for us to make the hike.

When we arrived and got out of the car, it was a hot day but we knew it would be much cooler once we made our way up the wash. I was so excited to introduce my grandkids to this memorable place. As we wound our way up the canyon, the walls on both sides grew closer and closer to us until we reached the end which we have always called "the crevice." It features an archaic waterfall formed by centuries of runoff from above. 

To access the crevice, you have to climb up. And all six of us made this trip, ranging in ages 63 (me) to 8 (Lexi). Kyler (13) led us. He was first to walk up the bottom of the crevice before putting his back on one wall and feet on the other. Kyler shot right up to the top - about a 20 to 25-yard climb. Kenny and Aubrey also climbed with Lyla just above them. I brought up the rear with Lexi immediately above me. As we climbed, our shoes and knees shaved off some of the sand, which fell below. 

Once on top, it was time to introduce the kids to the "Holyoak Wall." Decades earlier, our family started carving our names in a section of sandstone. There are my parents, my siblings, my kids and a number of their cousins who had also made the climb. However, now it was time to have a fourth generation to add their names. And we were ready. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a handful of nails. These weren't just your everyday, store-bought nails either. They were old stout, square-headed nails I saved from the old Holyoak family farm in Parowan that were probably much older than me, dating back generations on their own.

So Kyler, Lyla and Lexi added their names. Now, they were officially "Holyoaks." Kenny and Aubrey looked over their names they carved a couple of decades earlier and added the day's date. And I went back to my original carving I first formed about 50 years earlier and deepened it in the sandstone.

Then, Kyler and I dropped down just above the natural waterfall, did some more carving, threw some big sandstone boulders down the waterfall. We also hiked to the back of the dusty waterway to the upper canyon. Once back there, we found a small rattlesnake. It was actually the same place my son and I hiked to and found a rattlesnake two decades earlier.

After more than an hour or so up top, we lined up to climb back down the crevice. It was much more challenging for me than the hike up. I basically had Lexi sitting on my lap the whole way because her legs just weren't long enough to reach from one side of the crevice to the other. Still, we made it down just fine and were soon at the bottom and walking back down the bottom of the wash, crossed Highway 89 and returned to the car. (Click here to view a short video and more photos of our Spring Hollow visit.)

We then spent some time in Glendale. I'd also not been there in 20 years or so. Not only was Mom born here but Dad spent a lot of time raised there too. It was where we visited on family vacation every year growing up. It was fun to point out the house where my Mom was born (see below). We then went to the school house where Mom attended for a sit-down picnic lunch. 

We also visited the converted Glendale Mercantile. In my youth, it was a must-stop to purchase pixie sticks, bubble gum, jawbreakers, popsicles, licorice and other penny-candy goodies Now, it is an eatery. Eventually, we loaded up and took a 50-mile drive to our a motel. We grabbed dinner and soaked in a hot tub as the kids jumped into the pool.

The next morning, we entered Bryce Canyon National Park. I'm not sure I'd visited there before. Maybe when I was a little kid but I didn't remember doing so. It is such a surprising place. As you drive the roads into the park, you just don't see, well, anything. But the second you pull off to a lookout -any lookout - it is absolutely amazing. The colorful red, yellow and orange rock formations seem to go for miles and miles. 

We took several walks/hikes but the best, by far, was the Navajo Loop. We dropped in and eventually gained more than 1,000 feet in elevation. What a cool, cool place. As we entered, Lexi said something like, "How long will this take?" The response was, "Well, it won't take that long if you move it along." It seemed that Lexi and Kyler jogged or ran almost the entire way. (Click here to watch a short video about our Bryce Canyon trip.)

The drive north on Highway 89 included a couple of other interesting sites. We passed Big Rock Candy Mountain and then the boyhood home of Butch Cassidy in Circleville. I didn't know he was there or that he was raised in the same church as me. The kids kept asking questions about him and his background. Next thing you know, Kenny and Aubrey had found a multi-part podcast and we listened about his upbringing and exploits - very cool.

We spent the night at Alan's house in Rexburg before driving back to Montana the next day. What a great trip!

Building Mom a Bird Sanctuary

It was Lori's idea: "Let's make your mom something that attracts birds that she can watch and take care of." 

My folks always were amateur birders and loved watching them. They had a couple of bird books that they used to look out for birds when living in Wichita. In fact, you could flip through the pages to see dates that Dad recorded when they saw a cardinal, blue jay, cedar waxwing and on and on. That said, Lori's idea was a great idea!

We gathered supplies including ground cover, a bird bath, bark, bird decor and a feeder. But we needed some sort of backdrop structure to both build around and cover the septic covers. We didn't have much wood left over from when we visited the family farm years ago. That was when I took every usable board I could pry away from the old chicken coop in Parowan. I thought I had just its wooden gate. When I looked behind our shed, I saw the gate and another section of wood. I stripped the gate of its design and rebuilt it to match the other piece and "presto," we had our structural backdrop. 

Our granddaughters Lyla and Lexi wanted to help so we got to work. First, we spraypainted a heart-shaped layout in the front yard of Mom's shophouse. We gathered rocks from the forest section of our property and laid them as the outline. Then, we cut and laid the ground cover. 

Needing another structure feature Lori wanted, we cut three longer branches from downed trees on the property, tied the tops together and spread out the legs creating a teepee-like design. We stood up and screwed our old chicken coop gates together, attached a birdhouse I'd previously made atop a post and then the girls laid and spread the bark. 

It was really taking shape and looking good. Lori and the girls rolled a large rock uphill and placed it in the bark. I added four pieces of petrified wood we got from Lori's mom's place in Hurricane, Utah, earlier in the year. We assembled a tall bird feeder Lori ordered on Amazon. Then, working with Lyla, we attached several metal decorative bird outlines to the gate sections. After filling the bird feeder with bird seed, Lori had another mini project in mind. She had gathered several pine cones and the girls coated them with peanut butter, rolled them in bird seed and then hung them on the teepee.

Then, the wait was on to see how many and which kind of birds would show up. Ironically enough, and really not surprising, deer were among the first critters to check out our creation. They loved licking the peanut butter from the cones. Squirrels and turkeys also got in on the action as well as nuthatches, robins, magpies and others.

What a fun project! It looks great. And Mom loves it! (Click here to view a short video of the project.)

Dealing with the Dust Devils of Life, Thanks to Jesus Christ

Below is a talk I gave before the church congregation in Polson, Montana, on October 18, 2026

Question: who is the most important person on the softball field (not an umpire) that is not playing offense or defense?

If I’m batting and I get a hit, I can see the entire field of play as I sprint to first base

-if I round first for second, I can still see almost the entire field of play except what is immediately behind me

-as I approach second base I have a decision – stop at second or keep going

-at this time, I can maybe get a quick glance at the right fielder if the ball is there to make a decision

-if I decide to round second and keep running to third, much more of the playing field is behind me and I need help so my eyes immediately to go the third base coach who can tell me to slide at third, stand up and stop at third or he can rotate his arm and send me to go home

-the direction from 3^rd base coach is crucial to determining if I’ll be thrown out, how far I should go including if I go home

-If I round the bag, then the rest is up to me with determination and hustle to make it home

Who do we look to for guidance in our game of life?

-parents, siblings, friends, church leaders...or someone greater with a bead on our game plan of life?

2 Nephi 2:28 Lehi is speaking: “And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit.”

Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles said this at April’s general conference: “The Savior loves all of us and is tenderly calling for you and for me to come home.”

He wants us all to cross the plate, score and live with him and our Father in Heaven BUT as Elder Gilbert says, “everyone must make their own choices to come home.”

Credit: NASA

Always had a bit of a fascination with dust devils – small, miniature tornadoes that seem to appear out of nowhere and then disappear almost as quickly

-how big are they?

-how powerful are they?

-If I could just ever get in one of them, would I have the strength to stand or would it knock me around?

Helping a friend paint his shop-house last summer in Arlee

-I had already sprayed the entire building and was doing the meticulous trim work about 12-14 feet up an extension ladder that was leaning against the building

-hot, summer day

-felt a little breeze at my back (felt so good)

-wind became stronger and stronger and really started to whip things up

-I looked to my friend building a new house about 60 yards away

-he had been atop a mechanical lift a story above the ground

-I was worried he may have been blown off

-looked to the lift and at the ground below but didn’t see him = relief

-almost immediately, I felt the ground seem to move

-the now powerful wind had blown over everything from a covered porch on the ground below me – tables, chairs, potted plants

-the wind knocked over and blew a 3-seat, covered porch swing with a canopy into the base of my ladder

-the force of the wind moved the ladder so it lost its position of support leaning against the building and started to stand straight up

-I had a problem

-paint brush in right hand & small container of paint in my left hand, I was no longer in control

-I had a choice to make – either hang onto the ladder and ride it out…or jump

-it seemed like everything was in slow-motion yet it was only a handful of seconds

-I’ve been on a falling ladder before and that didn’t turn out well so I jumped…some sort of ninja, spiderman leap and landed on my feet in the tall weeds beyond the sodded grass of the side yard

-the ladder then crashed to earth beside me

-somehow, the paint brush and paint container were in my hands, without spilling any

-I was safely on the ground but the wind was a whipping frenzy with dust, dirt, tumbleweeds, loose construction supplies including boxes and papers swirling on the ground and in the sky

-I struggled to see anything

-I ran to the side of the shop-house, leaned up against it and cupped my hands on each side of my head to try to keep out the dust and dirt

-I stayed there for 30-45 seconds or however long it was

-the winds started to subside, I took my hands away and watched the mini cyclone go across the back lot through the field and toward the Jocko River

-to  inside a dust devil? – check that box!

Why do I bring this up?

There are instances and situations in our lives that we see coming…and then we deal with the consequences

Perhaps it’s something we did…kind of a self-inflected situation

Perhaps it’s something we didn’t do but we know we should have…again self-inflected

Maybe someone else did something or didn’t do something that impacts us

And many times…stuff just happens when there is no way for us to know it was coming…like my dust devil adventure in Arlee

Those situations that come out of left field may impact us physically in the form of injury or sickness, mentally and psychologically in the form of stress and strain, financially with monetary challenges, we may have social or emotional relationship challenges with family, friends, bosses, co-workers or otherwise, we may lose a close friend, a family member or another loved one…and all those things can impact us spiritually

We may be exposed to someone’s comments, TV shows or movies, social media posts that criticize or question our beliefs

Pres Oaks: “You live in a season in which the adversary has become so effective at disguising truth that if you don’t have the Holy Ghost, you will be deceived.”

If we have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, do we lose the Holy Ghost?

-maybe we don’t look for it

-maybe we are out of practice recognizing it

-if we don’t exercise, our muscles will be out of shape = if we are not involved with activities that invite/involve the Spirit (attending church with an open mind to learn, going to the temple, reading scriptures/listening to or reading conference talks, praying, serving others, etc.) then we, too, may not recognize the Holy Ghost’s influence

What do we do if we have family members or friends who have drifted away?
-that is a hard thing

-one of my four children is no longer attending church or practicing the gospel principles my wife and I raised her with

-my older brother, a former bishop and returned missionary, turned from his spiritual roots a few years ago

-how do we deal with that? What can or should we do?

-Elder Gilbert: “To those who are trying to help those they love, hold on to the truth. Keep your covenants. Helping others requires you to stay in your covenants.”

In general conference a couple of weeks ago, Elder Henry B. Eyring quoted these verses from the hymn, “How Firm a Foundation:”

In ev’ry condition—in sickness, in health,

In poverty’s vale or abounding in wealth,

At home or abroad, on the land or the sea—

As thy days may demand, … so thy succor shall be.

---------------

Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by my righteous, … omnipotent hand.

Elder Eyring continued: “Those promises become more precious as we move through the challenges in our lives and in the lives of those we love. It is important to realize that the promise is not for the removal of challenges. My wise mother taught me that when I was a little boy. I had asked her, “Mother, why is life so hard?”

She smiled and said firmly, “Hal, of course it’s hard. It’s supposed to be. Life is a test.”

Elder Eyring continued: “You might reasonably wonder why a loving and all-powerful God allows our mortal test to be so hard. It is because He knows that we must grow in spiritual cleanliness and stature to be able to live in His presence. To make that possible, Heavenly Father gave us a Savior and the power to choose for ourselves by faith to keep His commandments and to repent and to come unto Him.”

“The Savior not only understands and has felt grief, but He has ‘borne [your] griefs, and carried [your] sorrows.’ He knows you perfectly. He knows your heart.”

“The combination of trials and their duration are as varied as are the children of our Heavenly Father. No two are exactly alike. But what is being tested is the same, at all times in our lives and for every person.” - end quote

As we struggle or feel we are losing our way, where do we turn?

Matthew 11:28–30 the Savior said: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

At the very end of the Book of Mormon, Moroni says this in Moroni 10:32: “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.”

Tamara W. Runia, 1^st counselor in the Young Women’s general presidency said this a couple of weeks ago in conference: “Christ’s work in your life and His love for you are bigger than your present story. And He can fix what feels badly broken.”

What is broken in us? How are you ailing?

Sister Runia: “To invite the Savior to become involved is hard. Our pride gets in the way. He’ll lovingly chasten us to get our attention, but He waits for an invitation before He can really go to work.”

So, it’s on us to put forth effort.

And President Russell M. Nelson said, “The Lord loves effort.”

Elder Clark adds: “You just have to do your best and Christ will make up the difference.”

Jesus Christ is real. He lives. His grace allows us to do what we could not do on our own.

As we’re challenged by the dust devils of life, let’s look to our Savior, our mediator with the Father, our elder brother, our third base coach to help us come home.

Western Montana Early Church History

Below is a portion of the Missoula Montana Temple Groundbreaking Historical Report compiled by Mark and Lori Holyoak and submitted to headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in June 2026. I felt it was both important and would provide good historical context if we also included this section in the report that highlighted when the church first came to western Montana.

Western Montana Early Church History

Montana became a U.S. territory in 1864 and America’s 41st state on November 8, 1889. However, the history of Missoula started taking shape some 12,000 years earlier. At that time, Glacial Lake Missoula covered the entire valley including much of current-day northwest Montana and into Idaho. When floodwaters eventually receded, it revealed a central geographic point of five mountain ranges as well as the confluence of today’s Bitterroot, Blackfoot and Clark Fork Rivers. Missoula Valley is also known as Five Valleys since five valleys flow from it - the Clark Fork Valley to the West, Flathead Valley to the north, Blackfoot Valley to the northeast, Deerlodge Valley to the East and the Bitterroot Valley to the South. 

Prior to its settlement, Missoula was the ancestral home of the Salish and Kalispell peoples. The Lewis and Clark Exhibition passed through the area in 1805 and 1806. European settlers entered the valley in 1858 and Hellgate Trading Post, as it was called, was founded two years later in 1860 as part of the Washington Territory. By 1866, it was renamed to Missoula Mills and later shortened to Missoula. 

Early Native American camp in what is now downtown Missoula (Photo credit: Mansfield Library) 

The Early Church Comes to Montana

The first members of the Church traveled from Idaho to the Bitterroot Valley in 1855 to negotiate for a possible purchase of Fort Hall (located in Idaho) by the Church. The following year, a Church member began hauling freight between Salt Lake City and mining and logging camps in Montana. That same year, a female member along with her husband moved to Jocko (later renamed Dixon) to help manage the Indian Agency located there. After the discovery of gold in Montana in 1862, the demand grew for food and supplies along the “Montana Trail” between what would become the Montana Territory and Utah. During that time, small numbers of Church members moved to Montana seeking work in the mines and on the ranches. 

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill creating the Montana Territory. About that same time came the establishment of the Western Union telegraph between Salt Lake City and Virginia City, Montana, as well as the Utah and Northern Railroad Line that ran from northern Utah through southeast Idaho and into western Montana, which the Church founded and built. Some Church members that had been trading with the Flathead Indians began trade with Montana’s mining towns. Many of the traders, known as “Jack Mormons” along with converts from England, Wales, Scandinavia and other parts of the United States, stayed as miners in Montana, later becoming farmers and ranchers who contributed greatly to establish the territory’s stable agricultural economy. 

It is reported that one of the first Church members to enter western Montana was a woman named Martha Morrill, who walked across the plains with a handcart company at the age of 13. She planted roots in the Flathead Valley some time around 1880, maintaining her lonely faith until others arrived later. 

Missionaries visited the Bitterroot Valley as early as 1890. They traveled without purse or script and were often met with hard feelings against them. They tried to hold meetings in Corvallis, but were met with resistance so they decided to go house-to-house. About that time, a woman named Aquila O’Dell Dye had a dream that two young men would bring something of great value to her. One evening after the family retired, there was a knock at the door. Her husband, George Dye answered, talked for a few minutes and returned to bed. “Who was it?” asked Aquila. “It was two young men that called themselves the elders. I sent them to the neighbors.” She said, “Oh George, call them back! My dream!” He called them back and going forward the elders made the Dye ranch their headquarters, supported by the Dyes and other families. A few years later, George Dye became superintendent of the Corvallis Sunday School. 

In 1896, the church created the Montana Mission to create communication ties with these early Church members and to spread the gospel. As part of that effort, it sent five missionaries (see photo below) to Montana with a main purpose of constructing church houses. They also helped form the first Montana branch of the Church in Lima and conducted proselyting in Anaconda, Deer Lodge and Helena. Success came in Butte with the establishment of Montana’s second branch there. 

It is believed that early pioneers passed through the Flathead Valley en route to settlements like Cardston, Alberta. Recorded history shows that one of them, John Foy, did not want to take the arduous trip to Oregon so he turned north instead of west at Fort Missoula, and settled in what would later be known as Kalispell. It is there that he founded the first water-powered sawmill near what is known today as Foy’s Lake, where some early baptisms took place. 

Missionary activity continued into other towns including Missoula, Beaverhead and Silver Bow. In 1898, the Montana Mission was absorbed into the Northwest States Mission, with its headquarters first in Anaconda and then moved to Portland, Oregon. From 1896 to 1898, church membership grew from six to 71 newly baptized members in 1898 alone. 

Drummond Valley was settled by a few LDS families in the early 1900s, with 24 more families relocating from Wellsville, Utah, in 1916, where the Allendale Branch became the third Church branch in Montana on July 16, 1917. It was organized by Melvin J. Ballard, president of the Northwest States Mission and grandfather of Elder M. Russell Ballard, a late member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (Allendale was the name of the land company that owned properties the families purchased when they moved from Utah. The town, at first called New Chicago and later renamed Drummond, moved to its present-day location when the railroad came through.) Meetings were held in members’ homes until a new brick building was built on March 2, 1919, expanded in 1951 and used until destroyed by fire in 1977.

A Sunday School gathering in Ronan in August 1919 (Photo Credit: Gerald Niels Christiansen)

The first official Church organization in Missoula came around 1911 with the formation of the Missoula Sunday School. At the time, the average attendance was 12. It was reorganized and restarted several times due to fluctuating numbers. On May 8, 1928, the Missoula Branch was organized. Early meeting locations changed from the old Worden Hall to the VFW Hall to renting, purchasing and remodeling the South Side Methodist Church (301 S. Sixth St. W - see photo below). 

Membership grew with the coming of the Amalgamated Sugar Company, which brought with it members of the Church from Idaho and Utah to build and help operate the plant. Missionary work also fueled early church membership growth. Over time, the area grew, which was under the stewardship of the Northwestern States Mission and organized the Missoula District with branches in Libby, Kalispell, Polson. St. Ignatius, Charlo, Hamilton, Missoula and Allendale. 

Early church members in front of the Missoula Courthouse 

In July 1926, members of the Church from the Charlo area joined others at a picnic at McDonald Lake with a goal to make contact with the mission president to see if there was enough participation to organize a Sunday School. Three months later, the Flathead Prairie Sunday School was officially organized with the first meeting taking place in a Northern Pacific Railroad car in Charlo. (At the time, the railroad company supplied a car for special gatherings, when requested.) Early the following year, membership grew, so the Charlo Branch was organized on April 17, 1927. In need of a chapel, a pre-cut building was ordered and shipped from Washington. Members of the community, excited about having the influence of a church in their midst, donated time, horses and a wagon to move the lumber from rail cars to the building site. By May 1929, construction was completed and Joseph F. Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the building, which later added a gym that hosted dinners, Relief Society and Primary activities, dances, basketball games and roller skating. (The building still stands in Charlo today but is under private ownership.) 

By 1934, there were several Church member families living in the Flathead Valley. They made contact with Martha Morrill, now an old-timer, and desired to form an organization. They reached out to the mission president, received permission to meet and held the first-ever meeting in Kalispell in December. In February 1935, two members of the Charlo Branch, under direction of the mission president, visited and organized the first official Sunday School in Martha Morrill’s home. After half a century of waiting, she was finally surrounded by members in an officially sanctioned Church organization. One member wrote: “Of our good sister, Martha Morrill, I can’t say enough for her and her faith and courage. It was the greatest day of her life when the Church came to Kalispell. She had lived in the Flathead Valley about 50 years, never faltering in her faith. She was mother to all people in the valley.” Meetings rotated among members’ homes. They received permission to meet above the old Anyd Hundahl tin stop known as the McKnight Building (131 1st Ave. East). Members bought paint and used soap, water and muscles to transform it into a worthy meeting location. Later, members negotiated to acquire an old Lutheran Church (on 5th Ave. West), which became the first building they owned. They 51 renovated it, removed the high tower, reshingled the roof, and painted inside and out. Preston Nibley of the Northwestern States Mission then dedicated it. 

For three decades, members in the Bitterroot Valley had no church of their own. In 1941, a man who bought an old Baptist church with intentions of turning it into an apartment, instead “sold” it to church members for $1. Two years of hard work, coupled with financial donations from members, resulted in the Saints’ first permanent home. Elder Ezra Taft Benson, a newly called member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, dedicated the building in 1944. 

First Hamilton Church House (South Third & Madison) 

In 1951, the West Central States Mission was organized with headquarters in Billings and the Missoula District was divided into the Missoula and Flathead Districts. This new district comprised the branches of Hamilton, Stevensville, Allendale and Missoula, with later branches organized in Superior, Darby and Corvallis. On June 8, 1954, groundbreaking took place for a new chapel (1001 Cleveland St.). Volunteer labor contributed toward the building’s completion on August 19, 1956. 

The Missoula Montana Stake 

Elders Spencer W. Kimball and Mark E. Peterson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles created and organized the Missoula Montana Stake on June 16, 1957, from the Northwestern States Mission. On that day, the following branches became wards: Allendale, Charlo, Corvallis, Hamilton, Missoula 1st, Missoula 2nd, Polson, Stevensville and St. Ignatius. Darby, Superior and Thompson Falls remained as independent branches. 

Today’s Missoula Stake: Clinton Ward, Drummond Branch, Missoula 1st Ward, Missoula 2nd Ward, Missoula 3rd Ward, Missoula 4th Ward, Missoula 5th Ward, Missoula YSA Ward and Seeley Lake Branch 

The Kalispell Montana Stake 

On December 20, 1970, Elder LeGrand Richards of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles officially organized the Kalispell Stake, comprising most of the Missoula Stake’s northern units with wards in Columbia Falls, Kalispell (1st and 2nd), Libby, Polson and branches in Eureka, Thompson Falls, Troy and Whitefish. At the time, there were 1,940 members in the stake. However, membership ballooned to 2,247 just one year later. 

Today’s Kalispell Stake: Batavia Ward, Bigfork Ward, Columbia Falls Ward, Creston Ward, Eureka Ward, Flathead Valley YSA Branch, Kalispell 1st Ward, Kalispell 2nd Ward, Kalispell 3rd Ward,  Lakeside Ward, West Valley Ward and Whitefish Ward.

The Stevensville Montana Stake 

The Stevensville Montana Stake was organized on October 21, 1979, by Elder Jack H. Goaslind Jr, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. The new stake consisted of wards in Corvallis, Hamilton, Lolo, Stevensville 1st and 2nd, and the Darby Branch. 

Today’s Stevensville Stake: Bitterroot Valley YSA Branch, Blodgett Canyon Ward, Corvallis Ward, Darby Ward, Hamilton Ward, Lolo Ward, Stevensville 1st Ward, Stevensville 2nd Ward and Willow Mountain Ward 

The Ronan Montana Stake 

Created from portions of the Kalispell and Missoula Stakes, the Ronan Montana Stake (originally called the Frenchtown Stake) was the first organized in Montana in 20 years. Elders J. Devon Cornish, General Authority Seventy, and James E. Evanson, Area Seventy, organized the new stake on February 26, 2017, with wards in Frenchtown, Missoula (4th), St. Ignatius, Ronan and Polson, and branches in Superior, Plains and Thompson Falls. 

Today’s Ronan Stake: Frenchtown Ward, Mission Valley YSA Branch (discontinued in 2026), Plains Ward, Polson 1st Ward, Polson 2nd Ward, Ronan Ward. St. Ignatius Ward, Superior Branch and Thompson Falls Branch  

The Church Today in Montana

According to church records, there are 52,050 members across 14 stakes and 140 congregations (97 wards and 43 branches) in Montana. There are also two missions and two temples.