Week 2:
1-August-2022 (Monday)
We woke up in a small and dingy hotel, but a great room in Lincoln Nebraska, to celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary. We did so by packing up and heading east (and somewhat north) again. We would make our first historic site stop in Nauvoo. We came in from a different direction than we had done in the past. (Partially to avoid toll roads. We did not have license plates for our car, not an Easy Pass, and many toll roads do not allow one to pay with cash anymore.) We came in next to the temple and drove around it before going to the Sarah Granger Kimball home, which Dede wanted to visit and which I like because of its location near the river and its view of the temple. We had a very nice tour of the home and looked at the temple from that site. We drove back up to the temple for pictures and then stopped at the visitors' center to use the facilities before again piling in the car and making our way to our hotel outside Joliet IL. One more day on schedule.
2-August-2022 (Tuesday)
On the road again with our sights set on the John Johnson farm outside of Kirkland, at Hiram Ohio; one our favorite places. Eric's first missionary, sent out while he was bishop, was called to the Kirkland, Ohio visitors' sites and then to Columbus, Ohio mission and she told Danielle she would be at the farm on Tuesday so we made it a point to visit there. I love this place and contemplating the revelations received here as well as the persecution of Joseph and Emma. It was harder to leave here than Nauvoo, but we needed to stay on schedule planning to stay the night in Erie PA.
This is Amish country. We ate a a diner called the Dutch Inn where we saw an Amish couple pull up in their horse drawn carriage and go to the hitching rack that would hold two carriages.
1-August-2022 (Monday)
We woke up in a small and dingy hotel, but a great room in Lincoln Nebraska, to celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary. We did so by packing up and heading east (and somewhat north) again. We would make our first historic site stop in Nauvoo. We came in next to the temple and drove around it before going to the Sarah Granger Kimball home, which Dede wanted to visit and which I like because of its location near the river and its view of the temple. We had a very nice tour of the home and looked at the temple from that site. We drove back up to the temple for pictures and then stopped at the visitors' center to use the facilities before again piling in the car and making our way to our hotel outside Joliet IL.
2-August-2022 (Tuesday)
On the road again with our sights set on the John Johnson farm outside of Kirkland, at Hiram Ohio; one our favorite places. Eric's first missionary, sent out while he was bishop, was called to the Kirkland, Ohio visitors' sites and then to Columbus, Ohio mission and she told Danielle she would be at the farm on Tuesday so we made it a point to visit there. I love this place and contemplating the revelations received here as well as the persecution of Joseph and Emma. It was harder to leave here than Nauvoo, but we needed to stay on schedule planning to stay the night in Erie PA.
This is Amish country. We ate a a diner called the Dutch Inn where we saw an Amish couple pull up in their horse drawn carriage and go to the hitching rack that would hold two carriages.
WEEK 1:
Welcome to our blog. I apologize that I am late getting out the first week. Several weeks of notes will follow quickly and then we will get into a natural rhythm of once a week at mosts. I apologize that this is written often in first person. -Elder Hegsted.
This is Dede- we have had wonderful experiences. We are grateful to be serving! Love to you all! More to come!
Sunday evening 24-July-2020,
Dede and I were set apart by our Stake President, President Campbell and officially became Elder and Sister Hegsted as we set apart as full-time missionaries to serve in the Joseph Smith Birthplace mission. We both received beautiful blessings from the Lord through our stake president. The Lord is kind and merciful to us and we are leaving to serve him with His blessings ringing in our ears.
We had a wonderful meeting with the MTC mission presidency and Relief Society presidency who are their wives. I think this must be knew, but with all the sister missionaries it seems to wise and right. Mom got to lead the opening song and everyone introduced themselves. We are a small group of senior missionaries. The proceeding week there were about 150 missionaries, but we numbered only 36. It was so much easier to get to know this smaller group than it would have a much larger group. We also have a number of single sisters who will all serve in the Salt Lake Mission, the largest mission in the church with over 800 missionaries, but most did not know where they would serve when they introduced themselves and will be assigned when they arrive. This would be a test for me. It was amazing to see all of the different mission types even among such a small group. Medical, records preservation, family history, farm, office support, YSA support and us at a historical site. We would find out from Gary Boatwright that most historical site missionaries are called early in the year, which makes sense and thus we were the only historical site missionaries in our group.
26-July-2022: Tuesday night we had a fireside with LeGrand Curtis who would be released as church historian the following Monday. He focused on the new Book of Mormon videos they are filming again after a long break from Covid. He also brought props from the videos. One was a living prop, the person who plays Moroni. He showed us clips from the movies and so we were able to see Christ's visit to the America's before it is released.
They had a missionary choir which performed for the fireside. Dede wanted to attend and I did not really mind and I was so glad we did. We had an hour to prepare and the director was very good. Some of the group had practiced the last Sunday so many knew the words and notes already which helped. The director was excellent, but knowing that he was dealing with inexperienced singers he taught us to know how to feel the songs so we could perform well through a variety of stories and testimonies. Our biggest challenge was not to look (or worse wave) at the camera as it was filmed so all could see and to record the fireside. )A very good evening.
27-July-2022: Wednesday is the day for the new younger Elders and Sisters to arrive at the MTC. Although they arrive mostly at the same time, it appears they depart at various times, which is also true of the senior missionaries depending on whether or not they have additional training beyond PMG (Preach my Gospel). That evening the MTC president did a fireside called the Character of Christ. The fireside was based on a fireside presented at the MTC by Elder David A Bender and is very similar to one he gave at a BYU-I devotional:
The Character of Christ - BYU-Idahohttps://www2.byui.edu › 2003_01_25_bednar
Visited the "famous" backlit murals in building 4. Below is one on Esther who we were studying this week.
28-July-2022 (Thursday)
We were able to attend the Provo temple in the evening. They reserved a session for us, but had us come 30 minutes early to be sure we made it in. It was good to be in a session with so many who had come to the MTC with us. I must admit, I was exhausted and coming into that peaceful place I really fought to stay awake.
After the temple and past curfew for the young missionaries, we went to the laundry area to wash clothes so we could be ready to leave on Friday. It was a late night. The Colyars were there with us. The next morning they would find out he had Covid. They were able to get to their assigned field of labor after a few day delay spent in isolation. Dede and I were tried with a washer that would not spin out water, but it paled in comparison to their trial.
29-July-2022
We were told this would be a shorter day ending by 3 pm and we could leave for our assignments. It turned out we could have skipped the afternoon. It was on senior missionary safety presentation, but the main speaker did not come and the other speaker flipped quickly through the main speaker's slides and then spent 30 minutes on his slides. Thus we got out at 2, but could have begun leaving earlier. Oh well.
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