Week 14 - Hegsted Mission

 23-October-2022-Sunday

After four or five weeks, we were finally able to return to the Rutland Branch for Sunday services.  We were gratified that someone noticed our absence.  It was the annual Primary Program and Dede was invited to sit on the stand and help with crowd control.  Sadly, the organist, who is a 95 year old, professional organist, nonmember, informed me that this will be his last week playing.  He is afraid to go outside when it is snowy and slick and so will not attend until spring.  I will miss him and as I expressed my sadness, it was obvious that he will miss this important part of his life.  He has played for many years in the branch as his daughter is a member of the branch.  I really enjoyed his prelude and processional postlude music.  I took a moment to play the organ in case I am called upon to play in the future before we left.

We ate a sack lunch in the car as we made the hour drive home and were at the site by 2 pm.  Today the morning shift was busier,  but we still had a number of visitors in the later shift.  For the most part nonmembers.  My favorite was a post-doc from Dartmouth who will teach economics in Vancouver Canada next year.  He was interested in the history and had very intelligent questions.  I presented him  a BoM which is kindly accepted.  I then asked him about politics and it relationship to economics which was a fun discussion.

Dede led a tour of 5.  Two local members from Lebanon.  He works at Dartmouth as the director of the Pharmacy.  Their friends, husband is a physician had just returned to the states from China and Quatar.  The friends had an autistic son and Dede did a great job giving a tour at his level and engaging him in the discussion.  It was like taking an 8-year old through.  I just admire her.  The pharmacist was telling me that he was a bishop in Kirtland, Ohio.  Obviously knew Karl Anderson (twice in two days someone has known Karl) and then told me that he once got to speak in a Sacrament Meeting held in the Kirtland temple.

I must admit, that I really like the nonmember visits.  Many are shorter, but the questions asked are always more fun to answer.  There are so many who have heard of Joseph Smith and the church, but who know so little about it.  I can only hope we make a difference in their lives and we gain friends for the church.

Tonight Dede cooked porkchops and mashed potatoes.  This is Goetterspeise (German for food of the Gods).  I need to add that this was not a meal I enjoyed on my first mission.  In hindsight, second missions are similar to grandchildren, it is a pity that it takes so long to get to them in life.

Took some neat photos at the end of the day at the site of the sunset.

24-October-2022-Monday

We began the day with our weekly meeting with the Ewers and other missionaries.  Among house keeping issues we discussed our new hours, which allowed me to update our spreadsheet for schedules.  Later that day, President Ewer talked with the powers in SLC, I then got to update the update.  As currently stands, we will not open until 11 am on Monday and 12:30 pm on Sunday, but will keep 10 am for Tuesday-Saturday.  We will close daily at 5 pm, until 25 November when we will begin staying open until 8 pm due to the expected influx of people coming to the site to view the Christmas lights.  This will remain the schedule until Jan 2, when we will return to 5 pm.  We next discussed things to do when things slow down.  Since I feel currently buried, I cannot imagine running out of things to do, especially as I doubt the video will ever be totally finished while I am a missionary here.  At least, right now, I hope I can continue to improve it.

We then discussed teaching at the site.  This has many facets, but I walked away with two important facts. First we are not story tellers we are teachers of gospel principles and thus should not speak of anything that is not driven by a gospel principle.  Two, by staying with the site focus areas, it is easier to provide a comprehensive tour, where the stories not only teach principles, but build upon one another to provide a total package of concepts that we want to teach.

We came home and I worked on the blog.  Note, I do not publish everything from my journal, but rather remove some sections that are more personal.  I also began working on the video again.

We worked the second shift and it was slower shift as per numbers of visitors, but we had good visits.   I had a couple come through who were from Ohio.  She went to school at Hiram Ohio, next to the John Johnson farm and he grew up in the RLDS/Community of Christ.  It had always been on his bucket list to stop at the site since they had moved to Burlington.  He had recently been to his grandmother's funeral in Kirkland and I would guess that had stirred up memories and that he partially came to clear up what he had learned as a child.  I hope he felt the spirit of the place.  I had several others who wanted the 10 minute tour, but sometimes I find them hopeful.  I also remember, that when Dede, Anna and I visited the site some years ago, we wanted the 10 minute tour because it is so far out of the way and we had so far left to travel.  (Perhaps I am doing penitence for not staying longer.  If so, this is the best penitence I can imagine.)

Dede had two sisters from Utah with whom she immediately bonded.  When we get to heaven, Dede's list of friends just from working at the site will be so huge that if I die before her, I will probably need to wait in line for several days before I will be able to get close to her and give her a hug.  (Life is so hard! 😇)

Dede made a great soup for lunch so we would have plenty to eat this week and then gave a large portion away to the Buswells so they would not need to worry about cooking after their shift.  Actually I think she secretly hates left overs because she cannot try as many new recipes and thus she does this not because of her bounteous charity alone, but because secretly she wants to try more recipes than any other human in the world.

Finally, I had a few minutes to ask President Ewer about video deadlines.  I perform much better with deadlines.  We are targeting 15-December for a final product and I told him, I would try to provide two drafts before that.  President also was more specific on what he thought needed improvements.  This will help me so much.

25-October-2022-Tuesday

Was a thoughtful morning as we ponder how much the Lord loves us and our children and the blessing we have all received.  During the early shift, we had only 9 guests, but we spent quality and quantity time with each of the four groups.  I especially enjoyed the first couple from Wyoming.  They seemed very close to the Spirit and were impressed with the stories we shared, but more importantly provided us some similar stories from their own lives that touched our souls.  I forget to mention this important part of the site.

We spent about 45 minutes visiting with the Ewers at the end of our shift as we had no new guests.  That is good for us as we have not had time to do this and that makes it harder to know how best to serve under them.

We then went to Hanover to the Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth.  They have an original Book of Mormon on file that you can check out and leaf through.  See photos below.  I enjoyed looking up scriptures (not as easy as there are no verses and the chapter numbers are different.  I have read several papers that suggest reading in blocks with the original chapters can be helpful as they continue one continuous thought.  I was also looking at chapter headings.  1 and 2 Nephi are so named in both books.  3 and 4 Nephi are both called the Book of Nephi.  Some chapters have headings (or summaries) from the plates, such as 1-2 Nephi, Jacob, Alma, Helaman and 3-Nephi.  Interestingly enough Mosiah does not.  Some believe we are jumping into the Book of Mosiah, not at the beginning but after some chapters as the first were lost with the 116 pages.  The Books of Mormon, Moroni and Ether (within the BoM) are not redacted books as are earlier books, but rather written perhaps under stress at the end of the lives of Mormon and Moroni and thus do not have a summary heading put on them by either the Author (Nephi and Jacob) or the redactor Mormon as he abridged the record and made the headings of each book.  Also the Book of Moroni follows the same chapter numbers in the 1830 Book as it does today.  There is so much one can learn from the Book of Mormon and this is an interesting thing to me that I have not put a great deal of effort into the study of it, although I know others have.

                  

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Next picture explains how rare the book is in comparison to other rare but widely known books

There was also an old Catholic Hymnbook (huge and on leather) that was on display.  Could be read by the entire choir.

26-October-2022-Wednesday-P-Day

We left at 7 am for Boston to do an endowment and initiatory session at the temple.  It was rainy most of the way down to Massachusetts (making it hard to drive) but then it cleared up.  I spoke with the shift supervisor.  They are supposed to have 8 men, but have only 7 and only 4 are trained on all aspects of the work.  This is tough.  Regardless, I love the temple and was delighted to be there and grateful that anyone serves at all so I can attend.  It was a different video than last trip and after receiving suggestions from President Ewer and then watched the movie for different items I could improve in our video, I am ready to start again to work on a new update of video.

We ate at a nice Mexican restaurant near the temple and then went to a Super Walmart on the way home.   There was a candy shop next to the restaurant.  What a hardship to walk 10 paces to buy candy.   We also stopped at a covered bridge in New Hampshire.  They kindly number the bridges in NH to make it easier to find them all.  The bridge was rather average however the river below was running very high and muddy and was impressive.  More so than the pictures show below.  I could not let a P-Day pass without a picture.   In the second picture you are looking down stream at the cascades from the mill dam below the bridge.

27-October-2022-Thursday

Not a great deal to report today.  I woke up feeling puny (not sick, but not 100% either), but worked on the video again today.  I feel like I am making progress, but it is slow work as I continue to replace photos which takes time, but also work to improve each photo to enhance the overall performance.

Dede made steak and baked potatoes for lunch.  That was good, but then I began feeling puny again.  We had 14 people come to the site.  One group of 8 were siblings traveling together.  They were fun.  Without knowing, I chose the youngest sibling to approach the restoration board and pick out his favorite event on the board.  It was obvious he was not active, but I think he was ok and afterwards a sister thanked us.

President Ewer found my earbuds so that was nice.  I plan to eat and go to bed.  I feel purely exhausted.  Did I remember to mention how wonderful my companion is?

28-October-2022-Friday

Still feeling punk, but a bit better.  We had the early shift and were rewarded with about 12 people.  I especially enjoyed a Vermonter.  She was visiting her mom near Stratford who must be in her 70's or 80's and still lives alone although she does rent out the farm.  The visitor lives in Worcester VT.  She went through with a pair of members, but when I said this place has a special feel, she said yes it has an special energy.  She was impressed.  I hope I did not blow it.  I prefer keeping members and nonmembers separated because I tend to emphasize different things.  In this case, I believe I failed to bear my testimony enough. Still I think we gained a friend to the church.  We visited about things to see and do.  She was excited to make the island tour we did two weeks ago.  She then told us about ice cream from her area in Stratford.  We went and found some at the S. Royalton Co-op and I will need to report on how it tastes.  We had other kind visitors from Idaho, Arizona and Utah.  One couple from Idaho have been called to be the contractor missionaries for the Ephraim temple.  They are just starting, but had to take this vacation that had been in the works before their sudden call three weeks ago.  Someone apparently had to pull out from the mission.

We got out late as we had a fun couple from Arizona and we were sharing family history with them and then proving them directions to the 1830 Book of Mormon at Dartmouth.  I am still thinking that visit was amazing.

We came home ate quickly and then drove over the hill to Woodstock to see the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.  Quite a long name.  We bought tickets for the mansion tour tomorrow and then took a hike up to Pogue pond.  Nice 3.5 mile roundtrip hike.  Took some pictures of the pond, the beautiful meadow and the shine on the monument (this one from the site).

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Also my kids were giving me remote lessons on selfie taking:

29-October-2022-Saturday

The ice cream from last night was very creamy, but too chocolatey for me.  I hate these first world challenges.

We returned to the Park this morning before the second shift to tour the mansion home and hear about the people who lived there.  For the most part they were people who either had made it rich in mining. railroads, or oil or the children and grandchildren of those who originally made the fortunes.  With money and power, they were able to focus efforts on changing the world for the better through not just conservation efforts, but also environmental efforts which included setting aside land and areas to be enjoyed by people for years.  The Park in Vermont is a prime example of taking land that was deforested for farming and sheep herding which resulted in Vermont which saw 80% of its forests removed by1860, which caused erosion and ruination of streams and eliminated habitat for big game animal.  Planting forests again and using the land wisely was their task and the message of the park.  Outside of the National Park is a model farm which shows how this can be done.  As I listened to the information, I realized how Vermont has been impacted by this thought and how much of Vermont has returned to forest.  And how conscious Vermonters are of the land.  Good for all involved.  Being an environmentalist obviously did not require lowering one's standard of living as the mansion was beautiful and had been left by the owners as it had been when they stopped living there in the 1990's.  (Art, furniture and everything.). That being said, it is easier to accomplish something if you have money and power that comes from making money.  So again, good for them.

Two views of the mansion:

We had a slow afternoon at the site.  We set up the Christmas Tree to determine if it needed to be replaced.  I think the Ewers plan to use it this year, but buy a new one when they come up on sale at the end of the year.  We had three young women come in who just wanted to know about the history of the church.  They were enjoyable because they were asking good questions.  They had known each other in high school and/or college and had gotten together for the weekend.  One is finishing up her work at the Vermont Law School.  All seemed to be very successful and well educated.  I was able to do some video work before we went to Woodstock and again during the shift.

Dede had a fun treat.  Three people came in and the 5-year old girl immediately ran up to Dede and hugged her.  Dede had taken her through sometime before.  The mother and daughter returned with an uncle this morning and when Dede was not there, they made it a point to come back.  Dede spent about 10 minutes with her at the board having her tell her stories of the restoration and then sending her off with more hugs.  Did I mention that Dede is amazing with children?

After our shift, Bergers came and we lit up the lights to look at what might be done.  Dede and I will do some work Monday but it is so close.   I think the FM missionaries did a great job and we have not yet seen the road up to the site.  It is easy to understand why so many come to see.  Some pictures: