30-October-2022-Sunday
Not that I think anyone will search my blog for important historical information, but as a disclaimer, I have been known to write items the following day or even after two days and at my age who knows what that means to accuracy. (Obviously I am reading too many historians and how they grade sources.)
The trip to Rutland this morning was different. In the higher elevation near Rutland (home to ski resorts) most of the leaves are now gone which so changes how everything looks. It was cold and brisk as we started out from Sharon, but on the return trip it was about 64 F.
Three of the Branch President's children spoke. They were marvelous and so well prepared. The oldest will leave on his mission tomorrow. Mom was rather sad (understatement). The youth put on the fifth Sunday program and so I played for primary so Sister Shelton (President's wife) could watch her children. I am very rusty on the piano having not played for several months. The older, nonmember, organist came for his last time today, so I did not play the organ. Gosh I will miss his music. Hymns are basically the same, but his prelude and postlude is so fun to hear.
We listened about Daniel as we drove. There is so much about him that I admire especially considering his name. Believing in prophets today makes it so much easier to believe in prophets of the past. I particularly liked a thought provided today in the discussion. Daniel and his three friends show us the huge difference between freedom and agency. One can take freedom away from another person, but not agency, as one can always choose to believe even in captivity. This is such a prevalent theme in Daniel. How easy would it have been not to believe for these four young men, but when the challenges came the believed whether or not they thought the outcome would be desirable. I love the statement "we are not careful to answer...God can save us but regardless, our faith in Him is so great we will follow Him even if we must die." That is paraphrased, but the thought is correct. It is wrong to say we take away agency as that is impossible to do. "Bury me in a box 100 feet down and I can still choose to believe." We saw the same last week in the Book of Ezekiel as he watched in vision, the presence of the Lord leave the temple in Jerusalem and come to the faithful in Babylon. They were captives but could still exercise agency.
During the day, all three couples worked at the site. It was slower, but it gave us a chance to visit with the Buswells and Ewers. Also we had a group come in where the father knew President Campbell from Pocatello. He took a picture to send to President Campbell with the caption, "I found these people bad-mouthing the priesthood authorities in Pocatello." President Campbell will probably enjoy that. The fellow was nice enough for a person who thinks Poky High is the superior High School in Pocatello.
Finally, Elder Buswell informed us that the three Nephites dress up as Senior Missionaries for Halloween and thus this picture is in order. (I guess we now know the Halloween names of the three Nephites).
31-October-2022-Monday. HalloweenHappy Halloween. We had the most enjoyable morning devotional. Not all that spiritual, but everyone just enjoyed being together and having a good laugh together. This makes the mission fun.
Dede and I put up lights this morning. They are nearly done, at least we are almost out of lights. We worked on one corner of the road, putting up pink lights in the bushes next to the road, did another bush in orange and then a large tree trunk in blue. (Sounds like Bronco colors.). We also worked on the lights up the stairway. We are trying blue since we are nearly out of white. We had a group discussion after dark about the lights and we have some changes to do in the next days, but we are close to finished. Bergers are still working on getting cords to everything so that we can light up all places. Mostly the lane is left for cords. I need to check the church.
Very slow at the site for visitors. No one wanted to trick or treat with us. There were 4 people when we arrived and we did half of the tour with them and then only one other person. Thus we saw all 5 people for the entire day. Tomorrow we will start closing at 5 pm. Dede and I worked on lights as we waited for people and will do so again tomorrow morning. We changed the lights up the stairway from blue to white per the request of the other missionaries.
As we came home we discussed how lucky we are to be serving and loving our mission. Two years would be a long time to suffer were not enjoying a mission; but we are. Helps to love your companion before going on the mission.
1-November-2022-Tuesday
We had the early shift today. Until 11:35 we put up Christmas lights and then had 3 groups come in of 3+2+7, thus we had 12 total, when yesterday we only had 5 all day. We had the cutest couple from Utah. They have four children but only brought their son who is about the age of Kaladin. I was out touring another couple and when I came in he lit up because he had a new person to interact with. When I would look away, he was so insistent that I look back and play with him. Gosh it was fun. Interestingly enough we told them to visit the Sugarbush farm where we were planning to go today and we saw them there after they made the loop to look at covered bridges. We also had a family of 7 from Utah who were delightful.
As mentioned, we went to the Sugarbush farm and store. We bought cheese and jam and some nicknacks from Vermont. Then we went on their self-guided tour of how they do maple trees. Note, they still do some with buckets, but the majority appears to be done with tubing. I also did not know that during season that sap does not flow out every day. It must drop below freezing (20 to 31F) and then get above 40 during the day. Thus you get a day and then miss one or two and then get 2 or three in a row. Still, when they get sap, the work load is heavy. It was not clear they (at the sugarbush farm) use reverse osmosis and they boil everything using firewood as compared to the Goodrich farm we visited earlier. Still it was interesting and well done as a remote tour which did not take up their time.
Finally we went to Lebanon to Home Depot to get mouse traps and poison. We have mice and no Gus the friendly ghost to control our mice, so we will use traps and poison. May post results later this week. I did take a picture of the history of Pomfret which is the township where the farm is located. There were 39 people there in 1791 when Vermont went from the Republic of Vermont to the 14th state in the USA. Joseph Smith Sr. is in Tunbridge VT, within 3 years of the date mentioned above, as he is married there in 1796 after helping his father clear land to create their farm. The two places are about 20 miles apart.
2-November-2022-Wednesday-P-DAY
We awoke this morning and decided to redo our hike up to Kent's Ledge, which is a hike outside of S. Royalton up a mountain which provides a view of Dairy Hill where the site is located. Although it is so far away you can barely see the top of the monument. It is a slog up the hill climbing 1000 feet from town where we started. We did manage to lose the trail in the leaves, but were able to recover as we knew there was a sign near the top which we located and bushwhacked back to and then enjoyed the view. The first time we hiked up, we ended up in a cloud or just above the clouds and so we could see nothing, but as you can see below, it was wonderful on this trip up.
We then went to the Tunbridge General Store for lunch. We had a great sandwich and talked to the chef who may be overqualified for the job, but I think the owners of these small businesses have come to realize they can do a good business if they sell good food. On Wednesdays, they have a dinner. One menu item which they will vary each week. I am guessing other stores already do other nights. In theory, this is where Joseph Sr and Lucy met. Location only, as this store was built around 1810, but probably on the site of an older store. It appears that Lucy was a clerk in the store.
Back home and Dede mowed my hair. It was getting very long and so I was glad to have it cut so I do not need to work so hard to get it to lay down in the morning. After a brief nap, I then washed the car. It was about 65 F, so it was so pleasant.
Dede went to get her hair cut in Lebanon and so I stayed home and put up Christmas lights outside and then rope lights inside that will change colors with the seasons. Finally I changed out the blinds in our bedroom since the old ones were broken and thus did not block the light.
The final highlight of the day was catching our first mouse. We had noticed droppings in our corner drawers and cupboards. Thus we had bought poison, some glue traps, and set one wooden trap. The wooden trap had its food eaten off without going off, and the glue traps found nothing. Thus I put some butter in the glue traps to attract the mice. In this case, I think it got caught on the glue trap and attempting to escape got caught in the wooden trap. I had Dede buy two plastic traps, that are easier to set and seems to be more sensitive to try again. I must assume if one has a mouse, he has several mice.
3-November-2022-Thursday
Caught another mouse this morning in the new plastic trap. Hopefully we are making a dent. We then caught another mouse (same trap) during the day before we went to the site. Hopefully this is it, but we will continue keep the traps set.
Started the morning at the site putting up Christmas lights. We have just a few strings left to go. We actually finished putting up the lights during the morning. President Ewer had written Bergers that he liked the colored lights up the monument steps. We had blue and also showed them blue mixed with white. Thus we took down the blue lights we had put on two tree trunks and reworked the lights on the stairs to add the blue back in. (Always nice to be obedient). We also changed a large block of pink lights we had been directed to put up and broke that large block into smaller sections of blue and white long with pink. I liked the pink, but it is just not a big deal. I must admit that now we are done, I feel let down and rather melancholy. I have enjoyed working on lights and we have had the most marvelous warm weather the last few days. Oh well, on to working on the video again. What is to be learned? There is such great pleasure in doing what we are asked to do by our church leaders.
We had a slow day at the site, which allowed us to work on the stairway (up to the monument) lights. We did have a group of 8 missionaries stop for a tour and one sister. At 4:45 we were walking around the site, shutting the gate when a car pulled up and 10 minutes later a second car pulled up. Funny, our first night when we are supposed to close at 5 pm and almost the only visitors show up 15 minutes before closing time. Oh well, it was great to have them whenever they come in. One couple from Park City, UT have been proselyting missionaries for 5 years. They serve from home, extended their mission to 30 months and then were called to a second mission on the day they were released (to the same at home mission). They have been very successful. I am guessing they can touch many who the younger missionaries fail to connect with. They do not tract, but basically teach as much as possible. Interesting. There are so many ways to serve.
I have read that Utah may open ski resorts early this year, while we have enjoyed days in the 60's here. I doubt it is normally like this in November, but I will take it as long as I can. I do hope that the west gets a very wet year to help with the drought and that when the weather finally changes that Vermont is likewise blessed.
4-November-2022-Friday
We enjoyed the early shift at the site. There were no lights to put up, so that was sad, but I was able to work on the videos. I can make many of the changes, but when Dede helps me out, we take care of even more imperfections. Obviously there is a limit to the technology I have, but I think the product is becoming better and better. I am excited to be able to finish it. We did not have any visitors until nearly 1 pm, when a group of 5 came in from NY (with one from Utah) followed shortly thereafter by a group of two from Cincinnati, Ohio. At 1:20 we had another group come. Thus we had 13 people during the last hour. That is always fun and exciting. The NY/Utah group had some youth who were not active. I did not realize that and had them pick things from the restoration board to talk about. They knew enough that they did well and the husband from the Cinncy group gave a great testimony of Joseph Smith. I think the family did well and grandma who works in the temple in Timpanogas and serves in the family history center in Lehi was delighted.
Dede's group was from Smith College an elite women's college in Mass. There was a male instructor with 5 female students. He is a Community of Christ member and teaches religion at the university. He wanted to bring his class to a "pilgrimage site". (I had not thought of our site as a pilgrimage site, but the term worked for them to visit us.). I was jealous that Dede got to take them through, but God plans that and not me. Dede said the instructor said he had an interesting relationship with Joseph Smith. That could be so hard, claiming him as a founder, but not recognizing him as a prophet. Still what a golden opportunity for Dede to share testimony with another group of bright college students who are interested in religion and could be taught in a very non-threatening, but spiritual way. I am always so proud of Dede and the way she bears her testimony.
At the end of our shift we drove to Lebanon to hike around Boston-Lot Lake. It is a wonderful hilltop lake and we hiked almost 3 miles. With the leaves down, we could for the most part always see the lake (sometimes better than the leaf covered trail), but I would imagine during the summer you could hike the trail and not even realize there was a lake 75 feet through the trees. We are having marvelous weather here while it snows in Utah and Idaho. We are blessed. Plus it gives me an excuse to add photos.
5-November-2022-Saturday
We had four visitors today a family of four, two parents who are active members from Texas, with their son (inactive) and his wife, who now live in Vermont. It was fun teaching them together and I think mom and dad were grateful that we were kind and considerate teaching their children without being overbearing. Since they have been in Vermont less than a year, we shared some of the things we have enjoyed in the months that we have been there. I think the young couple were grateful also that we were just trying to be nice to them.
President Ewer came over right about shift change and told us there would be more changes to the schedule. I have worked on this again, so that I can show all the changes that will happen in the next few months. Right now we are open 10 to 5. But starting after Thanksgiving during light season we will be open from 10 to 8, so that will again change our schedule working two 5 hour shifts per day. Then starting in January, we want to do virtual tours 9-10 and 10-11am(also open time so we might need to split if we get a virtual tour at 10 am) and then stay live until 5 pm. We then will take a break from 5 to 6 pm and then be open to virtual tours again from 6 to 7 and 7 to 8. Thus we will then go to a potential 11 hour day although there is break so actual work is 5 hours per shift. I expect to have discussions again with possible more changes. The one thing is sure is that live tours will end at 5 pm regardless of the day and virtual tours will begin the first of January.
We spent the afternoon taking handouts to bulletin boards and/or stores where one can post handouts. We are advertising the Christmas lights. On 25-November, we will have a lighting ceremony at 7 pm with a small program and thereafter, the lights will be on from 4 to 10 every night, while the visitors' center will be open until 8 pm. We hope many locals will come and enjoy the lights.
We went to Tunbridge to put up the flyers. So I took a picture of the general store. This is supposedly the location although the building has been rebuilt where Joseph and Lucy met. (Fact check, it appears that a missionary in Palmyra began telling the story around 1980 that they met at the store. Since woman rarely clerked in general stores, it is more likely that they met at Mack's bar (think bar and grill) where Lucy was taking care of guests.)
We have a new book of church sites in New England. There are tons of people born in or lived in Vermont. I want to visit most of them and take a picture of something in town and then put together a video of these people to share with people who might be interested. Hopefully something about 20 minutes long.
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