Week 16 Hegsted Mission
6-November-2022-Sunday
Two weeks in a row we were in the Rutland Branch. That was nice and with the change of opening the site at 1 pm, we should be able to go even more often. I played the organ and taught Sunday school to the youth, while Dede was in Primary. I am very rusty on the organ, but glad to play again. I hope if I get there early enough each week, it will begin to come back. I really was not prepared for Sunday school. I will not let that happen again.
We opened the site at 1 pm and had several visitors come through, including Brother Berger's sister and husband. Fun to have someone from the mission with family. They wanted to spend as much time as possible so we gave them the full tour. Midway, Dede had to switch off to another family. We then had several locals show up for a few minutes each. Overall a good day.
Afterwards we talked to President Ewer and found out we were in the wrong place for the Joseph Smith Senior home. He gave us directions and even though it was 4:10 (without daylight savings timed) we drove to and found the actual site. The home appeared to have been very small. However, now that I know its location, I can go back and look around for other things and take pictures. This picture shows the depression of the area excavated a few years back. It is not very clear, so I will need to try again. Note, after reading more, part of the home site is under the current road, so the house where Joseph Sr and Lucy had their first 4 (3 of whom lived) children was actually 24x24 which is nice by the standards of the times.
7-November-2022-Monday
We began the day at our monthly inspirational meeting. One couple was late and I derailed the meeting somewhat asking questions about Daniel and Solomon Mack's farms and land. I had been telling people Daniel had a farm right next to the Solomon Mack farm and thus had a home nearby. After further researching, I find Daniel and Solomon shared a farm in Tunbridge almost directly above the site. (about 2 to 2.5 miles above the Daniel Mack homesite.). Solomon maintained that Tundbridge farm even buying out Daniel, while also buying and maintaining the farm where Joseph jr was born both until 1811-1812. Apparently Daniel's home on the site is actually on Solomon's Sharon's property. It appears to me that Daniel lives on the farm with the plan to have him run Solomon's farm. Thus it almost appears that having Joseph Sr and Lucy on the farm may have been a short term solution. After our discussion, no one had a better explanation as it was not clear to them either. But it will change slightly the way I speak of Solomon Mack as he had a farm in Tunbridge as early as 1798 shortly after the marriage of Lucy and Joseph Sr in 1796.
We discussed the attributes of God as described in restoration scriptures and I asked about what it means to worship God. Dede and I both have wondered if we really understand what it means to worship. We are commanded to worship, but it is not clear to us how to worship. Last week we discussed the book of Daniel and the three young men not worshipping the king's idol. Since I cannot be sure I know how to worship the true and living God, how would I react to being commanded to worship an idol? Would I merely bow down before the idol knowing that I was not worshipping, but merely kneeling and bowing? Probably more important, do I worship worldly distractions even as I struggle to worship the God I should love? I hope that as I grow spiritually I will someday understand what it means to worship God.
We put up a set of lights on a tree, per the request of President Ewer and then ran cords to the lights on the rail of the church we had put up earlier. I think we are truly finished. That is sad. This always happens to me. It is more fun to put up lights than to watch lights and during the period they are not on, it is just boring.
We had 4 people come to the site. One group of three was a member and two nonmembers. One was a fishing guide from Jackson who was so easy to like. It was such a fun group to guide through the site. Good questions and we really enjoy teaching from the basics the gospel and the life and mission of Joseph. We are definitely in the slower time of the year. We have several more weeks before the lights go on and so I expect November will remain slow.
After putting up lights and before our shift, we went to find the Solomon and Daniel Mack farm in Tunbridge. We were lucky to know that there was a lake on the property and we were able to find the lake even though we could not approach the lake as it was on private property, but I did get a picture so I can begin putting together a guide of where these places are located. Note in the background, the homes around what is now called Tunbridge Trout Lake.
These first two pictures show an old home on the site that is caving in. Like the Joseph Smith birthplace this was a framed home with a central fireplace and a cellar under one side. In this house there is lath and plaster which probably did not exist in the Joseph Smith home. When Junius first came to the home there was no wood left as we see here (picture below, just the foundation and cellar. Bob told us there has been a great deal of decay on this home in the five years he has served as FM manager. (I.e. it does not take long for a house to deteriorate once it falls down.). Note, on an active farm, the farmers would often destroy the buildings so that animals would not be hurt in the fallen walls.
Finally a shot off patriarch hill toward the monument (almost dead center) without leaves as I showed in a picture several months ago. Bob pointed out that they mow the slot, but several years ago when he hired people to cut back the branches overhanging the cleared slot, he was told by the church not to do this. In fact most the afternoon, we were driving on two track trails through the woods. When Bob said they would need to cut down trees to build roads, the church people were very concerned about removing any trees. When he explained the roads were gator trails, they were much less concerned. Nevertheless, the church has asked Bob to fence the property and mark it clearly as private property which will necessitate more trails first to get to the property edges to fence and then to repair the fence after trees fall on the wires. It will be interesting to walk the edges of the property. I hope to get to help do some of the fencing.
After dropping off Patriarch Hill we went down to the Daniel Mack home site. The old road continues past that house and we walked down it to the edge of the church property. This is clearly a an old road as you can see both the road and the rock walls often on both sides of the road. Again this will be fenced at the edge of the church property. I want to walk out of the church property before they do that to understand where it ends. Note, there will probably be some upset people when the property is fenced.
Near the home site pictured above, Bob pointed out two grape vines, one which I am holding and he holds another. The size is massive. They planted the grapes and they have gone wild and the one he was holding has actually killed the tree it grew up.
Right above the home are massive foundations of what was probably barns and perhaps other out buildings. The barn foundation shows a lower level with a second story foundation. As we drive around Vermont, we see similar large barns and we know the Smith Complex had large barns as we have pictures from the early 1900's showing them. This allowed farmers to park (or stow wood) below and store hay above. Up hill of the large foundation were more foundations. The house was not overly large, but the barn definitely was nice sized. This all sits along a town road that has been abandoned except for snow mobiling in the winter. In fact Bob says at the other end where it connects into the road (I think I saw this on White Brook Road) it says no trespassing.
Finally, this is a well or cistern. It is at the top of a brook, it is a natural spring, but it was dug out to allow the users to have a spring. Perhaps 30 inches across. Not sure how deep. There were grapes growing nearby and this was probably the home to which the well owners when for water. This is not much different from the springs in pictures from the Joseph Smith Sr farm in Tunbridge. This is on private property so I will not be able to get pictures of it. Note, they have dug the well on the JS sr home larger in circumference than this one I am showing.
Finally a shot off patriarch hill toward the monument (almost dead center) without leaves as I showed in a picture several months ago. Bob pointed out that they mow the slot, but several years ago when he hired people to cut back the branches overhanging the cleared slot, he was told by the church not to do this. In fact most the afternoon, we were driving on two track trails through the woods. When Bob said they would need to cut down trees to build roads, the church people were very concerned about removing any trees. When he explained the roads were gator trails, they were much less concerned. Nevertheless, the church has asked Bob to fence the property and mark it clearly as private property which will necessitate more trails first to get to the property edges to fence and then to repair the fence after trees fall on the wires. It will be interesting to walk the edges of the property. I hope to get to help do some of the fencing.
After dropping off Patriarch Hill we went down to the Daniel Mack home site. The old road continues past that house and we walked down it to the edge of the church property. This is clearly a an old road as you can see both the road and the rock walls often on both sides of the road. Again this will be fenced at the edge of the church property. I want to walk out of the church property before they do that to understand where it ends. Note, there will probably be some upset people when the property is fenced.
Bob then took us to the back of Camp Joseph. We had been there to the Joseph Tree which is old enough to have stood when Joseph was born. Then we went out on a field across LDS lane which belongs to the church and then across Dairy Hill road to both meadows (fields) and tree land across the road. It is just impressive to cover this land.
In all the church owns about 430 acres. There are 640 acres in a square mile, so this is about .7 miles per side (if it were square which it is not). Since if I have seen them, it is easy to imagine potato fields in Idaho that are a square mile on a side because they are relatively flat, but this is hills and trees so when you are going through it, it seems like you go forever. It was just plain good fun to see this area. It is hard to describe all the little streamlets that are in the woods. Some flow continually and others only when it rains. Again, most of the trees are less than 90 years old. Bob told us his father said "if land has trees or tree stumps it is worthless." From a farmer's or rancher's standpoint that makes sense. But I am grateful that Vermont is not 90% deforested as it was around the turn of the 1900's. I cannot imagine how much run-off there was of the thin soil and how quickly the soil was depleted of nutrients. We have witnessed the farmers spreading manure (solid or liquid) on the meadow fields to keep the grasses growing. Without equipment, how could they have done this in the past? Note, the church is careful to let trees which fall or are cut down to rot back into the soil. Otherwise the soil becomes depleted. They found this out in the Sacred Grove, where they tried to keep it cleared, but found the vegetation was starving.
We ended the "work" day by driving up to Stratford to put flyers on the bulletin boards about the Christmas lights at the site. We have just a few more places to go with flyers,.
9-November-2022-Wednesday P-Day
After sleeping in until 7:30 to 8:00 most mornings, it felt odd to get up at 6:10 so we could leave for the Boston temple by 7 and arrive by 9:30 for our scheduled 10 am endowment and 12 sealing sessions. I have grown to appreciate the temple in a new way here. I was always grateful to have a temple 50 minutes away in Idaho Falls and was overwhelmed to have it 5 minutes away in Pocatello so that I could go every day if that was my desire without sacrificing much. Now it takes 2.5 hours to get to the temple. For the members of the Rutland Branch, it is 3 hours away. With the price of gas, it is getting pretty expensive to go to the temple. It has not impacted Dede and I as of yet, but I know it impacts other members of the Vermont Stake. We visited with a couple who had driven down from Maine this morning and it took them four hours to drive and so they left at 5:30 to be in the 10 am session with us. When I was in Pocatello, I hardly had a chance to begin thinking about the temple, before I was there and getting dressed. Here, we have 2.5 hours to listen to Come Follow Me Podcasts and discuss the gospel and then the same amount of time coming home. The quantity of my temple trips have definitely taken a hit, but I think the quality of my worship in the temple has improved. I am much better prepared to listen and learn and I do not want to waste the minutes there after driving so far and being prepared by gospel messages.
I had some insights about sacrifice in the endowment session, that I probably have always known, but which hit me hard today. The thought was enhanced by what we learned on the way to the temple from Hosea when the Lord says, I want you to rend your hearts and not just your clothes. In other words, it is not just enough to attend the temple, you need to be giving your heart to God in the temple, not just going through the motions. In Moses 5:6-8 we find Adam offering sacrifices and an angel asking him why. Adam replies because "the Lord commanded me." The reply is well known, but hit me differently today. The angel did not tell Adam what to sacrifice, or how to do it better. Instead he taught that the sacrifice pointed Adam to Christ and His sacrifice. Then I believe the angel tells Adam what he is to sacrifice: "and thou shall repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore." I take from this statement that the real sacrifice is not the animal on the alter or in my day, attendance at church and the Sacrament Table or the temple and the ordinance. The real sacrifice is repentance, which for me means sacrificing something I really like (my favorite sin of the day or moment). If as Hosea taught we are not being drawn to covenantal love by our church activities, the Lord will reject those activities regardless of how exacting we perform them. I am grateful for the Old Testament and what I have learned about the Covenant Path and God's love for me and all mankind as a result of living in the covenant. What a blessing to have a living prophet who is pointing us to that covenant path and the blessing that come from it.
The best is yet to come. We were in a sealing session with the couple from Maine and one other brother. When the couple went to the alter and did the first sealing of couples, the sealer stopped and asked "did you know this couple personally?" to which they replied yes it was his parents. We found out he was a convert of two years. Then the next couple to be sealed were her parents. She had been a member for some time, but her first husband never joined the church and so no work was done. What a special day. But it got better. The sealer was ready to move on to our names leaving some of theirs when I noticed that her father's name was at the top of the pile to be sealed to his parents. We did this sealing and then sealed the brother's sister to his parents who died before 8 years of age. and also her mom to her parents. The couple was so humble that they had come with the ward last month, but did not mention they had their own parents names in the rush from the other people (many from their ward) who had names to be done. Thus the names were there for our small group to witness today and thank goodness for a sealer who was so in tune that he realized the connection between the sealing being accomplished and couple performing the sealing. God was very good to Dede and I today to allow us to witness this wonderful scene. I have only been involved one time in doing work for a relative I know. The rest of this work has been done long ago and so I tell people that some people are playing family history bingo where they are connecting direct family lines, while I play Family History Blackout, where I try to canvass every cousin I can find. Both are important, but I still feel blessed to see people do work for those they knew and still love.
The sealer told us of a restaurant near Costco so we have a new restaurant in the area. Then stops at Costco and Walmart finished our day until we got home where I did 30 minutes on the bike instead of my normal 20 minutes to make up for all the sitting time we experienced today. Life is so good.
Last thought. I awoke this morning with a certain political expectation based on the endless news I had been enduring which was at best unsettled when I awoke and probably just wrong as compared to the poll's expectations. As we drove, I was reminded several times as we listened to Podcasts of Israel's tendency to look to political solutions to problems. Oh Egypt will bail us out. Or if we make a treaty with Assyria all will be well. But the prophets are saying, believe in the living prophets and in God. It is so easy to get caught up in the news cycles and believe one political agenda is superior to another and they can save the world. But it is not political power that will save the world. As I entered the temple, this thought was certified in my mind and it was so peaceful. Now if the news would move on as I have. Let's focus on something important like Jazz Basketball. (Just kidding, but that at least is fun at this moment.)
10-November-2022-Thursday
Today was just plain fun. We picked up the Buzzwells at 8:30 at the site and drove them to the Solomon/Daniel Mack property in Tunbridge about 2-3 miles directly north of the site. We then went to the original Asael Smith home site which became the Joseph Smith Sr. homesite and birthplace of Alvin, Hyrum and Sophronia and probably Samuel, who was also born in Tunbridge, but we lack further evidence of where. This is the probable location, but it is possible he was born on Solomon's Tunbridge property. We then drove to a few unrelated sites and returned to the birthplace site so they could open the site and we visited about what we saw and what it all means. We then went down on the site to visit the Solomon and Daniel foundations and wandered about looking at the foundations that are around these sites. This is the time of year to do so as one can actually see into the forest.
Pictures of foundations and path by Solomon's house.
11-November-2022-Friday
Today was just a fun day but as always we had challenges.. We had the early shift at the site and had just one visitor and he spent about five minutes with us. Second shift did less. The FM group found vandalism at the bathrooms around the site and possibly around some lights. We suspect the same two young men who vandalized us before. The church may press charges. The young men were so dumb. After being asked to leave yesterday, they left saying "we hope your church burns down!" What a great way to get your name at the top of the suspect list.
But then the day just improved. After a quick lunch after our shift, we headed back to the site and hiked Patriarch hill going up the trail and down the gator track. We were done by 4 when it started to rain. We are getting a remnant of the last Hurricane to hit Florida. Still the temperature was about 65. Hard to believe we are in cold Vermont. It was such a different hike than 2 months ago. With the leaves gone one can see all around. There is one great rock wall. We also saw a large well (cistern) which is probably 10x10 feet. It has a pump house close by, but is no longer used. Great view of the monument from the top because of the lack of sun causing a glare. Overall just a great hike. Even back in the woods, the Spirit is so strong in this place. I took only video of the rock wall, which does not work well in the blog.
During the shift, I walked up behind the flag pole to the top of Matriarch Hill. There is a meadow up there another great rock wall which is the edge of the property. Also a place where it appears there was a house with a grape vine growing nearby. I will go back there and take pictures.
We went to eat as missionaries, with the church picking up the tab. Wahoo! The company was fantastic and we got to know the Wilcox's better than we have in the past. They have had many struggles in their lives. Again, I wonder how Dede and I have been so blessed in our lives. Yes we have struggles, but....
As we were driving to dinner, I had accidentally bum-dialed Jake and so he called us back and we spent a delightful 45 minutes visiting with him. He had a great story to tell us about his daughter. Then we chatted about the world. It is so fun to feel his energy.
Did I mention how good God has been to Dede and I? Sometimes I pinch myself to see if this life is just a wonderful dream. I do not know why it is that way for us. I am aware of others who suffer a great deal and I love them for their examples. But is is so easy for me to see all the good that God does for us, even on slow days at the site with vandalism occurring. God continues to shower tender mercies upon both of us.
12-November-2022-Saturday
Another great day in the mission field. We had the late shift. We both worked on our talks for church tomorrow and then I went for a walk. It was 65F and had just finished raining. It was so humid that I was drenched by the time I returned after 45 minutes. I showered and then we ate and got ready to go to the site.
It was amazingly slow. We had a couple that was hanging out waiting to visit people about buying a home in the area. Then an interesting young man came in. He had come looking for geo-caches. He was on a quest to visit the 100 oldest in Vermont. One of these is the monument (a virtual cache where one needs to get clues by visiting) and the person is supposed to talk to the missionaries about the monument. This was his last visit for these 100 caches and he held it for last because he thought it might be the best. Our tour with him was fun. We were somewhat disjointed not knowing how much he wanted to learn, but by the end we had told many of our stories and facts and found out a great deal about him. All in all a great visit.
Then at 4:45 a family came in from Eagle, Idaho. We had a good time with them. They had come out to support a friend who was playing Rugby at Dartmouth and so were here for the weekend. They were delightful and Dede spent extra time with them at the end of the tour.
I walked out from visiting with them, because a van had come by and there were people at the monument. Turns out it was a family of nine who showed up at nearly 6 pm (an hour after closing). We had a delightful tour with them. Seven children and mom including dad who was just finishing his residency in Virginia and they were hitting sites (Ben and Jerry's in VT) when they thought of the birthplace and decided to stop for pictures. Because the other family had come late, we were still there to give them a grand tour. The kids were so great and when we hit the restoration room they (6 to 16 ages) picked out great thoughts from the wall and bore their testimonies to their parents and then the parents did the same. These can be the most powerful situations and afterwards we could only applaud these great parents who were teaching their children the gospel. Mom teaches early morning seminary to which her 7th grader son also attends with two older sisters. Seminary moms are already headed to heaven. Here they are out of the shadows of the Utah/Idaho mountains raising strong children. God is so merciful to those who strive to stay on the covenant path. Obviously He is also so merciful to arrange events such that we would have a late family of four so that we could spend time with this other family of 9 and that their visit was blessed with a tour and not just a picture of the monument. They were a blessing to our lives. God be praised.
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