Week 20 Hegsted Mission
4-December-2022-Sunday
A new week and new opportunities. The drive to Rutland was pleasant. The sun was shining and the White River after our recent rains was running fuller than we have seen all summer, but had cleared up and was no longer muddy. Going to the Killington area is spectacular. However, it was about 31F and they need snow badly. They were making snow at Pico resort, but it they were making it on bare grass and not getting ahead on the job.
I played the organ and taught youth Sunday school. That is getting better, but I still need to do more to get closer to meeting the needs of these youth. Large age range which makes it harder. Also, they seem to lack many of the basics I would expect youth to know. Maybe I am just getting too old.
Dede was in primary and glory hallelujah she gets to lead primary music for the next 4 weeks. She is so excited. I hope I get to play once or twice. I think everyone will be surprised to see how singing time can be fun by spending most of the time singing instead of playing games and talking. I am glad for both the ward and for Dede.
We had a wonderful evening at the site. We had a number of people come in, but still had time to give tours to people instead of just saying "hello, where are you from and enjoy the lights." That makes it more meaningful and we get to know people better. Our favorite high counselor came in. I was telling him about the things I have been learning and fun I have been having poking around the site. He was jealous and I would not be surprised to see him show up to hike around with me some day.
We had another gentleman whose great-grandfather was the foreman of the crew helping to build the monument. He was fun to talk to. His daughter is a member. We were telling him about the monument, although he knew a great deal. He then said the monument was dropped off in Royalton so they did not need to cross the White River. I have been saying South Royalton so they would need to cross it. However, in truth they stopped in Royalton, brought it along route 14 and crossed the First Branch of the White River. When he looked at the picture of the covered bridge he said, yes that is taken right in front of the VT Law school where the first branch empties into the White River. I am sure he is correct, but want to get a modern picture of the site today and then obviously I need to change my story to fit the facts. Oops! (Yes as you expect, I was wrong.)
We also had a fellow who works quality control at one of the granite sheds. He was very excited to help me understand more details about granite. How much does Barre Granite weigh per square foot compared to marble and black granite etc. I showed him a picture from 1905 with Junius F. Wells in front of the shaft of the monument as it was taken out of the mountain and before it was shaped and polished. See picture below
We had a number of people through the site and gave tours to several people. All good fun.
Dede has told me several readers of the blog want to know about the restoration board, so I took some pictures to show you. It is a timeline of some of the notable events in the prophets life to help us show how much he accomplished in his short 38.5 years. The first note is his birth here and then it becomes less important (just kidding) because it happens away from our site.
5-December-2022-Monday
My poor wife. We first had a great discussion on the nature of God and how light, truth, law, word etc. all are equated in the scriptures and lead us to God. President Ewer is a great teacher helping us to see the scriptures in a new light. (No pun intended.) I feel sorry for Dede because I again drug her around chasing my dreams of understanding the site and its history. We went to the corner of Solomon Mack's farm site and tried to be able to determine by line of sight the boundary of the Solomon Mack farm. Unfortunately the trees are way to thick. I need a compass so I can take a bearing and thus follow this bearing. We did however tramp through the woods looking for more stone walls or even metal posts used to mark the boundary. (After much searching I am also looking for old Maple Trees). It just too large of an area with too many trees to not have a compass to help.
We next went to look at the Solomon Mack foundations again. I now know the front yard of the house faced White Brook and that it had a front yard, one side of which is still marked by a stone wall. I think the other side of the yard had a stone wall that was damaged by modern roads. The brook side wall (East) was probably washed out in one of the two torrential rains storms that came up from hurricanes, the latest in 2005 (Irene). The site book I am reading shows a barn foundation which we again located. It appears that there is a small rectangular building, which was probably the barn (based on stones) plus a larger area which would have been the barn yard from which many of the rocks are still present marking the boundary of the yard. When I get a compass and a tape measure I want to better lay these out in my mind and on paper.
We then went to the "Daniel Mack foundation" and followed the Old Sharon Road northward. We had gone to the property line with Bob Arnold and I wanted to see more the road which continues on from our boundary line. We followed it until the road ended on someone's property. By dropping a pin on maps, we were able to go back on Dairy Hill Road and determine where we were (near 876 Dairy Hill Road.). We could see the home and building we saw from the Old Road and determine we were about 0.3 miles from the Royalton-Tunbridge boundary as a reference. Driving on Dairy Hill Road, we could see where the Old Sharon road hit Dairy Hill Road on the other side of the road which for us ended. I want to walk this back to see if it really would connect. A few interesting thoughts from this walk.
- The rock walls along the road are very clear as long as one is on church property and then either are totally gone or barely visible.
- Is it possible that these were built after 1905?
- The road is very clear. I.e. it sustains use unlike the road beyond the pump house which is nearly impossible to even find if it were not for the rock walls at the first.
- What happened to the pond on White Brook, which shows on several maps as being on church property but which I could not find.
- How much impact did Hurricane Irene have on White Brook?
- It is a steep cliff behind the Daniel Mack foundation and down to the Brook.
- I find it hard to believe someone built a home on the edge of a cliff so I assume it has eroded in the more recent past.
- It is nice to see our boundary markers. I will however be sad to see the church fence off the property as I feel the road will fall into disrepair similar to the road south of Solomon's home.
We have the late shift. Many people have driven through, but only 4 visitors. One was a delightful couple with their grandchild. The grandfather came in and it would be hard to imagine a prouder grandpa than he. He is a cancer surviver which was found just as the granddaughter was born and he credits her with giving him the will to live.
The other woman came in hoping to find someone in the "Parrish" (Ward) that she could hire to shovel her stairs and ramp. She is using a walker. I took her information but told her I would come and do it. I will surely hate shoveling snow before I leave Vermont, but I loved doing it for our single sisters in the ward and it will be good to have a new friend right next door to the site whom I can serve in a similar manner.
6-November-2022-Tuesday
We had the early shift and other than the Ewers who came over to talk about the schedule, we did not have anyone the entire time. We left early at 2:15 so we could drive to Boston. Dede had arranged for a hotel at the heart of downtown Boston that was fairly inexpensive. It was an older hotel that had been refurbished. By its size of the rooms and general layout, one would think he was inside a small hotel in any nondescript town in Northern Europe. With one exception, the people at the front desk were phenomenal and they were able to get us overnight parking across the street for $26 rather than $44. All in all a good 2-star hotel for the price, especially based on location.
Dede had found a walking tour app for her phone and so we took the Boston Christmas tour. It would have been truly delightful had it not rained. (We had brought umbrellas and rain coats, but when we looked earlier it did not indicate rain. We should have checked the weather report right before leaving the car.) Oh well. Even with the rain, the tour was interesting. It took us around Boston and talked about Dickens living in the Omni-Parker House and giving his first reading of a Christmas Carol at the hotel. Also other writers and their Christmas books. We saw great light displays, I will include a few. Especially liked the Nova Scotia Tree which has been sent to Boston annually to be decorated to remember the help and aid given to the city during World War II when two ships collided in the Halifax harbor, one full of explosives which leveled the town for about 1.5 miles around the harbor leaving many dead and hurt and more without homes. A telegram was sent to Boston that was short expressing their needs and thenthe Boston mayor received no replies back, probably due to the extreme damage. Regardless, Boston filled trains with people and goods to send to Halifax, Nova Scotia to aid them in their need. A truly great story. Furthermore, he tradition of putting candles in windows came from Beacon Hill in Boston. And the first US person to print Christmas Cards came out of Boston among other stories about the area.
I will share a few more pictures from our walk. I really enjoyed the self-guided tour. The speaker was good and the stories fun. If they were all true, a lot of Christmas tradition came from the Boston area even though Boston was a Puritan City which banned Christmas for years.
7-December-2022-Wednesday-Pday
It was nice to wake up and be only 30 minutes from the temple, although in Bostonian traffic rather than 2.5 hours away. I was in tune in the Endowment session. (Third time in a row that Dede and I have been the witness couple.). It is amazing how much one can learn even though he basically has the script memorized. There are always things to understand in a new light and layers to resolve. The sealing session was also good. We enjoy this sealer. He was raised in a Greek home, but did not learn to speak Greek but his Bostonian accent is so thick I thought he was raised in Greece. He met his wife in Germany while serving in the army and married her even though she spoke no English and he no German. Their's is a happy marriage after many years. They joined the church while stationed at Fort Knox. He assured us that without a loving wife, his heart would never had accepted the gospel. (As an aside, twice during the sealing session the fire alarm went off. The first time they started to evacuate us although we were half way out before the alarm stopped, and the second time it was very short so we just continued on. Regardless, it made the experience unique.). Dede and I stayed to ask the sealer and his wife some questions about how they met etc. Just as we were getting ready to leave a sister entered. She had a sealing of couple she wanted done and Dede and I got to perform the sealing for her. As he finished, the sealer asked "who are these people?" because of the strong spirit in the room and the sister explained: These were her aunt and uncle whose ordinance card she had printed out (2017) and then lost in her Bible and so she had never done the work. Lately the Uncle had appeared to her in dreams, but would not speak to her, which was odd as he was a favorite Uncle who always spoke to her. She believed it was because she had not done the work and expects that if he comes to her again, he will be happier and hopefully speak to her. What a wonderful experience.
We left the temple and went to Costco and BJ's on the way home and made it home before it was too late. I was just getting ready to ride the exercise bike when Dede said we needed to go out and give the other missionaries Christmas gifts. She wants to do this once per week until Christmas. She is so good and despite the fact that my inner-Grinch was begging me to revolt, I went with her and am so grateful that I am married to Dede. Perhaps God will give me partial credit despite my lousy attitude and let me remain with her when she receives her exalted status.
8-December-2022-Thursday
Today is just like Christmas. Amazon (the "oh, oh, the Wells Fargo Wagon is a coming" of today) delivered a compass and a range finder for me to use in trying to map out things for the site. It is so easy to lose your accurate set of directions and this will help. It is also difficult to walk through the woods and measure, so I hope both help me in my quest to map out artifacts on the property such as walls and foundations. I will probably start on easy things like the Solomon Mack foundation and then move to other item such as other corner position of the farms and obviously the rock walls and the Old Sharon Road, that I want to MAP for future reference. I do not know how much time I will have before snow sets in, so I want to begin to work tomorrow and see what happens.
Mundane morning as I took the car in to be serviced and then shopped. While waiting for the car, I worked on a slide show of Israel and Egypt trips. I will use this for my next lesson to review the Old Testament with the Youth Sunday School class. Dede remained home to sew and get all the Christmas stuff that was not delivered by Amazon directly to homes ready to be mailed. She had some sewing to get done. Thus it worked out very well. I was feeling like I was coming down with a cold, but bought some Airborne and walked when we got to the site and I am feeling better, although very sleepy. It may be that I slept poorly in the hotel after walking around getting soaked, but if that is all I suffer, I am a fan.
I took many pictures of lights at the site. Monday night we filmed a video from the car, but after thinking about it, I think I would rather create a video from still shots. One can get so many more angles and focus on what I think is best for each shot. If I put in each still for 2.5 -3 seconds, I should be able to get about 60 pictures into a 2.5 minute film. The length will depend upon the music I set it too. I hope this would be a nice gift for all the missionaries at the site and hope to link it to the site FaceBook page as well. I would be remiss not to show a few of the shots I took.
It was fairly warm, but with a wind tonight. Many people came into the site (about 20). Some did not stay long, but many visited with us. We would tell them a little about the site and then ask them about themselves. I sometimes feel that many locals are afraid the missionaries are out to get them and I would like to break down that fear. So many of these people come year after year to see the lights and hopefully we can get them to see us a real people who are not just out to convert them.
9-November-2022-Friday
Because we work until 8 pm while the Christmas lights are on, it was decided to move our monthly Friday dinner to be a breakfast at 8:30 am. We all met and Dede I and did sourdough and gluten free pancakes, while others brought other yummies. It was good. At 9:30 a fellow from Wyoming was seen walking around the site, so I went over to provide a tour. As we were finishing another couple came and so I walked with all three down to the foundations and rock bridge. I must admit, I see these sites differently since I have been spending more time trying to understand the rock walls etc. I hope I can continue to learn. When we got back another fellow came in, but had little time because he was taking his dog to the vet, but promised to return as he really loves history. Until 12:30 we were busy giving longer tours as both the fellow and the couple had really planned this as the highlight of their day. Great fun.
We did not have another visitor, so Dede and I began poking around. We used the compass to mark the rock wall corner. Did not get the range finder to work, but will work on it later. With the compass, I followed the the north to south boundary line. After the wall ended, there were fence posts marking it, but they ended. I then realized that there were older trees with remnants of barb wire marking the boundary. These led me to a large tree with wire which I had found earlier when I followed a rock wall (which turned again into barb wire.) I think this marked a field boundary and not land boundary. The good news is it helps me tie something below to something up top. It will be trick because there is a cliff that is tough for this old man to climb up and down, but I should be able to get bearings and range measurements to tie this all together into a map. This is fun.
When I first found the tree mentioned above, I noted fence posts leading almost directly back to the monument and above the mini-cliff mentioned above. I am not sure why. Seems like a wedge shape rather than a field marker, but I know they bought land in pieces, but it might have some other meaning to something Junius was doing. Much fun to work out in my mind. While wandering in the woods, I found a newish (recharged in November) fire extinguisher laying in the woods. I thought it had been dropped from a gator (small tractor) , but when I reported it to the FM group, they told me that they were missing an extinguisher after the vandalism at the restroom. Since the pin had been pulled on this extinguisher, that makes sense. Glad that I was able to find it so we did not need to buy a new one. Tomorrow is another day for exploring.
On the way home, we stopped to take a picture of the confluence of the First Fork of the White River into the White River to see how it fits with the picture of the covered bridge crossed by Junius and the stones when they were building the monument. The fellow who told me that this was the First Fork, was correct and I went and stood on the stones in the White River, he mentioned and took the same picture. I will definitely correct my story.
Here is a picture of the wooden bridge at the same place. The rock wall to the left of the bridge has washed out during one of the hurricane floods, but I think the house is the same to the right although it has been redone. So the correct story is they brought the stones to Royalton and not S. Royalton to avoid crossing the White River and merely crossing the First Fork. Our leaders emphasize we need to strive for accuracy and I was misled by a picture which said Main White River.
Dede then suggested that we should drive up to Tunbridge and see the General Store and see what they might have to eat. We scored big as it was Prime Rib Friday (in a general store) which we ordered and enjoyed portions large enough to have left overs for another meal. It was a unique ambiance eating prime rib in a general store, but would recommend them to everyone. We finished the evening with a drive to Hartford looking at Christmas lights.
Extra:
Brother Buswell as the site historian requested that we write something about our feelings as we entered the mission field here at the Joseph Smith Birthplace. I felt the best place for it was probably in my journal, so this is the reason for this entry.
Sister Hegsted and I (Elder Hegsted) were set apart 24-July-2022. Pioneer Day seemed an appropriate day for us to begin this pioneering experience in our lives. Since our marriage, we have lived within two blocks of our current home and so the changes coming to our lives although exciting were somewhat daunting. We spent our training week in the MTC with the most wonderful people all going to different missions and different mission types. It was exciting to see a sample of what senior missionaries could do.
As with all couples, there were challenges as we prepared for our mission. We filled out our papers including choosing sites that we were interested in serving. We did not realize that by the time we finished medical papers, these would already be rightfully filled. By the time we were ready to hit submit, we put down three preferences for the types of missions we wanted to serve, but not a location. I will admit, that I knew the Joseph Smith Memorial was a possibility, so I did put down I liked putting up Christmas lights as I had spoken with couples from this mission who told me about the lights they had put up. But really, by that time I just wanted to serve wherever God wanted to send me and we told our stake president to indicate that in our papers.
Before coming into the field, we went on a long-delayed trip to Israel which we had paid for pre-Covid in 2020 and which finally happened in 2022. We also went to Disney World with our families. More importantly we saw the birth of a miracle grandchild to our son and daughter-in-law who have been trying desperately to have a child for over 13 years. We also saw a daughter greatly impacted by Covid isolation while in her post-doctorate work return to our home and "return to her normal bubbly self" and get a career position in a teaching field at CSI in Twin Falls. It was obvious that God was blessing us and preparing us to know that He could take care of our family while we were on our mission better than we could ever do if we remained at home. Thus we were excited to await our call which took about 5 weeks after submission.
Our call came to the Joseph Smith Birth Site and we had several months to prepare and do Israel and Disney World. As the day to leave approached, I wondered if I was getting what I asked for, but not what was best. Would I feel utilized and fulfilled at such a small site? Would there be enough to learn and do. What about the long winter? I wondered if God had given me this mission because I had asked for a Historical Site and not because I had prayed with real faith to send me to the best mission for my ability and for the service I could do. When I was set apart, our stake president stated, "God knew you would serve anywhere, but he gave you the desire of your heart, to serve at a historical site." This brought both comfort and discomfort as I thought yes God is so kind, but then worried, "but did God give me the desire of my heart and not what was best for me?"
As stated above, we enjoyed the MTC experience and the people we were with, both in our district and in our sister district. We loved the drive out to Vermont. We had never driven across country although we had come out to the East numerous times by plane. We arrived at the site and were kindly greeted, fed and helped to move into our apartment. It was evident that our mission president and wife were going to be outstanding.
On our fist day at the site, I was listening to the music which plays when ever motion is detected and seems to come out of the trees as if by magic. The first song I heard was the theme song from the church movie "Mountain of the Lord", which I have often told my children is the only true movie in the world. I felt that the Lord was telling me "yes my son, I have arranged for you to attend the mission you were meant to fill." That has been a great blessing for me, as I have put all doubts and fears behind me and just enjoyed the work.
We were lucky to arrive in the summer (August 3rd) so it was easy to get involved quickly and begin giving tours. That was a blessing. By the end of August, I was able to help put up Christmas lights. I was assigned to work on the visitors' center and president's home as well as the church and a few other places. I was in heaven as I do truly love Christmas lights. I learned a great deal from the other missionaries who had been through at least one Christmas lighting season. It is a major task to decorate so many trees and the FM missionaries do such a great job. When it was completed, I was disappointed to be through, but could understand why the others were elated to have it behind them. It was fun to witness a large crowd gather for the lighting ceremony the day after Thanksgiving and to enjoy the lights each night that we work at the site.
I was invited to work on a new video for virtual tours from the site which we hope to begin giving January 2, 2023. This was a totally new thing for me to learn and comprehend. I have never done editing or even serious picture taking. When I turned in my first draft, President Ewer stated it was a good start and told me 3 things I could improve. I was not sure what to think. I improved the film with new pictures which I found on the Web and changes to presentation modes as he suggested. I must admit, in my work days, the comment "this is a good start" usually meant it was woefully inadequate so that did not give me much confidence. I know President Ewer is a kind soul, and would not using a stinging rebuke common to the engineering workforce, but knowing how inadequately I was prepared for editing work, it was not easy to know how to make improvements. Luckily the day came when I could turn in my changes and I have been able put the project (which at times dominating my thoughts and prayers) behind me and move on to my next interest.
With the number of people attending the site dropping with the end of summer and then leaf season (when we saw the most people) and lights completed, I began focusing on the history of the site. My interest including physical items on the site and understanding some "facts" which were known to be questionable. I hope to document different rock walls that provide information on the original farm dimensions, but perhaps more important exactly where the Old Sharon Road ran through the Solomon Mack farm as well as the current church property based on rock walls. The north portion of the area is much better documented than the south portion and the map in the visitors center shows the road on the East side of the brook, while the stone walls stay on the West side and after later investigation, it appears that the church believes this is correct although they have not documented the rock walls in this area in the site report. I have ordered a compass and range finder and want to document the rock walls in this area. I realize none of this will change a testimony, but I love learning and correcting things that I have been saying that are not correct. I find the Spirit can only testify if we are telling a true story and not just an inspiring story. I have had to make several corrections in my stories that I give in the site tours and hope to be able continue to learn and grow for the entire two year mission.
I truly love this mission. I love the lights, the video, understanding the history of the area as well as the physical characteristics of the site, but most important to me, are the people who come into the site. I love bearing testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and retelling his history to people so that can have the Spirit testify to them that Joseph truly was and is the prophet of God who was chosen to re-introduce Christ in the last dispensation of time.
Elder Daniel M. Hegsted
Woodstock has Wassail Weekend this weekend and so we went there in the morning arriving about 10 am. The town was already becoming crowded as people came in for the festivities including a parade at 2 pm. We have not spent time in Woodstock and walked several of the streets going into the library, the general store and a craft market. The library was amazing for such a small town one almost felt like he was in a library of congress (much smaller). General stores in Vermont can also be amazing in the breath of items them carry and the craft bazaar was equally amazing. We had parked at the High School outside of town and could get right on the bus when we arrived. When we got back about 11:30, the line for the bus was long and people ended up waiting for several busses to be able to board. It appears that Woodstock has many Christmas lights, so we will go back over (perhaps tomorrow night) and just drive through town.
We then did more hiking on the site. We hiked Matriarch Hill and followed the stone wall. It is fairly long and marks our Western boarder. The boundary jogs around after a bit, but we followed it through. We had been told by two people of an ancient chamber located in this area. Tonight a person tied it to a long stone wall that he followed when he was 8 (nearly 30 years ago). We had this in mind when we were hiking, but he said to also look for etchings in the stone. This is intriguing. We also went below, but toward Camp Joseph. We had little time, but found another stone wall that I need to investigate. I think this one should be on the maps I have been reading, but I need to verity. Too much fun.
While below we also found more "ice blossoms" that are ice crystals growing out of the very wet soil. We had found these before, but today there were so many everywhere we walked. You could hear them crunching under the leaves of one trail we were following. I know you are surprised that I would take pictures to share with you. When we asked Bob (FM manager) about them, he seemed surprised that we were amazed to see them. He has never lived in a desert. Just think how neat the Book of Mormon would have been if it were done with a blog and we had pictures!
I guess I should just be happy that I have the opportunity to put pictures with my journal so I can save it for posterity.
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