Week 30 - Hegsted's Mission

  12-February-2023-Sunday

An absolutely stunning day with sunshine and highs in the low 40's,  Looking at the weather forecast, it appears winter which struggled to put in an appearance will leave us early.  The 10 day forecast predicts 8 days with highs in the 40's (41-49) and one day at 39F and the other at 28F.  It will freeze every night and I think this is supposed to be ideal sugaring time.  Freezing nights with highs in the 40's.  Perhaps the Vermonters will get a record crop of maple sap this year.  FYI.  It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.  Vermont produces more maple syrup than any other state and has 6.65 million trees tapped.  I think this works out to 10 trees for every person in Vermont.  The largest single producer has 460 thousand trees tapped, while our member friends the Goodriches will tap 190 thousand this year.  He called this his hobby, but I think it is a large hobby.  There are literally thousands of small sugar houses around that burn wood to evaporate the sugar.  The larger farms use reverse osmosis to remove 90% of the water before boiling the rest down using gas-fired heating.  In this way they can convert everything they bring in daily into syrup the following day.  I have not yet seen any trees with buckets hanging on them, but many trees with tubing so that the farmers do not need to haul in the sap. I would guess some small farms do it with buckets still as well as a few farms who keep some for demonstration purposes.  [A few years ago when we were near Kirkland Ohio, there were many trees with sugar buckets hanging from them.]. I know this is a sweet subject, but I will close with one more thought.  I was raised on artificial maple syrup and am still trying to decide whether or not I prefer the real thing.  Obviously this defect in my upbringing should not be discussed with Vermonters who would surely be insulted by this stupid Idahoan and accuse him of blasphemy.

The drive to Rutland was great.  The opening hymn was 226 "Have I Done Any Good".  I was amazed when I arrived this morning and practiced the hymn.  I do not think I have played it on the organ.  I did not recognize the foot pedal progressions.  I could play it without foot pedals and in practice pulled it off with pedals, but I was so surprised as I am familiar with the hymn.  The closing hymn was Dede's all time favorite "Love at Home" which historically was played so slowly that one could fall asleep while playing the half notes "Love at Home".  I played it faster so Dede would not have a nervous breakdown, but threatened to play those wonderful half notes very slowly.  However, I like to eat and did not want to confuse the chorister, so I chose not to do this for Dede.  We had a young man speak.  As a youth speaker I think they expected him to talk for 5 minutes.  He spoke for about 25 and took the High Councilor's time.  I was impressed for the first 20 minutes.  The last 5 minutes it was obvious he did not know how to close out his talk.  Regardless, what a great talk and it provided me with many ideas of what we will discuss in Sunday School next week.  He was willing to tell people what he knows and what he does not yet know.

We had 5 visitors at the site.  A family came in with an uncle who had never been to the site.  They are from Indonesia and he struggled with English, but Dede did such a great job.  At the same time a young man came in and I gave him an abbreviated tour as he was not a member and wanted just an overview.  We had feared that with Super Bowl Sunday we would not see anyone (even if the game starts 90 minutes after we closed shop.). We were so blessed again today.

It is hard to pick one tender mercy today.  I felt the Lord so close to me during prayers this morning.  We had visitors at the site.  We heard very wise counsel about the Come Follow Me lesson for next week.  It was the Sabbath and the Lord made it truly a delight for Dede and I.  And now Dede is preparing schnitzel with sliced oven baked potatoes.  The last almost constitutes a tender mercy, but definitely a wonderful kindness on her behalf.

13-February-2023-Monday

I must think, that everyone is 1) recovering from the Super Bowl (I did look up the results to see it was a good game) or 2) preparing for Valentine's Day.  Neither the Buswell's nor we had visitors at the site.  We were able to get in our steps through walking and enjoy the brilliant sunshine.  On the way home we were looking for evidence of sugaring (first step collecting sap and second boiling).  There are a number of sugar shacks on Dairy Hill road, but none were smoking.  However we did witness a man tapping an immense old tree with a number of taps with plastic lines running down to liter plastic bottles.  Thus I must assume he expects the sap to run tomorrow.  This must be a very small operation.  When we were up in the North East Kingdom area last week, we saw so many sugar lines and shacks.  On the other hand, we drove lots of back roads, so that is not totally surprising.  

During the morning Dede made soup for the Ewer's who are supposed to return from SLC tomorrow night.  I worked on the video and practiced a couple of times and walked for 40 minutes.  The roads are clear enough that I felt safe walking again.  Cannot imagine this is what they want to relieve their draught.  However on the other hand, there are few reservoirs, so they probably mostly want rain throughout the spring, summer and fall.  We will see.

14-February-2023-Tuesday

Happy Valentines Day to all.  In India it is also national hug a cow day.  Such wonderful things to talk about today.  We popped some popcorn and have been practicing using chop sticks.  We are terrible, but I could see some small improvement in my coordination, but my hand gets tired quickly and I tend to not close the sticks together.  But who knows, I might get it down with practice.

We started the day having breakfast at the Tunbridge General Store with the 8 missionaries and Bob.  We figured it would be hard to get a dinner appointment on Valentines day.

Today was our last full shift day until someone else needs to be gone.  The Ewers were supposed to be on the plane and should be here tonight.  We did not have any visitors today.  We did get a false alarm right at closing when a car pulled up, but the person came to walk the site.  Sigh!

Dede is making egg rolls tonight, so that will be a treat and we go to the temple tomorrow, another treat.  We were blessed today with sunshine and were able to walk in the sunshine.  That should help with my vitamin D deficiency.  The snow is melting quickly with very little cold in the forecast, but one possible snow storm in the next 10 days.  They plowed out the road down to the foundations, so I will probably go back down there soon to explore.  I just got off the phone with Jon who is shoveling a foot of snow at my house.  He will use the blower for the rest and then take it to his home.  Glad someone is getting winter.  

15-February-2023-Wednesday-PDAY

Today was a day of tender mercies so lets start there.  We had a wonderful drive to the temple with clear skies and medium traffic.  Most important we were kept safe in the Boston traffic.  The traffic around Boston is often heavy, but may I say I would rather drive there than a certain large city south of Pocatello. I think the drivers are much more polite in Boston.  Two tender mercies so far.  The temple was wonderful.  With the changes to the endowment, the temple was fuller then we have ever seen it.  The changes are so wonderful.  They spend more time explaining things, right up front in the presentation.  I kept thinking, yes I know that now, but what if I had received that information 44 years ago and was building upon that foundation instead of what they gave us up to now?  What more could I understand?  But then really, I now have that further enlightenment and will be able to learn so much more with each visit.  A tender mercy.  We also did an initiatory session and were rewarded with changes there also.

The poor staff at the Boston Temple was overwhelmed.  The timing is changed and with the few number of male officiators they were struggling to have enough people to man all the stations in the temple.   I could not help wonder how it is going in Pocatello with sessions starting every 30 minutes.   

Last week I mentioned that I had almost set up appointments at the temple for last Wednesday, when I thought, "oh I should do something fun with Dede."  We had such a great day, but when I learned about the changes at the temple, I wondered about my decision although it felt so good that day.  Perhaps today I have an answer.  We went through the endowment session and I was delayed getting into initiatory because they could not find three male ordnance workers.  Thus I walked out about 20 minutes later than planned.  No big deal on the timing, just stating a fact.  As we were driving out we saw two Elders with two older gentlemen.  The Elders were pointing at our Idaho plates so we stopped and rolled down the window to speak to them.  The Elders were both from Idaho and then one of the older gentlemen said, yes I am from Soda Springs.  Dede was just getting ready to ask if he knew Lyle Clark from Soda when she stopped mid-sentence and asked "are you Lyle?"  What a tender mercy.  By coming to the temple today instead of last week and by being delayed, we got to see Lyle Clark.  The temple is outside of his mission and he can only come if a member wants to go.  They had a new member doing baptisms.  Can I say major tender mercy???  I hope we can get together with them before they are finished with their mission.  We called and will visit him next Tuesday.  I told him my story and he said, from his side, they had planned to go two other days but it fell through and so he was there to meet us.  I think it is providence.  

We walked along the battle road near Concord and Lexington, which is very near the temple.  It is hard for me to comprehend that in this small area, a war that would change the world began and the bravery of the people to take on the greatest military in the world.  Surely God's hand was involved in the results.  I have a few pictures today from our walk.  Here the British Soldiers marched to Concord to confiscate weapons and were attacked by the colonists who eventually outnumbered them badly, but were not organized well enough to do too much damage as they hid behind rock wall and fired and ran.  Just too far away to hit anything with accuracy and too slow in reloading to get off more than one or two shots.

The Battle Road trail along which we hiked as well as Captain Smith's house which is right along the road.  He left the home to form up his militia and fight that day.

She (his wife) witnessed the soldiers as they marched past her home in the morning and retreated in the evening.  It is amazing that the British did not begin burning homes in revenge for the attacks on them.

Paul Revere was caught and held by the British.  They confiscated his horse.  This is interesting because he borrowed the horse to make the famous ride.  The other two riders were able to escape.  There was no comment about getting the horse back.

16-February-2023-Thursday

Definitely an interesting day.  When we awoke it was about 40F outside.  I awoke and worked on taxes.  Always something interesting when it comes to tax time and I have bugged poor Jake to death about my tax questions.  Glad he is patient.  I then drove to White River Junction to get the car serviced.  I knew I had at had 90 minutes so I walked into town. There is an Amtrak station and people were waiting for the 11:30 train to Boston, but I loved the old steam engine, coal car, and caboose they had renovated near the station.  I know I get carried away with pictures, but I like old trains.

Inside the Locomotive and then looking back at the empty coal car.  The locomotive served as a passenger liner on the Boston to Maine Road and was upgrade before being restored to its original glory.

Was a wonderful site.  As I was walking back, I loved this sign on the side of the hotel.  You could walk out of the old terminal and rent a room with a bath.  There was nothing podunky about Vermont.

The car took a long time to be serviced, but I got back with 15 minutes to eat before we left for the site.  All kinds of fun things happening at the site.  It was so warm and sunny, that it was the day to be outside.  

First we got to watch three arborists as they were trimming the trees around the site.  They would climb the tree, tie themselves in with climbing ropes and then saw off limbs with their saws or pruning hooks.  I loved watching this rather large man climb out on the smallest of branches.  He would stand on two branches and then lean on the rope to help with the weight.  The other two were skinny guys, but did not get any higher than this man, who I suspect was the boss.  (His trees looked the best when he finished.)  It was fun to watch them do their work and it will definitely make it easier to put up and take down Christmas lights this winter in these trees.

Previously we had a new storm window placed in the window of the VC looking out at the monument.  There was a small issue.  The inside had streaks which we could not get at to clean and there was way too much moisture trapped inside.  They came and took down the window and cleaned it while our group cleaned our own glass.  Thus three men looking like they are cleaning one pane of glass.  It looks so much better.  It was an interesting day with so much happening and it was fun to view it all as we walked.

Near the end of the day, the Ewer's came over to say hello just as the most delightful couple from Maine showed up.  We gave them a full tour and we're rewarded spiritually for the effort.  What a wonderful spirit they had.  His sister was the Stake Relief Society President in Pocatello in the Central Stake and served at the same time Dede was our Stake Relief Society President.  The world in the church is just so small.  The number of tender mercies experienced today was too great.  Having the couple come in.  Visiting with the Ewer's.  Visiting with the Buswell's.  Being with my wife.  What more could one ask for?  

17-February-2023-Friday

We woke up to 45F weather, however by tonight it was 18F with a windchill of 4F.  Quite a swing.  We enjoyed the warm weather and walked during our shift as well as read scriptures.  We had not official visitors although Bob Arnold and Elder Wilcox stopped by to talk to us.  Those two had dropped a large dead pine tree that needed to go down so it might not fall across the road.  They notched it and then dropped with with wedges after cutting into the opposite side dropping it right where they wanted it to fall.  It made a tremendous crash as it hit and jarred loose a branch that hit Elder Wilcox in the face.  He has a great new scar.  However, the Lord extended a tender mercy to him and he was not seriously hurt.  I think God tries to protect His missionaries and today we saw evidence of that.  Thus my tender mercy of the day was seen and not experienced.

After shift we went back to W. Lebanon to buy Asian stuff and some American food before driving to Woodstock where Dede bought remnants at the Vermont Flannel Store from which she will piece a flannel quilt.  We then came back to eat dinner with all the missionaries since the Ewer's are home.  

When we arrived this morning we were in the clouds of fog, so I took a few pictures.

18-February-2023-Saturday

It was cold this morning when we woke up but clear and bright.  I worked on taxes while Dede worked around the apartment.  The house is ready for Sabbath and my taxes are ready to go with a special form requesting a waiver for a missed withdrawal.  Hope that goes well.

The morning was shot, but the afternoon was fun. We had 8 visitors during our shift.  Well, four during our shift and 4 after our shift, but who is counting?  Three different groups.  The first group a couple from Sugar City, Idaho were just delightful.  They have come to NH for a baby birth and decided to visit the site.  We had a great visit and it was fun to listen to him bear testimony of the church.  We sent them off looking for covered bridges.  There are 9 close by that one can see in about 60 minutes from the site and we showed these on the map.

The next couple from the City (NYC) were very interesting.  He is a member and his girlfriend was not.  He declared himself totally inactive.  However he was the most knowledgable and attentive inactive person I have ever met and she was wonderfully kind and open to learning.  Before they left a family of four came in from New Jersey.  They were on vacation as a result of the three day holiday and wanted to give their children a chance to see the site.  They left some kids in the car while they the baby slept and they toured.  They were also delightful.  The world is filled with delightful people and we get to meet so many of them.  We are truly blessed and I will call that our tender mercy for the day, to be blessed by the kindness people in the world both in the church and outside.  It just does not matter.  That God reveals kind people all around me is my tender mercy of the day.