Week 31 Hegsted's Mission

 19-February-2023-Sunday

Another great day in the Rutland Branch.  I did mediocre on the organ, but better than last week.  I need to take time and practice once in a while.  Would need to borrow the keys to the church and figure that out, but I can tell I am getting worse.  Playing for an hour every week in the temple was marvelous for my retention of playing (muscle) memory.  With that said, I thought Sunday school was the best yet.  The youth had been to the temple and we talked about that for a while and they really got involved in the discussion.  Then when we switched over to the scriptures I kept all them all with me for about 30 minutes before some drifted off the last 10 minutes.  An improvement!

Today was our day off and the weather was nice so we did tour #2 from the book of Vermont Bridges.  We saw 13 covered bridges today.  We were in the Western portion of Vermont from about the center of the state and moving up towards the North.  This area is different than the eastern portion of the state.  There are large lakes here that were carved out during the ice ages from glaciers.  These lakes are very wide and deep.  The valleys likewise are very wide here.  Apparently they must have been good for farming as there are so many acres of farm land sometimes stretching multiple miles.  Where we live there might be a large farm, but then there is a mountain (up or down) which is not farmed and you do not get the feel of openness that I feel in the western part of Vermont.  Also I would guess the soil conditions are better.  There are not as many areas of non cultivation, which usually result from too many rocks that make the land unusable.  The number of corn fields vs meadow hay seems to be the key to knowing how fertile the ground is.

We had seen a few of the bridges before, but I want to show pictures of a couple of my favorite new bridges  The first set of photos is the second train bridge remaining in VT (2nd we visited).  Again the tracks are removed.  This section of track ran for less than 13 miles connecting the Rutland Railroad to cities northward.  It sits over a pond and one can almost feel the shaking of the ground of when the old trains passed over.  It was built in the 1890's and uses iron rods to stabilize it.

This next bridge was the best example of work by Nicolas Powers who built many wooden covered bridges in VT.  This was done later in his career and now stands as a National monument to his work and that of other bridge builders.  I love the use of wooden pegs instead of nails.  (Note the pegs are 12-18 inches long.  Some of these bridges would be washed out by storms, found down stream and hauled back and put back into place.  That must have been a struggle.  Probably done in the winter to take advantage of slick ice and snow.

The following bridge is no longer used for traffic, but has been repurposed by the Vermont Flannel company as a summer display case for their company.  At least this gives a reason to keep it from decaying.

This small bridge has the distinction of being higher over the water than any other VT covered bridge. 

What an enjoyable day.  We are so blessed to serve in such a wonderful place and to have the means to tour the State of Vermont.  This winter being so mild allows us much more freedom.  The roads were muddy today.  Yes VT has miles and miles of dirt roads, but passable today and so we were able to enjoy a wonderful day together.

20-February-2023-Monday

Note much to report this day.  We had our Monday meeting and President and Sister Ewer shared things that that were taught while in SLC for training.  It appears they were very busy in SLC with 19 different medical appointments.  They reported on Elder McKay's opening and closing talks.  He is the 70 over Church History and thus over the sites and reports to Elders Anderson and Gong of the Twelve.  President Ewer  was called by an Apostle, but reports directly to the Director of Historical Sites on a day to day basis.  Seems weird in a way to have a Ecclesiastical Leader report to a salaried employee of a administration but that is how it is set up and it appears to work well.  I have always thought of a Line of Authority going through people called to a Lay position and not through people who receive a review to determine their salary.  So I have learned a great deal on my mission.  Elder McKay's remarks were very good.  I asked President Ewer if there was more emphasis on the talking about the Savior for historical sites.  He thought for a minute and said yes, you are correct.  This should not be surprising when one thinks about the emphasis the prophet is putting upon testifying of Christ and the changes in the temple to make it easier to see Christ in the presentations.  It was very edifying to hear the testimonies born and feel of the Spirit that was there.  I think the Ewer's felt uplifted and refreshed and eager to share with us all.

We did not have visitors.  The weather in New England is very mild.  It was in the mid-40's today.  But we depend on travelers from the West and I am guessing they are not moving out much as of yet.

This picture should have been posted yesterday.  I had stated earlier that I had not seen trees with buckets hanging on them to collect sap, but yesterday we saw a number of trees in one location with them.  Some larger trees had 2 buckets.  Without snow, they were able to hang the buckets very close to the ground which probably makes them easier to dump.

As it is a holiday today, we had delightful Video visits with Anna before work and then Jon, Shirlee and Kal called us while at the site to visit with us.  Kal loves the phone and was so happy and energetic.  It was so fun to hear from all of them.

21-February-2023-Tuesday

What a delightful day.  When we arrived we had two people at the site.  Turns out the man, a member, had come up to Hanover NH to teach at his friend's dance studio.  Knowing he was a member, she told him about the Joseph Smith Birthplace.  Both were such delightful people.  Easy to make friends with them.  They could stay only a short time, but we felt like we had made good friends in a few minutes.  He was sure his parents back in Utah would be jealous about the pictures he sent home.

After our shift, we left for Manchester to meet our friend Lyle Clark whom we know from when he lived up the street from us in Pocatello.  This was when we lived on Lancaster.  We shopped first and then had an evening to visit and catch up 30+ years of what we had missed in each others lives.  God brought us together and I am so grateful that he did.  What a great man and he is so happy now.  What a tender mercy God gave us today.

22-Feb-2023-Wednesday

We had a marvelous time at the temple.  We did a sealing session at 9 am and then an endowment session at 10:00.  Our sealer was so careful with the names and looked at each name to see if he could glean anything about the person. He said each word slowly and carefully.  Very different from our usual sealer, but again not better just different.  It did give me plenty of time to contemplate the wonderful blessing pronounced upon our heads in the sealing.

A worker told us they were building a new steeple for the temple in the church parking lot.  It was actually in the temple parking lot in the rear so we went and found it.  It appears to be identical to the current steeple.  Not sure what the issue is.  However they have been working on a sub roof of the temple for several years and now they have moved on to this.  I will provide you a picture of the current steeple and the one they are building in the parking lot. 

  

We ate dinner at the Market Row in the Colonial Inn in Concord MA.  These are big rooms on the main floor that they turned into a number of small restaurants although technically they are all one restaurant.  Still it is a very old building and the food was pretty good and reasonably priced and service was good.   Since we were in Concord eating we went to the visitors' center and met the nicest woman who gave us ideas to do around Concord which for a small city has an amazing amount of history.

The first stop was the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.  This place is huge with 43,000 known internments.  And no, it is not the Sleepy Hollow with the headless horseman, sorry to disappoint.  We saw only a small portion of the cemetery.  It went for over a mile.  And standing on its hill I could see three other cemeteries.  People have been dying in these areas for a very long time.  In Europe where this has been going on even longer, they usually have deadlines of how long you can remain buried before your are dug up and cremated.  The first grave (2nd photo below) is from Daniel French, a native of Concord and best known for creating the statue of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in DC.

Next significant stop was on authors' ridge.  Below you can see the headstones of Henry Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa Allcot and Ralph Waldo Emerson.  These four are all buried in their family plots in Concord.  Each played a significant role in the development of American writing and also depicting the revolutionary war.  It is amazing that all this talent was born in such a small town.  Notice the pencils and pens at the graves as new authors come and place a pen or pencil when they are first published.  These are removed periodically and given to schools.  Don't you wish you had listened in literature class a little more to remember who wrote what?  Little Women?  Scarlet Letter?  Self Reliance?  Civil Disobedience? Walden?   We will go to Walden Pond on our next visit about 3 miles out of Concord.

At the Wright Tavern right off Main Street, the first Provincial Congress met including John Hancock and others.  The remainder of the people met at the church next door.  This is not the original church as the original burned down and was replaced.  However the Wright Tavern building is still there.

We wanted to beat the storms and it was windy cold so we took off and were home by 6:30.  We are hoping for 10+ inch of snow tonight and tomorrow.  But we have been disappointed before this year, so I will not keep my hopes up too high.

23-February-2023-Thursday

Got out of bed early to shovel snow.  We would get about 11 inches before noon.  If I do not get up, then Elder Berger clears the snow himself which is just wrong.  We shoveled around both cars and in front of our doors and cleared the cars.  He took off for the site, and I waited a bit before heading to the post office to post our taxes.  Just as I got in my car, the plow came to do our parking lot.  This is to be expected, so I try not to clear too much and to get my car out of the way so he can plow well.  Meanwhile Dede went into White River Jct to get her hair cut.  I am so glad I knew she went.  Since I knew I could tell it was cut and that it looked nice.  However had I not known, I would never have noticed.  Shame on me!

At the site, we started off by walking.  With this much snow we did not expect to get anyone today.  So after walking I began raking the roof.  If you rake the snow off the bottom part of the roof (the overhang where there is no heat from the building) then the rest of the snow tends to slide off.  Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 32F but that is at about 3 am after which it will decline until morning  when it will drop to  3F.   It will be interesting to see if anything actually slides off, or if it just freezes solid with those temperatures.  We will have several cold days and then it will break freezing, but not break 40F again until a week from Saturday.  During that time we are supposed to get about 20 inches of snow.  With it being that cold, it will be easy to shovel.

While raking the roof, we were very surprised to have a car drive up.  A marvelous couple from Texas came into the site.  She has a brother from Pocatello, one Lynn Jensen, whom we know very well as members of our stake and friends for many years.  What a small beautiful world the gospel makes.  And how tender are the mercies of a God who helps us make these connections.  She wanted to come to Vermont and so that was her Christmas present.  We were their first stop and so we gave them ideas of what they might want to see.  Most importantly, we had a spiritually good time with them.  Note they were planning on a mission, but they recently made him the Bishop.  Good for him.  What a wonderful blessing.

Dede is currently making Spring Rolls.  The Buswells and Wilcox's are coming over to try them and we will take some to the Ewers and Bergers who are not feeling well.  We had a great time eating and visiting.  Food and conversation is always the best combination.

24-February-2023-Friday

With our 11-13 inches of snow on the ground, the weather decided to get cold so it appears it will be around for a time.  We had the morning shift, so we left early and drove over to Judy's home and shoveled her ramp and out to the plowed yard before going into the site.  We did not see her, but 9:30 is early for her and a cold morning, so not greatly surprised.  I do hope all is well.

There was new snow from the night pervious to be shoveled, so we did that for the first bit before walking.  I was a little surprised that in the cold and wind we made it for 30 minutes, but we did.  We came in and talked to the missionaries who were studying in the restoration room and making phone contacts when to our great surprise a van came in and out popped a mom with 5 little children the oldest was 10 and the youngest about 1 year.  They had come from Albany NY and were tired of the car.  Unfortunately for them we could not just let them go outside and run around and roll down the hills and release their energy because of the cold and snow.  I was impressed with the 10 year old who stayed focused the entire time and the next two in age would come in and out of paying attention.  The Mom did a great job just staying sane especially knowing she had a 3 hour drive back to Albany.  As always, Dede was superb as she talked to the children.  I thought I did better than normal, but by the time they left, I felt entirely drained of energy.  Dede is so good at putting on a show and I am much less capable.  This week Danielle and Eric are in Hawaii.  We had hoped that Dede could go tend the kids and I could stay and take care of our shifts.  This did not work out as hoped, and I think God was letting me know that it was a tender mercy for me, if not for Dede who would have loved being with the grandkids.  I am sure that I would not have survived the visit of 5 little ones, without Dede during that visit.  God is kind to me.

In the evening we had our monthly inspirational meeting where we discuss one chapter from "Know Brother Joseph."  Obviously Dede had to be sure all were well fed.  She did sweet and sour meatballs, a chocolate dip for which she brought fruit.  Others brought good food also and we had a pleasant time.  We felt bad that one couple could not come due to a prolonged sore throat.  We hope she recovers quickly.  Sickness is so real with 10 older people.  I also realized how important these gatherings are for some of the missionaries.  I am happy with Dede and she provides all the company I desire.  But for others there is an isolation feeling and so it is good for us to get together once in a while.  God knows what we need and He takes care of us.

25-February-2023-Saturday

What a wonderful, if not cold day.  Dede cut my hair and then I  ironed my shirts while she cleaned the rest of the house.  She is amazing.  When I finished, she suggested we run into Lebanon to pick up some groceries and eat at a diner.  We picked a little diner called Shyrle, which looked like a dive, but was full of people and had good food.  It is small and we had a 20 minute wait and the food was a little slow getting out with the place so full, but all-in-all a good experience was had.  The waitress only charged us for one meal and was very surprised when Dede called her back to tell her of the mistake.  We did our shopping and then zoomed back to the site.

It had warmed up from -5F to 13F, and without much wind was rather pleasant and it even snowed on us.  We walked and then I shoved and raked snow from the roofs where it could fall on people before we had 3 sister missionaries come in.  It was one's first day in the field, while another was less than 2 weeks from heading home. Fun to see the reaction of both as well as the companion stuck in the middle.  They are not supposed to get an official tour (although that is not our rule) so we usually just try to tell them a few spiritual thoughts and let them ask questions.

At 4:30 we had 3 people come in, the 2 parents were from Hawaii and the third a daughter who lives in Boston and the parents had come to visit and so came our way.  They were delightful and we had a great time not only telling them about the site, but encouraging them to become missionaries.  They have been thinking about it for years and have not pulled the trigger to go.  I assured them if they actually started the process, the spirit would help them get excited.  We will never know, but I hope they make it.  I also hope they make it to Boston safely with the snow we were having.

We have been so blessed with the kind people we are meeting.  Who could ask for a better situation than to have kind people visit with you from all over the world.   We are on a streak of having people come in, hopefully it continues tomorrow as we begin our new week.