Week 39 - Hegsted Mission

 16-April-2023-Sunday

Beginning of a new week.  We had a great day in Rutland.  I played the organ.  This should soon end as the older gentleman who has played in the past,  according to his daughter has begun walking again and will return to play soon.  I think he did little during the winter so she is so glad he has a purpose and is moving again.  I will miss playing, but I would much rather have a nonmember come and play than do it myself.  Dede led primary music.  Right before starting, the pianist told her she was leaving on vacation right after Sacrament Meeting so would not be there.  I was teaching Sunday School so was of no help.  Interesting.  The branch was so noisy as I was playing prelude, the President stood and asked people to quiet down.  I think only about half heard him as the noise level changed only slightly.  This carried over into Sunday School.  With Spring break coming up for the Branch and the sunny weather, I think people were just excited.  

On the way home we drove out of our way to go to Texas Falls.  There was a lot of water running so it was a fun stop.  Obviously you get pictures.  

17-April-2023-Monday

After several unseasonable warm days, today was cooler and we have had about 1/3 inch of rain.  Started the day with our devotional, which Dede led.  The FM missionaries have some of their leaders coming next week.  Sounds like it will be drop in and out as there has been a change in roles and responsibilities and so new people are being introduced.

We drove over the hill through Pomfret to Woodstock.  The Vermont Flannel store finally got their order of flannel squares and Dede wanted to pick up more squares to have enough for the quilt(s) she plans to make.  Not sure how many quilts she might end up with, but I am sure they will be warm.  Since I remembered to take her to Vermont Flannel, I was rewarded with the opportunity to find a place to eat in the area.  We went back to 4-Aces, a local diner.  They gave us way too much to eat.

With the rain, we were set for a slow day and so it seemed it would be.  Spent the first 30 minutes talking to Bob.  We were just ready to go out walking when it started to rain.  When it finally began to let up we had 3 people show up.  All non-members, two male and one female.  Not sure about the relationships between them.  The talkative male had questions and wanted a fairly short tour.  The woman asked many questions, and the third male just held back and listened.  When all was said and done, we gave both males Books of Mormon, the woman saying she would share with one of them.  These visits are always so interesting.  We waited for the rain to stop again and had just started out to walk, when another group of three came in.  This time a couple with their son.  They were also not members, but had friends in SLC.  Not sure they thought anyone would be at the site or not.  Regardless, they said they had 15 minutes so we encouraged them to ask questions and I think they stayed for 45 minutes.  They actually went to walk around the monument and then came back in.  The son requested a BoM.  That was fun for Dede as I had left them to start a tour with a couple who were members and wanted to just talk.  They came in about 4:50 and we visited until well after 6:00.  They were such fun people and easy to like.  She had grandparents in Bancroft and Soda Springs so she knew Pocatello.  She had had milk shakes in the general store in Bancroft and so it was fun to have something in common.  

Never did get my steps in, but oh what a great day.  Makes one want to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   

18-April-2023-Tuesday

For our third week in a row, we worked all day Tuesday to cover for the Buswell's PDAY.  Such a small thing to allow the Ewers to be in Utah with family during their time of need.  When I got up, Dede mentioned that President Shelton had sent an email asking us to speak in church Sunday.  I have no issue about talking, but his subject is being "meek and lowly" giving me talks with that title from Elders Soares and Bender.  I almost fell over laughing.  If I were to think of someone not meek and lowly, it would be myself.  Obviously God inspired President Shelton and God wants me to learn something.  I must admit, sometimes I wonder if God sits in yonder heavens and laughs at situations like these. 

 The day was cloudy and thus dark and never got above 47 degrees.  We really wondered if we would see anyone.We had not been there long when a single young man walked in.  He was wearing a sweatshirt that said Wicked Good, so I asked about it and found out he worked for an ice sculpture company last winter,  He was not a member, but showed great interest in the information about Joseph Smith.  I asked if wanted a Book of Mormon and he declined.  It was so interesting, because right before I asked him if he wanted the BoM, the thought came in my mind "you think you are giving away BoM's, but you are wrong, I am preparing people to take them, and your pride just lost you the privilege of giving out a BoM."  Thus I stood chastened, but hope that the lack of a BoM does not slow down his progression in receiving the gospel.  We learned a great deal about ice sculpting so we can go see it next winter, so that was a highlight.

We then had a man and son come around.  They went directly to the monument and when I approached them he did not want any help.  He seemed to have some knowledge to share with his son, so I hoped he got what he needed.  We ate lunch before a single man from Cody Wyoming came in.  He had time, but was not giving clues about his interest.  However after another group came in, Dede realized he was interested and slowed down and gave him more.

Meanwhile, I met with two couples.  They were from Albany NY and Utah.  They were tied together as there was a brother and sister between the couples.  They were absolutely delightful.  I think they came at 3:30 and left at 5:00 getting the full tour with the golf cart ride down below.  They took many pictures and were just fun to talk to.  They told me that their temple is the Hartford Temple and when I told them Dede and I plan to go there tomorrow they informed me they would be working their shift that night.  That was a fun surprise.

While I took these people through Dede finished up with the man from Cody and then we took through a couple going to the Vermont Law School.  Dede was able to give him a BoM.  Again very respectful and eager to learn.  She mentioned to Dede that it seemed like a peaceful place to come and study.  Many feel the peace of the place.  

We learned that the Ewer's grandson passed away on Saturday.  Now they will prepare for the memorial  meeting planned for next Tuesday.  I cannot comprehend what they are going through.  

A few springtime pictures.

19-April-2023-Wednesday

Normally this would be PDAY, but Buswells had friends come into the area so they asked us to take PDAY on Thursday which we were glad to do.  We opened the site at 10 am and thought we would probably go all day without a visitor.  However we ate lunch and we received a nice couple to whom we provided a tour.  It is always such a blessing to have people come in.  I must admit, that when they came in, I was thinking about walking and getting steps.  It is amazing how one can get his priorities mixed up even if just for a moment.

We left at 1:30 headed home to pick up a few things and then headed for Hartford Conn to attend the temple.  Hartford temple is closed Tuesday and Thursday but we could schedule a 6:30 endowment and 8:30 sealing session Wednesday night, which we did.  Since we had PDAY on Thursday, we then spent the night in a hotel near the temple so we could explore the next day.  A few pictures of the temple.  Connecticut is ahead of Sharon VT as far as weather is concerned and thus the trees have full leaves and the tulips were fully out.  I was surprised at how many workers they had at the temple.  Probably not fair to compare to Boston as we were there at night and not during the day.  Hartford is a small single story temple, but it is larger than Montreal.

20-April-2023-Thursday-PDAY

Our first destination was to find the monument placed by the church to Wilford Woodruff near the place of this birth.  In the area they have named a bridge in his honor.  The area of the monument is a park, which was donated to the Town and has fields as well as hiking trails and a lake where they practice with long rowing boats.  We walked around the pond after viewing the monument.  (Think of something like a headstone.)  Pictures below.  Monument and long boats.  There was a fun looking well house as well as grape vines that were twisted in a manner I had not seen so you get these as well.

Our next stop was the Mark Twain home.  This is marked as one of the top rated things to do in Hartford and they do a great job of making Mark Twain come to life, both in their visitors' center as well as on the tour of the house which they give.  Twain (pen name) grew up poor in Missouri.  He had many adventures before marrying way above himself to an educated and wealthy woman.  Between her wealth and his books they lived in a 25 room mansion.  He then managed to lose his money in business ventures.  He agreed to an around the world speaking tour which allowed him to pay off his debt, but he lost a daughter during this time.  He would go on to lose another daughter and his wife.  I did not know this part of his story.  I knew he was beloved as America's author and that he used the language of the day to represent America.  His book "HuckleBerry Finn" was his most famous and was written as a response to the way he saw slaves treated before and after the Civil War.  Today it is often pulled from libraries because it uses the "N" word which is no longer acceptable.  I find this intriguing when one realizes his motive in writing the book.  I do not understand why we do not want to use such books to help us recognize issues we have had and to see the progress we have made as well as the progress still needed.  But we would rather hide history so we do not face it.  

They had great one liners from Twain all over the visitors' center.  He was really a wit and I will give a few:

"Always do right, this will gratify some people and amaze the rest."

"When in doubt, tell the truth."

"Be good, and you will be lonesome."

"Honor is a harder master than the law."

"Do your duty today, and repent tomorrow."

There were many others, but this is what I took pictures of.

Pictures from the experience, which I loved.  

We stopped in briefly at the Harriet Beecher Stowe museum which is right next door, but did not stay for a tour.  She wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin."  According to a sign in the center, she met Abraham Lincoln who said "so your are the woman who wrote the book that started this war."

Our next stop was the Connecticut State Capital.  This building is huge and very decorative inside.  It was fun to just walk around.  We missed the last tour, se just wondered around on our own.  Took lots of pictures, but will share these three.  With such a long history, they have so many statues of famous men and women on display.

Our next and last stop before eating dinner and heading home was the Elizabeth Rose Garden Park.  We were too early for the roses although we walked through the rose gardens where they are just starting to leaf out.  They have built trellises and use climbing roses for the trellises.  We enjoyed the many tulips which were in full bloom for us.  We hope to return here to see this in different seasons.  It was such a great day.  To see the works of man who takes the talents and gifts from God is always a treat.  God is so kind to remind us what He has made available for mankind to organize.  What a tender mercy to see woking with God's gifts to bring more beauty to the earth.

22-April-2023-Friday

I awoke this morning, to the realization that I was running out of ironed shirts.  Sometimes, one needs to quit doing fun things and remember the mundane, so I started the morning out with ironing practice and by wearing a short sleeve shirt to save my long sleeve shirts since we are in for colder days.  

We had the early shift and had 20 people today.  When we arrived a car had just pulled up with a family of 8 from Utah.  They said they had a full day planned, but then stayed around until nearly 1:30.  They were however delightful as Dede gave them a full tour and later I took them down to the foundations to finish the tour.  Before we started on the tour with the 8, I had four more come in and I took them on a separate tour.  Probably good as only one was a member and so we covered different items.  Interestingly enough, one was a convert of 2.5 years and had brought his brother before.  Still they wanted a tour which I gladly gave them and his brother left with a BoM.  I hope he actually breaks it out and reads it.   We also had a family of 5 from Logan.  They had a young daughter who had focus issues, but they were delightful and the daughter loved the golf cart ride down to the foundations.  Finally Dede had a family of 3 from Idaho Falls.  The daughter was a returned missionary who had served at a historical site and they were also delightful and we took them down to the foundations as well.

With all this and because people were not in a hurry, we did not even have time to eat until we got home.  Oh, how hard life can be?????  What missionary ever complains about too many people to teach????  Another tender mercy.

After a quick bite we decided to drive up and hike Old City Falls.  It is a beautiful set of 3 falls which drops 45 feet total.  To see the upper falls requires a climb up a very steep bank.  I managed to get good pictures of that falls.  In the first picture one sees all three falls.  The middle picture is the close up of the upper falls made after my climb.  (For some reason Dede left me to climb alone.  She is so wise!). The last picture shows the more easily seen bottom falls.

We rushed home and made sloppy joes (okay, I just cooked and chunked the meat) and took them over to Buswells and then went with them to show them the mills at East Bethel.  I only took one picture.  These are foundations for one of the mills along the river.  There was a nice dam built here and 5 different mills were in place running off this power source, the last still operating until 1980.  The mills are long gone as well as the money that was made here.  The town is dying and many buildings which were once prime homes of rich mill owners are falling into disrepair.  These almost ghost towns of the east haunt me as I think of the many people who lived, worked, loved, played and died here and are now forgotten.  I thank God for the restoration that teaches us that they can all be redeemed from the dead and for the work for the dead.  I am still driven to see what I can do for the 90 odd people who helped Junius Wells build the monument to get their temple work done.  We then drove to several places with the Buswells.  What a wonderful night we had.  What wonderful people.  They, like us, love to travel and see the sites around.  They never tire of going down the next road and he has such a great memory for things that he is so fun to take somewhere.

My wife wanted to be sure to explain again that we do missionary work on our mission as well as have way too much fun.  We are lucky to have time off to explore and live in a place we want to explore.  But just as important, we are willing to do this after work (and thus miss ironing).  It takes planning not to just sit home.  Buswells were an inspiration to us, to not only serve the Lord, but to enrich our lives in the spare time provided to us.  I see that I have explained another tender mercy, I must acknowledge God's hand in my life.

22-April-2023-Saturday

Awoke this morning to work on my talk for Sunday.  Who would believe that I was asked to talk about being meek and lowly.  I could give better advice on being contentious, hard to understand etc.  But this is the talk I have been asked to give.  If I lack meekness, at least I am developing humility as I ask for much needed help to prepare this talk.  Perhaps I will be providing the branch with a funny talk as they consider my topic.

We worked the afternoon shift and were delighted to have abut 15 people come in.  We had both members and nonmembers.  I am still so amazed at people who just see the sign and are curious so they come in.  We had a member couple who are doing a cross country tour of the USA.  We found out they know the Johnsons (Lund and Karen), in fact their son is married to Ruth (was Johnson).  It is such a small world.  The last family I took care of were from California (parents) and Mass. (children and grandchild.). The granddaughter was so cute and wanted to poise for cameras.  All were kind.  We did not get out until rather late, but wow did we have a great time being with people and feeling of their spirit.  Sometimes I just think that God has given us the best mission in the church.  I know others may think the same and that is fine, but for Dede and I this is the best mission.  What do you know, another tender mercy.

We are still trying to absorb the fire at Highland High School.  Dede and I both went there as did our four children.  To think that a fire could start and destroy so much so quickly is just hard to believe.  Sad the instruments and music that were destroyed.  I had not thought about the many youth who depend upon the school lunch and breakfast programs which will not be available.  I was so heartened to see the community reaching out.  Prom held tonight at the Pond student union building, was a quick and wonderful decision.  Dede showed me a note that enough stringed instruments have been rounded up and a room to practice so the orchestra can still participate in festival for next week.  I forget how wonderful it is to live in a community like Pocatello.  I hope we become closer than ever.  I hope this tragedy turns into a tender mercy.