Week 49 - Hegsted's Mission

  25-June-2023-Sunday

Once again I am grateful for the Rutland Branch and their kindness to Dede and me.  While playing the organ, I hit my #3 preset and pushed on the keys and got no sound.  I should have checked as I have been having issues with the organ.  This time the memory had been moved and so who knows who set #3 preset.  Glad I know how to set the organ, so I was not up there in dreaded silence.  It does keep one humble!  I thought I did well playing besides that issue.

Dede led primary music again and I was able to play for her.  How wonderful is that.  We had the first half hour and I left primary after playing Gethsemane and I will Walk With Jesus and a few fun songs.  I then went in to teach the Elders.  May I say there was a different spirit in both.  (Although both are good.). But oh how grateful I was to take the spirit from primary into my teaching opportunity with the Elders.  They were fortunate that I had the spirit rather than just listening to me drone on in an uninspired manner.  I think I did okay.  Still thought primary was the better gig.

We got home and I ate quickly and then ran over to the Sharon Historic Society's museum which was open today.  I enjoyed the museum.  It was mostly pictures and such.  I tried to ask the lady there questions, but unfortunately although she is a life long resident of Sharon, she does not know much about Sharon History.  She loves Sharon, but I do not believe she has had many opportunities to learn history.  I was not surprised when she told me that she did not own a computer.  If one wants history at his fingertips, a computer and the WEB provide so much information.  Unfortunately the Historic Society was founded in 1990 and they do not have very much content and what content they have (there are books etc.) has probably not been explored.  She said there were only a few people still involved in the Society and the founder is over 90 and beginning to forget all she knew.  She also mentioned that the church next to their building only has 15 members left.  They are hoping to turn it into a community center.  In her view, Sharon has changed.  It is now a bedroom community for Hanover and Lebanon.  Plus, the Sharon Academy attracts people who live here while their children attend school and then move away.  In the past, the students from the Academy would come to the historic society, but with no ties to the Sharon, the interest by students and teachers in Sharon History has waned.  She also mentioned that of the 1500+ people in Sharon Township, about 100 come out to meetings etc.  It just seems that the old ways are dying out.  It is very sad for me to hear.  I asked about the mill on Faye Brook and she had no information.  She did remember the rail depot across the river and was aware that there were mills across the river as well as behind the church.  

We had the afternoon shift and were again blessed with a great number of people.  My favorite group included the daughter of Ann and Truman Madsen.  Truman was the mission president to the New England Mission 60 years ago and so as an 8 year old she remembered coming to the site and having her father testify to her of Joseph Smith.  Both Dede and I have been so blessed by her father's writings on Joseph Smith and we display his book in the visitor's center.  What a blessing to hear her testimony.  We had other wonderful families with whom we shared our testimonies and listened to them bear testimony.  We had families from Tennessee, Utah, Texas and Utah and Utah.  Such fun.  Sometimes I worry that I will need to spend two years in purgatory since I had two wonderful years on this mission and to balance everything out, it would only be fair to send me to purgatory.  Glad we do not believe in purgatory.  

26-June-2023-Monday

A long but full day.  Started with our devotional this morning.  Dede and I were to lead the first training about asking effective questions.  I probably took our discussion in an odd direction, but as I was praying this morning, this is what the spirit directed me to do.  Thus we spent some time discussing the questions we should be asking ourselves before, during and after a tour.  As well as questions we could ask guests after we are finished.  I liked it, but who knows how it went for everyone else.  We then had the FM missionaries join and had a second short devotional and decided to celebrate the 4th of July on Monday the 3rd as the FM missionaries are off that day and it is the Buswell's PDAY.

We came home and then drove up Clifford Road.  I wanted to understand how the young man who got lost hiking Patriarch Hill got on this road .  We could not go up to the top of the road as it is posted private property, but near enough to know where he could have come across.  I think I also found a road that would take me down to the snow machine trail.  Note, this is also posted.  Good fun.  I came home and using Google Maps, plotted all these on a Map.

We went in an hour early as the Buswells have family and they came in at 1 pm and we wanted  the Buswells to feel they could focus on family.  We had rain on and off, but still had a number of visitors.  We rushed out a family of four so they could see the 1830 BoM before it closed.  The Spirit with them was so strong, so I felt bad about rushing them, but good about their excitement to hold an 1830 BoM.  Our last guests a father and two sons came in a 5:30 and we did not leave until nearly 7 pm.  He is Navy and moving from R.I. to SLC, UT.  His wife and daughters flew to UT and family, while he and the two boys are taking 30 days to drive across the country.  No set schedule and they are 3 days in.  Good for them, Hope they get so close one to another.  We have not yet gotten the promised rain for today, so I hope it rains tonight.  It is supposed to rain through Thursday.  We will go to the Temple Wednesday as it is supposed to be rainy and hopefully have a dry day to make a sight-seeing trip.  Not that going to the temple is not a good trip.

27-June-2023-Tuesday

President Ewer reminded us this morning that today was the anniversary day for the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.  A rather sobering way to start the day.  As we were driving up Dairy Hill Road to the site, there were two vans in front of us and Dede said, "they are coming to the site."  And we were blessed to open the site to two families who had been doing all the church history sites with our site as the last.  There were 18 of them all together and oh what a delight they were.  We had one nonmember lady who also came in during their visit, so I took her through separately and quicker than the family.  The family was so great in the restoration room.  We shared and shared and they shared and shared.  We then asked if they wanted to go below.  Part went below and some stayed up to prepare lunch which they ate in the parking lot.  When we went to the monument it was raining, but stopped after about 1 minute which was great for pictures.  I went after the cart, when the lead father yelled wait and gather around.  His daughter had just received her call and so she stood at the monument in front of the two families and read her call to all of us.  She will serve in the New Mexico mission Spanish speaking.  What a joy.  We had 2 members and 1 more no-nmember come in, so we had a glorious morning.  Pictures of this family and the sister reading her letter.

We left the site and drove directly to New Haven, VT to visit a shop where the lady creates the wooden quilt barn designs that are so prevalent in Chelsea.  Sister Buswell had told Dede about the shop and Dede called to be sure she would be there this afternoon.  It took 1.5 hours to get there and probably the same to decide on the quilt blocks Dede wanted.  (There were too many options.). She got one for inside the house and another for outside.  I think they are gorgeous.  On the way home we stopped at Hubbardton Battle Field, where the only revolutionary war battle was fought in the state of Vermont.  The site opens Wednesday-Sunday and closes by 5 pm so even were it not Tuesday, it would have been closed.  However I was able to look at the area and then read about it, and I do not think it would be a great advantage to return.

On the way back we stopped at the Bird's-eye dinner in Castleton.  The diner is a classic in VT and the food was not bad.  I have a few pictures of the diner and will post pictures of Dede's barn quilt block.

The first will go inside our home, while the second which is larger 2x2 ft will go outside.  I think they are very pretty.

28-June-2023-Wednesday-PDAY

We have traveled far and wide the last two days.  It was 1.5 hours yesterday to purchase the barn quilt blocks and then the same back.  Today we did Boston at 2.5 hours each way.  We enjoyed an endowment session and our favorite sealer was back for our sealing session.  We had a room full of people, so we never got to our names, but we did get to participate in other sealings.  This sealer is so fast, but after doing probably 150 sealing to children, we still had a stack of couples to do.  Good thing we come every other week and that we did not feel any pressure about our names and can let them wait.

Packed a lunch and went to Lexington.  The revolutionary war started at the greens in Lexington, where the local militia marched out on the common (about 70) as the British Regulars were marching to Concord.  We had the best tour guide and his version of history was great.  He claims he was able to see records not normally seen to work on his character and so his history was fun.  He also played the fife.  Several interesting tidbits not heard by me before.  He claims the Lexington folks were retreating from the Commons and the British shot them in the backs.  Films show them standing strong.  He also claimed the officers were furious the British fired.  He did not claim they fired on the Lexington folks first, but that the first shots were at escaping citizen spies, but in the confusion the British Officer fired a pistol and then they lost control.  Regardless, 8 of Lexington's militia lost their lives and 10 were wounded.  In telling about the battle at the North Bridge, he said it was the officer from Acton who led the advance on the British.  This man had trained his group well (1/3 were veterans from the French and Indian wars.). When they approached the bridge, they marched in double file.  The British fired first and shot the two leaders, but his group was well trained to shoot in pairs and then pull off to the side to allow the next two to shoot.  Then they went to the back of the line to load.  In this way they approached the British lined 8 across the bridge and when the first four lines fired, they stood to reload and blocked their comrades and so they were mowed down and then began to retreat as this group had handmade bayonets they used to charge the British.  This started the retreat where 200+ British soldiers were killed.  Most of the killing took place on the Battle Road not in Concord as local troops poured into the area.  The Concord unit would not march in first even though everyone thought their town was being burned.  Did I mention our guide is from Acton?  Anyway he did a great job and we learned a great deal.  We then drove quickly to the visitors center on the Battle Road, which has always been closed when we have visited and watched their movie and presentation, which is well done and does not given anyone one group  credit for much of the happenings.  It was a great day but I am so glad to be home and go to bed.

29-June-2023-Thursday

After two days of driving, I slept in until 8 am and it felt good, although I am exhausted now.  I dressed and went to visit with the Sharon Town Clerk.  She has only been here for 2.5 years and did not know much history, but she was able to supply me with a copy of Solomon Mack's Deed from 1804.  That was fun.  I also asked if they had tax lists or the grand list from 1804 to 1811.  The grand list would tell us what buildings and what animals were owned by the Macks and the Smiths.  Unfortunately, the first records in the Town Office are from 1826, long after the Macks and Smiths left.  She told me that I needed to talk to Gaylen Mudgett, the town lister (we would say accessor) and he walked in as we spoke.

He was a fount of information as the town clerk and the woman at the museum had promised.  He knew there had been a road through the church site.  He said, that it would have come out at the top of Town Farm Road.  That made me feel good because when I followed out the road and kept with the rock walls, that is where it took me.  I can use that as a source.  We then talked about the road/snow mobile road at the edge of the current property and he showed me how this would come out at the top of White Brook Road.  Interestingly enough there are three existing roads that come close to the church property while there are two roads shown on maps that have been thrown up by the Town.  

He explained further that the Old Sharon Road could have been a town road that was "thrown up."  This means it was abandoned by the town, explaining that in 1805 there were nearly 1500 residents in Sharon, but that it dropped to less than 600 and the town could not afford its road system and chose to eliminate roads that were not used.  He thought this was a mistake, knowing that Sharon once again has 1500 residents, but I do not see how they could have afforded the roads during the slow period.  When a road is thrown up, if it is totally on one person property then he can destroy any evidence of the road.  I.e. if it were in the middle of a field he could remove the rocks and plow the ground.  However, by law, one was not supposed to create a land locked piece of ground.  This is however what happened to the the parcel of the ground given to the church in the last 10 years.  Everyone "knew" the road had been there, but there was no longer evidence either by inspection or in the records.  I have a feeling this happened fairly often before the state Supreme Court ruled it against the law.

He was aware of the hunting lodge on the road and assured me the hunters had friends who provided access.  He was also aware of the home on the road on the church property.  I need to go back and ask details about this house to put in my review.  

He told me things about Sharon as well.  The waterfall on Faye Brook caused by a mill pond dam was a grist mill and probably the washing machine mill.  There was also a bobbin mill on Faye Brook.  The Creamery was located opposite the town across the green metal bridge.  It washed out with the bridge and was never replaced.  There were also saw mills on the White River below the bridge which washed out.  Further to the south, was the Depot (on Station Master Road) and at the point of the depot the town road ends and it becomes private property, a beautiful property according to the Lister.

Why is Sharon Village located where it is today?  It was midway between Hartford and Royalton.  It was the confluence of three larger streams into the White River and thus the home of mills.  Later it had a depot, even if it was not convenient to the village.  It was one of the few flat points in the entire town, which is about 6x6 miles.  His grandfather owned one of the larger flat pieces of ground opposite the Village, which is now a commercial area containing some businesses and a solar farm.  In its time it sported 4 corn silos and a large storage barn for hay.  There was a daily milk run, where milk was taken by rail to Boston making stops along the rail line in all the small towns to pick up their milk cars which were then returned to be refilled.  Thus the creamery was a co-op.  Today, Sharon Town is a bedroom community to Lebanon and Hanover.  Good access with the interstate exit and a mere 20-30 minutes to the "city."

Gaylen had so much knowledge.  I fear when he dies, it will all go with him.  I wish I had the time to record him talking about Sharon so that I could write it up and present it to the historical society.  They have so little and there is no one in the society who could do it.  The lady I met in the museum does not have a computer, so she could probably not type.  As she told me, there is just no one left who wants to help out the historical society in Sharon.

The site was slow today.  We had a great family of 5.  Three from New Hampshire with two Utah nephews who had come out to experience the East.  We had great fun with them.  The NH daughter will go out to the Y this fall.  Right at the end of the day we had a single gentleman come in.  He was not able to focus.  He acted almost drunk, but I smelt no alcohol.  He would listen for a minute and then wander off with a different train of thought.  Not sure we helped him although we visited with him until 6:30.

We got home and made cookies for the young men in the Rutland Branch who are at Young Men's camp at Camp Joseph.  President Shelton is there with the 5 young men.  He is such a great leader.  We love the branch.  I am so grateful for Dede.  When she suggested we do something good, I was not on board.  I knew she was right, but I was not thrilled to make cookies.  When I grow up, I want to be like Dede, always willing to serve others instead of like me, looking to avoid service.

30-June-2023-Friday

First shift, was very slow, but we knew we had a bus at 12:30 so we were patient.  The bus came in at 11:30 and other  people showed up beyond the tour.  Fun, fun fun!  The bus had 54 young people and that was enjoyable.  Since the bus tour was early, they had plenty of time and took the group below to enjoy discussions there.

Dede had a couple from Montana.  Turns out, he is LeRoy Miller's nephew. He loves LeRoy and Edy and told us about the Lord telling him that Book of Mormon was true and he needed to serve a mission.  LeRoy and Edy helped fund his mission along with his Uncle Pete and his grandparents who were not yet members.  What a cool story.  The world in the church is soooo small.  God bless all of them.

I finally got my ironing done.  I did not have a short-sleeved shirt left and it hit 80 degrees today.  First day without rain in a while.  I am starting to get good at ironing, but I am sure my mom is in heaven rolling her eyes as she was, if I remember correctly a perfectionist in ironing.  (Dede pointed out that I am rather good at ironing in lines when I iron, so I will need lessons.).  I am a typical "guy" when it comes to ironing.  I also hung Dede's two wood quilt blocks on the wall of the apartment.  They will look better where they are planned to go at home, but I like them.  Tonight we have invited the Knutesons over for dinner.  Dede is so good at inviting people.  I am so lazy in this area.  With Dede it is so easy to understand why the old Catholic Church believed in indulgences and blessing from the saints who lived anciently.  Dede does so much good, it would be easy to believe that I could ride on her coat tails into heaven despite my faults.  I am thankful for the atonement of Christ and its power to exalt, but she is a great backup plan.

Last night, Dede called me out to watch fireflies.  Did not see them last year, but I have always been fascinated by fireflies and it was fun to watch them with her.

1-July-2023-Saturday

It is rather difficult to believe that it is July.  Half of 2023 is already behind us.  We left on our mission the 25th of July, so it seems crazy to be writing that month already.  Oh well.

We stayed home today.  I wanted to work on my review, but started using the map programs the Sharon town Lister showed me.  It took a long time to master them, but I think it will be so helpful for what I want to do with my review.  At least I hope so.  Using this map, if I touch on a point, I know the GPS coordinates.   I cannot see things like rock walls or the Mack foundations or even the roads below the site, but Dede and I took a moment and got GPS coordinates after our shift.  I think this will allow me to mark some of these locations and thus show where the Old Sharon Road ran, where we can still find rock walls, where trails lead etc.  Trying to create maps has gotten me very little in return, so I am hopeful.

When we got to the site we had three groups of people, with 12 people total.  Rather diverse groups, but lots of fun.  We spent 90 minutes teaching people before the last couple left.  We then had a little down time before finishing up the day with a family of 5 from Nevada.  The three children had been here last year with a tour group.  As we were finishing up, the young man said, wow I learned so much more this time.  Sometimes the tours are so rushed that we do not have enough time to teach all that we want to teach.  It is nice to be relaxed and be able to answer questions and involve people.  Still I feel bad it was so slow.  Perhaps it also helped that he was with his parents instead of his friends.

After our shift, we drove to Quechee and had a maple creamy. We tell people they need to get one in Vermont and it finally got to me.  We also had great French fries, before coming home to eat left-over roast beef and gravy.  After all that, 24 hours of fasting should be a breeze.  Well maybe if I also fast with a purpose.