Week 56. Hegsted's Mission

 20-August-2023. Sunday

On the way to church Dede received a text from Sister Moser asking if her daughter, who is visiting, could play the organ today.  I got to sit with my wife and sing the hymns.  I forget how much fun it is to sing by her and bounce my voice off her voice.  The Arbons who are the Camp Joseph hosts this year had been invited to speak in Sacrament Meeting.  They did great. She was nervous, but so well prepared.  He spoke like a General Authority.  Very poised.  As they were sitting on the stand, they watched a couple walk in.  Turns out he was Brother Arbon's counselor in the Bishopric in Mass over 20 years ago.  What a fun thing for them. 

We took a longer way home and witnessed more flooding results.  In Sharon Town, the last storm did not do much damage especially compared to Irene 10+ years ago.  However in other parts of the state, roads were washed away.  So many roads are built along streams and rivers that storms can play havoc.  But also, with all the mountains, the mud and tree slides did damage.  Not to mention the bridges where trees and branches piled up during the flooding.  This is all visible from the roads and one does not see all the impact on the low-lying homes that were flooded.  Just my opinion, but I think we have a climate issue.  I do not think my opinion would be well accepted by politicians, but I think historically we have seen major issues with Mother Nature stepping outside of her (its?) normal bounds in direct relationship with wickedness which abounds so much today.  Think Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah and other times in the scriptures when drought and floods plagued the earth.  Oh well, I do not think I would get far with this type of political campaign slogan.  Even most of the churches today would say I am crazy, and they are probably correct, but there does seem to be a connection in the scriptures with righteousness and how the world/weather reacts to the people of the earth.

We had a busier time at the site than during the previous weekdays.  We had a number of people stop in for short visits.  We had a group of 8 members who wanted pictures and then wanted out.  Several nonmembers.  My favorite couple were part of the 251 club and are trying to visit something interesting in each of the 251 Towns of Vermont.  Good for them.  They stayed and visited for quite some time but did not want to discuss the church.

Dede had a father and daughter who were really fun for her.  I had others so she got to do a full tour with them.  They had intended to have a short tour, but warmed up to Dede and had a full tour.  We ended the day with a couple and their granddaughter.  They were delightful and we spent nearly 2 hours with them before they left at 7 pm.

We came straight home and grabbed the cake Dede made between church and work and delivered pieces to all the missionaries.  I was hangry and sad for my empty tummy, but Dede is so kind to share with everyone.  She really gets the "love thing."  I get the natural man thing better than she does.  We ended the day eating yummy left-overs and cake.  What could be better????? 

21-August-2023-Monday

In our planning meeting this morning, we found out we will have a tour bus at the site on Sunday.  The only reason we know is the Royalton Ward asked the Bussell's what time they, the bus people, wanted their sandwiches.  This touring company is notorious for not contacting the site.  Hopefully Buswell's can find out more information so we will know whether or not we need to tell the Rutland Branch we cannot attend in order to help with the bus, especially if they plan to arrive prior to 1 pm.  This Sunday we would need to leave by 11:45 to make it to the site by 1 pm, so if it is earlier, we will probably just attend at the S. Royalton Ward.

I worked on the document this morning.  It seemed frustrating today.  Not sure why, I think I should know that this type of work requires a great deal of editing, but that does not mean I like it or appreciate when I realize total sections need a. total rework.  What is worse, after more study and research, some of my initial thoughts are just wrong and need to be rewritten.

When we arrived at the site, the Buswell's had had only one group of 3 nonmembers who wanted to look but not talk.  We then had two groups of 3 nonmembers with basically the same attitude.  We were able to weed and deadhead for an hour which is good.  We then had a family of three come in.  They are converts of 11 years and have been touring the outer portion of the USA since May of last year pulling a trailer.  They will go home for the winter, but plan to go again as soon as possible.  I did not ask about school or jobs.  They seemed to be super happy with their life style and glad to be together as a family.  So good for them, even it if would scare me to death not to have a plan.  After they left at 4:30 we assumed it was over for the night, so at 5:15 I went down to make measurements at the Daniel Mack foundations.  They are much more complex than the Solomon Mack foundations and will be much more fun to describe and define.  When I got back at 5:45, Dede was taking through a young lady who had been baptized in April in Washington DC.  She is here for a week setting up classes at the Vermont Law School and will teach remotely.  She also works for a non-profit environmental group which must have ties to the law school, especially the environmental side of the school.  She had no clue Joseph Smith was born near here.  We gave her a thorough tour, spending a great deal of time at the restoration board.  It is all so new to her and she has so much to learn.  God gave us a great blessing to be able to spend time with her tonight.  She came in at 5:30 and we left shortly before 7:30 and could not be happier.  I will take good guests regardless of the time of day.  Dede was so good with this young lady whose parents objected to her becoming a member and leaving behind their Methodist faith.  I am sure, they were concerned about a beautiful young black lady joining that "Mormon anti-black church".  At the end she told Dede.  Thank you so much, I had received bad news earlier today and this was just the answer I have come to expect God to give me for being a member and to make it through hard times.  Her conversion story was amazing.  She knows how to follow the spirit.  She expects the miracles that President Nelson has told us to expect.  When we took her down to the foundations, a doe and her two fawns were standing next to the road.  How fun to see them.  How peaceful and representative of the peace felt all over the site.

I am so impressed with Dede.  She is so quick to love the people who come into the site.  She connects so quickly.  I fear I might have missed knowing the needs of this young woman and thus have hurried her out the door.  But not Dede, she is sensitive to people's needs.  I think this is referred to loving your neighbor somewhere in scripture.  Just a guess.  

22-August-2023-Tuesday

I am either getting better at ironing, or my performance level is dropping.  I could ask Dede, but I am not sure I want to know.  Regardless, she was kind enough to have my shirts out of the dryer so I could iron this morning and put that behind me.

We reached the site with rather low expectations.  Yesterday was slow and with school back in session, we have probably seen the last of the big week days.  Thus we weeded for the first 30 minutes until I started to feel sweaty.  At that moment a car pulled up and I was able to quit.  We had a busy morning.  There was a fun couple and they were joined by 5 wonderful woman.  The women were two sisters, a mother and daughter and a friend.  But they were all obviously good friends and brought in such a great spirit. They received the full tour including a trip down to the foundations.  All were so attentive.  I visited with the couple for a time afterwards.  Meanwhile Dede had a number of people come in and was giving, by request, short tours to them.  Funny how that works.  I was glad to have an opportunity to give a full tour and feel like I was enjoying it.  Sometimes it is easy to become rote in the presentation and lose the good feeling that I felt today.  We shared a couple that were just fun.  At the end we discussed with them, being a senior missionary couple.  I hope everyone knows I recommend it fully.  I probably have the best mission in the world, but I am sure there are other senior missions that are very close to as wonderful as ours.  In other words, retire as quickly as you can a serve a mission!

We had a most interesting couple.  They make their living doing Social Media.  Have a radio program and probably a Podcast.  They are always looking for material so they stopped into the birthplace of the founder of a famous religion.  They had interesting questions and comments.  They took lots of pictures.  I hope they did not record us.  We asked them not to.  I would hate to find out we were on a Podcast somewhere.  They could be very positive in their thoughts about the Church.  They may not believe in God, but they believe in higher powers and that power (perhaps people) can progress.  We ended the day with a couple from Stratford (neighboring township) who have lived there 30 years but never visited.  They wanted only a brief tour, but were so fun to talk to.

Home to yummy left-overs with a peach for dessert.  Second peach this season and both have been so good.  Dede mowed my hair so I look presentable.  As usual, she also trimmed my eyebrows.  I do not particularly recommend that treatment.  Dede thinks my eyebrows look like an evil Russian Scientist.  Since I cannot see them I do not much care.  However since I depend upon Dede to dress me, cut my hair and pick out my glasses, I think it good to let her have her way once every 6 weeks when she cuts my hair.  She is the greatest, despite the fact she has a whiney husband.  

23-August-2023-Wedensday.  PDAY

It is Thursday morning and I will attempt to write about a very full and very insightful day that we had yesterday.  We decided to visit the Northern Kingdom of Vermont.  This is the northern (sometimes confined to the northeast section of Vermont.). Thus we were very near the Canadian border.  We had one reservation at the Haskell Library and Opera House, which I will cover later, as we made a number of stops.  

Our first stop was at the "Museum of Everyday Things" outside of Glover.  This was an interesting place.  There is no one there, rather it is an open barn with a suggested donation of $10 per person and a sign to turn on and off the lights as you come and go.  The owners have collected everyday objects and displays them in an old barn.  I will show a few pictures, but I must admit, I thought the upper portion of the museum was like a hoarder who had put up explanations of what he kept.  In the basement, was a second museum, which was laid out like a museum and focused on wheels as transportation, mechanical advantage and entertainment.  I walked away thinking $10 was too much.  However, I did not regret spending the time.  We were there about 30 minutes and felt like we had seen what we needed to see.  I would not put this on a recommendation list of someone with less than a year to spend in Vermont.  (I have two years so I do not feel bad).  

On our way to the next museum, which is the Bread and Puppet Museum and Show House, we passed beautiful fields of sunflowers.  They were mostly facing away from us when we took the picture, but you get the idea.  It reminded me of a story told that one could follow the sunflowers from Nauvoo to Salt Lake that the saints had left behind on the trail.  Surely not this dense, but still a joyous thought among such trials.

We did not  see a puppet show or have a guide at this museum.  This is probably unfortunate as my imagination was left to run wild with very little data.  I will show a few pictures.  Like the other museum we were left unattended and told to turn on the lights and then turn them off when we left and shut the door behind us.  They do puppet shows on the weekends.  The puppets were often life size, although there were a few smaller marionettes and stick puppets thrown in.  The themes of the major scenes and the explanations provided were dark, as in mood.  They seemed to pick themes of horror and tyranny.  I know these themes can help change the world, but as a missionary I was hoping to be uplifted and edified.  I must admit I left thinking of Fausnacht, which is similar to Mardi Gra but held in Switzerland.  They also use puppets like the ones in this museum.  The puppets are grotesque in their exaggeration to show pain or joy.  As a missionary in Switzerland, I remember going out one night during Fasnacht and feeling like I was totally surrounded by devils and demons.  There was a beat of music that made no sense, but never changed.  The people believing that if they wore a mask and then gave up something for the 40 days of lent which followed that they could sin at will and all would be forgiven.  This museum was not portraying fausnacht, but the puppets used between the two seemed so similar to me and so it sucked me down that dark hole.  Not all the puppets were dark.  I threw in a nice one at the end to prove that.  (Note, however the story behind the puppets was of trial and pain.).  However, I walked away remembering the darkness.

Exhausted from two museums, we made our way to the Buswell recommended  Busy Bee Diner.  What a delightful, small place.  There were tables outside, but inside just 5 stools at the bar and two tables for two people.  We took the last two seats at the bar (other three occupied by mens in their late 70's or early 80's) as the open table had silverware in the midst of being cleaned on it.  We had ordered when another older gentlemen came in and looked at us like "you are sitting in my pew at the church, how dare you?").  We moved over to the table which the waitress quickly cleared for us.  I am guessing these gentlemen come in very regularly.  Regardless, what a delightful place run by a mother and daughter.  The mother's cooking space was so cramped, yet clean and efficient and the food was great,

After a good meal  and taking a moment to leave them a 5-star rating on google maps, we headed to Willoughby falls, about 15 minutes away.  What a wonderful site.  I love waterfalls and we were having one of the few sunny days of the summer.  According to signs, they have planted steelhead in a large nearby lake (70% of which is in Canada) (technically in the rivers running to the lake) and the steelhead now run up 5 different rivers including the one we were visiting and must jump these falls.  The steelhead were brought from the Pacific Northwest in the early 1900's.  Interesting, they are excited about western steelhead.  In the west, they imported Eastern Brook trout and are now trying to eliminate them as an invasive species.  

I know you are getting worried about the Haskell Opera House and Library and we are driving there as quickly as we can.  This is located in Derby Line, a town literally on the Canadian border.  In fact, the library and opera house were built on the border so they would be in both countries, by Mrs. Haskell.  In the early 1900's. She wanted to bless the lives of the people who lived on both sides of the border and who were all good friends and all worked together as a community.  (They still share a fire department and sewer system.) At that time what is Derby Line had all of the commerce in the area, but all felt like neighbors,  Despite Covid and 9/11 the borders have remained open although sometimes with restrictions.  I am glad we came here.  My vision of the border has changed so much from just imagining our southern border based on news reports to experiencing the Northern border.  With the border going through the middle of town, and with fences and gates now in place one sees how a border can divide friends, neighbors and families.  I was reminded of being in Israel and seeing the walls between the Israelies and the Palestinians.  Glad there was not barb wire or people with machine guns.  Still the impact is there.  Yes people were passing back and forth across the border, but not like in the past.

Onward and upward.  Derby Line is a small town, but the library and opera house were opulent despite the size of the town thanks to Mrs Haskell.  Inside both they have drawn a line marking the border so one knows where one stands as far as countries are concerned.  The entrances are both on the USA side, but Canadians can freely come to both entrances if they stay on the sidewalk.  US citizens on the other hand cannot walk around the building on the Canadian side; they must cross the border at an approved station before walking around the back of the building and return through an approved border.  Our tour guide, a young French Canadian was marvelous.  She was brimming with hope that all barriers of language and nationality would someday disappear.  She provided a marvelous tour.  After the tour, we inquired for Elder Buswell about a barbershop in the town, long closed, where the waiting room chairs were in the USA and the barber chair in Canada.  She did not know where it was located nor did the US custom official (for 15 years) I approached who was in a car at the border.  We looked around and made an assumption as few buildings exist that are on the border.  I would highly recommend stopping at this library and opera house (and take the tour, signup is on line) and spending a few minutes in Derby Line. The outside of the Haskell building shown in the first two pictures.  In the second photo's foreground one can see the border marked with flower pots and a monument and see how the line passes through the building.  In the fourth photo see the line on the floor dividing the two countries.   In the 6th picture I am standing in front of the border line blocking the street into Canada and which is next to the Haskel building.  The final two pictures are inside the opera house which seats 400.

On the way out we passed by Lake Memphremagog, where the steelhead grow up before returning to the rivers and a wonderful Catholic church There are many more Catholics as one goes north.  We also revisited Big Falls, which we had visited last February.  Sorry the pictures are reversed.

The Arbons has invited us to eat foil dinners with blueberry pie and we arrived a Camp Joseph at 5:55 to make our 6 pm appointment which was so delightful.  These are people with tremendous testimonies of the gosepl of Jesus Christ.  What a blessing it is to know them.  Camp Joseph is part of the JSB properties and shares the same peaceful feeling.  They lived in New England for years and have such a strong feeling for this camp which they visited for years.  I fear, the stakes in New England no longer support the camp, as once was the case, and this is very hard on the Arbon's, bless their souls.  

24-August-2023-Thursday

Not every day is filled with pictures, but that does not mean it is not a great day.  Having the afternoon shift and having a missionary gathering in the evening, Dede took off for Lebanon to shop, specifically needing Rice Krispies for her dessert tonight.  I stayed home and it took over an hour to write the blog and place the pictures.  It would help if we had faster Internet as I have proven by writing at the site, but we do not have that.  (This is truly a first world sacrifice.)   I then worked on my document.  

The site was slow, but interesting.  The mission has received two new computers from the church and so I went to help Elder Buswell set one up.  I must admit, I am surprised that the church does not have an installation script to accomplish what they want to do with so many remote sites.  Regardless we got one computer set up.  Sister Buswell uses the second and so I want her to switch to the new PC and make sure she has everything she has on the old PC before switching it over also. As with all things, it took longer than was hoped.  It also did not help that the internet was spotty at the site yesterday.  Dede was not able to use Apple TV in the theater to show slides on the building of the monument.  Hope that gets fixed.  We also worked on matching Elder Buswell's PC to the brand new big screen TV, so we could show Elder Gong's presentation to the Historic Department given in May.  It would be so much easier if it were a Mac instead of a PC, but it worked.

I had three visitors.  The first a Jewish woman,  was delightful.  She has a boyfriend who is a member and came to get pictures.  She spent 20 minutes learning about Joseph Smith and the monument.  Then she declared herself overloaded with information, which is probably fair.  When one gives a short tour, without stories, it is filled with facts.  At 5:30 two Spanish speaking gentlemen came in.  One said, I am here to sleep and I was confused.  Finally I realized they were heading to Camp Joseph.  I gave them a short tour and then had them follow me in my car to Camp Joseph as I would never have been able to communicate the directions.  Poor Sister Arbon at Camp Joseph had them dumped on her lap.  She had space for them, but they had no blankets or sleeping bags and one had not eaten.  The ward did not claim them saying they were friends of someone who could not come, so it might be an interesting weekend for the Arbon's.  Rather courageous of the two men, who also did not seem to know one another.  I must add however, the they had a wonderful spirit about them and the one took many pictures.  

Dede had a wonderful opportunity while I was playing IT tech.  A man, a new convert since April, came into the site and wanted to know everything.  He was previously a Pastor in the Episcopal Church and then left the ministry to do a tech startup, hiring up to 10 people before not receiving a second round of expected funding.  This turned him back to God and he read or reread the BoM and told God, if I am supposed to join this church, send me the missionaries.  He had not seen missionaries for 15 years and lo and behold 3 weeks later they showed up across the street and they started teaching him.  He joined about 7 months later after carefully study and prayer.  In all, he investigated off and on for five years.  This is the second convert since April that Dede has had in this month.  God reserves them for Dede so they can feel her love and testimony and be lifted up knowing that they have made the correct decision.

At 6:15 the missionaries met together for Pizza and then a movie. Sister Buswell ordered Pizza from S. Royalton and had pop from the hardware store.  A good time was had by all.  We had left the pc and TV connected and the video up and everything went well as we watched Elder Gong's presentation to historical department staff and missionaries.  Elder Gong was witty at the first of the talk, a side of him I have not seen.  He then went through all 9 (I think) functions of the Church History Department and had representatives from each group stand as he recognized their accomplishments.  He spent a great deal of time on Saints and other church media.  The church is doing great things with media.  Near the end of the talk, the internet apparently glitched and the TV and PC were disconnected.  Elder Buswell was still watching Elder Gong on the PC, but the rest of us were treated to steamy scenes from Netflix or some other TV app.  We all had a good laugh and it was fun to see the reaction of everyone.  However, the Buswells felt awful.  Obviously the IT tech guy needs to remove Netflix from the TV and anything else that might be offensive.  Not having a smart TV, this is beyond my current experience, but Google and I will figure it out.  It made for a good laugh while I changed the channel and we watched the end of the talk from the PC.  Elder Gong mentioned in closing the many 200 year anniversaries in the next decade and that was fun to consider as we move up to 2030 and the 200th birthday of the church.  Priesthood restorations, BoM received, translated, printed etc.  It will be fun to see what the church does.  And then we will have more 200 anniversaries as we follow history after the founding of the church.  

25-August-2023-Friday

Confession time, we came home so late last night, again, that I am writing this on Saturday morning.  We had the early shift yesterday.  We had a slow morning, but had a group of 6 all from Worcester, MA ward who were at Camp Joseph.  We started with a family of three (two children) and an older friend.  The little boy was so enthralled with the map, that I stood by him and talked with him while Dede gave the tour.  I think it was the right thing to do. At least he was very good at the map.   The daughter had some handicap, but was sweet as could be and so attentive to Dede.  The friend did not seem to be a native English speaker, but seemed to enjoy the tour.  In the middle of the tour, Dede looks out the visitor's center window and sees a white car driving down the sidewalk.  The passenger was a member and friend of the mother in our group, and the driver, a man, was her friend.  Dede was never sure whether he was a member or not.  Regardless, it was fun. Elder Buswell saw it also from the office.  He is probably ready to get rid of Dede and I for the troubles that occur when we are on shift.  

We spent time at the office.  Our first job was the TV.  We could not remove any of the apps, however we found that we could lock some of them from use and we could use the parental controls to not allow anything but G-rated material to be shown.  We also found a way to keep the news from coming on at start up.  I have never owned a smart TV and so this was all new to me, but hopefully we will not have a situation like Thursday night again.  The Buswell's were so embarrassed and I obviously should have taken the blame as they were depending on me to help them with IT support.  Blame me and my old age for my slow reaction.  

I also figured out how to get Outlook to work on the new PC, but I cannot get it to print.  The other older PC has the same issue as well as Elder Buswell's PC laptop from the church.  I can scan from the PC, so I know they are connected.  I can print from my iPhone so I know that function should work.  I suspect that the church's security is not allowing printing.  As I was leaving ON, they were setting up all computers to not allow outside connections such as memory sticks, or backup drives or unknown printers to work because it is an easy way to get information.  I will need to get with tech support today and find out what is happening.  If it helps the Buswells, I am glad to help.  I also need to set up the second PC on Saturday.

After our shift, Dede wanted to go out to see something new.  She is so good at getting us out of the apartment.  I would sit in the apartment and work on my document all day.  But Dede is wiser than me.  She even lets me choose what we do.  I suppose that is fair.  She carries about 95%  of the load and my small task of finding out where to go is very trivial.  Anyway we went looking for waterfalls by driving down I-91 almost to the border and then working our way north.  After saying, I was the planner, I will point out that I did not take note that we have not been in this area looking at covered bridges.  I will need to remedy this.

Our first stop was Broad Brook Falls near Guilford.  This area alone would have made the trip worthwhile.  The falls were gorgeous and the cascades and area around were so fun.  I will give you three pictures.  Again, I wish you could see videos in this, but that does not seem to work for me.

We accidentally found a covered bridge.  Since I thought we had been here looking at bridges we were surprised, but stopped and took pictures.  We ran into an another bridge and were so sure we had been there we did not stop.  (Duh-however turns out we have visited that bridge). We will make up for this coming home from Boston (temple) Wednesday.  This bridge, might become our poster bridge for Vermont.

  

We went into the City of Battleboro to see the Whetstone Falls.  The number of mills and water chases around this mill are astounding.  It is right in the middle of town.  There is a theatre and hotel nearby and then an area of homeless people.  This is a side of Vermont, I have not seen before.

Forging on (but close by) is Upper Whetstone Brook Falls, which was also the home of mills.  There was not parking around so we parked at the covered bridge above and walked back to view this waterfall.

Again not far away, but again without parking spots, but we stopped and took pictures of Twin Falls. We learned later in the day, there is a trail on the other side of the brook and we could have walked to the falls.   

 

Further up the road took us to Saxton's River Falls in the town of Saxton's river.  This was a fun set of falls.  It was obvious that this place really flooded in the last storms.  

Finally we went to Bellow Falls located in Bellow Falls.  This was the least impressive, but partially because of our view point.

A highlight of the trip was our stop to eat at Dari Joy.

26-August-2023-Saturday

I walked out of the apartment this morning and saw blue sky.  I was so excited I took a picture and I am glad I did.  The blue lasted about two hours and we ended the day with a rain storm.  Perhaps this is typical Vermont, but not the Vermont we experienced last August.  We did not get a lot of rain today, just enough to call it a rain storm.

Dede and got the blog from last week edited so she can send it out today.  We always run a week behind.  We also tuned in to the dedication services for the restored Emma and Joseph Smith home in Kirkland, Ohio.  The mayor of Kirkland did great.  Short remarks of gratitude from Elder McKay.  Sister Bednar focused on Emma Smith and her life and then Elder Bednar covered a multitude of topics about Joseph and Emma Smith and the people who made Kirkland possible before giving the dedicatory prayer.  With music and all, it took about 60 minutes.  We had a link because of our call in the Historical Department.  The church is truly making strides at the historical departments, with the new home in Kirkland and the changes to the Hill Commorah, and making the Beehive and Lion Houses in SLC historical sites.  I am sure they have stretched resources of both money and people to the limits as they prepare for the anniversaries that are coming up in the next few years celebrating the restoration of the gospel.  It is fun to see it and be in involved with it. It was however sad to not see Karl Anderson at the dedication.  He is in SLC and was not able to attend.

We had the late shift.  I worked this morning on the blog recording the fun afternoon from yesterday.  It was truly delightful.  We went in an hour early today so the Buswells could run an errand.  They had had 9 people scattered through the morning, with many staying just a short time.  I thought I would spend the day at the office doing the tech thing, but we were fairly busy with 25 people coming into the site.  Not all wanted a full tour, but we had some great family groups.  One had come from southern Utah to visit their daughter and son (two families) he is going to medical school at Dartmouth while she is a nurse at Dartmouth.  We did not ask, but wondered if he had his "white coat ceremony" today.  Anyway the dynamics were good and the daughter finally drug  her parents away or we would have talked all day.  I also had a family of 6 who were originally from China.  The husband grew up in LA and was accent free.  He is a doctor in Manhattan.  The wife had her two parents with her and they asked questions of her in Chinese, but caught much of the discussion.  They also had two very cute boys and she is expecting a third child.  They were nonmembers, but he has been around many members of the church and had the best questions.  He also knew details that surprised me.  At the end of our conversation, he said, "I have known many members, but you have de-mystified a lot of things for me."  I hope I did well.  I know I enjoyed visiting with them.  I hope they one day investigate the church seriously.  They were very impressed with our zeal for eternal marriage sealings and work for the dead to allow all to become Celestial Beings.  

I had a lady, her young son and her mother-in-law, who had come to Vermont to participate in an international disc golf tournament.  She considered herself to be a local pro and hopes to make the Final Cut this year to compete in the last day's event.  Last year she finished 49th overall beating out some professionals.  I was not aware that disc golf had gone beyond being a local sport.

In the last 30 minutes, I made some progress on the printer.  The issue is a printer setting, but I do not have authority to change it.  Not sure who has the passwords.

We had an ice cream a Trozier's in Bethel.  This place has been around for 70+ years, but this year they have struggled to get help, so the take out window has not been open as much and today is the last day of the season for the window although the restaurant will remain open for some time.  Interesting to see how much welfare and food stamps have increased in the last few years and how many jobs are not being filled.  The ice cream is good.  We came home and had a bowl of Taco Soup.  Yum-Yum.  Dede feeds me too well.  I also set us up for the temple Wednesday.

So another week comes to a close.  Probably a harbinger of what life will be like in the next few weeks as people return children to school and thus can no longer come to the site in the volumes we learned to love in the summer.  We do have a few tour busses in September and will look forward October before the real slow down begins.