Hegsted Mission

  21-January-2024-Sunday Driving to and from Rutland, we experienced bright blue, sunny skies. Again, Amelia picked challenging but fun hymns. She also spoke along with two high counselors.  Primary was fun as the children sang "Hold to the Rod" while acting out the song by holding to a climbing rope and moving forward each time they sang the word "rod." We had a wonderful lady visit the site today. She is a traveling nurse and just moved to Barre, VT. She told us she had been inactive, but the site's Spirit overwhelmed her. She wants to come back to Church and admits Satan is a powerful adversary. She skipped Church because she was tired but made the effort to come to the site. She took many pictures to show her father. We gave her many details and even more encouragement to continue moving forward. Having an experience like this makes the long periods of inactivity worthwhile. God is kind in many ways to let us peek into the lives of some of His children. 22-J...

  14-January-2024-Sunday President Shelton was in the branch today and spoke to us without knowing beforehand. He did well. The Stake Sunday School President also spoke and did well. I played sufficiently, although I used the pedal coupler on two hymns because I was uncomfortable using the foot pedals. One was new to me, and the other just fast. Amelia has chosen pieces I have not played, which is fun. Luckily, the primary music was easier to play. Our trip home was uneventful. We were blessed with an opportunity to give a virtual tour of the site to the Reddish family, now living in Hawaii. Dede served with her in the ward Relief Society and loves her and her kids. Rather than use the video we created earlier, I put together slides that match our standard live presentation. I hope Hoopes had someone come in during their shift. Dede and I have been very blessed lately to talk with people. We had forgotten about this opportunity for the virtual tour until Dede remembered in her pray...

7-January-2024-Sunday Today was a little different. We had texts out to branch members as we were not copied on emails from the branch, and we worried that they would cancel church and not contact us. Before leaving, we received a text saying the branch might cancel meetings. This was verified moments before our planned departure.  We felt terrible not to see the branch members, but we were grateful at 12:30 when we drove up to the site. VT-14, a highway, was snow-covered, and we traveled at 35 mph. If the roads to Rutland were similar, it would have been a long trip home. Also, there were about 3 inches of snow when I cleared the car in preparation for leaving. When I recleared it to come to the site, it was 6 inches deep.  At the site, we had 11 inches.  Very light, powdery snow, but it was slick and hard to see the sides of the road. Vermont has numerous routes that have narrow shoulders. This makes driving more dicey and challenging, not slipping off the road's edge. ...