Hegsted Mission

  11-February-2024-Sunday Dede and I are grateful for the Sabbath Day and the opportunity to attend church in the Rutland Branch.  It is nice to be at Church or the temple at home in less than 10 minutes. However, there is also joy in leaving early to attend church an hour away and the temple 2.5 hours away. The consecration of time makes the experience more meaningful.  I promise not to murmur  when that is taken away from us in Pocatello, but I  cherish these times. It was a beautiful and warm day. When we passed Killington, they were skiing, but the snow was melting rapidly.  Vermont is too far North to be impacted by the Nor'easter coming to lower New England in two days.  Snow enthusiasts, including cross-country skiers, snowshoers, and snow machines, will search in vain for snow. The storm will hit Tuesday, and our forecast shows no snow.  It will snow on the coast, and we might go to Portsmouth on Wednesday. If so, we will drive to Maine an...

  4-February-2024-Sunday It was another wonderful Sunday. I do love Fast and Testimony Sunday. Even though I fast daily until noon, it is different on Fast Sunday. The Sacrament is more meaningful. Once again, the testimonies were beautiful. Luckily, the hymns were easier. My hands felt like bricks today, and my feet felt like they were encased in cement overshoes.  As I practiced the closing hymn before church, Dede sat by me and read the 4th and 5th verses of "Let's Us All Speak Kind Words." The third verse closes with the person unable to see the mote in another's eye due to his own beam in his eye. The fourth verse says the person tries to remove the beam from their eye with tears but fails. The 5th verse turns the entire thought around when the speaker realizes that the personal eye beam can only be removed by the beam of the Savior's cross.  It made the Sacrmanet more meaningful to me. I was glad to share this thought with the branch as my testimony of the S...

  28-January-2024-Sunday A new week began with our trip to Rutland. We had some rain, and the traffic seemed to be lighter as a result. Even as we came to Pico mountain, it was still misting, but the hill was filled with skiers. Last year, the mountain was bare, so even if the snow was not great, it was skiable. It was not a stellar day on the organ, at least the final hymn. It should have been the easiest, and I struggled with it. Sad to make the congregation suffer. I am not improving because I am not practicing enough. Perhaps when I get home, I can play again in the temple. That hour of playing in the temple really helped. I doubt I will get to play in church again. Primary was fun again. Watching children sing and enjoy the gospel is purely delightful. We left the Church and drove north and west to Benson, Vermont. The building above was a church for the Free Will Baptists before most of the congregation was baptized by the Carter Brothers, and it became a "Mormon" Churc...