Hegsted's Mission Week 83
25-February-2024-Sunday
Another bright, sunny day. It was cold, and the White River was full of ice frazil as we drove to Rutland. We had four speakers. Amazing that each assigned speaker kept within 10 minutes, allowing the Branch Presidency member to share his thoughts about his mission. Lane, the new missionary, will be set apart tonight as a full-time missionary so he can start his MTC at home. I played okay. It is hard to believe that Amelia is still finding hymns I do not know. These hymns will probably not make it into the next hymnal, so I should play them at least once in my lifetime.
After the block, the branch held a linger-longer. Dede brought a large bowl of fruit. There was so much food. We sat and visited and enjoyed our time. We sat by the Lao family, and they recited the miracles in their lives, especially regarding their meeting and marriage. If we notice Him, God is involved in the small details of our lives. They do a great job of seeing Him. We drove home through Woodstock. Such a pretty day.
Dede invited the Hoopes to dinner, and because Sister Hoopes said she liked chicken piccata, Dede found a recipe and prepared it. I hope the Hoopes enjoyed it because I loved it. It was great to visit with them. They are kind and wonderful people.
26-February-2024-Monday
For me, our morning meeting was fun. We had the thought, and I was allowed to teach from the Site Guide, so I talked about Joseph's grandparents, the Macks and the Smiths. I used pictures and maps I collected and made along the way, and it was fun for me.
Tomorrow is my birthday, so Sister Roberts brought in a Quiche and oven tots. They were great. She wanted to know the details about my birth. I do not remember any, so I was of little help. Everyone was was kind.
Upon Dede's suggestion, we walked Vins for an hour. We saw a 10-minute live presentation about a peregrine falcon. We then walked briefly before returning home to eat and go to our shift at the site. It was slow at the site, but I spent a few minutes showing Elder Hoopes how to quickly find names for the temple. No one came in today. However, I was out walking and met the people who lived in the former schoolhouse at the bottom of the hill. They have done an excellent job restoring the home; talking to them was fun. Again, had we not been out walking, we would have missed an opportunity to visit with wonderful people.
27-February-2024-Tuesday
Every year, I have a similar experience. I wake up and do not feel any different. Today, I awoke and said, I have never been 66 before, but I still felt like I did yesterday. Strange. Dede was kind and often sang to remind me it was my birthday. Otherwise, I would have quickly forgotten my birthday.
The two local Elders came to the site, and we gave them a tour, so we were kept busy. I was looking for John B. Duckett, who helped build the monument. He was an actual worker, of whom we know only a few, and I have a picture of him. Lovejoy, author of the History of Royalton, mentions he owned land in Royalton, but that is all I knew. I found nothing in FamilySearch, so I opened Ancestry on my phone. I have not done this for some time, and a trivia question came up saying do you know the birth year of Lynne Maybey and gave me four choices. I made the correct choice because I thought this was Lynne Lockhart. It came back, congratulated me, and showed me her timeline, and it was Lynne. Why Ancestry chose a question about Lynne is unknown to me. Perhaps I used ancestry to look for something for her in the past; I do not know. Regardless, I felt it was a tender mercy today.
Dede is feeding me steak for dinner. She gave me several books to read. And she sang to me numerous times to tell me of her love for me. I am a lucky guy.
28-February-2024-Wednesday. PDAY
How we love attending the temple. It strengthens us and returns stability to our lives. Our favorite sealer was back. I found 10 sealings for spouses that were set to expire in March, and he completed all 10. That was good. We also visited with the McDowells for a few minutes. We will miss them. We decided we needed to get together for dinner before we head home.
We drove to Salem to visit the historic House of Seven Gables, made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne. He was born a few blocks away and would visit his cousin at the house when his wife had guests, and he wanted to escape. [I knew little about Nathaniel Hawthorne before the tour, but I liked this part about him.] His cousin told him stories about the house, and he embellished the stories to create his book. Around 1905, a wealthy lady bought the property and began restoring the home. (She had to restore 4 of the gables that had been removed during remodeling) They also brought the Nathaniel Hawthorne birth home and several other buildings to the property. In a city where the focus is the witch trials, it was nice to hear the maritime history of the area and mostly ignore the witch stories. [I know, we are the minority.] The house has a few nonauthentic rooms that were added to match the tale by Hawthorne. There is a room converted to a store and a secret staircase, which goes up the chimney and thus would have been burned if it had existed when people lived in the house.
I have not read his book, but I enjoyed the tour. Pictures are warranted. See above. Before hitting the house, we found a seafood restaurant and enjoyed lunch.
29-February-2024-Thursday
The day dawned cold, and the winds were fierce the entire day. At 10 am, we had a meeting with Ralph Eddy. He had seen an article I wrote for his grandfather and wanted to suggest changes. I was glad to see him again and to visit with him. I enjoy him and his stories. We disagreed on the location of the Sugar Shack, and he promised to come on Saturday so we could find it. As a result, I need to make a few changes to the document to fix my errors.
At the site, I walked to the church so Bob Dunkle could show me how to move sources from Ancestry to FamilySearch. I am working on John B. Dukett, Ralph's grandfather, who worked on setting the monument stones. He lived in Happy Hollow, a road that connects to the original Smith homestead. Ralph said it was named this because two families there constantly feuded, and the locals thought they were clever.
We did not get any visitors. Walking in the wind was miserable, but it was a good day. I found Mr. Duckett, but the FamilySearch record has him by his French-Canadian name of Duquette. Since I put John B. Dukett in FamilySearch, I will merge the names after updating the other record to Duquette or Dukett. This will help the computer find sources for Dukett.
In the evening, the missionaries went to the Neilsons to play games. I worked on the computer while Dede played. What a boring guy my wife married. I must admit, I enjoyed the conversation.
1-March-2024-Friday
We had a frigid night, and the river was full of ice chunks when we went to the site. However, the sun was shining brightly, and it was a beautiful day. We had a single sister come in from New Hampshire. She was on spring break and had a fun story. A few years ago, she changed schools, which proved challenging. She came into the site and received a Priesthood blessing, which changed her vision, and she is still at that school. She came back to find peace again. She has experienced the tours, so we shared a few thoughts from the restoration board, and Dede showed her a few movies about perseverance. Dede brought the Spirit into her life.
We left the site and returned to Silloway Maple to buy creamees and watch them make maple syrup. They are kind people and answered our questions as they continued to work. It is a family affair, with Grandma in charge, her daughter running the cooker, and her son running everything else. It is hard work. They have started earlier this year than usual. They first started boiling on 11 February. The sugar content is good, and the harvest is going well. They only had 2/3 of the trees tapped when the sap began flowing. The untapped trees' sap was lost. A few pictures are always in order. The young lady feeding logs into the fire is amazing. She is a beautiful lady and obviously very strong. Her friend came in with her children, and she was so kind and attentive to the children. Some indifferent guy is missing out on a great opportunity. Notice the steam coming out of the Sugar House as the water is boiled away to make the syrup.
Returning home, we took back roads and stopped at the Royalton Library. In the early 1900s, S. Royalton wanted to build the library. There was grumbling from Royalton. The two villages have never cooperated well. Royalton was the original center of power in the town. When the railroad put the depot in S. Royalton, suddenly, it became the center of commerce and attracted new citizens and businesses. There was an excellent reason to build the depot there. Directly out of S. Royalton is the road to Tunbridge, Chelsea, and Washington. Thus, the depot served people in numerous directions. It still caused conflict. When the monument was built in 1905, Junius F. Wells was able to find support from S. Royalton. However, minimal support came from Royalton, and the old timers (think Royalton) accused the newcomers in S. Royalton of selling out to the "Mormons" for money. (What else would one sell out for?). One more thing to feud about.
When the library was to be built, S. Royalton was chosen for the location. More feuding. The town was raising money, and the site director offered $200 in the name of Joseph Smith. Many oldtimers were offended, and the Church withdrew the offer. Can we say dumb? The lady in charge did all she could to keep the money but ultimately failed. The library was built without church funding. We went today because the church was allowed to donate to the second wing of the library, and there is a plague in the new wing with Joseph's name. I wanted a picture. I found a plague, but there might be another we did not see. Pictures follow:
2-March-2024-Saturday
Hard to believe another month is behind us. This mission is going so fast. Today was forecast to be rainy, and by 2 pm, the drizzling started and will continue until 3 am. It is warm, and the snow is quickly melting. We had snow until the end of March last year, and that was a light winter, so this winter seems warmer. Having said that, the ski resorts did much better this year than last. I think it is tough to describe the weather. The amount of moisture on top of the temperature has a real impact. Is this winter milder than last? I do not know. One thing I can be sure of is two years is too short to have an opinion on an area's weather.
Dede shopped in the morning, and I worked on my monument people. I worked on a Dr. Fish and found more than 2 pages in the Lovejoy book about him and a picture. He had no memories when I started, and I added 3 substantial memories. Dede was back by 11 am with fried chicken for lunch. We ate and drove to Barnard to the Silver Lake Syrup house. Unfortunately, they were not open. Dede was hopeful because one gets there entirely on paved roads, which would allow the Hoopes to visit a functioning sugar house.
We tried stopping at the fish hatchery, but the gate was locked. Thus, we came home, and I napped for 20 minutes.
We were busy during most of our shift. We never had more than two people in a group but stayed busy. Sister Neilson came over, and we conceptually discussed how we give tours in the first room. I hope we gave her some ideas. Speaking is not an issue; it is connecting the ideas into a flow that I think she wanted to discuss.
We had two tall young men from Dartmouth. They are on the rowing team, and height is an advantage for leverage in rowing. They were 6'5 and 6'8. One had a friend in SLC who is a member, but the other seemed to know more about the Church than he let on. In fact, he was reticent up front but had questions at the end. It was fun. I also had a single man, a member, from Connecticut. He was here skiing, but he saw the sign and stopped. Dede had a mother and daughter pair looking at colleges in the East. They must have money. Ralph Eddy came in, and we agreed on the roads and Sugar Shack location. With all that, I managed to walk for two miles. Dede got another crystal monument to give as a gift. What a great day.
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