September: First Month in Vermont

WEEK TWO

Saturday we had the early shift.  It seemed like we no sooner got the place unlocked and most of the lights turned on and people started coming.  It was steady for over two hours and Rhonda and I did all the tours by ourselves.  Johnson’s went to visit some sick in the ward and the people really came in droves.  We were both running back and forth trying to keep track of all the people (Church members and non-members alike).  It sure made the morning shift go by fast.  Before I knew it Elder Johnson said we needed to go home, they couldn’t do overtime pay.  Even then, we were an hour over our shift time.—We talked about going someplace just to see some new territory but once home, we just stayed there and watched football and movies on TV.  The BYU-Utah game came on but it was 10:00pm here when it started--could hardly stay awake.

President & Sister Stoker with two daughter and son-in-law

It was hard getting up for Church this morning but we made it.  Once at Church, we found out that our Mission President and his family were there.  Up until today, we had not met them.  We only stayed to Sacrament meeting and then went to the Memorial.  We were the first ones there and there were people walking around so I hurried and unlocked things and started giving tours.  Rhonda ended up giving her first unassisted tour to the mission president and his family.  Talk about having baptism by fire!  She did a great job but was glad for me to come and  assist her with the details about how the monument was erected.  Then, his family wanted to see the remains of the other cabins down the hill so I fired up the golf cart and took all the family on the tour in the golf cart.  We lucked out and saw a deer just grazing in the woods.  With six people, it was all the golf cart could handle and I kept hoping it didn’t run out of gas along the way but we made it OK.   --   People kept coming with several groups that contained non-members--including Corvette Association of Vermont.  During the course of the day, I gave out 2 Books of Mormon to visitors who seemed quite interested in the Church.   We ended up being there about three hours longer than scheduled but it turned out to be a good day.  

Group of Corvette drivers

 Monday we needed to do a little business in town so we headed to South Royalton as it is a larger community than Sharon.  On the way I was telling Rhonda where we went to give the blessing last week and missed the turn off the main road.  We drove several miles past the town but finally turned around and back tracked to the turning spot.  I am still getting lost even in these small communities but finally managed to get our business done.  Things went quite quick at the Memorial for the first half of the day but definitely slowed down at the end.  The first visitors to come just as we started our shift were from American Fork (Kelly Harper family).  Rhonda taught with Kelly for many years at ALLC.  We had the usual home evening procedure at Johnson’s before locking up and coming home.  

The flowers look beautiful right now

Wednesday, September 25, 2013.  Today marks the end of our first month on our mission.  We had the early shift today it started off quiet but soon became steady.  We were late getting out so had to rush home, change clothes and rush back to Osborn’s place.  There we joined with Osborn’s and Dyches’ and took a trip to the area around Stowe VT. (famous Ski country)

We saw some beautiful leaves and a drove on a really narrow, steep single lane road around Smugglers Notch.  We stopped for dinner at the Von Trapp Family Lodge.  This is the area where the Von Trapp family (Sound of Music) located after they walked through the Alps and escaped from Germany at the end of W.War II.  We had a good time and saw some interesting sights.  This is the first sight-seeing trip we have taken.  

Elder & Sister Osborn

Elder & Sister Dyches

Macontosh Pond near Memorial (behind Osborn's cabin)

Osborn's cabin in the trees...taken from the road to LDS Lane

Parking lot at JSB Memorial

Mornings are usually foggy (but the Memorial is still beautiful)!

Thursday morning I got up early for our “day off”.   I had plans to go golfing with Elder Osborn.  I was about a mile from his house when Elder Johnson called and said his wife was ill and they were heading for the Dartmouth Medical Center Emergency room and he needed me to cover the Memorial.  Stopped at Osborn’s and said I couldn’t go, turned right around and headed home.  This is the second week in a row where we were asked to work on our “day off”.  I rushed home and told Rhonda we had to hurry to open up.

            Things were pretty slow the first hour then we spotted a guy walking around the visitor center.  He had parked his car in the spot where the buses usually park and walked up so we didn’t see him come.   His name was Ben and a non-member.  I was pretty impressed with him.  He didn’t come with camera, etc. but took a lot of notes on things I told him.  He said he would read the Book of Mormon so I gave him one.  He asked a lot of questions concerning the priesthood.  He had heard of the Aaronic but not Melchizedek.  He ask me where it told about it in the Bible and I couldn’t answer him.  After we concluded our visit, he walked down to see the old stone bridge and I went to the office and copied pages from the Bible Dictionary that told about Melchizedek and the Melchizedek Priesthood.  He seemed happy to get the information.  I promised him that if he would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it he would get an answer that it was true.  He said he would.  I gave him a referral card and told him to fill it out with his name and address and some missionaries would follow up.  He said OK.