MnR Ogden Mission: Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial: Living at the Memorial

January 12-18

Our home for this week

SUNDAY - The buzzer started going off while I was still in bed. (This is a chime inside the residence which is activated when a car drives through). After the second one, I decided that I had better get up so I managed to catch the third one before we left for Church. (mostly drive thru’s or dog walkers) Had to hurry right back at the conclusion of the block meetings and get things going. We had a couple of visitor groups but things are quite slow. After closing (we usually close about 5:00pm but it is dark by 4:30) there was not much going on so I spent the evening watching NFL Play-off and Australian Tennis I happened to find on ESPN. Glad to see some Tennis again.
MONDAY-- Things were pretty slow but we still had a couple of visitors who said they were just driving up the highway and happened to see the sign on the Interstate so decided to come check it out. We were the hosts for the Family Evening activity tonight. It happened by default since we are the only ones here on the premises. Things went pretty good and had a good turnout as well. We made another quick trip back to the apt. to get a few more clothes and a few essentials.

TUESDAY -- This morning we made a quick stop at the apartment to return a modem we had been using for over 2 months. They gave it to us to use while they were trying to get our internet working properly and just hadn’t picked it up until this morning. From there, in the rain, we drove to Burlington to get Rhonda’s green carry-on that didn’t make the transfer in NY. It took until Sunday to get to VT but this was our first chance to go get it. The Dyches watched the place for us but since it rained all day, no one came. We hurried on our trip and even had to wait at Costco for them to open the doors so we could get a few quick items and then hurry back to the Memorial. Everything was in Rhonda’s bag except her liquids baggie of make-up etc. but she wasn’t real hopeful of that anyway since the pocket it was in wasn’t even zippered. I made a quick change of clothes and soon President Stoker brought all the missionaries who were going home over to take the tour. They usually take them to the Boston Temple but it is closed for cleaning so they ended up choosing to come here. I took them on the tour and we all had a good visit before they left at closing time. I tried to relax a little and watch some tennis on TV but the chairs here are really uncomfortable for TV watching. So, I suffered through it anyway. I still wonder how much snow would be on the ground if we were having snow rather than rain?


Decided to steam clean the kitchen floor while staying there

Steaming the dirt out of the cracks

WEDNESDAY - Elder Osborne called early to say that Elder Johnson was released last night and that he had been called to be the new Director for a 2 year period. We were both a little surprised at it being two additional years. The day started off with sunshine and pleasant temperatures (for mid-January in VT). I even got ambitious and walked down to the main road to get the newspaper. Then Rhonda walked down to the church to practice the organ. The weather deteriorated as the day drew on. Not a lot of activity at the Center but we were grateful for those who came. Elder Johnson called to talk but I didn’t dare say too much as he didn’t let on any clue that he thought he had been released. Poor guy. Our last visitors came just as I was getting ready to lock up. It is amazing how often it happens that way. I spent the night doing some book reading, a little TV, etc. Not really much happening out here by ourselves.

Steamed Clean!

THURSDAY -- The day started off with a dusting of snow and lightly snowed until just before noon. I mainly sat around waiting for visitors and finally got bored enough that I went out and helped Elder Dyches shovel snow from around the monument. It felt good but my back will suffer for another week. We finally had visitors come and as usual, they come one group right after another. Snow started again in the late afternoon. In the evening, I dropped Rhonda off at the Church to go to Relief Society and then on to the apartment. I had a good chance to relax for a while before picking her up and going back to the center. FRIDAY -- For lack of excitement, I cleaned all the path to the visitor center (snow removal). Rhonda spent the morning cleaning house for the Osborns. They arrived a little after noon. We had a good visit with them and talked a little about the future. They sent us home for most of the afternoon so we unloaded our “baggage” (plastic grocery bags) at the apartment and went to Lebanon shopping. Rhonda needed to replace her lost make-up etc. When we returned home I watched BYU’s basketball game from last night that I had recorded along with some Australian Open tennis. I just found a place on the TV where I could connect to the tennis channel. Glad for that!
SATURDAY -- Opened up this morning. Again we spent quite a bit of time discussing things with the Osborns. Back to the apartment for lunch then back to the Church for a baptism of one of the ward members. Sister Tarawhiti had asked Rhonda to play for her to sing during the baptism. It started to snow in the evening so we returned directly to the apartment. I felt tired so I took an hour and one-half nap on the bed. I was much more alert to watch tennis and basketball on TV for the evening