Tender Mercies in New England

As the Palmyra Temple is closed for two weeks for maintenance, we have chosen to visit all of the states in New England our first week off.  This included visits to temples, church and national historic sites, special library collections and a visit with friends.  In all this, we were blessed with many tender mercies.  Our week began in Palmyra to celebrate President Nelson's 100th birthday and ended in Palmyra for the inaugural 5K Restoration Run.

We started Tuesday morning by visiting the Hartford, Connecticut Temple, crossing through Rhode Island to Plymouth and finishing at Boston, Massachusetts.  There we met our dear friends from our European Mission, Doug and Rhonda Neiswender, who are living near Boston.  They were our tour guides until Thursday at 1:00 pm.  With them we went to the Boston Temple, visited Lexington and Concord where the Revolutionary War began, visited Walden Pond. and took a Duck Tour through the streets of Boston and the Charles River.  Later, on Thursday, we visited the birthplace of Joseph Smith near Sharon, Vermont.  On Friday we were able to see collections from the Dartmouth College library in New Hampshire which included an original copy of the Book of Mormon, notes and illustrations from Dr. Seuss and letters from Robert Frost.  We then returned to our home in Palmyra that same day.

At Temples in Hartford, Connecticut, Boston, Massachusetts and at the Joseph Smith Birthplace at Sharon, Vermont

Monday Night - Celebrating President Nelson's 100th birthday

Let's review our week chronologically.  On Monday night we celebrated the 100th birthday of our dear prophet, Russel M. Nelson.  We met with other missionaries at the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center and watched the 100 year birthday celebration which was broadcast to the world.  We were delighted to see that this celebration was live from the Conference Center Little Theater.  There we were pleased to see many people perform and speak about our dear prophet.  President Nelson stood up to great each of them individually after their performance or remarks.  At 100 years old, he is remarkable, both in spirit and body.  After the broadcast, we enjoyed ice cream and birthday cake with the other missionaries.

President and Sister Nelson, President Eyring, President and Sister Oaks watching as a great grandaughter talks about President Nelson

President Nelson sharing his thoughts with the world in a prerecorded message

Singing Happy Birthday while the balloons fall

Birthday Cake at the Visitors Center

Many missionaries, young and old, celebrating together

Amazing cloud formations above the visitors center when we left the celebration

Tuesday, September 10 - Visiting Hartford, Connecticut Temple and Plymouth, Massachusetts

We drove straight from Palmyra, NY to the Hartford, Connecticut Temple.  We knew that the temple was not open on Tuesdays, but chose to visit the temple grounds.  As we walked around the temple grounds, we tried to imagine where the different ordinance rooms were located inside.  We asked some workers in the gardens, but they were not members and had not been in the temple.  Then we saw an individual walking to his car in a white shirt.  We asked him if he would orient us as to the inside of the temple.  He was the facility manager and offered to take us inside for a tour.   We enthusiastically accepted.  This was a major tender mercy of the day.  We were able to walk through the temple, room by room.  We loved the colonial decor, including very unique chandeliers in the different rooms.  When we got to the celestial room, we found one of the largest chandeliers that we had ever seen!  We were grateful for this unexpected opportunity.

The Hartford, Connecticut Temple and Grounds

A selfie in front of the Hartford, Connecticut Temple

Larger view of the temple with the fountain

In the back of the temple, location of the celestial room

With the kind FM manager of the Hartford Temple

After leaving the Hartford Temple, we drove through Rhode Island to arrive at Plymouth, Massachusetts.  Due to our unexpected tour of the temple, we arrived too late in Plymouth to participate in tours.  However, we were able to see the replica of the Mayflower from the outside and the location of Plymouth Rock.  This replica was built in 1957 after the size and manner of the original Mayflower.  It then sailed from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts.  Plymouth Rock had been identified and transported over the years but has since been returned to its original location where it is believed that the Pilgrims first set foot in New England.

Mayflower II, a replica of the original Mayflower

Marker for the voyage of Mayflower II

In front of the Mayflower II Exhibit

On to the Plymouth Rock, a short walking distance away

A beautiful evening in the Plymouth Bay, heading to the Plymouth Rock exhibit 

Pointing at the Plymouth Rock

The Plymouth Rock, originally cut away from it's foundation, cut in half to transport, now restored to it's original location.

In front of our bed and breakfast that was our home while in Boston

Tuesday evening until Thursday at 1:00 pm - Visit to Boston and Doug and Rhonda Neiswender:

While we served our Self-Reliance mission in Europe, Elder and Sister Neiswender were Self-Reliance missionaries in Portugal.  We visited and traveled with them several times during our mission and visited with them by Zoom each month.  They became some of our dearest friends.  We have kept in touch with them since.  We were aware that they were living in Boston with one of their sons and so when we planned to visit Boston, we reached out to them.

Rhonda Neiswender has MS and her health has been deteriorating.  However, she still keeps a glow about her and participates in all that she can.  She tells us that she is on an energy budget and has to decide where to allocate her energy.  We are so grateful that she was able to allocate enough energy to spend time with us.  Doug is a wonderful example of a loving husband who cares for his wife's needs.  He also served his young mission in Brazil.  Our time with them taught us much about life's lessons.  We were taught by the best.  These are consecrated individuals!

Tuesday night we had dinner with them at a local Salvadorian restaurant.  True to form, they have been friends to the owner of the restaurant who treated all of us extremely well.

On Wednesday morning we enjoyed a session at the Boston Temple together.  The ordinance was meaningful and the temple was spectacular.  The celestial room was magnificent, with higher ceilings than we remember in most temples, beautiful marble pillars, and twelve chandeliers around the outside of the room.  This was a memorable time as we sat in the celestial room and conversed together.

Sister Rueckert in front of the magnificent celestial room of the temple

At the back of the Boston Temple, location of the baptistry

With the Nieswenders after we changed our clothes in the distribution center below the temple

With the Neiswenders by a beautiful flowering tree on the temple grounds

After the session, we went to change clothes in the distribution center below the temple.  Sister Neiswender was going to meet us there, arriving by an inside elevator which apparently was not available.  However, she ended up taking the outside stairs down on her own.  We felt bad about her challenge, but she never complained.  After changing clothes, we had a conversation with a Portuguese speaking missionary that Brother Neiswender met in the distribution center. Then we were off to visit Lexington and Concord, the sites of the first battles of the American Revelation.

We enjoyed visiting the Lexington Commons and the accompanying visitors center.  However, to see a unique film about these first battles, we were directed to a National Parks visitors center part way between Lexington and Concord.  We arrived in handicapped parking and entered into the visitors center just one minute before the scheduled movie.  Another tender mercy.  The Movie was remarkable, far exceeding our expectations.  It was done in multi media format with a partially interactive room.  We left with a much better appreciation of the events that had taken place in 1775, almost 250 years ago.

In the Lexington Visitors Center

With an available tour guide in the Lexington Visitors Center

This tells the short story of the Battle of Lexington and these consecrated grounds

In front of the statue of the Militia Man, inspired by Militia Captain John Parker who was the inspiration for this statue 

In front of this "consecrated grounds"

Debbie by the Buckman Tavern, gathering place of the Lexington Militia on April 19, 1775

The theater for the story of the Battle Road - April 19, 1775

Debbie, inside the theater with the Neiswenders

The inside of this multi media theater

Eating ice cream in Concord.  These two are kindred spirits.  We loved watching them together.

After visiting these revolutionary war sites, we visited Walden Pond, made famous by Henry Thoreau who spent two years, two months and two days living there beginning in 1845.  The following words come from 

Elizabeth Witherell, with Elizabeth Dubrulle

When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I lived there two years and two months. (Walden, 3)

With these words, Henry David Thoreau began the tale of his experiment of simple living at Walden Pond. Over the course of the next three hundred-odd pages, Thoreau outlined his philosophy of life, politics, and nature, laying the foundation for a secure place in the canon of great American writers. Although Walden enjoyed only moderate success in Thoreau's lifetime, his experiment at the pond would spark considerable interest in the years to come. The book has inspired other young people to follow his example and retire to a lonely spot--even if only in imagination--to ponder the world and their place in it. Thoreau's words expressed the concerns of many of his contemporaries as industrialization and war permanently altered the world around them, just as they struck a chord in a generation of young people in the 1960s and 1970s who opposed the modern military-industrial complex and sought peace and simplicity in their lives. For many, Walden has served as a touchstone.

THOREAU'S LIFE AT WALDEN POND

In late March 1845 Thoreau went to Walden Pond, a sixty-two acre body of water a few miles from his parents' home in Concord, Massachusetts, and selected a spot to build a house. The site he picked was on land belonging to his close friend Ralph Waldo Emerson; he and Emerson had already discussed Thoreau's plan to live on the land which Emerson had recently purchased. By July 4 of that same year, the house was substantially complete and Thoreau moved to the pond. The experiment had begun. 

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. (Walden, 90)

We had the privilege of spending a few moments in reflection at Walden Pond.  The photos reflect Walden Pond today:

The beautiful and serene Walden Pond

With Walden Pond behind us

Walden Pond

A beautiful forest surrounding the pond

By a statue of Henry Thoreau and a model of the house that he built near Walden Pond

The simple furnishings inside his home, as described in his writings

We finished our day with dinner at the world famous Legal Sea Food restaurant in Boston, as recommended by the Neiswenders.  Their son and his daughter met us at the restaurant.

We were told that this restaurant is world famous

Together at the restaurant

On Thursday morning we went with the Neiswenders on an 80 minute tour of Boston on the Duck Boats.  They are patterned after World War II vehicles that traveled on land and in the water.  The tour was excellent, but the heart of the tour was our tour guide, Papriqqa.  The double q in her name stands for quack quack which we had to do throughout the tour, especially when we passed other tour busses.  She was hilarious and a wonderfully entertaining tour guide.  We saw so much in Boston that we can't remember and then saw much of it again from the Charles River, where we traveled as a boat.  She even allowed some of us to drive the boat, including myself and Doug Neiswender.

In our tour bus, on the road

Same seats, same bus, on the water

Our amazing tour guide, Papriqqa

Papriqqa again, very expressive and entertaining

"The Embrace" Memorial in Boston Commons

Copley Square from the bus on the road and much, much more

We saw the Massachusetts State House from the street . . . 

and from the water

The bus entering the water

Tom, Driving the boat

We would "quack" at other Buck Tours

At the end of a wonderful tour with our dear friends

After our Duck Tour, the Neiswenders took us to Prospect Hill where the flag of the third Connecticut Regiment was flown on July 18, 1775.  This was the first time that a colonial flag was flown before the British during the Revolutionary War.   Later, on January 1, 1776, the Grand Union Flag was raised, the precursor to the "Stars and Stripes".  That is the flag that is currently on this site.  There is a reenactment of this every year on January 1.

 

With the Grand Union Flag raised on  Prospect Hill behind us.

The story of the raising of these two flags

Thursday Afternoon - Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont and the Joseph Smith Birthplace:

After our wonderful time with the Neiswenders in Boston, we left at 1:00 pm for Sharon, Vermont, via Maine.  We went to Maine, exited on the first exit and returned back and continued to Sharon, Vermont.  We crossed the state of New Hampshire and arrived at Sharon, Vermont at 4:30 in the afternoon, our sixth and final of the New England States.

We arrived at the visitors center of the Joseph Smith Birthplace in time to spend 30 minutes in the visitors center before they closed.  This also helped us to understand the other options outside of the visitors center.  Overall, it worked out perfectly, one more tender mercy.

The Visitors Center was instructive and there we stood on the same hearthstone that was in the home of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith in December 1805 when Joseph Smith was born.  It had been recovered out of the foundation of the home which is right next to the Visitors Center where the original is displayed. 

Standing on the original hearthstone of the home when Joseph Smith was born

Being taught by the senior missionary at the Visitors Center

We also learned about the construction of the 38.5 foot monument to Joseph Smith that was erected on December 23, 1905, on Joseph Smith's 100th birthday.  The 38.5 feet represent the age of Joseph Smith when he was martyred. It was built out of granite that was cut out of the mountain 2 miles north of this location.  After being carved and prepared, it took over 30 days to move it to its current location, using 23 teams of horses and also oxen to transport it.

Learning the history of the monument from the senior missionary

The history of the monument

The monument and the footings of the original home of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack

Debbie looking at the footings and . . . 

the original doorstep from the home

This was the original location of the hearthstone that we saw in the Visitors Center

The inscription on the marker

The footings and the monument behind the homesite

With the 38.5 foot monument to Joseph Smith

The inscription to Joseph Smith. Across the top of the base is the scripture in James 1:5

Inscription on the back of the base of the monument, a testimony of Joseph Smith written in 1905

Some of the changing leaves on the trees by the monument

We were then able to spend as much time as we wanted looking at the monument and the foundations of the home at this site.  We also learned and were able to visit the original homesites of Lucy Mack's parents and brother as well as an old stone bridge that are still accessible in the neighboring woods.  We found this fascinating to see and to imagine the difficulty of living in these woods and struggling to make a living from farming in this location.

The Solomon Mack homesite

The footings of the Daniel Mack homesite

The Old Stone Bridge from 1805

Friday, September 13 - Visit to Dartmouth College Rauner Library - Special Collections

We had heard about the special collections at Dartmouth College in NewHampshire, which is near to Sharon Vermont, from another missionary couple in Palmyra. This was a jewel of a find.  We were able to walk right into the library and ask to see whatever we  wanted to see.  

Debbie in front of the Rauner Library - Special Collections

We were able to see:

• An original Book of Mormon, from the first printing of the Grandin Press.  They brought it out to us and allowed us to handle it with our hands and turn the pages in a special container.  We had handled one in our earlier mission in the Dublin, Ireland university.  This was a special treat, especially after several visits to the Grandin Press.  We understood more about this first edition of the Book of Mormon.  In fact, Debbie has been reading the Book of Mormon from a facsimile of this original version in her Book of Mormon study this year.

Turning the pages of the original Book of Mormon

Its Title Page, printed at the Grandin Press in 1830

Holding the original Book of Mormon

The Titling of the Book is consistent with what we were taught at the Grandin Press

• Dr. Seuss Collection - some of the original drawings and materials to produce some of the books by Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss).  These were fascinating, including the entire book of "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins".  We were able to read the entire book from these original materials.  What a delight!

Debbie reading "The 500 Hats manuscript"

This is how it was submitted to the printer

One of the many pages

One of the many drawings

One of the last pieces of art of Ted Geisel in 1925

• Correspondence from Robert Frost - we were able to review several of the letters from Robert Frost.  The photos below are from one of his letters where he writes some of his famous lines in the body of the letter::

The words are lovely dark and deep;

But I have promises to keep

And miles to go before I sleep

And miles to go before I sleep.

Letter to J.W. Haines in England

Some of his famous lines written in his own hand

During our driving time, we saw many beautiful trees, starting to turn colors.  This same drive in a month from now will be absolutely gorgeous.

One of the trees at Dartmouth College

One of the other trees on the side of the road

On the way driving through New York State we come across so many interesting names of cities.  They are named, Egypt, Frankfurt, Rome, Lisbon, Greece, Amsterdam and many more.  I love seeing these names on the signage. 

A city in Egypt

The exit to Rome

Saturday, September 14 - Restoration Run 5K

We arrived home Friday evening with time to enjoy a few movies together.  The next morning I was off to participate in the  Inaugural running of the 5K, as part of the Palmyra Canal Festival.  

There were over 80 signed up for the 5K and another 30+ for the One Mile walk.  I had practiced this run a few times.  I found that running on the street is more difficult than running on a treadmill.  As soon as the race began, I knew that I was not among the elite runners.  I did my best and ended up at 28 minutes and 40 seconds.  It didn't win any medals, but I was happy to participate.  I was running in the 55+ age range.  If they would have had a 70+ group, I would have had a better chance.  I personally am glad that this is over.

At home before the race, with my special shirt

Getting ready to start

The beginning of the race, I was somewhere on the other side of these individuals

Coming towards the finish line

Finishing

Finally done!

With my friend from the gym, 78 year old Chuck Martin

By the way, the winner of the fastest female was our temple worker, Grace Woodward.  She ran track in High School and is now beginning her mission to Brazil on the following Monday.

Sunday, September 15 - Singing in Church

I do a lot of things in the Church, but I have avoided singing, as it certainly is not one of my gifts.  However, for this year's primary program in our branch, they wanted to sing I Am a Child of God in multiple languages.   Another brother served a mission in Brazil, so I agreed to sing with him in our program.

One more available week to go.  This week we will be spending five days in Pennsylvania, mostly with our daughter and grandsons.