A Rare and Hallowed E'en

Autumn in New England, and the Saints here can think

of no place more beautiful than the Boston, Massachusetts Temple.

We think about it often in the NHM Mission as well, but because it is

out of our mission boundaries, it remains ONLY a wish to get there soon.

As the end of October passes this week, we will

encounter the Halloween holiday. I admit I have been waiting!

This is George Reischer, a valuable man serving his fellow

Saints in Manchester, and much farther afield, too.

We met George shortly after our arrival in June,

and as soon as I heard some of his remarkable stories, I tagged this one

in my mind as the 'perfect' subject for my post this week.

George has a depth of experience and service that I will NOT

be able to adequately explain in the limited space I have here.

But background will help before we get to the heart of his 'tale'. 

In the photos above and below, George is serving

in his capacity as director of the regional Bishops' Storehouse,

which is a welfare-of-the-Saints operation that makes food and

other commodities available to members who may need

a little extra assistance to live comfortably.

Twice each month, George helps the process go smoothly

for those coming to Manchester chapel from across three states

to collect items they need.

This he does at 10 a.m. (preparation begins much earlier!)

on those Saturday mornings, AFTER

having completed his Friday overnight cleaning job

at the Boston Temple (near Boston, 70 minutes away).

I asked George if I could share his experiences from

an other-worldly encounter at the Boston Temple.

I have condensed and edited his transcript 

for the purposes of this blog

(photos were selected by me to add interest):

In 2013 I was working at the temple during shut down in [early] July.  

It was about 10PM on a Friday night when volunteers usually don’t show up. 

As I was talking with fellow worker John M at the security desk, 

I heard three bangs on the dock door, even though there’s a phone 

that volunteers can use to call us.  

When I answered the door, there was a woman in her late 50’s 

dressed like a temple Matron, wearing a nice white gown 

with elaborate makeup and her hair was piled on top of her head.

I let her in and asked her to sign in the book, which all volunteers have to do.  

Out of the corner of my eye I saw her sign in.  

We walked by the security office door and I continued speaking to her, 

though she really wouldn’t reply.  She only nodded her head 

and I did all the talking. I gave her the first assignment and 

she came back within 45 minutes. I wondered at her speed. 

I was surprised because the way she was dressed I thought 

that would slow somebody down, but she seemed to do it in record time.  

I continued to give her assignments which she seemed 

to complete very quickly. After one task was given, 

I decided to check up on her again. 

I saw her on her knees with a pair of scissors in her hand.  

My supervisor, Annette L had purchased seven or so pairs 

of the special scissors and no one was supposed to touch them.  

She hid them and only she and the laundry supervisor knew where they were. 

The scissors were specifically used to cut those threads 
that had a tendency to fray where the chair rail meets the paper,
so that you wouldn't damage the wallpaper. As I turned the corner at one 

of these places, the lady had a pair of the scissors in her hand. 

I could not imagine how she even knew about them, 

but surely she didn't know where they were kept. 

She just seemed to know everything and she was kneeling on the floor 

and she was cutting little threads off the wallpaper.  

I asked, "how do you know how to do all this?"  

She continued trimming the threads, then looked up at me. 

She said, "The temple is to be perfect." 

That was the first time I had heard her speak all night. 

Usually she would just nod her head.  

When she said those words, it just chilled me to the bone. 

I didn't see her leave, but I heard the door and then I went 

to the security office.  I asked John, “Did you say anything 

to her before she left?  Did she say anything to you 

as she passed the security office?”  

John looked at me and said, “What are you talking about?” 

I said "The woman -- the volunteer. She just left.” 

John replied he didn't remember seeing any volunteer.  

I explained we had stopped in the office and I said hi and 

you looked right at us.  He denied seeing anybody.  

I remembered seeing her sign in the book, but I didn't see her sign out. 

I definitely know she opened it. I had showed her the book and 

she took the pen. But when we looked at the sign in book 

and the sign out log there was no name there.  

The last name in the book was a man who volunteered earlier.  

To this day I'm still looking to see her in the temple. 

When I relayed the story to NHM Mission President Blair's wife, 

she was touched to the point of tears.  

She said that I was probably talking to an angel. 

Sister Blair is the granddaughter of President Hinckley. 

She looked at me and said, “that's what my grandfather used to say”. 

President Hinckley dedicated the Boston Temple in 2000.  

Sister Blair had accompanied him there. He arrived three days early 

and had a little plastic case of pink stickers which he would use 

to mark things that needed attention or correction as they went 

through the Temple.  Sister Blair asked him about why he was doing that. 

He stopped and looked at her and said “The temple is to be perfect”. 

I've been working for the Boston Temple since 2012. 

At the time of this encounter, I was at a stage at my job 

that I did not get along with my supervisor.  

I was at a point where I was really doubting if Heavenly Father 

wanted me to be there or not.  I was going to leave.  

When the lady told me that the temple is to be perfect, 
when she looked at me, I felt she was telling me that it's my duty, 

my obligation, and that Heavenly Father wants me there.  

I need to be there and to stay there and I ended up staying 

and I am still there.  It's 2019 and I'm still there. 

* * * * *

I share this wonderful story, because it touched my heart,

and filled my lamp with oil in those early days of our mission in New Hampshire.

Brother Reischer concludes his story with his powerful testimony: 
I’ve had many experiences and the Temple is in my blood, it’s a part of me.  
The temple is not just a building; it's not bricks and mortar.  
It’s not granite and drywall and paint. It's people, the testimonies that are born.
The temple is more than that, it's a living breathing thing.  
The temple is the house of the Lord, it was built so that Jesus Christ 
could manifest himself there and he has.  

I can feel the presence of Jesus Christ and God there, 
I have seen them in what I do daily.  
I pray that they think my work is acceptable and if I'm doing the right thing.  
I’ve felt reaffirmed that I'm still there and I hope to retire there. 
I love working for the Lord -- he is the best boss that you could have.  

I love Jesus Christ; I know that Jesus is the Christ and he's our Lord and Savior.  

He carries me and definitely shares our burdens.  

I’m grateful to be working there and I love the temple.

O How Lovely: Apostles New England

This weekend has had a historic feeling to it, so I will report

on that as my blog post for this week. We have heard for many

weeks about a special event that was in "pre-hush" mode

for security and site management reasons that RED circled

October 19th on the calendar for us here in the NHMM. 

A couple of weeks ago or less came the word that Pres. Ballard

would be addressing missionaries in the North American NE Area,

along with Elder Christopherson. Area Pres. Bennett and the

wives of the last two were also present and delivered brief

but important messages. More about Pres. Ballard's messages later.

The missionaries-only broadcast originated from

the visitors center at the Joseph Smith Memorial Birthplace

where only a few of the close-by missionaries would fit

to listen to the originating addresses. As the mission authority

of the area, our own Pres. Beck helped organize and

conducted the meeting. It was a beautiful day, and the window

backdrop to the speakers was wonderful. Even the blacktop

roadway behind looked like a serene stream.

Here you can see how small the area for the audience

and speakers was, as Pres. Bennett speaks.

 Two young missionary sisters (Warburton and Hendricks)

prepared and sang an arrangement of O How Lovely

Was the Morning, with Elder Crum accompanying on

the keyboard (expected a piano - 

found it was a keyboard - yikes). They were awesome.

Pres. Ballard in the Saturday morning meeting

spoke about his family heritage at the JSBM site.

His great great grandfather Hyrum Smith lived there 

for a time, and Pres. Ballard feels a strong tie there.

You can find more information about the visit to the site

by following this LINK. 

He spoke about all the small things

that had to be in place historically for the Prophet to be born

and the Restoration to happen, from the invention of papyrus

that could be more easily written on and transported to

be shared, to the early prophets such as Adam and Noah

and Abraham and Moses, 

to Tyndale and the common-man translation 

of the Holy Bible, to the American Revolution.

He said God had his eye on the Joseph Smith primogeniture

from the very beginning, because of his fore-ordination

to be the one who was in place to help God in his plan.

Pres. Ballard also spoke at a New England area devotional

Sunday evening in Wooster, MA at the DCU Events Center.

We watched the meeting on a feed to the Manchester chapel.

He continued his historical theme by inviting us to pay

attention to the little things that put us in the right places

to have important things happen in our lives.

He talked about his own genealogy that goes back

to the Plymouth Colony, to one indentured servant

who was washed overboard from the ship, and by

grabbing hold of a rope that just happened to stream by 

he was hauled back on board. 

He later married a fellow traveler who had also arrived on

the ship and they raised a family of 10. They were more

important to the history that extends forward from the Plymouth

events than others whose names are more prominent,

since their thousands of descendants feature political leaders,

poets, social influencers, and even Pres. Ballard. 

Pres. Ballard next summarized events in American

Revolutionary history that led to the conditions

that would be conducive to the Restoration of

the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He talked about Henry Knox

whose foresight and inspiration prompted him to

have sleds constructed to move captured British cannons

to Dorchester Heights to overlook Boston Harbor

and force the British to abandon the siege and

blockade there. It was winter, and they expected
that the cannon-loaded sleds would be able to slide
across the snow. But there was NO snow - so he led his troupes
to pray for Heaven's help, and it snowed 
so the cannons could be in place.
He cited many circumstances where

American forefathers and mothers prayed for guidance

and intervention from Heaven as they sought for freedom

Pres. Ballard concluded his remarks by stating that

today there is as essential a need for people to recognize

the hand of God in this free land. He urged us to get involved

in a new movement, to pray to God for the protection and

preservation of this country, He made it sound urgent.

We remember the promise and warning from the Book

of Mormon that this echoes.

We will begin together here in the Warner household

to add, in a more pointed and deliberate way,

prayers for the preservation of this country, for the emergence

of leaders who will be more righteous and recognize God's

hand in the creation and preservation of this land of the free.

Our lamps have been filled in a tremendous measure.

Elder Warner and His Celestial Chariots

Above is Elder Warner's mission newsletter advice page,

with his newly-minted "Celestial Chariots" logo.

It is a great example of his "different drummer" approach

 to his job, which is the topic of this week's blog post.

 We understood when the call came

with this mission office assignment that he would be functioning

as the vehicle coordinator. He was confident that his experiences

in his professional career would assist him to do this work.

But before I speak about those activities, I want

to share what greeted us after our Sunday meetings

today at the Canterbury/Concord Stake.

 My first impression was that the autumn nymphs had

whisked in while no one was looking and decorated

our mission vehicle. Magical!

 And while I'm on the topic, I'll share this fallen branch

of oak leaves encountered on my walking route.

Vince has lamented that we haven't seen many

brightly colored oak leaves among all the other 

colored foliage, but now they begin to appear.

And here is one that represents so many million others:

it is as if this little leafy lass stepped in front of her

looking glass and tried to decide whether to put on

her orange frock or her yellow, and ended up

with this lovely watercolor fusion.

And now, I'll return to Vince's experiences here.

It is true that his professional work has been valuable here,

 but I'm not sure he enjoys the tedious record-

 keeping portions. As with most things, he immediately

let "his thinker think" and came up with some humorous ways

to explain, present, describe and deal with the mission fleet.

That's how "Celestial Chariots" reference came about.

Here is Elder Warner getting up earlier than he did before

retirement, and putting on shirt and tie to serve

another day in the NHMM office.

This image also serves as a reminder of our transition

back to apartment living, after so many decades

living in a home we owned or were buying.

One of Vince's big responsibilities as he helps

manage the fleet of approx. 70 cars across the three

states in our mission is to monitor and make sure

that the TIWI driver feedback systems are installed

in each new vehicle that comes in to replace

those that are retired. Here he is doing the installation.

 He often explains how important is his interaction with

the young missionaries, and that he loves that part of his day work.

Here he is addressing the followup training group of

new missionaries and their training companions,

along with some of the seniors as well.

He is explaining what he needs them to report,

what to send in, how to fill in the forms, his deadlines,

and more. (This is a still pic, but those who know him

can imagine him swaying and bobbing in his

characteristic way as he speaks.)

I've used this picture before. I include it again because

it represents what Elder Warner is always doing to serve

the missionaries here. That Sunday he was called away

from our regular church attendance to change out a car

that was experiencing trouble and threatening break down.

In the past week, as an example, he has driven up into Maine

to pick up an "extra" car, stopped on the way to re-install

a TIWI in the Portsmouth sisters' vehicle 

(Sisters Hernandez and Aquino), continued on to Auburn

to deliver the "extra" car to Elders Tefan and Crawford.

Then he drove back in a rainy downpour in limited 

visibility to get us home at around 9 p.m.

 As part of our office routine, we have the privilege

of seeing the missionaries in the office areas

who drop in to pick up mail, do their planning together

using the meetinghouse WIFI internet, and often they do

service that we may need. Here is Elder McBride

(trainee) and his trainer Elder Rice. 
Elder Rice has been assigned to the Bedford area
since we arrived in June.

He knows his way around cars better than Vince,

and has helped him understand how to install the TIWI.

A huge blessing and light in our lives.

We always love to be with the young missionaries,

and we look for opportunities to take them to dinner.

Since our apartment is not really large enough to

entertain, and is rarely in their teaching areas,

we go out to dinner. Yesterday, we treated these

the Manchester Hermanas (teaching in Spanish),

Sister Chesley (from Boise) and Sister Hodson

(from Kansas City, MO) to dinner and ice cream

at one of the Blake's Restaurant locations.

Vince has always tried to find ways to make everything

he does a little more fun. When he realized that

we would have access to the meetinghouse gym

every day, he ordered badminton equipment online

(extremely cheap stuff) and we play our version of it

(without a net or court lines) several times each week

during our lunch break. It's fun and it's exercise.

 He also ordered a set of lawn bowling balls

(which he calls bocci ball) and we have tried to play

that on the green apartment lawn, too.

Here he is, on the back meetinghouse lawn at

the Canterbury ward after a combined wards

activity, playing with the Concord threesome 

(Elders Peterson, Pitcher, and Buchanan) and

the Canterbury companionship Sisters Johnson and Bell.

Vince is also on the lookout non-stop for fun area outings.

Here we are near the top of the Uncanoonuc hiking trail

near Goffstown, where we have hiked twice.

Very rocky and rooty and rather steep. Elder Warner

loves maps and enjoyed plotting which trail we would take

and where we would expect to see a vista of Manchester

or a long view toward Boston.

 This is another stop on that trail.

The first time we hiked, the clouds were very low

and we didn't see much in the way of long views.

On our days off, or during more relaxed time away

from duties at the Mission Office, Vince is often

sacrificing his own time and convenience to

make our changed circumstances seem more comfortable.

Here he is patiently cooking our favorite Sunday meal

of teriyaki steak on a small Foreman grill on the deck

of our apartment. (He's good at cooking it, even this way.)

Vince loves the ocean, and so we have worked a few

ocean destinations into his routine long-range errands

that involve vehicle switches, maintenance and more.

This location is the Portland Lighthouse in NH.

Elder Warner apparently has a life's mission to make sure

that I am comfortable and happy. He understands that

serving this mission is something that may be

more important to his life goals than for mine, and

that I consciously left behind things and people I love

to be able to serve with him here.

He is constantly filling my lamp, and prompting me

to notice things and stretch and love the service.

He is a good and valuable man, and I'm a lucky girl!

Forty years of good luck!

Every Common Bush Afire

I open this post with vibrant autumn foliage bush

at the crossroads that lead to Woodstock, Vermont - 

one of my favorite small towns in New England.

(professional photo)

The colors of Fall will be woven into these posts for

at least the next few weeks. After all, crowds here

are paying hundreds of dollars to travel and visit

to see the incredible spectacle.

As part of his message for last month's mission newsletter,

Pres. Hyde of the NHMM presidency, built his message

around this verse by Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God,

But only he who sees takes off his shoes.

This scene, above, is also close to Woodstock, and is

representative of the views that burst at every turn.

In fact, this past week as we traveled again to Sharon, Vermont

 for followup training (paired this time with a day 
of service at the Monument site and an overnight stay)

the drive on I-89 was a veritable symphony through the window glass

 at 65 mph, and the sad thing was, we could not stop to

catch the panorama in a photo. Deep red, orange, bright yellow,

many trees making the blend from residual green to

autumn beauty - and no cola-colored sunglasses needed now!

The day of service was overcast, threatening rain,

but the blessing of no rain held til the next day.

It made for subdued scenery, but slightly less intensity

which is not always a bad thing for photography.

Hope you can see the beauty regardless.

This rustic scene that includes one of my favorite subjects

is on Dairy Hill Road that leads up to LDS Lane and

the Monument.

For the past 3-4 weeks now, I have been giddy at the prospect

of foliage season. 

NOW they are beautiful EVERYWHERE!

I began gathering what I considered

beautiful leaves in every outdoor venue

in which we found ourselves.

Some were found walking near our apartment.

Some were gathered on the Incline Trail in Goffstown

that we have hiked twice to get high enough "to see

Manchester, with Boston in the far distance." 

(Couldn't really see Boston, of course.)

A couple were discovered in Concord, Massachusetts,

near the Old North Bridge or on the village green. 

I was enthralled with all,

and determined on a way to try to preserve and share.

I explored one possibility of encasing pressed specimens

in the 8 mil lamination pockets available at our Staples store.

Some sealed better than others, but at least

it was something. (The copy center clerks commented

more than once on my project, but were kind about

what probably seemed a little quirky.)

Son Riley, the recipient of this one, sent me back a text pic

to show me that he had received it and to say 'thank you'.

His message included a one-sentence report to tell me

that he and Amy had taken a trip into American Fork

canyon near our home to view that autumn foliage.

Yes, we know that Utah's Fall color can hold up

to all comparison, and it was a pleasant reminder.

Nevertheless, we are here in New Hampshire,

and I am extolling beauties new and present.

This following picture is of a PINK wild 'toadstool'

in the foothill forest surrounding Goffstown.

It was a wonderful surprise, and at first glance,

I thought it was a piece of China-plastic litter.

(Amazing that God's creation can even DO

bubblegum pink shiny botanical!)

I'll wrap up with a few more 'savable' images,

as I use this blog as a journal of sorts.

Here is the 'far' image of a maple leaf branch.

And here a closer view. Leaf color is unique between

the various species of trees, varies from maple

to maple, and even widely varied within a single tree.

(I have a manuscript rumbling around in my head

that may end up sometime being put into print as

"The Parable of the Colored Leaves".)

 The oak trees are slower to turn, so I was pleased

to see and capture this low, branch end cluster of

round lobe oak leaves. Gorgeous.

What a blessing that God can paint the world this way!

 Many of the photos in my phone look more like this:

an isolated leaf, full of color, but also showing

the signs of wear from a summer's worth of work.

Vince thinks I'm just a little silly about singling them out,

but I do love the contrast with a background like this asphalt.

He's probably right - but I'll keep my shutter clicking!

Lots of ways to enjoy this wonderful world that has

been given to us as mortal children of our Heavenly Father.

A mental comparison bleeped across my consciousness recently - 

rejoicing at single leaves as I am may be like seeking lower floor

'practice' room hallways to listen to scales and arpeggios and 

warm up exercises, when just upstairs in the central concert hall

an accomplished soprano (in the guise of a forest of color)

 is nailing a Carmen aria!

One at a time, or by the millions, the beauty of October here

continues to fill my lamp during every daylight moment.