Traveling Toward Healing

My plans were to have a very different post this week

regarding an important step being taken by a wonderful,

new friend of ours here in New Hampshire. 

World-wide and local reactions to

the Corona-virus epidemic have changed those plans.

Instead, I will log in a short post to document the exceptional

week that it has been, otherwise a small blip or side note. 

By mid-December of 2019, I was noticing the return

of oral symptoms which indicated a reversal of a previous 

"miraculous" blessing allowing us to begin our mission on time.

A visit to a local oral surgeon confirmed it, and while treatment

was possible here in New Hampshire, of course, consultation

with my wonderful dental and oral surgeon team in Utah

convinced me it was best to travel back for quick treatment.

So we made flight arrangements out of Boston's Logan airport,

and opted to take a very convenient Boston Express

shuttle bus from a transit hub 12 minutes from our apartment

in north Londonderry (Exit 5).

 Our arrangements were on JetBlue (first timers) with

a flight that arrived at Salt Lake International at 11:55 p.m.

on Wednesday night. (Our return was slated for 11:59 p.m.

on Friday - October 13th, adjusted by JetBlue to 12 midnight.)

 An open Thursday morning and noon gave us a chance to visit

with each of our sons, then I checked in with my exceptional

dentist Daniel Harris who, according to his thoughtful . . . 

. . . and creative plan, severed my very long dental bridge between

the back two anchor molars so that the infected tooth could be

removed. Dr. Harris is part of Jordan River Dental office.

So with the first step completed, I went across campus . . .

. . . to the office of oral surgeon Dr. Kyle Christensen . . .

. . .where I was invited to sit comfortably with nitrous flowing

into my receptive blood stream . . . 

. . . until he would complete the extraction and bone graft,

and stitch me up to begin healing.

Dr. Christensen is the principal at

Wasatch Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and has

completed previous implants for me.

The two doctors are working together on a plan that will

guarantee me the best long term outcome.

This all sounds very straight forward, and essentially it was.

However, with all the COVID-19 concerns, my lingering

chest/head cold (including a cough) was bound to turn some heads.

I had called both dental offices before leaving New Hampshire

to make sure they would still see and treat me. But I had lingering

concerns about being semi-prone and having the need

to cough ramp up. It was a blessing that my cough was very much

controlled, during both flights, and during both procedures.

Of material assistance was Sister Matkin's willingness to loan

their warm vaporizer to help me recover and sleep at nights.

(She helpfully suggested that I could pack it - and I did:

here it is on my hotel night stand.)

The only "bump" in our experience was an unassociated physician

appointment that I had set up so that I could get a different

medication's effectiveness checked with my regular doctor

while in my home area. When I reported at the front desk,

the receptionist asked me about any cold or flu symptoms,

and I honestly said she could hear my laryngitis when I spoke.

I assured her that the cold had started before there were any

COVID cases reported in New Hampshire. I had never had a fever,

and this was a simple head cold. She handed me a mask,

and told me to reschedule - which I could not do.

It was a bit of a shock that as someone who was ill, 

I couldn't get help from a physician.

Since we have returned, Jordan River Dental has notified

their patients by email that if cold or flu symptoms exist, patients

should call to reschedule. 

I guess everyone is trying to help the effort.

To wrap things up, I will note how grateful I am for mission rules

that allowed me to travel home for this dental work, for excellent

and caring dental professionals who helped me, for the inventor

of lidocaine which allowed me to feel no pain during the procedure.

My lamp was filled by fellow missionary Sarah whose steamer

helped me both here and there, by family who cheered me

and surrounded me with their love as we chatted together and

encouraged each other in these difficult times.

Friend Andrea lifted her lamp for me as her positive attitude 

in the face of a dramatic change of baptism plans came 

with the words: It's all good. He has a plan for everything.

He knows what he is doing. . .

Now hopefully, as things continue to evolve in this virus crisis,

we can all work together, and with Heaven's help, perhaps

make it through the roadblocks on this road to healing.

Song of the Heart and A Prayer

Of course, I'm paraphrasing a lovely modern-day scripture here:

" . . .[a] song of the heart . . . is a prayer unto me . . ."

(from Doctrine & Covenants 25:12). And that song in my heart

is corollary to my experiences preparing and performing

as accompanist with lovely Nora today in church.

But first, a weather report:

 The feeling of spring is in the air, and with the change to

daylight savings time, we found a few minutes to go for a walk

on the rail trail this late afternoon. I asked Vince to take

a shot of this "vintage" direction post on the rail trail

(W is for Warner, after all) and a neighborly golden retriever

also on a walk with her owner couldn't stay away!

 This sign marker on the trail has been under the snow

for a couple months til recently, and . . . 

. . . this is what is left of the wonderful snowy trail

that we had hoped to enjoy much longer.

That forecast back in late November saying the heavy

10" of snowfall so very early in the season was a signal

that it would be a mild winter (seemed so upside down

in logic to me) has proved to be true.

Here, below, is one of the water seeps through the rocky

walls on one section of the trail that escapes through

the layers, hits the air and still meets cold enough temps

to turn to ice. Wish you could hear the tuneful trickle!

Back to my musical blessing: This is Nora Sansoucie who is

a member of the Canterbury Ward, recently returned from

college in the West. Opportunities for vocal training have

come her way in earlier secondary school situations

and she has developed a very lovely voice and vocal

presentation. It was my pleasure and opportunity to be

her accompanist for a Katie Bastian arrangement of

Emma Lou Thayne's "Where Can I Turn for Peace".

(Nora rocked her special musical number in sacrament

meeting today! Very moving and spirit-inviting.)

I've been thinking (as I often am) of my wonderful mother

Helen as we celebrated her Feb. 27th birthday,

who is responsible for my opportunities to learn and play piano.

She worked hard for her own musical opportunities

as a young adult, and was committed, probably from that time,

that her children would have a chance at music.

Here in this vintage '60s photo, below, are the three eldest

Glissmeyer children at the family piano.  One of my favorites!

(Jeff went on to excel at trombone and received college music

scholarship; I DID NOT really play the recorder, but spent

many hours in front of the black lacquer piano;

Elana - who literally is a "babe in arms" in this photo -

teaches and is an accomplished accompanist;

and Eric who came a few years later, has perhaps

the longest musical list of accomplishments, both vocal

and instrumental.)

Thanks also to Dad who paid for instruments & lessons!

I'd like to record an interesting aspect of my piano experience

here: the use of humidity stabilizers on the NE church pianos.

Here, below, you can see the fluid receptacle that is

connected to the upright in the Relief Society room, along

with the electrical plug. I was baffled by this when I first saw it,

and started to pay attention to all the pianos I got to "touch". 

 I noticed the chapel piano was also "plugged in" and

that brought to mind something I thought curious about

the new Lehi Stake Center chapel where we come from in Utah

An electrical outlet had been installed without apparent reason nearby.

(This one, below, is for the Manchester chapel baby grand.)

Perhaps the building designers have a standard for ALL

pianos, regardless of the region where they may be installed.

Here is the notice that has been somewhat casually but

intentionally posted on all the major pianos - instructions

to close up the top and key 'lids' completely.

When I asked, someone referred to the need to 

"humidify" the instruments so they would stay in tune!

NOW that seemed illogical in a place where, when we arrived,

EXCESS humidity was what we experienced.

A better explanation eventually was offered, vocalized by Michael

the paid piano tuner, here on assignment as a sub contractor

from New York state. I asked him about it, and he called it

"humidity stabilizer". I had just finished practicing on the chapel

piano the very cold day when he arrived, and when I stepped back

to ask another question, I found him on his back under

the baby grand, so I decided to check once he was gone.

Tubing!  and . . .

. . . electrical controls, and . . .

 . . . monitoring displays. Quite extensive and sophisticated.

Love it when those in charge CARE about the instruments!

Now I'll report about something else very special that has

filled my lamp in the past few weeks.

Pres. Beck has encouraged the Districts across the mission

to plan a group activity once per transfer period so these

wonderful missionaries can have some fun interactions

on their 'P' days. We stumbled on the information that

the Manchester/Bedford/Concord/Canterbury district

was planning a "bowling" activity, and we asked to tag along.

What we encountered was "candle pin" bowling, with

hand-sized balls (if you look closely you can see them

being held in one hand by many of the missionaries),

and narrow pins. You get three balls to throw per "turn",

and the pins are not "re-set" or cleared between throws.

Fallen pins are part of the "action" on subsequent throws.

No finger holes and very little spinning for effect.

We did not fare that well, but it was still a blast.

As we finished up, after taking these pics, I got a call

from son Cory, indicating that he was having a rough day

with his depression and associated darkness. He asked

that we pray for him - so I texted these wonderful young

missionaries, and they all said they would pray as well.

(Thanks so much to Elders Johnson, Pace; Sisters Parry,

Drollinger, Semadeni, Ladle, Throckmorton and Linford;

and Elders Beckstrand and White.)

But then they electronically huddled (I guess) and put

together a boxful of things that make them feel better,

to send off to Cory!

Above, Hermanas Ladle and Throckmorton

arrived in the office to ask if I could provide Cory's

mailing address.

I hope it filled Cory's lamp as much as it did mine!

And one final topic: the Annual Mission History.

As Mission Recorder, this is one of my responsibilities.

The handbook shown here explains that preparing and

collecting these histories helps us fulfill a commandment

recorded in D&C 69:3, 5 to continue in writing and making

a history . . . and to report . . . our stewardships.

 This effort points out something we encounter daily:

the transient nature of our volunteer temp work.

The first half of 2019 on which I reported I was NOT here.

So I do what I can for that part, then do my

diligent best on the rest I was here for.

The 2020 history will be prepared and submitted by

my replacement -- though I will try to have much of it ready.

Here is the 2.5" stack of sheets on President Beck's desk

waiting for his signature when he arrives Monday morning,

well ahead of my March 31st deadline. Whooohooo!

More oil in my lamp from mother Helen who taught me to write

and report, and to daughter Kenzie who showed me how to use

the graphic arts programs I used to compose many of the pages.

Richly blessed again, and ready to take

our light on the road this week!

Report Me All Well

We have passed the halfway point of our 18 month

mission. Some of it has gone by in a blurr.

Sister missionaries in our "flight group" are likewise marking

specific dates this past week as their "hump day" -

or at least their loving mothers are doing so on Facebook.

Mission car registration deadlines took us into mid-Maine

on Monday and Tuesday. A highlight was our visit to

the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath where this corporate 

large painting hangs. It commemorates the passing of two 

sailing ships around Cape Horn, and is the work of sailor-painter

Charles Robert Patterson (1932-33). The W.R. Grace has

hoisted the signal flags BQD, meaning "report me all well."

Quoting from the description plaque:

"The ship is shown northbound in the Pacific, passing another

vessel. In the days before radio, it was common for

vessels passing closely at sea to identify themselves

and ask to be reported, not knowing which vessel would

make port first."

In the spirit of this painting, please consider us as having

hoisted our BQD signal flags: report us all well!

* * * * *

Another busy transfer week has passed, which means we

once again had an opportunity to travel south to Concord, MA

to the Old North Bridge, and then to the historic Colonial Inn

to share and feast with the departing young Elder(s) and Sisters.

About the sixth time we have had the pleasure of being served

by James who has worked at the Colonial Inn for 17 years.

I asked if we could have a picture with him, so that when I see

his friendly smile, I recall also his wonderful New England accent.

(As things turned out with COVID restrictions, this would be

our final time to associate with James!)

It was a beautiful though chilly night, and picturesque.

Elder Warner's mission business in Maine took us 2.25 hours

north to Brunswick, where the car being driven by these two

wonderful young ladies, Sisters Gaunt (from England)

and Niepraschk (from San Franscisco area), has NH

registration. Expiration dates at end of February means

the car has to physically be driven into NH (Sanford, approx.

2 hours away) to be safety inspected and renewed.

 While Elder Warner drove the mission car west,

I was transportation for the Sisters to a (cancelled)

teaching appointment, to the Brunswick library,

and then to lunch. They were so much fun and our

conversation so enjoyable, I could have stayed for hours!

By early evening, we had reunited and driven north to 

Bath (the City of Ships). I'll write more another time about 

the interesting New England town names which recall

England heritage from settlers in those early colonial days.

Vince stepped "outside of HIS box" and reserved a historic

home B&B for our first experience with this type lodging.

This is the Benjamin F. Packard House, built in 1790 by someone else,

and later purchased in mid-19th century by Packard, a shipwright

and maritime business owner and bank founder.

Our short stay was very enjoyable, with friendly interaction with

hosts Amy and Michael, and a delicious breakfast of baked

blueberry "donuts" (more like muffins in ring shape), fresh fruit,

spinach and cheese puff with poached egg. YUM!

It was "fat Tuesday" the day we were there.

This shot of our "economical" room through the doorway does

NOT show the wash facilities, which only had a stand-up shower.

In other words: we did NOT have a bath in Bath.

After our "old man nap", we walked four blocks into town

near the Kennebec River bank to eat here at J.R. Maxwell

& Co. restaurant. We were seated in this lovely brick-walled

room on the street. I loved the "Elliot House" sign, because

I had been thinking about Jane Austen's Persuasion all day.

In this tall ships & seacoast town, Ann Elliot was on my mind!

 Next day we walked again along the river front where

the occasional floating ice pieces were moving upstream --

because the tide was coming in from the ocean a few miles

further down river, to the right in this picture.

This walkway graphic shows the historic harbor outline

along with the redline of how the inhabitants have added

"land mass" beyond the original quais and beaches.

 At last, we made it to the Maine Maritime Museum.

February cold weather had closed all of the outside 

exhibits (rats!) but we were able to get close enough to

shoot this wonderful "yard" sculpture of the Wyoming,

the largest six-masted schooner ever built (1909) that sailed 

out of Bath. 

Here is the shot from across the street, so that its scale

of 450 feet-in-length can be visualized a little better. 

The museum's outer buildings show some of the trades

and production facilities that were needed to create

sailing vessels like this one.

I really enjoyed learning about so many new-to-me

things, and this descriptive plaque sums up so much!

 Inside the museum, we looked at model ships and "half-hull"

models which were prepared in small scale, and then used as

directly transferred data to build the wooden hulls and fixtures.
(This is a model of the Wyoming - like the outside sculpture.)

 This picture shows the main hallway of the museum.

Galleries off to each side hosted separate exhibits about

light houses and keepers, the ice block industry of Maine, etc.

Our minds and understanding are always focused in

places we visit like this toward the woodworking aspects of

whatever is the subject at hand, because of son Cory's

interest and accomplishments in that arena.

 Both Vince and I shot this ship's carpenter tool box,

intending to text it home to Cory (Vince sent his first!)

Guaranteed to learn new things in a museum, of course.

The exhibit on the ice block industry before the days of

electricity and ready refrigeration was an eye-opener.

Entrepreneurs in Maine in those earlier times recognized

the resource they had - water and deep cold - and went to

work to develop an industry that cultivated thick ice,

fashioned the tools to prepare and harvest it as blocks,

created space to store it until the warmer summer months

when large cities to the south (such as New York and Boston)

would want their product, then industriously arranged what

was needed to move, organize, transport, ship and deliver it.

The owner of the largest venture even found clever ways

to manipulate the "supply & demand" principles to his

not-always-honest advantage. He was eventually released

from prison on his racketeering conviction due to poor health

he apparently self-inflicted by drinking toxic liquids.

This image is a historic photo (one of dozens I could have

included) showing someone slicing the ice sheet into blocks.

To conclude, I return to my time at the Brunswick

library, where I stumbled upon a wooden sculptures

exhibit by artist Blake Hendrickson.

 These caught my imagination - wouldn't it be fun

to try my hand at these! But then I read that the artist

has been building and creating these for 38 years.

I don't have time to get good at it - oh, well.

 This closeup shows some of the detail of the varied wood

findings and fixings that he used. I especially like

the sawed wood element near the right hand bottom -

looks like a fish!

 The sculptures were small and large!

 This one uses many discs cut from tree branches

with the design elements enhanced from growth rings . . .

. . . as can be more easily seen in this closeup.

Our lamp and life and imagination and understanding

have been richly filled this week by experiences here.

My heritage is tied to an ocean voyage from England in mid to late

nineteenth century, so I pay homage to shipwrights, business men,

visionaries, and laboring hands.

God bless those who see challenge as adventure.

He is blessing us every day!