We had another great week here in New Hampshire! It was nice to spend a couple of days with Kent and Becky before they went off to do some exploring on their own. While they were here we enjoyed getting to know them after being apart for so many years. It was nice to hear about the wonderful things that their children are doing and to hear about the various projects they are working on. As I have said many times--retirement isn't for wimps! On Monday we took them to Rhode Island and shared the beautiful island in the bay, Newport. For dinner we stopped in downtown Boston and they enjoyed Indian food and Scott and I feasted on Philly cheese-steaks at Quincy Market. On Tuesday we stayed closer to home and enjoyed visiting the cemeteries where many of Scott and Kent's ancestors were buried. On Wednesday we headed back to work and hit the road running because we had so much document prep done that we moved right into the camera work and got a substantial amount of pictures taken--I think we have "gotten our groove back!" On Thursday the director of the archives came in and told us he had just gotten a call from the New Hampshire Secretary of State wanting to know who the Duncan's are. He explained why we were at the archives and what we were doing. Then she asked him to please thank us for the generous donation to the food bank that we had made. The whole time he was telling us this I was a nervous wreck thinking that she wanted us to not be here! The day before one of our co-workers had asked if we would be interested in contributing to the food bank program with either a $5.00 donation of some non perishable items. We decided to give money instead and apparently we gave much more than they had expected--thus the phone call. After Brian left from telling us about the call, the hymn we sing kept going through my head--Because I Have Been Given Much!
We didn't have any trick-or-treaters this year but the highlight of our night was going to bed knowing that we got to "fall-back" which meant an extra hour of sleep this morning. I definitely took advantage of that extra hour. I know a lot of people don't like the time change but I am not one of them. I even like springing forward when it comes because the daylight is longer. Once we are back home and not working every day at the archives it won't matter as much I am sure. I am waiting for a few more pictures of our grandkids in their costumes and then will be posting our Costume Parade on the blog. The sneak preview I have gotten so far look really impressive! For our Halloween we made a trip back down to the Boston area to Quincy, Massachusetts. I had read that some members of the Church had come to visit the Northeast and attend a wedding in the area. They had some extra time so they visited the homesteads of John and John Quincy Adams. While there one of the guides asked them where they were from and when they said Utah he told them that they may be interested in one of the books that was on a table in the library built by their house to hold John and John Quincy's book collections. It was a Book of Mormon given to the family printed in 1841 and Joseph Smith had signed the inside cover of the book. The outside had Emma Smith written in gold leaf. Once I read that, we had to go, and it was a great place to visit. Quincy is very proud of their presidents and well they should be. We first visited the Visitors Center in down town Quincy where we watched a movie about both of the Presidents and then we boarded a trolley that took us to the birth place of John and John Quincy and then the home they lived in most of their remaining years. It was a farm they named Peace Field and as you come through the gates you see a sign that read, "It is but the farm of a patriot." The homes were all period correct and in the Peace Field home much of the furniture was the original that was bought by the family over the years. Very nice and really interesting experience. The highlight for both of us was entering the library. There were over 12,000 books in this building that was built by their family to house the book collection. It is built with granite walls and a porcelain ceiling so that fire wouldn't damage their books. In the middle of this huge room was a table where they had put on display their most rare books and sitting on that table was the Book of Mormon. Needless, to say we were both very touched and especially when the guide started telling everyone about the Book of Mormon and passed around pictures of the book, the signature of Joseph Smith, and the gold leaf of Emma Smith's name. It was in excellent condition and truly a gem in his collection. The day was wonderful and we were so glad to have had the opportunity to make the trip. Well that is the gist of week 61 as record preservation missionaries in New Hampshire. Each week is just a little bit better than the rest!
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