Posted by Wayne Leake on September 15, 1997 at 17:29:17:
In Reply to: Beaverdam/Ashland posted by SWT on June 17, 1997 at 08:57:00:
: I served in the Bearverdam/Ashland area back in 1987. When
: I served there, I lived with a member of the Beaverdam Branch.
: His name was Brother Jon Deaner. Does any one know if
: the missionaries are still living with brother Deaner in
: this area, or for that matter if Brother Deaner is still
: alive? He must have been in his mid sixtees back in 1987, and
: at that time, he worked about 10 hour days running a skidder in
: the lumber industry (i.e., his health was real good since he was
: such a hard working man)
Brother Dehner (note spelling) is alive and well in the Scotchtown Ward.
I am the High Councilman working with the ward. Brother Dehner greets
everyone each week as they come in. The ward has an average attendance
of about 180 each week now. We are growing, and plan to add the third
phase onto the building, starting in about March 1998. The old Beaverdam
Branch building was sold by the Church Buildings Department and was converted
into a residence. The ninth annual Scotchtown Pig Roast was held this past
Saturday, with about 150 in attendance. We just baptized an attorney from Louisa this past Sunday.
He should be a considerable strength in both spirit and leadership.
Also, for your information, we have an interesting model in effect -- the "Ammon
Model" -- the idea being that our missionaries seek out (with member assistance)
opportunities for service to less active members and non-members in order
to achieve the same results that Ammon did -- to serve, and then teach. It
has been a great blessing in this area, and, as I understand, is being monitored
by the Council of the Twelve as a possible model for missionary work in the
US in the future. The structure has been changed to accommodate this model --
(1) all stake missionaries were released (2) the zones were changes to exactly
equal a stake (3) the zone leaders serve as de facto assistants to the Stake
President (4) local missionaries serve as de facto assistants to the Elders
Quorum President (but still correlate with the Ward Mission Leader). Through
this model, teaching appointments, baptisms, referrals, etc. generally have
doubled over the results we were having previously.
Email me back if you want any additional information concerning the ward.