Celebrations and Rendezvous

Dear Friends and Family,

We started out by celebrating President's Day on Monday and ended by celebrating Farrell's 71st birthday today. He was pretty excited to wear the new "salmon" tie that he picked out. Our son Aaron and his wife HaLee & family sent him a cute bag of Chews The Right taffy from St. George UT. He appreciated all the cards and well wishes. It was fun to talk and get messages from family today. Farrell didn't want to buy anything special but finally decided last night to go grab some cake and ice cream from the local store. Luckily Kitty tasted it and said it wasn't worth the calories:) 

More items were taken from the Brayton Building last week including parts of the gym floor. It looks like someone traced a pattern and cut it right out. The floor was floating, which made it somewhat easier. We are thrilled it found a good home. We think it is going to the theater group that took the drapes and choir seats. The organ and piano were finally moved to their new home in another ward building. We go over every few days to count parking spots, photograph activity, and keep an eye on the building. We welcomed a couple more of the Westland team who just arrived. We found them exploring the parking lot.

Tuesdays are always busy with construction meetings -- owner (the church), architect, and general contractor. Kitty also submitted a Sealaska Shareholder Resolution and was able to present it during a Zoom Q&A taking place in Juneau that afternoon. Her great-grandmother was born in Wrangell AK, and she is 1/8 Tlingit Alaskan Native and inherited Sealaska stock from her mother & grandmother. Hopefully, they will look into the proposed resolution, as they said. It was wonderful for her to work at the Temple again that evening. She loves the people there and especially the Spirit in the House of the Lord. 

It is really important to have enough parking for the current temple. Believe me, we have counted them many times. Unfortunately, snow and ice bury the parking lines, so it isn't as efficient as everyone would like. On Wednesday Westland Construction started putting up their construction fence. They have been working hard to remove the excess 10-15 feet of snow piled up with huge equipment to begin construction. They officially take over the site tomorrow (Monday). 

We attended the Anchorage Alaska Zone Conference (south and north zones) most of the day on Wednesday and then had a delicious luncheon. It's always fun to see all the missionaries and feel their enthusiasm and goodness. We met with the "elder" Elder Parks and the other service missionaries in a breakout session. His son, the younger Elder Parks, is the Area Authority Seventy we spoke with last week at the Brayton Building:) We also enjoyed visiting with Elder Howell, a service missionary who has also been helping recently at the Brayton Building. His dad, Brother Howell, works as the Facilities Manager for the Anchorage Alaska Temple and he will also be the construction site manager for the new temple.

The power went out at around 11 p.m. on Wednesday evening during a ferocious wind storm and didn't go back on until about 2 p.m. on Thursday. We planned to attend the temple on Thursday, but since the power was out most of the day it was closed. The power went out again on Friday evening during a session. There was backup power at the temple, but it was very limited, so they were unable to finish sessions and everyone had to leave. The Howell's compassionately brought over some wood for us from their camping supply on Thursday so we were able to try out the fireplace for the first time and warm up. We do have a gas stove, so we had hot food. We are so glad we do not have to heat, cook, and wash using wood. The power outage affected a large part of Anchorage. Everything around us ground to a halt. It occurred to us that they built the entire Salt Lake Temple using wood for fuel. We are definitely spoiled with all our modern conveniences. 

We had a fun P-Day Saturday spent with several other senior missionary couples at the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous, Fur Rondy, or just Rondy for short. First, we parked at the Institute Building, donned our warm clothes, and walked a couple blocks to the Chester Creek Trail to watch the 26-mile Open World Championship Sled Dog Races. The dogs move fast and amazingly make almost no noise. Then we walked back to the Institute for a pancake breakfast with bacon, eggs, milk, juice, and homemade raspberry jam.

Next, we drove by the carnival with all the rides in the snow - never seen that one before. The wind chill must be substantial on some of those rides. 

We parked and walked up the hill to the Outhouse Races in downtown Anchorage. (Yes, they are built to mimic the real thing and are mounted on skis.) The racetrack is about a block long. Lots of folks wearing fur and lots of furry dogs in tow. Probably won't do this one again. Watching the assortment of people was the fun part. Bob Ross's team & Tree are shown racing.

After that we walked back to our cars (on the usual glare ice) and drove over to the Alaska State Snow Sculpture Championship. They were still working on the sculptures and it was interesting to watch. They all start out with a huge square of compressed snow. President Smith in our ward is the first counselor in the mission presidency over service. He told us today that the winners last year, Brother Coffee & Brother Best, local ward members, are the ones working on Rapunzel. The additional height was added by hand with a pole in the middle for support. It looks very promising for them to win again this year. Not sure how they work so long in the cold. We ran into the missionaries while we were there - they work in the area. I asked Pres. Smith what he thought about letting them make a sculpture of the new Anchorage AK Temple next year. He said it takes up too much of their time. A team works on them for days. The missionaries deal with many homeless people in that downtown area. Apparently, they are there because some housing is provided to keep them from freezing in the winter. Most have serious drug problems (fentanyl). In the summer they move out into the area where the snow sculptures are now to form a tent city.

After a day at the Fur Rondy, we were all worn out and missed the Fur Auction, Grand Parade, Snowshoe Softball Tournament, Frostbite Footrace, Blanket Toss, Rondy Ice Bowling, Running of the Reindeer, and Fireworks Extravaganza, but there is always next year!

We had more snow storms this week bringing our total in Anchorage to 121 inches so far this winter. That is less than half what Park City gets but it sure seems like a lot when the streets never really get fully plowed and form hardpack ice. It is beautiful to look at.

We love you and pray you feel God's love for you. Our Savior lives and we are so grateful to be in His service. #ThinkCelestial

Love, Elder & Sister Badger