Bird to Gird

Dear Family and Friends,

We are getting into a good routine. We still have two weekly meetings and a monthly meeting. Kitty, after getting a little frustrated, prayed, and received inspiration on how to more quickly label all the pictures we take for the project and our weekly reports. We are still learning and getting better organized. We really enjoy the workers and have had lots of visitors. We love to hear where they are from, why they are in Alaska, and about their families. Now that the weather is warmer we are trying to get outside more. Kitty walks over to the site most mornings. The crew had Saturday and Monday off for Memorial Day weekend. We are all trying to enjoy the few short months of warmer weather.

A wonderful couple in our ward went to the current Anchorage Temple and were sealed as a family this week. They have three cute boys. They all looked so happy afterward. It was fun to peak out of the visitors' center and see them taking pictures in front of the temple. We love the feeling of peace and that all will be well when we attend the temple. It gives us immense comfort to know Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and He is in the details of our lives. He wants us to get and stay on the covenant path and return to him and live with our families forever. Our Savior Jesus Christ made this all possible thru the atonement for our sins and his resurrection. He lives! I will forever be grateful to Him.

Since we drove up to Alaska last fall, we brought our bike hitch and ebikes. We enjoyed a long bike ride Saturday called the Bird to Gird. It was Kitty's first bike ride of the year. It made her homesick for her dear girlfriends back in Mapleton. We finally opened our bear spray that we bought at Costco in SLC and attached them to our bikes. We pray we never have to use them. We started at Indian Creek in Chugach State Park, passed thru Bird Point, and rode over 13 miles to the Girdwood turn off. That's 26 miles round trip with a 300 ft. elevation gain, so quite a few hills. 

Farrell wore a shirt, sweatshirt, and a raincoat to keep out the wind. Kitty wore an undershirt, wool shirt, down jacket, and wool neck gaiter. If you want to stay warm here silk, wool, and down are your friends. Sometimes she had to pull the neck gaiter over her ears, mouth, and nose to keep warm. She also had on bike shorts under her exercise pants and wore sunglasses which helped keeps the occasional flying bugs out of her eyes. Farrell only ate one bug. It was quite windy at times. It varied between nice and wish I had worn warmer gloves. We passed several groups of people on the trail. A few were in shorts and t-shirts! We also passed several baby bike trailers and families with children on bikes. We will definitely do this trail again.

Farrell equipped our helmets with 2-way speakers since we often need to go single file on most bike rides and it's hard to communicate. The batteries ran out about 3/4 of the way thru the ride. Kitty, of course, had to stop several times to take pictures. Farrell was worried that his bike battery would run out so he didn't wait for the last few pictures. Pushing a heavy ebike uphill is a real pain. Luckily no bear sightings today. It's not a problem right along the highway because of the noise, but much of the trail is off the road aways. Kitty wondered why someone had loud music disturbing the peace and then she remembered the bears. We may have to bring a battery charger. She wants to take pictures, but a phone playing music might be a safe idea. Then again, maybe we wouldn't hear someone trying to pass us.

There was some water running across the path in places with a few areas heaved from tree roots, but most of the trail was very nice. We had a good view of the mud flats on Turnagain Arm, lots of waterfalls, snow covered mountains, trees, green vegetation, and beautiful flowers. The Lupine was blooming and it smelled wonderful. Some say the sweet scent is reminiscent of grape soda. It was a good workout and we are only mildly sore today. 

We made it back in time to shower and make it to dinner & game night at the Swenson's. The company is always wonderful, with delicious food, and great stories. There were about twelve of us. Farrell isn't a game player, so he visited while the rest of us rotated between tables. We played Alaska Alaska and even though we left at about 9:15 it was still light out. The Swenson's have a huge garden divided between 48 rectangle pots. Food prices are high here and home grown is always wonderful.

Farrell raked twigs and mowed the lawn this week. A young man in our ward takes care of the lawn, but Farrell wanted the exercise and to get out in the yard. There are still some twigs on the front lawn and weeds are popping up in the beds, so we can still keep him busy. Farrell is keeping an eye on the strawberries and Nasturtium seeds he planted. He covered the two small square beds with plastic wrap and we can't tell if it's weeds or seeds growing yet. The cooler climate has changed what we usually grow. The ground takes a long time to heat up. Hot weather vegetables don't do well here in Anchorage. Root crops and cooler weather crops do great here like cabbage, carrots, radishes, potatoes, beets, and kale. 

We love the two hanging baskets on our front porch. The red fuchsia matches the front door and the blues and purples compliment the house. Kitty feels happy every time she sees them. We don't have automatic watering set up here, so hand watering is necessary. They don't need watering everyday like in Utah, but they wilt fast if they get too dry. Again, it's a bit of a learning curve. One gallon weighs a little over 8 pounds, so more exercise! The two gallon watering can in the shed had a big hole in it, so Farrell is going to pick up another one. So 17 pounds... That will be good exercise for him:)

We honor all those who gave their lives so we can enjoy the freedoms we have in this great country. We appreciate the freedom to worship God and meet in congregations every week. We enjoy the opportunity to express our ideas and travel freely. We enjoy so many freedoms. We wish we could tell each and every one of them, Thank You! Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. 

We hope you are enjoying the beauties of nature and know that our Heavenly Father loves you and hears and answers your prayers. Stay in touch. We want to hear what you are up to. #ThinkCelestial

Love, Elder & Sister Badger

Deep Trenches

Hello Friends and Family,

Another busy week! The civil contractor has been digging deep trenches, laying pipe and covering them back up. The water line trenches are about 12' deep with sloped sides to prevent cave-ins so the top of the trench is about 15' wide. That is a lot of dirt moving! One of the workers summed up his job by saying, yes, we dig holes and then cover them up:) They worked late on Thursday (7:30 p.m.) to finish up a section in anticipation of the big event the next day which was full water flow through the new line or blow out. We were in the temple Thurs. evening. The chandeliers were shaking from the big roller compactor in close vicinity finishing off the newly buried line. It didn't last long. Friday morning, the city inspectors were here to turn on the water. The contractor had laid down a large sheet of reinforced plastic to prevent erosion -- a bit too cold (50F) for a water slide. The water ran across the site and down the normal storm route along the side of Brayton Drive. All was successful and there were smiles all around.

9:56 p.m. Notice where the sun sets.

We took a little break Wednesday evening and drove a short 16 min. to the Flattop Mountain Overlook. We had never been there before due to the snow and the lower parking lot was still blocked with snow. It really gives you a feel for where you are.  Anchorage is very spread out. You can see water, a million trees, and downtown looks very small by comparison. We will definitely come back for some hikes with warm clothes, water, snacks, & bear spray.

We woke up Saturday morning wondering what was different -- it was quiet with no machinery running. Usually that is our alarm clock somewhere a little before 7 a.m. The successful test following a couple of weeks of hard work merited the break. It probably also gave the left over water a chance to sink and and dry up. They also take Memorial Day weekend off (and so will we).

Kempton Hills garage sale

We saw a sign about an garage sale on Saturday in an area close to our neighborhood called Kempton Hills. We heard thru the grapevine that this event was annual and huge. They were right. There were dozens of garage sales all over the area. Cars were parked in every available position including down our street. Their HOA provided several porta-potties and hand washing stations. Kids were on nearly every corner selling lemonade, candy, or snow cones.  Kitty bought a vase for $1 and six linen napkins for $2. It went from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. We tried to give away a clothes washer and two stands. Someone at least took one of the stands. Our neighbor said it used to be even bigger before online marketplaces came into existence.

Sister Watanabe,
Elder Parks, President Pace

We had the great opportunity Saturday evening to be taught by President Mark Pace who is the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Sunday School until Aug. 1. He has been a very busy man holding multiple meetings here. It was held over Zoom and the chapel was only about 3/4 full. It was an area meeting so covered from Juneau to Whitehorse to Barrow. It was wonderful. He was very "down to earth" and taught some great things. Elder Parks (Area Authority Seventy) presided. He lives here in Anchorage and we love hearing his counsel.

We learned a lot about the Sacrament. You would think after going to church most of our lives and taking the Sacrament there wouldn't be much to learn. This was about the spiritual meaning and difference between the bread and the water. The bread is about the choice we made in our pre-earth life to follow the Savior and come to earth. That decision resulted in the blessing of immortality for all mankind because of the Savior's Resurrection. The water is about redemption, the opportunity he gave us through his suffering to repent in our process of learning and growing in this mortal life. That brings us back to him. Those gems are great. 

The chapel emptied out after the meeting leaving just a few. We had the opportunity to visit with President Pace one-on-one for several minutes. We talked about our mission and he had a few questions about the new temple. Leola Bryant, Grandpa Badger's wife later in life was a Pace. Turns out she is only a distant relation.

After the meeting we met up with another senior missionary couple for dinner. We relished their company and finished up around 10:15 p.m. -- of course the sun hadn't set yet. Our first light is now at 3:43 a.m. and our last light is at 12:11 a.m.. Soon, those two will converge on a night with no darkness. Sunrise is at 5 a.m. and sunset is at 10:53 p.m.. That means that twilight on both ends lasts a long time. Summers are beautiful up here in Alaska. The long dark winters make the long sunny days even more precious. 

We continue to enjoy visitors to our center. One sweet lady had just come from the temple after performing baptisms for some of her immediate ancestors. She is 84 years old. She was very impressed by the experience. We were impressed an 84 yr. old could pull off 10 full immersion baptisms. She has only been a member of the church since last August. The two young Elder's who taught her got mixed up and knocked on the wrong door. The older we get the less we believe such things are coincidences. 

We had dinner Sunday with an extraordinary family. They are so welcoming, faithful, and inclusive. There were about 20 adults present including a daughter and son-in-law currently living in Mapleton UT. We told them about the reservoir and paved trail. They had two recent graduates from college (USU and BYU). Two announced they were expecting. One of those had just finished a triathlon. One non-relative (but friends of ours we see at the temple all the time) is from southern Italy. She learned English in the ESL program at BYU Provo where she met her husband and married. He is an endodontist. Lots of Utah dentists up here -- money is much better. Our host is also a dentist. They are all crazy pickleball players -- not casual but more at the competition level. What a talented group!

We love you and miss you! Keep in touch. #ThinkCelestial

Love, Elder & Sister Badger

A Taste of Spring

Hello to all our friends and family!

Sunset on Mother's Day

This busy week included a mission conference for the whole mission, which included all of Alaska and part of Canada. That takes some real work to bring all the missionaries in from the far distant reaches of the mission. It was presided over by Elder Bragg, the General Authority Seventy for the North America West Area. His wife, Sister Bragg, also spoke. Before the meeting they shook every missionary's hand along with the Mission President and his wife. Kitty put together part of the meal (10 lb. of chicken and rice for 50) to feed over 200 missionaries. The missionaries were asked to be seated 30 minutes ahead of time, sit quietly, and study. When she showed up at 8:15 they were already lining the halls ready to go in. Kitty was impressed. She attended the full event and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, a week or so ago while we were on the road, Farrell's eyes started to bother him. By Sunday he had full blown pink-eye -- didn't know adults could get that and have no idea where it came from. In an effort not to spread it around, he missed church and the mission conference. Can you imagine the whole mission coming down with it? We remember with our kids it was very contagious. He went to the temple construction site and took pictures. The problem resolved itself by Thursday with no doctor intervention. Kitty didn't get it. That's good because we had a Senior Missionary farewell dinner Friday night with a dear couple and sister heading home. They will of course be missed, but new missionaries to get to know have already started showing up. We love them all.

We thought we would do something a little bit different on this week's blog. See the video below, put together by the senior sister missionary who is heading home, Sister Currier. She is much younger than most of us. We had fun doing it. Hopefully it will be an inspiration to any senior couple wondering about serving a mission. Granted, this perspective is from the Anchorage Alaska Mission.

Senior Missionaries in the Anchorage Alaska Mission

We have had many visitors come by the Temple Visitors' Center. We learned that Friday was a good day to be there because many visitors stop by on their way to take cruises out of Seward, Alaska. We also learned that people will stop by after a temple session. It has been spiritually rewarding to visit about the new temple, show them a short video or two, and share testimonies of the temple. We have been a bit surprised at the strong witness of the Spirit during those visits.

It doesn't always go smooth on the construction site. We had a main 10" city water line that had to be repaired in a very cold snow storm. A section was cut out and replaced with new pipe. The workers were down in a hole up to their knees in freezing water and mud. They had a couple of hours to do the repair because the existing temple had no water. They finished in time. One of the workers told the others after this happened that we have to remember that this is a sacred site. He is not a member of our church. We have rarely seen people work so hard and with such efficiency as this crew. They start at 7 a.m., continue often until 6 p.m. or so, and eat on the run. We never see anyone standing around with nothing to do. They are amazing. We call them Our Heroes.

Local nursery

As many know, Farrell still has a horticultural bent. The weather is just warm enough here to think about it. We went and picked up some hanging baskets on Saturday. We put them out during the day and bring them in at night (37°F). He has also planted sweet peas and nasturtiums in the backyard beds. The strawberries will go in the ground when there is a break in the action this week. We have learned that the snow melts quick here. Everyone hits the ground running right after the snow melts. Crews are out picking up garbage. The nurseries were packed with people.

All of the northern lights this past week in the lower 48 availed nothing here. We had 100% cloud cover. People were sending in pictures of the Aurora Borealis from Kentucky, Utah, and many other places. Our neighbor on the corner of our cul-de-sac in Mapleton saw them. We have lived there for 30 years and not seen them in Utah. I only saw them once as a teenager in Minnesota in the evening at the Stake Center.

It's 9:53 p.m. here right now and the sun is shining thru the window behind the computer from the NW. It is still well above the horizon. Farrell loves it. We have over 17 hours a day of daylight this week. He loves waking up to the sun shining around the blackout curtains at 4:30 a.m. The birds are singing by 3:30 a.m. Kitty puts a pillow over her head until the alarm goes off at 7:30. She feels like a little kid complaining that she can't go to bed yet because it's still light out:) It's taking a bit of getting used to. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing women in our lives on both sides of the veil. We love you and pray you will find peace & joy in the Lord. #ThinkCelestial

Love always, Elder & Sister Badger

 

Welcome Visitors

Dear Friends and Family,

Daffodils blooming at Temple

Our Anchorage Alaska Temple Visitors' Center officially opened on Monday. We strung a double hose across the parking lot from the side of the current temple and power-washed the outside of the trailer. Then we hung up the welcome sign the Special Projects Department sent us last fall next to the entrance. The sewer was finally hooked up. They found a broken connection last week that had to be fixed. We downloaded commercial-free Tabernacle Choir music to play on the big screen along with numerous uplifting church videos we had already vetted. It's our new home away from home.

Badges

Farrell -

This was an week of organizing. We had our first on-site OAC (Owner, Architect, Contractor) meeting. The church is the owner -- we laugh because we are part of that group and our ID tags say "Owner" on them. The other owner rep here was Brad who is the project manager for the church. He has his hands full overseeing 3-4 temples at the same time. He is really our director/boss and we correspond with him often. He has an official helper, the site manager, Courtney who also takes care of the existing temple. The architect is FFKR out of SLC and they had Adam, the main architect for the project here. The contractor is Westland Construction of Orem with Josh, Creg, Curtis, Dalton, and Charley representing them. 

Visitors' Center trailer outside

There were several others on the video call like Kaylie the interior designer, Nick the landscape designer, and Russell the main design architect of the church. We find these meetings a bit hard to keep up with mainly because we don't deal with the details like everyone else does. The acronyms are numerous. Between the SFFFs, the RFIs, the CCDs, the submittals, etc. it is sometimes a maze. That last one is the equipment details the subcontractor turns in for approval by FFKR and Westland. It is a really big job for them to check all the numerous details.

Inside of Visitors' Center. Site manager's office in back.

The day after this event they had what is called a "pull" meeting. That is a technique for nailing down the timing and sequence of the entire build. All the subcontractors meet together and determine who does what, when, and what has to happen first. They use sticky notes (different colors for each trade) where they put them on a whiteboard with how long each step takes. Each contractor moves them around until all are satisfied. The building is divided into sectors for the build. This building has five areas. As they work each trade moves from one section to the next. It is quite an interesting process. According to the contractor, this building has a complex floor layout -- jogs. It is also hydro-heated so all that tubing has to be laid out in the floor before the concrete is poured.

Inside of  Visitors' Center. Lots of donations from Brayton Bldg.

The civil contractor has continued to move dirt around in a very organized fashion. We are very impressed with them. Brent is the supervisor with a long pointed beard and very friendly -- always calls me, Elder Badger. He is friends with our Stake Patriarch who is the controller for their company. They talk often about the doctrine of the church. 

Our office. View on left out to site, right view to current temple.

We expect major trenching activities to start this next week for all the deep buried lines. The old water line they removed, was over 12' deep. The excavator they have on site is one of the larger ones manufactured by CAT. It is needed for the deep reach.

Office w. corner double desks, monitors, fridge, & microwave.

Sister Badger was out on site one morning and I was in the Visitors' Center alone. The visitors showing up that morning kept me hopping. I'm finding that my technique needs a little fine tuning. It requires quick access to the technology to keep their interest. I have worked hard and long on that -- been buried in computer details. Kitty's computer had a major issue which took hours on line with the church service department to resolve after escalating twice. It is now working well. I have no idea how someone without a lot of computer background would handle this. Thank goodness for Google searches.

Greenhouse

We think Spring is here. Most days are upper 40s-low 50s. All the snow in our backyard here in Anchorage is gone. With that comes the desire to grow something. We toured the greenhouses in Wasilla on Saturday looking for hanging baskets -- two for the Visitors' Center entrance and two for the place we live. Fuchsias grow great here. In Utah they take careful tending. Nasturtiums are also a winner. We came back with a 6-pack of strawberries and sweet pea and nasturtium seeds. We will pick up four hanging baskets in a week (hour drive each way). 

View from a greenhouse in Wasilla 

Luckily we have a nice moderately sized backyard. I learned that bluegrass grows good here but you can't fertilize it too much or it gets overwhelmed with moss. I even discovered a jug of moss killer in our backyard shed.

The trees are just beginning to leaf out. The spruce trees that we said were nearly black are now green we assume because of the 16+ hours of daylight along with new "candle" tips and tons of pinecones. Time for lots of bike rides.

Have a glorious week. #ThinkCelestial

Love, Elder & Sister Badger