Hello to all our friends and family!
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| 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.
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.
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Local nursery
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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
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