Freedom Rings

Dear Friends and Family,

Beautiful sunset 11:24 PM

Farrell is writing this week:) There is nothing like the 4th of July with its celebrations that say mid-summer. Of course, if you are in Anchorage, that means mid 60's for daily highs and low 50's at night. While the rest of the country bakes, the Last Frontier folks (me) keep wearing sweatshirts and/or jackets. There are some who set that aside and wear real summer clothes. It makes us southern folks shiver a bit. The few fireworks we did see around midnight didn't look very impressive against a light sky.

L to R, Sisters Blakley, McKell, Badger,
Cox, Watanabe, & Newman

We had a July 4th gathering with other Sr. Missionaries and had the usual fare except for the BBQ part -- we don't have a grill, so the burgers came out of the oven. They were not nearly as good but the company was. We always hold these group events at our place of residence because it is a house with space for all. We spent several hours together talking about the 4th, our missionary assignments, people, food, but mostly families. Sister McKell's daughter is moving into our ward in Mapleton. Her and her new husband purchased Edeltraud Lawrence's home and are remodeling it. Sister McKell is from Spanish Fork, Utah. Small world!

Elders Newman, Blakley, Badger, & Cox

We added the Blakley's to the crowd who are assigned to the huge 64,213 acre JBER military base since the Kuerth's returned to Clinton, UT. We miss the Kuerth's who became good friends. The Blakley's are from Kansas and bring their own fun to the party. Elder Blakley can and does answer almost any question with a cowboy type poem. Where do these people get their memories for such things? What he didn't know was that Elder Newman had already set a high standard by quoting and writing some of his own.

Sisters Watanabe, Badger, & Newman
Kitty serves w. Sis.Watanabe at the Temple

We went to get our temple recommends renewed on Tuesday. Our ecclesiastical leader, while we are missionaries, is our mission president. We have seen him and associated with him several times but that is the first interview 9 months into our mission. It was good to talk with him. I told him I was expecting King Crab again for Christmas Dinner -- he smiled. He ate his share and if I had known at the time the rarity of such an event I would have more carefully followed his example.

My stomach had been hurting for a few weeks (not related to the crab subject). After that interview, I came home mid-morning and crawled in bed. I only got up that evening because of nausea and then went back to bed and stayed there until noon the next day. I went to the visitors' center to help Kitty out and then crawled back in bed. Early onset was a low grade fever and chills. Strangely, no headache, no sore throat, no cough or other symptoms. It is gone now including no sore stomach -- back to normal. The long onset duration is the strange part. Luckily Kitty was unaffected. She had her round of illness a couple of weeks earlier that lasted for at least two weeks. I missed that one. We have been sick several times since being here -- always long, usually respiratory. We have about decided that there is a whole different set of bugs up here. Not the insect type. On that topic we have been pleasantly surprised at the lack of objectional species here. An occasional very large mosquito accompanied by a much smaller one -- both undetectable by sound or feel.

Pink fuchsias nearby
at Bell's Nursery

In the midst of all the above, we continue to host a steady stream of visitors. Some come from around here but most come from the Lower 48. Some come to visit family but most are on vacation. Ages range the whole spectrum. We find it challenging when we are in the middle of talking to one family and then another group shows up we have to incorporate them into the discussion. Kitty and I  constantly coach each other after a day's work to make the visits better. We want to make them spiritual events and it seems in spite of our inadequacies, the visits are accompanied by a wonderful spirit. We know it is because we are on a sacred site talking about sacred subjects. Even the teenagers seem to pickup on it. Our biggest failing is to get off topic because they are on vacation in the wonderful state of Alaska. It is too easy to talk about the things to see and do. That is OK but after we discuss the spiritual & temple first.

On our way home from church today we drove by the temple site we noticed a car driving around in the parking lot. Being me and impressed to do so, I got out and went over to talk to them. They were hoping there was a visitors' center to bring their young family to. They had just come in from Austin the night before. That led to a sweet discussion. Very grateful that we met up. It wedged perfectly in between our church meetings and a monthly call with my siblings - Norm, Carolyn and Karla. I look forward to those calls. They have always been a strength and a social connection. In spite of their various trials, their faith and goodness continues.

The construction part of the temple build has slipped into a routine phase. It is exciting but also a little bit repetitious i.e. nothing new to see today. Many concrete forms going in. The day will come soon when there will be a BIG concrete pour. The milestone will be in about two weeks when they start stacking ICF blocks on the poured concrete walls. That will go on for a few months -- hopefully enough so that they can put the beginnings of the roof on and wrap the new building in plastic for the snow season.

Beautiful sky 10:07 PM

We couldn't let too much time pass without getting into a little trouble (again) on the site. I have had a lot of safety background and training but it doesn't always mesh perfectly with the requirements here. We and others have been restricted from certain areas because of the high level of activity -- long pieces of rebar being carried around, very heavy forms being lowered by crane, and forklifts moving all over. So we received clearance to hang out on one side by the excavated dirt piles to view/photograph the action. Seemed perfectly reasonable to climb the mound of packed dirt for a better view. It was flat on the top and we were even discussing bringing up some camp chairs to make it more comfortable. Later in the day, we discovered that our innocent activities had been reported. No, we cannot climb on the 12' tall dirt piles. Who do we think we are, kids? They are probably worried we could fall off one of the steep sides or get buried in dirt somehow. We appreciate them keeping us safe. 

I have been given permission to fly the drone to take site pictures (after I learn how to use it) so that should lead to some adventures. Kitty isn't really interested after having them fly all over our living room and she doesn't want to be responsible if it crashes. 

We hope you are all doing well. We know how life goes -- hope you are enjoying the joys and feel support in the sorrows. It is a good thing to know where to look for peace -- that is the Savior. #ThinkCelestial

All our love,

Elder & Sister Badger