Maritime Climate

Dear Family & Friends,

Farrell writing this week ...

View on corner of Anchorage Alaska Temple property.

They tell us the rain comes in August and September here. It just poured for several days last week (about 3.25"). That is a lot of water for a desert boy. The new temple site had a good 6" of water on it but … no problem except for the mud because the center section where all the work is occurring is elevated enough that work continued without interruption. Of course the workers were dressed for rain. Someone told us the other day, the weather isn't the problem, it's just your clothes. I do think that is true -- at least in a cold climate. Warmest day of the year Saturday -- peaked out at 80F at least by the car thermometer. We have been feeling sorry for the folks in the lower 48. We had visitors from Yuma, AZ and I think they escaped 117F heat. The day they arrived here it was 53F. The perimeter concrete stub walls for the temple are continuing to go in. They painstakingly damp proof the exterior with a special emulsified black tar-like product overlaid with a plastic drain membrane covered in thick felt matting. They worked under a large sheet of plastic to pull that off in the rain.

We picked up the church Project Manager for the temple from the airport, on Monday. He is from Olympia, Washington and spends quite a bit of time on the road so we were happy to make life easy for him in any way we could. What surprised us is that he spent most of the day with us, including taking us out to lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed the visit and were able to help resolve a couple of issues that had been giving us considerable angst. We had been doing a lot of praying about them and he was the answer to those prayers. He is responsible for more than one temple and was on his way to Fairbanks to collect some information for that one. We dropped him back off at the airport mid afternoon. Fairbanks has its own challenges -- remote area, permafrost soil, supported by only two church units -- stakes (plus some very remote branches and or bush branch members) and other similar issues. Right now the Anchorage Alaska Temple is the northernmost LDS temple in the world. Once the Fairbanks Alaska Temple is built they will have that distinction. For the permafrost, they sink piles into the ground and actively keep them frozen. Buildings in Antarctica are supported the same way. He didn't share any dates, location or other information. It is interesting that the church has to decide where a new announced temple will be the most beneficial. It might be somewhere in South America or anywhere else in the world that takes preference for a time. 

The Church has developed some standard capacity based floorplans for temples to allow the 50+ temples to proceed. The Anchorage Alaska Temple is a 2-40 plan -- that is two marriage (sealing) rooms and two instruction rooms which have 40 seats each. Pioneer Temples (1800's) were all designed from scratch. The SLC Temple took 40 years to build and is now undergoing a major renovation. With modern equipment and designs, the standard is much different. Depending on the size and location, temples now are being built in a little under a year up to eight years (due to logistic or construction issues). Rome took eight years because after it was started the Church was not satisfied with the workmanship so shuffled the contractors and started over.

Blurry picture of Kitty with Merritt's.

Visitors to the visitors' center continue to come. Some days seem very busy while some are very quiet. What a joy it is to talk to them. All have stories to tell. Some of them may end up in our history book. The other thing we have had fun with is all the connections. Kitty's sister, Dawn, was married to Scott Norton who passed away in 2021. As we were cleaning up after Cookie Day, Kitty was casually talking to a couple with two children and learned the mother was from Alpine, UT. She asked them if they knew any Norton's. Simultaneously both parents said, "I am/she is a Norton!" It was like a family reunion the next instant. She was Dawn's niece and Kitty had attended Dawn's wedding reception decades ago at her parents' home. They now live in Virginia.

There is a special Spirit present when we tell visitors that they have a loving Heavenly Father and a Savior. We wouldn't tell them that if we didn't know it was true. Over and over again we have experiences and they share experiences that confirm that. We were asked to speak in the Hmong Branch Sacrament Mtg. today. It was very small and they meet in the RS room for Sacrament Mtg. The Hmong are a Chinese ethnic group that were driven out of Vietnam because they helped the Americans. Kitty shared a wonderful talk about her experiences in joining the church as a teenager. She spoke from the heart about being a pioneer and temples. These Hmong people are pioneers in their own right. I have given lots of talks but today was different. I had no inclination at all to use my notes. I expressed my feelings about the blessings of the temple.

The days we have all been waiting for are here. Brian Smith (Mission Presidency Councilor, bear mauling survivor, and all around outdoorsman) drops off a fresh Sockeye salmon fillet every once in awhile. Another friend is going fishing and said he would bring us back some salmon on Tuesday. I think his limit is 35/day. They call them "reds". They are running in the Kenai River and others. They use dip nets to scoop them out of the river. Don't know if that is really fishing -- they think it is. I just became an Alaska resident so next year will be able to join in the fun. The Westland Project Manager just came back from a fishing expedition with his company (team building event :-) with halibut, rockfish, salmon and a few other assorted species. Four members of their party were stuck for eight hours due to a car accident and everyone was worried their catch wouldn't make it. It did. Our prayers go out to those involved in the accident. Do not cross double yellow lines on a curve -- very dangerous.

The incredible Thunderbirds at JBER.

Can't wait for the raspberries and blueberries to come on (wild). Do you think we are having too much fun? We will have to run with it for awhile longer to see if it gets old. Just to put it into perspective, we do deeply miss our friends and family. Kitty can hardly stand seeing the grandkids grow up from a distance. The only thing that keeps her sane is talking to her daughters multiple times per week and occasionally a visit with a son and grandchildren. 

Farrell & Cox's touring cargo plane.

I miss working in the yard with no schedules or constraints. My deep suntan I was known for is completely gone. We did pick up a little sun yesterday--big airshow at the huge JBER joint U.S. air force/army base here. We walked thru a huge transport plane than can load from one end and unload from the other. The nose lifts up! Right out of a Star Wars movie. They even did mock battles in the air with multiple aircraft at once. It included F-22s, F-35s, helicopters, paratroopers (at least 30 at once), pyro on the ground (loud noise, fire, and a lot of black smoke which Kitty didn't like), etc. It's held every other year. By the time the incredible Thunderbirds showed up, I was worn out. You can't beat 78F with a light breeze and the smell of clover from all the fields nearby. Enjoyed the company of another Sr. Couple, the Cox's who are about to go home in September 11. We went to the MTC with them. They will be sorely missed. We are trying to enjoy their company before they leave.

Have a wonderful week. Keep in touch. We love hearing from you. #Think Celestial

Love, Elder & Sister Badger