Fall Is In The Air

Dear Family and Friends,

View from Maisey's neighborhood.

Kitty writing this week:) It's been a quiet week for us but a busy week again on the Temple construction site. The ICFs continue up the walls with another concrete pour. They also poured the foundation at the front entrance and started the rest of the outside foundation wall around the South West side. Both are small milestones for us. They moved most of the dirt behind our trailer to backfill around the walls, so we have excellent views of all the action for now. 

Our visitors love seeing the Temple being built right before their eyes. Often there are four or five trades working simultaneously. GMC is digging dirt and IMS is putting up the ICFs and filling them with concrete using a 'stinger' to vibrate the concrete so there aren't any air pockets. APC is forming walls and then removing the forms the day after a concrete pour. Rain Proof Roofing is damp proofing and waterproofing the walls that will be below ground level - it looks like painting, but it's using a black tar substance. Then they cover it with a special membrane and put 4" of styrofoam over that. Sheet Metal Inc. is installing plumbing drains in the basement floor and there are inspectors coming in and out as needed. It's like a busy beehive. We pray for their safety and that they will feel the Lord's guiding hand as they do their work. They love Cookie Day/Worker Appreciation Day every Wednesday. We leave the leftovers there for them and they luckily disappear. We are so grateful to the Eagle River Stake for providing the homemade cookies for our workers. They have arranged to drop them off at the trailer right before Tuesday Temple night.

Sunset from our back deck.

We have a steady stream of visitors which we love. Many are converts with faith filled experiences like the two friends who met in Okinawa 45 years ago and influenced each other to be faithful throughout the years. Both are Airforce military and through all that time have been stationed close to each other. Many have felt the trials of life. Our newly acquired dear friends who members of our Temple View ward lost a son while serving a mission. They are known for their love and service toward others. He has a job coming up that is going to take them to the Marshall Islands for a short time. 

We had our first international visitor, Silvia, from Switzerland. Her 18 month Family History mission turned into an eight year mission which she continues to this day after returning home. She was tasked with reading the early transcriptions of Thomas Bullock, who was a scribe and secretary to Joseph Smith. Only problem, he used shorthand of his own design. She has it all figured out (took 11 months to decipher) and has a documented key. She expressed how much help she received from the original author from the other side. She also expressed how when one General Authority would walk by her desk, he would pause and express how much he could feel those around her helping. She even mentioned that the scribe would stand by her left elbow and prompt her when needed. Of the many 100's of visitors, they are either from Alaska or the "lower 48" or the "outside" as the Alaskans refer to them. Newcomers to Alaska (those who haven't experienced an Alaskan winter) are cheechako, or tenderfoots. Those who have been here a long time are "sourdoughs".

View from Maisey's neighborhood.

Last Sunday we spent the evening with the crowd at Maisey's. We have a standing dinner invitation at their home every third Sunday. I made a strawberry spinach, almond, gorgonzola, poppy seed dressing salad. I thought it was very tasty and fit right in. It's a fun assortment of family and friends. We love hearing what everyone is up to. They even have ties to Mapleton UT. We love how welcoming they are and catching up on the news. The view from their neighborhood is amazing. 

We enjoyed a wonderful German dinner with our dear neighbors, the Spencer's, on Thursday evening (the home we live in belongs to their daughter who is currently in Hawaii with her husband on military assignment). She is German, but through missions and other experiences they both speak German. They have lived here for many years and also have a home in SLC which they occupy for short periods every year. They shared wonderful stories about their missions (Frankfurt, Freiberg, SLC and others), how they met, etc. We feel so blessed to be surrounded by such devoted, generous people. They are such devoted Temple patrons. So many people here attend multiple times a week. It's a blessing to live so close to a Temple.

Friday we invited our dear friends, Elder & Sister Cox, over for dinner. Farrell smoked pork ribs with three different rubs. Sister Cox brought homemade rolls with raspberry jam. She picked the raspberries from a wild patch by the side of the road. What a treat! She even brought us a loaf of banana bread:) We have a little freezer well stocked with salmon, halibut ready for winter. Farrell is looking forward to smoking some of the fish. We had a nice visit and hope to see them a few more times before they head back home to Idaho. They leave in a couple of weeks and we will miss them.

We have found a new store that Farrell really likes - Cabela's. It's just like Cabela's everywhere. He loves the shirts we bought last week to start gearing up for winter. This week we went for a grill spatula, socks, and a warm jacket. He also has ice cleats coming. Kudos to whoever was the designer for that store. It's really a very fun place to shop. We may wander over there this winter just for a break.

Sunset from our back deck.

We enjoyed a quiet Sunday. Church is at noon. We love seeing ward members. Sister Foote's mother came for a visit. Brother Foote is the Project Manager at Westland; they are the General Contractor for the Temple. Sis. Foote's mother is from Australia and lives in Utah. She is very spunky and has a fun Australian accent. Following an after dinner walk we listened to Larson's Lessons where our Mission President has a mission wide Zoom call with all the missionaries for a half hour. It's always fun to feel the Spirit and energy of the missionaries. Most are young - in their late teens or early twenties. Then there are the senior missionaries. Some are quite young and many are in their sixties or older. Tonight they found scriptures expounding on the peace the Savior can bring to people. One of the best ones we have had.

Fireweed on Brayton Dr.

In Anchorage the days are getting shorter. Today we had 14 hours and 50 minutes of daylight. The sun set at 9:26 tonight. Most evenings the sunsets are glorious. It's like a little message from God reminding us of his love for us. It's also getting cooler. We have had a week that mostly been in the high 50's and low 60's with rain about half the week. There have only been a few days that Farrell didn't feel like wearing a sweatshirt. It is a maritime climate minus a few degrees. We still have wildflowers blooming everywhere. Some of the deciduous trees have leaves that are just starting to turn yellow and fall. I am holding out until September 1st to change to my fall decorations. We have been picking raspberries from a small patch the the left of our back porch. It's a little reminder of home. The fireweed blooming at the top means winter is four weeks away, or so we have heard.

Have a great week. We love you and miss you. We pray you and your families will find the peace and joy the gospel brings. God be with you till we meet again. #ThinkCelestial.

Love, Elder & Sister Badger

Pushing On

Hello Friends and Family,

Farrell writing this week :-).

This has been pretty much a "normal" week. I decided to add a couple of pictures so you could see what we are up to. This picture is taken from https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/anchorage-alaska-temple/ It's not an official church website and these are not our pictures. This picture below is a drone shot of almost the entire site where the Anchorage Alaska Temple is currently under construction. It was taken on August 11.

The existing Temple in upper center surrounded by beautiful greenery and flowers. Everywhere around here is green. The patron and worker Temple parking lot is the L-shaped strip around the upper edge.

Our Visitors' Center is the trailer in the parking lot to the upper right with the gold ring around the top. From the middle window we can look out on the site at the construction activity. A significant development this week was removal of some of the dirt that recently blocked our view. 

The silver objects below the visitors' center are three 60" pipes laid in parallel with each other going East to West and about 60' long. They are an infiltration system for storm water. Surface water flows into them and drains slowly into a bed of gravel underneath the pipes like a French Drain. They are now completely covered with gravel and dirt.

The blue green at the bottom and left are insulated concrete forms (ICFs). They are going in as the perimeter wall of the temple. Tall scaffolding surrounds the wall. A stockpile of additional ICFs are on the left. These blocks fold open leaving a space in between two walls of dense 2" Styrofoam. The walls are held together with rigid plastic webbing. Multiple pieces of rebar (reinforcing steel) are placed in the blocks running horizontally and vertically. The steel is about 3/4" diameter. The space is then pumped full of concrete. The foam is left in place. The walls will go up about 24' tall.

The concrete walls to the right are the "basement" font area. They are about 12' tall giving some perspective of size. To the left of that area are "step footings" and footing forms for the tower of the Temple. We had a concrete pour on Friday which filled all the wall forms and most of the footing forms.

In the picture you can see standing water upper center and other places. As Kitty mentioned last week, we had lots of rain. Estimates range from 3.5" to 7".

The little tan building to the left we call the "Conex" building where we serve cookies for the workers on Wednesdays. They went through eight dozen (about 30 people). All provided by the Eagle River Stake. We had fun noticing which ones went first. Top of the list was one with white chocolate chunks and raspberries. Second was pumpkin chocolate chip (lots of chips). They loved them. We also help answer any questions with various literature -- Family History booklets, Book of Mormons, etc. There are also hard hat stickers and glow in the dark silicone wristbands which we designed.

We go out into the construction zone two to three times a day to say hi, briefly visit with the workers, and take pictures. Kitty is the camera operator and I'm usually asking a question or two about the materials or what is happening. Safety is a big deal. It is a congested site with heavy equipment -- forklifts, front end loaders, dozers, track hoes, skid steers, and moving constantly trucks. With my background I am very aware of safety and so can usually see areas we should stay away from. Other hazards are trenches, overhead scaffolding, piles of materials, uneven ground, etc. etc. They are hoping to get a layer of asphalt in before winter which will change everything. The heavy equipment will move off and snow removal will be possible.

It is all kinds of fun to closely see a Temple under construction. This is a rendering of the new Temple (close to what it will look like when it's done). The current Temple entrance points North; the new entrance will point South. The picture below hangs outside the entrance to our Visitors' Center.

We have a new Temple President, President Hobbs, who was a counselor in the previous presidency. President Metcalf was released due to health reasons. Both of these men we know well, love them, and certainly enjoy the association. Several changes were made in the temple schedule making it easier on patrons timewise. These were independent of the changes made church wide. For example, in a sealing session where families are sealed together by proxy for deceased ancestors, we used to have up to 16 people in one room acting as the proxies. In 90 minutes you might get to participate a couple of times. Now there are 6 people in a 40 minute session. You perform the same number of ordinances in half the time with no waiting.

These pictures above are of our Visitors' Center. We have such sweet experiences here. Sometimes there are lots of visitors and sometimes few. Most share their feelings about the Temple. They come from all over the lower 48 and locally. We love their visits and have some very spiritual tender experiences with them. The children love the visit. I have been collecting some show and tell samples of construction materials from the site like a piece of the ICF block, rebar, membrane that waterproofs the concrete, and a piece of the 10" PVC water line that encircles the building. I'm looking for a few more samples as they become available. You can see more pictures by doing a Google Maps and searching for Anchorage Alaska Temple Visitors Center.

Bike ride on Chester & Campbell Creek trails.

It hasn't been all work. We went for a long bike ride yesterday with another fun senior missionary couple (the Cox's). It was great and a beautiful day (thank goodness for ebikes). We enjoyed seeing ducks on Taku Lake. The Cox's were in the MTC with us, and they go home to Malad ID in less than a month. We will surely miss them. 

Taku Lake, Anchorage 

Another senior couple, the Newman's, just got transferred to Salcha, which is 396 miles North of us, near North Pole AK. We probably won't see them again until our mission Christmas Party. They have also become treasured friends. The Anderson's (he handled all the mission finances) left and were replaced by the Jenkens who we just met and are looking forward to getting to know. The Gailey's are in Soldotna and are relatively new. We did meet them in Valdez on a mission sponsored trip and then had lunch with them here last month. I think they are coming up in a couple of weeks to go to the Temple. We have convinced them to stay with us and then get all other senior couples willing to go to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer in a couple of weeks.

We can feel the weather changing. There are a few leaves turning yellow and falling on the front lawn. The big deal is the fireweed which blooms from the bottom up. When it tops out they say fall is two weeks away. It is in various stages all across the area. We biked to Goose Lake which has a beach and is used for swimming and there wasn't anyone in the water. School started Aug. 15 which for kids means fall is here.

Have a wonderful week. Stay safe out there. We love and miss you. Keep in touch! #ThinkCelestial

Love, Elder & Sister Badger

When It Rains It Floods

Dear Family & Friends,

Nasturtiums in our backyard at sunset.

Kitty writing this week:)

This has been a very rainy week here in Anchorage. The Temple grounds flooded and the maintenance crew had to clean out the drain. The Temple parking lot flooded and had to be pumped. The sewage tank at the Visitors' Center had been dug behind and below the trailer so it would drain correctly. It flooded around it and the nearly empty tank started to float out of place. After pumping the water the big heavy tank has too much mud and rocks under it to be usable. Since water won't travel uphill we have been without restroom facilities for a few days over there. They hope to get it functioning properly by this coming Friday. We are in the middle of our fourth power outage in the last few days. As I started our blog last night my keyboard died. We stole the batteries out of the TV remote, but it still didn't work. While writing our weekly construction report for SLC this afternoon at the VC, the power went out. We live right next to the Temple and Visitors' Center, so power outages affect all three. The Temple is closed on Mondays, so that was a tender mercy. I ordered replacement tempered glass screen protectors from Amazon for my cell phone. They arrived today, but they are all broken. First world problems:)

Retail therapy to Costco for batteries, Best Buy for a new keyboard, Fred Meyer for more dark chocolate, JoAnn's to get thread to fix a torn buttonhole & loose button, and an Amazon return solved most of the problems. The power was on when we arrived home, but went off again after dinner. Farrell started up the generator, installed the new keyboard & mouse, and now the sun is shining. Wish I had enough energy to go for a walk or bike ride. Our zucchini is just starting to bloom and we have been picking lots of raspberries. The cherry tomatoes finally set fruit but we have had only one ripe one. They will soon become an indoor project. 

Flooding at Anchorage Alaska Temple.

We attended the Temple on Tuesday evening. I was assigned to be a patron, so Farrell went with me. On Friday we heard they had called a new Temple President. President Metcalf was released due to health issues. Remember he had a heart attack last year and barely survived. President & Sister Hobbs will be the new President and Matron. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot on Sunday, which is very unusual since the Temple is closed. We can only assume they were being set apart along with new counselors and assistant matrons. We heard Elder Bragg, General Authority Seventy, would be setting them apart. Here the Presidency takes weekly shifts at the Temple, living in the President's home in Anchorage, which is owned and maintained by the Church. We will find out more Tuesday at Preparation Meeting. 

Flooding in parking lot.

The new Anchorage Alaska Temple is proceeding well. GMC, the civil contractor, dug yet another huge hole for the infiltration system. It is like a ginormous French Drain. Three sets of 5 ft. diameter corrugated pipes span the length of the site going East and West with a piece shaped like a "3" at both ends. They whole thing sits on water permeable black fabric and the pipes are surrounded by truck loads of drain rock. The bands that secure the pipes together are made to leak water into the drain rock. Then it all gets covered up with dirt. It really looks to the novice that all they do is move dirt around. As they were digging the infiltration system they piled dirt all along the parking lot behind our trailer. Sometimes their largest track hoe was 10 feet from the window by my desk. It was a little unnerving. They are so skilled, so I wasn't at all worried. However, it's still loud, they move fast, and it was way above my head. Sometimes part of one track hung over the edge of the dirt pile. I have a new respect for their skill. They are so careful around each other and have excellent communication skills, mostly using hand signals and earbuds.

Droplets of rainwater on Nasturtium leaves. 

Now there are four sets of systems underground that no one can see - sewer, water, storm drain, and the infiltration system. Many have manholes located around the site. There will also be pipes for heated sidewalks, but that is a long way off. The walls are going up. They have poured cement for the basement walls using forms and a ton of rebar. They use a cement pump that looks like a super-sized Transformer. Four legs pull out at angles to balance it and the boom goes stories up into the air and can reach about 160 feet. They use a crane to put the forms in place and take them back off the day after the pour. This time we watched steam escape as they popped them off. The workers are standing about 16 ft. above the ground on scaffolding with rebar sticking out everywhere. This could be an Olympic event. Most of them are in very good shape. They seem to put in 12 hour days without a break. I don't know when they eat. Three of the crew are women.

Note -Thank you for building our temple.

We did have a miracle on Thursday. Farrell heard that the Temple Construction missionaries in Moses Lake WA gave presentations to all the wards in the surrounding stakes at Church on Sundays. Farrell thought that sounded like a wonderful idea. I was hesitant and said I just wanted to get Cookie Day off the ground with the three stakes in the Anchorage area (out of nine in Alaska), before we tackled anything else. Documenting the construction progress has been challenging and it will only get more detailed. We said a prayer and asked for direction and had the thought that it would be good to talk to a Stake RS President. I had a few things to catch up on and then headed over to the trailer. 

Sitting there in our Visitors' Center trailer was the Eagle River Stake Relief Society President, Primary President, and Young Women President. As I took off my boots I said, "We were just talking about you!" The Stake Primary President said she knew there was a reason she was here today and they had all come together because of her prompting. They had gone to the Temple and then come over to the Visitors' Center. We discussed Cookie Day with them and how the sisters and youth in the Stake could be part of the temple effort by serving the workers with cookies, notes, posters, etc. and they were very receptive. Their Stake is 1/2 hour away from Anchorage. On the way home they arranged it all and will meet me tomorrow at the Temple and hand off the cookies for this week. The sisters in the first ward to sign up were very excited for the opportunity. What a load off my mind. Even though we have had only three volunteers so far (in addition to Farrell making cookies/brownies 3x), it has worked out. I didn't want to carry that burden by ourselves for the next two years. The number of workers will also begin to increase as they move indoors, necessitating more cookies. We really felt like our prayers had been answered. Farrell said, "Why do we worry?" We are trying to be more faithful and worry less. Amazing we are supported even in the small things.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” Proverbs 3:5-6.

Live salmon at Cabela's. 

The most adventurous thing we did this week was go to Cabela's and Costco. Like other locations, Cabela's here is nearly as good as the zoo. The second time we have seen bears in Alaska. A must see if you have children or are in need of anything outdoorsy. I heard about Image Stabilizing binoculars from Elder Cox and just had to check them out. I was standing next to the counter looking at an animal on the far wall. It was moving around. He switched off the image stabilizing and it was really moving around. With a hefty price tag, limited field of vision, and not nearly stable enough for my age and skill, we'll pass. Hopefully the technology will improve. I can't imagine being on a moving boat and trying to locate an animal. Farrell was so happy I didn't get them. Instead we bought him a lot of new shirts. He mostly wears dress shirt/pull-over-sweatshirt combinations up here, so now we both have a nice complement of soft, warm flannel shirts along with a few wool ones.

Cargo/Utility Kilt.

I'm in love with wool, especially soft merino and cashmere. I brought up two pair of capris and have not worn them once. The hottest day was during the JBER Airshow when it reached 78°. It has been in the mid 50's most of the week. The good news is it gets dark at night now. We also saw a man going into Costco wearing a cargo/utility kilt and a black t-shirt. I told Farrell, I was disappointed it wasn't plaid and if the guy wore a blazer with that he could be a real heart throb. Think Sean Connery 1970's. What's not to love about a kilt? Apparently, according to Google a black T-shirt is what you wear with a cargo/utility kilt. It's a fashion statement. There is no style in Anchorage or rather anything is in style here. Just stay warm, stay dry, and stay safe.

Pres. Russell M. Nelson born 9/9/1924

We have been listening to Conference Talks in the evening. They are so incredibly uplifting. The new General Conference study plan on Gospel Library makes it so easy. What an amazing resource. We read that President Nelson, who turns 100 on Sept. 9, 2024, said there were 6 LDS Temples when he was born. When I joined the church 50 years ago on July 30, there were 15 LDS Temples. Today there are 350 operating, under construction or renovation, or that have been announced. That is incredible! I still remember my genealogy Book of Remembrance had 15 Temples on the cover. The Washington DC Temple was dedicated in November of that year. Now we use computers to do Family History research instead of paper, pencil, travel, and microfiche. We live in a wonderful time. We are looking forward to the return of the Savior. Three of my paternal great aunts and one maternal great aunt lived to be 100. President Nelson is a prophet of God and still works full-time as President of the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That's truly inspiring.

Have a wonderful week. Please, if you are inclined, keep the Temples in your prayers. We miss you and love hearing from you. God bless. #ThinkCelestial

Love always,

Elder & Sister Badger

Rainbows & Glaciers

Dear Family & Friends,

Farrell writing this week, mostly:-)

It occurs to me that there are no words to describe the natural beauties we have seen this week. We had Heather (our youngest daughter) and Branson, her husband, with us through Thursday. Their first wedding anniversary is tomorrow, Monday, August 5. The best I can do is identify some of the breathtaking pictures.  

“Alaska doesn’t grow on you, so much as it makes you unfit to live anywhere else.” Hobbes Barber

Fireweed and vista from Flattop Overlook.

This is fifteen minutes from where we live. You are looking North toward Denali, which you could see 143 miles away, if there were no clouds. This is a completely untouched photo. It had been cloudy and sprinkling off and on. Kitty is the photographer. 

These were taken on the Matanuska glacier. The underfoot ice is the most dense and looks black. If you look closer it is actually crystal clear and you are looking through the ice at the rock deep down. The glacier blue is the mid range ice density which reflects the blue light. Puzzle ice is less dense and breaks apart - like a puzzle. We all tasted it. It tastes like water. Branson finished it off.

Glacier ice underfoot.

Glacier ice underfoot.

Glacier blue crevasse.

Kitty, Heather, & Farrell hiking glacier.

I thought we would end up on top of the glacier looking down all around. Not so ... the top of the glacier is much too broken and rough. The guide told us it would take about a month to get to the other end (27 miles). It would be mostly ice climbing. The ice -- at least at the bottom of the toe is about 500 yrs. old or about the time of Columbus. It was a beautiful two hour drive from Anchorage, then a drive over dirt roads to the tour location, another two mile drive to the large staging tent w. restrooms, a hike down from trail, an interesting walk over a pontoon bridge, then onto the glacier. We hiked over a lot of ice, rock, and mud on ice. They provided a guide, helmets, and after the bridge ice cleats for everyone.

Pontoon bridge heading to glacier.

Kitty & Farrell in front of a blue ice cave.

Branson eating puzzle ice. 

Matanuska Glacier from the trailhead.

Black Bear.

We were on the lookout for moose and bears the whole time they were here. We have only ever seen bear scat before. We went to the Alaska Zoo, (7 min. away & the only Zoo in Alaska), and saw black bears, brown bears, and a polar bear. The polar bear only made a brief appearance, but it was HUGE, and earned its reputation for being deadly. Don't think we ever want to encounter any of these in the wilderness. We did see a half dozen moose calves at the zoo. They were brought here when they lost their mothers, usually due to car accidents. They lose about 250 moose a year.

Bald Eagle.

Brown Bear.

Farrell, Heather, & Branson heading up to Flattop Overlook.

That night after dinner we headed up to Flattop Overlook. It was a little rainy and cloudy, but we weren't sure we would get another chance for them to see it. Again, it did not disappoint. We even saw a full rainbow!

Left side of rainbow on Flattop Overlook.

Right side of rainbow from Flattop Overlook.

This rainbow picture is a little before 10 PM at night. The arc was very narrow, probably due to the angle of the sun. As Kitty walked toward the end of the rainbow to photograph it, she actually looked like she was there.

Flattop Overlook view of Cook Inlet. Anchorage downtown is the group of high rises in the middle right of the picture shown against the water. Turnagain arm is to the left and Knik Inlet is on the right. Turnagain arm has up to a 35 ft. tidal change which creates a "Bore Tide" wave about 7' high that surfers can ride for 13 miles. We have seen the mud flats on Turnagain Arm at both low tide and high tide. It's remarkable. We are still on the lookout for Beluga Whales at Beluga Point. 

Branson, Heather, & Farrell on Flattop Overlook at sunset. The Compass Rose in the middle has pointers to all the prominent mountains in the distance. It points to three active volcanoes, Iliamna (10,016 ft.), Redoubt (10,197 ft.), and Spurr (11,070 ft.). Denali is on the right and several other peaks. The sun is now setting at true west and it's finally getting dark at night again!

Sunset on drive home from Flattop Overlook.

Alyeska North Face trail 2.2 miles. Nice stroll, right? The name tells it all. Heather (6 months pregnant), Branson, and Kitty did the whole hike. I turned around about 1/40 of the way in and instead rode a tram to the top. It was a 2,200 ft. rise to the top with numerous switchbacks, stairs, and some steep sections. The views were incredible and there are six glaciers on the mountains in the distance. We all rode the tram down. 

What a beautiful sweet time to enjoy all this with Heather and Branson. Notice the clear air? They left late Thursday evening and took a redeye home. They wanted to take the 4 hr. 37 min. non-stop flight which is only offered in the summer. The Badger family camping trip started the next day. Oh to be young again. Kitty will fly home when Heather has her baby at the end of October.

Branson on trail overlooking Alyeska Resort.

Branson & Heather on North Face Trail.

Turnagain Arm view from North Face Trail.

Heather & Branson at Alyeska Roundhouse.

Kitty & Farrell at Alyeska Roundhouse.

We did manage to fit in some of our regular duties during the week spending all day Monday writing reports and categorizing pictures for the ongoing temple build. We have had up to 30 workers on site. One crew continues to put in conventional concrete forms and another (from Lindon UT) is assembling ICF (insulated concrete forms). The latter had a major pour on Friday in one quadrant of the perimeter wall of the temple. We also had some sweet visits to the visitors' center at the beginning and end of the week. Three little girls walked over with their mom from where they are staying (Pres. Smith, grandfather, is a counselor in the mission presidency and grandmother is a part-time Sr. Missionary at the mission office and daughter of A. Theodore Tuttle.) We had a wonderful chat about temples and families. I'm always humbled by the Spirit the little ones bring. The wisdom of an all knowing, loving Heavenly Father often comes through in unusual ways.

The Rustic Goat in Anchorage.

We were a little down after our company left and had a busy Friday, so Kitty suggested we see if our good friends, the Cox's, would like to go have dinner that night. As usual we had a large group of visitors show up just as we were leaving. After a pleasant visit we drove home, cleaned up and went out for a nice dinner, then came back to our place for ice cream, nuts, and fruit. We had made a gallon, literally, of clam chowder Heather and Branson's last night here and needed to share it. Cox's leave on Sept. 11 and we are going to miss them. They were in the MTC with us. We sure hope they come to see us with Kuerth's next summer.

Sister Bowman is our ward organist. She has a long history of providing music both at church and professionally. Right in the middle of the Sacrament today, there was a little disruption. Apparently she fainted and fell off the organ bench onto the floor. Several brethren were there in an instant. After confirming it was not a CPR situation they resumed the meeting (at her request). The emergency personnel showed up, quietly assessed her situation, and after awhile assisted her in walking out. What amazed me was how orderly everything happened. A young man (teenager) who is musically proficient just calmly walked up and played the organ at the end of the meeting. We were all praying for her. The word is that she is doing okay.

We expect this next week to fall back into a more normal routine. That is good but I still seem to be inclined to push the boundaries of what is the norm for this calling. That is I am never satisfied with settling in with a status quo attitude. I see more opportunities. That is always the fun part. #ThinkCelestial

We love you all.

Elder & Sister Badger