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