Dear Family and Friends,
Farrell writing this week.
Wow!!! What happened this week? It seems like it just started and then it was over.
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| Gorgeous sunset Thursday from Temple entrance. |
Temple construction continues. We are busily engaged on site with simultaneous efforts and usually come home tired & most days happy. I think about all the people who have passed on who will benefit from this new temple. Those are our mission baptisms. On Monday I had the chance to share a devotional on prayer with all of the lead subcontractors and general contractor employees. I mentioned that when they pray they are talking to Heavenly Father, who is a real person, (to some that is a new concept) and that there is never a need to feel ashamed to pray (humility is a good thing). Think of saying that to a group of construction workers. We thoroughly enjoy those we get a chance to know. They are the best. Most are always on the run. They always appreciate that we pray for them and their families.
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Botanical Garden
at Alaska State Fair. |
It rains almost every day. They work in the rain -- sometimes a sprinkle but usually a pretty steady downpour. In a Utah rainy week a quarter inch was a pretty big storm. In Anchorage a rainy week is a quarter to half inch of rain a day. There are blessings. The temple is being built a few feet higher than the old church parking lot so the rain tends to run off. The soil is compactible and has suitable characteristics to support a heavy building but looks and feels like sand. You would think it would be one big mud bowl, but no, it still provides a solid walking surface, heavy equipment transport and a place to erect 40 foot high scaffolds. Much of Anchorage was originally Muskeg, that is a low lying swamp or bog. All the gravel gets hauled in by train from about an hour away. It is not usually obvious but there are large areas where the spruce is stunted due to the ground conditions. Sometimes it is blamed on permafrost but I think it is more likely wet ground. The Temple site miraculously doesn't have any of those problems. The ground is free draining. No foundation piers needed, just standard footings.
Note the just barely tinged yellow tops of the trees to the left in the picture above amid a beautiful lush green background. Two big construction news events this week. Number one was the first flat slab pour on site over the yellow vapor barrier in the picture above. They had to wait until Thursday for a break in the rain. It turned out beautiful. I have never seen such a well done concrete floor. Not everyone I realize is interested in a concrete floor in a basement, but to us it was pretty exciting. Kitty labels lots of pictures with their description and geo frame of reference. Now that all of the perimeter wall footings are in place she can say with certainty whether the picture was taken from inside or outside the temple :-). That was the second big construction news. Kitty mentioned last week what a beehive of activity it was on the site. I think this week tops that one as the walls go up and they get ready for steel showing up. There is a focus on the coming winter. It is a big deal to get asphalt in place around parts of the temple and get some kind of roof in place.
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| Show under the Big Top at the Alaska State Fair |
As usual we found time for associations with others. We persuaded the Gailey's, who are serving as a Sr. Couple in Soldotna about 2 1/2 hours from Anchorage, to come up and spend the night. We went to the Temple together and had a fine experience. Next day we all (including the Cox's who had a last minute change of plans) went to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. They head home in a couple of weeks. We will miss their kindness and enthusiasm (and fresh baked goods). Kitty kept saying going to the Fair was like going back to the 1940s. We saw a mixed equestrian/acrobatic type show in a big top. Beautiful horses galloping at high speed in a little tiny ring while performers slid off the sides in various positions, including running inches from the wall of the ring. One even slid off the saddle underneath the horse and back up the other side at a full gallop. Later outside a magician stopped Kitty and Sister Cox and pulled a white dove out of a small purse. It was a lots of fun to spend time with friends.
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| Elder & Sister Badger, Cox, & Gailey. Some of our favorite peeps. |
As you do at a fair, we ate some delicious less than healthy food. I came away with a pint of fireweed honey. It's almost crystal clear, very mild and almost sweeter than normal honey, if that is possible. Kitty bought a handmade wildflower barrette and another magnet. We were stopped many times by people who saw our missionary badges. We enjoyed talking to all of them. One couple lives in the "Bush Branch" of the church. That is they live about 2/3rds of the way down the Iditarod trail by a no doubt stunning river. They call in for church meetings. One fun young man (say 14) stopped us and we heard the whole story on his pig entry in the fair. He intended to sell it (as most 4H participants do). I expected him to say he was going to sell it for a few hundred $$ not realizing that there are many corporate sponsors that support the 4H. He was going for $5000. We did find the pig later. Looked like a very happy, well cared for, expensive pig.
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| Largest 2,035 lb. pumpkin. |
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| Huge cabbage. |
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Display of prize winning produce.
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I have heard for years that Palmer, AK was known for large vegetables. So we went looking for them -- and found them. Large because of the 20+ hours of daylight in the summer. The prize pumpkin was 2,035 lbs. and the cabbage was 72.8 lbs. I saw a turnip growing in a show garden about the size of my head. All kinds of other crops growing that I don't usually associate with this time of the year. I have learned with my limited pots on the back deck that you really have to pay attention to germination temperatures. We have only had just a few days over 70
° this summer. Bees are also successfully raised in Alaska. In addition to seeing them at the Fair, I noticed a neighbor has a hive on their roof. One Fair bee expert told me it is the best place to keep them there -- no bears. I grew a summer squash but none of the blossoms were pollinated resulting in small immature fruit that never grows.
Life is an adventure!! Kitty and I really miss family & friends. We realize we could be sitting at home enjoying ourselves. But …. what an opportunity it is to serve here for a few years. It is a very unique mission. We are enjoying each other's company and are making the most of it. We love the wonderful people we have met.
Until next week. #ThinkCelestial
Love from Farrell (Dad, Grandpa) and Kitty (Mom, Grandma)
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