On the Kenai Peninsula

Hello everyone!

Kenai River

Today was a great Sunday. We just returned from the Kenai Peninsula, where we led a discussion in two separate wards in their 5th Sunday church meetings. We quoted extensively from temple and covenant teachings in the April 2024 General Conference. We also discussed the construction progress on the new temple along with some of its design features. It is a challenge to do it all twice -- once for each ward. Kitty and I did both together which also takes some doing to do it all in sync. It turned out pretty good. The Stake President and one of his Counselors were at the first presentation so don't know quite what that will lead to. If they liked it we may get requests from the rest of the wards in that stake. Kitty is already updating/tweaking the last attempt thinking we will do it again somewhere. I did the first original draft and she spent a good full day adding her thoughts. We are getting lots of requests from the wards to talk to YM, YW, and primaries at the Visitors Center. We love that and are having fun. It keeps us busy because we customize it for every group. We also see the young missionaries at the Visitors Center. We do our best to encourage them to talk to their friends about Family History and bring new converts to the temple. While we were down there we attended a meeting directed at future Sr. Missionaries. The two presenting were from Abbotsford, BC where I participated in building a manufacturing plant when I was with my last employer. I had a good chat with them but no direct connections.

 Homer AK

While on this little travel adventure, we stayed from Thursday thru Sunday with another Sr. Missionary couple in Soldotna. They were so gracious and treated us like royalty. The Gailey's are from Farmington UT and have been out about four months. We met them for the first time in Valdez at a mission organized event when they had only been out a couple of weeks. They wondered what they had gotten into because everyone was going halibut fishing. Most came back suffering from motion sickness and the one single Sister came back with the biggest halibut. It was a loosely organized gathering with no formal meetings -- nothing like a zone conference.

Jackson Garden's Strawberry "Patch"

This time they showed us the sights mainly following my interests -- a two day P-Day. Alaska never ceases to amaze me. Alaska people never cease to amaze me. We visited Jackson Gardens. This was like a truck garden/nursery with many assorted vegetables & fruits. The Jacksons (mid 70s) are church members who go a long way back living here--their parents were homesteaders back in the 50's. They have fed their family sustenance style for many years. What they don't grow (which is almost everything) they fish. They have an ocean going boat. We were invited to come back next summer for halibut fishing. They were just a constant stream of essential downloaded pointers on how to do what they have done. Gardening here in Alaska is very different from Utah. I was only about 50% successful this summer with some pots on the back deck. The weather is too cold and the season too short. The Jacksons grow almost everything from transplants except for carrots. They grow potatoes, turnips, cauliflower, zucchini, beautiful onions, beets, cabbage, carrots, parsnips and yes even a few cherry tomatoes. 

Trees in Jackson's Greenhouse

There is more to the story. They grow corn but but only in a cold high tunnel. They have to go in each high tunnel (that they buy from Costco) at noon every day when the pollen is out, with a leaf blower to pollinate the crop (corn is wind pollinated). It is also grown from transplants. That is really strange. I had heard rumors that people up here also grow fruit -- under cover (in unheated greenhouses). I can now confirm that. Apricots still hanging on the tree ripe (usually ripen in early June in Utah), plums, Bosc pears, apples, hardy Artic kiwi, sweet cherries (can grow tart cherries outside). There are very specific varieties that will grow. They use bumble bees for pollination. Honeybees won't work because they need UV light to see the flowers and get direction. The plastic cuts the UV light out of the spectrum. Bumblebees don't have that problem. Roses don't grow well -- unless you self propagate a stock you found 40 years ago growing in someone's backyard. I suspect they are Morden or Rugosa roses. As you can tell, I was in my element and the folks there were so fun to talk with. You should have seen their strawberry patch. End of the season and huge strawberries were still hanging over the edge of the concrete blocks they were planted in. They double stack the blocks. The sun warms one side more than the other eventually causing the blocks to tip over. They go back every season and reset thousands of blocks.

Kenai River

We drove along the Kenai river for miles. It is the premier salmon fishing stream.This time of year, it is a premier rainbow trout stream. I think they are steelhead -- that is ocean going rainbow on the return trip. Unlike salmon, they make the trip multiple times. The locals love this time of year -- the tourists are gone and they have most of the fishing to themselves. I don't really consider catching salmon fishing here. They are harvested by dip nets, snagging, etc. unless you are ocean fishing. The salmon don't eat on their return journey back up river so fishermen don't use bait, just hooks or nets. 

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge

Sister & Elder Gailey

View from dock at Kenai National Wildlife Refuge

Elders Gailey & Badger walking on path in Refuge

We also stopped by the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge -- 1.92 million acres! We didn't see more than a few acres but were impressed by what we did see. You just can't wrap your brain around the vastness. There is one icefield with about 30 named glaciers. You can see some of them looking across the inlet.

Docks on the Homer Spit

If all of this wasn't enough, we trekked down to Homer. It has one of the highest tides in the world--just look at that dock! It is a unique seaside fishing town -- both commercial and sport. I would use the word quaint. I went in one retail/wholesale fish operation thinking I was going to find some local fresh fish. Fish yes, cheap no. We ate lunch out on the Spit which is hugely popular with tourists and is packed in the summertime. 

The Old Inlet Bookshop

We went in a used bookstore. The books were literally stacked to the ceiling. It was somewhat disorganized but I did find a religious section. Sitting right on top was a Book of Mormon. Underneath was "Stories of Boy Prophets". That is, childhood stories of everyone from Brigham Young to George Albert Smith. We did finally see a real beach with waves. Always expecting to see a real ocean. It is real alright but mostly in coves and inlets. Up until now, there is nothing that comes close to resembling the coast of Mexico.

That was a lot to pack into a couple of days. We had wanted to get down to the Kenai but needed a good excuse to make the trip. We will definitely do it again.

The temple construction continues full speed ahead making use of every minute of sunshine. It was muddy again Friday and Saturday and the city requested a temporary suspension in truck traffic due to mud on the road. There have been way over 115 side dump semis hauling base for the parking lot. Even though there are track matts and other mitigation measures it is hard to control. A line of six street sweepers followed by a water truck washing the road resolved the current issue.

We love you all and wish you the best. Please keep in touch. We love hearing from you. #ThinkCelestial

Yours truly, Elder & Sister Badger