Blessings from Heaven

Dear Friends and Family,

Farrell writing this week …

First Light 9:02 a.m. Sunrise 10:03 a.m. Sunset 3:44p.m. Last Light 4:44p.m. Some variation of this sunrise and sunset beauty most days.

How do you build a temple in Alaska in the middle of winter? Since Thanksgiving, we have had unseasonably warm weather i.e. mid-30s during the day. There has been a high level of activity on site from five different trades -- Wednesday almost equaled the busiest day I remember on this project. On the other side, we did have a couple of days of early morning rain or should I say ice storms. As long as you had ice cleats on all was well but don't try walking anywhere without them. The sun would come out around noon and life went on as normal. It slowed down the steel workers a bit -- how do you walk on elevated steel beams covered in ice? It didn't last long and the next day they made tremendous progress. There was also a concrete pour on that Wednesday. Last year, by this time, the road in front of our house was compacted snow and ice a foot thick -- but we had little trouble driving. This year, the inch of ice is clear and shiny with a layer of water on top. I was going about 5mph at the top of our road and sailed on by our driveway 4 or 5 houses down, still going 5mph even with the antilock brakes fully engaged. We were planning to visit the Eagle River Seminary to give a little temple presentation on their pizza Friday, a drive of about 30 minutes north. It was a no-go … reschedule when the roads are better.

Check out the temple construction progress here (notice all the beautiful steel -- at least beautiful to us:) https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/assets/img/temples/anchorage-alaska-temple/anchorage-alaska-temple-55766.jpg

Christmas tree.

As you have noticed, we eat really good up here (way too good). It was a ward Christmas Party Friday night with soups and salads, etc. Our donation was clam chowder (personally made by me while Kitty did the missionary stuff we needed to do). There were at least 15 other varieties. Kitty's favorite was made by Pres. Smith - a thick soup with big chunks of salmon and halibut. Our Senior Missionary Christmas Party was Saturday night. The Mission Presidency makes the most of it. Surf and Turf … King Crab all you can eat with specially prepared delicious medium rare steak on the side. The chef and the acquisition expert, Pres. Smith, is the 1st Counselor in the Mission Presidency (same man that was mauled by a grizzly last year). We did the same thing last year and Kitty and I remember it was a feast but not all the scissors used to cut the shells were great. She was all prepared this year with two pair of new kitchen scissors from home set on the counter to take with. In our haste to get ready I turned off all the lights and we forgot them. They had set aside a pile of them in the Institute Building where this event was held so that rescued the feast. We even made it out with some leftover crab and salad.

Kitty keeps things beautiful …

At the end of the dinner, Kitty was called on, along with three other Senior Sister missionaries, to share her feelings about the Savior. She was first up. I was very proud of her because she shared the feelings of her heart that testified strongly of the divinity of the Savior and His role in our lives -- her personal experiences. They moved on to playing some games and I moved into the kitchen to help wash dishes (much better than playing games for me :-). All the Sr. Missionaries in the mission were here except for those in Whitehorse who had another ward party they were hosting. That is we had 12 couples and one sister attend. These people have become dear friends. We have already lost four other couples who have completed their missions. Of the remaining group, one couple leaves in February, and about 5 more leave mid-summer, including the mission president & wife. Come mid-summer, we will far exceed anyone else here in tenure.

Saturday is our preparation day. It is also the day that Kitty likes to get an extra hour or two of sleep in. Not this last Saturday! She again crawled out of bed early, with only minimal complaint, to host another seminary group from Wasilla who came to the temple early morning to do baptisms. The Visitors' Center was pretty much wall to wall packed with 30 young people -- the brightest eyed happy teenagers you can imagine. Think about that … these are teenagers up early on a Saturday morning. We sure enjoyed them and hopefully said something of worth to them. It is always about the Savior's love for them and His personal knowledge about each individual. No doubt about it.

Ice rink in mall.

Ice rink in mall.

Health has been on our minds lately. Two of the seniors who finished and returned home not too long ago have been dealing with some serious health issues. One has some kind of internal cancer and is in the middle of chemo (we hear she is doing OK) and the other has skin cancer. Part of it was removed while he was here and the rest after leaving. It's a 3-4 months recovery if all goes well. We really love these folks and are praying for their full recovery. We realize we are getting older and as M. Russell Ballard said that means the, "rivets are getting loose". I've had two weeks of poor sleep due to night time asthma problems. It has settled down a lot with the right meds from the doc I still use in Utah. We are walking or going to the gym every morning for an hour plus. I really enjoy that and look forward to it. The walks are in the local high-rise mall. It's clean, safe, warm, and uncrowded with lots of space. I particularly like the stairwells just because I can stress the workout as much as I feel like. The gym is the usual with any kind of equipment you care-to-get-sore-on place.

One other sweet experience I will mention from this week. We have an older friend here. He has been married for 24 years and been a church member for about 14 years. So he decided, with his wife, to go to the temple to be sealed, which means make their marriage eternal. We were able to be there for their sealing. This is the man who has run the Iditarod three times, was a pipeline worker, and used to have a tour boat company. He is also the one that got shot in the neck and had his heart arrest three times on the way to the hospital several months ago. It was a miracle for many reasons to see them together there. She doesn't like the cold weather so lives in Wenatchee, WA (near my old town of Chelan) while he lives here in Anchorage, AK. They travel back and forth at random times and seem to make it work.

We love you. Keep in touch! #Think Celestial

Love, Elder & Sister Badger