Milestones

Hello all,

Sunset tonight over Turnagain Arm.

Farrell writing again... We hit a few milestones this week--all time related. We are on week 52 of turning in our Anchorage Alaska Temple construction reports to SLC. That's 52 documents Kitty polished pulling from a resource of somewhere around 10,000 photos taken personally by us, plus numerous photos from other sources. We didn't start the reports until five months into our mission when the Brayton Stake Center started to be torn down last year.

Gorgeous sunset tonight. Camera doesn't do it justice.

The other milestone, for me at least, is my 72nd birthday on Tuesday. Who knew time passed by so quickly. Back in the old days, 72 was the official cutoff point for sending anyone on a mission. Kitty says she feels like she is in her early 40's. I feel like I am about 60. So all that is good. The unknown is how long one will actually live. Kitty doesn't like it when I say, I don't know if I am going to live long enough to finish this mission. That is a tongue in cheek comment to get a little sympathy from her for sore muscles and joints that are part of life. Of course, I am really not too worried about living 'till I'm 100. It is about finishing up what needs to be done here, enjoying family and life until it is time to move on. My father's birthday is today. He would be 114 if he were still alive. He lived to the age of 95. How I enjoyed his kindness and humor.

We had a dear friend pass on recently that we heard about on the day of her funeral. Myrna Pratt Fitt moved into Mapleton about the same time we did, 30 years ago. I remember sitting by her first husband, Lewis, in priesthood meeting. After he passed away she married Robert Fitt whom we have also grown to know and love. Their artwork was wonderful. We enjoyed many empty nester dinners and spiritual lessons in their home.

https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org

When possible working on the temple site, we love to take a picture of each
subcontractor's whole crew. They enjoy the recognition and we enjoy giving it to them. Their talents and skills are really quite amazing. One ironworker climbed the long ladder, a good 25 feet or so from one of the elevated floor levels to the top of the tower. He stood at the top and raised both arms up toward the sky. We have seen that before. They seem to really enjoy that vantage point. We have been invited to join them there but declined for obvious safety reasons. Recently a crew has been working on the baptismal font forms. It is quite complicated and requires more carpentry than concrete skill. The people doing it are the concrete team. It is an eight-sided bowl with the walls filled with rebar. Since it is inside a temporary framed in roof and shelter at the moment with no access for a concrete pump truck, they will pour it using a grout pump -- a trailer with a concrete pump on it and a manually moved 4-6" hose. That setup works well, we used it in Mapleton to pour footings for our back deck. It does require more labor.

We have served somewhere around 256 dozen cookies to the workers on Cookie Day Wednesday "Thank you for all your hard work" appreciation days. We still love doing it and if anything it gets more popular weekly. We are rotating through the stakes in Anchorage, Alaska (3 total) who provide the cookies. We can't quite figure out how to let the other distant stakes get involved. Last Sunday we ran into the missionary couple, the Camps, serving in Whitehorse, YT. They had driven the 13 hours to visit with the mission president and for other business. They could fly, but it is one leg to Vancouver, BC, the second to Seattle, and the last to Anchorage for a total of about 9 hours. It is a big place up here.

We continue to have some sweet spiritual experiences. The last one was with the Andersons from of all places, Genola UT. They have eight children -- the last two were fostered & then adopted. They had much in common with our daughter, Amy, in Texas. We had a recently baptized couple come to the Visitors' Center. He was walking with a white cane (but could see our big screen) and she had hearing issues. They were overjoyed to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Married for 44 years, they can't wait to go to the temple. They want to be sealed together for eternity. I don't know what else can make an old couple have the aurora of much younger people.

Moose cow and her two calves.

We haven't seen moose all winter. Apparently there was not enough snow to bring them into town. Going to church this morning there was a mother with two yearling calves. We understand that is unusual for them both to survive. The bears usually get one of them. We haven't seen any bears since arriving. That's OK with us. If you're in the right place at the right time during the salmon runs there would be plenty. We have heard that there is a hot spot to see bears on Rabbit Creek about five miles from our residence. We would enjoy seeing them safely.

Enjoyed another wonderful dinner at our dear friends, the Maisey's, tonight. The sunset pictures are the view from their neighborhood. We feel blessed to live in such a beautiful world. We wish you all the best. Have a great week. #Think Celestial

Love, Elder & Sister Badger

For the Beauty of the Earth

Dear Family & Friends,

Sunrise over current temple.

It's been another pretty quiet week. If you know me at all you know I am not a morning person. Luckily the sunrises here are not too early in the winter. This beautiful sunrise picture was taken on February 10 at 9:30 a.m. along with the moonrise below. Cameras never do it justice. On those days when I can see these amazing sights I am just grateful that the Creator of the universe cared enough to allow me the privilege of seeing it. We will often ask others if they saw the sunrise, sunset, or moon this morning or last night. It's a joy we all share.

Good news! Our Visitors' Center plumbing is fixed and we can move back over tomorrow. We are excited to get back on schedule. They reset the sewage tank on Thursday and reattached then rewired the tank on Friday so it doesn't freeze. They set a board and two huge cement blocks on it so it doesn't float away again. It's not pretty, but it's behind our trailer and out of the way. We are also looking forward to the large black trailer being moved behind us as the ironworkers finish up. Hopefully the next trailer won't obstruct our view of the temple as much. We were able to get a group picture of them before they left at the end of the day last Thursday. 

We did have a visit on Wednesday from Brother Huff from the Temple Department. It's rare in the winter to see anyone from outside Alaska. Then to our astonishment we saw our son-in-law's brother on Thursday! We had to wait until the ironworkers left the site for the day so it was safe to go inside the temple to take monthly rendering progress pictures. The inside was all taped off as they were finishing up the decking and dropping cut off metal pieces over the edges along with grinding and welding from scissor lifts. I also take a picture from the outside. The ledge on the current temple looking over to the one being built is the best perspective, but the cold granite ledge makes for a very slippery surface. Elder Badger helped me down and we were heading home in our car when there was a knock on our driver's side window. The man looked very familiar, but we have met a lot of people on site, at the Visitors' Center, at church, and serving at the temple. As soon as he mentioned Daniel, we placed him. Ben was up here for work and had stopped in to see us. We are rarely there at that time of day and it was good to see a face from back home. It made me really miss our precious daughter, her husband, and their family. It was fun to take a picture with us, show him the Visitors' Center, and temple progress. He had a flight up further north the next morning with a colleague and then was headed back to Utah.

Moonrise over Brayton Drive.

We had an enjoyable dinner Friday night with six other senior missionaries. There were two other couples and two sisters. We ate at a Thai restaurant about 20 minutes away and my pineapple curry was delicious. It was Valentine's Day and they all brought candy to share. I wish I had thought of that, but we are trying not to store candy. I started on 30 days of no added sugar this morning. Brother Huff brought a dozen assorted fresh donuts when he came for us to share and we passed them all on to the Westland trailer. They did smell heavenly, but like my dear friend Michelle used to say of Krispy Kreme donuts, "One is heaven, two will kill you." We appreciated the sentiment and generosity.

Worker appreciation Cookie Day.

We cleaned out our freezer over the last two weeks with the leftover cookies for Cookie Day. One of the sisters was sick, so we were able to bring all the frozen extras over. Chocolate chip still seems to be their favorite. The primary kids made homemade sugar cookies with notes and they were so cute. We are grateful to the Anchorage Stake for donating the cookies again this month. I think the workers really enjoy the treat. It breaks up their week anyway and gives us something to talk to them about as we invite and thank them for the work they do. We tell them often that we are praying for them and their families.

Elder & Sister Newman, a couple of our senior Alaska missionaries, gave their homecoming talks this morning in Kimberly ID. We were able to Zoom the talks as we readied to attend our own ward. We were able to make it in time for Sunday School. I loved listening to their experiences and reliving some of their adventures. It's wonderful getting to know these faithful, kind, and caring senior missionaries. They all have their own personalities and talents. We are always sad to have them leave. Soon we will be the last ones left as others take their places. Missing family, friends, and our new departing missionary friends has been the only downside of serving here. We hope to enjoy all their company in the future. Serving with other senior missionaries has been one of the unexpected joys of our mission. We have grown to love them, the comradery, and fun we have exploring this beautiful land. We share the love of our Savior and bringing others to experience His love.

We are invited to a mission wide Zoom meeting every Sunday evening. We were able to review some important lessons on criticism and gossip. We listened to a talk by Elder Jeffery R. Holland that was excellent. I'll include it here as soon as I have the exact talk. He has given so many incredible talks.

Have a wonderful week. We love you and miss you. Keep in touch! #Think Celestial

Love always, Elder & Sister Badger

Coming Along

Hello All, 

Angel Moroni on top of existing Anchorage Alaska Temple at Sunset.

Farrell writing this week. I have seen some beautiful sunsets in Utah and other places but if the weather cooperates, we see them here almost every night. It's because it takes the sun so long to set here.

We have had lots of sunny days here this week. The days are getting longer by about 30 minutes over a weeks time. Twenty degree days with the sun on your back isn't all bad. Although we exercise almost every day (walk or gym) I can't wait to get the bike out. I am not brave enough to do the studded fat tires that are common here in winter. Kitty has been wishing for a remote start for our car like many people here have and love. It didn't come with one and I was unable to find an aftermarket version -- until yesterday. So that's her Valentines Day present which I should have installed by then. She loves flowers -- almost always has a fresh bouquet somewhere in the house. Long ago we agreed that I was just fine with her picking it out and gifting it to herself from me anytime she wanted. Thanks to Costco it has worked out very well. My favorites are the little carnations with the spicy smell. So between that and the car start, hopefully she knows she is loved and appreciated.

We had an Alaska tragedy occur this week. One of the members of our church, who was the Bishop of the Mt. Baldly ward in a neighboring stake, was on the plane that crashed on the sea ice on the way to Nome. Ten people died with no survivors. We knew him because he and others brought their whole ward primary (47 kids) to our Visitors' Center summer of last year. One of the Sr. Missionary couples serving here has a daughter and son-in-law who live in that ward. I learned today that a family in a neighboring ward close to us (Huffman Ward) lost a son in the same crash. Seems planes are falling out of the sky lately in various places. It used to be a common cause of death in this state but I think the frequency has declined. What a tragedy to lose these good people. Thank goodness we know there is life after death and the continuation of the family can be eternal. We have the Savior to thank for that.

On Saturday afternoon we had a wonderful visit from a group of 22 youth and their leaders from Soldotna (2 1/2 hrs. SW of here) who had come up to visit the temple to do proxy baptisms for their ancestors. Kitty led the presentation/discussion and did a great job. We find these kids to be delightful. They ask great questions, and have a special light about them. Of course, I love to share what's going on with the construction. Most of the kids think that is great and some, well should I say, show less interest.

The steel work (decking) continues on the temple and they poured more concrete in the basement where the future twelve oxen will stand under the baptismal font. Again, amazing steel workers are on top of the tower. Their safety lanyards are now obvious. They use the kind that are in a large reel which lets them move all over without hinderance. They work like seatbelts. If the cable is jerked it locks preventing a fall. We haven't seen our old friends the concrete workers for months, so it was great to see them back. They have tons of flatwork to do over the next month or so. Our Utility/Grounds Building now has a sealed roof and due to big construction heaters it is warm. They will grade the inside floor this week and shortly thereafter pour it. 

We heard this week that the contract for the Fairbanks Alaska Temple has been awarded to Westland, the same General Contractor that is working on the Anchorage Alaska Temple. We don't know the schedule but wouldn't be surprised to see it come in about the same time this one is finished. It is a modular design built on permafrost. They will put piers 80 or so feet into the ground to support it.

Incredible moonrise on our way to church this morning. 
This picture doesn't do it justice. It was huge!

The computer skills I picked up going through life have been invaluable. We find ourselves working here, there, and everywhere. Kitty's church computer is back on our dining table with two big monitors, my church computer is in the Visitors' Center, my little laptop is here in our house from which I can remote in to wherever I need to work. Kitty's other computer is also in our house and we can do almost the full requirements from there. So sewage tank or no sewage tank, the work continues. Kitty is the primary picture editor. She is a perfectionist so nothing goes out the door without her sharp eye spotting and correcting the defects. It takes about a full day to put one weekly report together.

We find ourselves in a rather unique position. All our friends we went to the MTC with are headed home. Their 18 month missions are coming to an end. The Newman's will leave North Pole and head back to Idaho Falls this month. Others left 6 months ago returning to Idaho, Utah, and elsewhere. That's the way the story goes. The Stephenson's who we only know from the MTC and now serving in TX are wrapping up. When we were practicing teaching with them we had some very spiritual experiences that were enough to bind us together. Their mission was nothing like ours. They were called to do Member Leader Support and theirs was full of baptisms. Whatever the case, our lives are richer for having run into them. I often wonder what it will be like to have the association of all the people we have known in this life. Also our ancestors who we have never met in this life. That has got to be a joyful occasion. I hope my mental capacity far exceeds what is available now. I have met so many good and wonderful people. Jeff, a new friend, came to church today for the 4th time. He is planning on getting baptized soon. Kitty has some heritage in common with him. Both have family from the Wrangell AK area that were Norwegian and Tlingit.

Beautiful hoar frost covers everything.
It is about 2" deep in this picture.

Our prayer is that you will have the faith and joy that comes from trusting in the Savior of the World. Love you all. #Think Celestial.

Love, Farrell & Kitty

Elder & Sister Badger

Living the Dream

Dear Family & Friends,

Existing Anchorage Alaska Temple with new snow last Monday.

It's hard to believe another week has passed. We arrived in Anchorage 16 months ago today! We had another windy rainstorm last weekend creating a small lake behind the Visitors' Center trailer. The flooding caused our sewage tank, that had just been emptied, to float out of the ground because it was so buoyant. They pumped out the water, and electrician was able to disconnect the heating wires. Then the excavation contractor filled in the hole. Now the tank is sitting behind the trailer unusable until the weather warms back up. The ground is frozen making digging a new hole and installing a culvert to divert the water nearly impossible. So, we attend meetings, talk to the workers, take pictures on site, and spend time in the trailer with visitors, but are mostly working from home again. We have a note on the Visitors' Center door to call and we can meet visitors there in a few minutes. There are porta-potties on site, but I don't plan on walking a block and baring it all at -5° or even 20°. Yeah, I know, I would have made a lousy pioneer:)

Backyard last Sunday.
10' of snow here
last winter.

The wind (70+ mph) also caused the sheltering plastic to be blown off of the Utility Building. They replaced it and have been busy inside with electrical and plumbing. It is one of our places to get warm when we are out on site because it is sheltered and has two very big forced air construction heaters. We meet in the Westland trailer (General Contractor) for our Monday morning meetings and Tuesday afternoon OAC (owner, architect, contractor) meetings, if we don't attend via Teams. Another warm place which they nicknamed, The Dog House (we call it the Conex building), is where we have Cookie Day for the workers every Wednesday. The workers look at plans there, store some equipment and tools, and eat their lunches. It is a structure built between two nice metal Conex containers set on the old parking lot complete with roof, sheetrock, electricity, and heat. I am surprised the wind hasn't damaged it because it has no foundation or anchoring system. They are also busy in the basement of the temple measuring for walls, working on electricity, and plumbing. It's quite cozy down there--completely enclosed with big construction heaters. Then sometimes we pop in the guard shack to say hi to Marilyn, the wife of the superintendent for Westland who also acts as the entry guard. She is from St. George and always has the heat at the max. She is very nice and always welcoming. I can't stay anywhere inside where it's warm for too long, or I start sweating. Switching from -5° to 70° is tricky. I often feel like a six-year-old with long johns, snow pants, boots, coat, balaclava, hat, gloves, etc. But lucky me, I also get to wear a high vis vest and hard hat:) We like to call the outdoors "brisk" and we love the clean air up here. When it is cold that usually means the cloud cover is off and the sun is shining (at least for a few hours). When it does shine it is very bright.

Sunset at Costco last Monday.

The good news is we are getting out to exercise more. We alternate between Planet Fitness and the Dimond mall.  After going to the gym I like to go back home first and take a shower. If we walk at the mall we can go straight to the site. We mostly shop at Costco but avoid Saturdays as it's so crowded. It's hard to tell if cars are coming or going because so many people have remote starts to warm up their cars before they come out. If we were here permanently, we would add it to our car. Our C-Max in Utah has it, but I rarely used it. They say taking a cold shower is good for longevity, so I think those living in cold climates must be getting some extra benefits. I am so thankful for the heated seats in our present cars. How did we ever survive without those?

With the recent disruptions, attending the existing Anchorage Alaska Temple every week has been a huge blessing. I love serving Tuesday evenings. It is a small temple, and we get a chance to learn nearly every position there is to serve. It's challenging, but I am getting better at it. Farrell and I go on Thursday evenings. We had a short appointment at 6:30 to serve as patrons. When I arrived, they were shorthanded and asked me to step in as an ordinance worker. It was fun and great to be needed. It's such a blessing to be working with people doing their best and even when things don't go smoothly, we smile have faith, and it all works out. I know we all love serving in the House of the Lord. There is also a special gentleness, kindness, and camaraderie among those serving. There is an abundance of the Spirit there and it feels like a little bit of Heaven.

The days are getting noticeably longer now. I need to remind myself that we are living the dream. It's beautiful here, the people are wonderful, and we love our mission. I am grateful we live close enough to keep an eye on things over at the temple site. The only thing missing is our family and friends from back home. Have a fantastic week. Keep in touch. We miss you all. #Think Celestial

Love always, Elder & Sister Badger