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