Celebrating in Talkeetna

Dear Family and Friends,

Denali or Mount McKinley

Kitty writing this week. After another busy week at the temple site, we took a little break. For our 49th wedding anniversary we spent a couple of nights in Talkeetna AK at the Lodge there celebrating. We had a spectacular view of Denali or Mount McKinley from our room. That is a rarity because it is almost always shrouded by clouds. There was still plenty of snow on the ground and only a little green grass around the heated sidewalks. It's roughly a two hour drive north of here. 

Denali, federally designated as Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak on land, measuring 18,000 ft.

We had a nice dinner at the restaurant there, again overlooking Denali. We saw a stuffed bear in the lobby that was shot by a 10 year old girl. If we ever see one here in the wild, I hope we're in the car with an easy way to leave quickly. It was truly massive. The bullets she used were made at Barnes Bullets in Mona, Utah, where our neighbor in Mapleton, Alan, works. Small world. As missionaries, we aren't allowed to carry weapons:) We do have bear spray in the car and on our bikes, but have never used it.

Farrell on hike.

Mushrooms on tree.

Mushrooms on tree stump.

The next day we drove further north to the Denali Stake Park. It was still snowy, but we did take a nice hike and saw lots of mushrooms and an eagle. I lost one of my shoe grippers right off my foot and didn't even notice until we went back to the car. The ground is frozen on top and sometimes we would step and fall into a hole about 8" deep. It was a little unnerving. I asked Farrell to bring the bear spray. He didn't think we needed it as the bears were probably still hibernating. But hibernating where??? He put it in his pocket and I tried not to get too far ahead or behind him. We did see lots of moose prints and scat. Another massive animal I don't want to meet in the wild! 

Kitty at Susitna River.

Talkeetna Lodge lobby w. fireplace.

Selfie w. Denali in background.

We spent some time walking around in the small town of Talkeetna. It's full of old fashioned shops. They make most of their money in the summer. This is the shoulder season and the tourists have just started showing up. Many of the shops weren't open yet. The Susitna river that flows by had huge ice chunks in it. We stopped on our way home for some pizza and pastries at an artsy little place. It was nice to get back to the lodge for a bath and a comfy rest in their new beds. Apparently the mattresses, bedding, and towels are all new. The front desk said we were the first ones to use them in that room. Next year they plan to replace the couches and chairs in the rooms. They told us from mid-May thru the end of summer the place is full. There was live music Friday night, but it wasn't my style. We did have a great mountain view from our window, it was peaceful, and a nice break. I appreciate being married to a wonderful man and father of our beautiful eleven children. It hasn't been all smooth sailing, but I appreciate having him by my side though it all.

On our way home the next morning we stopped at the Kahiltna Birch Works. They gather birch sap from the surrounding trees and make Birch Syrup. It tastes like maple syrup mixed with molasses and is 4x the price. One liter cost $60. Farrell said he didn't think he could enjoy his pancakes when the syrup cost that much. It was interesting, they had samples, and we bought a cute Frontiersman sourdough hand towel we will use to cover Farrell's real sour dough starters. The lovely young lady behind the counter had her 5 month old daughter, Lily, laying in a porta crib right inside the door. Her dad came in and picked her up and it was definitely a family owned business. You could look through a window at the processing equipment. A batch size is 10,000 gallons of raw 1% sugar sap that they reduce down to 150 gallons of 67% sugar syrup. The sap was running while we were there and it was worth a stop. They either collect it in individual buckets or in batch through blue tubing strung from tree to tree. The sap runs over a very short two week season divided into three distinct levels of quality -- early, mid and late. The flavor gets stronger as the season progresses.

Hope you had a great week. The temple is going great. We had the last large concrete pour on the main floor last week. The weather has been very cooperative for the most part. We are grateful to be here in this beautiful place. Keep in touch. #Think Celestial

Love always,

Elder & Sister Badger

Happy Days -- It's Easter

Hello All,

Sunset from Flattop Overlook

Farrell writing this week--
On this Easter Sunday I reflect on just who Jesus is. At our Sacrament Meeting this morning one of the speakers, Liisia Putman, a young mother, gave me some new insight on the subject. As a preface, for those who may not know, we believe that this earth and our presence here was all planned by Our Heavenly Father. We were all made aware of those plans and chose our path forward. The following is a quote from her talk.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/

"Up until recently, it hadn’t quite sunk into me just how epic it was that Christ chose to glorify the Father by coming to Earth as His Only Begotten Son. However, after reading Revelations, chapter 5 in particular, the gravity of it all finally hit. With over 8 billion people living on the Earth today, over 100 billion since the creation, and more people yet to come to this Earth, with even ⅓ of all spirits ever created not even eligible to come to the Earth, there seems to have been a lot of potential candidates during the Council in Heaven concerning the redemption of the world. However, as we read in Revelations, John the Apostle learns that it's not just that only one of all of those souls was willing, it’s that only one of those souls was even qualified.

Rev 5:2-5

2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

But being the only soul in the entire existence of creation didn’t obligate Christ to become our redeemer, I suppose he could’ve said “no.” Instead, he willingly presented himself to endure what really does seem unimaginable. Without Him, the only one worthy and even willing, none of us would stand a chance to progress back towards our Heavenly Father."

So that's who he is. Gives one pause, to think that we are the recipients of that kind of sacrifice.

Elder & Sister Gailey

We have had a very busy week. We attended our mission Sr. Spring gathering (dinner and visiting) with all the Sr. missionaries plus the Mission Leaders. I always enjoy the visit. One couple at our table takes care of JBER, a huge joint military base on the north end of town. Then two middle aged companion sisters where also there. Sis. Watanabe was headed back to CA that night at the end of her mission. Her companion, Sis. Ah Sue is from St. George and will await the imminent arrival of her new companion coming from a small Utah town (E. side of the state but too small for me to find on the map). Get this, the new companion waited three months after submission of her mission papers for a call and then was asked to report to the MTC 9 days after she received it. I understand that she is a little worried about coming to the "big" city of Anchorage. At our invitation, we had a missionary couple from Farmington, UT -- our good friends, the Gailey's, serving in Soldotna stay overnight to attend the party. They also went with us to the Anchorage Stake's presentation of "The Lamb of God" on Sat. evening before driving the 2 1/2 hours back to their area. Sister Gailey didn't want to miss choir practice Sunday or they could have spent another night.

Thinking about the Savior again, we had a visitor come to the Visitors' Center with two young Elders. This man was covered in tattoos including some on his face. His first words to us were, as he held out his arms to make the tattoos prominent, you can see I've lived a pretty rough life. He will be baptized April 26. His new goal is to take his wife to the temple to be married for eternity. It was a sweet conversation. All I could think of was the Savior standing in front of him welcoming him with outstretched arms. His countenance just glowed. It was a privilege to hear his story.

18 April 2025 Courtesy Jonathan Hughes

Our work on the temple site continues. I went out one day to take pictures and there was so much going on I was in a quandary wondering which way to turn next. There is roofing, ductwork, plumbing, steel framed walls, prep for and concrete pours, prep for granite hanging, interior wall vapor barrier, scaffolding install over the font, and framing windows are all in progress. Monday there was a 78 cu. yd. floor pour. The next day we had snow. The dripping water through the deck is really loud. The noise is amplified because it drips on dense Styrofoam sitting on the ground which is there in preparation for the next concrete pour.

18 April 2025 Courtesy Jonathan Hughes

It looks like there will be 9-10 trades on site for the foreseeable future. We had something funny happen this week. As we have mentioned, we serve the workers cookies on Wednesdays thanks to the donations of one of the Stakes (1500-2500 church members). The number of workers was increasing so I texted the Stake Relief Society Pres., who coordinates the cookies, to request an increase from 8 dozen a week to 10 dozen. They have five people/families make and donate 2 dozen each. The intent was to add a 5th for 2 more dozen. Instead the signup list got unintentionally doubled. So that's 10 people bringing 2 dozen each. The cookies just kept coming. I couldn't figure it out, until much later, what had occurred. We put a few dozen in the freezer for a later date and still had plenty. It was like manna coming from heaven. I sampled a few, you know someone has to do the quality check, and boy were they good. The biggest miss of our mission will probably be not securing all the cookie recipes.

We have an Easter Dinner initiation this evening at the home of Bro. & Sis. Jones. We love going to dinners because in true Alaskan fashion, everyone is invited meaning family, friends, neighbors, sports buddies, school teachers, etc. -- usually 20-30 people. No dividing lines between ages, religion, or careers.

Kitty took the picture above from Flattop Overlook Friday at sunset. The island left of center is called Fire Island. On the right side of the island, toward where the sun is setting, is Mt. Spurr, the volcano that hasn't made up its mind whether to erupt or not. It is 75 miles away. Our ward sent an Ash Alert! brochure from the State of Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management in our ward bulletin for church today:) It details how to prepare, what to do for your home, family, auto, workplace, etc. This could get interesting. We are still at a yellow alert, but it's good to be prepared.

We love you all. Happy Easter! #Think Celestial

Take care, Elder & Sister Badger

The Good News is that He Lives

Dear Family and Friends,

Sue's Way, Anchorage AK

Kitty writing this week:) We woke up this week to a beautiful winter wonderland again. We thought spring was right around the corner. Thank goodness it hasn't been cold enough for the streets to be covered in the dreaded ice that makes walking treacherous. While the temple was closed for two weeks they cleaned the carpets and power swept all the gravel off the parking lot. Since there is no ice they haven't had to reapply it.

General Conference last weekend was wonderful and it's been sweet to be able to listen to the talks again as I get ready each day. What a spiritual feast! I make a mental note of my concerns and questions before each conference and am always amazed that they are always answered. This is the most beautiful rendition of the song Gethsemane from a recent conference. https://youtu.be/gxjQeqbzVq4?si=IiS1fTfcKlj3-yX1

Current Anchorage Alaska Temple

After a two week break it was wonderful to be able to serve at the temple again as an ordinance worker and patron. I really missed it and it's one of the highlights of our week. In the last two years 544 ordinances have been completed from ancestors on FamilySearch. It's been fun to share names with family members to help in the work.

Angel Moroni

Our dear senior missionary Sister Watanabe is leaving this week. She is incredible and we will miss her dearly. We served at the temple together for a while, until she changed days. It's hard to have these dear friends leave, but we treasure our time together. We wish her all the best. All the senior missionaries are getting together Friday for our Spring Social and we will get a chance to say goodbye. The only time I feel sad on our mission is when the senior missionaries leave.

We were able to put out a poster on Cookie Day for the workers with this link. We invite you also, if you don't have another place to go. Come celebrate Easter with us at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Find a chapel near you at: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/?lang=eng

We have a Zoom call every Sunday with our mission president and his wife. President Larsen asked several of us to share our testimonies about a time when we knew the gospel was true. So many experiences have strengthened my testimony but this experience was the hardest and perhaps built my faith the most. We lost our eldest son 10 1/2 years ago. I still appreciate the outpouring of love and compassion at that time. I learned more deeply that Heavenly Father loves us, knows each of us personally, and is in the details of our lives. Easter and our Savior's atonement and resurrection mean more to me now that so many loved ones are on the other side of the veil. The Good News of the Gospel is that He Lives.  

Have a great week. Happy Easter! #Think Celestial 

Love, Elder & Sister Badger

Exciting Announcement

Hello All,

Farrell writing this in between General Conference sessions this morning. The talks and music have been so uplifting and inspiring. The emphasis was to feel the Savior's greater love. The talks can be watched or listened to again at:                https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/feature/general-conference?lang=eng

We have billowing dark clouds today with the sun shining underneath. It smelled so much like rain yesterday that I thought we were going to get drenched -- just a very light sprinkle as we were out on the site. That was an answer to prayer.

Existing Anchorage Alaska Temple

The current Anchorage Alaska temple has been closed for a couple of weeks for the annual cleaning. Fire systems service people have come and gone & then yesterday the carpet cleaners. They put a temporary bright orange curtain at the front entrance and then ran their truck hoses through the doorway. In the meantime I was taking the opportunity to fill up our Visitors' Center water tank. That means running a hose across the parking lot from the temple 250'. Last time I did it in October it took hours. This time apparently the hose was better and I found the tank running over in just a couple of hours. Anyway it is done. They were going to fill it with a water truck but as usual I get impatient (after a five day wait) and offered to assist. It has been a bit hard for me to sit back on a construction project and watch everyone else work. We thoroughly enjoy the workers, their friendliness, and good nature. Kitty is motivated to spend more time learning Spanish as some of the crews don't speak English.

4 April 2025 Courtesy of Jonathan Hughes

It has been a very busy week in the construction world. We had a major milestone with the first concrete pour that covers about a 1/3 of the main floor. The crew was amazing. They laid down 120 cubic yards in a couple hours and then finished the floor with two large double power trowels that had seats  for the operators. Other crews watched in amazement. It turned out very smooth. Next day they saw cut the expansion lines. The concrete was poured over lots and lots of hydronic tubing stapled down to 2" foam board placed on top of a bright yellow plastic vapor barrier. That was Friday morning. 

We were praying for the rain to hold off during the pour because most of the current ceiling is only corrugated steel with lots of perforations for pipes, ducts etc. We had only a few raindrops and no drips through the roof. They have now started to finish the roof surface. It is multilayered and somewhat complicated. On top of the decking, first to go down is DensDeck, which is some kind of fiberglass reinforced water resistant and fireproof sheetrock strong enough to walk on. It is screwed into the steel deck with big washers and lots of screws.

4 April 2025 Courtesy of Jonathan Hughes

Then a self adhesive heavy membrane goes on. Next is a flat piece of 6" thick insulating Styrofoam which is glued down with a bright blue expanding foam. That gets another layer of foam that has been pre-tapered to direct water to the many roof drains. Total insulation varies up to a foot and a half thick. It gets covered with a different kind of board which is also glued on. The top is the actual roofing surface, a very thick & heavy PVC type material. It extends up and over the parapet walls which have been caped with a wood beam angled to shed water back to the roof. That means no water drips off the roof down the face of the granite. That wood beam finally gets a beautiful metal flashing cap. Picture updates can be found on this site: https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/anchorage-alaska-temple/photographs/

Apologize for getting off on this tangent but I think it is pretty amazing. Many other activities are in progress. We are up to around 50-60 workers and 10 doz. cookies a week. That is a lot of cookies on Wednesdays. We are about to move on to the 3rd Stake to supply them. The current Anchorage Stake wondered if they could volunteer for another couple of weeks. They have been donating since the beginning of the year. We have learned that families love making cookies for the workers--almost as much as the workers like getting them. It's something they can do on their schedule and it's not too burdensome.

We are in the process of revamping our Visitors' Center presentations. A one terabyte SSD card plugged into the back of the TV has been the norm. We have run up against limitations on the TV operating system so now transitioning to my tablet which easily lets me display websites, pictures, video etc. It takes a bit for me to organize it to make it immediately accessible. We have two young people groups coming this week so that is the present motivation. Another friend, who is not a member of the church we have gotten to know, also plans on showing up. She is very intelligent (talks knowledgeably on most subjects), a writer, in her late 60's, Jewish, knows most of the details of her ancestry & recently lost a son to Fentanyl, etc. How we desire to bring blessings into her life through the Savior.

We were deeply touched by the exciting announcement in General Conference of a new temple in Spanish Fork UT! Our assigned temple in Utah was the Payson Temple, a 25 minute drive. It's a beautiful temple, but two temples were actually closer, both of the ones in Provo. We assume, since it's Utah, that this new one will be a large temple. There is a lot of land in Spanish Fork and it will be a joy keeping tabs on it's progress. I worked in Spanish Fork at the mouth of the canyon for 27 1/2 years before commuting to SLC for 12 years. What a blessing to that and surrounding communities. This is the ninth temple in Utah County. Latter-day Saints settled Spanish Fork in 1851, home to about 50,000 residents today where 90% of the population are members of the Church. This will be the 31st temple in Utah either in operation, under renovation, under construction or announced. These are in preparation to get us all ready for the second coming of our Savior.

Spanish Fork Utah Temple Announced.

My devotional message this week to the workers was about the Resurrection of Jesus. That belief is commonly shared among Christians but not necessarily that it is universal for mankind as a gift from Christ. It also means our physical natures will be made perfect. At this Easter time of year, I rejoice at that outcome for life. We know that we have not lost those who have died. It feels so right to know that we will have their association again. 

We love you and wish you all the best. #Think Celestial

Elder & Sister Badger