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