Mission News

 I want to introduce you to Sis. Lowe. She has been training Elder Robinson in managing housing properties and furnishings. She left last Monday to help her son and daughter-in-law who live in Salt Lake and just had a new baby girl on Monday. She has lived in Alaska for over 20 years and knows everybody and everything here. She lived here until her husband, who was a dentist, died and then has been serving missions since then. She has been to Africa and Guatemala on humanitarian missions working in dental clinics. She moved in with some friends last January so she could serve as a service missionary in the office here in Alaska. Since it was a service mission she only served for 9-months. She was so helpful! She makes you feel like a close friend from the first time you meet her. We hope she will come back. 

Earlier this week Elder Robinson had to get a new apartment set up in Houston, Alaska about 70 miles away. He loaded the mission van with household supplies and furnishings and arranged to have elders drive a truck to pick up furniture.

It was very foggy, cold and icy weather with snow in the areas we were going to. I go to the apartments with Elder Robinson and was a bit nervous for our first field trip in a huge van (without 4-wheel drive) and driving in bad weather. It was actually a fun adventure. We had 7 elders to help with moving.

 The apartment is above a small general store/post office with a hamburger and ice cream shop inside. Kind of like a tiny Days and Ripples combination with delicious ice cream! We got treats at the end. 

I liked seeing how much the elders enjoy getting together and working together. They work so fast and had everything set up in the apartment in about an hour. We also have been cleaning out apartments and that is a little slower. Cleaning up is not as much fun as setting up. (They like using the drill to hang curtains)

This was our first time being a part of transfers and new missionaries arriving while others are leaving. A lot of activity in the mission office. We had 12 missionaries leave and 17 arrive. One elder tested positive for Covid before leaving UT and is postponed. We also have another apartment of 5 that is quarantined because 2 sisters were in contact with a Covid+ person they have been teaching. I am grateful that so far only 1 missionary has had Covid since September and no one else has been positive. They are very good about strict social distancing, masks and limiting risk of exposure. 

It has been really cold this week so we haven't been out as much.

I do notice that no matter how cold it is if there is sunshine outside people bundle up and go out. There are a lot of paved trails along the road and people are out with jogging strollers, bikes or walking their dogs. We went to Kincaid Park which is about 5 miles west and borders the inlet and the airport. It was 20 degrees but people were enjoying being outside.

We took some pictures but then went back to the car. We had warm clothes but our faces weren't covered. You can see Fire Island and airplanes in the distance in the pictures. 

For Halloween I set a table outside the front door with candy, rings and vampire teeth. I had a candle and pumpkin so people could see they could get treats. We had one group of about 8 people come by at 6 pm and no one else after that. When I brought the candy in at 8 pm the candy bars were frozen.

Just FYI the condo on the 3rd floor above us is for sale and this is the flyer. It's a bargain!

On the spiritual side I wanted to share what Pres. King tells the missionaries to write about when he gets a letter from them each week. (He reads 236 missionary letters each Sunday). He asks them to tell them 4 things. 1. How they are doing, 2. How their companion is doing, 3. Something they learned, and 4. A miracle they have seen. That is a good way to summarize your week. We don't send him our letters but I will tell you what I would say. I am doing very well. Healthy, happy and safe! My companion is doing very well. I enjoy working together and having time to visit and share as we travel and spend our days together. I learned (again) this week the difference it can make to read the Book of Mormon every day. A sister at church today shared her testimony of a business experience where it helped her to be kinder and more patient when she starts the day with scriptures. I have thought how much I have enjoyed studying the Book of Mormon and listening to the Book of Mormon Central Come Follow Me videos. My day is better and I am better when I do that. The miracle I saw this week happened when we were checking apartments that Anchorage elders had moved out of. I have been helping a missionary in a remote part of Alaska who has been quite sick off and on for the past 6 weeks. His mission release date is Dec 10 and he really wanted to finish his mission. It got to the point that his health condition needed some specialty care and he could get the best care if he went home. I talked to Pres King and the recommendation was sent to Salt Lake to have him leave early to get treatment. He was with the group that left this past Wednesday While we were checking apartments, we called the elders to pick up some of their things they had left behind. When they came in, the elder who was going home early was with them. I was so surprised to meet him in person. The Anchorage elders had picked him up at the airport and were taking him to the mission home to leave later that night for home. I had a chance to tell him goodbye and how much I hoped he would do well with treatment and recover. I had prayed a lot to know the best thing to do and that he would be okay. He was so happy to see me too. He was so nice and had served so faithfully. I just felt so grateful to see him and let him know that. It was a miracle to me.

I hope you all have a great week. I will be so glad to put politics behind, I hope.

I felt bad that I didn't get to vote. I have never missed an opportunity to vote in 47 years. I had requested an absentee ballot to be sent to Alaska and it never arrived. There were 2 other missionaries trying to get their ballots too. Elder Robinson just had Scott mail his ballot here and received it fine. It was too late to register to vote here by the time I realized I wouldn't get a ballot. So none of what happens will be my fault. I tried. 

Love you all so much!!

Elder and Sister Robinson