Robinson Alaska Mission

 What a great week! It was exciting to start the week with the Jupiter-Saturn Convergence. It was too cloudy to see it here so I posted a picture from the newscast just to remember it by. Lisa had a great picture from Utah. I like how she described it as "gleaming".  We had a snowstorm with 8 inches of snow last week. That makes 32 inches so far this winter and it is piling up. I was glad it didn't snow on Christmas Day though so the snow plow drivers could be home instead of having to work. You can see how big the snow mounds are getting. When we have a warm day in the 30's it starts to melt and makes big icicles and large puddles in the parking lot.  Also this week was fun in the mission office seeing the excitement of the missionaries when they would come in to pick up packages. One day we received over 100 packages plus letters to sort. The missionaries really enjoyed helping to sort everything. They would get excited to see who received a package. A few missionar...

 Happy Birthday today, Dec. 20, to Spencer. And to Max who will turn 18 on Dec 23. In honor of birthdays (and Scott's request) we have been trying bakery specialties this week. Sister Powell and Sister Young had birthdays this past week too.  For a birthday treat the sisters get cruffins from Benji's Bakery. A cruffin is a croissant shaped in a muffin cup with cream filling. Crispy on the outside and light and flaky inside. We also went to a Dutch European Bakery. They have a sale box for $10 with a surprise mixture of pastries. It's a good thing we have been active this week (and sharing treats). We have had a lot of snow this week. It is starting to pile up. The bottom layer of snow looks like Cookies and Cream ice cream with the grit frozen in the snow. The snow plows work non-stop when it snows but the roads are still very slippery. There are now dump trucks that empty snow piles from the parking lot and take it to fields to pile up there. It will be the winter solstice...

 I think if I could learn to paint I would want to paint sunrises and sunsets. They are so colorful and different every day. I love the feeling of wonder that looking at the sky brings. I also love the way the snow reflects and contrasts so beautifully with the surrounding scenery.  Everyone says it is hard to enjoy the winter in Alaska, but the summer makes it all worthwhile. I think I was made to be in Alaska because I am really happy here in winter. At least the first month of winter. It is interesting that in Anchorage the temperature range only varies by about 10 degrees and sometimes only 2-5 degrees. So it is as cold mid-day as late at night. When the sun shines though it feels much warmer.  I wanted to get a picture of the electric plugs some cars have in the front grill to plug in the engine to keep it from freezing (I didn't get the picture though because people were sitting in their car). They use it a lot in Fairbanks where it gets down to 40 below zero. In An...

 It is 3 o'clock in the afternoon on a beautiful sunshiny day and 5 degrees outside. The sun comes up around 10 a.m. and goes down around 3:45 p.m. Two more weeks until winter solstice. There will be about 5.5 hrs of daylight on that day. I love seeing the sunrises and sunsets. Such beautiful colors! Elder Robinson spent the day moving apartments in 8 degree below weather in Wasilla. They had about 10 elders helping so it went fast, thankfully.  This picture is of  3 elders that have helped with just about every move. We have enjoyed so much getting to know them. They are the Filipino elders. Elder Stock on the left is going home this week. He started his mission in the Philippines and came to Alaska when everyone came home with Covid. Elder Salvoro in the middle is from the Philippines. He came to Alaska about a year ago. He is so excited to learn English and says it will make such a difference getting jobs when he returns home to be able to speak English. He has one mor...