Robinson Alaska Mission

 This past week on Monday and Tuesday we drove south to Homer on the tip of the Kenai peninsula. Homer is about a 4.5 hour drive. The drive is along the Cook Inlet. It is so pretty to look across the water and see the snow covered mountains. Pretty cold too! Homer is famous for halibut fishing, bear watching, the art community and "Alaska, The Last Frontier" TV show that is filmed there. But in the winter there is not much going on. There is a 4.5 mile finger-like strip of land that extends into Kachemak Bay that is called the Homer Spit. Most tourist places are on the Spit. We went to eat at a restaurant at the very end of the road on the Spit. It was pretty good seafood and a nice atmosphere. I kept seeing a sea otter popping up and swimming around in the bay. It was a beautiful view from indoors. The wind was really cold outside so we didn't walk around much. The roads were mostly snow packed and sometimes icy on the drive. They are always plowing but it is so cold tha...

 This was transfer week. There are a lot of missionaries going home or returning to their original mission assignments. Transfers also bring a lot of changes with getting new apartments as Elder Robinson is working to upgrade the quality of apartments. Some of the apartments have had missionaries there for 10+ years without any refurbishing. Many of the furnishings and supplies are worn out too. With decreased travel because of Covid there is some extra money in the budget to use for improvements. So that is a blessing of Covid in being able to focus on the items that sometimes have been overlooked. Plus Elder Robinson really likes making the missionaries happy as he shops for apartments and supplies. He has had several missionaries call or send a note thanking him for the things he is doing for them (especially having a nice bed to sleep on!). We took some zone leaders shopping for supplies since they are moving in to a new apartment. One of the elders reminded me a lot of Zack. W...

  We are so excited to hear from those of you who are planning to come to visit in Alaska. So far Scott is coming to see the Northern Lights (hopefully) when we go to Fairbanks for my birthday. He will be here March 9-15. Kate and Jed will arrive to stay for the summer in May through August. LeAnn and family are coming in June. Lisa, Dan, Ethan and Amber will come July 10-18. Lindsey, Kevin, Maggie and Cooper are coming in August. I know this is subject to change. I hope travel restrictions from Covid will start to ease soon too. Of course that may mean more tourists. So we decided to start using P-day to look at things to do when you come visit. Whittier is a little over an hour away, south of Anchorage. It is a nice drive with a lot of pull outs to look across the inlet at scenery or go hiking in the Chugach National Park.  It was a gray, rainy day so we didn’t stop much (sorry for pictures from the car). Whittier is on Prince William sound which used to be a military port a...

 Today was Elder Robinson's 70th Birthday. We enjoyed visiting with everyone and hearing from home. Thank you so much for your birthday wishes. We have about 20 missionary birthdays each month. As we write notes on their cards I usually think what a great way to spend a birthday, in a new place with new people and experiences. Not your ordinary year by year celebration. Several missionaries called to wish him a happy birthday too and he liked that. I liked Lindsey's birthday treasure hunt idea and recipe for hibachi noodles. So that is what we had for dinner. We didn't get a german chocolate cake this year (not enough people to share it with). So he had pie instead, his favorite dessert.  I have been really busy with Covid cases among the missionaries the past 2 weeks. There are 2 of our 9 zones that have had about 50% of the missionaries that have symptoms and are in the process of getting tested. The other 7 zones have been Covid-free. So far 8 are positive, 10 are waitin...