Busy week with Covid

 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 waiting results, 6 are in quarantine and 4 have been negative. None of them have been very sick. Mild flu symptoms and they feel better in 3 or 4 days. I have not heard if they have met with anyone other than missionaries that have gotten sick. They do most of their contacting online and with Zoom meetings or phone calls. So far I think it is just among missionaries that they are getting sick. I hope so. They are quarantined as soon as they have symptoms or a known positive contact. The hard part is that they are contagious before symptoms. It feels like playing Whack-A-Mole to stop the spread. So last week was not a good week. Hope this week will be better.

There was a missionary that was scheduled to go back to Chile, his original mission assignment, this last week. He needed to take a Covid test to go and have results in 72 hrs. Most of the results here take 3-5 days so the church sends a saliva test kit to the missionary to expedite results. He has a 2 hr window to take the test and FedEx it overnight to a lab in Salt Lake. He was in Fairbanks so I called to tell him what to do. He was able to get the test done and was supposed to take it to a FedEx agent and get a tracking slip for overnight delivery.  I had told him how to mail it but since it was busy he just left it in the pile of packages at the office. Unfortunately it was with 2 -day delivery and didn't arrive on time. Without a tracking number we couldn't find where it was. He was supposed to leave at midnight on Wednesday night. At 7 pm there were no results available so we had to cancel his travel. I felt so bad!! He really felt bad too. He would have left snowy Fairbanks for sunny Chile. He kept saying he didn't realize it wouldn't get there on time. But he found out a few days later that the flight was turned back in Atlanta and not allowed to go to Chile. So everyone on the plane had to return to their current mission. With the surge in cases I think most travel is on hold. 

I also felt sorry for an elder that is serving on Kodiak Island (lots of bears). They have bear spray in the glove box. He was reaching for something and accidentally sprayed himself in the face. Not a lot of spray but even a little really hurts. He wanted to know what to do so I told him to irrigate it with cold water for 15 min. It is much more potent than pepper spray or mace and can cause 3rd degree burns if you don't treat it right away. It is made with capsaicin which is the oil that is in hot chili peppers. As long as he would wash it with cold water it felt okay, but when it dried out it would hurt. It was uncomfortable for a couple of days but he is fine now.

We have seen moose every day this week. A lot are in neighborhoods eating bushes, twigs and bark. Unfortunately we saw a dead moose who had been hit by a car in the road in Anchorage. It was very gruesome so no picture. It was very, very big so police had the lane closed until it could be removed. The number of moose killed was updated to 38 from 18 for the past 3 months on the road from Anchorage to Eagle River. 

It has been warmer this week and the roads are much clearer. The snow removal stage is now where they haul large trucks full of snow scraped from the side of the road and parking lots to empty fields where they stack the snow in really big piles. I think it looks scary to be moving the snow with an industrial-sized backhoe. 

I know some of you have been asking about coming for a visit and some of the things to do. I don't know the best activities for what you are wanting to do and how much time and money you want to spend. I did look at hotel rates in the summer and they are double the winter rates at around $250 a night. The daylight hours will be longer so you may be able to do some activities as a day trip and stay here with us. The time it takes to drive to various places are: Girdwood (like a Bavarian ski resort, animal conservation park)- 45 min; Whittier(seaport and hiking)- 1.5 hrs.; Seward (Kenai Fjord Nat Park, hiking, boat tours, fishing)- 2.5 hrs.; Homer(fishing and boat tours)- 4.5 hrs. Valdez(Prince William Sound/seaport)-5.5 hrs and Fairbanks(variety of activities/Denali) - 6.5 hrs. You could look online at activities for those cities and see what looks good for you. We really liked Seward. Whittier is smaller and fewer tourists with more hiking. The Animal Conservation Park is really good too according to one of the senior couples here. 

I was sad to see the political turmoil this past week. We don't watch much news but it seemed to be everywhere. I really liked the break from politics on social media around Thanksgiving and Christmas time as people posted more positive things. I know everyone commented how hard 2020 was and hoped 2021 would be better. But it won't be different until people behave differently from last year. It reminds me of the last of the Jaredites in Ether or the Lamanites and Nephites in Moroni chapter 9. Which of the groups were worse--they were all horrible. At first they thought they were fighting for principles but then it was just anger and hate and they couldn't stop fighting.  As hard as it is to let go of wrongs and injustices, it is better to just let it go and move forward. It has really felt good to be more removed from politics. I think of the government and politics when Jesus was on earth. The Romans and Jews, the Pharisees and Sadducees, were caught up in power and politics and they missed the message of goodness and peace that Jesus brought. Pres. Nelson said, "Our happiness doesn't depend so much on the circumstances of our lives but the focus of our lives". This year I want to be a better listener, to understand the challenges of others, less judgmental and more kind. I want to focus on being more like Jesus. It feels good to work toward positive things. I hope we can all focus on the good things around us and see the miracles in life. I know it sounds like "Annie" but I do enjoy a good sunrise each day. The sun will come out to start a new day and hopefully it's a better day! ("The sun will come out tomorrow")

It is Grandma Robinson's 91st birthday this Friday. We will miss not being in Arizona to celebrate with the family. But we will celebrate what a wonderful example of a gracious, kind, loving and fun mother, grandmother, great-, and great-great grandmother she is. (I think she was the first person to tell me about cheese on apple pie)

We love you all and hope for a great week

Love,

Elder and Sister Robinson