Travel to Homer

 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 that it is hard to get down to the road base. I found it interesting that there were tiers of snow pack on the side of the road. They scrape at one blade level that is slightly elevated and then a second level that is road level. Or maybe it is the other way around. 

The reason we went to Homer was to take a pickup truck to the Zone Leaders. We also traded cars with some elders who had an accident and scraped the side of their car. They slid off the side of their icy driveway into a tree in a ditch. No injuries. The front passenger door could only open about 8 inches so I would have to take my coat off to get as lean as possible to squeeze in through the door. At least it was drivable. We took the car back to Anchorage to get repaired. The missionaries there are teaching a 98 year-old lady they contacted through Facebook. I think living in these cold isolated towns gives people a lot of time to think about life. Plus she has just had a lot of time in life to think. They quite enjoy visiting with her.

The missionaries in Bethel ( a remote town in western Alaska)  had a baptism 2 weeks ago. They set up a portable baptismal font in the church and baptized a young man who is the friend of a member. Bethel has 6400 people and is supported by fishing. They have a 300-mile dogsled race to prepare for the Iditarod that is popular in the winter. I don't think we will make it to visit Bethel. No roads go there. Everything is by plane or boat. The missionaries do have a car that was shipped there for them to use. The branch members love having the missionaries there. They are doing a lot of good things.

The rest of the week we have been helping missionaries get supplies to move in to a new apartment. There have been 5 missionaries living together and we are having them move into 2 separate apartments. We have storage units with some things from other apartments that they can use. Then they make a list of things they still need to get from the store. It was interesting going to Walmart to see the sister missionaries talking with people. They knew probably half a dozen of the workers and patrons. They kept Covid guidelines but you could see how happy they were to visit with friends they had met on their mission.

There are a lot of things to do this week with moving apartments. Elder Robinson has 3 apartments that will be changing. One apartment was sold and the new owner will be living in it so they need to move. The other 2 are upgrades so they will have a garage instead of outdoor parking and washer/dryers in the unit. They are very happy with the improvements. I know parents worry about how their missionary is being cared for but Elder Robinson tries really hard to take very good care of them.

We saw a lot of moose this week. I would pay for a bear watching tour but never pay to see moose in Alaska. The moose laying down is right behind our apartment. Maybe 100 feet away. I still respect their space. They are so big. 

New food for this week is halibut that is boiled then broiled. They call it Poor Man's Lobster because you can dip it in butter and the chunks are supposed to be like lobster. That's a stretch. It's still halibut but it was good. We also found these Sumo oranges. They are huge clementines. Very sweet. Big, fat and ugly shape (sorry Sumos). They cost $4.00 each. 

Lastly is Cooper Landing. It is a very popular Kenai River fishing town. I didn't get a picture of Russell Road and Grand Larry Drive. I think if you drive around enough you can find just about any name. I also liked Penny Lane and Sesame Ave (Street would have been better).

I have really enjoyed the family food and activity ideas our family is doing this year. Lindsey suggested Hibachi noodles and ice cream cake with recipes for January. Her activities were a birthday treasure hunt and goal setting worksheets. It has helped writing down my goal. Putting it in writing is more of a commitment. I have been thinking what a great opportunity a mission is to make some real changes without the distractions of day to day life at home. One of the missionaries gave a talk and said he could go home after a mission as his "same boring self" or he could work to learn from his experiences and come back a better person. I think in some ways we had become too comfortable in routine. Part of the joy we feel in being here is in stretching ourselves, working together, seeing new and different things and being surprised to see so many good things in life. We see miracles almost each day in accomplishing things we didn't think we could do. There is also joy in feeling a deeper spirituality. It is good to let go of worldly concerns and not get so caught up in temporal things. Thank you so much for all of the love and support you give us. Even though we don't see each other I am grateful to still feel close to you. Missionary work is going well. It is rewarding to be a part of the effort even if it is a small part. It is good to work together!

We hope you have a good week. Even though it is cold, the days are longer and brighter. Each day is a blessing!

Love,

Elder and Sister Robinson

Happy Birthday this week to Jack on Feb 6. It's a big one--16!