Beautiful Alaskan Sky

 

Jed left for Indiana this week and this was a last view of Alaska before going in to Canada. While driving through Canada he saw a grizzly bear by the side of the ride eating insects off the plants. He actually walked up to within 15 ft of Jed's truck. He must have smelled the fish Jed had inside. That's when Jed left. We will miss them.             

It has been such a pretty summer even with clouds or rain. I love seeing all of the wildflowers. It kind of reminds me of the bluebells in Texas that Lindsey loved or the flowers when we would hike Albion basin. They are everywhere and such a variety of purple, pink, blue, white, yellow, and red. A lovely bouquet. The purple-pink flowers are fireweed. It gets its name because it is the first plant to repopulate after a fire and can spread rapidly. A single plant can produce 80,000 seeds. It is hardy and grows in a lot of places in the US. I may have to try planting it in UT. In Alaska they use it to make honey, jelly, syrup and ice cream. As pretty as it is though when not in bloom it has sharp thistle-like leaves. Sounds like I'm ready to go back to school with this flower report!

 We also enjoyed going to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center last week. We saw lots of animals and tourists. The grizzly bear was hiding until it was feeding time and the worker called him to dinner. His name was Patrone (Pa-TRONE). They fed him towards the back of the enclosure and would throw big chunks of meat over the fence. He was hungry! We also saw moose, musk ox, elk, caribou, bison, reindeer, wolves, porcupine and fox. No Dall sheep. It was our P-day and we don't have to wear name tags when we go on activities but we do anyways. I feel like every time we wear our name tags when we are out around tourists we always have members that will talk with us. I enjoy getting to meet a lot of people as a missionary. 

We also enjoyed getting to attend the temple. There are only 24 people each session so we felt so happy to see 3 ward members there and a sister service missionary. Everyone is so friendly. It was wonderful to be back in the temple. 

We were excited to welcome a new senior missionary couple on Monday. They will serve at the military base just north of Anchorage. He served 30 years in JAG and as a judge in the Air Force. They have served a mission in England working with Young Single Adults. They were scheduled to go to Germany but she had Covid last year. When she got the first dose of the vaccine a few months ago she had a severe reaction and was told to not get a second dose. So they were reassigned to Alaska. They are so nice and are just happy to be here. 

We are having a Senior Missionary Activity tomorrow that I am in charge of. I will be less stressed when it is over. We have 6 missionary couples in Anchorage and 5 in other areas of Alaska. We are doing a podcast on Zoom and having ice cream while we watch. The podcast is about a guide on Mt Denali and his harrowing experience rescuing a climber. The ice cream is to get the chill of the mountain. Hopefully the tech part will go smoothly. Celina has been coaching me. Kate thought it was funny to think of all of these senior couples trying to master Zoom. In our ward the tech specialist is a 16 yr old priest. He does a great job. So smart!

Spiritual thought: It has been a routine week. I was driving home from the mission office and feeling very "ordinary".  Sometimes I wonder if we make a difference and what good we are doing. But, it was a pretty sunny day and I felt so thankful for the beautiful Alaskan sky. Then unexpectedly I had such a feeling of peace and contentment. It wasn't related to anything in particular. It reminded me of the quote by Pres. Nelson that "the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives". I think nature helps calm my spirit and then I can feel the spiritual nudges that help me to know God is there. It is good to know that as long as we do our best in "ordinary" days we can have joy in our life when we remember God. I was grateful this week to hear the testimonies of members at church and some that I shared on Facebook. I hope you get to see those posts. Also Elder Robinson was visiting with some missionaries in Wasilla who have been seeing a lot of progress with new people who have been attending church. One YSA sister had been attending a different church where they told her how bad "Mormons" were. She came to an activity she had heard about online to see for herself and felt so "good" to be there. She has invited several friends to come with her too. Sometimes the missionaries just need a chance to introduce the Book of Mormon and rely on the spirit from there. 

A quick note about the earthquake and tsunami this week. There was an 8.2 earthquake SW of Kodiak Island so they issued tsunami warnings along the island chain. It happened at 10:15 p.m. and the warning was at 10:30 p.m. Elder Robinson checked with the 4 missionaries there. You could hear the warning sirens and announcements. They evacuated to the church and stayed there for a few hours. It turned out to only be an increase in tide of 1/2 foot, so no harm. The missionaries enjoyed the excitement.

We have been enjoying our halibut. Today I made "Poor Man's Lobster". You boil 6c. water with a cup of sugar and 2 TBS salt, turn off the heat and add the halibut chunks for 5 min. Then coat it in butter and broil it with dash of paprika for 5 more min. It was really good and very easy. Sugar and butter can't miss. I hope all of you that caught halibut are enjoying your catch. This works with cod too.

Have a pleasant and happy week. Glad to see you are getting rainstorms and cooler temps in UT. 

Love,

Elder and Sister Robinson

Some miscellaneous pictures. I don’t know how they decided on 7 mph. A “toothpick” forest from the 1964 earthquake which made the groundwater salty, killing the trees but leaving the stumps. Scenery and Elder Robinson with the “bison”