Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Spoiled With A Kitchen

Weather Report
High 62 Low 51 =Very very rainy
Sunrise 6:09 a.m. Sunset 9:56 p.m. = 15 hours 47 min. Daylight

I am sitting here looking out our big window at the most beautiful mountains. The sky, clouds, and mountains are beautiful even when it rains for a week straight with nothing but rain in the forecast for the next 10 days. Fall is here in Alaska and we love it. We have talked and don't know why we miss the winter months because the summer is beautiful. People ask here, "Do you know what the most beautiful day of the year is called?" "No, what?" "Summer!" Or they say "there are two seasons here, winter and a whole day of summer." But the way the clouds, beautiful, white and fluffy, hang all around these magnificent mountains is such a peaceful sight. Maybe we love it because we were in a basement in Fairbanks. I don't know, but we are blessed to have three wonderful, large, windows looking east to the mountains. Our apartment is small and we can only be in the kitchen one at a time but that is better than no kitchen and doing our dishes in the bathroom sink. Boy, are we spoiled!

How do we like our transfer, you ask. Well, we have been here three and a half weeks and have had time to fall in love with the office. We work every minute as fast as we can all day and come home and fall into bed at night but we look forward to every morning and going to work. I couldn't even imagine that I would love an 8-5 job but it is nice to know every day what you are doing. No time for naps, of which we had grown accustomed to in Fairbanks. We see missionaries every day here and some days it is all day long but we missed the wonderful times in district and zone meetings in Fairbanks, being taught by these young magnificent servants of the Lord one minute and teased the next. Did I tell you when we left we found out that the zone leaders had put our picture on the zone board with the caption, "Old People working with Dead People." Gosh, we loved those missionaries. Every time one of them calls in the office they often say, "Hi, Sister Robbins, this is your favorite Elder!" I love it!

We help a lot at the mission home with the dinners and the meetings with the in-coming and the out-going missionaries. This is so fun to see this happen. Now if only I have their tickets right so they get on the right plane tonight at midnight as they go off to see excited families who have waited two years to see them! And do I have all the board cards made just right, in the right area with the right companion for these new excited missionaries who just here from the MTC are ready to convert the world. Tomorrow I will send a letter home to the anxious parents with a picture of the missionary and his/her new companion. Burt has a very boring job, he just keeps track of all the finances for the mission.

Do we love it here, Yes! And we are sorry we drug our feet in coming. Do we miss the Fairbanks people, oh, yes but we had dinner tonight with a couple who come down once a month for four days to work in the temple. Next month we will have three families, new converts bringing the family names we helped them find to the temple and we will get to go with them. What a blessing!

We love and miss you, Lenore and Companion