Week 9

Well this was our first week in April and began with a bang as we thoroughly enjoyed General Conference commencing with the Solemn Assembly to the numerous changes announced and explained throughout Saturday and Sunday. I have been very impressed with the way our stake out here in Jacksonville and moved ahead with the changes, releasing the HP and EQ presidencies and holding a combined 1st Sunday of the month meeting. Wonderful discussions about conference, favorite talks, the changes, Ministering, and Temples. Haven't had a conference with such impact for years. Probably not since President Hinckley announced 30 new "small" temples back in 1998.

Monday began at the USO for us and we spent the morning doing odd jobs in the office and around the center. We stayed until 2:00 pm and then did some shopping for food and other items we needed for some missionary dinners we planned during the week. 

We spent Tuesday morning cleaning and I got the good job--vacuuming, while your mother worked through the two bathrooms and kitchen. We are moving into "bug" season, so it's very important to keep things clean. This evening we had Sister Knudsen and Meyers over for dinner. They are Sisters in the Fort Caroline Ward and they are wonderful missionaries and work hard every day. We enjoyed visiting with them, sharing a meal, and a spiritual thought they left with us. 

Wednesday morning we were at the USO again and spent the morning and early afternoon sorting and marking boxes of items that had been donated to the USO for military families. Lots and lots of bathroom items and food items (snacks). It's important that we review them to make sure they haven't expired (especially the food products) and sort them out so they can be distributed easily. The airport USO uses a lot of these types of items for the many military travelers they see. 

We enjoyed calls from Johanna and Erin. Johanna told us about her trip to Salt Lake to attend general conference with Haley. Erin and Weston were in Monroe at the house and Erin bought some Preen and spread it all over our flower beds for us. She sent videos of the kids in the backyard and it was wonderful to see them climbing and swinging in a familiar place. 

Thursday morning we were back at the USO again to learn some new procedures. We met another volunteer couple (Carmela & Jim) who open the facility and count the bread donated by Publix (local grocery store chain) to the USO on Wednesday night. They are leaving soon for Massachusetts (home) following a winter in Florida. Pam and I are scheduled to take over that day of service and the “bread” project. We arrived in time to watch them open the doors, turn on various lights and get the building up and running. I followed Jim and counted donated bread and pastries and tabulated their prices. Pam and Carmela went into the kitchen and did a number of other items. I was quite amazed at how much food was donated and it happened every week--approximately $1,000 worth of items. Before we could hardly get that done people were arriving for bread and pastries—a very popular donation. When things settled down Pam and I went out to the storage room and went through 10 bins of school items and got them all sorted out and the bins labeled for future distribution. The rest of the morning with visited with Carmela and Jim and handled patrons as they came in for tickets, bread, and sometimes to use the computer room. At noon Carmela and Jim left, and we were alone for a short period of time. Two community service youth came a little later and then Joyce arrived and came in like a tornado. Finally, she calmed down some, sold some tickets to a few men that were waiting and checked on what we had done in the morning and then we spent some time going over the next few weeks with her. We left at 3 pm and had a late lunch, early dinner at Freddy’s--good! 

Friday we were back at the USO on our regular day and Joyce left at noon for an assignment, so Pam and I had the place to ourselves for a while. Cheryl came and began preparations for Monday's "No Dough" dinner and Pam spent the afternoon working with her. I took care of phone calls and checking in patrons. We finally left in the late afternoon and were bushed. 

Saturday morning we cleaned the house again and made calls to all of our military families about this evenings Stake BBQ at the Stake Center. We hoped they would attend. We did some shopping and dodging huge rain storms in the afternoon. At 5:00 pm we drove to the Stake Center (about a 25 minute drive) in constant rain and joined in a huge crowd of stake members enjoying food and music. they planned for 300 and over 500 showed up but they had plenty of food. There were a lot of missionaries and we enjoyed shaking hands and renewing acquaintances. The Alexander's, one of our families we are working with, were there we visited with them their little girl came right up to Pam and gave her a hug. That made Pam’s night. We enjoyed the meal and visited with people from the Hendricks Avenue Ward. We also walked around the building, because it was built on the Monroe Stake Center plan without the Stake addition and the Young Women’s addition. We left at 6:30 pm and returned home and arrived safely. 

Sunday was spent at the Jacksonville Beach Ward and we enjoyed have another of our families come and spent meetings with us. The LeGae's came to Jacksonville from San Diego and he's been in the Navy for a dozen years. We hope to get them to the Temple during our time here. They also have 3 little children so Pam enjoyed the hugs and cuddles especially from the baby--about a year old. In the evening we were invited to dinner by the Jarvis family. Sister Jarvis is a military relations liaison from the ward and we have enjoyed getting to know her and her husband who is in the Navy. 

This is Sister Knudsen & Meyers at our home. Sorry, not many pictures this week, will try and do better.