Monday morning, we received several responses from the
Bishop’s emails sent out yesterday and hopefully will get a response from all
of them, but it helped update the status of several military families and
individuals. We opened the USO and it seemed had non-stop phone calls, mostly
about NFL Jaguar tickets. Pam manned the office and I went to the new storage
room and sorted through school supplies that arrived recently. Cheryl Vandiver
came at 10:30 am and opened the safe so we had money to sell tickets. At 1:30
pm Dave Ostrum brought another 100 backpacks filled with school supplies and we
took them to the new storage room and the room was awash with backpacks. Joyce
Schellhorn called from the road (she was on her way back to Jacksonville from
Clearwater, FL) and wanted the backpacks sorted by category (elementary, middle
school, high school). I did that and left the zippers open, so we could add
items as necessary. Joyce finally arrived about 3:30 pm and we visited about
upcoming events. Pam finished the afternoon sewing and I evaluated the new
responses from the Bishop’s letters.
Tuesday morning, we had a more leisurely start to the day,
but eventually headed to the Beach Church on Jacksonville Beach and picked up a
van full of food for the USO. The USO was also hopping with volunteers when we
arrived. Charley Tramazzo’s church youth group were there to work in the yard
and 3 other community service volunteers were busy inside. We unloaded the van
and put the food out on the pool table and eventually updated a Navy wife Facebook
page and people began arriving to pick up the donations. Pam worked in the
office and I went into the new storage room and put some order to the room and
then filled 30 backpacks for elementary school students. That left about 50 which
could be elementary or middle school students depending on what was added to
the bags. At 1:30 pm another volunteer arrived so they had plenty of help and Pam
and I decided to leave as it was bedlam in the office. We did a little shopping
and returned to our apartment where Pam continued working on Beth’s dress and I
made phone calls to new names.
Wednesday was a day off from the USO as they were having the
floors stripped and waxed and was closed for patrons. It was going to be a
sewing day for Pam and I had a project to solve with the van. We had an issue
with the transmission recently. It has gone into the “Limp” mode three times in
the past 2 months. Nearly every system in the van is
operated by a computer – including the transmission. In the “Limp Mode” the
computer senses something is not right with the transmissions functions and
won’t shift into 3rd or 4th gear. So far, we have been
able to pull over, shut off the van, restart it and the computer reset and
everything works okay. We are very concerned when the last two occurrences
happened within 3 days. I found a highly recommended shop just a mile down the
road (Active Transmissions) and visited with “Robin” at the front desk. They needed
the van for two hours and recommended Thursday or Friday. We were committed in
the mornings on both of those days but hoped to bring the van in about noon. At
5:00 pm I drove to Elder Hibbert & Smart’s apartment and picked them up for
dinner. I also did an apartment inspection. Back at our home dinner was ready
and at 6:00 pm we ate a wonderful Spaghetti dinner. Elder Hibbert was from
Layton and Elder Smart from Draper and Elder Hibbert was the District Leader.
They were fine Elders. After dinner they gave us a message and I took them back
to their apartment. Later in the evening Pam “Face Timed” with Erin and they
discussed setting up the quilting machine in Monroe, so Erin could finish a
wonderful project she was working on for a friend.
Thursday was an interesting morning. We were out the door early and
arrived at the Naval Station by 8:00 am to help in a Welcoming Booth on the
pier for the arrival of the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) home from deployment. As we turned
onto Mayport Road, the main gate was backed up for a quarter mile so apparently
a lot of people were either going to work or going to the Iwo Jima and New York
arrivals. We thought it was the later. It took a while but soon we got on base
and followed the traffic flow to a parking lot by the pier. We found the Navy
Exchange tent that joined in giving out water, travel kits, goodies to snack on
and generally observe the thousands of wives, husbands, children and families
gather to welcome home the ship which had been gone since early February. There
were 6 large tents set up along the pier with chairs providing seating for
families. The first sighting of the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) was around 8:45 am it
followed a tugboat shooting water cannons on either side and welcoming the
fighting ship. They came into the turning basin and eventually pushed up to the
pier. It took so long! A far cry from the Oosterdam that had forward and aft
side thrusters and did all that type of maneuvering on its own and quickly.
Once tied up it took another hour to get a brow in place, but the families were
very patient. As the first sailors walked off the ship families surged forward
to greet fathers, sons, husbands, wives, daughters, etc. It was very
heartwarming to watch this and reminded us of a few arrivals I had made on the
“Connie” or when a squadron came home. The Iwo Jima had a crew of around 1,100,
so it was a significant homecoming. When it appeared the last of the crew had
exited the ship we helped the Navy Exchange clean up as they were moving to
another pier for the arrival of the USS New York (LPD-21) later in the
afternoon. Pam and I didn’t have to stay for that arrival and made our way to
our van and drove to the USO for a short scheduling meeting. From the USO we
came back to our apartment and I dropped Pam off and continued on to Active
Transmission to have our van checked out. After dropping off the van, I
wandered around the area, had some lunch, and eventually returned to the shop
and waited and visited with the owner. Finally, at 2:30 pm the technician gave
the owner the bad news. No codes in the computer which was strange, but upon
pulling the pan off the transmission, the fluid smelled burnt, was black and
gray and had metal in it. That was all bad news. Back in the office we
discussed options. Rebuild, Replace or do nothing. I returned to our apartment
and Pam and I sat down and weighed the pros and cons and finally decided we
would have the transmission re-built. The most significant decision was when?
They needed the van for at least 4 days. Sister’s Gillin’s & Johnson
arrived for dinner at 6:00 pm and we had a fun hour with them. They were so
animated and thrilled to be serving a mission. Sister Johnson from Kaysville
and Sister Gillin’s from Bountiful. Sister Johnson also had Icelandic heritage
and looked the part.
Friday morning, we up early and on the road by 7:40 am to do apartment
inspections. We arrived at a new location for the Dunn Avenue Elders and
Sisters. Their previous apartment would not renew their leases as they didn’t
want to lease to “Mormons.” Sad commentary on our times, but in the “Bible
Belt” you never knew what you would come across. We also had three apartments
near our home and completed them and then drove to the Beach to meet with the
Sisters. All the apartments looked great and we were impressed with their
preparation and cleanliness. Before coming back to our apartment, we went to
JoAnn’s and bought more fabric for Beth’s dress. Pam sewed most of the
afternoon and I worked on our family lists and made a few phone calls.
Saturday morning, we were up and at it early again. This time we arrived
at the USO at 7:30 am to help set up for a food giveaway from the organization
“Feeding Northeast Florida.” When we arrived the parking lot was packed and
people were everywhere. We learned new Navy Chief Selectees (at least 50) were
gathered to do a service project at the USO and were everywhere. The primary
project was painting the interior of the USO. Dave Ostrum was orchestrating
this effort. The food began arriving at 8:00 am and set up at the back of the
parking lot. Pam and I and another volunteer set up the check-in table on the
back patio, so patrons didn’t have to enter the facility at all. I had 4 chief
selectees fill back packs and we ended up with over 50 to distribute to the
children of military families throughout the morning. Food distribution
commenced at 9:00 am and we had a steady stream of families coming for food
until they ran out about 11:30 am. The backpacks were all given away and we had
very few school supplies left in the storage room—which was a good thing as
school starts in Jacksonville Monday morning. By noon we wrapped up things and
had served over 125 families. On the way back to our apartment we did some
shopping for a military dinner tomorrow afternoon. Later in the afternoon we
drove to the Alexander home and celebrated Kyler’s 2nd birthday. We
gave him a gift and he was pleased. He must be missing his dad because he came
right to me when we arrived and sat on my lap most of the time we were there. In
the morning Tara and family had gone to the zoo and celebrated Kyler’s birthday
with other families.
Sunday, we attended the Jacksonville Beach Ward and Tyler Gneck was with us, also Jennie & Oliva Black, the Jarvis’ and Shay Tuttle. Alexis called and was in bed with a Migraine, also the LaGae’s were on their way home from Disney World and hoped they arrived safely and had a good time. Sacrament meeting was excellent with good talks and music. We attended the Gospel Principles class with a nice group and finally, priesthood and relief society and enjoyed the classes. Following the meeting we visited for a few minutes with Tyler and Shay and then came home. Pam finished a fruit salad for dinner tonight and I called Blake Harris and he answered and I visited with him for a few minutes. He was still attached to the USS Iwo Jima and not sure of his schedule for the next little while but will let us know. His father and brother went home yesterday after having been here for the ships arrival. I also called Andrew Cooper, another single but left a message. At 5:00 pm we drove to Lance and Stephanie’s home in Atlantic Beach. There were a number of families and individuals there and we joined in. Attendees were Lance & Stephanie Jarvis, Jennie & Oliva Black, Shay Tuttle, Alexis Connelly, Tyler Gneck, Devaney & Gary Noblit (recently married) and Devaney’s two sons, and Tara Alexander and Trista and Kyler. After a blessing on the food we began eating wonderful grilled chicken on Shish kabob sticks with salads, chips and dessert. It was very good, and we enjoyed eating and visiting. When everyone was finished, we gathered in the living room and Stephanie asked me to say a few words. I talked about the importance of maintaining spiritual balance with spouses whether deployed or not. Too study the scriptures and have family prayer alone or together and bore my testimony of its importance. Everyone left about 7:30 pm and it had been a good night with promises to do this again periodically. There are a few others who could be invited to such an event and we will work on those. End of a great night. Additionally, we had a huge thunderstorm this afternoon—washed all the grime away!
Kyler Alexander with Mom on his birthday
Kyler and Trista on stools and Devaney Noblit's son
Sorry about your van😕. The military family dinner sounded wonderful! Looking forward to our visit!
ReplyDeleteSerious discussion...i don't know about that. Haha but I do look angry...
ReplyDelete