COTTLE MISSION NEWS: Week 64 (22

Monday morning, we arrived at the USO at 9:00 am and Pam went right to the kitchen and began the task of warming up chicken drumsticks and wings that had been cooked previously. That took most of the morning. She was assisted by Joyce Schellhorn (Director) and another volunteer. I spent my morning setting up the main room for the dinner and assisting in the kitchen with whatever they needed. We ended up with 7 volunteers at different times throughout the morning and early afternoon and Pam kept them busy. In the afternoon corn and mac n cheese were prepared in huge volumes and the only issue was power. Every time we used multiple roaster pans; we kept tripping circuit breakers. I also worked in the outside storage room consolidating the Girl Scout Cookies and was able to move out 4 pallets so we could get shopping carts into that room. Joyce said we were not needed for the dinner, so we left at 3:00 pm and were both very tired and sore from standing for such a long time but dinner preparations were finished.

Tuesday morning, we arrived at the USO at 9:00 am and the Feeding Northeast Florida truck had just arrived and was unloading four pallets of food—meat, canned goods, Mangoes and a pallet of baby food. There were three volunteers from JEA and 2 other ladies and they were a big help and stayed with us throughout the morning and early afternoon. We made up 50 bags of meat and placed them in a freezer. The canned goods were taken inside and placed on tables in the north wing and sorted by type. We also brought out some food from the pantry that could be reached as pallets of Girl Scout Cookies continued to block access. By noon everything was ready, and patrons began arriving. Pam and Margaret manned the check-in desk in front. Stephanie Jarvis came about 1:00 pm and we had an opportunity to visit with her as she gathered food. Joyce asked me to take some briefing material to HSM-46 on base and after I returned, Pam and I left for the day and returned to the base and mailed a package for Charlie Tramazzo to his son in the middle east and also delivered Girl Scout Cookies to Nikki Head, Shay Tuttle, Samantha Lagae and Jenny Black. We learned Tony Head left for Wisconsin and would be there until June. That was a surprise as he had been taken off the “pre-commissioning” crew list. In the evening we returned to the Beach area and picked up Sister Tidwell and Weyland and took them to dinner and had a wonderful hour with them—great missionaries!

Wednesday morning, we arrived at the USO at 9:30 am and Dave Ostrum had opened. The north wing had been set up for a Pathfinder event at 11:00 am. At 10:30 am Joyce Schellhorn (Director) arrived and we went over some items she wanted done today and then she and Dave left for St. Augustine where they attended a special meeting involving the USO. Pathfinder representatives and vendors arrived and set up in a few of the tables and then 4-6 potential students arrived to participate in the event. They had a quick lunch and visited with the vendors and then went into the Pathfinder room and had a meeting which lasted about an hour. The primary theme was the IT career path. Pam manned the office and worked on recipes for upcoming No Dough dinners. I was in and out doing jobs for Joyce. When the Pathfinder people left, I set the north end up in the normal configuration. At 2:00 pm a lady representative from Kings Bay Sub Base arrived and I loaded 90 boxes of girl scout cookies into a pickup truck and she left. I also took some cookies and candy to Brenda at the Naval Station Post Office for Joyce. Finally, at 4:00 pm Dave made it back to the USO and James McCullough arrived a half an hour later so Pam and I left for the day.

Thursday morning, we left for Orlando at 7:00 am to join President & Sister Lee and other missionaries at the Temple. The drive south was enjoyable and upon arrival, President Lee and his wife were just unloading their car and the mission van also drove in, so timing was perfect. We joined the other missionaries and senior couples in the front of the Temple for pictures. After entering the Temple, we changed and met in the chapel to await our session. It was a wonderful session and the ordinance room was full. Following the session, we visited in the celestial room for fifteen minutes and then followed President Lee to a front sealing room for a short devotional. President Mills of the Temple presidency spoke to the missionaries and then we heard testimonies from President and Sister Lee. We left the Temple about 12:30 pm and gathered again at Café Rio for a wonderful lunch. There were five missionaries going home next Tuesday and eight at their halfway point. After lunch we said goodbye to the departing missionaries as we would not see them again and then Pam and I headed back to Jacksonville. The ride home was equally good, and we were pleased with the van’s performance and actually achieved over 32 mpg on the freeway—amazing! At 6:15 pm we drove to Stephanie Jarvis’ home and picked her up and continued to Katie Dill’s home for a baby shower for Stephanie. After dropping them off I purchased gas and then parked in the chapel parking lot and waited. At 9:00 pm they were done, and I picked them up and returned Stephanie to her home with all her gifts.

Friday morning, we left the apartment at 10:00 am and drove to the Navy Exchange in Atlantic Beach where we helped Charlie Tramazzo and his wife Sharon host a table for the annual NEX Cupcake Wars event. Commands from the Naval Station sponsored tables and displayed cupcakes and baked items to be judged and sold to patrons. Joyce Schellhorn (director) joined us along with Charlie and his wife Sharon and grandson. Charlie’s grandson was autistic and could hardly contain himself as they walked around and looked at the various tables, so eventually Sharon took him and left, and Joyce and Charlie returned to the USO. Pam and I manned our table, welcoming patrons who came to look and, in some cases, purchase cupcakes, cookies, and other items for sale. There were really some beautiful presentations from the various commands. Five judges arrived around noon and each wandered around with clipboards grading the presentations and then sat down and sampled each command’s selected cupcakes. That whole process took about 45 minutes as there were 10 commands participating. Finally, the XO of the base stood, and she announced the winners. LCS-17 Pre-Commissioning Detachment took 3^rd Place, LHD-7 Iwo Jima FRG took 2^nd Place and LHD-7 Iwo Jima took first place. Those were hard choices because they were all wonderful. When the judging was over, we packed away leftover cupcakes and cleaned off our table and returned to the USO where we visited with Joyce for a few minutes before leaving for the Arlington area. We took a drive across the Dames Point Bridge and ended up at the River City Marketplace area where we had lunch and then returned to our apartment. Pam began sewing and I worked on pictures taken during the week.

Saturday morning, we did housework and Pam stripped the bed and washed the mattress pad and I began vacuuming the floors. Pam dusted and cleaned the floors in the bathrooms and kitchen and prepared a box of Girl Scout cookies for the Alexander’s. Just prior to noon we got a call from Lance Jarvis who was on his way to Orlando with a youth baptism trip. He indicated Stephanie had thrown out her back that morning and was bed-ridden. Could we take her some lunch? We said sure and called and found out what she would like. We drove to a restaurant on Atlantic and bought lunch and continued to Atlantic Beach. Pam went in with the food and visited with Stephanie and she was in bad shape, especially when her baby was due within three weeks. After we left, we drove to the river by the town of Mayport and ate our lunch watched the ships go by and the activity on the beach. We then returned to the Arlington area and dropped off Girl Scout cookies with the Alexanders and then home to our apartment and continued laundry, rested and spent a quiet evening. A great disappointment occurred at 9:00 pm when we realized we missed the senior couples phone conference an hour earlier. How did we do that? We quickly dialed the conference number and joined the transfer call and President Lee was just starting transfers. The Jacksonville East and Mandarin Zones were combined into the Jacksonville East Zone and most of the companionships were changed so we would have new missionaries to meet and get to know. Additionally, President Lee announced three new stakes to be part of the mission by the end of June—Tallahassee, Panama City, and Tifton, GA when the Macon Georgia mission is dissolved.

Sunday morning, we left for Jacksonville Beach and church at 9:30 am. We visited with the Sister Tidwell & Weyland and other ward members before the meeting. Sacrament meeting was excellent with talks by Brother Simons and Dill who spoke to an Easter theme. During the second hour the priesthood met in the overflow room and the women to the relief society room. Following the block, the ward scheduled a “linger longer” activity and most of the ward stayed and enjoyed pot luck dishes and visiting with each other. Military families today included Jenny and Oliva Black, Tyler Gneck, Lance Jarvis and Gary and Devaney Noblit. Gary returned home during the week from Bahrain and we were sure they were happy to be together again. Following dinner and visiting, we gathered up our things and confirmed with the Lagae’s and Perry’s that we would meet on Tuesday evening, Pam and I left and drove back to our apartment and spent the afternoon and evening resting and napping in between byutv programming.