Week 76 (15 - 21 July)

Monday morning, we noted that Hurricane Barry, located in Southern Arkansas and Louisiana, was still delivering a lot of rain, but fortunately, the levees held and the pumping system in New Orleans worked. It would take another few days for the final bands of weather to dissipate inland. Pam and I were ready to leave for the USO this morning at 10:30 am. We were invited to a luncheon in our honor today and when we arrived Joyce Schellhorn (Director) and Dave Ostrum were in the office and we visited with them for a while and I did some work in the outside storage room. Finally, at 12:30 pm tables were set, and food arranged for a buffet lunch and Pam and I were invited to start the line. The food was magnificent with plenty of variety. We filled plates and others joined us and we had a wonderful hour of visiting and reminiscing about the past 18 months at the USO. There were 7 full-time employees of the USO, including Mike O’Brien, the Greater USO Director and some of his staff. Cheryl Vandiver came, and it was wonderful to see her again. There were also 13 volunteers that we had worked with over the 18 months and we appreciated their presence. Following the meal and while dessert was being served, Pam and I said some words of thanks and then Mike O’Brien arrived and made a presentation of a plaque and said some very nice things about our service. Pam Hanley from the Navy Exchange gave us a gift from the entire group, and it was a depiction of the First Vision and was amazing. What a surprise. We would treasure it forever. We took pictures with everyone and a group picture was taken in front of the USO banner. We were overwhelmed with the love and generosity of this group, especially Joyce and her staff. Our ability to talk with staff and patrons about the church and our service as missionaries made this period of service so worthwhile and who knew the potential good that could come from it. Dave Ostrum and his wife were in the process of moving to a new home and Dave said he ran across a box of books and found a copy of the Book of Mormon and Pam invited him to read it and he said he would. We reviewed the schedule for the rest of the week and said our goodbyes and left about 2:00 pm.

Tuesday morning, the Jarvis’ were coming home in the afternoon, so I went outside to start their car and see if everything was in order. Well it wasn’t! The battery was dead. I spent an hour trying to get it started, but had no luck so called “Road Angels.” The USO needed to be opened at 9:00 am, so Pam drove to Mayport and took care of that and I waited for the “Road Angels.” He arrived at 10:30 am and got the car started and I left it running and then drove to Mayport and when I shut it off it wouldn’t start again? Pam had the facility open and Julie Davis was with her and they had a busy morning with ticket sales and calls about tickets. We were taking the Jacksonville beach sisters to lunch today, and Julie manned the office while we met them and had a nice lunch—Sister Weyland from Highland, UT and Sister Hall from Payson, AZ. Back at the USO we decided I should take the van to the airport so moved the baby seat from the car to the van and got it hooked up properly and then I left for the airport. Pam remained at the USO with Julie and eventually Dave Ostrum. I met the Jarvis’ at 2:30 pm and we loaded their luggage and left for Neptune Beach. They had a wonderful trip to Utah and visited with both families and had a reunion at Bear Lake during the last week. Peter, their baby, was perfect and had slept the entire flight back to Jacksonville. I talked with Lance about their car and he knew of a battery problem and had just put in a new battery, so we thought maybe the alternator? We loaded up and drove to Mayport and I dropped off Stephanie and Peter at their home and Lance and I returned to the USO and to see if we could get the car started. We hooked up the battery to my portable charger and nothing, but Lance used a wrench and while I started the car he banged on the negative post and it started right up. The contact on the post was bad. He was able to plug into the computer and checked the charging and the alternator was making good voltage so was okay, just a contact bad. He left for his home and I went inside and got cleaned up and visited with Pam, Julie and Dave. Dave and Charlie Tramazzo had gone to the Bishops Storehouse in the morning and toured the facility and the manager was going to submit a $35,000 grant for the USO to use over time. They were very, very impressed.

Wednesday morning, we left for the USO at 8:30 am. It was a quiet morning and had one volunteer, so put him to work blowing off the patios and walks and a few other odd jobs. Pam managed the front office and I went into the south storage room to get some items for bags that had been brought in by “Heroes First Home Loans” which were co-sponsoring next Monday’s No Dough Dinner. The storage room was in disarray, so I spent most of the morning organizing that and eventually went through 19 bins which were dedicated to school bag items and got them separated and marked and placed back on the shelves. I then got pencils, crayons and glue sticks for 20 bags and Pam and I stuffed the bags for the Heroes First Home Loans group, and they were ready for Monday. Dave Ostrum arrived about 11:00 am and Pam and I moved all of the leftover commodities from the north end back to the outside storage room in preparation for Monday’s dinner and then said our goodbyes and left for the day.

Thursday morning, we were up and ready to leave for a trip to the Temple at 6:45 am. We drove to the mission office where several other couples and single missionaries gathered for rides. President & Sister Wood arrived, and we had a prayer (Pam) and then everyone boarded their vehicles. Elder & Sister Young who served in the Dunn Avenue Ward came with us. We thought we were going with the Hart’s, but they had already left on their own. The assistants took a van full of missionaries and President & Sister Wood had 3 sisters with them. Of all the trips to Orlando we had made this was the most pleasant with minimal traffic issues the entire way. We enjoyed getting to know the Young’s who primarily ministered to less active families and searched out names. Sounded like what we did! We arrived at the Temple shortly after 10:00 am and other groups were waiting; Alexanders from Palatka, Wilkerson’s from Gainesville and Duncan’s from Tallahassee. All had missionaries with them, totally about 25 missionaries. All the Elders were going home next week, and half of the Sisters were at their halfway point. We met one missionary from Tallahassee who was Hunter Cornelius’ trainer in the Tallahassee Mission and indicated what a great missionary he was. Also met a missionary from the Tifton, Georgia area who hadn’t served under Brent Cottle in the Macon Mission, but was very aware of him and indicated how loved he and Joyce were in that mission. We entered the Temple and changed and met in the chapel and shortly thereafter were escorted to an ordinance room and the session commenced. It was a wonderful session and more and more of the subtle changes to the dialogue became apparent to us. It made us wonder how the Manti Temple workers were handling all the changes, because for those in their 70’s and 80’s it would be difficult to make small changes to words in a dialogue you already knew. After entering the Celestial room Pam and I visited about the session and then the missionaries moved to the large Sealing room and had a short devotional with the Temple President. President Munns spoke for about 5 minutes and then left and President Wood talked to the missionaries and bore a strong testimony. President & Sister Wood had been in Florida for almost a month and it was obvious they had made their mark and the missionaries loved them. It’s been wonderful to witness the transition. After changing we made our way to the back of the Temple for pictures and then everyone loaded up and went to a “5 Guys” restaurant nearby and had lunch together. It wasn’t Café Rio, but it was good. We learned the Duncan’s were from Highland’s Ranch and obviously knew President Walker and Elder Duncan knew Travis (Bishop Cottle). Elder & Sister Hart sat with us and we got to know them better and they had a huge job running the mission office. Finally, we were done and left for Jacksonville. We and the Youngs got back on the highway and made our way out of Orlando and 2 ½ hours later arrived safely at the Mission Office where the Youngs waited for a mission van and we kept going to our apartment.

Friday morning, we drove to the USO at 8:30 am and opened the facility. There was a little bread from yesterday’s delivery but the coolers and food from previous distributions were gone. Dave Ostrum came at 10:00 am and opened the safe for tickets and we had a number of patrons come for Adventure Landing tickets. Julie Davis also came this morning and worked with Charlie Tramazzo. While Pam managed the office, I hung pictures in Megan DeGance’s office and a final picture in the new Library room. Dave thought we ought to put out the rest of the meat in the freezers, so we pulled out the coolers again and he and I brought in about 10 boxes of meat and loaded up the coolers and before long patrons were coming for the food. We called PSD about military ID renewals and they said they weren’t too busy right then, so Pam and I drove to the Naval Station and after an hour walked out with new cards. I didn’t need one, but they wanted to eliminate the SSN on my card, so got a new one with a better picture! We returned to the USO and stayed and visited for about an hour. Finally, at 2:30 pm we said our goodbyes and left. It was our last day at the USO and kind of sad to know we wouldn’t be serving there anymore. We left keys to the building on Joyce’s desk and that was that. Wes Alexander had stopped by in the morning and Pam filled a bag of meat for him, but he couldn’t take it right then (he was out running), so we delivered it to their home in the afternoon and saw Tara for a few minutes. She was doing all right, but clearly ready to deliver their baby.

Saturday morning, we got to work cleaning and doing laundry. By noon we were dressed and ready for the day and drove to the Beach and had lunch. We stopped at Wal-Mart and the Dollar Store and got some items we needed for next week and then returned to our apartment. It tried to storm this afternoon but not much happened—a little noise and a few drops but nothing substantial. We got our apartment ready to host missionaries over the weekend. We were asked to house 4 Elders who were leaving for home on Tuesday of next week. They would arrive Sunday evening.

Sunday morning, Pam and I left for church in Jacksonville Beach at 9:30 am. We enjoyed church this morning and the Tuttle’s, Jenny Black, Lagae’s, Noblit’s and Jarvis’ were in church today. Jerald Lagae had his bishops’ interview for a Temple recommend, so progress is being made. Elder Karl and Sister Weyland spoke in sacrament meeting (last Sunday) and both did a wonderful job. Following the block, we visited with our families and learned the USS Paul Ignatius will be commissioned next Saturday in Fort Lauderdale. Rich Black left on the ship yesterday and Jenny and Olivia will go south to the event later in the week. We drove to the Mission Office and unloaded Sister Weyland’s bike and placed it in the office where Elder Hart will get it shipped to Sister Weyland’s home. We then returned to our apartment. We had some lunch and finished up some foodstuffs in the refrigerator and are gradually cleaning out everything. We had naps and studied another few lessons on “Come Follow Me” with the Emily Freeman videos and enjoyed them very much. In the evening Elder’s Tuckett, Richardson, Hibbett and Robinson arrived at our apartment about 9:30 pm and we got them settled in for the night. They are all going home on Tuesday and tomorrow get to go to St. Augustine and have some fun.

 Sister Handy & McComb having dinner with us

 Jerald Lagae cooking food on USS Milwaukee (Steel Beach Day)

 USO volunteers and staff at farewell luncheon for us

 Elder & Sister Cottle with Joyce Schelhorn, USO Mayport Center Director

Elder & Sister Cottle with Mike O'Brien, President & CEO of Greater Jacksonville USO

July Temple trip with President & Sister Wood

 Missionary luncheon in Orland at 5 Guys