Our week began at the USO and when we arrived at at 10:00 am the lights were off, they were in the middle of a power outage. During the night a transformer on a nearby pole had exploded and the USO was affected. Unfortunately the refrigerator was off for a significant amount of time and when Joyce and Cheryl checked on the meat that had been prepared for the "No Dough" dinner that evening, they felt they couldn't use it. So the morning was spent figuring out what to do about dinner. They decided on Burgers and Dogs and Cheryl went to buy the meat and buns and Pam and I helped clean out the refrigerator and I reluctantly dumped container after container of meat into the dumpster. Pam worked with other volunteers on the salad condiments and I brought in two grills and checked them out. By noon the new transformer was installed and we had power, but the damage had been done. After lunch Pam and I returned at 3:00 pm to help with cooking, etc. but were amazed at the number of volunteers that began to assemble. We pretty much ran the office and checked in people throughout the afternoon. When dinner began at 5:00 pm Pam worked on the Salad line and I checked in families and handed out tickets to the dinner. It was a tremendous success and we fed over 200 people.
Joyce had asked if we could work Tuesday instead of Wednesday because she and Cheryl had to attend a meeting on the base. We said sure and were at the USO by 11:00 am. After they left we had little to do so busied ourselves by cleaning up things and supervising two people who were doing community service. When Joyce and Cheryl returned they brought 15 big boxes of dresses. Apparently, Joyce had taken a
delivery of those dresses plus many more from a firm in New York and they had
been stored on base. Joyce asked if we could help them unpack and sort the dresses and we said "sure." We also had a training meeting that evening so ended up staying throughout the afternoon and into the evening. We un-boxed the dresses and sorted them into types (“V” neck, Scoop neck and Strapless) and then by size. I didn't know who would wear these dresses because they were very small, size 00 to 2. Every year they had a program and gave
out dresses not only for weddings but for such dances as junior proms, etc. to military wives and dependents. It took most of the afternoon but we got the job done and I typed up a report with numbers for Cheryl. By then people started arriving for training and we had a dinner of "No Dough" leftovers while the director of the Airport USO conducted training. It was interesting and outlined the purpose of USO’s
and a little about their history. At 7:00 pm the Mayport USO volunteers and
staff split away to the other end of the room and we held our own training
about issues concerning the Mayport facility.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were fairly quiet days. We did housework, laundry, shopping and hosted two sets of Elders to dinner, one on Wednesday evening and another on Friday evening. On Thursday evening we visited two military families, the LeGae's, a new family to Mayport and we enjoyed being in their home, which was on base. We can have a very positive impact on that family. The other family, the Line's, are a very active family, Greg is a Jag officer and works on the base, but they are transferring to Sasebo, Japan in the summer. But we had great visits with both of them and left a plate of cookies at each home.
Saturday arrived with great anticipation about General Conference. We were able to see conference through our Roku streaming device and downloaded the ByuTV app and the reception was wonderful. The solemn assembly was very special and we enjoyed joining with other members of the church throughout the world in witnessing and participating in the sustaining of a new President of the Church, a new first president, and new apostles. Of particular interest to us was the sustaining of Elder Gong to the quorum of 12. he released me as stake president last fall and we really enjoyed having the Gong's in our home and in our stake for that weekend. His kindness, spirituality and love for the members was evident and it was nice to sustain his new calling. The rest of the morning session was wonderful as we heard from the general authorities. At 4:00 pm we again settled down to watch the afternoon session of conference. The biggest surprise to us was the release of the general Young Women's presidency. Hardly seemed possible that they had served for 5 years. We have loved Sister Oscarson and her counselors. Additionally, in a long list of
new Area Seventies was the name of Richard J. DeVries, that’s right our “Ric.”
It didn't surprise us at all and he will be a wonderful addition to church
leadership in Michigan. We later learned that Elder Gong was the general
authority that had extended that call to serve. In the evening I went to a local chapel to watch the priesthood session with members of the Fort Caroline Ward. Boy were we in for surprises. President Nelson's announcement on the restructuring of Melchizedek Priesthood quorums was exciting to contemplate and we look forward to its implementation and the blessings that flow from it.
Sunday was also a significant day--“April Fools Day,”
Easter Sunday, General Conference, and the first day of another month. We picked up a young lady from the base and brought her home to watch conference and spend the day with us. We were presently surprised when President
Nelson conducted the morning session as we haven't had the prophet conduct for some time. it was also a pleasant surprise to hear from the entire first presidency in one session. We certainly heard some wonderful counsel. Between sessions we had dinner with Alexis and then at 4:00 pm watched the final session. It was nice to hear from Elder Gong and Soares and strongly felt their spirits and love of the Lord. What surprised us was President Nelson's second talk of the day where he abruptly announced the demise of Home and Visiting teaching
programs to be replaced by Ministering. I almost half expected him so smile and say "April Fools" but he didn't and what followed by Elder Holland and Sister Bingham was wonderful. We certainly were challenged to do more and be better. Finally President Nelson stood again at the end and bore witness to all that had transpired and then another bombshell--7 more new temples. Hearing the reaction in the conference center congregation was amazing. Wasn't the choir's final number “Let Us All Press On” a fitting conclusion? This new presidency is going to keep us moving forward and upward.
Well that's our week. We were so saddened by the news of the death of Hunter Syddall, a wonderful young man from the Central Valley 1st ward. I hope all of you will pray for Steve, Rackell, Shaillee and Shelbee. Hunter was killed in a motorcycle accident doing what he loved best. All our thoughts and prayers go out to this wonderful family.
I heard about the Syddalls - so sad!! They always sat in front of Weston’s family at church. The community sure has been rallying for their family 💕
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your thoughts on general conference.... It was such a wonderful weekend! Sound like you are doing some great work with the USO. Love you💕
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