Week 12

We began our week at the USO this morning and spent the entire day helping get the “No Dough” dinner ready. Pam chopped vegetables and cooked chicken most of the day and I did odd jobs for the Director and manned the office. In the evening a wonderful group of high school students from a local school, Fletcher High School, came and did a service project to serve the food and help clean up. They were pretty amazing. We had over 100 in the first 15 minutes and 200 in the first hour, so lines snaked around the facility as the kitchen just couldn’t keep up, but we prevailed in the end and ended up with 293 patrons and everyone got fed. All in all, it was a good night and the patrons had a good time even if they had to wait for their food. During the meal it was pouring rain and that surprised us that so many came despite the rain. We had no food for the gate guards tonight and Pam and I came home and happily flopped into bed.

Tuesday morning, we went to District Meeting at the Fort Caroline chapel. We met with Elder’s Lamb & Roy, Erickson & Kindley, and Sisters Knudsen & Gillins. Both Elder Kindley and Sister Gillins arrived in the mission field on the last transfer and it was the first time we had met them. They both seemed very engaged and loving their experiences. Sister Knudsen and Elder Erickson will be great trainers. Elder Lamb, the District Leader, conducted the meeting and did a wonderful job. He’s been out for 8 months and acts like a veteran. The meeting went until shortly past noon and then we went to Moe’s, a Mexican Grill restaurant and treated the missionaries to lunch. We enjoyed the food and visiting with the elders and sisters and then took some pictures and they left for their assignments. Pam and I had to be at our medical clinic at 1:30 pm and Pam got her 2^nd Pneumonia shot and now we are through with that series. I got a call from a nearby imaging clinic and made an appointment for a back x-ray tomorrow morning. I’ve been having issues with my lower back and the doctor wanted to see what was going on. Back home we cleaned the apartment and I vacuumed the house and Pam did 4 loads of laundry. Pam also baked cookies to take to members. We had an appointment, but at the last minute they called and cancelled as they were leaving for Orlando tomorrow morning.

Wednesday was a pretty quiet day for us. I went to the imaging clinic and had x-rays taken of my back and then returned home. I stopped at the doctor’s office with some updated information on a Hepatitis shot series that we began last winter and schedule our 3^rd and final shot for Tuesday the 1^st of May. We especially like their southern hospitality where we are always referred as “Mister Joseph” and “Miss Pamela.” When I returned home, Pam was fixing dinner for the Elder’s tonight. We took a plate of cookies to Tara Alexander and visited with her for a while. Wes is in San Diego, so she is alone with 2 little ones and a construction project going on in their home (sound familiar Erin?). We discussed some help she might need this week and also the upcoming stake conference. In the evening I drove to the beach and picked up Elder’s Lamb & Roy and brought them to our home for dinner. We enjoyed the meal and visiting with them. They left with a spiritual thought and prayer and that was nice. They are outstanding young men.

Thursday was a busy day for us at the USO. We opened the facility at 9:00 am and that was a first for us. Day-old bread had been delivered the night before, so we counted and put it out for patrons to take. We also took care of some food and toiletries that were donated and then settled in to welcoming patrons, selling tickets to the zoo and taking phone calls. Joyce, the Director had an activity downtown and we didn’t see her at all, but she called frequently to ensure we were okay. After lunch we had some volunteers arrive to help with dresses that were being taken downtown for the activity, but they must have gotten their dates mixed up because the dresses were taken yesterday, however, one of the young men asked about our name tags and indicated he was a member. Not active and married to a non-member, but we had a nice visit with him and got his phone number and asked if we could visit. He said yes and hopefully we have another potential family to work with. His name is Matthew Garrison and he grew up in Iowa. James McCullough, the assistant director, arrived about 4:30 pm and we turned over operations to him and visited for a few minutes and then left. We drove to the LaGae’s home on the Naval Station and gave Samantha some bread from the USO and visited for a while. Her kids were anxious to show us their bedrooms, their play room and talked constantly. Samantha was doing all right, but Jerald was gone for 3 weeks on a shack-down cruise on his LCS, the USS Detroit. She didn’t think she would try Stake Conference with the kids but hoped we would sit with her the following Sunday. That was a nice conclusion to our day.

Friday morning, we opened the USO again and both Charley and Joyce arrived about 10:00 am. Joyce talked about the dress activity yesterday and we had a lot left over and I unloaded her SUV and put them away. Joyce was going to the Navy Exchange for an annual “Cupcake Wars” and the USO had an entry. After she left Pam and I manned the office and we had a steady flow of clientele throughout the morning, using the computer room, needing something faxed, buying Zoo tickets, etc. Charley bought us lunch and when Joyce returned we spent an hour going over things that had happened and upcoming dates and then Pam and I left. We stopped at the LaGae’s and dropped off some goodies from the Cupcake Wars and then came home.

Saturday, we did some cleaning again and preparation for the weekend. I called families and missionaries to see if anyone needed a ride to the stake center for stake conference this evening. No one needed rides so in the afternoon we drove to the Hendricks Avenue Chapel for the Saturday evening session. We arrived and found seats in the chapel and observed people coming in and preparations for the night. At 7:00 pm President Button stood and began the meeting. In the afternoon, at 4:00 pm, they held a leadership meeting for all members of ward councils and the stake council. That could have been a large group. The theme of that meeting and the evening meeting was “Ministering” by direction of the First Presidency. All the talks were centered on that theme with the exception of two conversion testimonies from recent converts. We heard from President Bridegan, 2^nd counselor in the Stake Presidency, Sister Yvonne Roberts, Stake Young Women’s president, Bishop Miller from the Mandarin 1^st Ward and Sister Kathleen Thomas a Relief Society president. The final speaker was President Heywood. All of the talks were excellent and to the point. President Heywood also showed two videos on Ministering. At the conclusion of the meeting we visited with several families, including President & Sister Lee of the mission. Also, Rebecca Cotton came up and introduced herself to us and it was nice to finally put a face to a name. She is in the Coast Guard and serves aboard the cutter Valiant. We made an appointment to visit with her Monday afternoon. Elder Lamb came by and asked if we could take him and Elder Roy home and we could, so we said our goodbyes and made the journey to the beach and then to our home.

Sunday morning, we were in the Fort Caroline Chapel at 10:00 am for the General session of conference. Alexis didn’t call us this morning, so we were alone. The transmission was very good, and they used the internet to broadcast and receive the signal. Right at 10:00 am President Heywood began the session. President Bridegan conducted the stake business and it was nice to sustain our new Prophet again. We heard from President Button, Patriarch Warner, President & Sister Duke, members of the Orlando Florida Temple Presidency and two conversion testimonies. We then heard from President & Sister Lee, Mission President and wife, Sister Kathleen Seymour, Stake Relief Society President, and the concluding speaker was President Heywood. All the talks and testimonies were excellent and also addressed the topic of Ministering. They gave us a lot to think about in the next few months. Following the session, we visited with members, saw a few military families and got updates on their status and visited with the missionaries who were attending. Finally, we came home. 

These are the Fort Caroline Missionaries