COTTLE MISSION NEWS: Week 28 (20-26 August)

Monday morning was the 20^th of August and we began our day doing some shopping at Wal-Mart for school supplies to put in backpacks at the USO. We continued to the USO and spent a busy morning. Pam helped with “No Dough” dinner preparations and I did a dozen odd jobs for Joyce Schellhorn (Director). We were primarily trying to get the facility back to where it was last week. Everything had been taken off the walls on Saturday when the Chief Selectees came and painted out the facility. I took out trash, recycle paper, moved tables, chairs, sorted and hung pictures, etc. At noon we received a text from Stephanie Jarvis telling us that she was very sick and wondering if we could bring her lunch. We texted back “yes” and left at noon and went to Panera’s and bought some soup for Stephanie and went to her home. She was on the living room couch and could hardly move. Her stomach was in knots and she thought she was passing a Kidney stone. We felt so bad for her but were glad she thought us for help. At 1:30 pm we returned to the USO and continued helping for the night’s dinner. Volunteers were coming from all over the place and when James McCullough arrived at 4:15 pm Joyce said we weren’t needed if we wanted to leave. So, we came back to our apartment.

Tuesday morning, we left for the USO at 9:30 am and spent the morning and early afternoon serving there. Joyce Schellhorn (Director) was in the office and Pam spent her time baking cakes in the kitchen. I continued helping re-hang pictures and other memorabilia left from the painting project. We re-arranged the items in the front foyer and I packed a dozen backpacks with school supplies. Joyce went home for an hour to take care of her husbands’ dog and when she returned Carole, another volunteer, arrived as did Dave Ostrum, so Pam and I finished what we were doing and left about 1:30 pm. We drove to Niki Head’s home on the Naval Station, but no one was home. The Head’s just moved into housing from a transfer from the Norfolk area. We were anxious to meet them. An hour later we drove to the Alexander’s and had dinner with Tara and her children. Tara had also invited Elder’s Willets and Brooksby and it was nice to get to know them better. Elder Willets was from Wellsville, Utah and Elder Brooksby from West Jordan, Utah. After the Elder’s left the LaGae’s came and brought a birthday present for Kyler Alexander and it was nice to see them. They spent the weekend at Disneyworld.

Wednesday morning, I had an INR appointment with Doctor Hoffman and arrived at 9:00 am. She went over my INR of 1.9 this morning. I couldn’t believe it didn’t go up more, but she wasn’t too concerned. She was, however, concerned about a tooth extraction on the 30^th. She had been contacted by the Dentist office and instead of stopping Warfarin 5 days prior to the extraction, she changed me to Xarelto which was a fast-acting alternative. She said I might get spoiled because with Xarelto there was no testing and no dietary restrictions. However, it was quite expensive, but I might be able to get it at the Base Pharmacy for free, so we would see in September. I picked up Pam and we drove to the USO and Joyce Schellhorn (Director) was there along with Dave Ostrum and Charley Tramazzo. I did some jobs for Joyce, the largest one involved several boxes of books that were donated to the USO yesterday. Joyce went through them and picked out about 20 she wanted for the library and the rest we could dispose of. I took them out to the recycle bin and tore off the covers. The pages went into the recycle bin and the covers into the garbage bin. I later told Pam, it felt sort of like “burning books” in the olden days. However, few people read actual books anymore. Right in the middle of the project it began to rain. I moved over to one side under a tree because it wasn’t too hard, but that only lasted about 5 minutes and then it was pouring down. I finally gave up and ran to the patio and Pam brought me a towel to dry off. 10 to 15 minutes later the rain had stopped, and I finished the job. Joyce left to take care of her dog and Pam and I visited with Dave for a while. There wasn’t much to do so at 1:30 pm so we left for the day. We drove to the Head’s home on the Naval Station and Nicki and Tony were home and we got to meet them and one of their sons. They were in the process of unpacking but seem happy to be in Jacksonville. They joined the church in Jacksonvile about 3-5 years ago and were in the old Atlantic Beach Ward (which was disestablished). Jean McKendrick, Fort Caroline Ward, was good friends with them and let us know they were transferring back to the Naval Station. After our visit we returned to our apartment through another huge rain storm. At home I called the sister missionaries up north to confirm our trip to Orlando and Pam continued sewing on Beth’s dress. I also updated our military family file with information on the Heads. We hoped they would come to church Sunday, so we could introduce them around.

Thursday morning, we got to go to the Temple again in Orlando. We drove to the Fort Caroline chapel and met Sisters going with us; Sisters Goeller, Perry, Swann from the Kingsland Zone, and Sisters Rhoads & Ferguson from the Jacksonville East Zone. On the way south, we visited and discovered they were all going home. They were a fun bunch and kept themselves occupied as we drove along. We made two pit stops and with traffic snarls near Orlando caused a late arrival, but we made it to the group photos in the front of the Temple. Elder & Sister Schroeder and Waite, from Gainesville, were the only other senior couples besides us. Following pictures, we entered the Temple, changed and met in the chapel. There were 33 missionaries and several couples from wards coming to support missionaries going home, so it was a nice session. We sat in the Celestial room for about 15 minutes and visited then went to a sealing room for a short devotional where we heard from President and Sister Lee and President and Sister Duke of the Temple presidency. After more pictures outside the Temple, we drove to Café Rio and had a wonderful lunch. We kind of overwhelmed the place when we arrived but they seemed to handle us okay. We dropped the Sisters off at the chapel at 6:15 pm and returned to our apartment, happy but tired!

Friday morning, they didn’t need us at the USO, so we drove to a Social Security Administration office across the river. We were concerned that new cards that were coming out would be mailed to our Monroe address and wouldn’t be forwarded. A young lady helped us, and we got our address changed, cards ordered and set up to access our accounts online. We returned to our area and had lunch and also mailed Beth’s baptism dress to her and were anxious to see a picture. Back at our apartment we updated our family lists and made some phone calls for appointments.

Saturday morning, we drove to Tara Alexander’s home at 9:30 am and Pam visited with Tara while I mowed her lawns. She was doing all right and looking forward to the Temple on the 25^th. Back at our apartment we got cleaned up, began some laundry and texted 8 individuals to invite to church or to find out information about them and got responses from 4 so that was a good effort. At noon went out for lunch and stopped at Wal-Mart and did some shopping for next week and then returned to our apartment. Pam did some cooking and sewing. I kept the laundry going and updated files. At 9:00 pm we joined the Transfer call and heard the changes that would take place next week. Sister Ferguson & Rhoads would be replaced by a new Sister and a new missionary, Elder Vaughn was going to be an Assistant to the President so Elder Aiken would get a new companion, Sister Vai would join Sister Newman in Dunn Avenue, and Sister Davis would join Sister Knudsen at the Beach. All other assignments in the zone remained the same. We had been asked to host two new Elder’s on Tuesday night so looked forward to that.

Sunday morning, we were happy to hear about President Nelson’s statement on the name of the church, with an emphasis that we should be using the full name and not “nick names.” Alexis Connelly texted that she was not feeling well this morning and we felt bad for her. Her migraines just continue to plague her. We left at 9:30 am for Jacksonville Beach and enjoyed the meetings. Tyler Gneck sat with us and Jennie & Oliva Black were there, but we missed the LaGae’s and the Head’s did not come. Tyler was sustained and set apart as Elder’s Quorum secretary today and that was very pleasing. Following the block, we returned to our apartment and had some lunch and rested. I drove to the Hendricks chapel at 6:15 pm for General Priesthood Meeting and sat with Tyler Gneck, who had come with Ryan Dill, the Beach Ward Elder’s Quorum President. Quite a few men from the Beach Ward were there and it was a good meeting on various subjects—President Nelson’s challenges, Nauvoo trip, Priesthood, Ministering, Unity. Following a hymn President Bridgegan spoke, then President Button and the concluding speaker was President Heywood. They all spoke on various aspects of Ministering. It had been a good week.