COTTLE MISSION NEWS: Week 41 (12

Monday morning was a National Holiday (Veterans Day) and the USO was closed. A parade was scheduled in downtown Jacksonville and Charlie Tramazzo drove the USO truck in the parade. I spent time finishing up material for our weekly blog and studied in the BOM & D&C—started both of them anew. I also spent some time marking a new Preach My Gospel mini book that we bought at the distribution center in Orlando last week. At 9:00 am Pam and I began cleaning the house and doing laundry. I vacuumed the carpet and Pam began two loads of laundry. Finally, we went to Tara Alexander’s home around 11:30 am to see how she was doing. We had a nice visit and I told her I would buy an exterior door for her. She seemed to be doing all right, but still a little shaken by the thought her house had been burglarized. We had some lunch and shopped at Costco for water and a Thanksgiving Ham. Before coming home, we continued south to the mission office and dropped off a notice from the leasing office and then took a leisurely drive home. Samantha Lagae took dinner to the Heads tonight and we contacted Nikki in the hospital and she was having another lancing procedure scheduled for tomorrow and would be in the hospital at least until Wednesday.

Tuesday morning, we arrived at the USO at 9:00 am to help with a food delivery from the “Feeding Northeast Florida” group. Jim & Carmel were in the office as were two other volunteers from JEA, so we were in good shape with help. The food was unloaded onto the drive way to the storage room and a pallet of meat and one of cucumbers brought inside. Jim, Carmel and the 2 JEA employees went at the meat with a vengeance and within a half an hour had it all sorted and, in another hour, had 50 bags of meat filled and stored away in the freezer. I took 3 shopping carts to the outside pallets and sorted the canned food—corn, beans, peas, soup, potatoes, etc. The bin was 4-foot square and 30 inches high and full of cans. When the others finished, they joined me the sorting cans and other dry goods and by 11:30 am we had everything separated and shelved or put on tables inside for tomorrows food distribution. It was wonderful when you had a lot of help. Pam worked in the office with Joyce Schellhorn (Director) and Joyce kept her busy. Joyce didn’t sound too good and had practically no voice. There was also a contractor renovating the two bathrooms in the front of the USO. At 12:30 pm we said our goodbyes and left for the day. We drove to a Home Depot on Atlantic Blvd. and I found a door for Tara Alexander. We made the purchase and then had some lunch and returned to our apartment. We relaxed for a while and Pam fixed some dinner for Tony Head and his boys. At 4:30 pm we took the door to the Alexander’s and then drove to the Naval Station and delivered dinner to the Heads and the Lagaes. Tony just arrived from the NAS Jax Hospital and Nikki was still in the hospital awaiting a procedure.

Wednesday morning, we arrived at the USO shortly after 9:00 am help with food distribution for the “Feeding Northeast Florida” group and when we arrived, cars and other vehicles were everywhere. A tree contractor was in the process of trimming the trees and had a branches and heavy equipment everywhere. What a day to have that happen! We checked in with Joyce Schellhorn (Director) and Dave Ostrum. There were several other volunteers from JEA and a couple of other groups, so we had plenty of help. Dave also got a call from Beams saying they had boxes of food they needed us to pick up, so he went and brought back about 20 boxes of items needing coolers and by the time patrons began arriving we were still setting out the food. Eventually we got going and patrons went through the TV lounge area and took anything they wanted and in any amount, which was a good thing as we had so much. As they exited to the patio area, they generally had a food cart full of items and we gave them a bag of meat, a bag of cucumbers and diapers if they needed any from the storage room. Pam worked in the office and I worked in the storage room with Julie and another volunteer from JEA. In the middle of the activity Joyce wanted me to go buy a new light for the patio. I drove to Home Depot and bought a system with twin flood lights and a motion sensor. When I returned another community service volunteer installed it and within 30 minutes had it up and running and it definitely improved the light on the patio. By 2:00 pm most of the patrons who were nominated for food had arrived and also most of the volunteers had left, so Pam and I finished up a couple of projects for Joyce and left ourselves. Nikki Head was still in the hospital and would be there for another day, so we went on base and had lunch and bought some dinner for Tony Head and his boys. We delivered the food and then came home ourselves. My back was killing me this afternoon. I tweaked it a couple of days ago lifting some heavy items and after sitting for a while could hardly get going again. A heating pad helped, and I was able to settle down for the night.

Thursday morning, we opened the USO at 8:00 am to allow the plumbing contractors to get to started on their day. There was also bread and pastries delivered the previous night and we tabulated the amounts and arranged them on the pool table and by 9:00 am were ready for customers. Dave Ostrum came at 9:00 am to relieve us so we could go to the airport and pickup Alexis Connelly who was flying in from Arizona where she spent a week with her family. She was happy to be home and had tomorrow and the weekend to recover from her trip. Once we dropped her off at her apartment, we returned to the USO and Joyce Schellhorn (Director) was there along with Dave and Julie and another volunteer. Pam and Julie went into the kitchen and began cooking ground beef for Monday’s Chili. I went to the storage room with Joyce and Dave and a group of ladies from the PGA Tour arrived with 100 turkey breasts and hams and also about 100 food bags filled to the top with a variety of items. They helped us unload and store the items in the freezer and shelves and took a lot of pictures of the process and were delightful. After they left, Dave and I took all the hams and turkey out of their boxes and consolidated them into one freezer. The food was given for Thanksgiving, but Joyce planned to use it for Christmas food baskets as she already had a commitment for Thanksgiving food from Win-Dixie Markets. The bags had bread in them, so we went through each bag and removed the bread because it wouldn’t keep but everything else would. I brought another donation of canned goods out to the storage room and sorted and shelved the items. A contractor worked all day tiling in the lady’s restroom, but they were a long way from finished. At 2:00 pm Pam and I decided to leave for the day as she was very tired. We finished up what we were doing and said our goodbyes and returned to our apartment. We both laid down and promptly went to sleep for at least a good hour. Tara Alexander came over at 5:00 pm and told us a story about her house invasion that wouldn’t be believed. The police called her today and reported they had record of their stolen items being pawned during the past month and they were all pawned by the good friend that was feeding the dogs and cats while Tara was in Texas. It was all a ruse. Throughout her trip he was taking things from the house and pawning them and then at the last moment broke the back-door window and called the police. She felt so bad and so mad over the whole thing. Pam and I met him the day we cleaned up the mess and would never have thought he was the culprit. But he could land in jail, especially since he took a firearm. We also learned today that Nikki Head returned home from the hospital, so were happy for her and her family.

Friday morning, we started out the day going to an imaging firm nearby for Pam to have her bone density checked. Well, the machine was still down, and they made another appointment again later in the month. While we were out, we had some breakfast at McDonald’s and then returned to our apartment. Joyce Schellhorn, (Director) called while eating and asked if we could make a pickup of some donations from a firm on the Westside. We said we would, and at 11:30 am, we drove to the address on the west side of Jacksonville and found the building (Pitney & Bowes) and Pam went in and met the lady who called. They brought out 5 boxes of items for donation. At the USO we sorted through the items and placed them in bins for use in boxes being prepared for a USO in the Middle East. Pam and I spent most of the afternoon sorting through the bins in the side closets and culling out items for the free table, items to give away at “No Dough” dinners and a large group for Christmas giving. Also, throughout the afternoon people came in from different organizations with food items and we sorted through those and made determinations whether to use for Thanksgiving and Christmas bags or be put on the free table immediately. Pam also did some work for Cheryl on Christmas lists until 4:00 pm when we left for the day. Before returning to our apartment we had dinner and then returned home. We learned of the new church initiative on missionary service and were thrilled, especially for those who were previously disqualified from proselyting missionary service. That is what I was able to do for Daniel Brady when he served at the Monroe Records Operation Center for 2 years as a Church Service Missionary. He served under the Young CSM program.

Saturday morning, we cleaned our apartment and did our weekly laundry. By noon we were done and dressed for the day. We had lunch and did some shopping at Kohl’s. On the way back to the apartment, we took a drive to Mayport and crossed the river on the newly opened ferry and it seemed to be operating just fine. We took A1A up the coastline through Amelia Island into Fernandina and then back down I-95 and to I-295 and home. We made our bed, put clothes away and settled in for the day. We made calls to about half of the names we had in our contact lists and made contact with a couple families and confirmed the transfer of others.

Sunday morning, we attended church in the Jacksonville Beach Ward and visited with members, also met the new Elder’s—Crandall & Beal and got their address and phone number. Sacrament meeting was very good. Both main speakers were military family members, Stephanie Jarvis and Bishop Currie. Alexis thought she had Strep Throat so was not with us and Tyler Gneck was in the panhandle doing cleanup work from Hurricane Michael. He went with several others from the ward. Jennie & Olivia Black were there along with the Lagae’s. Heads were recovering from Nikki’s hospital stay and we looked forward to her being up and healthy again. We had a good Sunday school class and Jerald Lagae and I attended the priesthood class. Pam taught the lesson in Relief Society and had a lot of good responses to her subject. Following the block, we visited with the Lagae’s concerning Thanksgiving dinner, which they are sponsoring, and it’s going to be a big event. Look forward to next week, but will miss our family gatherings.