COTTLE MISSION NEWS: Week 57 (4

Monday morning, we left for the USO at 9:30 am. Dave Ostrum and Joyce Schellhorn (Director) were at the center getting ready for a board meeting at 11:00 am. Dave showed us changes he made to the inside storage room and it looked good. Dave left for a doctor’s appointment shortly thereafter and Pam and I cleaned the facility, consolidated the free table and moved the lounge chairs from the children’s room and reset the room so it could be used for a ships group tonight. Stephanie Jarvis arrived at 11:00 am and Pam spent almost 2 hours with her pinning a baby quilt she was making and visiting. She and Lance were getting excited for their baby. By 11:30 am the meeting had commenced in the Pathfinder room and they had drinks and food for a working lunch. I manned the office and periodically did some duplicating for Joyce. Strangely we didn’t have many patrons this morning—pretty quiet both in person and on the phone. The meeting finally broke up around 1:30 pm and Pam and I left at 2:00 pm. We had some lunch and then returned to Arlington area where we did some shopping before returning to our apartment. Avia St. John’s maintenance personnel commenced inspections of the apartments this week, but there was no evidence they had been inside.

Tuesday morning, we left for the USO by 9:00 am. It was very cool this morning, about 50 degrees and didn’t change much throughout the day. On the way to Mayport we passed emergency vehicles and noticed a tall power pole hanging in the air, held up by the power line with a pickup truck smashed into the base of the pole. We couldn’t imagine how the accident happened because it was on a straight stretch of road—strange! Feeding Northeast Florida had delivered 4 pallets of food and Pam and I jumped right in and began sorting meat into 5 coolers. While doing that two volunteers arrived and helped us, and we soon had the meat sorted and over 60 bags in the storage room freezer. Certainly, was a better selection than the last time FNEF delivered. Next, we turned to the other pallets of vegetables and dry goods and moved them inside the center onto tables at the north end of the building. By then we had another volunteer join us and the work went by quickly. Dave Ostrum and Joyce Schellhorn (Director) were both at the center and they orchestrated all the decisions of “where” and “how much” and by noon everything was done, and Dave had to make a decision on what to bring from the storage room to augment the food selections. We visited with Joyce about tomorrow and left at 1:30 pm. Pam had sorted out some meat for our families and we dropped off some at the Lagae’s home and later to the Alexander’s in Arlington. Back at our apartment, a maintenance team from Avia St. John’s came to our apartment and performed an inspection. We received a letter from the association earlier in the week, so knew it was going to happen. The inspector detailed the condition of the apartment, room by room. They indicated another team would be dropping by later in the week concerning pest control.

Wednesday morning, we left for the USO at 9:15 am. It was cold outside today, just barely above freezing when we left. Today was a food distribution day for Feeding Northeast Florida, and when we arrived Dave Ostrum and Joyce Schellhorn (Director) were there and everything looked ready to go. The tables in the north end of the main room were filled with food items from the pantry and all we needed was patrons. I handed out meat products outside and Pam worked at the sign in desk and also in the office and in her down time baked a pie for Dave. 50 family names had been nominated, but throughout the morning only about half of them came, so it was slow going. I spent most of my time organizing the diaper pile in the storage room. Beams also made a delivery during the morning of hams and some cakes and pies and we left them outside and gave them out to patrons as they left. We also distributed the remaining lettuce. Fortunately, we had a lot of volunteers today who helped the patrons inside and to their vehicles. At 1:30 pm Pam and I visited with Joyce about tomorrow and then we left and returned to Arlington. We spent the afternoon getting our apartment set up for Erin and Weston’s visit. They left Salt Lake on a “red eye” flight to Orlando and we would see them Thursday morning.

Thursday morning, I went to the USO to open at 9:00 am and take care of the bread and pastry donations from Publix and Pam stayed home and finished preparations for Erin and Weston’s arrival and was there when they arrived at our apartment about 9:30 am. They arrived in Orlando after a 3.5-hour direct flight from Salt Lake City and rented a Toyota Sienna and drove directly to our home. Dave Ostrum arrived at 10:00 am and Joyce called me a little later to check on my morning. It was very quiet, and I consolidated the food on the front tables and dispensed bread and pastries as patrons arrived, but only had about 3 come while I was there. I left at 10:30 am and returned to our apartment and when I walked through the door, was met by smiling kids at the front door—Miles Beth, Wells and Kate. They were so happy to be in Jacksonville and were busily assembling Lego kits we had obtained during the Christmas toy drive at the USO. I visited with each of them and heard their tale of travel from Utah. Miles had drawn a beautiful picture for me of their airplane ride. Erin was taking a shower and Weston was asleep in their bedroom, but it was good to greet Erin when she joined us. We talked about our day and at 12:30 pm headed out. Their Toyota had a jump seat in the middle row and could accommodate 8 persons, so we took their van and made the first decision of the visit—where to have lunch? We stopped at Subway and had sandwiches and then continued to Mayport with a stop at the USO to introduce the family to Joyce and she was very welcoming. Next to the ITT shop and Pam and Erin and Weston went in and bought tickets to the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine and to Universal Studies in Orlando. Next, we drove to the Mayport Ferry and rode across the St. John’s river and that was an adventure for the kids. Erin reminded them that in the past 24 hours they had traveled by car, bus, train, airplane and now a ferry! How good was that. From the Ferry landing we drove to Fort George Island and to Kingsley Plantation and Weston enjoyed the drive through the trees on the small dirt road. It was beautiful and the lowering sun cast beautiful shadows and highlighted the white buildings. We wandered through the buildings, grounds, especially along the water and walking to the pier. Finally, at 4:30 pm we began the walk back to the van and made a photo stop at the front entrance to capture the semi-circle slave homes with their glistening Tabby construction. We took the Ribault road back to Hecksher Road and saw the beautiful homes and church. Our plan was to go back across the river on the Ferry and have dinner at Singleton’s, but as we approached the Ferry, the parking lot was full and a line of cars waiting to enter the lot as far as the eye could see, so we elected to go west on Hecksher Road and cross the river on the Dame’s Point Bridge. Well that was a good thought, but the lineup of cars was for a reason and it took us over 2 hours to reach the bridge. We never saw what caused the backup, but Google Maps indicated a road closure, accidents, etc. and we just crept along. Weston busied himself taking pictures, but it was dark when we crossed the bridge. We stopped at Arby’s for dinner and then returned to our apartment. The kids played for an hour and then one by one went to bed. The boys slept together on one of the mattresses, Beth on the other one and Kate on the couch. Weston and Erin took the guest bedroom and Pam and I adjourned to our room. It had been a wonderful day.

Friday morning, we discussed our days activities and did a little shopping. Weston had a low tire—a cause for concern. Miles also had an infected big toe and Erin decided to take him to a nearby Urgent Care. Pam stayed with the kids and Weston, Erin, Miles and I went to the facility and while Erin and Miles saw a doctor, Weston and I went to Dailey’s and filled up the tire with air. Weston decided it would be prudent to have the leak fixed because we discovered a screw in the tire. We drove to Discount Tire in Regency Square and got the tire fixed. They were very good to us, but it took over an hour to get it done. Meanwhile, Erin and Miles were finished with the appointment and got some anti-biotics prescribed, but no vehicle to get her home. She ended up walking back to the apartment; about 2-3 blocks away. Finally, we returned to our apartment and Pam fed the kids lunch. Miles was feeling okay, so we got things sorted out and left for St. Augustine, late, but still time to see some things. We headed south on I-295 and the traffic was backed up and we just crawled along until we passed Ikea and then picked up speed while the northbound traffic was a parking lot. We turned southeast on Phillips Highway and continued to St. Augustine and across the bridge to the island and the Alligator Farm. For the next two hours we wandered around the park and the kids and adults thoroughly enjoyed checking out the alligators, crocodiles, birds, some primates and snakes. It was such a nice park and we all had a good time taking lots of pictures. We watched one show where keepers got down in a pen with huge alligators and talked about them. One guy, apparently the supervisor, played around with one gator and got him to rise up and open his mouth but I don’t think I could have done that. Finally, we left the park and headed back to St. Augustine and located the trolley office but were too late to ride. Didn’t realize the last trolley left the station at 4:30 pm and it was after 5:00 pm. What was a disappointment, but we couldn’t help it, so we continued down the road and stopped at Schooner’s restaurant and had a sea-food dinner to celebrate Weston’s birthday. The place was busy, but we got seated after 30 minutes. Service was good but we were seated in a semi-outdoor patio with live music and the artist was so loud. However, we had a nice meal and then left for home, arriving 40 minutes later about 9:00 pm. The kids played for a while and we visited and had some ice-cream and then called it a night.

Saturday morning, we spent a quiet morning and I took food to the Lagae’s for Fiona’s birthday party at noon. Back at the apartment, we were all ready to leave by noon and drove to the Naval Station. Samantha and Jerald were getting things set up for the party and had rented a Bounce House from MWR and had it set up and the kids had a great time bouncing. Christian and Marisol Perry arrived with Declan and her mother Donna, Stephanie and Lance Jarvis came, Jenny and Oliva Black, and Matt and Laura, the Lagae’s neighbors were there with their boy. So, with our 8 the Lagae’s had a big crowd. The kids played in the Bounce House and on the swing set and the adults visited, and everyone had a good time. Jerald cooked hamburgers and hotdogs and Samantha had purchased some Costco pizza, so we had plenty to eat and did so liberally. At about 2:00 pm Samantha brought out a cupcake cake and it was very cute. They lit 4 candles and Fiona blew them out as we sang Happy Birthday to her. The cupcakes were yummy! At 2:30 pm our group said our goodbyes and left for the beach there on the Naval Station and for the next two hours the kids played in the sand, in the surf, found shells and enjoyed themselves. The water was quite cold, but they still ventured in a little and when we were ready to leave, they were pretty wet and cold. Back at the apartment, the kids wanted to go swimming, so they transitioned into their suits and I went with them to the pool and we stayed there for about an hour. Only Kate got in the water as it was also quite cold, but she braved it and jumped in and stayed in for some time. Beth did it once, but that was all, and Miles and Wells just walked around the shallow edge and got their legs wet. Weston & Erin came and watched their kids and enjoyed the sun and warmth of the air. Back at the apartment the rest of the afternoon was spent taking showers, doing laundry and getting ready to leave tomorrow for Orlando. We went next door to KFC for dinner and the kids had Mac n Cheese and loved it. At the apartment I turned the clocks ahead one hour for daylight savings time tomorrow and the kids got themselves ready for bed. When Pam, Erin and Weston returned home, Erin began some laundry and by about 9:30 pm the kids were put to bed, and Pam and I adjourned to our room for the night.

Sunday morning, we were ready to leave for Jacksonville Beach and church by 9:30 am. We met the missionaries and the Rennies as we entered the building, also Tyler Gneck was there and when I introduced him to Weston, we learned that his home ward was the home ward of Shirrine Olsen, who was Erin’s best friend from Withlin International where she worked. By 10:00 am the meeting began and the Lagae’s, Devaney Noblit, Jarvis’ and Tyler were with us and it was nice to see them all. Following the sacrament, we heard from Elder Jensen who told a little about himself and bore a strong testimony of the Savior. He was an impressive missionary. We then heard from the Lundell’s. Brother Lundell was a member of the High Council and they both gave wonderful talks on variations of ministering. In the 2^nd hour the Elder’s migrated to the middle overflow room and Pam and Erin went to the relief Society room and both had wonderful lessons on priorities and establishing patterns of behavior that would lead to life-long conditions of righteousness. Ryan Dill and Sister Thomas gave the lessons and did fine jobs. Following the block, I asked Christian Perry to gather his family in one of the nearby classrooms and with the help of the full-time missionaries gave both Marisol and Christian blessings regarding the having children. I felt inadequate to make the promises I did, but also felt the Lord wanted this family to grow in size in the gospel. Brother Rennie also gave me patron booklets for the Temple Preparation class, and I visited with Samantha and asked her to contact the Perry’s and Tyler and set up a date for this week for us to begin. So, it was a good day at church for us. Erin and Weston were welcomed as were their children and they all did well in the meetings. As we drove out Pam noticed Sister Dill riding her bike out of the parking lot and mentioned that to Erin and she said “now I know who she is, she is “No Big Dill” Katie, the sister of a friend of Erin’s from their ward. She had seen Katie’s website and recognized her picture. What a small world we live in. When we arrived back at the apartment, I thought we would pack up and leave, but it took several hours to get things put together, laundry done, beds put together, etc. and etc. We finally were ready about 3:00 pm and loaded up both vans and left for Orlando. Pam and I led out and almost immediately as we entered I-295 there was a slowdown, but it ended up being an accident in the inboard lane about 2 miles down the road. Once past that area we had smooth sailing all the way to Orlando. We listened to a book on tape and that passed the time fairly quickly. We decided to check in at our hotels first and wait until 6:00 pm when parking was free at the park. We quickly found our hotel and got settled. At 6:00 pm we met Erin and Weston and they followed us into the parking area of Universal Studios, and we walked to the front entrance. I was amazed at the number of people at the Riverwalk area. Pam reminded me that this was the first day of “Spring Break.” We proceeded to Guest Services and after a short wait got our tickets. We accompanied Erin and Weston and their children through the turnstiles and then they went inside, and we exited the park and stopped at a nearby Wendy’s for dinner and then to our room for the night. We settled in and watched a little television and called it a night