COTTLE MISSION NEWS: Week 59 (18

Monday morning, we left for the USO early to help with a food delivery from Feeding Northeast Florida. Dave Ostrum opened, and we spent the first hour arranging the outside storage room for the delivery, which also included two new 5-foot freezers. The question was where to put them. Greg, a community service worker, and Dave and I set about to make room. FNE Florida made the delivery which also included 4 pallets of food—meat, canned goods, fresh corn, and dry goods. All the volunteers sorted and bagged the meat and got it stored in one of the old freezers. We also sorted the canned goods into 4 carts by type. The distribution would be on Wednesday (Tuesday was voting day and the USO was closed). We also moved carts and carts of commodities into the south end of the main room and filled three rows of tables with items to distribute Wednesday along with the items received today. We concluded this preparation by noon, and we were beat. When Joyce Schellhorn (Director) arrived shortly after noon, we visited about the week and future weeks and left at 2:00 pm. We drove to Costco and purchased water and returned to our apartment. President Lee called during the day to let us know the Kelly’s were going to arrive in early June, and he proposed we depart on the 7^th of July. Wow! We thought that might be the case, but now it looked like a final decision.

Tuesday morning, Pam and I drove to the Naval Station and spent over two hours with Nikki Head helping her clean her kitchen and reorganize things. We had a problem with her sink, and she called Maintenance and they responded quickly to solve the problem. At 11:00 am Tony called and needed a ride home, so Nikki picked him up and when he arrived, we left and returned to our apartment. We planned to spend many additional mornings helping Nikki. After lunch we did some cleaning and a load of laundry. In the evening we returned to the Naval Station and conducted the 2^nd class of the Temple Preparation Seminar at the Lagae’s home. The Perry’s, Lagae’s, Tyler Gneck and Stephanie Jarvis all attended and after the greetings were completed, we had an opening prayer and began the lesson on the Plan of Salvation. We spent a wonderful 90 minutes discussing this topic, reading and analyzing scriptures and applying them to our lives and to what was taught in the Temple. The Lagae children were excellent and remained quiet in their rooms and the evening worked out perfectly. We left at 9:30 pm and returned to our apartment for the night. New missionaries arrived today, 3 Elders and 4 Sisters and one of them was a Sister Calie Moore, the daughter of Cherish Johnson Moore. Cherish was John and Jean Johnson’s daughter from Monroe. We looked forward to meeting her.

Wednesday we arrived at the USO by 9:00 am and Dave Ostrum was there along with two other volunteers, Carmel & Jim. Carmel, Pam and I brought out more food items from the storage room until all that was left was items Joyce Schellhorn (Director) wanted for No Dough dinners and items for USO emergency resources. The additional items were placed on tables in the main room and when families began arriving, we had six lines of tables full. Pam worked with Carmel at the sign in desk and I worked outside giving out meat items, corn and diapers. Throughout the morning Pam indicated we had 50 of the 60 assigned families come for food and it was fun to interact with them. Shay Tuttle, one of our families came and her little baby was growing so fast. Mid-morning the Urban Atlantic Beach nursery arrived with a dozen boxes of lettuce and we quickly unloaded and began giving out heads of lettuce along with the other items. By noon things had slowed down considerably and several of the volunteers left. Pam, Sue Davis and I consolidated food in the main room to one side and after conversing with Joyce Schellhorn about the rest of the week, we left with a box of corn and a bag of lettuce and went to all of our families on base and to the Alexanders in Arlington and gave them produce. They were all appreciative of the food. Before returning to our apartment we had a late lunch and finally arrived home at 4:00 pm, tired, but had a good feeling about the day. Later in the evening Pam talked with each of our children and informed them of our departure plans and they were pleased we were going to be in Monroe for the 24^th of July celebration.

Thursday morning, we opened the USO at 9:00 am and bread and pastries were waiting for us. We got them arranged and patrons began arriving. We also had food, meat and corn they could take from yesterday’s food distribution. Sue Davis came later in the morning along with Dave Ostrum, so we had plenty of help. Pam got out the hamburger for next Monday’s No Dough dinner and then manned the office for most of the morning. I did some cleaning in the office and the outside storage room and gathered all the boxes and bags of items donated to the USO for use in care packages to the troops. Sue joined me and we went through box after box and bag after bag placing items in the appropriate bins. When we left shortly after noon, the outside storage room was organized and clean as was the new store room behind the children’s room, so we were satisfied. Pathfinder was conducting training today and by 11:30 am students and facilitators were on hand. Joyce Schellhorn arrived at noon and we went over tomorrow’s activity at NAS Jacksonville (golf tournament) and we planned to monitor a hole again. From the USO we drove on the Naval Station and picked up a prescription at the base clinic. While waiting Pam went upstairs and delivered a letter to Alexis Connelly and she also went for a walk. When done, we returned to our apartment. Alex texted us this afternoon letting us know they had just booked a flight to Jacksonville and would arrive on the 3^rd of June for a week—Hooray!

Friday morning, Pam and I left our apartment at 8:00 am for NAS Jacksonville to assist in the USO sponsored golf tournament—one of their major fund-raising events of the year. Upon arrival we checked in and learned where we would be stationed during the tournament. We were taken to the 9^th hole on the White course where we hosted a Trivia Hole for the tournament. The day was nice with clear skies, but it could have been a few degrees warmer. After an opening ceremony at the clubhouse, the teams dispersed (we think about 36 teams) in a shotgun start and for the next 2½ we watched teams move about the course and as each team came to our hole we asked them trivia questions and if they got the question right, they could proceed to the 100 yard marker and tee off instead of the normal tee box for the par 4 hole. Throughout the day we received about a $100 in donations. Drinks and food were delivered to us, so we had a pretty easy time of it. Throughout the morning P-3’s were in the landing pattern and it was fun to listen and watch this plane again. The tournament concluded about 2:30 pm and we walked back to the clubhouse and loaded up our things and left for home. At 5:30 pm we drove to the chapel at Jacksonville Beach and picked up Elder Jensen & Hafen and took them to dinner. Elder Jensen grew up in Kapa’a, Kauai and Elder Hafen was from Adrian, Oregon, just over the border from Nampa, Idaho. They were both outstanding Elder’s and we had a nice time with them and enjoyed their spirit.

Saturday morning, we slept in and then cleaned the apartment and did laundry until noon. By then we were dressed for the day and decided to take a drive north and see the countryside. We went north across the Dame’s Point Bridge on I-95 until Main Street (US17) and took that road through all the country towns of north Florida. We passed Yulee, Kingsland, Woodbine, and Waverly where the road turned to the east back towards I-95. Along our route we saw signs for Folkston, Waycross and passed by Hilliard and many of the small country towns of the Kingsland Zone. As US17 crossed under I-95 we stopped and had lunch and then returned to Arlington via I-95. We arrived at our apartment about 4:00 pm and spent a quiet afternoon and evening. We got an enjoyable call from Elder & Sister Kelly, our replacements. They wanted to update us on medical issues they were facing. Depending on an upcoming surgery for Sister Kelly, they may not make the June MTC class and we assured them that was not an issue with us. We visited about the work and our apartment and promised to send pictures of the apartment so they could get a feeling of what they need to bring. We looked forward to meeting the Kelly’s and they are excited to come to Jacksonville.

Sunday morning, we left for Jacksonville Beach at 9:30 am. We met the missionaries in the foyer, Elder Jensen & Hafen and also Sister Tidwell & Weyland. Sister Weyland was from Highland, Utah and she and Sister Tidwell werre Sister Training Leaders. Jenny & Olivia Black were with us today as was Jerald Lagae and his 3 children, also Devaney Noblit and her boys, the Jarvis’ and Tyler Gneck. Sacrament meeting was excellent with short messages from Elder Hafen & Sister Weyland, a talk by Brother Christianson and an excellent talk by Sister Thomas, Relief Society President. In the second hour, Brother Murray gave a lesson on our relationship with the Savior and did a nice job. Following the meetings, we visited with Jerald for a few minutes and got an update on Samantha, who was not feeling well. We talked with the Perry’s and Tyler about Temple Preparation this week and then returned to our apartment. Pam fixed dinner for us and we spent a quiet afternoon and evening.