COTTLE MISSION NEWS: Week 73 (24

Monday morning, we left for the USO at 9:30 am. Today was No Dough day and we joined in other volunteers in preparing for the dinner. Joyce Schellhorn (director) was in the house along with Julie Davis and Megan DeGance. I helped set up outside for deep frying Lumpia rolls and also the inside room for salad, condiments, desserts and drinks. A group of ladies cut up vegetables for the salad and we were basically done by noon. During the morning Joyce had us clean out the icemakers as the ice was not clean and couldn’t be used. Not sure why, but it was the 2^nd time it had happened. She had me buy some ice and I drove to Winn-Dixie and purchased 8 bags for the dinner. Pam and I left at 1:00 pm and returned to Arlington Hills and had some lunch before returning to our apartment. Pam did some sewing on Eleanor and Fiona’s dresses. Later in the afternoon I worked on Stake information sheets for the Kelley’s and updated the military name lists to include the new families we met on Sunday.

Tuesday morning, we arrived at the USO at 9:00 am to help with a food delivery from Feeding Northeast Florida. Upon arrival the truck and many volunteers were waiting to get in. We opened and got the delivery going from FNEF when Dave Ostrum arrived. We received 4 pallets of food, two in the storage room and two on the patio and the volunteers from JEA helped me sort and bag the meat. Other volunteers moved the items on the patio inside to tables in the north end and both efforts only took about an hour. Pam was in the office and also in the kitchen cleaning up from last night’s No Dough dinner. I emptied the used oil from the 3 cookers into 2 5-gallon containers and Pam and Margaret began cleaning them. The volunteers also emptied the food shelves in the storage room, and had it distributed on the tables for tomorrows food distribution. By noon we were ready. Two heating and refrigeration men serviced the two ice machines in the kitchen and hopefully that solved the issue of clean ice. We left at noon and returned to our apartment and I went to the leasing office and reported a water leak in our air conditioning system. A maintenance man came soon and serviced our system and in about an hour had it fixed. He also had to go upstairs above us as that was the source of the water. Later in the afternoon Pam baked cookies for our new families and others as we visit.

Wednesday morning, we left for the USO at 9:00 am to help with the food distribution today. Dave Ostrum opened and there were a few volunteers gathering. Pam was assigned to work at the sign in desk and I went outside to the storage room and was joined by two volunteers from Fletcher High School and we gave out meat, potatoes and diapers. At 10:30 am the distribution began, and we were very busy for about an hour. Throughout the morning we served about 40 families. Overall all there were about 10 volunteers who watched over the food inside and helped patrons take their food to vehicles. Joyce Schellhorn (Director) arrived just before we commenced, and she was pleased with preparations and even authorized distributing a few more items from the storage room that had sat there for a long time. Pam and I left shortly after noon and went on base and took sunscreen to our families and those who were home welcomed the gift. Back at our apartment Pam did some sewing, and then we returned to the Beach at 4:30 pm and picked up Elder Murri and Karl at their apartment to took them to dinner. They were fine young elders and Elder Murri completed his mission in July. After eating we sat in our van and heard a message from the Elders and then returned them back to their apartment.

Thursday morning was historic transition day for the Florida Jacksonville Mission. President and Sister Wood arrived and the Lee’s left. On the mission Blog was this final present from the Lee’s:

Every zone conference we discussed one or more of these attributes and at the recent Mission Conference they restated all of them. They would be missed very much. Elder & Sister Whitehead also left today, and they also would be missed. Pam and I left for the USO at 8:30 am to open the facility. There was a moderate amount of bread and pastries and we set them out and waited for patrons to come and partake. Very slow through the morning and Pam and I were inventive to keep busy. I did some organizing and cleaning in the south storage room and took a large number of empty bins into the attic. Needed Joyce to make a decision on 4 bins of clothing still on the floor. Dave Ostrum arrived at 11:00 am and Joyce Schellhorn (Director) an hour later. We visited for a while and then Dave left to take care of some family appointments. Joyce said Beam’s was bringing meat, so we agreed to stay and help with that as there was no other volunteers at the center. What we hadn’t counted on, however, was 40 boxes of meat and another 20 of bread products. Pam and I retrieved all the coolers and as the meat was wheeled in, we opened the boxes and sorted beef, chicken and pork and soon had all the coolers filled with only half of the boxes processed. I went outside to the storage room and consolidated the two freezers the best I could and started moving full boxes of meat into those freezers. We managed to get everything stored, but the freezers were full. The bread and pastries covered the pool table and we took a large amount of desserts to the storage room for future No Dough dinners. Joyce took some pictures and when Dave returned, he posted them to Facebook and hopefully patrons would come and take the food. Pam and I left about 3:30 pm dead tired because we had shared the bulk of the work in taking care of the food. We drove to Arlington and went to the Alexanders and visited with Wes and the children and gave Wes some meat. Tara’s pregnancy was progressing nicely, but she just wasn’t feeling well and was in bed. Wes confirmed he hoped to receive the Melchizedek priesthood in August, and they wanted to be in the Temple by September. That would be wonderful for them and we pondered if it was possible to return and be with them. We would have to see! At 6:15 pm we drove to a Chic-fil-A on Atlantic and met the Lagae’s for dinner. We had planned to take Samantha and the kids, but Jerald’s ship made an emergency port call today and he was with them and that was extra special. We had a wonderful hour and enjoyed the meal and conversation and the kids had a great time in the playground. Jerald went out to the van with us when we left, and we gave him some meat we brought for them and he described reading in the Book of Mormon about Nephi constructing the ship and the difficulties he had with his brothers. He was so animated and enthusiastic about his reading and that was wonderful to see.

Friday morning, we left for the USO at 9:00 am and when we arrived were surprised that Dave Ostrum and volunteers were sorting another delivery of meat from Beam. They indicated most of yesterday’s meat and other items were gone and he accepted more. I helped with the sorting and putting the remaining meat in outside freezers—stuffed to the gills! I hung a couple of pictures for Joyce Schellhorn (Director) and Charlie Tramazzo asked if I could mount pictures in the frames I bought for him last week. When I took off the wrappings 3 of the 4 frames were broken. Charlie retrieved the receipt and gave me his credit card and Pam and I left with the frames to return them. That was about 12:30 pm. We drove to the Wal-Mart on Monument and returned the frames and ended up purchasing 4 more of a different type that were more substantial and cost a little more. We took some more meat to the Alexanders before returning to our apartment. At 3:30 pm we returned to the USO and gave Charlie the frames and return his credit card and were dumbfounded that Dave had accepted another delivery from Beam of Bread and Pastries. The mountain of bread on the pool table was amazing. I guess everybody was loading up for the 4^th of July holiday. When we left, we drove to the river and watched ships go by for a half an hour and then to the Jarvis’ to attend a dinner party for Tyler Gneck. We were surprised when we learned he was leaving for San Diego on the 10^th of July. We thought he was not leaving until the Fall. He invited some of his friends and we were included in that list along with the Bishop Dill and his family, the Noblit’s, both sets of full-time missionaries and Tori Martin. It was a good group and we enjoyed “Hawaiian Haystacks” for dinner. Pam made a cake and it was also a hit.

Saturday morning, we slept in some and then cleaned the apartment and began loads of laundry. We had a late lunch and then drove south to Costco and bought a month’s supply of water and a few other things and returned to our apartment. The rest of the afternoon was spent finishing laundry and Pam sewed on Fiona and Eleanor’s dresses. Andrew Cooper came by and picked up a package he had mailed to us and it was nice to see him again. He was waiting for orders but didn’t know where yet. We had to make an emergency run to Hobby Lobby for some trim but other than that we spent a quiet afternoon and evening.

Sunday morning, we left for Jacksonville Beach at 9:30 am. Tyler Gneck greeted us at the chapel door and we gave him a package we had received for him and then inside we greeted the Sisters and met Jerald Lagae’s mother who was with Fiona and Clive Lagae walking through the foyer. She was visiting from California. We introduced ourselves and then went into the chapel and found seats in front of the Lagaes. Jarvis’ and the Noblit’s were with us today, but that was all and neither of the new families we met last Sunday. Sacrament meeting was excellent, and we heard a missionary report from Matti Button who served in the Utah St. George Mission. We also heard from a high councilor for a few minutes. Since it was a 5^th Sunday we attended a combined meeting in the 2^nd hour conducted by the Bishop and the subject was personal preparation both physical and spiritual. We heard from Sister Thomas, Brother Lundell and Brother Gevara and they all did a nice job. After the block we attended a baptismal service for the Nolet family who have been taught by the Sisters for the past few months. Adam Nolet, the father, was baptized along with his two sons and a daughter. Bishop Dill and Tori Martin did the baptizing and Bishop, Tori and Brother Martin did the confirming at the end. Collin Moore and Tori Martin gave talks, and both did fine jobs. Sister Tidwell and her companion Sister Ison arrived mid-way and she was welcomed with hugs and greetings by the family. She and Sister Weyland had done the bulk of the teaching. After the service Pam and I visited for a few minutes and then left and returned to Arlington Hills. Pam fixed some dinner and it was very good. We spent the afternoon studying a Come Follow Me lesson and watched the new Freeman video and enjoyed it very much.