by Tiffany Morgan.
3 months later I FINALLY returned to this task. I uninstalled Moodle, reinstalled, used the cron instructions referred previously (https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=239441#p1042347) and it worked perfectly on the first try! I wonder if something went wrong with the install or the many incorrect crons I ran, but either way it is working now. I once again thank you all for your help and patience! You all rock