Curt,
I think that I know what you are going through, but maybe not.
1) It appears that you installed your Moodle using your server's one click install, right?
2) My guess, then, is that you really haven't modified Moodle much with add-ins, or am I wrong?
If I am correct about 1 & 2, then your problem is that you simply do not know how to upgrade your Moodle to a current version? Am I correct, or am I off-base?
If I am seeing your situation correctly, they you are (almost) correct that someone who knows what they are doing could do the upgrade in 2 (not really, but maybe 20) minutes.
I think that you are getting some good guidance from others here, but what I see happening is that the way you do your upgrade depends upon how much risk one wants to take. One method would be to just do the upgrade and hope that it works. The other method is to get the newest version of moodle running, then move your existing data to it. I have learned how to do Moodle upgrades fairly fast, but whenever there is a new "point" upgrade for Moodle, I am much more conservative. For example, in my case, I have installed a (somewhat) mirror install of my production Moodle (2.3.3+). Just the other day, I tried upgrading it to 2.4, and actually ran into some problems. I did get Moodle 2.4 running, but found that it had a few problems with a few features. Very soon, these problems will be fixed (two of the three are already fixed) and then I will upgrade my production site. Of course, before upgrading, I will make sure that I have backups of everything.
But based upon what you have written, none of this will immediately help you because you are not comfortable doing your own administration, and there is not one-button install routine for you to (safely) upgrade your Moodle.
So, if anything that I have written makes any sense, the basic question is where does this leave you? Stranded? Maybe so. Of course, if you could find someone to come over and help you, this would be best. Or you might need to find a nearby Moodle administrator to help you. Or you need to continue pursuing some help here, and see if you understand anything that we are saying.
I'll ask you a few basic questions.
1) Do you know how to FTP to your site?
2) Do you know how to SSH to your site?
Your answers to these questions might help us know what kind of advice to give you.
In summary, I hope that my assessment is not too far off-base. If it is, I apologize. I was simply sensing some frustration in your posts.
I hope to be upgrading my Moodle from 2.3.3+ to 2.4 soon. Maybe when I do, I too can make a video showing how I did this. You can also find other people's approaches (videos) on YouTube.