Personal Experience -- a Deadline.

I'm starting to feel that I'm talking to an empty room, shouting at a black hole, mumbling to myself. And it occurred to me that today, on our "fifth Sunday," is three months from the next "fifth Sunday" in October, when I will be speaking to the combined RS/Phd. SO, I decided to document and drive a three-month process to ... what? Get prepared? "Get" my food storage? The church's category is HOME storage, so I guess that works. I know I always work better when I have a back end -- a deadline -- when it needs to get done by.

I'm close to completing the 72-hr kits (with only water bottle carriers & blanket velcro attachments to add); the 2=week in-home (with no utilities) is pretty straightforward. I guess it's the 3-month and the "longer-term storage" that get cumbersome, expensive, and overwhelming. But, I have three months (13 weeks!) to plan it, buy it, make it, learn it, and GET IT. Then I can share what I learned and how I did it, along with develop some tools to help simplify that process for others. Sigh -- it sounds harder to teach others (read: get them hopeful and motivated enough) than to do it for myself.

July Sales

As a (hopefully) helpful side note, these are some food-storage type sales going on through the 21st of July:

Zingo's has Richfood Frozen Vegetables on sale 2 for $1.
Acme has Hunt's Pasta Sauce for .79cents (if you by ten and get $5 instant savings :>).
ShopRite has canned tomatoes 12/$6.99 (limit two sets of 12);
 Kleenex boxes for 99c (limit 4 per variety); and ShopRite canned vegetables at 12/$4.68 (with a limit of two sets of 12).

Happy Hunting!

Joplin, Faith and You

I'm trying to figure out how to help everyone (myself definitely included) to believe and act on the reality that we need to be prepared: spiritually as well as physically, with a little social/emotional strength thrown in there.  My calling is specifically on food storage, but I have a hard time separating "food storage" from its context of all-around provident living and general preparedness. "Mere physical preparation is not enough to get [us] through."

I know that faith is the first step. Faith is not just about belief, but also includes doing something about what we believe (remember, Joseph Smith said that faith is a principle of action!).

One of the Joplin church members said: “For me, being prepared means  … I don’t need to worry,” she said. “I know that if I’ve done my part by preparing myself spiritually, having food storage, and being willing to share with neighbors and others, I have a sense that I’m going to be okay—that the Lord will bless me whatever happens.” She describes action: the prayer, study and obedience that prepare us spiritually; devoting the time and energy to prepare temporally; and opening our hearts and hands to give freely where needed. ("Other ward and stake leaders say that even if members didn’t end up using their home storage or emergency supplies themselves, having those things put them in a position to help others who needed it.")

I'm not sure how to motivate or inspire anyone out there to get up and get going on this, so I'm going to start my own journey and report what I've found. Now that Girls' Camp is over, I'm going to get moving! (Won't you come along?)