Food Storage, Emergency Preparedness and Weekly/Monthly Assignment (Week of June 8th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Torrance Stake Family, Family and Friends,

A great quote and a blessing from an apostle

Orson F. Whitney (an Apostle of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) stated, "No pain that we suffer, no trail that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us  more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God . . . and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven."

This past Sunday we had a special Stake Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Torrance Stake, California USA. We were blessed to have Elder M. Russell Ballard, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, come speak to us. He stated, "How do I feed my spirit as well as I take care of my body? By pulling up to the spiritually table three times a day (feasting on) prayer, family prayer, studying the scriptures, service, and listen to the last General Conference. It is so simple, it is spiritual." Before he closed his beautiful spiritual and uplifting talk he left an Apostleship blessing on our Stake members that there will be peace in our homes, anything we need to do we will do it with courage, to repent, our hearts will be filled with the love of the Lord so we can build the kingdom of God and he blessed us with the righteous desires of our hearts.

I am grateful for my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, all it has taught me and why it is important to be prepared both spiritually and temporally. If you would like to know more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-days Saints click on lds.org or mormon.org

Why Food Storage and Water Storage???

We as Americans take our food for granted! We are used to going to the grocery store and big box stores to purchase what we need when we need it. How do you feel when you go there and they are out of the item you need? Think about that, what if you went there and the shelves were empty? Would you be scared and worried? How would you feed your family? Why not have food and water stored for those times when food is not available or times are difficult? Listed below are some reason why you should have food storage and water storage.

Some reasons for Food and Water Storage . . .

1) Natural Disasters--Natural disasters happen throughout the world. Many times it takes local and federal governments to bring in food and drinking water days, weeks and even months. Every house hold should have extra food, water and emergency supplies stored. Our daughter had many friends and church members who were effected by the Joplin, Missouri USA tornado. Many lost everything. Those with food storage where able to help others and those effected by the tornado where grateful they had stored food and water in their basements.

 

2) Loss of Income/Jobs--Several years ago my husband was seriously hurt in an accident while working. He was on Medical Disability for 3-4 months. Because we had 6 months supply of food and other items we were able to feed our family without having to ask for assistance and were able to pay our other bills.





3) Contamination of Water--Several times throughout this year in the United States we have heard on the news of communities whose main water source was contaminated due to chemicals spilling in the water or other reasons. Just recently Portland, Oregon, USA, effecting 670,000 people, was told to boil their water before using it due to a possible animal contaminating their main water source. A few years ago when I went to turn on the faucet in the kitchen there was just a trickle of water. We called our water company and found out after some research, the lake by our house was being treated, which we were somehow attached to, and the water would be off for several hours. There was no prior notice of this event. Luckily we had water stored.
 
 

4) Higher food prices caused by drought, natural disasters, the economy--We are being warned that food

prices many rocket due to the drought in the Western and Midwest states of the United States. When this happens we can rely on our food storage to get us through these difficult times. Read the articles listed below regarding the drought in California, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas USA.

  
 

5) Most important . . . We have been admonished by our church general authorities since 1936 to store food (and water)--Click here to hear and read a great article, "Prepare for the Days of Tribulation" by Ezra Taft Benson, regarding why we need food storage. If a year's supply seems overwhelming as mentioned in the article, work towards 1 month, 3 months or 6 months, and continue to increase until you have a years supply. Those of us you who live in countries, like the United States of American, are blessed to be able to store food and water. In some countries they are not allow to store food.



Drought in California, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas . . .

The Effects of California's Driest Year

Dust Bowl Conditions Have Returned to Kansas, Oklahoma and Northern Texas

NEW NEW NEW WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT

Weekly Assignment: Family Emergency Medical Kits

 

Many of us have some sort of medical supplies in our homes like band-aids, alcohol, peroxide, anti-infection creams, pain killers, etc.. Some of us have limited first-aid kits in our cars and home that we probably have not checked in months, years. Medications do expire!

If there was a major disaster or emergency situation would you have the proper emergency medical supplies to take care of you, your family and help your neighbors. I would say most of us do not! Right?

The next few weeks we are going to work on our Family Emergency Medical Kit. We have done this before but I am sure there are some of you who did not do it, never completed it and some things need to be replaced due to expiration dates.  Some of these items can be found at discount stores and drug stores. Make sure you check the expiration dates before purchasing them, you want them to last for at least a year or more.

Note: Make sure you keep this out of the reach of your young children and explain to the family is your Family Emergency Medical Kit/Supplies. If you need to use an items from it, make sure you replace it right away!

This week add the following:

1)  Band-aids (several boxes, many assorted sizes)--When ever I find these at estate sales for garage sales I usually purchase them as long as they are clean and appear to not be old. Discount stores are great for these too, but sometimes I find they do not work as well as others.

 


2) 2-3 bottles of Hydrogen peroxide






Note: See last week's blog posting, June 1st, to see the items added last week.

June Monthly Assignment: Paper Supplies

This is a great time to work on storing paper supplies since most stores have them on sale due to the many holiday and summer activities, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Graduations, Summer BBQ, Labor Day, etc..

Figure out how many paper products you will need for your family for 3 months, 6 months or a year. Remember, there are 3 meals, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Most of us use large paper plates, small paper plates, paper bowls, paper cups for hot and cold drinks, plastic silverware and napkins. You can also include paper towels. 

Here is an example: Lets say you are going to store enough large paper plates for 6 months. That would be about 183 large paper plates per person. If you have 5 people in your family, you would need to store 915 large paper plates for 6 months. But remember, that is only for one meal, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Multiply the number of meals a day you would use the large paper plates. Do the same thing for the other paper products you need to store.

Watch for sales. Sometimes the sales at regular grocery stores and department stores like Walmart are better than the big box stores. Compare the prices and save!

This week add the following:

1) Paper bowls--figure out how many you will need for the number of months you are going to store for them. See the example above. You many need different types, hot and cold foods.

2) Paper cups--for hot and cold drinks. Figure out how many you will need for the number of month you are going to store for them. 





Note: See last week's blog posting, June 1st, to see what items we added last week.



Emergency Preparedness Ideas 

Mark your calenders, coming soon!

Carson Ward Emergency Preparedness Fair

Saturday, September 6th

9:00 am to 12:00 pm

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

22721 Main Street, Carson, California USA  

Comments: Please post you comments below. We love to hear about your experiences with emergency preparedness and food storage. We all learn from each other. Thank you for your comments.