If Ye Are Prepared, Ye Shall Not Fear

For some people, bargain shopping is all about using the small budget they have every week to get what their family needs at the lowest prices, no extras. For others, it is not a "necessity", but a frugal way to wisely use what the Lord provides. And for some it is a smart and easy way to do both while gaining items for a year supply a little at a time. For any of our LDS readers, you know exactly what we are talking about when we use words like 72-hour kits, or Year Supply etc. Others, however, might not so let me give some more info to those that might know what the crazy LDS woman with her 5 kids at Costco are doing with their 20 cases of peaches. :)

The leaders of our church have asked that we do the following:

• Obtain a year supply (starting out with a 3 month supply)


• Obtain a usable supply of drinking water in case water services are interrupted. Would your family have enough to cook, clean and drink with if you needed it, even for a few days?


• Obtain a small financial reserve (small bills and change kept safe in your home for emergency)

None of this is new, they have been asking that we get food storage (and learn how to use) it for over 60 years. I was reading a post from one of my favorite sites, www.myfoodstoragedeals.blogspot.com, an email from one of her family members near the disaster of hurricane Ike and it just really hit home for me that there IS a reason that we are asked to do things, even if the reason might not immediately be in front of us. Plain and simple, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." Wether you are LDS or not, these are smart things for any family to do knowing that we live in hard economic circumstances, there are rumors of wars, natural disasters etc. So I thought I'd share, and just imagine your own kids and family, neighbors etc when you read the email. Ask yourself, am I prepared for something like this? What would I do? Would my children go without ____?

Here is the email she posted:

"Dear Friends: We have a 6'x6' hole in our roof, no electricity or running water, Trees down everywhere. How ever, because we listened to the counsel of our prophet we are prepared. In fact it seems to me that it's only the members of the church who seem to be calm, prepared, and helping one another with trees in roofs, flooding, etc. There is a POD or Point of Distribution in Tomball where we live. There you get water and ice IF you have enough fuel to wait in the 3-hour lines. We don't have to do that because we have 3 full water barrels, 75 juice bottles filled with water, and our pool, which is dirty, but we use it to flush. It is very difficult to get gas. Police guard the stations when fuel is delivered and you might wait half a day to get up to the pump just to have them say, 'Too bad, we are out'. I am grateful that we have a generator. We run it 4 hours a day to keep our fridge and light. I am grateful that we have had fuel for it. You can't even by gas containers as they are rationed. We can only by bread once a week and limite d to 2 loaves at a time. Water is rationed by the case at the grocery store - 3 cases per family. The ATM machines do not have power. For the past 6 months I have stashed small bills away because I have had such a feeling of foreboding. We have cash because of that. LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT. Get cash in small bills because the stores can't make change and credit and debit cards often don't work. I had to pay 5 dollars more for an item because they couldn't make change for me. and . . . PHONES ONLY WORK OCCASIONALY. Believe it or not...I have not had a bath in 4 days, Today was the first day I got to wash my hair with pool water. I haven't fixed my hair in a week!!! It just doesn't matter anymore. We cannot do laundry because we don't have water. So, we wear our clothes until they are literally disgusting. When we do finally get water we will have to boil it since it is contaminated.I am grateful for my parents. When we got low on generator fuel they drove 45 minutes to help us. They filled up their cans and brought us 10 gallons of fuel, which kept us going until this morning at 6:oo, am when we finally found some gas. A prepared Family and a loving extended family is the key to survival and making it through right now. I know that my parents would drive to the end of the earth to help me and it's nice knowing they are there. I know that I would do the same for my children. I want all of you to know that I have such a testimony of following the counsel of our living prophet. There really is safety and peace in your heart if you are prepared. Please get your generators, 5 gas cans full of gas, canned goods, baby items, baby wipes to bathe, and all the water you can store...even if you have to trip on it in your home. Have your lanterns, crank flashlights, tarps, rope, etc. ready to go because you never know when it will be your turn to endure the test. It's overwhelming, but it's going to be ok eventually. I have a home, I have food, and I have water, because I listened to the counsel of the prophet. Please make sure you do the same. It's time to have your life in order. Tomorrow may be too late. "

Here are some links for becoming prepared:

FOOD STORAGE LINKS

• www.ready.gov
• www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/ff1-toc.htm
• lds.about.com
• www.shelfreliance.com
• http://www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/ff1-toc.htm
• http://www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net
• http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/
• http://www.preparingwisely.com/ (A local store in Mesa where you can buy supplies)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS LINKS

• www.redcross.org
• www.prepare.org
• http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/