“I remember when the sisters used to say, ‘Well, but we could buy it at the store a lot cheaper than we can put it up.’ But that isn’t quite the answer…Because there will come a time when there isn’t a store.”
August 1976, Copenhagen, Denmark
“We want you to be ready with your personal storehouses filled with at least a year’s supply. You don’t argue why it cannot be done; you just plan to organize and get it done.”
August 1976, Amsterdam
“…because they were warned early [of the Teton Dam flood], most of the people were saved. Only six people were destroyed, and they were generally people who did not heed the warning.”
September 1976
“Preparedness, when properly pursued, is a way of life, not a sudden, spectacular program.”
“I like the way the Relief Society teaches personal and family preparedness as ‘provident living.’ This implies the husbanding or our resources, the wise planning of financial matters, full provision for personal health, and adequate preparation for education and career development, giving appropriate attention to home production and storage as well as the development of emotional resiliency.
“I hope that we understand that, while having a garden, for instance, is often useful in reducing food costs and making available delicious fresh fruits and vegetables, it does much more than this. Who can gauge the value of that special chat between daughter and Dad as they weed or water the garden? How do we evaluate the good that comes from the obvious lessons of planting, cultivating, and the eternal law of the harvest? And how do we measure the family togetherness and cooperating that must accompany successful canning? Yes, we are laying up resources in store, but perhaps the greater good is contained in the lessons of life we learn as we live providently and extend to our children their pioneer heritage.”
“…In like manner we could refer to all the components of personal and family preparedness, not in relation to holocaust or disaster, but in cultivating a lifestyle that is on a day-to-day basis its own reward.
“Let’s do these things because they are right, because they are satisfying, and because we are obedient to the counsels of the Lord.”
“It is true that difficult times will come – for the Lord has foretold them – and, yes, stakes of Zion are ‘for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm.’ (D&C 115:6) But if we live wisely and providently, we will be as safe as in the palm of His hand.”
“Most of us learn best what we apply in our own lives. I hope I would not be found wanting in applying basic gospel principles in my life, in my own home, with my own family. I would live the precepts of personal and family preparedness. That means having a garden, wisely managing family resources, and expanding my educational horizons. It means staying fit, replenishing the family year’s supply, fixing up our property, and all the rest we have been asked of the Lord to do.
“…It is in the doing that the real blessing comes.”
