January 2013 Newsletter

Thoughts for the month:  This is not meant to be a “downer newsletter” but more of an encouragement to help you want to become more prepared. 

November 18^th in the LDS Church News there was a great article on Preparedness that I saved.  It was so good that I will share most of the article here with you.

A week after Super Storm Sandy hit the northeastern part of the United States one observer noted that the storm had transformed an advanced area of the world, at least temporarily, to conditions faced daily in many Third World countries.  Many areas of the East Coast had no power, no fuel, no water, limited refuse collection and no public transportation-all changing a lifestyle of plenty to one of need and dependency on government and other groups.

In 2006, A Time magazine article explored reasons why people do not prepare for disasters. A year after Hurricane Katrina hit the article stated that “people are even less likely to plan ahead.” A poll done in connection with the article found about half of those surveyed had personally experienced a natural disaster but only “16 percent said they were very well prepared for the next one”.

The article found that 91 percent of Americans live in places “at a moderate-to-high” risk of natural disaster, yet many polled explained their lack of emergency preparation saying they believed they were not at risk.  Reasons given for lack of preparation included “it won’t happen to me” and “if it happens to me, it won’t be that bad.”

We are encouraged to plan and prepare and consider having a three-month supply of food, drinking water, financial reserves, medical and first aid supplies and clothing and bedding.

When our government is broke, which it is…FEMA will not have the money to give out to everyone affected by a huge disaster. And even if they are able to help, it takes forever and your world will be drastically changed for quite a while.

Members of the LDS church have been counseled for MANY years to be prepared for temporal and spiritual adversity.  Preparation, both spiritual and temporal can dispel fear and allow us to serve others.  We cannot help our friends, family and neighbors if we cannot help ourselves.  A message we learn in 2 Nephi 25:23 teaches us that we cannot stand still and do nothing and expect that our faith will increase and our afflictions will be resolved.

I read the whole article and loved all of it so much I wanted to share it will all of you. It is sound advice that all of us can use.  Do what you can, a little bit all the time, and it will be worth it!