Monday Message

Do you have oil in your lamps?

"Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to ‘prepare every needful thing’ (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we may care for ourselves and our neighbors, and support bishops as they care for others." (All is Safely Gathered In pamphlet)

"Recent surveys of Church members have shown a serious erosion in the number of families who have a year’s supply of life’s necessities. Most members plan to do it. Too few have begun . . . It is our sacred duty to care for our families, including our extended families." (President Thomas S. Monson- note: the italicized parts were italicized in his original talk)

"Let us be in a position so we are able to not only feed ourselves through the home production and storage, but others as well." (President Ezra Taft Benson)

**Provident Living update: I have been released from my calling as Provident Living Leader. Congratulations to Sister Wells on being called to the position! I know we will all support her in her new calling. The Frugal Measures blog will still continue on for all to draw on its resources and be an inspiration for those looking to build skills and work on food storage :) I hope you can join me in wishing Sister Wells the best in her new calling.   

After reading the quote from President Benson I think we all are currently seeing that there is no lack of need. As time goes on more and more catastrophic things are happening and need is growing very fast.

Thirteen years ago in May we had an awful rain storm that hit in the night and in the midst of that our sump pump blew and our basement flooded with ground water. A lot of our storage was no good and we were blessed to be helped by many. It ruined the furnace and other things we had stored. It was awful, still ground water is better than sewer or river or ocean but still very hard. We were very thankful for the help of others. One would be tempted with the loss of food storage to say, "why would we store again?" and "how did it help?" Well, while it took a lot, we still had some and if we had not started doing it again we would not be able to weather the tight times we have now.

It is very hard work, basically a full time job, stocking food, stretching budgets, cooking from scratch, learning and implementing skills, rotating storage, canning, drying, growing food, vacuum sealing food, and everything else that goes into the many aspects...

Yes, it would have been easier to just quit and spend the money on fun or easy meals but we would be suffering more now and I thank my past self for doing what helps us now.

Persevere on building your skills, they serve me well now also.

Being able to make bread or make my own mixes are skills I have perfected that help me now.

Soon it will be time to do my peaches. Being able to take my own peaches and make jam is a skill that is a huge blessing. You know you want a slice of homemade bread with homemade peach jam on it, now don’t ya…? :p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T54apwPkrRg&feature=em-uploademail this year I learned to Norwegian purl as one of my skills. I keep practicing and have become faster.

Knowing how to knit helped me mend a pair of gloves.

http://diyjoy.com/best-diy-sewing-hacks - I thought there were good ideas here.

Being able to sew means that I can make gifts.

http://theprudenthomemaker.com/blog/entry/september-s-grocery-shopping-plans-1 I encourage you to read her post here.

Brandy, like us, is having hard times. If you had hard times right now, have you prepared? We prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Our ancestors would always hope the next year would be better.

Have you priced really nice yarns? I saw a skein of yarn for 38 dollars -- Oh, but they go even higher than that, much higher. There is one I think would be fun to knit, it is 58 dollars. It knits sheep instead of stripes so while I will never ever be able to buy these yarns…that would equal one pair of socks that are 58 dollar socks, not in my budget.           

I can make my own yarn. This is a huge blessing to have this skill. 

Gus is reminding you that it won’t be long now and winter will come. How is your storage? Share comment below so we can all learn from each other.

Keep working on your storage.