With so many past Blurbs, they will be added to this page as often as possible. I hope you enjoy them.

The Blub #1 - The very first one - circa April 2020

Just prior to our current Pandemic, Janet and I were called and sustained as Ward Preparedness Specialists. We were and still are very excited about this because we have always had a strong understanding of the importance of being prepared for various things life brings our way.

We like to believe we are prepared in many ways but also know we have a lot of areas in our life that need work.

Recently, we spoke with Bishop Steed about how best to serve our brothers and sisters during this crazy time we are going through. He suggested a Blurb. Just something short and to the point on a weekly basis.

This Blurb will include a wide variety of topics.

When it comes to preparedness, Janet is the real inspiration in our family and she will provide that inspiration and I will write them (I actually love to write things)

We hope this will be inspiring as well as fun. If you know us, we love to laugh and have fun. To quote a previous Stake President, Mark Bassett, "If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right".  He told me that when I was called by him to serve as a bishop in the Antelope Stake.

We promise that going forward, these will be much shorter and will love to hear thoughts and ideas from you all. Janet will be the editor so if I mess it up it is her fault.

The Blurb

Our first topic is "Faith not Fear". We have all heard the line, "If ye are prepared, ye shall  not fear". This is a fundamental truth.  We must become more spiritually prepared no matter who we are.

The cool thing about Spiritual preparedness is that we are not expected to all of a sudden become spiritual giants overnight, just that we  are moving in that direction.  There are countless ways to do this but the most important is to pray and develop a personal relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ.

This is a lot like planting a garden. Start with a seed of faith, nurture it and provide light and it will grow.  As we develop our faith, our personal testimonies will grow, fear will begin to vanish and things in life will become much clearer to us.   

The Blurb - #2 (2020)

The current situation is absolutely awful and heart breaking for many Americans. If we can take a moment and look for a silver lining, it may be that we have all received a firsthand lesson on why we should prepare ourselves and our families.

Who would have thought - out of TP? Really? Did something happen to all of the trees and we ran out of wood or recycled paper? No - Panic sets in and voila!

Now it is the rush on meat. There really isn't a shortage of meat. The packing plants are shut down so the supply chain gets cut off.

We do not have to sell the farm to get prepared. We have found a number of reputable companies that have long term or short term storage items

One of the companies is Emergency Essentials at https://beprepared.com/   They just posted some simple ideas to get prepared on a shoestring budget. It is found on their website. Some of those include gardening (hope you have one started), Planning a menu and sticking to it, Eating home cooked meals rather than from restaurants and many more ideas.   

Other companies we have had great success with is Auguson Farms  https://www.augasonfarms.com/ (little secret - some of their products at Walmart are sold cheaper than they sell them), Others include My Patriot Supply https://mypatriotsupply.com/and The Ready Storehttps://www.thereadystore.com/ .  And yes there are a ton more.

- Mind you none of these are a solicitation - Just information

Our favorite place for information as well as some basic necessities is at this place  - https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org- Here you will find numerous ideas and spiritual guidance on becoming more self reliance.

Until next time,

Blurb 3

Pres Kimball was the President of The Church when we became members in 1980. Four years prior in a General Conference talk he said "We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property…. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard.  Even those residing in apartments or condominiums can generally grow a little food in pots and planters…. If there are children in your home, involve them in the process with assigned responsibilities.

"There is so much to learn and harvest from your garden, far more than just a crop itself," President Kimball said.

This does not mean going out and plowing up the whole yard. Just try a few things and get to know more about how we can learn from the experiences.

So what can we learn?

We learn about how work combined with hope and faith can yield much fruit from our labors.

We learn about delayed gratification - a lesson greatly needed in our microwave world today.

We learn about self reliance. Once we become more self-reliant, we can then share with others our knowledge and help them to become more self-reliant.

Our garden, no matter how large or small, will teach us to be responsible and how important it is to personally attend to things. if we don’t, we will not get the desired outcome or have a fruitful harvest.

We should always be in “preparedness mode” - Not worrying about things but following promptings and listening to Church leaders. This can bring a level of comfort to us as we listen to The Lord through our Church leaders, the scriptures and spiritual promptings. We begin to know how we “hear Him” and as we do, we can reach greater levels of comfort and self-reliance.

Self-reliance is not just about how to take care of yourself - it’s about how we can take care of ourselves so that we can help take care of someone else.

A couple of interesting links this week are:

https://www.thechurchnews.com/archives/2007-07-14/family-gardens-80532

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/self-reliance?lang=eng

Blurb 4

Communication is a vital part of our human existence. During the pandemic we find ourselves in, we have learned that communication is even more important than we may have thought. It helps us stay socially connected even while "Socially distanced". We have found that communication on a regular basis is even life saving. It helps dispel anxiety, depression, and stress.

Many people have spent extra time on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Tic-Tok and other media to stay connected.  These can be great ways to stay or get connected with others. While too much time on social media can be a problem, it is a great place to stay connected with others.

One recommendation is that if you do not know anything about or are unfamiliar with social media, please learn. We have an entire generation of experts that can help others understand how to use those new-fangled computers and smart phones. If you feel you need help, call on one of young people directly or let a church leader know you need help.

Hopefully we have also learned the value of reaching out personally through phone calls and text messages.

Communication in a disaster is a major concern. During a disaster, people tend to scatter making it difficult to know if others are ok or in need. Recently the beautiful town of Paradise was destroyed in hours by a raging fire. Being from the Chico area and having a brother living in Paradise, we were deeply concerned. Communication was all but lost. In speaking earlier this year to President Meyer, the Chico Stake President, he told of the many challenges they experienced with communications. There were communication necessary between family members and between emergency services such as fire and police. Food and shelter communications were needed along with reports between him and the leadership and The Church and various entities and departments that needed information.

President Meyer said that communicating to find people was especially challenging. As people scattered it became more difficult to find them. I spoke last week to a member of our ward who was in a disaster situation and he also confirmed the challenges with communication.

In the case of the Camp Fire, social media became a major way for people to reconnect with and to find others.

One of the means to communicate may come down to the ham radio. We hope to set up some classes to learn about ham radio.

The Blurb #5

Disaster! Natural disasters usually occur without much warning and very little time to prepare, so hopefully the preparation is already done. The Church has given us great instructions on building a "72-hour kit" for years. Other government agencies are finally coming to realize the value of this type of preparation. Websites like ready.gov and others are valuable tools to help us with the preparation for sudden emergencies. Families expecting a newborn child can easily relate to the need to prepare for quick action. Making sure plans are discussed to leave suddenly to the hospital, arrangements for care for other children and a host of other plans help things go smoothly.

In a disaster there are similarities, but things are very different. Suddenly there may be life threatening events and the need to act quickly. Having a central meeting place with family and/or friends is critical and should include an alternate place in case your meeting place is not accessible. Other necessities can be developed in advance based upon personal needs.

We cannot help but think of our pioneer heritage and those crossing the plains. We have seen depictions of the family piano being dropped along the way. As much as having some things like a piano or other niceties is great, we need to be prudent and understand what is needed first, not what is wanted. From that, better decisions can be made. 

Once we are able to meet together again, we would like to host some classes to work on and develop ways to become more prepared. The 72-hour kit is a great place to start. In the "prepper" world they may be called Go-Bags or something similar.  Until we can meet together, first and foremost, look to learning from the Lord. The Church has laid basic plans for these things for years. Here is a link to an interesting (a bit long) story from 1977 that The Church had in the New-era magazine. It is titled Emergency  https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/1977/03/emergency?lang=eng 

Assuming people in your home are already safe, a good question to ask oneself may be - If I only have 15 or 20 minutes to take what I need, what would it be? Things like important documents and medication may come to mind. Pictures that cannot be replaced are important.  Work together as a family. We have used Family Home Evening time for years to do this. The last time we went through our packs, Janet was so happy that her favorite jeans still fit! Brother Harry, not so happy. We do try make it fun. This is preparation each of us can and should do right away. We cannot trust our judgment during a panic situation. Best thing to do is like President Spencer W Kimball said "Do It Now"

The link to emergency preparedness found on The Church website is  https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/emergency-preparedness?lang=eng

Videos on YouTube and other outlets can be a great resource.

 Other sites would include:

Safetyactioncenter.pge.com

Ready.gov