My husband and I have a book keeper for our business who is necessarily privy to our salary information. She and I are friends and she recently saw a check that I had written to the Church. Although she is of a different faith, she knew that Mormons pay 10% of their income toward tithing. When she saw the amount of the check she immediately said, “I think you made a mistake, that is more than 10%.” I explained to her that the extra amount was to pay our fast offering. Which of course prompted her next question, the topic of today’s post: “What are fast offerings?”

Fast offerings are monies donated by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to help the poor and needy, in their local areas and also worldwide. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints participate in church-wide fasts once a month, usually on the first Sunday of every month. We call these days “Fast Sundays.” Typically, two meals are skipped while participating in the fast; fast offerings are at least the value of those two meals, although we are encouraged to give much more when we can. But like the widow’s mite, it is the heart of the individual who is making the offering that is most important to the Lord. The goal, of course, is not to see who will give the most, but the spirit in which the donation is given. This is one way we show our love for God, and follow His command to love one another.

No fast should last long enough to cause physical damage. Also, people who are advised by their doctors that fasting would be harmful are excused from participating, but may choose to give up something else to show the Lord they are willing to obey.

These offerings are made to be as near anonymous as possible. No member of a congregation should ever know the amount of tithes and offerings any other member gives, except the bishop [congregation leader, who is responsible for determining how local offerings are distributed] and those who are assigned to record transactions (usually a financial clerk and a counselor in the bishopric).

Every month on Fast Sundays, we are encouraged not only to abstain from food and water for two meals, but to bear our testimonies of the Savior Jesus Christ during the Sacrament Meeting portion of our block of church meetings. We are encouraged to accompany our fasts with fervent prayer, for others’ needs and/or for our own. A common saying in our church is, “Fasting without prayer is just a diet.” The spirit of prayer, testimony, and service associated with fasting can bring significant spiritual blessings in our lives while giving us the opportunity to help those in need.

Some people fast at other times during the month as well — while seeking greater spiritual strength or an answer to prayer, to repent, to give thanks to God for a blessing, or to exercise faith on behalf of the sick and afflicted. Sometimes wards will join together in fasting for a ward member who is sick, going in for surgery, or facing other difficult trials.

Any person can follow the law of the fast regardless of religious affiliation. By fasting and praying, saving the money from two meals, and then donating that money to help others in need, anyone can enjoy spiritual benefits that come from being prayerful, sacrificing, and serving another.

Generous fast offerings enable the Church to help not only the local members’ needs, but also are used to fund the broader humanitarian efforts of the Church, like disaster relief, food for the hungry, clothes for the naked, school kits for impoverished students, local water treatment systems, and more.

In addition to fast offerings, Church members may also contribute offerings specifically for humanitarian aid. As with fast offerings, all of the money goes directly to help those in need. In humanitarian efforts, the Church will often partner with other organizations to provide assistance. For example, with the current situation in Haiti, the Church has partnered with Islamic Relief USA, the largest Muslim relief organization in the United States. Other organizations are helping with transportation (Airline Ambassadors) and distribution (Food for the Poor).  We recognize and are grateful that there are also many other organizations and individuals worldwide assisting with this current disaster and in many other ways around the world.

We love and pray for all people of the earth, and especially join with people all over the world right now with thoughts and prayers for the people of Haiti. We hope for swift delivery of supplies and relief to the afflicted.

For more information about the current efforts in Haiti, see the articles below.

Church Sends Team of Doctors to Assist Needy in Haiti

Church Sends Additional Aid to Earthquake Victims in Haiti

Church Response To Haiti Earthquake

Similar responses were given in Hurricane Katrina and in the Indonesian Tsunami. The Church has worked with numerous organizations worldwide through the years to help with hundreds of other local relief and service efforts.

To learn more about fasting and fast offerings, see the following link:

Fasts and Fast Offerings

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**Please note: The answers in “Ask a Mormon Woman” reflect the thoughts, perspectives, and experiences of individuals. Although here at Mormon Women: Who We Are, we strive to have our content consistent with the Church’s doctrine and teachings, we do not speak officially for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For official information about or from the Church, please visit www.mormon.org or www.lds.org.

Have a question you would like to ask? Send an email to us at gmail, with username ‘mormonwoman’

The post Ask A Mormon Woman: What Are Fast Offerings? appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Hiroko is a great woman for us to profile this time of year. Her life is an example of making goals and accomplishing them in the midst of great trials.

While Hiroko was raised by parents who were well-meaning, she felt throughout her childhood that she just didn’t measure up. This feeling affected every area of her life, but it especially impacted her relationship with food. Food was used as a means of control in her childhood home, as reward and punishment. During her childhood she was also haunted by depression which followed her throughout life, especially after the births of each of her 4 children. At her lowest point Hiroko weighed 218 pounds and was a size 24. It wasn’t just the weight that meant rock-bottom to her, that was just an outward sign of all that was afflicting her.

For years she felt that the depression was her fault, feeling that if she exercised more, prayed more, ate less, or read her scriptures more that her depression would go away. After the birth of her second child, during a bout of post-partum psychosis, Hiroko took an overdose of medication. Her cry for help was answered when she went to counseling and was prescribed medication to help her with her depression. She realized that the Lord had given her a different means of getting help. She realized that for her, counseling and medication didn’t mean she was bad or weak, but they were blessings from a loving Heavenly Father who wanted her to be happy again. Her priesthood leader, or bishop, has been a source of great comfort and counsel as well. Hiroko still struggles with seasonal and post-partum depression, but now she has knowledge and tools that help.

After trying many ways and means to loose weight Hiroko found something that worked for her. I’ll let her tell you about it:

I prayed for guidance, explaining to the Lord that he made my body and knew it better than I did, that I couldn’t do the weight loss on my own. I asked my husband for a blessing as part of my start to losing weight. Two months later, the local gym offered a weight loss contest similar to a popular TV show. I was blessed to be on the right team, blessed with the right trainer that used gospel principles, at times, in training. He taught fat-loss, not weight-loss, nutrition, wise choices, how to control my food, how to change my behaviors and the whole picture, not just weight loss.

Oddly, I found myself starting to deal with other emotional issues after losing the weight. Issues I drowned out with food. I thought my issues were all food related, but it became apparent that there was a layer underneath all the fat I used as an emotional shield. That has been a road in and of itself as I have learned that food isn’t a means of escape (although, every now and again, I find myself there again). I faced the issues hidden between all the chocolate cakes, gallons of ice cream and whole pizzas. I still keep in mind the gospel principles that coincide with weight training and exercise as I work out. It keeps my focus in both aspects.

Now Hiroko is working to help others meet their goals for weight loss. She is making progress towards becoming a personal trainer and nutritionist. Being a wife and mother to her four children comes first though. Because of what she has been through she teaches her children that food is energy, to be used in moderation. She also teaches that they should be grateful for their body, no matter what shape it is. She says, “I have been blessed with key LDS women in my life. Women who have been a beacon to me throughout the course of going through all that I have. Most of them don’t even know how much of an influence for good and strength they have been to me. It has been a very long road to finding me, finding myself, finding the Lord. Truthfully, it’s a road I’m still on, but I’m trying my best to find the end of it.”
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This is Hiroko’s advice for people seeking to lose weight:

Different things work for different people. Don’t beat yourself up. There’s always tomorrow. Keep a food journal. The most important thing is writing down the emotion and the event with everything you eat. If it’s a regular meal, or if you just had it out with your teen and went for the Oreo’s. Tapping into why we eat is key to changing the behavior and the pattern. Do this for at least 2 weeks before starting any program. It’s easier to change when we know what to change. Everyone’s pace is different. Go at your pace, what you know you are inwardly capable of (because you are more capable than you think you are!).

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For more Portraits of Mormon Women, please click here.

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The past month has been tough for my family. My husband made an extremely costly error at work. My chronic illness left me immobile for several days. My children have had behavior and potty training issues. My husband’s employee fell ill and very nearly died. With the loss of those extra hands on the job site, my husband has been working from 5 a.m. to 12 a.m. daily.

One night after returning home late from work, two of my small children awoke at the sound of my husband’s truck pulling into the driveway and followed him into our bed. He welcomed their sleepy embraces and snuggled them tightly. I could see the stress of the day fall off his shoulders as he heard tiny voices chime “I love you Daddy.” Our children quickly buried under the covers next to my husband, seeking the warm crooks of his arms to use as pillows. He relished the chance to spend a few seconds snuggling with them, taking care not to move abruptly so they could fall back asleep before he carried them back into their beds.

When he returned, my husband reached across the bed and touched my head, “I love you, Brenda. I miss you and the kids when I work this much.” I reached up and entwined his hand in mine and told him I loved him too. A familiar peace washed over me in that moment and I recognized the feeling as joy. That night I fell asleep smiling, my heart swelling to nearly bursting, with love for my family.

Shortly after this experience, I read a scripture that matched my emotion. The scripture that touched me is found in a book of scripture called the Pearl of Great Price and it is quoting Eve, mother of all. In this scripture, Eve is reflecting on the choice she and Adam made in Eden.

Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed (children), and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient Moses 5:11

After reading that scripture I thought back to that familiar peace I had felt only nights before and realized my heart was singing Eve’s song. Despite the physical and emotional pains brought on by mortality I was still able to experience joy, just like mother Eve.

In the Book of Mormon, a prophet named Lehi explained Adam and Eve’s choice further:

And they would have had no children, wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin. But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy. 2 Nephi 2:22-25

I am thankful to Adam and Eve, for choosing life, and for giving me the opportunity to experience joy here on Earth and in the life to come.

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