The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encourages principles of provident living and self-reliance. Many recent articles in the Church’s Ensign magazine have explored practical tips that reinforce the welfare principles taught.

This Church News article explores some of the recent content on welfare principles. This Mormon Channel podcast explores some welfare principles related to debt management.

See other recent Ensign articles below:

Work Is an Eternal Principle

Strengthening Families through Temporal Self-Reliance

The Blessings of Tithing

The Power of Education

You can also learn more at ProvidentLiving.org.

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This video shares some recent words from Elder Robert D. Hales on the subject. Videos below are in English and in Spanish.

The post We Believe: Becoming Provident Providers (Seamos proveedores providentes) appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

~by Brenda

When I was five years old, my mother took me to a local shoe store to pick out new shoes for Kindergarten. I remember they were white and blue leather hush puppies with unbelievably white laces. I loved them. After purchasing the shoes and guiding my siblings and I into our blue Chevy Malibu we drove home only to find that my new shoes weren’t in the car. My mom was frantic because she suspected that she had put the shoes on the roof of the car to help the kids get into their seat belts. We retraced our way back and forth to the store and back several times to try and find the shoes on the road, but my shoes were gone.

My mother started crying. Hysterically. She said that my Grandma had given her the money for me to get new shoes and that we did not have any money to replace them. I was stunned.

That was the first time I realized that my parents were struggling. I remember hearing tense conversations between my mom and dad from time to time. I watched my dad sell his nice car. Despite these ripples of discontent, my world was still very peaceful. The evidence of my parents’ heartbreak was minimal and was very carefully shielded from us.

Now I know that my Dad’s business had failed and they had lost everything but their home. My mother recalls from this time of her life, “We had no credit. At one point there was only $11 in our account and no hope of money coming in. We survived on our stored canned foods, having no money for fresh fruit or vegetables.”

I still like canned pork and beans and peaches to this day.

My Dad spun his wheels trying to make money for the family. He tried direct sales and was a salesman of solar heating systems for a while. Then he worked for a sign company based in Idaho who had him sell signs in the Bay Area. One day, they called to say they were closing their California office immediately but there were still signs that needed to be installed. My dad, who had never, ever hung a sign before asked, “Can I install those final signs for you?” They said yes. When he came home to tell my mom of his plan told her, “I can do this. I know I can do this.”

Since this tragedy, my parents have lived within their means, worked hard, obtained more education and licensing, built up a savings and live by a budget. (They were probably living this way before, but life can be unfair.) My dad has never driven a car as fancy as the one he sold when I was young and has been diligent in teaching his children the value of work and in maintaining their credit scores.

Decades later, my husband and I now own that same small sign installation company that my dad started on the back of that Chevy Malibu years ago. We have been blessed by my Dad’s willingness to sacrifice for his small family and try something new. (He had previously been a partner in a company where his main function was accounting.) Undoubtedly the principles of self-reliance were taught to my parents by their parents as my parents have taught me. But it is also part of our culture. Mormons believe in being self-reliant.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints hosts a website on the topic of Self-Reliance.

On that website are a few quotes I found helpful;

Self-reliance is a simple concept that encourages each of us to take responsibility for our own needs—physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and economic.

Julie B. Beck, General Relief Society President for the Church explains,

“We become self-reliant, through obtaining sufficient knowledge, education, and literacy; by managing money and resources wisely, being spiritually strong, preparing for emergencies and eventualities; and by having physical health and social and emotional well-being.”

And finally, Robert D. Hales, an apostle of Jesus Christ outlines ways to be self-reliant:

Be ready for rainy-day emergencies
Avoid excessive debt; be content with what we have
Use the resources of the earth wisely; don´t be wasteful
Prepare for the future by making spending and savings plans
Keep a family or personal budget
Teach children wise spending habits and help them save for the future
Obtain an education or vocational training
Find gainful employment

In summary, Elder Hales says that being self reliant is “Preparing for the ups and downs of life.”

To learn more about self-reliance, please visit the church’s websites.

Self Reliance

Provident Living

Family Finance

Such principles as food storage, emergency preparedness, family budgeting and home gardening can be explored at these websites. In my own life, I have found a lot of peace by following these principles. When I review these materials, I always find ways I can improve. Maybe I’ll start a garden this year…… What will you do to prepare for the ups and downs of life?

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If you’ve spent a lot of time around Mormons, you’ve likely heard them talk about food storage. Maybe you’ve wondered, “Why do Mormons store food?”  Is it because we are doomsdayers who believe that the end of the world is right around the corner and we’re all going to have to hunker down in our basements and survive on cans of tuna and Tang?

It’s true, food storage could be used in the event of a major global catastrophe, but that is not the only reason why prophets all through the ages have counseled us in this way.  In a General Conference address given in October 2002, President Gordon B. Hinckley said:

I do not predict any impending disaster. I hope that there will not be one. But prudence should govern our lives. Everyone who owns a home recognizes the need for fire insurance. We hope and pray that there will never be a fire. Nevertheless, we pay for insurance to cover such a catastrophe, should it occur.  We ought to do the same with reference to family welfare.

Church leaders have always counseled members to become self-sufficient—to be prepared to meet the challenges of life.  We’ve been counseled to get out of debt and live within our means, to prepare families and neighborhoods for natural disasters (which really do occur frequently all over the world) and yes, to build a long-term supply of food storage.

Even if you’re not a Mormon, having a long-term supply of food you can eat is a good idea.  Though most people haven’t experienced a natural disaster big enough for the movies, there are plenty of situations that occur every day in which food storage would be a huge asset, such as unemployment, injury, or illness.  Surely no one needs to be reminded of the thousands of people today who are losing their jobs and their homes in a tumultuous economy.  Families facing tough times can have an extra sense of stability and confidence if they are able to keep food on the table without appealing to others for help.  President Thomas S. Monson said, “Many more people could ride out the storm-tossed waves in their economic lives if they had their… supply of food… and were debt free.  Today we find that many have followed this counsel in reverse: they have at least a year’s supply of debt and are food-free.” (“That Noble Gift — Love at Home,” Church News, May 12, 2001, 7, quoted in “Family Home Storage: A New Message,” Ensign, Mar 2009, 56–60.)

Though this is not a primary motivation for most people to store food, my husband and I like to look at our food storage as something of a financial investment.  When food prices are rising rapidly (as they have in recent years) the money we’ve used to buy food storage seems to generate higher returns than money we have in a high-interest savings account.

Perhaps the most important reason for storing food is that doing so will bring a sense of peace to us and our families.  Members of the Church can take comfort in the fact that they have followed the counsel of those whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators and that their best efforts will be magnified in times of crisis.  And anyone—Mormon or not—can take comfort in knowing that no matter what challenges they face in life, they’ll never have to send their children to bed with empty stomachs.

What exactly does the term “food storage” describe?

In February of 2007, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the pamphlet All Is Safely Gathered In: Family Home Storage [available in numerous languages] which outlines a few basic guidelines for building a home storage supply and a financial reserve:

–Three-Month Supply: Build a small supply of foods that your family regularly eats.  This food should be rotated often to ensure freshness.

–Drinking Water: Store enough drinking water for your entire family for several days to be used if your water supply should become tainted or disrupted.

–Financial Reserve: Establish a financial reserve by saving a little money each week and gradually increasing it to a reasonable amount.

–Longer-Term Supply: Where permitted by law, gradually build a supply of food with an extended shelf life that could be used to sustain life, such as wheat, white rice, and beans.  This food should also be used in your regular cooking.

How do I get started:

Interested in building a home storage supply?  Here are some tips for getting the cans rolling:

-Start off by taking an inventory of the food you already have.  Don’t count things that you know your family will never eat.  In fact, while you’re doing this, you might as well just toss those foods and make more room for your food storage.

-Determine what you would need to add to your supply in order to have enough to meet your family’s needs.  Don’t forget non-food items, such as toilet paper, toothpaste, etc.

-Come up with a plan for purchasing what you need.  You can budget a little money from every paycheck to be devoted to food storage.  When you buy groceries, you can buy one item to be used now and an identical one for storage.  When you receive money that is in addition to your regular paycheck (e.g. bonuses, gifts, government stimulus checks) use it to buy food storage.  It will be a lot more useful to you in an emergency than a big-screen TV and you can still feel good about stimulating the economy.

-Buy what you’ll eat and eat what you buy.  One of the most important parts of storing food is making sure that you use it and replace it often so that you don’t end up with a pantry full of wasted food.

[Editor’s Note: We’ll be sharing more food storage resources tomorrow in our Links We Like article.]

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**Please note: The answers in “Ask a Mormon Woman” and (other content on this site) reflect the thoughts and perspectives of the administrators at Mormon Women. Although 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.

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For more Ask a Mormon Woman questions/answers, please click here.

The post Ask a Mormon Woman: Why Do Mormons Store Food? appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

In August of 2004 I first became acquainted with food storage. I had heard much about food storage in my life, but really had no idea what it was really about. To be honest, I still am a little vague on some of the details. However, a year in the city where I lived can really teach a person a lot. The town is right smack in the middle of good farmland. As a result, produce is cheap and plentiful, so people find ways to store it.

My parent’s must have canned when I was growing up because I have many memories of eating home-canned goods, but surprisingly ZERO memories of the canning process. I must have been very good at making myself scarce when work was threatened. In my new ward everyone was talking about getting ready to can. The peach and tomato crops were upon us and we had access to free fruit. So I had some figuring out to do.

At the time I was serving in the Relief Society Presidency (an organization for women in our church) I was also 7 months pregnant with my second son, which is a fairly irrelevant detail. The president at the time was Janell. Janell was the second of three Presidents that I was to work with in three short years. She had also recently moved to our city and was like a breath of fresh air. Janell was a mother of 7 grown children, made her own bread, had a testimony of wheat, and –most importantly–she was a Master Canner. I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as a Master Canner, but apparently through the local university system, you could take classes and become a Master at many things-gardening, canning, etc.

So we enlisted Janell to come over and teach a few of us rookies a thing or two. Many, many hours later she had imparted enough wisdom that we were all able to go home and finish canning our fruits and vegetables. I will never forget at the end of that late night, standing in my dining room, Janell telling us that she had a doctor’s appointment the following day since she was having trouble with her vision and remembering things. Two days later we found out that Janell had a brain tumor.

Of course this experience taught me many things. One of them was that I truly was not cut out to be a RS president in my age and pregnant state of mind. I learned that I was blessed to be surrounded by amazing women. The other members of our Presidency and I worked as a team as Janell continued to serve as President while ill. Janell was a source of inspiration and peace during this time. We visited and loved each other. We laughed and cried and got some work done. Janell eventually went into remission, a miracle to be sure. She enjoyed her family, friends and life in general until the cancer resurfaced last year. During the whole experience, Janell was a testifier. She testified of Christ, of the love of our heavenly father, of tender mercies, of miracles, of eternal families and of Wheat!

Janell passed away yesterday, confident in her knowledge of the plan of salvation, ready to be reunited with her family.

I am grateful for Janell. I often think of her and all that she taught me. Especially every summer when I pull out my mason jars and look over the canning notes about tomatoes from Janell, Master Teacher.

*Phoebe wrote this beautiful tribute on January 10th, 2009 after learning of her friend’s passing.

For more First Person essays, please click here.

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We thought we would pass along helpful information (a series of fact sheets) about preparing for a pandemic as provided on the Church’s emergency preparedness section of its Provident Living website. There’s much else on these sites that can help with general preparedness as well.

A powerful but relatively simple piece of advice that is often shared is to have a supply of food, medicine, and other necessities on hand (at least a couple of weeks’ worth, if not more) in case you are unable to get to a store (or stores are unable to provide what you need). Even a stressful period in one’s personal life could make such a supply helpful.

We live in wonderful, but also uncertain, times. Let’s not panic, but let’s try to be prepared.

(For your convenience, we have included the pandemin preparedness fact sheets from the website below.)

• Home and Family Preparedness
• Personal Hygiene
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Infectious Disease Cleanup
• Sheltering In Place
• Social Distancing
• Workplace Preparedness
• Health Care Worker Preparedness

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