Yet Another Warning to Be Prepared
By Geoffrey Biddulph
The first thing that popped into my mind when I heard about the blackouts last week in the northern United States and Canada was, “I hope all of the Saints in the affected areas have food storage.”
Of course, the blackouts did not last long enough for anybody to dig into their long-term food supplies. But they could have, and maybe some day they will.
What will you do if you are without power for a week, two weeks or longer? Will you be prepared with food storage or not?
I happen to know a lot about this subject because I lived in Miami during Hurricane Andrew. This was the huge tropical cyclone in August 1992 that hit land just south of Miami and destroyed literally thousands of homes and businesses with 150-mph winds.
I lived north of the most affected areas, and I was without power for two weeks. All of my perishables in the refrigerator were destroyed, and I literally had nothing to eat in the house after two days. This was, of course, before I was a member of the Church, so I had no idea about being prepared. I had to drive an hour to go shopping.
Just 10 miles south of me, thousands of people lived without power for months. It was 90 degrees outside and humid. They had no ice, no milk for their babies, no potable water. Thousands of them ended up living in trailers set up next to their homes for up to a year. They traveled literally two hours each way through streets filled with debris to go shopping for food, ice and water.
The people who handled it best were Church members who had prepared by storing food and water. They were able to be calm while everybody else panicked and paid $5 each for gallons of water sold by speculators.
The natural response for most people when contemplating future calamities is to say that it won’t happen to them. They feel they will be able to find a way to barter their way through any disaster and won’t need stored food. Supermarkets will be open somewhere, they reckon.
Maybe so. But based on my experience, I would like the calming feeling that comes from knowing I have enough food and water set aside for at least a month or two. All the people reading this article have gone through blizzards, or power outages or tornadoes, hurricanes or earthquakes. What if the damage is so widespread that there is no food for hundreds of miles? What if looters take everything?
Latter-day Counsel
Clearly, latter-day prophets and general authorities have warned us to be prepared. Spencer W. Kimball said in May 1976: “We encourage families to have on hand this year’s supply; and we say it over and over and over and repeat over and over the scripture of the Lord where He says, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” How empty it is as they put their spirituality, so-called, into action and call him by his important names, but fail to do the things which he says.”
Elder Orson Hyde said: “There is more salvation and security in wheat, than in all the political schemes of the world.”
The First Presidency warned in a 2002 letter:
“Priesthood and Relief Society leaders should teach the importance of home storage and securing a financial reserve. These principles may be taught in ward councils or on a fifth Sunday in priesthood and Relief Society meetings.
“Church members can begin their home storage by storing the basic foods that would be required to keep them alive if they did not have anything else to eat. Depending on where members live, those basics might include water, wheat or other grains, legumes, salt, honey or sugar, powdered milk, and cooking oil. . When members have stored enough of these essentials to meet the needs of their family for one year, they may decide to add other items that they are accustomed to using day to day.
“Some members do not have the money or space for such storage, and some are prohibited by law from storing a year’s supply of food. These members should store as much as their circumstances allow. Families who do not have the resources to acquire a year’s supply can begin their storage by obtaining supplies to last for a few months. Members should be prudent and not panic or go to extremes in this effort. Through careful planning, most Church members can, over time, establish both a financial reserve and a year’s supply of essentials.”
Can we count on the bishop’s storehouses to take care of our needs? The answer is no. I recently went for the first time to the bishop’s storehouse in the Miami area, and it is a site to behold. I was impressed with its cleanliness and efficiency. But it is not intended to take care of the needs of the thousands of members who will be without food in a generalized disaster. Church members need to have their own supplies on hand.
Ezra Taft Benson wrote in the November 1980 Ensign:
“I speak with a feeling of great urgency. I have seen what the days of tribulation can do to people. I have seen hunger stalk the streets of Europe. I have witnessed the appalling, emaciated shadows of human figures. I have seen women and children scavenge army garbage dumps for scraps of food. Those scenes and nameless faces cannot be erased from my memory.
“I shall never forget the Saints of Hamburg who appeared on the verge of collapse from starvation, or their small children whom I invited to come to the stand as we emptied our pockets of edibles. Most had never seen these items before because of the wartime conditions. Nor can I forget the expectant and nursing mothers whose eyes watered with tears when we gave them each an orange. We saw the terrible physical and social side effects of hunger and malnutrition. One sister walked over a thousand miles with four small children, leaving her home in Poland. She lost all four to starvation and the freezing conditions. Yet she stood before us in her emaciated condition, her clothing shredded, and her feet wrapped in burlap, and bore testimony of how blessed she was.
“I cannot forget the French Saints who, unable to obtain bread, used potato peelings for the emblems of the sacrament. Nor will I ever forget the faith of the Dutch Saints who accepted our suggestion to grow potatoes to alleviate their own starving conditions, and then sent a portion of their first harvest to the German people who had been their bitter enemies. The following year they sent them the entire harvest. The annals of Church history have seldom recorded a more Christ-like act of love and compassion.
“Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they somehow will be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion.
“The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel, through His servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel?”
I have been in the middle of riots in Venezuela and Panama that caused stores to shut down for days. I have gotten caught in blizzards and in hurricanes. Yet, I didn’t heed the counsel of the prophets and I was not prepared. The power outages in the northern United States and Canada show us once again how important this advice is. I, for one, plan on being prepared from now on.
2003 Meridian Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
