Comments on: Why the Latter-day Saints Prepare

By: Casey

Casey — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 15:45:47 +0000

I very much enjoyed reading this talk, Connor. Being prepared for life’s challenges is important but becomes even more so when you go through it personally. I can attest through personal experience that. When income loss and job loss hit our family for a period of almost a year and a half, the one thing I didn’t have to worry about was what my family was going to eat or how we were going to pay to heat our home during the winter. My Bishop kept reminding us that the help was there if we needed it. Fortunately we had more than a years supply of food, clothes and expenses saved. Although I was constantly nervous about finding work I had a peace that came from knowing I was prepared.

By: Church Mortgages

Church Mortgages — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 04:24:54 +0000

Not since WWII has so much been at stake in America, and other parts of the world. Getting your house in order is the theme of the day for not only our citizens but also our gov’t.

By: Lorie

Lorie — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 00:32:17 +0000

Just found your site. Incredible talk. I’m so on boarad with you and wish more were. Keep up the great work!

By: mikkel

mikkel — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 05:18:17 +0000

i have prepairing for going on now for 15 years and have tryed to teach those in my church (ward) to do the same. lately i have had some do so and most will not. have been threated to come and take what i have. being ex army i told them to come and try. i will feed many but of my choseing. i will not be forced to do so. one must have more than food storage ready shortly, so very shortly. thing of cooking useage. water filters, medical storage, weapon storage. ammo storage, and traid goods. set down and make a list of what you use in a 7 day time. look at that list and understand you can not make most of it. we must store that also. good luck. mikkel

By: oldmama

oldmama — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:23:11 +0000

finally we have a great bishop who encourages all kinds of preparedness, and he is a good example as he cares for his orchards and gardens and with his wife makes homemade bread.
Since I’m oldmama, it’s probably obvious my husband is a high priest; there is at least one high priest who regularly discounts preparedness–
and several other ‘key’ people in the ward who laugh at food storage—

somehow our optomistic and faithful bishop still plows ahead; I know that he appreciates my husband and me–

it’s encouraging to see this being spoken of–

this old mama needs to get out and work in the garden, literally–

inspiring–

(About Chile)

By: Angilee

Angilee — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:16:24 +0000

I just want to say thank you for this post.

By: Connor

Connor — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:11:04 +0000

This amazing story from a mission president and his wife in the Santiago Chile East mission tells the story of how they were warned of the earthquake a couple weeks in advance, and set about preparing themselves and their missionaries. Recounting the story, and as another witness of how prepared individuals are able to turn outwards and serve others, they said:

We love being with our missionaries. Because they were prepared, they were immediately able to turn their attention to helping others. They were never concerned about themselves. They were concerned with those who need help and by mid-morning the day of the earthquake, we were able to dispatch them to help others. We told them to investigate the needs of their neighbors and help in any way they could.

By: Carl Youngblood

Carl Youngblood — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:15:54 +0000

I’ve never been in a ward in which the talks related to preparedness focused on spiritual preparedness. This was always an afterthought (if ever expressed) after a long discussion about having a year’s supply.

By: Connor

Connor — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:17:01 +0000

I’m well aware of the original reference for Pres. Benson’s remark, having read that talk several times. His observation of us being a people who love sweetness and light was a general one — not applied specifically to political affairs, but to all facets of truth. Thus, I felt (and feel) that it applies equally to other topics of import, including preparedness.

I’ve talked with a great number of Saints about the situation in their wards as it relates to preparedness, and very few (if any?) have made the same claim you’re making here, namely, that they had “never heard a talk on preparedness focus on the spiritual side”. Rather, their observations have almost always been in line with the one I made in my talk here: the tendency to talk solely of spiritual preparedness if far greater than the reverse.

But hey, no two wards are alike, so perhaps the difference is mere happenstance.

By: tom

tom — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:33:27 +0000

Personally, I’ve never heard a talk on preparedness focus on the spiritual side of preparedness. Ever. Having lived in a handful of states, numerous wards and branches, and hearing the near requisite talks once or twice annually on preparedness, never once has the talk been geared toward “spiritual” preparation. That said, Could the quote on “sweetness” and “light” be taken out of context any more than it was? The original comment had nothing at all to do with the topic of this talk you gave. It’s one thing to use it, and give a caveat saying that it’s taken out of context, but it’s another thing entirely to pawn it off like that was the intended meaning of the quote, whether purposefully or not.

Missing from your talk, curiously, is the possibility – just maybe – that those who strive for the gifts of the spirit may indeed be blessed with said gifts and be forewarned from a higher source, not needing to be reminded over the pulpit by quotes from other individuals, some of which are taken to mean something they were never intended to mean. Nor was there any mention made of what might happen to those “temporal” reserves of the imaginary fellow in Haiti during the same earthquake which likely leveled his apartment.

Taking your example a bit further…fellow acquires “temporal” reserves, but curiously his apartment, with all his belongings and food get crushed in a pile of rubble. Said fellow then is unable to recoup these reserves and is left with neither food nor (potentially) the mental capacity to deal with the effects of having no food and no faith.

In the end, regardless of any of the above, dismissing spiritual preparation (which is the only preparation) as “sweet” and a sign of weakness (which was one of the real intents of the statement) is dubious, at best. Temporal preparation is spiritual preparation and vice-versa, but pawning off the spiritual preparation, real, truthful and sincere spiritual preparation – something the Saints could do a lot more of – is mildly surprising, though totally in line with what most members believe.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:49:40 +0000

I enjoyed your thoughts and organization on this topic. Thinking about spiritual and temporal preparedness my initial thought was, “of what account would have been Noah and his righteousness if he didn’t build the ark.” He preached and built the ark BEFORE the rains came. One of many reasons that sometimes a movie ticket now is more valuable to me than a bag of wheat, I only might need in what feels like the distant future, is that my vision of the future is limited in scope and I don’t have the spiritual preparedness to believe or follow the prophets’ counsel. I need to do better! Thanks for some inspiration to act, on this important principle.

By: Michael L. McKee

Michael L. McKee — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:15:43 +0000

I am certain, based upon my reading of this post, your assignment was thoroughly and articulately delivered. I would assume those in attendance had their eyes fixed upon you as they considered your message. Unfortunately, conventional wisdom derived by personal observations in my own area of influence would likely conclude your timely advice fell upon mostly deaf ears.

By: Connor

Connor — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:20:06 +0000

rachel,

Our ward is doing the gospel principles talks as well. (Eh…) But this past Sunday being the fifth of the month, the Bishop wanted to do a combined RS/Priesthood meeting on preparedness, and so asked me to give a talk on the subject in sacrament meeting to help “set the stage”, as it were. And yes, he asked me because he knows about my interests and passions as it relates to the subject.

By: Carl Youngblood

Carl Youngblood — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:49:25 +0000

Needless to say, Connor is quite outspoken on this and other subjects. Judging from his online footprint, no doubt his ward is thoroughly acquainted with his “conundrums.” I assume that is why he was called to preach on this subject.

By: rachel

rachel — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:50:06 +0000

Connor, why do you always get to give talks on stuff like this? Our assigned topics never approach this, not to mention the second coming–we never hear about that. Right now they are assigning the new gospel principles book to be expounded every week. Don’t get me wrong, the talks are always excellent and very much for our use, but I wonder, do they ask you to talk about these things because you are somewhat of an “expert?”

By: JL

JL — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:18:11 +0000

Excellent reminder all around.

By: Clumpy

Clumpy — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:21:17 +0000

One thing I think is interesting is the new emphasis on getting whatever food storage you can get together (away from a two-year supply). Asking us to get our three-month or two-week supply or whatever we can put together first is incredible advice in general (plus comforting to people who can’t deal with the idea of getting two years’ worth of ANYTHING together).

More interestingly, many may take this advice as a relaxation of emphasis on food storage. In reality it’s quite the opposite – without getting into whether the upcoming Road Warrior apocalypse is really at our door, if you felt something bad might be on the horizon, wouldn’t you switch to more short-term counsel and advice as the Brethren have?

By: rmwarnick

rmwarnick — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:10:37 +0000

The people need sweetness. Freeze-dried ice cream in large quantities, and we’re all set!

Seriously, in the event of a 7.0 earthquake in Utah the economy is expected to collapse for 2-3 years. That’s a long time to eat emergency rations.

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:12:28 +0000

Great talk, Connor. It’s reminded me of a few things I can re-focus on.

By: Carl Youngblood

Carl Youngblood — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:51:34 +0000

Overall I think this is a good talk, but I also think that people are ignoring important evidence when they claim that the world is getting more violent. This perspective, in my opinion, is actually the result of the media being desperate for news and seeking out sensational stories with ever-increasing diligence.

Stephen Pinker helps dispel this myth in a great TED talk:

http://bit.ly/g6an2

Certainly we will have calamities, and certainly we should be prepared. The main adjustment that I think Latter-day Saints should make is to prepare in a way that takes the evidence into account–to prepare according to the statistical likelihood of certain events.

For example, some people I know are quite diligent about food storage but do not understand economics and are not very informed about the best ways of preserving their wealth, nor do they have the recommended 3-6 months of expenses on-hand. This seems wrong to me, considering that you are much more likely to experience economic hardship at some point in your life than you are to experience a natural disaster or social unrest.

In other words, we often have the worst-case scenario down pretty well but fail to prepare as well as we could for the more likely scenarios. We all feel the temptation of millenarianism sometimes, especially “latter-day saints,” and we would do well to temper this with a diligent study of the world around us in order to be prepared for all things, including nothing. Every decision to invest time in one thing means there is less time for another.