Mormon Bloggers

  ~by Michelle A lot of people come to our website wondering why members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“Mormons”) do food storage. It’s clearly something for which Mormons are known. We are counseled by Church leaders, who we believe to be living prophets of God, to have three month’s supply of foods we normally eat, and then a longer-term supply of basic staples. Some think of this as a sort of apocalyptic behavior, as though Mormon food storage is a doom-and-gloom, end-of-the-world kind of behavior. I suppose some may approach it in that way in our culture, but for me, it’s just plain practical and brings me a lot of peace of mind for the normal ups and downs and ebbs and flows of life. For example, I’ve been sick for the past couple of weeks. Because I had a supply of food we already eat, I didn’t have to worry about last-minute runs to the store, which I didn’t have energy to make. My husband picks up fresh... Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday during a combined priesthood and Relief Society meeting, our Farmington City Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, Paul White, was invited to teach us about emergency preparedness. The snow pack on our mountains yesterday measured the same as it did on April 1st of this year. And I woke up to snow on the ground this morning. Though we could experienc flooding in some areas, it will less likely happen in my neighborhood. However, Paul encouraged us to “be prepared for everything,” including flooding, landslides, earthquakes, fires, wind storms, etc. Flooding and landslide risks in Utah will be high for the next 6 to 8 weeks. Farmington residents are asked to be vigilant if they live in an area that has flooded in the past, or experienced problems. Danger will be particularly high after 5 days of 80 degree weather. Farmington Canyon will probably not be opened until July 4th. We may be called upon to help fill sandbags. A sandbag does not prevent a mudslide, but it... Read the rest of this entry »

FEMA has created some great training videos about “Getting Ready For Disaster.” Watch these to teach your family, or yourself, how to become better prepared for emergencies. “With the upcoming hurricane season on the horizon, killer tornados and wildfires in the Midwest and south and California floods breaking levies, FEMA announces the release of a new citizen preparedness DVD titled, “Getting Ready For Disaster- One Family’s Experience”. The DVD guides viewers through important steps of disaster preparedness and is a welcome addition to FEMA’s preparedness materials.” FEMA (click here to go to the website. Great materials!) •Introduction (Windows Media 6.3MB) 5:06 min. •Get Informed (Windows Media 4.7MB) 3:47 min. •Make a Plan (Windows Media 7.0MB) 5:45 min. •Disaster Supplies Kit (Windows Media 5.6MB) •People with Disabilities (Windows Media 3.8MB) •Food and Water (Windows Media 5.8MB) 4:39 min. •Helping Children... Read the rest of this entry »

The snow-capped mountains above our home  We’ve had a record breaking snowfall in Utah this year which has caused potential flooding problems in some areas. We live in a beautiful neighborhood in Farmington on the bench of the Wasatch Mountains. Shepherd Creek runs close by, and I love to hear the water at night. Our situation is not the worst that others will face. It is sad to hear the stories about the Mississippi floods. Plans are underway to secure our area by cleaning out debris in the creek, and placing sandbags where needed. As I sat at daughter number 2′s track meet yesterday in the 70 degree heat, and then sat at daughter number 3′s track meet today in the 75 degree heat, I looked up at our beautiful snow-packed mountains and shook my head. I know some of my readers think I’m “already there,” but I’m not. I strongly believe that it is better to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. So I’m working... Read the rest of this entry »

 Read More →

Salt Flats, west of Utah  For our spring break from school, my daughters and I are visiting their big sister in northern California. Our girl’s road trip across the Utah/Nevada desert and then over Donner Pass in California has been an adventure with preparedness lessons learned. While traveling across the Utah desert we passed the Great Salt Lake and were surprised by the mountains of salt at the Morton salt plant. We enjoyed our 12-hour journey by listening/watching DVD’s. Such a vast desert which I would rather cross in the springtime than the summer. Lesson 1 – Plan Fuel Stops As we drove I realized I had forgotten to plan where we would stop for gas. We were out of cell phone range, so we couldn’t reach my husband. I estimated how far I thought I could go and choose Elko, Nevada as the place to gas up. That was kind of risky. Next time, I will plan better. Thank goodness we didn’t run out of gas! Lesson 2 – Prepare for all Kinds of Weather... Read the rest of this entry »

Twice a year I take time to do an inventory on how my food storage and emergency preparations are going. Six months ago I put together 72 hour kits and go bags for all of my family members. I also received a food storage shelf for my birthday that my husband has built and installed in our garage. I’m currently working on filling that with foods my family eats regularly. I would like to get a deep freezer this year too. The next step in my food storage adventure is creating a three month supply of foods to be stored in-house. That will require me to clean and organize all of my kitchen cupboards. I’m really going to have to get geared up to make the next step as the thought of taking everything out of my cupboards with four kids around “helping” makes me weak in the knees. I find that smaller projects are easier for me to get the motivation to do. Here is my To Do list for the next two weekends: Check all of the 72 hour kits for expiring foods. See if the clothes... Read the rest of this entry »

~by Michelle I was interested to read this MSNBC article last night: “In Japan, the Mormon Network Gathers the Flock.” I think Kari Huus did a good job explaining how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is able to respond quickly in times like this disaster in Japan, both to care for its own and to care for others. For example, you can read a little about how it is that church members and missionaries were so quickly accounted for after the earthquake and tsunami. [Find out more about that here.] The article mentions the home teaching program and how that is an essential part of Mormon emergency preparedness abilities. [Read more about the Mormon home teaching program here.] Huus also explains how the Church is involved in relief efforts – both in sending monetary aid and also in sending human resources to the country to help assess needs and determine how best to fill them. My friend’s husband works for LDS Humanitarian Services. A recent Facebook... Read the rest of this entry »

Driving home from the mall today, I experienced a partial city power outage here in Farmington. There is always something to learn from this type of experience, so I thought I would share. As I exited the freeway from a shopping trip I noticed that the street light in front of me was not working. I carefully looked before entering the intersection and continued to another light that wasn’t  Read More →

September is National Preparedness Month. Instead of waiting until January, set some goals and start working on your food storage and emergency preparedness this month. Check out Ready.Gov for more ideas. Or my Food Storage and Disaster Preparedness Calendar for a list of ideas to work on monthly. I also have several former posts on in the “Previous Posts I’ve Written” section on my blog with  Read More →

Creating your own emergency menus for disasters will help you prepare for various emergencies like power outages, earthquakes, floods, etc. Keeping easy to prepare foods on hand is the key. Remember to also have ready made foods for infants. Include some of the items below in your emergency food storage. These simple menus do not require electricity. Most foods can be eaten cold, or heated on an  Read More →

There is a verse in the Doctrine and Covenants (one of the books of scripture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) which reads: “If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.” This story, In Chile: The Lord’s Earthquake Warning, is a powerful example of how a group of missionaries was able to be prepared for the earthquake because of spiritual impressions that had come to the Mormon woman responsible (alongside her husband, the mission president) for 171 missionaries. (Couples are given responsibility to preside over 150-200 missionaries in 340 (as of Feb. 13, 2010) different geographical locations all over the world.) (For ideas on emergency preparedness, see the Church’s information here. Also, this website, compiled by two Mormon women, has a lot of helpful information.) Read about one missionary’s experience helping near the epicenter in Chile. Read about LDS relief efforts in Chile here. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve... Read the rest of this entry »