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"If Ye Are Prepared...Ye Shall Not Fear"
Doctorine & Covenants 38:29-30
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On September 11, 2001, the United States experienced...what is described in the above scripture...."a wickedness which shall speak in your ears with a voice louder than that which shall shake the earth" in the form of terrorism. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have been encouraged for years to prepare myself and my family in case of an emergency...but had I followed the counsel? On September 11th, I was serving in the Relief Society Presidency as the Home, Family and Personal Enrichment Counselor. As I went through my day...watching news reports, humbly praying for the victims and their families, and pondering my own personal preparedness...an overwhelming feeling of panic came over me about the women in my ward that I had been "called" to watch over and strengthen. This same feeling had come over my Relief Society President at the same time and we both found ourselves at Costco stocking up on supplies...not just for our own families but for families in our ward that may need help in case the current national situation got worse. We spoke about the coincidence that we would both be feeling the same promptings and our concerns for the women in our ward. Days passed, but the promptings grew stronger in both of us. We both came to the same conclusion.... that it was our responsibility to teach our ward women how to prepare themselves and their families temporally and spiritually. The Lord had prompted us to teach Preparedness and we had the feeling He wanted us to spend the entire next year on this topic, "If Ye Are Prepared, Ye Shall Not Fear". We live in Utah....most of us have lived here all of our lives, which means most of us have been members of the Church all of our lives, which means we have been preached Preparedness all of our lives. How could we possibly teach Preparedness over an entire year and expect the women to show up for Home, Family and Personal Enrichment meetings? We went on faith that the Lord would provide a way if we would only be obedient to the promptings we were being given. This is how the Preparedness Binder came to be. Every month, as we taught a new principle of preparedness, information was added to the binders until at the end of the year, every woman in our ward owned a Preparedness Binder which could be added to and used at a moments notice. I personally was enriched by this project, as our Enrichment Committee and I had to rely on the Lord for the information that was to be in the binder and also for the way we were to present each of the topics in Home, Family and Personal Enrichment meetings. We were stretched in every way imaginable by researching for days on topics, cooking strange recipes out of food storage, learning how to grind wheat into flour, attending seminars, "crashing" a college class that was FULL just so the HFPE leader and I could learn how to make and bake in an Apple Box Oven, learned about different fuel sources and the storage of those fuels, I typed and copied and typed and copied....month after month so that handouts could be given to our ward women to be added to their binders, and on...and on... It is through these experiences spanning over an entire year, that has made it possible to make the Preparedness Binder available to more women than to those only in my ward. Just as the promptings came after September 11th, they continue to send me on new journeys. Creating this website is a prime example of how the Lord provides a way to accomplish his purposes....two months ago I had trouble just opening my email. But, the Lord led me to a group of women, who...like me, felt the awesome responsibility to strengthen and prepare the women they have stewardship over in their own wards. These women, from all over the world, express the same concerns, the same desires and share ideas to strengthen women and families. We are truly a world-wide sisterhood of women. To them, I owe much gratitude for allowing me to share with them the Preparedness Binder information. Because of these special women, HUNDREDS of women around the world are working on the principle of preparedness. I believe that the Lord has a purpose for the Preparedness Binder in the form that it is in. I believe He is watching over us and prompting us to prepare our families...not just temporally but spiritually. I believe that He will bless us for our obedience to the principle of preparedness. It is my goal to take 10% of all funds generated through the Preparedness Binder, to fund Humanitarian Projects and Service. I will be keeping you updated monthly on the different projects we will be working on. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Deb Cox - Lilies Lane Editor Because of the many requests for
the Preparedness Binder, Click Here if you would prefer to order by mail. Note: For orders over 10 Preparedness Binders, please contact me for a price discount. For orders from individual Groups, please contact me for a price discount and also if you want your Group's name on the outside cover page of the Preparedness Binder.
Notice:
With your Preparedness Binder order, you will recieve a free
copy of the booklet "How to Bake in an Apple Box Oven and Recipes
for the Apple Box Oven". This booklet has recipes such as
Shipwreck Casserole, Homemade Pizza, Baking Powdered Biscuits,
Pumpkin Bread, Easy Chicken Casserole, Peach Cobbler, Camp Cookies,
Fireside Brownies and many more fun recipes to bake in the
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