Our bishopric asked me to take a few minutes during our combined Sunday School this week and talk about food storage. Here is the outline of my talk.


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Brother xxxxxxxxx asked me to take a few minutes and talk about why I believe food storage is important for me and my family. As a boy I lived for a part of my Junior year in high school on food storage while my dad looked for work after his company went out of business. I learned then what it is like not to have money and the very real possibility of not having any food to eat. At that time I did not know there was counsel from our church leadership on food storage, but I knew that I would some day have storage so if I ever faced the problems that my parents had, I would be able to feed my family. On my mission I learend of the principle of food storage and began my study of the topic. I have continued to learn about it from that time forward. For approximately 15 years Kara and I have made food storage a way of life and have done our best to be obedient to this principle.

Prophets and apostles have told us there are many reasons for food storage. It could be due to job loss, a disaster, such as we witnessed in New Orleans, rising costs have increased food prices, some of us will live through the events preceding the Second Coming and those events include circumstances that will require food storage.

In the October 2005 General Conference, Elder Faust said, "For example, all my life the Brethren have from this and other pulpits urged our people to live within their incomes, stay out of debt, and save a little for a rainy day, for rainy days always come. I have lived through times of great economic difficulty, such as the Great Depression and World War II. What I have experienced makes me afraid not to do what I can to protect myself and my family against the consequences of such catastrophes."

If Elder Faust uses the term, "afraid not to do what I can" I think I should pay attention. Our church leaders have spoken to us in this way for many years. Many people have said to me over the years that the counsel for food storage really doesn't apply to us, it is for future generations, our kids or grandkids. I don't believe that is the case, but if I am wrong, and I spend my entire life listening to the counsel of the prophets on food storage and emergency preparedness and never need it, I have spent my life teaching my sons the importance of being obedient to the counsel of our leaders.

I'd like to read you two quotes from President Benson, both from his talk Prepare for the Days of Tribulation, which was printed in the November 1980 Ensign:

"The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah"
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"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?"

Can Food Storage Serve As A Protective Shield?
Have you considered the possibility that the very act of having your food storage on hand actually might be serving as a protective shield, causing the Lord to turn away events and situations which might be harmful to you and your family? Consider this observation made by President James E. Faust in the May 1986 Ensign:
Some have said, "We have followed this counsel in the past and have never had need to use our year's supply, so we have difficulty keeping this in mind as a major priority." Perhaps following this counsel could be the reason why they have not needed to use thier reserve.

For any who feel that the church will take care of us and feed us I'd like to give you a statistic I obtained from a Regional Welfare Specialist. He got this information through the Quorum of the Seventy who he reports to. He said, "the church has enough food stored to feed one family in every ward in the world one meal and then it is out of food".

In closing, for any who feel that the church will take care of us and feed us I'd like to read two more quotes. The first is President Benson from the May Ensign 1977:

"Our bishops' storehouses are not intended to stock enough commodities to care for all the members of the Church. Storehouses are only established to care for the poor and the needy. For this reason, members of the Church have been instructed to personally store a year's supply of food, clothing, and, where possible, fuel. By following this counsel, most members will be prepared and able to care for themselves and their family members, and be able to share with others as may be needed" (Ezra Taft Benson, "Ministering to Needs through the Lord's Storehouse System," Ensign, May 1977, 82).


The last is a recent quote from Elder Faust:

The Church cannot be expected to provide for every one of its millions of members in case of public or personal disaster. --James E. Faust