CURRENT ON THE CHURCH WEB SITE: http://classic.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp? index=6&locale=0&sourceid=25fa2f2324d98010vgnvcm1000004d82620a &vgnextoid=bbd508f 54922d010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD For many years, Church leaders have counseled members to prepare to care for themselves and their families in times of need. This includes, to the extent that local laws and personal circumstances allow, storing and saving a one-year supply of food. From President Thomas S. Monson, First Counselor, we hear: Many more people could ride out the storm-tossed waves in their economic lives if they had their year s supply of food and were debt-free. Today we find that many have followed this counsel in reverse: they have at least a year s supply of debt and are food-free. Ensign May 1976, pg. 116
I bear my humble witness to you that the great God of heaven will open doors and means in a way we never would have supposed, to help all those who truly want a years supply All we have to do is to decide, commit to it, and then keep the commitment. Miracles will take place
Bishop Keith B. McMullin, 2nd Counselor Presiding Bishopric A cardinal principle of the gospel is to prepare for the day of scarcity And, brethren, we lay up in store! Then, through [the Lord s] providence, notwithstanding the tribulation the church [and its people will] stand independent...and... we lay up in store! By doing these things, the Lord shall have power over his saints, and shall reign in [our] midst. (Lay Up in Store, May 2007, Ensign)
Recently, Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught: "Acquire and store a reserve of food and supplies that will sustain life.... As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a year's supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness" ("If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear," Ensign, Nov. 1995) ********************************************************************************** Elder Ezra Taft Benson said: Thanks be to God for a prophet, for this inspired [welfare] program, and for Saints who so managed that they could provide for their own and still share with others. What a marvelous way to become a savior on Mount Zion! (in Conference Report, Oct. 1973, 93; or Ensign,
Jan. 1974, 82). President Packer stated the following "When people are able but unwilling to take care of themselves we are responsible to employ the dictum of the Lord that the idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer". Boyd K. Packer, Self- Reliance, Ensign, Aug 1975, 85 The Gen Pres. of the RS said this On Sept 30th, 2007 The most important work for the women of this church still lies ahead Earth must be prepared to meet the savior.. and we must help with this preparation. In the midst of wars, turmoil, natural calamities, and increase of evil, a full-scale relief effort was more needed. There hasn t been a time in the history of the world when relief was more needed. We are committed by covenant to participate in that relief effort..... Savior saw our day as the beginning of sorrows when many would be deceived. He told of wars, famines, earthquakes, and pestilences. This describes the world today. It is essential that the women fo the church take hold of their responsibility to be prepared in all things. As leader of the RS, you can help every sister in every home in every ward and branch become self-reliant. They should be laying up in store money, food, water, and skills that will sustain their families in perilous times. the church has provided: self-reliant pamphlets, you have help. Plan with priesthood leaders to plan a defense and a refuge against those storms, and tailor a relief effort for the specific needs of your people.... Prophet: (direct quote): "We have a greater challenge than we realize. Do the best you can, but I want to emphasize that it be the very best. We are capable of doing so much better. We must get on our knees and plead with the Lord for help, strength, and direction. We must then stand on our feet, and move forward." Ezra Taft Benson: "Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earth quake 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 will somehow be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion." (October Conference, 1980) (Ensign, Nov 1980:32-33) Marion G. Romney (Quoting Brigham Young): "...If we are to be saved in an ark, as Noah and his family were, it will be because we build
it My faith does not lead me to think the Lord will provide us with roast pigs, bread already buttered, etc., He will give us the ability to raise the grain, to obtain the fruits of the earth, to make habitations, to procure a few boards to make a box, and when harvest comes, giving us the grain, it is for us to preserve it to save the wheat until we have one, two, five or seven years provisions on hand, until there is enough of the staff of life saved by the people to bread themselves and those who will come here seeking for safety...(the fulfillment of that prophecy is yet in the future)". (April Conference, 1976) Spencer W. Kimball:..."We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yards. Even those residing in apartments or condominiums can generally grow a little food in pots and planters. Study the best methods of providing your own foods. Make your garden neat and attractive as well as productive. If there are children in your home, involve them in the process with assigned responsibilities...develop your skills in your home preservation and storage. We reaffirm the previous counsel the Church has always given, to acquire and maintain a year s supply a year s supply of the basic commodities for us. 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. (April Conference, 1976) Vaughn J. Featherstone: "...I should like to address a few remarks to those who ask, Do I share with my neighbors who have not followed the counsel? And what about the non-members who do not have a year s supply? Do we have to share with them? No, we don t have to share we get to share! Let us not be concerned about silly thoughts of whether we would share or not. Of course we would share!" (April Conference, 1976) Elder George A. Smith:..."How on the face of the earth could a man enjoy his religion when he had been told by the Lord how to prepare for a day of famine, when, instead of doing, so, he had fooled away that which would have sustained him and his family." (JD 12:142) President Harold B. Lee: "Perhaps if we think not in terms of a year s supply of what we ordinarily would use, and think more in terms of what it would take to keep us alive in case we didn t have anything else to eat, that last would be very easy to put in storage for a year...just enough to keep us alive if we didn t have anything else to eat. We wouldn t get fat on it, but would live; and if you think in terms of that kind of annual storage rather than a whole year s supply of everything that you are accustomed to eat which, in most cases, is utterly impossible for the average family, I
think we will come nearer to what President Clark. advised us way back in 1937." (Welfare conference address, October 1, 1966) Ezra Taft Benson "For over 100 years we have been admonished to store up grain. Remember the counsel that is given, said Elder Orson Hyde, Store up all your grain, and take care of it!... And I tell you it is almost as necessary to have bread to sustain the body as it is to have food for the spirit. (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 5, p. 17) And he also said: There is more salvation and security in wheat, than in all the political schemes of the world... (JD 2:207). "From the standpoint of food production, storage, handling, and the Lord s counsel, wheat should have high priority. Water, of course, is essential. Other basics could include honey orsugar, legumes, milk products or substitutes, and salt or its equivalent. The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah." (October Conference, 1973). President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. Speaking for the first Presidency, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. exhorted the Saints to live within their means: "Let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague...let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel also, for at least a year ahead...let every head of household aim to own his own home, free from mortgage. Let us again clothe ourselves with these proved and sterling virtues honesty, truthfulness, chastity, sobriety, temperance, industry, and thrift; let us discard all covetousness and greed." (April 1937 General Conference) _******************************************************************************* The First Presidency reviewed basic principles underlining the welfare plan, stating: "Our primary purpose was to set up, insofar as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self-respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership." (October 1936 General Conference) Perhaps if you would think in terms of not what you regularly eat but in terms of what it would take to keep you alive if there was nothing else available Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley Noah heeded God s command to build an ark...that they might be saved from the floodwaters Yet there was no evidence of rain and flood His actions were considered irrational The sun was shining and life
moved forward as usual. But time ran out The floods came, the disobedient were drowned When God speaks and we obey, we will always be right T.S.Monson Ensign 10-07 From Oct. 2007 VT Message in Ensign, Dallin H. Oaks No one know the time of His coming, but the faithful are taught to study the signs of it and be prepared for it We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming ******************************************************************************************** Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone: "Now what about those who would plunder and break in and take that which we have stored for our families' needs? Don't give this one more idle thought. There is a God in heaven whom we have obeyed. Do your suppose he would abandon those who have kept his commandment? He said, "If ye are prepared, ye need not fear." (D&C 38:30.) Prepare, O men of Zion, and fear Not...Commit to have a year's supply of food." Ensign, May 1976, p. 117. Orson Pratt: And the time will come when we shall find ourselves restricted and when it will be very important indeed for us to patronize home productions and cease sending our millions abroad for importations for the gate will be shut down and circumstances will be such that we cannot bring things from abroad; and hence the necessity of the exhortation that we have received from time to time to engage WITH ALL OUR HEARTS in the various branches of industry necessary to make us self-sustaining and to carry them out with all the tact and wisdom which God has given to us that we may become free and independent in all theses matters, free before the heavens and free from all the nations of the earth and their productions so far as being dependent upon them is concerned." Deseret Evening News Vol.8, No. 265, Oct. 2, 1875 Orson Pratt: If a war of this description should take place, who could carry on his business in safety? Who would feel safe to put his crops in the ground or to carry on any enterprise? There would be fleeing from one State to another and general confusion would exist throughout the whole Republic. Such eventually IS TO BE the condition of this whole nation if the people do not repent of their wickedness... J.D. 18:341 Orson Pratt: "But what about the American nation. That war that destroyed the lives of some fifteen or sixteen hundred thousand people [Civil War] was nothing compared to that which will eventually devastate that country. The time is not very far distant in the future when the Lord God will lay his hand heavily upon that nation......what! This great and powerful nation of ours to be divided one part against the other and many hundreds of thousands of souls to be destroyed by civil wars!...the time will come when there will be no safety in carrying on the peaceable pursuits of farming or agriculture. But these will be neglected and the people will think themselves well off if they can flee from city to city, from town to town and escape with their lives." J. D. 12:344 Heber C. Kimball: "I will tell you a dream which Brother Kesler had lately. He dreamed that there was a sack of gold and a cat placed before him, and that he had the privilege of taking which he pleased, whereupon he took the cat and walked off with her. Why did he take the cat in preference to the gold? Because HE COULD EAT THE CAT, BUT COULD NOT EAT THE GOLD. You may see about such times before you die." J.D. 3:262
Provident Living Quote - President Gordon B. Hinckley, Priesthood Session, October 2002: Brethren, I wish to urge again the importance of self-reliance on the part of every individual Church member and family. None of us knows when a catastrophe might strike. Sickness, injury, unemployment I do not predict any impending disaster yet prudence should govern our lives We can begin with a one week s food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months. I am speaking now of food to cover basic needs.i fear that so many feel that a long-term supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no effort at all. Begin in a small way.gradually build toward a reasonable objective. Quote:George Q. Cannon: "The greatest events that have been spoken of by all the Holy Prophets will come along so naturally as the consequences of certain causes, that unless our eyes are enlightened by the Spirit of God, and the spirit of revelation rests upon us, we will fail to see that these are the events predicted by the Holy Prophets." (Nov. 2, 1879, JD 21:266-67) Pres. Benson said, God has held you in reserve to make your appearance in the final days before the Second Coming of the Lord. He has said for the final inning some of his strongest children who will help bear off the Kingdom triumphantly. And that is where you come in for your are the generation that must be prepared to meet your God. Quote- We want you to be ready with your personal storehouse filled with at least a year s supply. You don t argue why it cannot be done, you just plan to organize and get it done Spencer W. Kimball, Aug 1976 Quote: Now you ask where do I get the money for these things. I agree I need them, but I m having a hard time making ends meet. Here is how you do it: Use one or more of the following suggestions: Food Storage Christmas: Use 25-50% of money for food storage, New Clothes: Don t buy instead make it last a few more months, use that money for FS, Vacation/Holiday: no vacation or holiday until FS complete, Recreation: Cut by 50%, use money for FS, find fun, free things to make lasting memories, Snowmobiles/campers/boats: sell or trade to get year supply,change Diet: Eat cheaper foods and use extra $ for FS. The Lord will make it possible, if we make a firm commitment, for every LDS family to have a year s supply of food reserves All we have to do is decide, commit to do it, and then keep the commitment. Miracles will take place: the way will be opened and we will have our storage areas filled. I believe it is time, and perhaps with some urgency, to review the counsel we have received in dealing with our personal and family preparedness. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness. We are not in a situation that requires panic buying but the instability in the world today makes it imperative that we take heed this counsel and prepare for the future. L Tom Perry Nov. 1995 "Signs of the Second Coming are all around us and seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity.... While we are powerless to alter the fact of the Second Coming and unable to know its exact time, we can accelerate our own preparation and try to influence the preparation of those around us. We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparationfor the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming."
Preparation for the Second Coming Elder Dallin H. Oaks (2004) Elder Dallin H. Oaks We are living in the prophesied time when peace shall be taken from the earth, (D&C 1:35) when all things shall be in commotion, and men s hearts shall fail them. (D&C 88:91) These signs of the Second coming are all around us and seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity. Conference, April, 2004, Quote: Too often we bask in the 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 will somehow 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 you(we) heeded His counsel? Ezra Taft Benson, Jun 80 Desolating Scourage: D&C 5:19 For a desolating scourge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth, and shall continue to be poured out from time to time, Famine: Should the Lord decide at this time to cleanse the Church and the need for that cleansing seems to be increasing a famine in this land of one year s duration could wipe out a large percentage of slothful members including some ward and stake officers. Yet we cannot say we have not been warned. Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson pg. 265. Earthquake/Tsunami: The giant earthquake and the tsunamis it sent crashing into the coasts around the Indian Ocean is just the beginning and a part of what is to come, as terrible as it was. ********************************************************************************************P resident Gordon B. Hinckley " And there shall arise after them seven years of famine...and God will shortly bring it to pass. Now brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But, I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order...avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage... There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed. We are carrying a message of self-reliance throughout the Church... I urge you brethren to look to the condition of your finances..." (Gordon B. Hinckley, October Conference 1998. ******************************************************************************************** Moroni "Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation..." (Ether 8: 24) Bruce R. McConkie
"We do not know when the calamities and troubles of the last days will fall upon any of us as individuals or upon bodies of the Saints.... We can rest assured that if we have done all in our power to prepare for whatever lies ahead, He will then help us with whatever else we need.... We do not say that all of the Saints will be spared and saved from the coming day of desolation. But we do say there is no promise of safety and no promise of security except for those who love the Lord and who are seeking to do all that he commands." (Ensign, May 1979, p. 93.) Bruce R. McConkie "I stand before the Church this day and raise the warning voice.... It is a voice calling upon the Lord s people to prepare for the troubles and desolations which are about to be poured out upon the world without measure. For the moment we live in a day of peace and prosperity but it shall not ever be thus. Great trials lie ahead. All of the sorrows and perils of the past are but a foretaste of what is yet to be. And we must prepare ourselves temporally and spiritually." (Ensign, May 1979, pp. 92-93.) Heber C. Kimball "The time will come when we will be obliged to depend upon our own resources; for the time is not far distant when the curtain will be dropped between us and the United States. When the time comes, brethren and sisters, you will wish you had commenced sooner to make your own clothing. I tell you, God requires us to go into home manufacture; and, prolong it as much as you like, you have got to do it." (Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 5, p. 10, July 5, 1857.) Heber C. Kimball "The time will come when we will be obliged to depend upon our own resources; for the time is not far distant when the curtain will be dropped between us and the United States. When the time comes, brethren and sisters, you will wish you had commenced sooner to make your own clothing. I tell you, God requires us to go into home manufacture; and, prolong it as much as you like, you have got to do it." (Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 5, p. 10, July 5, 1857.) Marion G. Romney "We will see the day when we live on what we produce." (Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, Oct. 1998.) ********************************************************************************** Jesus Christ "Nevertheless, Zion shall escape if she observe to do all things whatsoever I have commanded her. But if she observe not to do whatsoever I have commanded her, I will visit her according to all her works,
with sore affliction, with pestilence, with plague, with sword, with vengeance, with devouring fire." (D&C 97:25-26) "I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come upon [my people]... in consequence of their transgressions; yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels. Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son. (D&C 101:2-5) "Ye hear of wars in far countries, and you say that there will soon be great wars in far countries, but ye know not the hearts of men in your own land." (D&C 38:28 "...but if ye are prepared ye shall not fear." (D&C 38:30) "And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety." (D&C 45:68 "And my people must needs be chastened until they learn obedience, if it must needs by, by the things which they suffer." (D&C 105:3-6) "They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble. "In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me." (D&C 101:2-8 Ezra Taft Benson 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?" (Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, November 1980) "When the economies of nations fail, when famine and other disasters prevent people from buying food in stores, the Saints must be prepared to handle these emergencies." (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 264.) Joseph Smith "And now I am prepared to say by the authority of Jesus Christ, that not many years shall pass away before the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of our nation; pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake will sweep the wicked of this generation from off the face of the land, to open and prepare the way for the return of the lost tribes of Israel from the north country." (Joseph Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2nd. ed. rev., 1:315-16.) "How long you will have good crops, and the famine kept off, I do not know; when the fig
tree leaves,, know then that summer is nigh at hand." (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 3:391.) Nephi "Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us." "And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell." "Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!" (2 Ne. 28:7, 21, 24) Wilford Woodruff "The Lord is not going to disappoint either Babylon or Zion, with regard to famine, pestilence, earthquake or storms.... Lay up your wheat and other provisions against a day of need, for the day will come when they will be wanted, and no mistake about it. We shall want bread, and the Gentiles will want bread, and if we are wise we shall have something to feed them and ourselves when famine comes." (Journal of Discourses, 18:121.) President Brigham Young "The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat." (President Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p.298.) "...save the wheat until we have one, two, five, or seven years provisions on hand, until there is enough of the staff of life saved by the people to bread themselves and those who will come here seeking for safety." (Discourses of Brigham Young, pp.291-293) President Gordon B. Hinckley "I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order...avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage... There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed" (Gordon B. Hinckley, October Conference 1998. "Peace is fragile, civilization itself is fragile. The economy is particularly vulnerable... "I do not know what the future holds. I do not wish to sound negative, but I wish to remind you of the warnings of scripture and the teachings of the prophets which we have had constantly before us. I cannot forget the great lesson of Pharaoh's dream of the fat and lean kine and of the full and withered stalks of corn. I cannot dismiss from my mind the grim warnings of the Lord as set forth in the 24th chapter of Matthew. I am familiar, as are you, with the declarations of modem revelation that the time will come when the
earth will be cleansed and there will be indescribable distress, with weeping and mourning and lamentation.... Now, I do not wish to be an alarmist. I do not wish to be a prophet of doom. I am optimistic. I do not believe the time is here when an all-consuming calamity will overtake us. I earnestly pray that it may not. "As we have been continuously counseled for more than 60 years, let us have some food set aside that would sustain us for a time in case of need. But let us not panic nor go to extremes. Let us be prudent in every respect. And, above all, my brothers and sisters, let us move forward with faith in the Living God and His Beloved Son... (Gordon B. Hinckley,October Conference 2001.) 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. (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.265) Latter-day Prophets Speak on Preparedness, Ensign, Aug. 2007, 33 Gordon B. Hinckley (1910 ) Fifteenth President of the Church The best place to have some food set aside is within our homes, together with a little money in savings. The best welfare program is our own welfare program. Five or six cans of wheat in the home are better than a bushel in the welfare granary. We can begin with a one week s food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months. I am speaking now of food to cover basic needs ( To Men of the Priesthood, Ensign, Nov. 2002, 5. Ezra Taft Benson (1899 1994) Thirteenth President of the Church The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah ( Prepare Ye, Ensign, Jan. 1974, 69).
Spencer W. Kimball (1895 1985) Twelfth President of the Church We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard. Even those residing in apartments or condominiums can generally grow a little food in pots and planters. Make your garden as neat and attractive as well as productive. If there are children in your home, involve them in the process with assigned responsibilities ( Family Preparedness, Ensign, May 1976, 124). Harold B. Lee (1899 1973) Eleventh President of the Church We expect the individual to do all he can to help himself, whether it be an emergency for a single family or for a whole community, that the relatives will do all they can to help, then the Church steps in with commodities from the storehouse, with fast offerings to meet their needs that commodities from the storehouse will not supply, and finally, the Relief Society and the priesthood quorums will assist with rehabilitation (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee [2000], 171). Joseph Fielding Smith (1876 1972) Tenth President of the Church [The pioneers] were taught by their leaders to produce, as far as possible, all that they consumed, and to be frugal and not wasteful of their substance. This is still excellent counsel ( The Pioneer Spirit, Improvement Era, July 1970, 3). Wilford Woodruff (1807 9 Fourth President of the Church We feel led to caution the Latter-day Saints against forming the bad habit of incurring debt and taking upon themselves obligations which frequently burden them heavier than they can bear, and lead to the loss of their homes and other possessions. Our business should be done, as much as possible, on the principle of paying for that which we purchase, and our needs should be brought within the limit of our resources (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff [2004], 232 33). George Albert Smith (1870 1951) Eighth President of the Church How on the face of the earth could a man enjoy his religion when he had been told by the Lord how to prepare for a day of famine, when instead of doing so he had fooled away that which would have sustained him and his family (Deseret News, Mar. 4, 1868, 26). Brigham Young
(1801 77) Second President of the Church If you are without bread, how much wisdom can you boast and of what real utility are your talents, if you cannot procure for yourselves and save against a day of scarcity those substances designed to sustain your natural lives? (Deseret News, July 18, 1860, 153).