52 Weeks to Family Preparedness for Two
Week 1
Here are suggestions for a 52 week plan to help us all achieve preparedness in many areas of life. Amounts given are for two people. Adjust the quantities you purchase for the number of family members in your home. I hope to cover the basics, in all areas, throughout the 52 weeks, if you have already done one thing, focus on another area. But do something! Take the challenge to become Prepared.
Food Storage and Preparedness Challenge of the Week:
Food Storage Purchase - 8 cans of Tuna
Extra Item Purchase - 8 rolls Toilet Paper (1 roll per week for 2 months)
72 Hour Kit - Obtain a backpack or small suitcase with wheels for each family member
Family Preparation
Store enough water for 72 hours
Preferred water storage – 2 weeks – 14 gallons per person. Also store purifying agents.
Spiritual Preparedness
Read D&C: 137 and 138
Have Church magazines in your home and study the words of the modern day Prophets
Social and Emotional Preparedness
How can I help my children fulfill their divine potential? Do some pondering and help your child or children set one goal this week that will set them on their pathway to fulfilling their divine potential. If they are old enough to have their Patriarchal Blessing, do they? If they do, review it with them in your process of helping them set a goal. If they do not, perhaps offer to give them a Father's Blessing, these can help greatly with this planning process as well. Encourage them to prepare to receive their Patriarchal Blessing when they are old enough and ready.
Physical Health
“Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated” (D&C 88:124). Review this scripture and choose one area in your life that you need work on. Set one simple goal that you feel is realistic, and work hard to accomplish it.
Education
“We live in a world where knowledge is developing at an ever-accelerating rate. Drink deeply from this ever-springing well of wisdom and human experience.”
—Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley (1997), 171
One way to do this is to make use of the library. It is full of good books and it is free! The internet has vast resources available at the click of a mouse, and many of them are free also! Think of something that you have always wanted to learn, and do some research this week to find some resources available that will help you accomplish this goal.
“We encourage you wherever you may live in the world to prepare for adversity by looking to the condition of your finances. We urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt. … If you have paid your debts and have a financial reserve, even though it be small, you and your family will feel more secure and enjoy greater peace in your hearts” (All Is Safely Gathered In: Family Finances).
