Pres. George Albert Smith #20

(GA Smith was 16 in this picture! 16!)

This Sunday I teach at church again (as always, you're invited—just let me know and I'll give you the 4-1-1). The lesson is called "Temporal Salvation for Ourselves and Others". I think temporal means physical, in other words having enough food, health, and the means to survive.

You may think me strange, but I get excited about lessons on Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness. I don't know why, but I really do. I think this is going to be a fun lesson. I thought maybe I'd hold off to eat my second baby watermelon and bring it in (I don't know what I'd do with it during the lesson—juggle it? have a seed spitting contest?). I could also bring my 72-hour kit which has clothes from when I was 12 . . . that are too big for me now. I haven't figured out all the nitty-gritty, but here are some of the thoughts I've had from the lesson. Please tell me what thoughts you've had on anything I say below, or, the topic at large. You may just make my lesson better :)

• There's a story about how President Smith met with US President Harry S Truman in 1945. President Smith went to arrange a way to send food and clothing to the needy in Europe. President Truman said, "We will be glad to help you in any way we can. . . . . How long will it take you to get this ready?" President Smith essentially replied (I'm paraphrasing), "It's all ready. We have grain, flocks, herds, clothing, our Relief Society even made over two thousand quilts to send. We just need cars and ships to send it." Can you imagine President Truman's surprise? Two thousand quilts? Everything's already ready? I really wonder what President Truman's reaction would have been. Elder Uchtdorf has remembered being in Germany and eating canned peaches and smelling donated clothing that had been shipped by the LDS Church. I'm glad that members of the Church were in a place temporally that they could donate so much at this time.

• As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (1830ish), George Albert Smith said, "There never has been a time, in my judgment, when kindness was needed more than now. These are the days when people's souls are being tried, and when their hearts are being wrung. These are the days when many are facing hunger and distress even among the Latter-day Saints." I believe this is still true, and everything we can do to be kind, to relieve pain, of any type, is worth doing.

• President Smith talked talked about ants and how they use "harvest time" to store and prepare for what's ahead. He encouraged us to do the same. I'm wondering what sorts of things we can "harvest" now in our lives. Maybe some of us can harvest education, or some of us can harvest money, some can actually harvest and preserve food, while others may be able to harvest physical strength. This last week I've been trying to sleep 8–9 hours a night. That's what I've been harvesting this week.

• Finally, the following quote from President Smith I REALLY love. It makes me want to be so much better and, this idea may be the reason I love these lessons. He talks about helping those who are near and says, "Let us . . . look around us in our neighborhood—not leave it to the Bishop and the Relief Society, but let each of us be ministers of loving kindness to those who will need us so much. And whatever we do let us not make those who require assistance feel like paupers. Let us give what we give as though it belonged to them." Being in a place temporally to care for others is worth doing, and doing really well.