October's Challenge was to practice your skills at the Ward Campout.

At our recent ward campout, what did you learn?   Did you realize that while you were camping you were using the same skills and supplies necessary for coping with a disaster?  For example, you cooked without electricity, slept without your normal bed, had no fridge or freezer, and lit your tent without electricity.

Now ask yourselves:  

Did you pack enough food for your family, and were you successful at preparing it outdoors?

Did you have enough lighting, did your tent protect you from bugs and from the weather, was your bedding adequate?

Did you have the right type of gear, or do you need to obtain something better?

We are all familiar with that statement “If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.”  (Doctrine and Covenants 38:30).  But we must also bear in mind that this most powerful statement has an equally powerful but completely opposite meaning—“If ye are NOT prepared, ye SHALL fear.”

You might think camping is no fun, but when you look at it as a dry run for a disaster, you can practice your skills and test out your equipment, and know that each camping trip is making your family more prepared.

Tarps for camping and shelter

Monte K. sent me this information about a great deal on some essential camping equipment.  My husband has some similar to this (the brand name on his is Noah's Tarps), and he uses them all the time to cover the picnic table or cover the gear at his campsite.


Monte said:

I saw a couple great deals on tarps similar to "Noahs" tarps  - these are about 1/3 of the brand name ones and are excellent quality

Nice big one here  14x11.5 (With Poles):  The brand  is Guide Gear Emergency Shelter.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=954704 

2 sizes here  11x11 and 8.5x8.5 (not with Poles).  The brand  is Guide Gear Tarp.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/guide-gear-85x85-tarp-green.aspx?a=967341 

No camping/emergency kit should go without a couple of these.   (I use my 2 11x11s all the time.)

So if you are looking for camping equipment, you might want to buy some of these while they are on sale.

Guide Gear Emergency Shelter, includes poles.

Learned to set up our tent

I've never liked camping, but I realize that a disaster could happen where we have to evacuate our home and live in a tent.  So I thought it would be wise to learn how to set up our tent.

We were going to actually go camping but the weather forecast was terrible so we set up the tent in our living room.  I made my husband teach me how to set up the tent and the cots, I had never done it before so it was a good learning experience.  And the cot with a cushy pad on top was quite comfortable.

It makes me feel better knowing I don't have to depend on my husband to set up all these things, I could do it myself if I had to.

Own a tent, says Julie Beck

You can watch Sister Julie Beck some training videos for stake Relief Society presidencies.
http://lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,8731-1,00.html then click on the "Self Reliance" video near the bottom 


"I have a sense and a feeling as we have watched some of these disasters in the world, that this is a time for us to learn and prepare from these experiences. Sister Thompson gave an testimony of that, and the preparation happens in our own homes. There are not enough tents in the world to furnish every person with a tent unless the members of the church have a tent in their own homes...a simple thing like that. And then the storehouse is pressed down, heaped over and running over in our own homes. 


Some of you have student apartments, how prepared are you? If an earthquake or economic disaster happened, would you have enough water to drink for 24 hours? would you be able to get by until help could come to you? 


Those are the kind of the things we need to be thinking about in our day and time, the Lord expects us to do our little part and then He can bring on the miracles and then we don't need to fear."