I've been gone from home a week. I started by attending a friend's funeral, in between I have seen a couple dozen other friends, mostly doing tax returns, but a surprising number of other things as well. I ended this evening by having dinner with Benjamin in Taylorsville. I had a wonderful conversation with him, which kept coming back to his Clean Living vision. Apparently it's not just his vision. He has been talking about this extensively with Josh, he also had lots of information about land options from Jacob and the possibility that olive trees will grow in southern Utah from Darin. Clearly I've missed even more than I thought I had being gone a week!
This is all very exciting, but it also reminded me that life goes in circles. After listening to how he needs ample room, doesn't want neighbors too close, wants to be totally self-sufficient, wants to grow trees, wants his own supply of water, and more (He and Josh both have their own blogs, I'll leave the major details for them to describe more fully) I mentioned to him that I was listening to my father's grandson. Not to mention he is the descendant of more generations of Beechers who definitely liked their space and the clean living experience.
I also found him a copy of Elder Ezra Taft Benson's talk "Prepare Ye", given in the Saturday afternoon session of the October 1973 General Conference when he was serving in the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. You can read it in its entirety here:
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1973/10/prepare-ye?lang=eng. He loved it and instantly adopted it as his motto.
(Clean Living can still utilize the blessings of accessing the Internet in the parking lot at Texas Roadhouse)
Here are a few of Elder Benson's key points:
- "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear" (D&C 38:30)
- We are to prepare for calamities to come (D &C 1:12, 17), including a great crop destroying hailstorm (D&C 29:16), desolating sickness covering the land (D&C 45:31), wars upon the face of the earth (D&C 63:33), famines, pestilences, and earthquakes (Matt 24:7). These calamities will occur ... "Prophecy is but history in reverse--a divine disclosure of future events".
- How we are to prepare: Search the commandments (D&C 1:17-18,37), follow his prophets and apostles (D&C 1:14,38). Elder Benson also quoted President J. Reuben Clark, Jr's counsel on how to prepare, including living righteously, avoiding debt as we would avoid a plague, putting high priority on getting out of debt at the earliest possible opportunity, live within our incomes while saving a little, have enough food, clothing, and where possible, fuel also for at least a year, own your own home free from mortgage, have a garden or farm, and more.
- Then Elder Benson goes into details that are the result of his unique combination of testimony and life experiences. He tells of paying 6,000,000,000 German marks (worth 15 U.S. cents) for breakfast in Cologne in the 1920s. He was an accomplished agriculture expert, serving the Church's food relief efforts in Europe following World War II and in President Eisenhower's Cabinet as Agriculture Secretary. He advises storing the food that will sustain life .. that is affordable and families can do it.
- "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."
- He tells of "blessings in being close to the soil, in raising your own food, even if it is only a garden and/or a fruit tree or two."
- "Healthful foods, proper rest, adequate exercise, and a clean conscience can prepare us to tackle the trials that lie ahead."
- He quotes President Woodruff, "we shall all see the necessity of making our own shoes and clothing and raising our own food"
- "Wood, coal, gas, oil, kerosene, and even candles are among those items which could be reserved as fuel for warmth, cooking, and light or power. ... stored and handled cautiously."
- "It would be well to have on hand some basic medical supplies to last for at least a year.
There is much, much, more. I know Benjamin will read this over and over. It is his new motto. As for me, well the tortoise is smiling! I like what I see.
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