Provident Living Plan for 2011

January- Welfare and You

1) the Bishop's storehouse  2) humanitarian aid 3) dry pack canning  4) a spiritual matter 5) R.S. presidency choice

February- In case of a Natural Disaster

1) oil in your lamp 2) emergency contact 3) ye shall not fear 4) R.S. presidency choice

March- CPR and Life Saving Skills
1) a matter of life and death 2) classes and options 3) who can you save? 4) R.S. choice

April- 72 hour kits
1) time to update 2) food ideas 3) blessing of being prepared 4) R.S. choice

May- Outdoor fun & Survival
1) hiking, 10 essentials 2) geocashing, using a GPS 3) camping using your 72 hour kit 4) building shelter

June- Water, can't live without it!
1) home storage 2) car storage 3) water preservation 4) 72 hour kits

July- How to prepare for a Fire
1) grab and run bags 2) draw a plan 3) meeting place 4) drills

August- Education, a life long endeavor
1) Further your education (by Pres. Hinkley) 2) increasing your talents 3) blessings and power of knowledge 4) tools for learning

September- Increasing your food supply
1) How much do I need? 2) how long will it keep? 3) a temopral commandment with eternal blessings 4) home canning, a new experience

October- Festive Foods
1)  Using your supply over the Holidays  2) rotate and restock (treating your supply as a grocery store)
3) run and not be weary  4) all things pumpkin

November- Gifts of preparation
1)  ideas for gift giving 2) Count your blessings 3) the gift of the Savior 4) practicality is essential

December- Gifts that keep on giving
1) sthe gift of charity 2) Service, a priceless gift 3) the greatest gift of all 4) the gift of praise

* schedule subject to change as spiritually directed for the needs of the sisters

The Gift of Service

Tomorrow is my lesson. So I asked the conducting R.S. President to bare her testimony on the gift of service. This is a handout I have been wanting to give ever since I found hot cocoa 10 for $10 at Albertson's in November.

(Service warms the heart and soul)

Have a provident week!

Gifts on a budget

This month I am encouraging gifts on a budget so we can live within our means. Two weeks ago I shared some gifts I made (as I already told you) and gave each sister a flower pin I whipped up over the weekend. This last Sunday I shared the gifts that I made from what I already had in storage (eg.): canned goods such as Cranberry sauce,  Pie filling, and mixes in a jar. Be sure that if you do mixes in a jar you include the recipes for a handout or at least have a handout with references where they can find the recipes on the internet on their own. I didn't do this, so I will be handing them out this week (by request). Some of my recipes included spiced cider, Mexican hot cocoa mix, fudge brownies, pizza dough, and chicken noodle soup. The nice thing about my doing this, is that my cranberry sauce was ready when I went visiting teaching, and the neighbor's gifts are now all ready to go!

Since I will be teaching R.S. this upcoming week, I have asked the conducting member of the R.S. Presidency to share her testimony on gift giving through service. These sisters are always so willing to do this and it helps others to be involved and the testimonies they share reinforce yours. This also helps others to recognize how they are already living the principles of provident living. I started doing this when I got the calling to teach R.S. so that it would break up my teaching them so I'm not constantly the one they are hearing. I think a variety is refreshing, so even if I were released from teaching, I'de still keep this up. Plus it gives me a little break! 

Hope this gives you some of your own inspiration. If it does, please share! 
                                                          

                               Have a Happy and Provident Week!  

Nov. & Dec. Theme

I was just called as a teacher in the Relief Society as well as Provident Living specialist, so for the third week (which is the week of my lesson) I have the member of the Presidency that is conducting bare their testimony of the principle we are focusing on for the month. Since in November we focused on the idea of making a budget and living within our means, for the last handout I got a memo pad I found grocery shopping one day of large $50 bills. I rolled them up and tied them with a ribbon (sorry I don't have a picture...they went fast too!) I first asked them who was on the $50 bill and only two or three knew. I told them how it would be nice to see more of his face this season (of course they agreed). I then asked them to use use the back to write their Christmas list and plan how they are going to keep gift giving within a reasonable budget this year.  The idea was to see "more green" this Christmas season having enough to save. 

So to go along with that, the month of December is to focus on gifts that are more meaningful for both the giver and the reciever. I have been doing 24 days of Christmas Crafts on my business blog and shared with them the items I have been creating for gifts for people on my list. Then I handed out a special gift to them and told them to remember that
"gifts from the heart are handmade"

It was fun seeing them wearing this around! They are really easy to make.

 Here is the tutorial

 Happy Living!!!