On Saturday evening, August 3rd, we held a Food Storage Fireside.  This is Elder and Sister Howell, who are Humanitarian Missionaries in the Singapore Mission.  They travel around the mission and give presentations on food storage.
They are from the South Jordan, Utah area and are serving for 18 months.  They have already been out for some time and will shortly end their mission.







This is the sealing machine, the mylar bags and a box of oxygen absorbers to put in the bags.  Our job was to promote the fireside and get all the necessary equipment like bowls, scissors and, of course, the treats for after the meeting.  

 We were given all the white buckets (50 of them), the sealing machine, 100 mylar bags and hundreds of oxygen absorbers, at no cost to our JB District.  The Howell's used their humanitarian funds and the church supplies everything for the members.  Now, we have to keep all this equipment somewhere in the district office or in our own apartment.  On the table are bags of rice (beras) ready to be placed in the mylar bags and sealed for the members.

 Here are some of our faithful members.  My sweetheart is upfront, then behind her is Sister Norma, the District R.S. President.  By her is Sister Julia with her daughter.  Behind Sister Norma is Brother Ng, who will be sustained tomorrow to be the 2nd Counselor in the JB Branch Presidency.  He and his wife just got back from the Hong Kong Temple, where they were sealed a few months ago.  Along side of Brother Ng is my wonderful, faithful counselor in the JB District, President Hong Min Tan.
(wearing the glasses)

 Our turnout, for the fireside at 7 PM, was about one person, Sister Norma.  Then, around 7:20 PM, we get a lot more people coming with their dry goods in bags to be sealed.  Brother Jimmy is in the white shirt with blue stripes.  He is receiving the Melchezidek Priesthood tomorrow and his wife, (in the same row) Sister Minang, are going to the Manila Temple to be sealed in December.  We hope to go with them.

Everyone gathered around the sealing machine, very interested in how it works.  We began with Sister Julia's dry goods, placing about 8 cups of rice in each mylar bag.  Then Linda placed 2 oxygen absorbers into the bag and Elder Howell began sealing them up.  When we looked at our 4 mylar bags, which we sealed last night, the oxygen absorbers take out all the oxygen in the bag and they are rock solid.  It was quite amazing.

 We were very excited to see Brother Michael, with his wife and 2 children, come out with their dry goods.  Brother Michael is an investigator, taking the lessons from the elders.  His one little boy in his arms is quite adorable and the other little guy, about 4 years old, is a real "pistol".
It was great to have some non members at our fireside.  We hope the word spreads about this machine.  We get to keep it and use it for members and non members alike, anytime they need it.

 Everybody got into the act of food storage and sealing up their dry goods.  Sister Julia brought rice and noodles, Sister Alan brought just rice, and Sister Minang brought all sorts of things.  She had some rice, then some macaroni, then some small green lentils and even some round homemade treat that looked like small wagon wheels.

This is a great picture of the line up for the sealing machine.  Sister Kuari, Brother Michael's isteri (wife), stood in line with her green bags from home filled with dry goods.  Presley, in the striped shirt, came with his sister, and brought a package of sandwich cookies.  He was so excited to seal them up, until he got to the machine and was told that only dry goods could be sealed and cookies didn't qualify as "dry goods".  He laughed and handed them out to everyone.

 Along with the sealing machine, the mylar bags and the oxygen absorbers, we had delivered to our apartment 50 white buckets and 50 lids.  The members were more excited about getting a white bucket than about sealing up food.  A white bucket like this could be used for washing dishes, or for bathing or lots of other things than sitting around your home holding some rice.  We fear that the members will take this food home and open the bags within a week and not store for long term.

 I'm there, helping Sister Julia and Sister Minang, to put some macaroni in one of the mylar bags to seal.  Sister Julia, in the green, will be called tomorrow as the new Young Women's President of the Masai Branch, and Sister Minang, in white, will be called as the new Relief Society President tomorrow in Masai.  They are both such faithful sisters in the kingdom.

 Just look how intently I am working on sealing the mylar bags.  You have to hold them, just the right way, to make a permanent seal.  If you get a wrinkle in the mylar bag, it allows air into the bag and then it doesn't seal completely.  The machine comes with this cute little foot pedal.  You get the bag in place, then step on the foot pedal, and wait for the sealing to take place.  It takes a few seconds and then you pull the bag off the machine and the members write on the outside of the bag the date and the item stored.

 Here is my beautiful bride, helping everyone get their mylar bags ready for me to seal.  Four different brethren took turns doing the sealing, so we could all have a chance to learn how and so others would learn how to run the machine when the senior couple is no longer here.  Elder Howell started to show us, then I took over, then Brother Ng wanted to try his hand at it and finally Brother Jimmy got involved.  It isn't that difficult to do.  We will probably turn the machine over to the District R.S., who will keep it very busy between the two branches.

 At one point in the evening, the sealing machine stopped working.  The Howell's told us that they could seal approximately 100 bags.  We had just finished about 8 mylar bags and the bar, that comes down to seal the bag, stopped dropping when stepping on the foot pedal.  We are all intently searching for the solution to fix it.  So I turned off the machine for a few seconds, said a quick prayer, and turned it back on again.  It started to work immediately.  Elder Howell read the directions after that, where it stated to just turn off the machine for 3 seconds and turn it back on again if it causes problems.

Here is the best picture of all.  We only sealed 8 buckets of food to store, but it is the first time in Malaysia that food storage (using mylar bags) has ever happened.  The most sacred part of the evening took place right after this picture was taken.  Everyone moved away from the buckets and then began gathering up their kids and belongings to go home.  No one touched their buckets.  The amazing faith of these Saints in Malaysia is unbelievable.  Every person who brought dry goods to store thought that they were told by their prophet to give up some food to the church and store it in these bags.  They did not know that they were going to take it home with them.  Every person, who came to our fireside, are very poor and have very little in way of food or clothing or homes or belongings.  They get by day to day and just make ends meet.  But their prophet of God, Thomas S. Monson, told them to bring food to this fireside and store it.  They obediently gave of their own food, believing that Heavenly Father will take care of them, no matter what.   What great faith and courage and love of God, to give the only food they had to the church.  The fireside was a great hit, with some non members attending and lots of participation from both branches.  But I will never forget the faith of these current day pioneers, willing to give their all for the building up of the kingdom of God.  I pray to someday be as faithful.