Traveling light on Friday, 8/20. Goodbye to Ella and all -- but just for now. Mark, Ali and 2 sons will be living in our home. After 26 years there, it was a task to clear space for them and pack enough for 18 months in two 50-pound bags each plus two carry-ons.
Our wonderful Humanitarian Missionary training group: 6 couples and 1 sister. All others but we are going as full-time humanitarian missionaries to several Balkan nations (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia. Macedonia, etc.).
Our superb coordinators, Elder Leland Wright and Sister Sue Wright (Pleasant Grove, Utah). They thoughtfully arranged everything we needed.
Luncheon at JS Memorial
Bldg. with Welfare Dept. leaders and Elder Glen L. Rudd, a life-long friend of Pres. Monson. He told many stories about our "human prophet" and how to stay "in perspective."
The granary is a landmark at Welfare Square (now 13 acres at 800 South, 740 West in SLC). It was built in 1940 atop 625 timber pilings in a swampy area. It still holds 16 million pounds of grain as part of an amazing array of welfare services. World HQ for Deseret Industries/Thrift Stores, cannery and dairy. It is an amazing complex with modern equipment and top-grade products.
The
Humanitarian Center was built in 1941 as a WW II munitions center. Acquired by the Church in 1991, it went "from bullets to blankets." Mainly it helps needy non-Mormons around 
the world. About 1,000 bales of clothing (1/2 ton each) not sold at D.I. Thrift Stores go out each week.
Jim Goodrich, (Managing Director of Welfare Square) noted that there are only 75 Humanitarian missionary couples around the world, mainly in developing nations. Many more are needed.
Wheelchairs for better mobility is one Major Initiative we are charged to do in Israel/Palestine. (Other major initiatives are Clean Water, Food Production, Vision and Neo-natal Resuscitation.) 
This LDS Charities logo is usually attached to our wheel chairs and other products.Newborn kits and hygiene kits (blankets, diapers, pins) are popular initiatives in Palestine, especially in medical or homeless shelters and after disasters.
This all helps promote self-reliance, participation with local partners & maximum sustainability.
This quote from Joseph Smith says it all:
People in 160 nations have been blessed by humanitarian aid over the past three decades--since the Ethiopean drought disaster in 1980's. None is paid from tithing or fast offerings.
Thanks for the update. Things have certainly changed since we went through the Salt Lake Mission Training Center. Let’s see, for me that was 1962. For you, 1862?
ReplyDeleteBon voyage!