Self Reliance

Leadership Business Corner:

Updated list of stake welfare and self-reliance committee members:

Pr. Ted Griffis, Stake Presidency

Br. Steven Sarver, High Councilor, new addition to the committee

Sr. Chiemi Bentley, Stake Relief Society Presidency

Sr. Cynthia Prevatke, Stake Welfare and Self-Reliance Specialist

Sr. Debra Goodwin, Co-chair, Stake Welfare and Self-Reliance Specialist

Br. Michael Goodwin, Co-chair, Stake Welfare and Self-Reliance Specialist

January 2026 Self-Reliance NEWSLETTER – Life After HERSHEY

Happy New Year:

A time to reflect on last year with renewed determination for next.

Preach My Gospel Chapter 8 - Using Time Wisely!

“I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the 

techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to 

see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of 

setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.”

ELDER M. RUSSELL BALLARD TALK GIVEN TO SALT LAKE AREA YOUNG ADULTS, OCT. 18, 

1981

HERSHEY Corner: How can you improve in each of these areas?

Health:

Education:

Resource Mgt

Social Emotional Spiritual

Home Production and Storage

refrigeration and the cool room are Australian inventions

https://www.postharvest.net.au/

Employment

Year’s Supply

What’s after HERSHEY?

From the web page: http://www.selfrelianceclub.com

Please explore these resources to assist you with your personal life and stewardship:

Welfare Services Resource (Guide) Book (.pdf)

Freeport - Sacrament meeting notes (.pdf)

Universal 2024 Self reliance unit training document ver 4.0 (.pdf)

Rockford Area Community Resources for Immigrants 2025 Woodson (.pdf)

New Leader Training Information (Link)

Area Temporal Preparedness Guide (Link to pdf)

Area Temporal Preparedness Guide - Spanish (Link to pdf)

Skill Pods Module (Link)

Self-Reliance Group Classes

Monthly Newsletter and Committee Minutes

General Preparedness Information

Church Temporal Preparedness Resources (Link)

Language Learning (.htm)

End of web page

Zig Zigglar taught the most people are either a meaningful specific or a wondering generality.

Some are detail oriented and some see the BIG picture quickly.

Questions to help your family or unit become more self-reliant:

What are the welfare/self-reliance needs of your unit?

What is the next event/activity scheduled in your unit?

Perhaps a self-reliance course, an English connect promotion, the new gospel literacy program.

Stake self-reliance conference 2027.

Plans are in the works to host another self-reliance conference in 2027.

If you, your family, quorum, group, and or unit would like to sponsor a particular topic, please let me 

know.

What I’ve learned this last year:

Plastic welding practice

Resistant and retrograde starch

Wood ash and urine fertilization process

Silica gel, oxygen absorption packet co-existence and functionality

Planting the pot process and results

Freeze drying seeds for long-term preservation

Ground cherry production

How to organize a stake-wide event – Self-Reliance Conference

How to transition into a new computer

Setup the Roland Hallert (R.H.) Shumway Memorial Seed Bank to preserve seeds for the future.

Point to ponder and something worth researching:

“Gardening is an old survival strategy!”

Building on traditional gardening to improve household food security

https://www.fao.org/4/x0051t/X0051t02.htm

Thoughts on Stewardship:

President Thomas S. Monson summarized this concept with these beautiful words: “God left the 

world unfinished for man to work his skill upon … that man might know the joys and glories of 

creation.” Thomas S. Monson, “In Quest of the Abundant Life,” Ensign, Mar. 1988

20 October 2023

The Presiding Bishopric has outlined six major sustainability priorities to help the Church of Jesus 

Christ be a wise steward of natural resources. Bishop Gerald Caussé spoke about them at a 

conference in Brazil, 20 October 2023

1. Increase energy efficiency and use of renewable resources 

2. Conserve water through waterwise landscape design, smart technology use and water 

management plans 

3. Avoid material waste through reduction, reuse and recycling; packaging solutions; and building 

methods 

4. Improve air quality and reduce emissions 

5. Practice sustainable design, development and construction 

6. Engage in sustainable farming and ranching practices 

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-leaders-environmental-conference-brazil

Tuesday October 18th 2022

Update to wise stewardship

The Presiding Bishopric would like to announce an adjustment to the Presiding Bishopric guiding 

principal, Wise Stewardship, to reflect a Church's continuing commitment to caring for the earth and 

its resources.

“For it is expedient that I, the lord, should make every man accountable, as a steward over earthly 

blessings, which I have made and prepared for my creatures.” Doctrine of Covenants 104: 13.

As stewards over earthly blessings, we should carefully administer not only sacred funds, but also the 

natural resources the Lord has blessed us with.

Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value. R. Buckminster Fuller 

It’s like “a weed is a plant whose virtue has not yet been discovered”, or utilized. Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Archive of these newsletters can be found at: http://rockfordstake.selfrelianceclub.com/Newsletter%20Index.htm 

To Receive the newsletters, send me an email. 

Respectfully submitted,

Michael Goodwin

779-203-0451