Fix it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or Do without!

This is an address President Packer made a month or two ago in a fast and testimony meeting. I think it would serve all of us well to listen to the words of caution and wisdom from this great man. We are probably heading toward some pretty rough times. I believe strongly in the country's ability to pull through whatever is thrown at us, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared.


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“If ye are prepared ye shall not fear”
President Boyd K. Packer
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Sunday, October 12, 2008
When President Boyd K. Packer speaks, he always makes arrangements for a recording to be made. On Sunday, October
12, 2008, he spoke without having planned to speak in the sacrament meeting of his home ward. What follows is the
authorized version of President Packer’s remarks in that meeting.
I have attended fast and testimony meeting on
occasion in the ward, but I have never before
thought to speak to you in a testimony meeting.
If the spirit is willing and the power and
influence of the Holy Ghost will be with us, I
would like to talk to this my home ward in the
Church.
I may be the oldest man here today. I am old
enough to remember 1930. Recently that has
been referred to every day by the
commentators, that we are probably moving
into a severe recession. They have compared it
to the Great Depression.
I was six years old in 1930. I was number 10 in
a family of 11. My father was a mechanic. He
had an auto repair business. When the
Depression came, there was not much money
around. Almost everybody was out of work all
at once. There were some government
programs that were instituted. In Brigham City,
where we lived, they determined they would
put a new sewer line in the length of the town.
It would be about eight feet deep. It was dug
by hand, by pick and shovel. I remember that
very well.
There are scriptures which say, “My people
must needs be chastened until they learn
obedience, if it must needs be, by the things
which they suffer” (D&C 105:6), and, “After
much tribulation come the blessings” (D&C
58:4).
It seems like there comes a time when the only
time we will listen to the Lord is when there is
great difficulty (see Helaman 12).
The Book of Mormon has a history of the
Nephite and Lamanite people. Along in the
third or fourth chapter of Alma and the first
part of Helaman, it talks about the people of
the world, including the people of the Church
who were righteous. When they were righteous,
they were blessed. The promise is there, and
you can test it yourself. It is there for us and
the whole world.
I remember some years ago I was deer hunting
with A. Theodore Tuttle. We went up to the
Manti forest. I rode his horse up one side of
the canyon. He and another friend or two were
on the ridge on the other side. I could see
them. I rode up a narrow ledge, and then there
was a big cedar tree. I put my head down on
the saddle horn as the horse brushed by a cedar
tree on the trail, which was a wide trail. But on
the other side of the tree, there was not a trail,
just slide rocks. The horse moved out in that. I
had heavy shoes on, and I slipped my feet out
of the stirrups. I thought, “If she’s going to fall,
I don’t want to be glued to her.” So I did get
my feet out of the stirrups just in time for her
to go over backwards. I was thrown down I do
not know how far and lit on my head, leaving a
large cut. I had my rifle in my hand, which hit
on the rocks and broke my hand. I got up.
“IF YE ARE PREPARED YE SHALL NOT FEAR” PAGE 2
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They had seen it from across the canyon, and
Brother Tuttle shouted, “Are you hurt?”
I said, “I’m bleeding.” Blood was pouring
down over my eye.
Again he shouted, “Are you hurt?”
And I said, “I’m bleeding!” The wind was in
the wrong direction.
About the fourth time he said, “Are you hurt,”
I hollered, “No!”
He said, “All right!” So they went on up the
mountain. That is lesson number one.
Well, I found my way down the mountain. Half
way down the mountain, the horse was caught
in some brush. I sat there for a few hours
waiting for them to come back. We went down
to Manti to have my hand set and some stitches
on my eyebrow.
A week or two later I was going to California. I
was in line at the airport in front of an older
gentleman. He made a comment about having
my arm in a sling, and I made some remark. He
then said, “You can say that now, but let me
tell you something, you’ll live to remember that
all of your life.” And he was right.
Then he began to talk to me. I listened to him
and found out who he was. He was not a
member of the Church, but he talked about the
difficulties he had. He said that he remembered
the time when he was out of work and could
not find work. There was no work. He went by,
and they were digging a ditch. He said he knew
better than to go ask the foreman for his job,
so he just picked up a shovel and got in the
ditch and began to dig.
In due course, the foreman came along and
said, “Who are you? I didn’t hire you.”
He said, “I know you didn’t hire me, but I’ve
got to work. You don’t have to pay me, but
I’ve got to work.”
In the course of it, you can imagine what
happened. He was paid for what he was doing.
I took counsel from that old fellow. Now I am
the old fellow and will give you some counsel.
One of the things that I remember very well is
how frightened everybody was. Things were
bad; they were getting worse; and there was no
end to it. We began to be resourceful and make
use of everything we had. Being number 10 in a
family of 11, we did not have much. It was very
different then, in some ways, from what it is
now.
As I look forward, I think that we are all going
to learn that lesson in one way or another. The
patterns of employment are already showing
signs of major problems. There are men out of
work.
We know that bishops will have the
responsibility. Someone will come in and say to
the bishop, “I was laid off my work yesterday,
and we are in trouble because we have a house
payment coming up, and we can’t meet the
house payment.”
They will want help, financial help, and they
will want counsel. The financial help has
limitations. The Church does not have enough
money to meet all financial problems.
But the Church is in excellent condition. We
could not be in better condition if we knew
what was going to happen. The Church has
grown across the world. We broadcast
conference last week in over 99 languages.
I sat at a luncheon with some officials from
Indonesia this last Wednesday talking about the
PAGE 3 PRESIDENT BOYD K.
PACKER
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great tsunami, the tidal wave that washed away
Banda Aceh, the city of a million people.
I said, “Yes, I saw that.”
I had called a minister of the government. I had
his cell phone number.
He said, “I’m standing at Banda Aceh beside
President Yudhoyono, and you cannot believe
what I see.”
Well, shortly Elder David A. Bednar and I were
standing at Banda Aceh and could see what he
had seen, the place where a city had been. It
was not there anymore.
The first thing they asked for was body bags.
They had tried to get them and could not.
I said, “We’ll help you.”
With a phone call or two, we located 20,000
body bags in China and had them on a plane to
Indonesia. A day or two later he called and said
that he needed 30,000 more body bags, and we
were able to get those.
The next request they made was for
motorcycles.
He said, “We can’t get back into the hills”—
people had fled into the hills—“and we need to
get medicine and doctors back there. Motor
vehicles can’t get through, and elephants are
too slow. But motorcycles can get through. Can
you get us some motorcycles?”
I said, “Are they available in Asia?”
And he said, “They are.”
Within a day we had about 100 motorcycles on
the way to Jakarta. The Church has resources
to do things like that as an organization. We are
going to have to continue to be in a position of
support around the world.
What I want to talk to you about today is how
you can be in a position of support as
individuals. The counsel I would give you is to
live like the pioneers: Use it up; wear it out;
make it do; or do without.
You young people, in due course, things are
going to change a great deal for you. The things
that you have been used to and could have, you
cannot have.
I remember how we used to pass clothing
around. We do that in our family now.
Recently, one of our granddaughters sent some
used clothing to one of the other
granddaughters who had a new baby.
I remember when I was a little boy there were a
couple of coats that came. I was not in school,
and my older brother was in the first grade. He
got a cloth coat. The coat left was a plush coat.
It was a girl’s coat, and I wouldn’t wear that. I
cried, “I’m not going to wear this coat!” Well, it
got cold, so I did!
Donna’s father went through the same
experience, and he handled it a little differently.
He put such a coat on, then on the way to
school he hid it under the bridge and picked it
up on the way home.
We are going to have to learn to do without.
Use it up; wear it out; make it do; or do
without.
Now, if we have the resources, it is our
responsibility to look after others. Many of our
people are in lands where there is great
difficulty. A missionary couple from our ward
has been out in Africa, and they have worked
with members who had only one meal a day.
You can do all of the usual things that you do
under such circumstances. You can start
“IF YE ARE PREPARED YE SHALL NOT FEAR” PAGE 4
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turning the thermostat down a little and closing
the door. You can save what you have.
We have about 50,000 missionaries out. It is
very expensive to send a missionary out in the
mission field. At present, the sustaining cost of
a missionary is $400.00 a month; that is $4,800
a year. If a family has a missionary out, they
may question, Can we continue to pay the money?
Well, they will one way or another.
The thing we need to do is look after one
another. Some of us who have a little more
than some of the rest of us ought to be
watching our own families and our neighbors
to see if there is a need.
When Brother Tuttle wanted to go on a
mission there was no money. He lived in
Manti. He could not see how he could go on a
mission. There was just no money. On his own,
he said a prayer and went to the richest man in
Manti. He told him he wanted to go on a
mission, but there was no money.
The man said, “Well, then I could see you on
your mission.” So the money was borrowed
and paid back.
But you teenagers especially are going to have a
different life than those who went before you.
Now all of that is the easy part, to take care of
ourselves materially. The other part is that it is
time the Lord taught us a lesson. There is so
much wickedness in the world, so much greed
and avarice and mischief. You wonder if He
could get to us without shaking us up a bit. As
I have said a time or two in looking over the
world, I do not see how we are going to get
through this. It is coming now, naturally and
otherwise, but that is the only thing that will
wake us up. What I am saying to you is to wake
up and to tell you what to do when you wake
up.
Well, your prayers will be different. Your
prayers will be less selfish. Some of the things
you pray for that you think are so essential will
not seem so essential.
We have talked to our children and said maybe
this year we will have a much more modest
Christmas than they are used to.
The scriptures are very plain: “If ye are
prepared ye shall not fear” (D&C 38:30). We
are not afraid. At the headquarters of the
Church we talk about all these things, and there
is no fear.
You need to renew your prayers. You teenagers
and youngsters, learn to pray. You can think a
prayer. You do not always have to get down on
your knees to pray. You can think a prayer in
your mind. Then learn to pray for the things
that are of most worth. There is a scripture that
warns us, “Do not spend money for that which
is of no worth” 2 Nephi 9:51).
You can use it up; wear it out; make it do; or
do without. But that is really talking about
clothing. Whatever you have got that gets
broken, why don’t you fix it? If you do not
know how to fix it, then learn or find
somebody else who can fix it. It might be that
you would want to get some basic tools.
One of our sons went to Michigan and bought
a small house. We went back to see them. On
the back corner of the house the bricks were
eroding. A half a brick had fallen out and some
of the mortar. He asked me what to do, and I
did not know. I would have known what to do
here, but in Michigan I did not know because
the climate is different.
So I asked him, “Do you have an old couple
around here?”
He said, “Yes. Down the street and across
there is an old man, an old couple.”
PAGE 5 PRESIDENT BOYD K.
PACKER
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I said, “Do you know him?”
He said, “No, I just see him now and again.”
“Is he a member of the Church?”
“No.”
I said, “Go to him and ask him if he could
come over and look at this wall, then take his
advice.”
He did, and the old man had been through that
problem, just like we have been through the
Depression. He knew about the climate, and he
knew what to do.
And so as we look at this, do not be afraid. Be
very alert and begin to shape your life and
change your circumstances so that you do not
always have to have things that are new.
When I was younger, we did not have our
shoes half-soled because by the time they got
to that point the tops were gone.
I remember going down to the cellar where
there was a dirt floor. Under the stairs was a
very dark place. I was afraid to go down there
alone because I did not know what was there.
But when I got a little older and got some light
down there, it was only a big pile of shoes.
When the shoes got too bad to use, they would
go in that pile. Then we would take them out
and use part of one shoe to fix another.
What I am saying is that as a Church now we
are returning to that kind of prudence.
Bishop, it might have been all right last year to
take all the youth to Nauvoo, as wonderful as
that is, but perhaps you cannot do it this year.
You are the one who is the judge in Israel. You
will determine what is wise to do and what
cannot be done.
Now I am trying to strengthen you, not
frighten you. If you are prepared, you need not
fear.
If you have not learned to pray yet, you have
got to learn to pray. There is a difference
between saying prayers and praying. Usually
prayers, real prayers, come from desperation.
The Lord is kind to us when He lets us get in
positions so that there is nothing left to do but
to turn to Him.
We have a wonderful period of time ahead of
us, and I believe it is not going to be short.
There are a lot of things we are going to have
to adjust. The Lord has been preparing us.
When I was called as a General Authority,
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle was one of the seven
Presidents of the Seventy. Well, now we have
eight quorums of Seventy. All over the world
are quorums of Seventy. They are wonderful
men. They are not members of the Quorum of
the Twelve, but they are ordained Seventies,
and they have conferred upon them the
apostolic authority. They have the right to
revelation and inspiration, and in counseling
the people, they will know what to do.
The Book of Mormon teaches us, “The Lord
doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation
and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom,
all that he seeth fit that they should have”
(Alma 29:8).
We see that happening. I just marvel at it. I am
a couple years short of 50 years serving in the
general offices of the Church. I see the
preparation that has been made.
We should take care of what we have got. Take
care of your home; take care of your buildings;
take care of your equipment; take care of your
clothing; and begin to save because the rainy
day is coming.
“IF YE ARE PREPARED YE SHALL NOT FEAR” PAGE 6
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We need to counsel with our children.
You young people, one thing you need to do
that is very hard to do is give up selfishness.
You want it, but you cannot have it. The
problem that we now see in the world is that
people grow up selfish with avarice and greed.
You can find all of the answers in the
revelations. If you have not read the scriptures
lately, read the Book of Mormon again.
President Gordon B. Hinckley said that a year
or two ago. Most of us did read it, but read it
again. You will see with new eyes what the
Lord did and said to the people in that day.
Now, we are going to be all right. We support
the bishop and his counselors and our stake
presidency. They will receive guidance. We will
have inspiration.
There are two fundamental ordinances which
we perform in the Church. One is “baptism by
immersion” (Article of Faith 1:4). That has the
effect of cleaning us, cleansing us, symbolic of
that. And how do we stay clean? Well, we have
the sacrament. The sacrament, in a sense, is a
renewing of our baptism to make our
covenants again. We can maintain our
cleanliness.
But that is not all. There is the “laying on of
hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Articles
of Faith 1:4). The promise from the scriptures
is that the Holy Ghost will be a guide (see
D&C 45:57) and a protection to us. He will
warn us. You will not do anything wrong
without being warned. It is called conscience.
And so you young people get your conscience
dusted off. It will keep you from going some
places that you think you want to go, and it will
prompt you to go to places that you did not
think you wanted to go.
World leaders are trying to patch things up. If
they can, things may get better for a time, but
the situation will not be erased.
We have prophets and apostles leading the
Church. We can see ahead and know what is
ahead of us. We are grateful to know that we
have the Church. We can go through it
together, and we will be all right.
So I invoke a blessing upon you here in this
ward of the Church that you can understand.
As you see the coming things, comfort the little
ones in particular. Little children have a way of
being frightened. Have the courage now to turn
the television off and not look at unworthy
programs. Shape up your own morals and keep
yourself worthy and clean.
And then pay your tithing. The harder it gets,
the poorer you are, pay your tithing. Tithing is
equitable. It is 10% of what you have. If you do
not have anything, it is 10% of almost nothing.
But you pay your tithing. And the promise is
that if you do that you will be all right, you will
be watched over. But do not expect to have a
life that is free from trials, sore trials, difficult
trials. This is one we are all going to be in
together, supporting one another as we move
forward, and all will be well.
I bear witness that the gospel is true, that Jesus
is the Christ, that He heads this Church, that
we are watched over, that we are on the right
course. We will be led in the proper way by
those who are called to preside over us. For
this ward, it is our bishop. As we pay our
tithing, keep the Word of Wisdom, and pay fast
offerings, do the things we ought to do, then
we can have that comfort and assurance that
God is in the heavens and all is right with the
world, at least our part of it.
PAGE 7 PRESIDENT BOYD K.
PACKER
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Help one another. The Church has published
quite a few things on the Internet on welfare
affairs.
I invoke these blessings upon you. There are
prophets and apostles upon the face of the
earth. When there are sore trials, such as we are
moving into now, you will find that your faith
will increase, and your happiness will be
increased, and your security will increase, and
you will know that it is a good time to be alive.
It is a good time to be raising children and
taking care of all the normal things of life. I
invoke that blessing upon you with love and
affection and with authority, and in the name
of Jesus Christ, amen.