About 1910 a man from Missouri went into the hog business west of John Day, Oregon. He had the hogs, pens, feed, and everything necessary to raise and fatten pigs. What he didn't have was the foresight to plan ahead for every contingency. When the pigs were ready for market it was necessary to get them to Prairie City where they could be put on the narrow-gauge train from Baker. There was no wide highway then, nor trucks to get them there.

Getting their livestock to market was no problem for the ranchers who raised cattle, sheep, and horses. They simply drove their animals in herds. Cattle, sheep, and horses are gregarious, and stick together in a bunch. With enough helpers they're easy to drive.

But have you ever tried to drive a pig? They're not gregarious, and they have minds of their own. They might even be smarter than some humans. This man decided to drive his pigs to the train depot. When the gate was opened the pigs went everywhere. The pig drive resulted in "a 25-mile-long string of the maddest people you ever saw." (Gold and Cattle Country, Herman Oliver, pg. 156). The pigs went through every petunia and pansy bed on the way to Prairie City, and every chicken coop, barnyard, and grain field. They couldn't even be seen in the grain fields, and lots of crops got trampled during the pig drive.

We can laugh now about the man's lack of foresight, but having had some experience with pigs myself, I can assure you that the fellow was not laughing at his own folly. No one else did, either.

And like it or not we all suffer from the same short-sightedness. I'd like to speak now about something much more serious. We've been warned about things that are in our imminent future, and I wonder if we're prepared?

Doctrine and Covenants, section 45, speaks of "an overflowing scourge," a "desolating sickness that shall cover the land." (D&C 45:31). That wasn't COVID 19. The COVID 19 pandemic was a shot across the bow--a warning of things to come. There will be another pandemic, and it will be worse than the last one.

Are you prepared?

What do we need to do to be prepared?

The coming pandemic will be like the last pandemic in that we won't be able to go to church. We probably won't be able to go to work or to the grocery store, either. Do you have enough food, fuel, medicine, and spirituality in storage to be able to shelter at home until the danger passes?

How are you going to get water when the power grid goes down? How are you going to sustain your family when trucks cease to resupply the grocery stores?

Our church leaders have warned us for decades that we're to have a year's supply of food, clothing, and, where possible, fuel.

Jesus said that "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled ..." (D&C 1:38).

I did a study of Christ's words to the Nephites when He visited them shortly after His resurrection. Fully one third of what He spoke to the Nephites in 3rd Nephi were things pertaining not to the Nephites, but to us, far in the future. In making his abridgment of the records, Mormon was writing to us, not to the Nephites. The Nephites never had the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon was written for us.

Three times in the 20 chapters where Jesus was speaking to the Nephites He warns us of a time when Lehi's descendants will be among the Gentiles "as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces ..." (3 Ne. 21:12).

Jesus said, "Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles except they repent, for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots." (That means our cars and trucks will not be operating.)

"And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds ... so will I destroy thy cities.": (3 Nephi 21:14-18). (Also 3 Ne. 16:10-15, 20:15-17, and Micah 5:8-14).

Are you prepared? It's easy to now see how this prophecy can be fulfilled. It's at our doors. The brethren have spoken for decades about having a year's supply, but we're not hearing that any more. Why? It's because the time to prepare is almost past. The brethren have told us that "we will yet live on what we produce." (The Ensign, November 1980, pg. 84). Some have paid attention. Others are waiting to be sure that the storm clouds are really gathering.

It is not a time to panic, but it is a time to prepare. The Church itself is preparing. The Church has vast acres of farms that will be producing food for its faithful members, but our leaders expect us to help ourselves. President Nelson said three times in the last general conference (October 2024) that the best times are yet to come.

We're going to see amazing things. We're going to see fulfillment of prophecy. We're preparing the way for the second coming of Jesus Christ. It's at the doors.

There is no need to be afraid. The Lord said, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." (D&C 38:30). If you're not prepared, then I hope that you're at least a little nervous.

I had a good friend when I was an ordinance worker at the Boise Temple. He told me that he was once filling a chuckhole with asphalt when a voice spoke to him. The voice asked, "Do you have your year's supply?" "No," he answered. Whereupon the voice said, "Then you wouldn't have smeared blood on your door posts, either, would you?"

That exchange is not something you could make up. It really happened to Brother Sorenson. He went home and laid in his year's supply. When the children of Israel were in Egypt the prophet warned them to smear the blood of a lamb on their door posts and lintels, and the destroying angel would pass over that house and not slay the firstborn therein. Those who obeyed the prophet that night were spared. All the other houses experienced at least one death. Having your year's supply is apparently going to be just that important.

Are you prepared, or are you shortsighted? Can you look far enough ahead to see how you're going to get your pigs to market, or are you going to look ridiculous for trying to drive them like a herd of cattle?

Are your children going to have food to eat, water to drink, and a way to keep warm during these times that are coming; or are you going to sit back and say, "All is well? Things are going to just keep flowing along like they always have. All is well. Zion prospereth, all is well." (2 Nephi 28:21).

It's time to get the pigs to market, so you'd better be deciding how it's going to be done.