The Good We Do

During General Conference, we are always told about the humanitarian aid the Church has given and where it has gone.  I remember hearing stories as a young girl from Ezra Taft Benson about when he was in the Eisenhower cabinet and distributing goods to war torn Europe after WWII, how the Church's pork and beans were the favorite cans because there were very few beans and it was mostly pork.  For people that had been living off the land - that canned meat tasted pretty good. 

Tuesday mornings and I go to an open knitting class.  There is woman the comes that was born in Germany during WWII.  She remembers Marshall Law and the hardships.  She remembers that when she did her catechism or got a new dress - for several years it came from boxes from the states.  When she heard I was going on a  mission for the Mormon Church to Denmark, she lit up.  She told me that our Church sent the best boxes.  The clothes were new - not ragged hand me downs and quilts were thick and fluffy.  But her favorite memory was the pork and bean cans.  She said it said there were beans on the can - but it became a family game to see how many beans (or how few) were in a can.  She said sometimes there would be as few as 4 beans - just so it could say - 'Pork and Beans' she supposed.  She supposed right.  Her family loved getting that can of pork or a can of Spam because they could do so much with it.  It was the story I had been told as a youth but now I had a recipient tell me her side.  I love it and I wanted to share.  We do real good and should be proud of the work we participate in.