Life eating garbage.

[Hala401]

I saw this on the news, and it brought back remembrance of my life about 5 years ago, and I must say that not even in my most desparate times was I reduced to eating out of the garbage. However, there was a deli just down the street that would set their food that would be thrown out just outside the back door after closing, and then what was not taken by poor people would go into the garbage. I got sick from it many times.

Thankfully, Heavenly Father rescued me from that situation even before I was looking for him. Those were dreadfully hard days, but they did waken compassion in me. Just after those times, my situation began to greatly improve, and I now live comfortably among those who say they love me and I am beginning to believe it. :)

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com

[Backroads]

I logically knew about this, but it doesn't fail to bring tears to my eyes.

Then I think about that "freeatarian" movement, where people of respectable means also dig through the garbage for food. It's interesting.

[Guest]

That's why it always makes me laugh when I hear all these people driving cars, living on air conditioned HUD housing, eating 3 times a day, complain about how they are so poor. You want to see poor, go to the Philippines.

The woman portrayed in that video buying Pagpag and feeding it to her toddler is not the bottom feeders of society that the newscaster thought she was. No. That woman is one of the lucky ones. The bottom feeders are the likes of Manny Pacquiao before he put rocks in his pockets to qualify to box to at least have a chance at making some money, otherwise, his days were spent walking the streets in the hopes of finding a discarded tin can that the garbage runners (like the Pagpag seller) missed in their daily garbage forage activities so that he can sell the tin can for one piece, 2-inch-square, of cracker. Yes, Manny Pacquiao used to forage the trash that the trash foragers leave behind. This is the exact same background that Arnel Pineda, now lead singer for Journey, came from.

In the city that I grew up in, a new shiny LDS Temple, awash with lights at night, a giant building that breathes opulence is not even 5 miles away from the squatter area where people like the ones in this video are living in. Try explaining THAT to the non-LDS folks.

It really gives you a completely different perspective of the importance and eternal ramifications of temple work. It is so important that the Church will spend millions of pesos to build a temple that could have fed these families for a lifetime.

Bread will only fill your stomach for a time. But the bread that Jesus offers will feed you for an eternity. "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." - John 6

[Hala401]

I struggled with Temples at first, knowing the history of some of the grand, extravigant Catholic Churches in Europe.

It is one of the issues that I have had to put on a shelf and wait for the understanding that the Holy Spirit will give me in time. Through The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints, Heavenly Father has been so good to me that it silences my doubts about Temples, and now, having been in one, I see quiet elegance, not the signs of excess I have seen other places.

[applepansy]

Hala, have you visited a Bishop's storehouse yet? If not, find out where the closest one in your area is and as to go on a tour. Its amazing.

[Hala401]

I have visited and intend to volunteer when I can. I am well taken care of now. Alhumduallah!

[NeuroTypical]

Here is a picture of my kid's last halloween costume.

Except for some duct tape and paint, the whole thing is made exclusively of trash boxes and discarded packaging material that I scrounged out of various trash areas. We were teaching kids about recycling and reusing and whatnot. Just to make sure - nobody is mad at me for not acting rich enough, right?

[HEthePrimate]

It's heartbreaking that some people have to go through the garbage to get enough to eat. I like those programs where grocery stores and restaurants take foods at their expiration date and donate them to food pantries. That way it doesn't just go in the garbage, and it helps the needy. I guess food doesn't immediately go bad at the expiration date, but it's a reminder that it needs to be eaten soon, eh?

I'm glad that you're in a better situation now, and wish you the best for the future. I've faced tough times before, too, but not quite as bad as yours.

((HUGS))

[applepansy]

I have visited and intend to volunteer when I can. I am well taken care of now. Alhumduallah!

There is a Bishop's Storehouse in a lot of places. Also the church sends aide immediately and is often on the ground before anyone else can get there. The response from church members was amazing after Katrina and after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The trucks were on their way to St Louis before the hurricane hit.

The temples are are small expenditure compared to the humanitarian efforts of the church.

Also...understanding the purpose of temples helps put the expense of temples in perspective. Temples are the ONLY place on earth where we can obtain the saving ordinances of the gospel. Another reason we build temples is because we've been commanded to.

[bcguy]

there was a time where dad proved me food that was to be given to the food bank. Thanked him for the generosity.

In the Philippines, there are the rich, and the very poor. No middle class from what phillipino members in my ward tell me. I would have experienced this sight my self would I have been shipped there for one of my duty stations. I am glad I did not go. All I hear from the guys is how much fun they had at the brothels..no thanks.

[Hala401]

I went to Honduras I think in 1999 after Hurricane Mitch. It was the worst hurricane this century in the area. Our purpose was to help rebuild as much as we could. We were in Tegucigalpa and where we were housed was nice by Honduran standards. We worked in a dental clinic and a house for visiting Doctors and Dentists. As we traveled about from project to project, I was not allowed out alone, not even in front of a store. As we traveled we passed cardboard houses along side the river running through there. The rich people live in the relatively flat, low country and the poor people live on the canyon walls, and the places are prone to huge land slides, burrying hundreds of people at a time. I came home shaken, but recovered.

In April, 2001 we went to Kenya, up around Nanooki and Nyeri, not that far from Mt Kenya. What I saw shook me to the core. There were whole areas of coffee farms that were deserted because upwards of 2/3 of the people had died of aids. Families lived in shed roof dugout houses in the hill sides with no running water and no sewage. I did not ever figure out if the even had the outhouses that I grew up with in my early childhood.

These were dignified, friendly people and many spoke English with an English accent. I fell in love with them, and would have returned but church authorities in the US would not allow me to do it. I was not LDS at the time. Many moving things happened to me there and I did not speak to the people with the humility and kindness that I feel now.

When I returned to the US, my heart stayed in Kenya and in a year, my cushy, suburban life was crumbling. I just could not come home and go back to tending the garden, going to movies, and leading the normal comatose life of the urban American suburbanite. Nothing meant anything to me any more.

Before Christmas 2004, it was all over and by June of 2005, I was divorced, dishowened, fired, and shunned by the church. The next 7 years taught me much about suffering, humility, rejection, and near starvation. It changed my life, so perhaps by March 2011, perhaps Heavenly Father felt I was ready to begin to live a live worth living.

So, I have a very soft spot for the suffering of others and hope that in the time before I die, I can work for others in a way pleasing to Heavenly Father.

Hala