DI: It's Not Just a Thrift Store

I’m wearing everything from a thrift store.  Even my shoes.  Why would I tell you this?  I’m here to tell you about the deep doctrine of DI.  DI is more than a thrift store and yes, that probably has been a tag line or in a commercial, but it’s true.  DI is self sufficient and runs only on donations.  There are 43 DI stores in 7 western states: WA, OR, CA, ID, UT, NV and AZ.

2 things are unique about our DI here in Twin.  We employ the largest amount of refuges  except for the ones in Utah than all the others.  Twin DI is not self supporting which means we have to do “donation sharing.”  We get things from the humanitarian center in SLC.   So, lesson one- bring in your stuff! 

Twin DI has community partnerships with about 30 programs/ agencies in Magic Valley. One of those places is TF School district.  For example.  My friend who is a single mom with 5 kids and has 1 daughter.  Her teacher noticed that she had only 2 pairs of pants.  One day she came home with 3 pairs of pants.  Where did her teacher get them?  DI. 

The bishops can use DI to help families in need.  For instance, take my friend Cyndy who is a manager of low income housing.  One family, not LDS, had a fire in their dryer.  ALL the kids’ clothes were burned up.  ALL of them.  ALL that was left for the kids was what they were wearing.  Cyndy went to the Bishop, told him the situation and he wrote out a voucher for 200 dollars worth of clothes for the family.  The bishop is the bishop for everyone within the ward boundaries- even those not of our faith.

Another bishop wanted to help a man here with a ½ way house he was starting.  He got the man vouchers for 15 beds for this house.  These are not old mattresses.  The church has a factory in SLC that makes them.  All mattress companies send their merchandise to  Missouri to be tested with a gigantic roller.  LDS mattresses are with the same quality and caliber for companies like Serta!  Seriously!  And for 2/3 of the price!!!!  

This is an example of the actual furniture!

The church also has a furniture factory that makes solid wood NICE quality tables, chairs, and bed sets and frames.  You can see them in the store and ask for one.  They are in the back- ready to be bought! 

DI also squashes bundles of clothes into ½ a ton barrels and sells them to other companies or it goes to the humanitarian center for the 3^rd world countries we send aid to.  We give stuff to Catholic charities and let them put their name on it, not ours. 

DI, pays for the employee’s salary, the building, the lighting, etc.  But when there is extra money it goes to help others get jobs.  We help members as well as non-members. 48% now at DI  in Twin Falls are not of our faith.  The extra money goes to help those workers go to school and get jobs. 

Our own Merna was employed at DI and needed to call her Bishop.  She was not a member (yet!).  Everyone that works there needs to get a hold of their bishop and get his help with goals and what that person wants to accomplish.  One of the people that have worked at DI walked across the Sahara desert, then floated on something in the ocean till he was picked up and brought to America.  He was escaping a war torn land.  He worked here in Twin Falls.  He told a manager that he would rather face the desert than the ocean! (not to self) 

Here are few stories to help you understand what this DI, this “more than a thrift store can do.”   Take Wes.  He’s a excellent swimmer, so much so that he is in the junior Olympics’ and goes to Paris to compete for the USA.  He has offers from colleges for full ride scholarships, but Wes, gets into drugs.  It becomes so bad that his family tells him to not come around.  He cannot see his nieces and nephews and Wes gets in trouble with the law and finds himself in prison. Part of Prison is drug rehab and before he can even leave, he has to have a job!  It’s pretty hard to find a job when you’re in jail!  But his bishop comes to visit him and gets him a job with DI.  He can leave.  Part of the DI program is for each person to have a mentor.  The bishop feels inspirited to have a man his age but married with kids be his mentor.   His mentor, not knowing what to do at first, invites him over for dinner, for barbecues and becomes his friend.  Wes needs new friends, he can’t go back to his old friends or he’ll get back into drugs.  Wes now has a friend, and a job.  DI has strict rules.  You have to show up on time and be there 96% of the time.  Absolutely no cell phones on the job.  These are rules that most companies have and that for most of the employees need to learn.  Each employee goes through reviews.  Goals are set by the employee and he/she evaluates himself on how he is doing.   Goals can be get a driver’s license, get a GED, become A CNA.  They pay for training programs nearby colleges have.  Wes now has a good job with a good company and he is successful.  That is why DI is more than a thrift store.  The money only goes to do good.  The money goes to help the poor and needy. 

Another story:  Mari Smith and her husband have triplets, her husband is a contractor building million dollar homes and then the economy goes bad and they can’t even pay their own rent.  The husband is depressed.  He finally went to the bishop, who sent him to the stake president (both to see if they knew of anything one or anything that could help him get work)  He goes back to his bishop and he gives his a recommendation to DI.  He gets him a job at DI.  Can you imagine the humility it took to go from building million dollar homes to working at DI?  DI can see this man has potential and skills.  To reestablish himself, the bishop needs to know exactly what he wants to do.  He decides he wants to become a Nursing assistant.  DI splits the cost with him for the schooling and now he is standing next to heart surgeons holding the heart, because he became an orderly first.  This man when he was working at DI had a friend there named Bill.  Bill had become homeless and this man went and found him and got him back on at DI and made sure Bill was OK! 

behind the scenes with the donations.  

One person Crystal from Peru doesn't speak much English.  Her job coach sees more in her, treats her with respect, helps her get in English classes, which in some areas DI offers.  Helped her get a GED and then she become a CNA.  The more resources the better you can help a person.

Another sister who says about herself she had no friends in HS and was not very smart so she dropped out.  She gets a job at DI and blossoms and 2 years later she is training those that are new at DI.

Carlos had a pharmacy for 28 years in his country.  He comes to the USA and all he can do is clean the floors in Rite Aid.  He thinks he can get a job as a driver.  He goes to the bishop and the bishop sees that he is more than a day laborer and helps him get a job at DI who then pays for him to go to become a pharmacy tech.  DI pays his wages for 3 months.  The pharmacy hires him on, because his people skills are awesome.  Everyone knows him and loves him.  This leads him to his wife getting a job there too, and then his daughter goes through the program and becomes a CNA.   They all testify to there being a light in their lives now.  They have someone who cares.

Community partnerships that will help families with rent, food, clothes and shoes, also helps with self-esteem.  Giving them a gift card is no guarantee that they will get what they need.  Taking them there, helping these children pick out their first coat, their first pillow, their own blanket.  When money is low for those community agencies, Di will raise their grants.

There are no DI thrift stores outside of those 7 states I mentioned, but the program is everywhere.  There are offices, (23 I think) in places like Texas, NY, Mexico, and the Philippines that do the same thing- help pay and train and work with people that need help. It all works through the bishops! The miracles can happen anywhere! 

DI is more than a thrift store because it transforms people’s lives.  The savior was always encouraging, helping and serving the individual.  That is what DI does.  You bring in old things and they become new to someone else.  DI does that with clothes and people as well!  

How is this all done?  How it all is paid for?  From the sales of those donations!  When we donate we are helping in more than one way.  We are helping many, many people’s lives to change for the better.

“Behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

“And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.” (Alma 37:6–7 The Book of Mormon) 

Mormons and Mennonites

I work with a little 7 year old boy that is a Mennonite.  Mennonite are sort of like the Amish.  The women wear simple dresses all the time, even while skiing, they also wear a black cap over their hair in a bun.   The men often look just like the rest of the population. 

I looked on Google for images, but none were true to the likeness of those here  in Idaho.
This is what I've learned about the Mennonites from my time with them:

• They only educate in their own schools till 8th grade

• They don't vote, serve on jury's and the military.  Heaven is their kingdom, war is bad.

• They use no instruments in church or ever.  They think music is bad, yet instruments are in the Bible which puzzles me. 

• They attend church for 5 hours on Sunday,  2 in the morning, 3 in the evening. 

• Most of them are farmers or do jobs that go along with farming like driving trucks. 

• They believe that God the Father and Jesus Christ are separate, but spirits. 

• They drive cars and shop in grocerie stores, and Costco and DI.

• Many of them adopt it seems through the foster care system. I think it is to keep the religion going. 

• There are 30 different groups of Mennonites.  

• I've seen Mennonites in the library using the internet. 

• They don't believe in dancing which is in the Bible.
• They use cell phones.

My realizations are this.  It doesn't 'matter how good of a person you are, if you don't have the truth, things in you're worship and life style will be missing.  Unlike the rest of the world they swing on the other side of the pendulum.  While many American's  don't seem to care what they do with their body, who they do it with what they put in or on their bodies, the Mennonites do care about those things, but they also leave out good things.  In my opinion they take away many opportunities to choose between good and evil.

For instance;  Mormon's believe that all knowledge comes from God, hence TV, Internet and the like is for preaching the gospel.  While it is used for bad things too, one can choose what to make and what to watch.

Mormon's love music.  We have the Mormon Tabernacle Choir accompanied with a piano and organ.  We use those in our Sunday meetings and often a violin or flute as well. We believe in the beauty of music from any mouth and instrument.  Like I said all good things come from God.

So in essence they keep good things out of their life to avoid the bad.  What is sad is some of the things they think are bad are really good. 

From the LDS Newsroom and the article Mormon and Modern is this quote that sums it what we believe.

For Mormons, there need not be a conflict between devotion to one’s faith and meaningful participation in modern society. Faithful Latter-day Saints are currently engaged in education, science, business, the arts and political life. In a pluralistic world, modern sensibilities tend to compartmentalize spheres of human activity. But Mormon thought encourages integration.

Mormons welcome truth from whatever source and take the pragmatic view that where religion and science seem to clash, it is simply because there are insufficient data to reconcile the two. Latter-day Saints approach such tensions as challenges to learn, not contradictions to avoid.

The 2012 Books

Remember this post about a reading plan with all the books I inherited from my dad?  We'll I did it.  I read Rough Stone Rolling in 2011. It was a good plan and it worked, so I'm sticking with it in 2012.   Tonight I took out 3 possible Nibley books: Since Cumorah, The Prophetic Book of Mormon, and Mormonism and Early Christianity.

I was going to go with The Prophetic Book of Mormon, the longest of the three, but decided on not just one book but two books that are not even on my original list.  One of them is the last book my father was reading when he died.  He never finished it and the book marker he was using is still there.  The book is written by Jeffrey R. Holland one of the 12 apostles and is called CHRIST and The New Covenant.  I actually bought the book, but let my dad read it first. Now I'll finally be getting to all of it for the first time.  The other book is  Isaiah, Prophecies of the Restoration, by Monte S. Nyman.

I'll start with Holland's book.  I love that it has The Doctrinal Exposition on the Father and The Son in the appendix.  I've read that before, but will read it again.  It also has a list of the names of Christ in the appendix too and a few other gems.

With the two books it's a total of 543 pages and I'll have to read 45.25 pages a month.  What will you be reading this year?

Loose Morals

I work for this very nice, very giving catholic lady. Her and her husband are both on their second marriages, which is considered adultery by the Catholic Church. I believe they used to be excommunicated from that, but I don't think they are. She knows I'm a Mormon, has known others, has a book of Mormon in her home and likes to say funny things about our underwear, the church owning Safeway and Pepsi- all false. She jokes about us not celebrating certain holiday's. "What do you think we are?" are I said to her once, "Jehovah Witnesses?" It's all in good fun. I'm usually laughing.

Two conversations have happened recently. We were talking about families that have a lot of kids, and she mentioned Catholic's and Mormons. I told her the joke: Anyone who has a lot of kids is either Catholic, Mormon or not careful. She said that both of our religions have lots of kids for power. I'd never heard that one before! I said no, it's about the eternal nature of the family- of being with them for forever. She said, No, it's about power, but I believe in the eternal nature of the soul. As if that made families for forever. I didn't explain more, just left it.

Then Jason and I find out that some people we know who are very young are going to be parents. When I found out, I said "great, an unwed pregnancy!" I told them that Jason counseled them to get married. She then said I don't think that has to happen, do you? I was in shock! All the Catholic's I know, have been married before they have children and I don't think the Catholic church looks happily on that. They are pro-family and were anti birth control. They have told their parishioners to have a type of family home evening- a program that started with our church decades ago! I'm just in shock that even they have become comfortable with the ways of the world, with thinking that marriage does not make family life, that it is optional. It's even more funny because this mother who lived with her husband 3 years prior to marriage, got married when she found out she was pregnant!



Of course there are many reason's for this decline of righteous thinking, of ignoring God's laws and being OK with what society has been promoting. Today, after teaching about keeping the sabbath day holy to my primary kids I read them this scripture:

• Doctrine and Covenants 59:9

  9 And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;

Perhaps this is one of the reason's people have stopped believing God's unchangeable laws, regardless of the times, is the lack of Sunday worship, of going to church and of keeping it holy, by resting from labors and causing no one else to work either as stated in Exodus 20:10. It is not just a "family day", as some call it. It is not a holiday, it is a holy day.

I know the media has a huge part in this also, but when we go to church we keep ourselves unspotted from the lies and sins of the world, because we are being taught truths and taking on us the shield of faith and the sword of His Spirit, which is the word of God!

As I continue to be in non-members home I continually as amazed as religious people, even those that go to church every Sunday, pray in poems, not from the heart, and shop on Sunday or engage in other practices that clearly taught against in the Bible.

I'm saddened by both Catholics and Mormon who are having fewer children, most of the having 2. I'm especially shocked by Mormons who do that who know The Plan of Salvation. My saying is this: "The Lord said multiply and replenish, not multiply and replace" People think they are sacrificing for having a 3 child, but that is still not replenishing both of you, just one and one replacement! Another woman I know says he mom says "5 or a note from your doctor!" Of course I understand health issues both the mother and the child, including mental health, infertility, etc, and I know this is coming from a woman who has no children, but that is the point. I want kids, but have not had the opportunity yet, to have children and I want them and there are people who can have them who don't. In my book, that isn't right.

A large Mormon family who I don't know that I've always wanted.