Mormons on fire

To translate some 'Mormonese' immediately: the priesthood is the brethren together from one unit, in our case all the brethren of the Ghent congregation. As brethren among ourselves, we try to create a good bond so that we can rely on each other when needed. We meet every Sunday morning to check who needs help and where we can help.

A number of times a year we organize an activity. As quorum president, I am currently responsible for it. My intention is not only to make the activities purely fun, but also to give them some substantive value. That's why this time, from our presidency, we had the idea to do something about fire safety.

Brother Vermeulen was trained as a fire safety officer at his company and was therefore the ideal person to give us 2.5 hours of explanation on how a fire develops, what types of fire extinguishers there are, how to evacuate and care for people in trouble, and especially how we should deal with prevention and action at home when things go wrong.

The lesson was excellent and immediately made me realize that I can make my home much safer with a few simple interventions. I mainly learned that it's better to get a slightly more expensive foam extinguisher instead of a cheap powder extinguisher to avoid all electronics breaking down after a few weeks (and not being covered by insurance), that smoke detectors should simply hang in the middle of the ceiling and that one is definitely not enough in the house, and that a fire blanket should be standard in the kitchen.

I am really delighted with this activity: it was nice to be able to talk together informally, but at the same time learn valuable things. It doesn't always have to be only about Heavenly Father to be useful... Thank you Brother Vermeulen for the thorough preparation and brilliant lesson.