There is a lot of talk about “felt needs” in mission work. All people have needs but some needs are “felt” more than others. For instance, hearing about what the Savior did for us is our biggest need as humans, but not very many people “feel” that need. Most people don’t know they need a Savior. The needs they “feel” tend to be more immediate needs like food, shelter and employment. Here is an example of how our perception of needs sometimes come into conflict.
We just arrived back in the village yesterday afternoon and this morning I was scrambling to get my lesson ready to teach this afternoon. Someone showed up about 8am asking me to go pick up a family member that had died on a visit to the local town. I knew that would take several hours of my morning and I felt the pressure to prepare an important lesson to teach in the afternoon. My “felt need” was to prepare a lesson so I could share with them about their “real need” for a Savior. Of course, that meant very little to the family that came to ask for my help. Their “felt need” was for my help in transporting the body of their family member.
It is the frequent conflict in this area that prompted us to start a project to raise money to buy some Basic Utility Vehicles (BUVs). One of the biggest “felt needs” in the area is for affordable local transport. Our goal is to buy 2 of these BUVs that will help provide for the “felt need” of the community in the area of transport. This will help alleviate the need for us to provide for these needs and free us to concentrate on meeting the “real need” of the people
Anyone who would like to learn more about this project can click on the following link:
https://www.ntm.org/give/give_project_details.php?project_id=127