perpetual positive propulsion packet

a few years ago, our family made a care package for the missionaries in our area at Christmas/thanksgiving time.   we did that every year for around 200 young people for (i think four) years.   it was such a great project!   we so enjoyed it.   we got help from others and were able to even get some donations from stores.    then, i moved. . . i no longer had the resources  the help or the sponsors i had worked so hard to get.   i do not give up so easy.   last year, living in a travel trailer, my daughter and i made a care package for the two missionaries in our ward.   this year, we have just continued as we could to make this book for as many as possible throughout the year.   i decided that i should share this book for anyone who wants to make one, twenty or two hundred for a college student, spouse, serviceperson, missionary, etc. . . or just for yourself.
i used a little 16 page book, literally, 8 pieces of paper folded in half with a cover.   

the first page was this poem and the paragraphs under it.   

GRATITUDE ATTITUDE

When an attitude of gratitude

is the thing that you've begun

you'll find that more than gratitude

is the thing that you have won

gratitude begets a thinking

that is higher than the trees

it points your thoughts to heaven

and tends to bend the knees

you'll find your spirits lifted

and your feet some off the ground

when you look for every blessing

the One who blessed you will be found

-KaRee Ogden

our family has used gratitude to carry us though the hardest of times. We name something everyday that we are grateful for. It has to be something new or a new reason to be grateful for something every day. We have written some of the things we are grateful for in the book but hope you will find lots of wonderful things and reasons to be grateful every day.

We've included some positive thoughts for you as well. We all have some days that are better than others. On those not so grand days, remember how much you are loved, find your gratitude, look for some positive thoughts. Add your own positive thoughts so you perpetually have positive propulsion.   

on every page, we wrote the things we are thankful for on the edges of the pages.   we used the list on thankful everyday for our list because, well, it is our list.

then, on every page, we wrote a positive quote from some of these sites.  i love the last one especially, last site and quote actually.

http://www.ldsfacts.net/mission6.htm

Think enthusiastically! Talk enthusiastically! Act enthusiastically! If you are not really enthused, act as if you are, think as if you are, and you will be! --Glen L. Rudd

That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed, but that our power to do has increased. -- a favorite saying of Heber J. Grant

Self-discipline is doing what you know you should do when you do not want to do it. -- President N. Eldon Tanner

Keep trying, be believing, be happy, don’t get discouraged, things will work out. -- Gordon B. Hinckley

Your attitude will determine your altitude. -- Anonymous

http://www.themissionofmoms.com/p/favorite-missionary-quotes.html

Don’t count your days—make your days count.
Elder Jay Jensen

God is very serious about joy in the lives of His children. - Neal A. Maxwell

All crosses are easier to carry when we keep moving. - Neal A. Maxwell

Meekness is knowing who you are and
not having to prove it. - Anonymous

The greater part of happiness depends on our disposition and not on our circumstances. -
Martha Washington

http://thinkpositive30.com/blog/tag/daily-positive-thought/

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. – -Leonardo da Vinci

You can never do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every thought we think is creating our future.
– Louise L. Hay

Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible.~ St. Francis of Assisi

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/inspirational

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― MahatmaGandhi

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
― ThomasA. Edison

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh,the Places You'll Go!

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
― NeilGaiman, Coraline

It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
― GeorgeEliot

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
― Mother Teresa

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
― TheodoreRoosevelt

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
― WinstonChurchill

“If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.”
― MayaAngelou

“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!”
― AudreyHepburn

“Peace begins with a smile..”
― MotherTeresa

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
― RalphWaldo Emerson

“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
― MargaretMead

“Whatever you are, be a good one.”
― Abraham Lincoln

“I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alicein Wonderland

“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
― MartinLuther King Jr.

“Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
― RobertLouis Stevenson

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”
― St. Francis of Assisi

“Try a little harder to be a little better.”
― Gordon B. Hinckley

“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person." 
— Fred Rogers

of course, we added stickers and decorated it.   in some of the packets, we added some kind of fun thing.  the packages have changed over the years. 

after my original posting of this, my friends asked where the pictures were.   so i added pics and thought i'd give a bit of background on how to organize a project like this.

the first year, was just my sister, mom, grandmother and i.   i contacted the president of the mission and asked permission and about any guidelines etc.
we gathered what we could on a limited budget and put them in brown paper sacks.   we had little toys, candy, cookies.   just small stuff.   we used a room in the church and spread out all the bags and went down each row of bags dropping one of whatever we had in the bag.   the next person went behind with another item dropping one of each in the bags and so on.

the next year, i asked my ward for help and was able to put some bigger snack items in the bag.   i had gathered things the whole year so i was able to get some bigger things, school supplies at walmart were great.  i used the lds.org website to ask for help at a stake level as well.   i had my sister ask for help in her ward.   we tried to spread the word a bit more.   with each year, we gained more experience and more support.   we had volunteers sewing Christmas socks for our project and the local food bank.  it was nice being able to work in conjunction with another group.   it really helped us gain support and volunteers.

then i put my pta years to work and asked the local lds businesses for help.   one of the deseret book stores let us put up collection jars.   the missionary store donated socks for 200 missionaries!   there was, of course, a tag that said where the socks came from and we sent a picture of the finished product to associated stores so they could use it for advertising.   we had people giving money and products to the project.   the stake primary pres wanted the kids of the stake to get involved in the service project so she had each primary assemble a small package that we put into it.   it had a toothbrush, a small toothpaste and a cute poem that said it was from the primary.   the young women put together positive thought book one year.   the elders quorum asked what they could do for the next year.   the relief society gathered packs of gum, so i didn't have to.   it was great, a lot of work, but great.   

here are a few more ideas for things that we put in our packages over the years.   some can be homemade, others require investment.   for instance, we purchased the fabric for scarves from the money raised by the deseret book jars.   they required work on our part to cut and fringe but they were a fun thing to do.

small toys like balls
gum
cookies
candy
jerky
snack packs of anything
tictacs
granola bars or mix
hot chocolate mix
travel sized toiletries-
toothbrush and paste
tissues
lotion
scarves
hats
bracelets
keychains
zipper pulls
magnets
small flashlights
sewing kits
first aid kits
positive thought books
bookmarks
homemade postcards or greeting cards
stamped envelopes
pen, pencils
notebooks
stickers
highlighters
post it notes
pencil toppers
pencil sharpeners
erasers

a few last tips for any project.

start early if you can but it doesn't take much to do something small.

get help.  recruit as many people as you can.   understand that if you get help, they may not do things exactly the way you want.   so with help, you give up total control.   but when you give up total control and get other people helping, you get more ideas, more time, more hands.   give people choices of how to help.  some have money, some have time.   accept both if you can.   delegating what needs done frees you up to do more.   usually, people want you to tell them what to do.   have a list of things people can do and just say, here are your options -
   

assembly lines are definitely your friend.   even with the books, i write one part, my daughter writes something, my son writes part.   you can see in the pictures that we laid out the socks or bags and just went down the line adding one of what we were carrying to every place.   it makes it go so much faster.   we reserved the gym for an entire day in order to get them put together.   if you don't have that kind of space, like we didn't for some years, do the best you can with what you have.   

   

 don't worry about things being perfect.  something will go wrong.    don't tell anyone and they probably won't even notice.

i built this project like i built my husband's business.   a little at a time.   looking for new resources    asking for help again and again.   start with what you have and work from there.   just work your way up.   i once had a salesman ask me how i expected to build a business without putting something out first.  i explained that i had already built a business without investors.   i have never had that kind of backing.  i just started with what i had and put some of what came out of it into the next thing.  be patient.   work your way up and out.   be happy with what you do have, with what you can do, make the most of it.

go take on the world, change your corner of it, extend your reach a little at a time and make a difference there.    

little update here - i have decided to print some instead of handwriting them.   there is just too much to do this time.   i found instructions on how to print a book when you don't have a handy program to do it, (like i don't have)   thought i would share - https://help.gnome.org/users/evince/unstable/print-booklet.html.en