Missionary history: The first missions to England were daring and inspired

MR says: Did you know in 1851 there were more Mormons in the British Isles than in Utah? During a Sunday meeting on June 4, 1837, in the year-old Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith approached Heber C. Kimball, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “Brother Heber,” Joseph spoke quietly into his ear,...

Spiritual leaders use Facebook, YouTube, hashtags to spread messages

MR says: We even saw this with the way the LDS Church included hashtags on the screen during April's general conference.

If you want to get more religion in your social media, you can also follow LDS Living on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

HuffPost: Don't Judge a Book of Mormon By Its Cover: How Mormons Are Discovering the Musical as a Conversion Tool

MR says: A must-read. Fascinating look at how *The Book of Mormon* musical is impacting membership and (more importantly) how the Church's changing teaching methods are more relevant to people today than traditional methods. "For a religion to be vital, it needs to show it's relevant to people. And the LDS Church seems well aware of that."

A Mormon conversion story from Hungary (+ a message for missionary moms)

MR says: Love, LOVE this video. This Hungarian convert has a message for all the missionary moms (or prospective missionary moms). Michelle Lehnardt at Scenes from the Wild created a beautiful video about her friend, Noémi, from Hungary. Noémi became interested in The Church of Jesus Christ of...

From the Archives: The Young Woman’s Journal Reacts to the First Sister Missionaries

MR says: It's cool to read these historical accounts of how things changed in the Church. Two weeks ago I posted an excerpt from GQ Cannon’s announcement of the decision to formally call female missionaries. Today I look at the response in The Young Woman’s Journal (YWJ). [1] The first official, female,...

Canadian hockey player gives up sport for LDS mission

MR says: Best of luck to Tyler Hansen on his mission! A defenseman in the Canadian Hockey League has decided to leave the sport to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For the past four years, Tyler Hansen, 20, has been playing for the WHL's Kamloops Blazers. He confirmed...

Mormonism in Pictures: Family History

MR says: This week's edition of pictures of LDS beliefs (go to full story for all 14 pictures). It's pretty astounding the magnitude of resources we have (and put into) family history work. Family history is one of the most popular hobbies in the world. People of all faiths and nationalities use records,...

'Thanks a billion': FamilySearch reaches milestone of 1 billion digitized records

MR says: What an accomplishment in 7 years! Amazing! In less than seven years, volunteers have added one billion searchable records to the free family history website provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch.org. FamilySearch indexers reached the milestone Friday, combining...

New page on LDS.org dedicated to stories of full-time senior missionaries (+video)

MR says: There are a ton of cool videos on this page. Great for senior missionaries in a time when missionary work is kind of being revolutionized. A new page on LDS.org features stories of Church members who served as full-time senior missionaries. Watch some of these videos to learn about...

I’m Bored: Responses to Mormonism in the Pacific

MR says: Really interesting history of Mormons in New Zealand and Tahiti. She makes an interesting point that Mormonism isn't always met with violence or excitement; most often it's more a shrug of the shoulders. This week, I am traveling throughout New Zealand and Tahiti, partially as a vacation and...

Japanese missionary couple's history reaches back 1000+ years

MR says: Incredible! Because they link to imperial records they have been able to go back to at least 700 A.D. “Think of all the people that we have helped to make happy,” Elder Hideo Shio says as he and his wife, Sister Hiroko Shio, unroll a copy of a scroll, more than 20 feet long, that details names...

152+ missionaries from AFHS Class of 2011

MR says: Another of the recent influx of missionary videos. This one is cool because it features missionaries from one particular high school's graduating class (2011). There are 152+. And they still have yet to update the video with sister missionaries. Love the music.

Video: Surprise Mission Call

MR says: This is a beautiful video. This young man, who has had significant health struggles, wondered if he would be able to serve a mission. He finally turned in his papers and surprised his family. Happy tears.

Sister missionaries gain new leadership roles in missions

MR says: The Church just announced that it will discontinue Zone Leader Councils and replace them with a Mission Leadership Council, including "sister training leaders" (a newly created role). Sisters will report directly to the mission president on sister needs and will work closely with the mission president's wife (who will also have an increased role).