What Pres. Oaks said in his first conference as the prophet

"'I love you, just in case." Those were the words LDS mother Annika Dean received from her 14-year-old son Austin as he hid in the JROTC classroom while a gunman shot and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

After a 7.2-magnitude earthquake with a magnitude 5.8 aftershock hit the state of Oaxaca in Mexico, the Church reported that all missionaries are safe.

Thanks to Meridian Magazine for making us aware of this story.

“What are you doing? You can’t use a calculator!”

The realities of agency and occasional choice to do wrong need to be reckoned with in the passing of some of our youth. Even though their bodies may be mature, their heads are strong and sometimes puerile. Their behavior may be furtive or unfortunate. When those deeds result in disobedience or demise, their parents and loved ones need special consoling.

Much as critics and defenders of the Book of Mormon would like to use DNA studies to support their views, the evidence is simply inconclusive.

In place of faith in Christ, some choose disbelief. When people say, “There is no God,” or, “The Church isn’t true,” their words can put us on the defensive. However, such comments are sometimes attempts to justify poor choices and avoid change. When we listen beyond the words, the message really being communicated in such cases is, “I’ve sinned and don’t want to repent.”

To serve and to intentionally reach out to help each other is a great blessing. When you can become a mentor for another because of personal experience you have gained, do it. Age does not matter; experience does. It is very feasible for an experienced youth to be a mentor to someone very much his or her senior.

"When I was a nun teaching in the convent, the children called me Sister Piera. Now that I am a Mormon, I am still called Sister Piera," Piera Bellaviti Schorr told the Deseret News in 1976. "Otherwise, my life is much different."