An Easter tradition to enjoy with loved ones who live far away

The following excerpt originally appeared on LDS Living in October 2015.

How does the welfare program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints help and inspire millions around the world? A new Church video gives a glimpse into this incredible program and how it allows Latter-day Saints to follow and live the teachings of our Savior.

The following has been republished with permission from taylorhalverson.com.

Does anyone play the Angry Birds Classic app game anymore? Sony Pictures is hoping so. They raked in $350 million in 2016 for the first The Angry Birds and would love a repeat for their sequel. Did you like the first one? If yes, then you might get a kick out of this one. If not, then skip it. Do you even remember anything about the first movie? Nope, neither do I. Audiences are mostly wondering why this movie exists. This sequel seems like an obvious cash grab and a desperate attempt to revive the app.

The beautiful thing about art is that it can speak to people no matter their language or nationality. And Christus statues are definitely powerful examples of the way art can unite people no matter where they come from.

In 1916, when Reuben C. Syrett — Ruby to his friends — settled in the wilds of Southern Utah, he was unaware of the unique landscape nearby. A couple of weeks after the move, another rancher told him about the local canyon called Bryce, named for a man who’d lost his cow among the hoodoos decades before. Traveling to see it one Sunday with his family, Ruby was so taken with the beauty of the place, he began to spread the word about the unusual geology—an amphitheater of delicate rock spires the color of a sunset.

In December 1989, combat associated with a military coup in the Philippines came dangerously close to destroying the Manila Philippines Temple. As the coup erupted, heavy fighting took place at Camp Aguinaldo, a military base neighboring the temple grounds. The small Filipino staff still inside the temple complex at the time could hear confusion closing in as rebel troops attacked the government loyalists at Camp Aguinaldo, dropping bombs and firing rockets. On the second day of fighting, rebel soldiers breached the temple gates and occupied the grounds. Members throughout the Philippines prayed that the temple might somehow be spared.

Among the most laughably improbable prophecies recorded by the Prophet Joseph Smith is Moroni’s prediction that, in the Prophet’s words, “My name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people” (see Joseph Smith-History 1:33).

When world-renowned vocalist Sissel, best known for her stunning vocals in Titanic, stepped on the Conference Center stage for the 2019 Pioneer Day concert, her ethereal performance with the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra on Temple Square could be linked back to the efforts of one man: Erlend D. Peterson.