How this California stake organized an Easter event that drew thousands

Despite the infinite variety of life experiences given to us as human beings, there is one commonality that ties us together: we all go through trials. These challenges may shake faith, challenge relationships, and frustrate life plans. But they may also become beautiful opportunities. This month, we welcome you to join the LDS Living Book Club as we read a book that not only discusses but also testifies of how these trials can turn into triumphs.

“Please help us to unite as one nation under God,” said Sister Joy D. Jones, Primary general president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, during a prayer at the White House in Washington, D.C., Thursday, May 2, 2019.

At the opening of the 2019 BYU Women's Conference, Sister Reyna I. Aburto, second counselor in the general Relief Society presidency, stood to quote Ether 12:16, “and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith.”

The landscape of education and the workplace is changing rapidly, making skills-based education and real-world experience more important than ever before.

As Temple Square begins a four-year-long renovation at the end of this year, across the street, the Deseret Book flagship store at City Creek Center has just finished a renovation of its own.

There are many kinds of pain associated with learning what God would have us learn here. There are the growing pains that come from learning through our mistakes. Learning from our own errors requires that we honestly acknowledge them, something that is always painful for those who strive for competence. It is also painful to become as independent as we must be and to learn not to expect others to solve our every problem and meet our every need. It sometimes hurts to be realistic or to wait when patience is required.

Pride is often referred to as the universal sin. From the perspective of Latter-day Saint theology, this seems pretty accurate; pride caused Satan to rebel against heaven, pride led to the downfall of ancient civilizations, pride is the driving factor that has caused evil individuals throughout history to come to power, and anyone who has studied the Book of Mormon has probably heard of the pride cycle. However, for this discussion, I’d like to move away from the archetypal, “big picture” idea of pride to focus on the perspective of it as an individual characteristic, that is, of personal pride.

Spoiler Alert: This article assumes the reader is familiar with the plot of the Harry Potter series. If you aren’t, you should stop reading now, pick up the first book, and have your mind blown by its excellence. Then come back and read this.

After receiving her endowment, one sister said to me, “I was disappointed I didn’t see more about Christ’s Atonement.” I was stunned. She may as well have said she just walked through a forest and didn’t see any trees. As our discussion continued, it became clear she had expected to see portrayals of Christ’s suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, pictures of Him on the cross, and depictions of His empty tomb, so she was surprised when none of these were presented directly.