We usually turned the missionaries away. But then they offered to pray

For many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, general conference weekend is one of the most exciting and inspiring times of the year. Every April and October, Church leaders gather in Salt Lake City, Utah, and address the worldwide Church on matters involving faith, change, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here are GIFs that perfectly explain our conference experience.

In the past 12 months, President Russell M. Nelson and the senior leadership have changed the way Church members worship on Sundays, how they minister to one another, how priesthood quorums are organized, how missionaries begin their service and interact with their families, and how the Church’s name should be used. They’ve also introduced changes that affect every auxiliary organization in the Church.

Latter-day Saints should preserve their relationships with family and friends who distance themselves from God or the church, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Saturday morning at the beginning of the faith’s two-day, global general conference.

Conference is around the corner—and so's the chance to listen to the Tabernacle Choir and sing some of our favorite songs. Which hymns might we hear or sing this year? Turns out that some are more popular than others! Check out what we found by combing through the last 21 years of hymns sung in general conference:

I am not in a same-sex relationship. I have no plans to marry a man. I have no children. The November 2015 policy said nothing about gay Latter-day Saints like me. And yet when I read about the policy, I felt pain and confusion. You see, the hurt came from wondering if the church didn’t want people like me. The hurt came from feeling excluded. The hurt came from fearing that if I chose to be in a same-sex marriage that I would be erased from my people.

Religious leaders and followers have long grappled with paradoxical points of doctrine. Thursday’s announcement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints relating to the baptisms and blessings of children of LGBT couples is no exception.

When looking at the changes made to Church programs, organizations and functions in the last several decades, the phrase "simplify and reduce" can be used to summarize many of the changes in recent years.

Is there any correlation between the sealing ordinance and giving birth to a child? Author Wendy Ulrich, whose most recent book, Live Up to Our Privileges, focuses on how women can use and access priesthood authority, recently sat down with All In host Morgan Jones and shared something the Spirit taught her while she was doing sealings in the temple.

Continuing a pattern that has existed since the early days of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, leaders from around the world gathered April 4 and 5, 2019, on Temple Square in Salt Lake City to receive instruction from senior leaders of the Church and to learn from one another. The meetings began Thursday with instruction from the First Presidency, and continued Friday with teaching from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Presiding Bishopric and presidents of the Church’s organizations for women, men, youth and children. This gathering included more than 300 leaders from every area of the world.