Why I’m so grateful someone pushed through awkwardness to serve

On Thursday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent the following letter to Church members. Attached was an official statement about the medical marijuana initiative in Utah.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are commanded to partake of the sacrament each week (see D&C 59:9, 12). When the priest offers the scriptural prayer on the bread, he prays to God, the Eternal Father, that all who partake may “witness unto thee . . . that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son” (D&C 20:77; Moro. 4:3). This renews the covenant made in the waters of baptism that we will take upon us the name of Jesus Christ and “serve him and keep his commandments” (Mosiah 18:10). In modern scriptures persons desiring to be baptized are required to witness before the Church “that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end” (D&C 20:37; see also 2 Ne. 31:13; Moro. 6:3).

Are you always dreaming about new paint colors and rearranging the furniture in your head? Is your idea of a perfect night browsing a home goods store? Are you committed to high-quality craftsmanship and creativity?

Before Reid Moon could acquire William W. Phelps' first-edition Book of Mormon and family Bible from his descendants last month, he and his associate Seth Soha had to sweat a bit.

"We respect the wise counsel of the medical doctors of Utah. The public interest is best served when all new drugs designed to relieve suffering and illness and the procedures by which they are made available to the public undergo the scrutiny of medical scientists and official approval bodies," the First Presidency said in a statement April 2018.

The following is an excerpt from President Wilford Woodruff's October 1881 general conference talk published in theJournal of Discourses, Volume 22. The Church recently made all of President Woodruff's journals available online, which you can study and access here.

Before indoor plumbing, a man's strategy for slipping out of the house to meet up with his buddies for a night of mobbing and mayhem was to feign sickness and spend the night in the outhouse.

In his April 2012 general conference talk, Elder Jeffery R. Holland said, "however late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love."

“Our stories are as big as we think they are.” That’s what Latter-day Saint film director Mitch Davis believes is the key to making a good film about Latter-day Saints: belief that they are important enough to be shared.