In case you missed it: Top LDS Living articles from this week

Here’s a snapshot of what you may have missed on LDS Living this week. You can also subscribe to the LDS Living newsletter for daily inspiration right to your inbox.

We saw a lot of doors close in 2020—the doors to our homes, our churches, our schools. And as the months passed, many people watched their doors to opportunity swing soundly shut, often taking their optimism with it. Read more. 

At the end of September, I took what I jokingly called a “virtual vacation” to several Church historic sites. What I learned echoed a teaching found in a footnote from Elder Gong, “Our testimony of the sacred events surrounding Moroni’s appearance to the young Prophet Joseph is spiritual.” Read more. 

Latter-day Saint Heather B. Moore is an award-winning author of books in multiple genres, including historical fiction. A busy wife and mother, she loves to include her kids in her work as a writer and often takes them with her to book signings or writing conferences. We recently asked her about her faith, family, and her newest novel, The Paper Daughters of Chinatown. Read more.

• President Russell M. Nelson will speak to children at the first-ever Friend to Friend event.

• President M. Russell Ballard sent a letter encouraging 2021 youth conferences and camps in the United States and Canada. 

• President Ballard explained why he keeps an Oreo on his desk.

• Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and Sister Patricia Holland will speak at Family Discovery Day. 

• The January/February issue of LDS Living magazine is out. Find out what's inside. 

• The number of temples with paused operations grew to 17. 

• Mexico just became the first country in Latin America to have a YSA ward.

• The Church released the rendering for the Tallahassee Florida Temple.

• Changes are coming to a plaza at Temple Square as part of the Salt Lake Temple renovation project. 

• The Book of Mormon got a mention on Sunday Night Football. We’re still not sure why.

• “This Week from the Pulpit” we learned from President Ballard, Elder Rasband, Elder and Sister Gong, and more. Catch up on all of their messages. 

• What if there is power in a Christlike attribute we have heard about our entire lives but have barely scratched the surface of understanding? In his new book, A Better Heart, Tom Christofferson writes, “The gift of charity is enormous in conception, its effect and meaning eternal. And yet, it is also small and intimate and personal.” On this week’s episode of All In, we explore charity and how it has the power to give us all better hearts. Read an excerpt from the episode. 

• In this week's episode of This Is the Gospel, Anna's mother is diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. With all the faith her 9-year-old self can muster, she prays for her mother to be healed. But on October 13, 2005, Anna wakes up to the news that her mother had passed away. Full of grief and anger, Anna decides God must not answer her prayers at all. It's not until years later that a scripture changes Anna's mind.Read an excerpt from the episode. 

• When you were young, did you ever get so excited when someone knocked on your door completely out of the blue? And wasn’t it even better when this unexpected guest brought something for you? In this week’s episode of Sunday on Monday, we’ll be studying in Doctrine and Covenants 2 and Joseph Smith—History 1:27–65 and what happened when Joseph Smith received an unexpected guest and the special message this visitor had for the future prophet. Listen to a segment of the episode.