Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday. Somewhere in the backs of our minds, we know it’s about long-ago celebration between the newly arrived pilgrims and the Native Americans, but in today’s culture that idea has taken a back burner to family, football, and of course, the food. Whether you like turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls or pumpkin pie, that’s what Thanksgiving is about, Charlie Brown. The Thanksgiving meal is one that stands out because it requires us to spend nearly all day in the kitchen. It is rare, in America, to spend an entire day in the kitchen. As a young college student studying in Russia, I was astounded to watch my host mother spend hours either shopping at the outdoor markets or stirring a cabbage soup on the stove. Slapping a bag of chicken nuggets on a tray and popping them in the oven was not an option — not part of the culture.

“Typically we start out wanting to do well at our jobs, do well at school, do good things in the community, learn to play the piano or sing, and so on,” Muhlestein said, “As the world lauds these accomplishments, it usually doesn’t take long until we start to use worldly standards and measure success by how well we do at work or what kinds of degrees we have.”

Members of the church are counseled to obtain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. How does one know when they have a testimony?

My life would be lived in a wheelchair. That was an irreversible reality. The doctors envisioned a life full of hopelessness, despair, and frustration—and a life that wouldn’t be all that long.

Let’s be honest. Not all Sunday School lessons are created equal. Some are thought-provoking and stay with us for weeks, and some leave us feeling unsatisfied.

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Remember Johnny Lingo? I recall as a youth convincing our Sunday school teacher to skip their lesson to let us watch it. I remember rooting for Mahana as she faced the villagers snarky remarks. I remember thinking how handsome Johnny Lingo looked in that toga. And who could forget when Mahana revealed herself at the end of the movie as the eight cow woman she truly was. On the surface, it appears to be the tender story of a wealthy Polynesian trader who boost’s his wife’s confidence by purchasing her hand in marriage for eight cows, instead of the typical three or four. That’s nice and all, but it never seemed quite enough for me; why did the church produce this movie? It seems like the butt of every church film joke. Is the message really as shallow as a person’s worth being what other people enumerate it to be?

The presiding bishopric sent a letter to a Utah committee hearing, pledging to donate $3 million to a new stadium that would greatly help the community. "We . . . feel confident that it would be a marvelous blessing for the people of the state of Utah," the letter reads.

In a live performance on BYUtv, GENTRI performed this daring and unique version of "I Saw Three Ships," accompanied by Nick Johnson. About the performance, the gents wrote for their Facebook page:

When Reed Mellor was growing up, his father would pick up hitchhikers, bring them home for dinner, and invite them to stay overnight. The next morning, he would give them $20 before sending them on their way. “You know, you’re being taken advantage of,” Mellor recalls telling his dad, a schoolteacher who had to work summers on a farm to make ends meet. His father replied, “That’s okay. It won’t be the last time. I’d rather give to lots than miss the one who needs my help.” It was not just the hitchhikers who were the beneficiaries of his father’s generosity. The Mellors were (and are) devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; they gave dutifully to the church and all of its activities. Today, it is Reed himself who takes this approach. Reed is a successful engineer with his own business outside of Salt Lake City. He and his wife, Lareen, who works as an accountant in the business, are by any measure quite generous with the success they’ve enjoyed. Their charitable giving starts with tithing. “Everything on earth is God’s,” he says. “We are just required to give him 10 percent back.” In this, the Mellors are representative of Mormons in general. Tithing is expected, and widely practiced.