From setting three world records as an Air Force pilot to writing multiple New York Times best-sellers, U.S. Congressman Chris Stewart’s love of God and country permeates every aspect of his life. We recently talked with him to learn more about his time in the military, his new World War II novel, Winter Sky, and his family life.

Due to the nature of the new lesson curriculum for youth, Come, Follow Me (and to low interest in our readership), LDS Living will no longer be providing weekly lesson supplements for Aaronic priesthood and Young Women lessons.

A flash mob of about 350 Mormon teens from El Toro, Capistrano Valley, Tesoro, Mission Viejo, Santa Margarita, Trabuco Hills high schools put on a surprise synchronized dancing performance Friday evening at the Kaleidoscope in Mission Viejo. A flash mob is a large group of people who assemble in a public place to perform a spontaneous act and quickly disperse after it is over.

As sisters in the gospel, it is important to remember that all of the blessings of the priesthood apply to us as well. Help those you visit teach to see how they can be worthy to receive the blessings that come through the priesthood.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints confirmed Saturday that it purchased 6,000 acres of Missouri farmland and three historical sites from the Community of Christ — the group formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “The Church recently acquired operating farmland and several other non-farmland properties located in Missouri and Ohio from the Community of Christ," LDS Church spokesperson Scott Trotter said. "Non-farm sites include the Haun’s Mill and the Far West Burying Ground in Missouri as well as the Joseph Smith Sr. home in Kirtland, Ohio."

This is one of my all-time favorite LDS YouTube videos! When LDS comedian Shawn Rapier approaches the microphone, he demonstrates all the hilariously awkward ways you can start a church talk in your ward. Enjoy a few minutes laughing—and maybe even squirming—as you watch all the things you shouldn't do during a sacrament meeting talk in just 2 minutes.

Mormon church officials and Boy Scout leaders in Utah applauded the Boy Scouts of America for putting off a decision Wednesday on lifting its ban on gay members and leaders. The policy under consideration would let troop sponsors make their own decisions about leaders and youth members.

My sister and I have ongoing conversations about big ward/little ward, in-Utah/outside-of-Utah church experiences. You’ve probably held similar conversations with friends and family. Our conclusion? There are pluses and minuses everywhere.

Sherrie Kimber says she taught her sons that love always trumps hate.

Editor's note: The following is excerpted from Chapter 4 of the book "The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith," by Matthew Bowman, published this week by Random House. Copyright © 2012 by Matthew Bowman. All rights reserved. If the Mormons saw themselves as a new Israel, the trek west was inevitably their Exodus. For generations of Mormons, including the one that walked across the prairies, what mattered more than the destination was the act of the journey. It was a collective rite of passage that thousands of Mormons endured, as they had learned to endure all suffering: the death of their prophet, their flight from Ohio and Missouri, and their march across the plains all were taken as divinely sent education, clarifying and refining, testing the bonds that the temple ordinances had created, and they saw God's hand in every bush of berries. Many Mormons were rebaptized upon reaching Utah; they had traveled not only from the United States to the Utah territory but also from the secular realm to God's promised land, reborn into a sacred world. The banks and courts still close in Utah on July 24, the day Brigham Young crossed into the Salt Lake Valley, and the Mormons there celebrate it still, though the number of those who have ancestors who walked across the plains is a fading minority. They have become an archetype.