For most people, “Climb Every Mountain” is a popular song from the classic musical "Sound of Music." But for Nile Sorenson of Yorba Linda, California, it’s a way of life.

Excerpt from "In Tune with the Music of Faith," by Quentin L. Cook

After noting the talents and faith of the artist, Angela Johnson, who created the figures for the sculpture gardens now at Thanksgiving Point's Ashton Gardens in Lehi, Utah, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said in a dedicatory prayer:

They are true to their faith, love their country and families and don’t side with the majority party in the Beehive State. Latter-day Saints who are Democrats are the largest single caucus within the state party, and if organizers have their way, this is only the beginning. The LDS Democrats caucus currently has 2,400 members and hopes to reach 3,000 by August.

Following are quotes from Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society: "As women participate in Relief Society, they serve as valiant disciples of Jesus Christ in the work of salvation." — p. 7

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.

“I’d listen to [Elder Holland] read the ingredients off a cereal box.” This comment—made on one of Elder Holland’s Facebook posts about general conference—sums up how most members of the Church feel when they see Elder Holland approach the pulpit. Ears perk up, eyes strain to see his animated expressions, and thoughts are arrested by the eloquence, the magnetism, and the power that is Elder Jeffrey Roy Holland.

Breaking ground, whether for a new crop of corn or a new temple, is an act of faith. And on Saturday, Aug. 18, some 2,000 Latter-day Saints gathered in East Tijuana to dedicate the site of a new temple and turn the soil again with hope.Elder Benjamin De Hoyos of the Seventy and first counselor in the Mexico Area Presidency, presided at the gathering with second counselor, Elder Jose L. Alonso, also of the Seventy, directing. Meanwhile, like the pioneers of old, the LDS faithful stood or sat in the dusty desert sun, fanning themselves as they listened to testimonies, counsel and expressions of gratitude. Colorful umbrellas, to ward away the rays, sprouted here and there like wildflowers.

Two themes about the Church were apparent both over the pulpit and on social media this week.

In light of recent surges in COVID-19 cases in Utah, Elder Randy D. Funk, First Counselor in the Utah Area Presidency, joined with other religious leaders in issuing an appeal to people of faith to wear face masks.