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Researching Family History: Gathering the genealogy records in Germany that survived World War II

Near the end of World War II in a salt mine near Strassfurt, Germany, Elder Rudolph K. Poecker, a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, put on a miner’s outfit. He accompanied the mine engineer all the way down to the floor some 1,312 feet or 400 meter, as is told in "Hearts Turned to the Fathers," Vol. 34, No. 2, by James B. Allen, Jessie L. Embrey and Kahlile B. Mehr and published by BYU Studies. There was a large cache of books containing genealogical records waiting for them, according to Kahlie Mehr's article in June 1981 Ensign article titled "The Langheinrich Legacy: Record-Gathering in Post-War Germany."

Fun

Mormon FBI Agent was Part of Largest Espionage Case in American History

In early February 1940, Mormon FBI agent James Ellsworth left his home in Huntington Park, California, prepared for a normal day of work. Instead, he was met by a man with a message from John Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI in Washington, D.C., instructing him to take the next possible plane to New York City.

Why Mormon high school phenom Jabari Parker chose Duke

The anticipation is over. Jabari Parker, the top high school basketball player in the country, is headed to Duke. This afternoon he made it official in a nationally televised press conference held at Simeon Career Academy in Chicago, bringing an end to an unprecedented recruiting process that began over three years ago. BYU fans will no doubt be disappointed. So will the folks at Florida, Michigan State and Stanford. But nobody should be surprised. The top recruit wants to play for the top coach. Many consider Mike Krzyzewski to be second only to the late John Wooden on the short list of all-time greatest college coaches. Krzyzewski also coaches the U.S. Olympic team. Olympians LeBron James and Kobe Bryant have both said that if they had gone to college they would have gone to Duke. That says a lot.

10 Influential LDS Books Each Summarized in One Sentence

With hundreds of new books published each year by LDS authors, it’s impossible to keep up with the best in LDS writing. So we’ll make it easy on you: Here are 15 of the most popular LDS books ever, summarized in just a sentence each.

LDS Man Shares Peek into Impressive Collection of Rare Bibles, Copies of the Book of Mormon

You could call him the Bible detective.

'Summer Wonderland' in Australia boosts missionary effort

This time of year means cold and snow in much of the world, but not in Australia, where summer prevails from December through February. Mormon missionaries in the Australia Perth Mission took advantage of the balmy temperatures to put on a "Summer Wonderland" event Dec. 10 that drew some 1,500 people, yielded some 200 missionary referrals and has already led to at least one baptism and several people hearing the missionary lessons. In an e-mail to his family in Utah, Elder James Crawley said a committee of six missionaries planned and organized the event, which included a Cook Islands group, a Samoan fire dance, a Hawaiian group, a New Zealand kapa haka group (the traditional performance art of the Maori people) and performances by groups of sister missionaries and elders.

Latter-day Saint Life

Did Jesus Travel to England & India During His Life?

This last quote from the article sums up perfectly our feelings on the subject: While we do not and probably never will know how accurate these accounts are, it is interesting to examine where Jesus possibly could have been during th[e] missing years [before his ministry]. . . . What we do know is that Jesus considered us His sheep and Himself our shepherd. He called Himself the sacrificial lamb who gave up His life for us. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is. And for now, that’s enough.

From the Church

Get a sneak peek inside the new Taylorsville Utah Temple

By Newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The public open house for the Taylorsville Utah Temple begins later this week. Take a look inside this new temple’s stunning interior:

Latter-day Saint Life

Unpacking the proclamations: What they are, where they came from, and how they have evolved

By Brandon J. Metcalf

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2020 issue of LDS Living magazine.

D&C Lesson 15: "Seek Ye Earnestly the Best Gifts"

By Ted L. Gibbons

INTRODUCTION: Consider this quote from Brigham Young on the necessity of the gifts of the Spirit in the Church.