In a new video series from Mormon Channel called Hope Works, guest speakers present TED-style talks to promote faith and hope. In one of the videos, Samuel Hislop presented a speech, entitled “We Aren’t God’s Only People,” to explain the positive effects of faiths outside of our own.

The Church’s rich past in the Pacific Islands may surprise all but the most astute students of Mormon history.

The water was rising fast. In the darkness of early morning, Amanda Smith moved away from the window to shield her face from the slashing rain. She had shut it just moments before to ward off the raging storm whipping through the palm trees outside.

On Friday, Sept. 26, 2014, Brigham Young University student Heather Burton joined her outdoor skills leadership class on a hike in Ding Canyon near Goblin Valley State Park. She was just three weeks into her dream of attending the Provo, Utah, university.

Five years ago, several iconic Utah musicians sat in a Salt Lake City hospital room with another iconic Utah musician, pianist Paul Cardall, who was waiting/hoping for a heart transplant.

When the bottom fell out of the real estate market, Jason and Liz Anderson reached out to the institution they trusted most: the Mormon Church. Meeting with their bishop in Rancho Cucamonga, they laid out the problem: Although Jason was working two jobs, he was barely earning enough to make ends meet.

In the mirror of a humble room in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Laura Cardenas posted a note with her wish list, little objectives that would motivate her to be better. There the list stared back at her each day, posted on the mirror with tape, handwritten and without mistakes, its title: “Short term and long term goals.” Laura listed the dreams of a 19-year-old woman: “Make it on the swim team. Work really hard to pay for school … To paint the house in September. Get new chairs for the dining room. Get new shoes. Read Plato. Be nice and kind to others people.”

Get the full lesson "Tithing, a Law for Our Protection and Advancement" from the Teachings of Lorenzo Snow at LDS.org.

This past year was one for the books for Mormons. From volunteering and organizing relief efforts to sharing their talents on Dancing with the Stars and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Mormons have rocked 2017.

When I was very young, my parents planted a magnolia tree in our yard, in hopes of my having magnolias at my wedding. Plans for my future wedding also came up when I was 16 years old. Daddy arrived home from a church meeting with a rolled-up drawing of the soon-to-be Methodist church building. He unrolled the plans and pointed with pleasure to the chapel, saying, “Look, Neill, the new church will have a center aisle, instead of the side aisle of our church now, so at your wedding, I can walk you down the center of the sanctuary!” That anticipation held a particular poignancy since I was the only daughter in a family with six sons. I expected that trip down the church aisle and planned on it. Those expectations vanished like the dew of a Louisiana morning when I took an eternal step and entered the waters of baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.