Last month Arizona State University President Michael Crow became the first non-Mormon to give a devotional address in Brigham Young University-Idaho’s 129-year history.

Ryan King Ogden was preparing to return home from an LDS mission in 2008 when a question changed his life forever:

Latter-day Saints have a rich heritage of patriotism, going all the way back to the twelfth Article of Faith. Many have pledged their lives in military service as a part of that patriotism, and the Saints at War Project has collected the stories, photographs, and artifacts of their experiences. Here are just a few.

“The Lord commands us to ‘watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.’ But we’re too busy to prepare because we’re glued to a reality TV episode, a Twitch live stream, or a social media feed.”

From listening to her grandmother tell stories about the Prophet to teaching about his life for over three decades, Black has many reasons why she considers Joseph to be a phenomenal man.

Even though he died when I was just 10 years old, Melvin J. Ballard has been a major influence in my life. For as long as I can remember I have heard my family talk about his love for the Lord and his unwavering devotion to the Church. He spent his entire life building on the "sure foundation" of which Helaman spoke, and I'm not aware of any "shafts in the whirlwind" that were able to penetrate his faith and testimony. In fact, my personal quest for knowledge of the Savior was motivated to a great degree by Grandfather Ballard's account of one of his most sacred experiences.

In all of life’s activities, most of us fall into one of two categories: those that act and those that watch. It’s hard to imagine someone dreaming being in the stands for a great game or a great show, but to be on the field or in the middle of the activity would be the chance of a lifetime. Are you dreaming of an Alaska Vacation? Surely in this case, you’ll want to be a player and not a spectator. Maybe this would be your first visit, or you could be an annual visitor with a desire for an “off the beaten path” experience. The devil is always in the details when it comes to pulling the trigger on, what for most people, is a sizable travel and leisure expenditure. We are all about making your dreams come true without spending top dollar for what might not be your best value. When its time to make the homeward journey, you want to leave Alaska wondering how to make a return trip, and not so worried about what you may have missed.

For most of the thirty-nine years Samuel King [president of the Sudoeste District of the Uruguay-Paraguay Mission] spent as an administrator of a large meat-packing plant [in Montevideo, Uruguay], he was a staunch member of the Church of England. . . .

Admittedly, there are not a lot of worthy role models to be found among the heroes of Hollywood. The image promoted by the mass media is one of debauchery, gratification, and impulsive decisions. Despite this, the prophet Mormon taught that “The Spirit of Christ is given to every man”—which means that even in the darkest corners of the entertainment industry, the light of positive moral values can and does shine through. It’s easy to focus on the bad when discussing celebrities, but there is still good to be found in some statements from various household-known names, who have taken at least one stand for the right.

The Oakland California Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been rededicated under the direction of President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency.