From the sinking of the Titanic to the first early morning seminary classes, to various world wars, you might be surprised at what you find when you put world and church events side-by-side. Click here for world and church history events from the 19th Century.

From children to adults, everyone has hobbies—activities they particularly enjoy doing. But sometimes the types of hobbies we pursue, the amount of time and money that is spent on them, and how helpful or relevant our hobbies are can influence our decisions about which hobbies to pursue. Often, our hobbies stem from our talents. In the scriptures, we are told that “every [one] is given a gift by the Spirit of God” (D&C 46:11) and that these gifts, also known as our talents, are given to us “for the benefit of the children of God” (D&C 46:26). One interpretation of several of Christ’s parables (Matthew 5:15-16, Matthew 25:15-30) implies that we are to improve and share these talents with the world. It doesn’t matter what your talent is—kayaking, dancing, public speaking—we are given these talents so that others may see our good works and glorify God. No one talent (or hobby) is greater than any other. The what of our hobbies matters little when compared to the how and why we do them.

As God was organizing the earth, He paused at the end of each creative period to announce, “It is good.” He had created light, water, mountains, valleys, plants, fish, birds, and animals. He had given Adam dominion over all the earth. But as God admired His most recent creation—Adam—He observed, "It is not good (Gen 2:18). Of course, he wasn’t referring to His creation of man, but to the fact that something was still missing. That “something” was Eve.

After 20 years of Latter-day Saint cinema (and 19 years of the festival itself), the annual LDS Film Festival is going stronger than ever, offering a wholly unique and wholesome spin that Sundance, Cannes, and other festivals can’t match. By showcasing the talents of Latter-day Saints and other Christian filmmakers, this weeklong event offers much by way of worry-free entertainment, learning about filmmaking, and rubbing elbows with the artists themselves. It all starts tonight and runs all week at the SCERA theater in Orem, Utah.

We begin where almost everyone begins—with the name. As all know, the name means “olive press” and derives from Hebrew. The place lay on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, on the east side of the Kidron Valley, opposite the city of Jerusalem, which sat on the west side of that valley (Matthew 26:36; Mark 14:32; Luke 22:39). It likely had a wall around it for it was called “a garden” (John 18:1). The name “olive press” points to the place’s essential character, a parcel of ground that grew olive trees and therefore must have had a working press. Archaeology does not disappoint. Though we do not know the exact location of this garden, very near this area was a cave that shows evidence of having been used for olive oil extraction and for the storage of tools.1 Occasionally, the cave may also have served as a sleeping place for Jesus and His disciples (Luke 21:37; John 8:1).

The following excerpt originally appeared on LDS Living in October 2015.

I have a sweet 20-year-old son who has low-functioning autism. Two years ago, when many of the boys from our ward near his age were opening their mission calls, I remember attending one "letter opening" with mixed emotions.

Editor’s note: The following excerpt comes from a book about special witnesses of Jesus Christ. You can read this chapter in its entirety at truthwillprevail.xyz as well as other chapters as they are posted. This excerpt is republished here with permission.

Adam S. Miller is a professor of philosophy, prolific writer, and father of three. Throughout his career and authorship of several books, including Letters to a Young Mormon and An Early Resurrection: Life in Christ before You Die, Miller has interwoven philosophy with faith. We recently had the chance to ask him for some insights.

One of my favorite games to play with my friends as a child was “MASH.” We would write out MASH (mansion, apartment, shack, house) at the top of any scrap of paper we had, then in between giggles we would come up with the names of our future husbands (usually whoever we had crushes on at the time), how many kids we could possibly have (from 1 to 1,000), what careers we might end up with (anything from artist to astronaut), and other “important” facts about our lives that would then be determined by a chance elimination based on a random number.