For Dan, finding his old Mustang is ‘truly a blessing.’

My first child to leave on a mission was my son Ryan. I handled his departure in a very masculine way: at his farewell and at the airport I remained in control of my feelings. But the pain of separation was killing me.

On most Monday mornings, Sister Jana Shumway from Lehi, Utah, and Sister Heather Munford of North Odgen, Utah, are out of their apartment in Albany, Oregon, before 10 a.m., spending their preparation day getting groceries and preparing for the next week.

Years ago, before the Church instituted the three-hour block schedule for our Sunday meetings, we used to go to the chapel for meetings three times every Sunday—once in the morning for priesthood meeting, a second time for Sunday School opening exercises and classes, and finally a third time for a ninety-minute sacrament meeting. When I was a very young man, our ward’s Sunday School superintendent, Brother Marchant, came to our class one Sunday to ask for volunteers who would be willing to give the prayer, the 2½-minute talks, and the sacrament gem (a verse of scripture shared before the sacrament was passed) in the following week’s Sunday School opening exercises. My strategy was to quickly volunteer to say either the prayer or the sacrament gem. I was motivated by the desire to avoid having to give a talk at all costs! Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t the only person in the class with that strategy, and I missed out on my first choice, the prayer. I was quick enough, however, to score the sacrament gem assignment. Given the other alternative, I felt lucky.

"There’s something very special about having faithful people to have callings in temples, and it takes a large number of people to operate temples," Elder Quentin L. Cook said about the Meridian Idaho Temple. "This is a place that I can see why the Lord would want a temple here, and I can see why the prophet determined that one should be here."

A Primary calling is not for the faint of heart. Here are 10 tips that will help you know what and what not to do as a Primary teacher.

It has been almost a decade since a tsunami, triggered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, killed more than 220,000 people in a dozen nations in southeast Asia on Dec. 26, 2004. In the weeks, months and years after the disaster, the Church went to work in the nations. The efforts — fueled by the fast offerings from members who responded to a request from the First Presidency — marked the first time the Church offered long-term assistance after a disaster.

I joined the LDS Church less than three weeks after my first encounter with two Mormon missionaries, who I initially suspected were regular salesmen. It's a story I shared in my previous column. And now, as Paul Harvey used to say, here is “the rest of the story.”

Peter Hollens, known for his fantastic acapella performances on YouTube, is no stranger to singing with Mormons. He frequently collaborates with LDS violinist Lindsey Stirling, and he appeared in the World's Largest Nativity with The Piano Guys and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Last week, he added another check mark to his LDS pedigree chart.