A radio host, Mike Welch, recently tweeted about BYU's football team, calling them a bunch of #ThugMormons. Since then, the phrase has taken over Twitter by storm.

Speaking on the importance of every priesthood holder being able to trace his own line of authority, President George Q. Cannon, First Counselor in the First Presidency to John Taylor, said, “I believe the time will come when it will be necessary for every man to trace the line in which he has received the Priesthood that he exercises. It is therefore of great importance in our Church that records should be kept and that every man should know whence he derives his authority—from what source, through what channel he has received the Holy Priesthood and by what right he exercises that authority and administers the ordinances thereof. I believe this is of extreme importance and that where there are doubts as to a man’s legitimately exercising that authority, that doubt should be removed” (Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of George Q. Cannon, sel. Jerreld L. Newquist [1957], 224).

Mortality is chock-full of new experiences. All of us have mortal bodies to learn to deal with, but on top of the privilege of having a physical body, we get to experience a taste of a relationship that up till now only our Father and Mother in heaven got to enjoy. We get to begin to learn how powerful the matrimonial relationship can be.

When discussing the purpose of life, we often hear the mantra “we are here to be tested,” but how many of us cringe at that thought? So few of us want to feel like a kid again sitting in a classroom taking a test on things we don’t remember, we don’t understand, and we can’t leave until we finish. Comparing life to a test can be a downer and not the inspirational mantra that it should be. But if we look at life as a lesson we learn from over and over again as more things become clear, we can gain the inspiration we need to improve. We didn’t learn algebra before we learned addition. Life can be viewed as a continual learning process, not the end test. It’s more about what we are learning and becoming than about having all the right answers.

In the 1960s, a study at Stanford’s Bing Nursery School tested the patience and willpower of young children. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf elaborated on this study in his talk, “Continue in Patience.” The children were placed in a room alone with a marshmallow and told they could either eat the marshmallow right away or, if they waited about 15 minutes, they would be rewarded with a second marshmallow. Only a third were able to wait long enough to receive the second treat.

Angie identifies first and foremost as a daughter of God, a child of the covenant, and a disciple of Christ. Born and raised in Newdale, Idaho, she spent about 25 years in Salt Lake City before finding her way back home. She is an aunt to 20 niblings, which means she has attended approximately 4,000 sporting events, eaten fruit snacks she didn’t buy, and answered at least 700 variations of “Watch this!” She firmly believes that all people and things eventually connect back to Newdale somehow, and that the world is linked by far fewer degrees of Newdale than Kevin Bacon—just check where your fries came from the next time you're at Five Guys. Angie loves the outdoors, meaningful conversations, family traditions, and gathering people together, preferably around good food. Known for laughing loudly and somehow ending up in charge of things she never volunteered for, she believes the best parts of life are built around faith, family, service, and a healthy sense of humor.

In virtually all of us, there is some sort of innate yearning to know what was before this life and how it affects us here.

There are more similarities than you’d think between Abraham Lincoln and the Prophet Joseph. We stumbled upon these gems in Tim Ballard’s book The Lincoln Hypothesis. Here are five of our favorites:

While skiing with her 10-year-old son Saturday, 34-year-old Kressyda Ming struck a tree at Purgatory Resort in Colorado and died shortly after a Flight for Life helicopter arrived on the scene. She is survived by her husband Cameron and their five children.

Yoeli Childs wasn’t a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he chose to play basketball for Brigham Young University, but he wasn’t worried.