It was 4 a.m. in Heber City, Utah, and Clint Pulver was waking up to the phone call he had been waiting weeks for.

Five days before he was due at an NFL training camp, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin flew to Haiti—but it wasn't for a little relaxation or a much-needed break. No, Tomlin traveled to Haiti to see the reality of human trafficking and learn about the children taken into slavery.

I was waiting for a ride in downtown Salt Lake, directly across the street from Temple Square. Instead of allowing myself to get impatient after 15 minutes of people watching, I decided to pull out my miniature Book of Mormon. Nothing can instill a bit of patience and peace into your life like turning to the scriptures.

Carbon monoxide poisoning often occurs in the winter—the same time that cold and flu season thrives. This is because as we burn fuels to heat our homes in the winter, these fuels omit carbon monoxide. Cars, generators, stoves, furnaces, fireplaces, and other fuel burning appliances can cause carbon monoxide poisoning.

Most of us are accustomed to having a wide variety of food choices available to us. Consider the dishes you ate at home in the last week. Then think of the types of food available in your local restaurants. More than any time in history, we can partake of the cuisines of many nations - Mexican, Italian, German, Chinese, Indian, Thai, and more - and our grocery stores often carry exotic produce that we may not even recognize. We take variety in our diet for granted, but if you were suddenly forced to depend upon your stored emergency food for sustenance, how much variety would you have?

Welcome back! We hope your 10-day social media fast was enlightening and spiritually fulfilling as you followed the words of our prophet, President Nelson, and avoided negative influences in your life and took note of the positive ones.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s a mouthful, there’s no doubt about it.

In a new convert meeting, I noticed an older man who came into the room accompanied by two missionaries. He caught my attention because he didn’t look like someone you would normally expect to see in a Church meeting. He was a short man in his mid-60s with a leathery face and tattoos up and down both arms. He wore casual clothes, gym shoes without stockings, and his hair was tied in a long ponytail that reached halfway down his back.

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a major factor that determines how long a person will live. Blood pressure is simply a measurement of the force against the walls of your arteries as your heart pumps blood through your body. If your blood pressure is too high, it injures your arteries and causes them to harden. The heart has to then work harder to keep the blood flowing. It compensates by the heart muscle growing larger, but that makes it less efficient. The walls of the arteries also become weak and can even break or burst. If you also have high cholesterol, the high blood pressure causes fat to build up inside the wall of the arteries and restricts the blood flow. If your arteries are clogged, you can’t get proper nourishment to your organs and muscles, and they won’t get enough oxygen. You feel weak and fatigued and can’t function properly.

Photo by Jennifer Martino