In 1951, Martha Ann and her husband, Abner, were called to serve an extraordinary mission, one that was never again duplicated.

3 Nephi 12-15

Studies on obesity and religious practice (including a BYU study) have shown that Utah members of the LDS Church are 34% more likely to be overweight than members of other religions. (1)

As I attended seminary in high school, I had a friend who sat across the aisle from me. She was intelligent and kind, and had a warm personality. We rarely saw each other outside of seminary. Through my senior year of high school, we got to know each other in seminary class and discussed many things that were meaningful to us.

Walk into a small auditorium on a Sunday morning at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital and many things will likely feel familiar to you as a Latter-day Saint. Worship services begin with a hymn, a Church member opens the meeting with a prayer, and the congregation partakes of the sacrament.

INTRODUCTION: My mother was mostly blind during the final years of her life. A passionate reader, a woman who loved to sew and mend and cook and clean, her infirmity made the favored activities of her life nearly impossible. She did learn to crochet by touch, and made over one hundred Afghans for her grand- and great-grandchildren in those final years, but they were years lived in temporal darkness. But through it all she glowed! There was a source of light in her, a shining certainty, that enabled her to see more clearly than any of those whose love and compassion brought them to her side to read to her and to visit with her and to reminisce with her. The real light of the world, rather than being dimmed by her handicap, increased its brightness and radiance as the weeks and months passed by, until it seemed there was no darkness in her at all. More than any person I have ever known, she knew what Jesus meant when he said, “I am the light of the world.”

Thought:

General Conference Talk: “Standing for Truth and Right” Elder M. Russell Ballard October 2017 general conference

MR says: What a great reserve of inspiration. These quotes are perfect to print and keep for rainy days or trying times in your life--any time you might need a little spiritual boost.

During the Church's "Be One" event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the priesthood revelation, touching stories were shared of the black pioneers in the Church who remained faithful despite painful priesthood and temple restrictions. President Dallin H. Oaks acknowledged, “I observed the pain and frustration experienced by those who suffered these restrictions and those who criticized them and sought for reasons. I studied the reasons then being given and could not feel confirmation of the truth of any of them.” He also shared the touching moment when he sat down and cried for joy learning of the priesthood revelation. President Russell M. Nelson added, "Differences in culture, language, gender, race, and nationality fade into insignificance as the faithful enter the covenant path and come unto our beloved Redeemer." Read President Nelson's full remarks here, and President Oaks's full remarks here.