In a few weeks lesson #9 in Gospel Doctrine focuses on the organization of the Church. While I was studying this lesson for an upcoming Interpreter Scripture Roundtable, I did a quick napkin calculation of the Church’s growth. At a current modest 2.5% growth rate, the LDS Church could have over 33 million members in 30 years, more than doubling the number today, and adding almost 1 million members per year at that point.

Top 5 LDS Living Stories: 


We recently sat down as a family to talk about how we want to honor the Lord’s day. We began the conversation by talking about Christmas. It is one of our favorite holidays. We begin preparing for it months in advance. We talked about the food that we love to eat, the traditions we participate in, and the reasons why we look forward to the gathering. We made a list of our traditions: new pajamas, ebelskivers for breakfast, fun games, and quiet moments gathered around burning candles when we remember the times we have seen the hand of the Lord in our lives. Those are just a few. It became clear that the reason we love Christmas isn’t because it is December 25; it is because we have set apart that day as a celebration focused on Christ with good food, fun, and time spent talking about what is important. Then I asked if we might be able to set apart the Sabbath as a holy celebration similar to Christmas. If the day were filled with family, good food, and fun and conversations centered on Christ, would it become a day we looked forward to, similar to the way we look forward to December 25? We decided to give it a try. We started establishing traditions that would intentionally set that day apart from every other day of the week. I call these our sweet Sabbath moments. In our home it is a family-only day. We spend time together playing games or making cookies. Grace loves to make and decorate sugar cookies; I like to make meringues. We trade off. For one hour each Sunday we gather in the family room with a journal and spend time talking about what matters most. This is a time for reading the scriptures, studying doctrines and principles, goal setting and family planning—a weekly time to center our life again, with God’s purposes in mind. The evenings are for large family gathering. Married kids, aunts and uncles, cousins, and grandma and grandpa usually gather to eat dinner and share stories and laugh. With deliberate planning, Sundays have become my most favorite day of the week.

Ensure that your family has all the different fruits and vegetables it needs by following this simple storing guide.

This time last week we were having the time of our lives together on a surprise out-of-town trip my husband and I planned for her 16th birthday.

Yesterday on Facebook, Al Fox Carraway posted a picture of herself wearing a t-shirt with "I'm so pregnant" written in bold letters across the front.

What originated as a quick and simple way to stay in touch with family and friends over time turned into a distraction from responsibility and a way to escape the daily challenges of a stay-at-home mom of three young children. There would always be another reason to scroll, like, and post; and though I was usually passive on social media, I felt the pull of the “flaxen cord” and seemed unable to unplug on my own. Good intentions evolved into a bad habit of wasting time (2 Nephi 26:22).

I have come to a bold realization this week: Researchers predict that reputation score will soon matter more than credit scores for individuals and businesses in the burgeoning “reputation economy” now emerging online.

Latter-day Saints aren't the only ones who have spoken from the podium of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Many US Presidents have as well. In honor of President's Day, here are a few interesting details behind each of their visits to this historic Temple Square building.

I might go so far as to say we are especially a treat culture. I think it has something to do with drinking neither alcohol nor coffee and we want some other way to dress up or round out a meal. I mean, think of all the calories we save by not having those drinks. (Which then I promptly tend to blow on a chocolate dessert of my choosing.)