"Across the board, hate crimes against religious minorities are rising," said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

Richard Turley has spent his career facing history head-on because he believes the more we know, the better we can answer questions. When it comes to Church history, there are an abundance of examples worth emulating, but there are also cautionary tales we can learn from. On this week’s episode, Turley looks back on his takeaways from writing books about two dark moments in Church history: the Mark Hofmann trial and the Mountain Meadows Massacre. He then contrasts that to the uplifting lessons he learned from writing a biography about the exemplary life of President Dallin H. Oaks.

Marcus Martins never planned to serve a mission, to be sealed in the temple, or to serve as a bishop. These things would require him to receive the priesthood, and there was a restriction in place that precluded him from doing so. But Martins’s life changed forever on June 8, 1978, when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a revelation extending the priesthood to all worthy male members ages 12 and older. Since that day, Martins has served not only as a missionary, but as a bishop, a temple officiator, a Book of Mormon translator, and a mission president. On this week's episode, Martins explains how he developed a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ even before 1978 and why he has never looked back in the nearly 50 years since he joined the Church.

Jennie Taylor knows something of the sacrifices that have been made over the past 20 years in Afghanistan. Her husband, Major Brent Taylor, was shot and killed by an Afghan commando during a training in 2018.

Last Saturday, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the country of Haiti, leaving devastation and rubble in many cities and towns in the southern part of the country.

Brady C. MacKay is a retired U.S. Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration. His career spanned 24 years serving throughout the world, conducting all types of drug enforcement operations. With his family, he spent many of those years working and living in Thailand and China. He is a certified linguist in Mandarin Chinese, Thai, and Lao, along with many dialects of those languages. Brady currently works as a director of corporate security. Brady served in the Thailand, Bangkok mission and always knew he would return to Thailand. Upon arriving there for work, with his wife and children, they quickly realized their paramount reason for being sent to Chiang Mai, Thailand was for the Lord’s purposes. Brady and his family were the only foreigners for most of the six years there with the missionaries and the native members of the church. He served as the district president over an area that included the northern half of the country. His life in Thailand was quite the dichotomy—he would work in the jungles on drug interdictions and then oversee the affairs of the church on weekends. Brady and his wife, Hollee, are the parents of five children. He currently serves as a member of the high council in his stake. Brady is a true American patriot but more importantly, a dedicated member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

A new miniseries podcast from the Joseph Smith Papers discusses discusses how the building of the Nauvoo Temple and the ordinances introduced there are essential to our appreciation for the temple, Joseph Smith’s doctrinal teachings, and the Restoration.

Over the weekend, two new temples were dedicated: The McAllen Texas Temple and the Feather River California Temple in Yuba City.

The Toluca Mexico Temple, the João Pessoa Brazil Temple, and the Barcelona Spain Temple all recently received exciting announcements from the First Presidency.

The gallery features the famous painting “The Second Coming,” which the Church commissioned in the 1970s.