A prequel to Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol

I just finished reading a talk by Jairo Mazzagardi called “Avoiding The Trap Of Sin”. It’s a good one. Here are some really important things I took from it. All quotes, unless cited otherwise, are from Elder Mazzagardi in that talk.

When Daryl Planks married his wife Rachel in 2012, he knew she was a Mormon.

Several weeks ago my daughter dropped me on my head. We were roughhousing near the pool and she threw me in, forgetting there was a crawl-out bench inside the pool, and my head hit the edge of the bench. Dazed, I floated to the surface of the pool, and dragged myself onto the Sundeck. A bruise the size of a tropical banana swelled on the back of my head. Within days dark streaks ran down my neck and puddled above my clavicle.

Our family joined the Church the summer when I was fourteen, my brother was ten, and my sister was six. We grew up in Connecticut as a churchgoing family, but after church was over at 10:15 on Sunday morning, we were free to do what we wanted with the rest of the day. In the spring and fall, we usually spent the rest of the day at soccer games for my brother, Ethan. Spring soccer ended that year before we set our baptism date, before we understood the finer parts of becoming a Mormon, before we knew about how Mormons kept the sabbath day holy. At the end of the spring season, Ethan signed up to join the traveling team in the fall. By the time August came to an end, my mom realized that she was facing a problem. We were fresh from the waters of baptism and still felt like we could do everything right in terms of living the gospel. Should she let Ethan honor his commitment to the team, or should she encourage him to keep the sabbath day holy as much as possible? Full of a convert’s zeal, she had her opinions, and she marched Ethan into the Bishop’s office to have him validate her opinion.

A day of service, two devotionals, two clinics and dodging a swarm of killer bees were all part of BYU baseball's trip to the Dominican Republic in November. Cheered on by crowds of locals and Church missionaries, the BYU team won all four games against Dominican club teams run by the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals on the tour permitted by the NCAA.

Nnamdi sculpts straight from the heart, and his story might change yours.

This may also be a good lesson to use to introduce the Church's Christmas Campaign this year: LIGHTtheWORLD. Find the video and more information here.

When the Temple Square renovation is complete, four new sculptures by artist Ben Hammond will welcome visitors to the grounds. Hammond began his career apprenticing under a sculptor known for crafting busts for the NFL Hall of Fame. Since then, his meticulous talent has led to creating Hall of Fame busts himself and sculpting a statue of Martha Hughes Cannon for the U.S. Capitol. On this week’s episode, Ben shares how his life and career have been shaped—piece by piece—by the Master Sculptor.

Rylan was praying to find the right girl, and Diana just wanted to prioritize dating among the other things in her busy schedule.