Last week, former Major League Baseball pitcher and mission president Jeremy Guthrie and his wife, Jenny, finished their full-time missionary service presiding over the Texas Houston Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since returning home, Guthrie has taken to social media to share his parting thoughts about their experience.

On September 4, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the first church history in nearly a century, Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days. Unlike past histories, this book brings the stories of past members to life with vivid storytelling that doesn't shy away from controversial church topics, such as polygamy, Joseph Smith's plural wives, seer stones, etc. The book—which is available in 14 different languages in the Gospel Library app and through saints.lds.org, Deseret Book, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble—is groundbreaking in many ways. Here are just a few reasons members should consider reading Saints.

In all of life’s activities, most of us fall into one of two categories: those that act and those that watch. It’s hard to imagine someone dreaming being in the stands for a great game or a great show, but to be on the field or in the middle of the activity would be the chance of a lifetime. Are you dreaming of an Alaska Vacation? Surely in this case, you’ll want to be a player and not a spectator. Maybe this would be your first visit, or you could be an annual visitor with a desire for an “off the beaten path” experience. The devil is always in the details when it comes to pulling the trigger on, what for most people, is a sizable travel and leisure expenditure. We are all about making your dreams come true without spending top dollar for what might not be your best value. When its time to make the homeward journey, you want to leave Alaska wondering how to make a return trip, and not so worried about what you may have missed.

Don Gardner might be older than the average deacon, but his commitment to setting up and taking down chairs is touchingly unwavering.

These Christmas Mormonads vary from spiritual, sweet, or funny, but all are focused on the season of giving. See which ones you recognize.

Sheryl Ellsworth and Emily McCormick wrote, “We came together as mothers of children of color to [offer] five things we would hope others could learn about race and racism.”

Matthew 21-23; John 12:1-8

Latter-day Saints often learn that Joseph Smith was generous and charismatic, but there is no better way to learn about his attributes than to study his own words. Here are five quotations from Joseph's own writings that reveal more about his character:

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is touted as the greatest archeological discovery of the 20th Century. While the insights they provide into the history of ancient Judaism and the text of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) cannot be overstated, the near 60-years it took to complete their publication led to decades of speculation, myth, intrigue, and rumor relating to the contents of the near 1,000 manuscripts uncovered in the Judaean Desert.