Since moving back to a family ward I have spent most of my time working with the youth. Other than a brief stint as a Relief Society teacher (cushiest calling ever…) I have either worked in the Sunday School with the 14-15 year olds or as the Laurels advisor. I found Sunday School to be particularly challenging, both because the mixing of genders often changes the dynamic, and because you tend to have less of a personal relationship with the kids than if you work in the Young Women/Men organization. To make matters worse, when I was teaching Sunday School we were still using the Gospel Doctrine manual, which had no suggested activities and was in no way tailored to help teachers reach teenagers. I like to think my frequent complaining letters about this through lds.org helped them move toward the new curriculum. The women of Exponent II were having a conversation on the backlist about how to work with youth and there were so many good ideas that we decided to make it into a post. Many of these ideas come from the other bloggers. If you readers have any more ideas of how to make church more engaging for teenagers, we would love to hear them.

As I have put together [a] series [of articles] on singles [in the Church], a theme has emerged. This theme has run through all articles and all experiences; it is the same theme I hear in conversation with single friends: condescension. Single members feel a sense of pity, shunning, and lower status in the church. Leaders and married members may or may not feel disregard for or disappointment in their single brothers and sisters, but they do communicate the message.

Easter is a wonderful time to remember Christ's life and reflect on the great love He has for us.

Understanding that Jesus Christ has been forgiving and merciful to us can help us forgive and extend mercy to others. “Jesus Christ is our Exemplar,” said President Thomas S. Monson. “His life was a legacy of love. The sick He healed; the downtrodden He lifted; the sinner He saved. At the end the angry mob took His life. And yet there rings from Golgotha’s hill the words: ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’—a crowning expression in mortality of compassion and love.”

When we think of Christmas, we often think of giving and of receiving gifts. Gifts can be part of a cherished tradition, but they can also detract from the simple dignity of the season and distract us from celebrating the birth of our Savior in a meaningful way.

We recently baked your cookie recipes—all of them. (We had to give everyone a fair chance, right?) The result was a cookie extravaganza. Utilizing the not unformidable tasting abilities of our colleagues at Deseret Book Corporate and our celebrity judges, including Lion House head baker Brenda Hopkin, we narrowed down the field and found our winner!

It's pretty normal at a college basketball game for fans to jeer at the opposing team. But when jeers cross the line, it's not so normal for a fan to defend the opposing team that just won the game.

One of my friends recently asked me in bewilderment, “Where did my visiting teachers go?” From the time her husband passed away, they had been so caring and attentive, but since the announcement of the new ministering program at the general conference in April 2018, she hasn’t seen hide nor hair of them.

Using information from Mormon genealogy, researchers are discovering more about cancer and genetics than ever before.

A group of motorcycles rolls through a small village in Germany. While riding, this group’s line is approximately one to two kilometers long—so large that when the head of the group is leaving the town, the last rider is just entering.