From Church members sharing their talents on TV to assisting in humanitarian efforts around the world, 2018 has proven to be another amazing year for Latter-day Saints. Here are some of our favorite moments from the year to celebrate!

This was a rut I was grateful to be stuck in one crisp, blue-sky morning in western Wyoming. Standing deep in a trough on a sparsely wooded hill overlooking the North Platte River near the outskirts of Guernsey, I felt the earth rumble as oxen mooed, whips cracked, and covered wagons creaked up the steep rutted incline hauling heavy loads of the essentials, and the trivial. Hardened women in bonnets and long skirts followed coughing in the dust, and men in hats on horses yelled at their livestock and encouraged children and the old staggering to keep pace. Among this rolling wave of humanity were hundreds of poor English and Scandinavian Mormons on foot who had no idea what awaited them in October of 1856 as they pushed and pulled two-wheeled carts with bloody hands ever-onward to Zion and the Valley of the Salt Lake for 1,300 tiresome miles in the ultimate test of their faith.

LDS Church members and missionaries in Oklahoma are joining forces with members of other faith groups and community service volunteers to do as much cleaning up as possible from the most recent round of tornadoes to hit America's Midwest before the next wave hits this week. "I've been here for 18 years and I've never seen anything quite like this," said Kevin Graves, president the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "People are used to tornadoes. It's a fact of life here. It's the sequence, one right after another, that is so unusual. And now they are telling us there are more on the way — maybe as soon as Tuesday. It's unsettling."

Religious messages come through different mediums, and they are gaining traction in the social media arena. Lay church pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, currently has 9,048 tweets on his Twitter account and more than 1.6 million followers.

First-time visitors to churches across the country say churches with 300 to 500 attendees perform the best when it comes to first impressions, according to a recent report. Their experiences at mega churches and smaller-sized congregations weren't quite as enjoyable. Faith Perceptions partnered with church leaders and sent out "mystery guests" to rate their first-time visits at churches varying in size from dozens of members to over a thousand. They found that "large" churches – with average weekly attendance of 300-500 – ranked "best in category" in nine out of 15 areas.

The dust had barely settled from the May 23 vote on the Boy Scouts of America membership policy, when the media analysis and post mortem on this iconic American institution began. Understandably, virtually all the headlines referred to the inclusion of gay scouts. The New York Times described it as a “milestone.” The Washington Post lamented that the policy still excludes gay adult leaders. Time magazine referred to “dramatic change.” And that is probably how history will record it.

It was a difficult and often dangerous life for a child growing up in Columbus, Ga. Drug dealers, burglaries and violence were commonplace, and after witnessing it all firsthand, young Corby Eason decided that he didn’t want to live that way. Corby’s mother, Teresa, also wanted a better future for her son. A strict parent, she established a strong religious foundation for her family in the Southern Baptist faith. Teresa was a secretary in the Southern Baptist Church and made sure her son was involved with the religion seven days a week.

Mitt Romney’s Mormonism—a huge media talking point leading up to the Republican primaries—may not be as big of an issue with everyday Americans since most of them can’t correctly identify his faith. Only four-in-ten people said that Romney is a Mormon in a recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute and Religion News Service.

Several news reports contain claims that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is disciplining one of its members in Florida because of that member’s expression of a political opinion. The Church, however, has released a statement that says, “It is patently false for someone to suggest they face Church discipline for having questions or for expressing a political view. The Church is an advocate of individual choice. It is a core tenet of our faith.” Fortunately, reporters from the New York Times and Salt Lake Tribune dig deeper and get it right.

The Church just announced the open house for the Fort Collins Colorado Temple, the second temple to open in Colorado.