TJ and Dixie Orton have been married for 23 years and are the proud parents of three teenagers. They first met in Orlando, Florida, while serving missions—an experience that sparked both their relationship and their shared commitment to faith and service. TJ, raised in the small town of Woodruff, Utah, values family, hard work, and the outdoors. Dixie is originally from Tucson, Arizona and she brings joy, creativity, and a deep love for others into their home. Together, they’ve built a life centered on love, laughter, and purpose.

In 2008, as my book Shaken Faith Syndrome was getting ready for publication, I contemplated on the fact that most of the book engaged the negative influences toward belief; my book addresses these negative influences and provides specific answers to common anti-LDS arguments. But I was a bit bothered that I hadn’t really included some of the wonderful and exciting evidences in favor of belief. So just a few short months after Shaken Faith Syndrome came off the press, Cedar Published my book, Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith. While the critics cannot prove that God does not exist and that Joseph Smith did not speak to the Father and Son on a hill in Palmyra, neither can believers prove that an angel led Joseph to an ancient Nephite record, or that resurrected beings restored the priesthood to the young prophet. Instead, critics attempt to show that Joseph borrowed teachings and stories from his environment to create a fictional Book of Mormon as well as a man-made Church. These criticisms are addressed in Shaken Faith Syndrome. Believers can show, however, that there are many evidences which support and are consistent with the story told by Joseph Smith. There is evidence consistent with the claim that an ancient family from Jerusalem traversed the Arabian Desert in about 600 B.C. There is evidence consistent with the claim that Joseph possessed actual metal plates with the appearance of gold. There is evidence consistent with the claim that Joseph restored authentic ancient Christian teachings that were no longer practiced and/or taught by Christianity in his day.

The day I hit the mission field, it was February 5th and the snow was going sideways instead of straight down. Three weeks before that I was surfing North side Pier in Oceanside wondering how I was going to pull off serving a mission. I never dreamed my first step into the mission field would be into a full blown blizzard.

Concerning Mormons and Republicans, history offers a large helping of irony. In 1843, an Army officer named John C. Fremont led a geographical expedition of 39 men more than 1,700 miles to the shores of the Great Salt Lake. His report on the journey inspired hounded Mormons to mount their wagons and resettle in the Great Basin. Thirteen years later in Philadelphia, Fremont became the first presidential nominee of the Republican Party, which adopted a platform opposing the “twin relics of barbarism — Polygamy, and Slavery.”

John Whitmer may be my favorite official witness to the Book of Mormon. With the rest of the Eight Witnesses, he claimed to have "seen," "handled" and "hefted" the golden plates in June 1829. Seven years later, he again wrote forcefully of that experience:

The 'All In' podcast is closing in on its third anniversary and currently has over 10 million downloads. If you’re a new listener wondering about the best place to jump in, or if you just want to revisit some highlights, look back with us at our top 20 episodes.

Rather than fantasizing about an ancestral American holy land or rallying behind high-profile Mormon Mitt Romney’s Republican bid for the U.S. presidency, Russian Mormons say they are focused on building up their faith in Russia. “To say it’s a particularly American religion is, to me, not entirely true,” said Vasily Sapozhnikov, a 29-year-old musician who converted about ten years ago, and who, with his tousled blond hair, looks every bit the Western pop star. “It's not about where it started, but about one’s inner feelings – and about God.”

Jonathan Cavender's father was a race car driver, but he decided to stop racing after his children were born due to the dangerous nature of races. Although he stopped racing professionally, his love for racing never diminished. Jonathan's father shared this love with his children by helping them prepare cars for pinewood derby races. However, Jonathan and his brother always knew that family was their father's highest priority.

Featuring stunning shots across New Zealand, the video honors a relative who passed away from terminal brain cancer.

Art forms an impression on our minds. When we visualize scripture stories, it’s often in the style we’ve seen before through art. It’s easy to picture Nephi’s family on the boat, Moroni praying over the plates, Abinadi before King Noah, and more. But can you picture the women from the Book of Mormon? There’s art for them, too.