Daedan Olander

Latter-day Saint Life

Becoming the miracle: How a mission president paralyzed while serving still shares his faith

By Daedan Olander

April 11, 2022 01:00 PM MDT

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on LDSLiving.com in August 2019.

7 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

After Losing His Arm, How This Church Member Became Andy Reid's Senior Assistant

By Daedan Olander

February 03, 2020 03:26 PM MST

This story originally ran on LDS Living in June 2019.

2 Min Read

How a Christ-Centered Gift Is Bringing Together a Community Torn Apart by Fire

By Daedan Olander

August 31, 2019 08:00 AM MDT

The wildfire that burned through Paradise, California, in 2018 was the most violent in the state's history. With the containment taking nearly two weeks, the blaze destroyed nearly 15,000 homes and took 86 lives.

8 Min Read

The Comparison We Should Be Making (and All Those We Should Ignore)

By Daedan Olander

August 24, 2019 08:55 AM MDT

Basketball is one of my favorite things. I love playing, watching, and even talking about the sport that, to me, is the ultimate source of comparisons.

4 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

10 Wonderful Promised Blessings If We Magnify our Callings

By Daedan Olander

August 15, 2019 08:51 AM MDT

The direction to magnify our callings can be an ambiguous, demanding one to follow. In a talk he gave in 2006, President Thomas S. Monson defined magnifying our callings as the following:

1 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

Latter-day Saint Teen on How Faith Helped Her Win Gatorade Player of the Year 4 Times

By Daedan Olander

August 05, 2019 09:05 AM MDT

The FitnessGram pacer test is a multistage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues.

8 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

Why We Sometimes Don't Receive Answers to Our Questions

By Daedan Olander

July 12, 2019 12:21 PM MDT

Many have found themselves in this situation: Religion is brought up, and we share that we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Questions follow that we don’t know how to answer.

3 Min Read

Famous Latter-day Saints

The Latter-day Saint Boxing World Champion Who Was More Famous Than Babe Ruth

By Daedan Olander

July 09, 2019 02:00 PM MDT

A little over 100 years ago, Jack Dempsey became the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, defeating four-year defending champion Jess Willard in a title fight by way of corner retirement between the third and fourth rounds.

8 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

Why the Cross Is "Vitally Important" to Our Faith, Even If We Don't Wear Them

By Daedan Olander

July 06, 2019 02:21 PM MDT

In 2018, President Russell M. Nelsonplaced increased emphasis on using the full and correct name of the Church:

1 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

20 Powerful Scriptures About Freedom and Liberty

By Daedan Olander

July 04, 2019 09:36 AM MDT

With both Memorial Day and Flag Day having come and gone in the past couple months, the season of celebrating freedom in the United States is approaching its peak on July 4, when the country commemorates the day it declared its independence.

5 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

How This Patriotic Norman Rockwell Painting Was Inspired by Joseph Smith

By Daedan Olander

June 28, 2019 10:03 PM MDT

As the Second World War was raging across the globe and the U.S. was getting sucked into the conflict, artist Norman Rockwell petitioned The Saturday Evening Post for a commission to paint visual representations of four ideals. These fundamental freedoms were identified by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as basic human rights in a speech he delivered to Congress in 1941. He called them the four freedoms: the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear.

2 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

Listen: What Loss Taught 2 Women About God's Plan for Them

By Daedan Olander

June 21, 2019 10:00 PM MDT

Sometimes the Lord directs us to places where we never thought we would go. Discover how two women's trust in the Lord strengthened them to accomplish God's surprising will.

2 Min Read

Fun

The 10 People You'll Meet at a Youth Stake Dance

By Daedan Olander

June 20, 2019 10:00 PM MDT

Stake youth dances are a great way to have fun and meet new people. How many of these personalities have you run across at a stake dance?

1 Min Read

Fun

If Toy Story Characters Had Church Callings

By Daedan Olander

June 17, 2019 02:16 PM MDT

Can you believe the first Toy Story movie came out 24 years ago? Since then, we've loved, laughed, and cried with our favorite toy characters through four movies. But have you ever wondered what it might be like to serve with Buzz or Woody? Here's what we think that would look like:

1 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

‘Shiloh’ and ‘Bishop of Our Souls’: 10 lesser-known titles of Christ and their powerful meaning

By Daedan Olander

June 10, 2019 09:37 AM MDT

To help you better come to know Christ, here are 10 lesser-known titles or names of our Savior as found in the scriptures.

10 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

How Practice and Faith Led One Man Who Lost His Job to a Gold Rating at Carnegie Hall

By Daedan Olander

June 04, 2019 02:30 PM MDT

Carnegie Hall: It’s a hallowed name among musicians and stands among the preeminent performing arenas in the world.

5 Min Read

Fun

The 10 People You'll Meet on Trek

By Daedan Olander

June 04, 2019 01:00 PM MDT

While no two treks are ever the same, most Church members who have been on one will recognize these 10 people amongst their trek families.

1 Min Read

Fun

Seminary Explained in 10 Hilarious Harry Potter GIFs

By Daedan Olander

June 01, 2019 01:37 PM MDT

You may never have gotten your acceptance letter to Hogwarts, but at least you got to go to seminary. Here are 10 GIFs that give you the best of both worlds.

1 Min Read

What Does It Really Mean to Be a Part of the "Chosen Generation"?

By Daedan Olander

June 01, 2019 12:20 PM MDT

In a general conference address titled “A Chosen Generation,” President Gordon B. Hinckley said about the young people of the Church:

3 Min Read

Watch: Toddler Receives Surprise Hospital Visit from Disney Princess

By Daedan Olander

May 30, 2019 06:50 PM MDT

In a tender moment that made national headlines, nearly 2-year old Emma Krall received a surprise visit from one of her favorite Disney characters—Princess Rapunzel from Tangled—while recovering in a Seattle hospital from halo-spinal traction surgery in April.

2 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

“When You Stopped Me, I Planned on Shooting You Dead”—What Saved One Policeman’s Life

By Daedan Olander

May 26, 2019 10:47 PM MDT

Verdi was working the graveyard shift. He was relatively new to the police force—only two years in—and on this particular night, he was alone: no partner and no immediate backup.

1 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

A New Way to Think of "Sunday Best" + When Our Sunday Best Doesn't Feel Good Enough

By Daedan Olander

May 25, 2019 02:36 PM MDT

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, in his April 2019 general conference address, warned members against complacency in their Sunday worship:

2 Min Read

Listen: What God Taught One Woman by Sending Her to a Remote Village Near the Sahara Desert

By Daedan Olander

May 25, 2019 12:14 PM MDT

“One of my friends said, 'If God loves you, He’ll take you to a desert,'” Brittani McLeod says in an LDS Living This Is the Gospel podcast.

1 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

How One Latter-day Saint Pioneer's Grave Has Become a Cherished Nebraskan Landmark

By Daedan Olander

May 23, 2019 02:39 PM MDT

Where there was once only a slightly bent metal wagon wheel adorning Rebecca Winters's grave, now her final resting place has not only moved but has also gained a headstone and a signpost commemorating her trek west, her passing, and, in some ways, every Latter-day Saint pioneer.

1 Min Read