United States

The truth about government agencies’ rumored special interest in recruiting Latter-day Saints turns out to be more nuanced.

Check out these delicious and beautiful patriotic desserts that would be perfect for Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Flag Day, or any other patriotic holiday.

This year marks the 110th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Here's a look at Latter-day Saint connections to that fateful voyage.

Mormon Island, an abandoned Gold Rush-era village in Folsom, California, is visible for the first time since 2015.

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced that the Tallahassee Florida Temple groundbreaking will be held in June 2021.

Each year, the NBA hosts an All-Star game featuring 24 of the star players—and this weekend’s NBA All-Star Game also featured a special theme: Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

My childhood memories of the temple all revolve around the Washington D.C. Temple. It was this temple that I saw in all of my parents’ wedding pictures. It looked like a castle and I dreamed of going inside someday.

Editor's note: This article appears in the November/December 2020 issue of LDS Living magazine.

While the pandemic has prevented many Latter-day Saints from attending the temple, it hasn’t kept temple work from moving forward. In the past month alone, five groundbreaking ceremonies have been held. Whether local saints are anticipating the second temple in their city—as with the Red Cliffs Utah Temple—or the third temple in their nation—as with the Salta Argentina Temple—each groundbreaking has been meaningful and unique. Here’s a look at some of the highlights from each one.

Two hundred deliveries to food pantries and charities in the state of New York are being donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the first appearance of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, in Palmyra, New York, to Joseph Smith, prophet and first president of the Church.

This article appears in the September/October 2020 issue of LDS Living magazine. It isn’t every day that Brigham Young University–Hawaii gets a new president. And while the change is happening during a time of irregularity, a more perfect person couldn’t have been picked to fill the role. Meet Keoni Kauwe: husband and father, direct descendant of one of Hawaii’s most well-known Latter-day Saint converts, Alzheimer’s researcher, and the new president of BYU–Hawaii.

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced groundbreakings for the Bentonville Arkansas Temple and the McAllen Texas Temple. Renderings of the temples have also been released.

On Saturday, July 18, 2020, the Feather River California Temple became the fourth temple to have a broadcast groundbreaking ceremony due to current COVID-19 guidelines, but that’s not the only way the groundbreaking of the eighth temple in California was remarkable.

For the past eight years, a 50-pound American flag has hung over Little Willow Canyon in Sandy, Utah. At 30 feet by 60 feet, the flag is anchored on either side of the canyon and supported by 500 feet of plasma rope, waving proudly in the breeze from Independence Day to the Saturday after Pioneer Day.

This excerpt is from Be Your Best Self by President Thomas S. Monson, which was published in 1979. This excerpt originally ran on LDS Living in July 2017.

When people think of Missouri, they often focus on the extermination order of Governor Lilburn W. Boggs. On October 27, 1838, the governor’s infamous command declared, “The Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary for the public good.”1 But the extermination order isn’t the whole story.

Latter-day Saints aren't the only ones who have spoken from the podium of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Many US Presidents have as well. In honor of President's Day, here are a few interesting details behind each of their visits to this historic Temple Square building.

The following story originally ran on LDS Living in 2016 but is being shared again to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the Laie Hawaii Temple on November 27 through 30, 1919.

Millions of curious people around the world who previously only had the chance to tour inside new or renovated temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before they were dedicated during brief open house periods, can now “look inside” a spectacular new cut-away model put on permanent display in the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors’ Center.

On one of my visits to the Hawaiian island of Moloka‘i to work on the book The Way of Aloha: Moloka‘i, I visited the Kapuaiwa Royal Coconut Grove. This grove was planted in 1863 by King Kamehameha V and contains approximately 1,000 coconut trees. The tallest of these trees towers over 100 feet into the air.

A public open house will be held for the Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Saturday, October 26, through Saturday, November 2, 2019, except Sunday. Open house hours are Monday through Thursday 2:00 to 8:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Reservations are not required.

The following originally ran on LDS Living in June 2017 and is an excerpt from the book The Way of Aloha: Lanai by Cameron C. Taylor. You can also read about the powerful lessons Taylor learnedwriting the sequel to this book, The Way of Aloha: Moloka‘i, here.

Today when you hear the word “theater,” you probably think of a dark room, enormous screens, and overflowing buckets of popcorn. But for some people, the theater still represents sweeping curtains, hours of rehearsal, and mic checks. That’s what it means for a small group of Latter-day Saints who are about to make their debut on Off-Broadway in New York this November with a new musical called An Enchanted April. “I don't think there has been a collection of members of the Church producing a musical like this for about 15 years,” writer and Latter-day Saint Elizabeth Hansen says. “The composer, our executive producer, our assistant musical director, our projection designer, our publicist, and two of our actors are also members. It's unique and quite remarkable.”

An exterior rendering has been released showing the planned design of the Feather River California Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After 11 years and more than 1,600 performances at the Flamingo, Donny and Marie were honored by the city of Las Vegas with a key to the Strip and an upcoming star on the Walk of Stars.

“They were angelic!" April Mecham said about the choir of 150 missionaries she led in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Houston Astros game.

The choir, orchestra, and United States Military Academy Band at West Point performed "The Stars and Stripes Forever," "Armed Forces Medley," and "America the Beautiful."

This stirring rendition of "God Bless America" sung by Tyler Perry and created by Book of Mormon Central will fill you with awe as it portrays the beauty of the United States and reflects on the freedoms its constitution grants. As Book of Mormon Central posted on YouTube: "As we celebrate the 4th of July, let us remember and be grateful for the founding of the United States of America, which allowed for the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

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.

When Elder Vai Sikahema was a child in Tonga, a wooden home was a luxury in his village where most homes were made of thatch.

Lasting happiness, even joy, comes to those who keep the commandments of God, said President Russell M. Nelson, speaking here in the “happiest place on earth” on Sunday, June 9.

ORLANDO, Florida — Before addressing a crowd of more than 15,500 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here, President Russell M. Nelson quietly acknowledged a dark day in this city known for theme parks and happy memories.

Editor's note: This article originally ran on LDSLiving in 2019.

Jolynn Forman is a Latter-day Saint artist who researches the themes of different temples and incorporates those themes into her paintings. All artwork in this article is by Sister Forman.

Born in Tonga in 1962, Elder Vai Sikahema was 5 years old when his family traveled to the nearest temple in New Zealand for the first time. "Whatever could be sold was sold for our passage to New Zealand," Elder Sikahema says in a new LDS Living video.

At first, November 8, 2018, must have felt like a normal morning. Stake seminary supervisor Sandi Anderson of Paradise, California, left home at her normal 6:30 a.m. departure time to attend class. As normal, she visited with the students and teachers after class. Then she received a not so normal text from her husband telling her she’d better come home.

In A. J. Russell's iconic photograph of the celebration following the driving of the golden spike, Samuel S. Montague, chief engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad, is shaking hands with Grenville M. Dodge, chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad. Somewhere in the crowd is Leland Stanford, who first missed and then tapped the golden spike into a pre-drilled hole in a special railroad tie made of polished California laurel.

News outlets across California have been reporting on the Oakland California Temple open house, a house of the Lord the East Bay Times notes "might be the city’s most recognizable house of worship."

A Latter-day Saint teen was shot twice while helping fellow students subdue a gunman in Tuesday’s school shooting in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

On March 16, thousands of Pocatello Latter-day Saints gathered under crisp, sunny skies for the groundbreaking ceremony commencing construction of the Pocatello Idaho Temple.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has filed preliminary plans with Henrico County, Virginia, for construction of a new temple.

Additional renderings have been released showing designs for the new Pocatello Idaho Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In a rare interview with local Arizona media outlets, President Russell M. Nelson and President Dallin H. Oaks addressed a wide array of topics, including immigration, politics, and the whirlwind of changes the Church has recently experienced. This interview preceded President Nelson's historic devotional to an estimated 68,000 people in an NFL stadium.

In a new video by the Church News, President Russell M. Nelson shares, “If there is anything I’ve learned in my 94 years of living, it is that a life with God is far better — more filled with hope — than one without Him.” These thoughts came from a recent op-ed article President Nelson wrote for the Arizona Republic.

An estimated 68,000 people gathered in an NFL stadium on February 10—not to watch football players go head-to-head in an adrenaline-pumping game but to listen to a 94-year-old prophet of God speak. About this gathering, which is believed to be the largest Latter-day Saint gathering in Arizona's history, Arizona Central's BrieAnna J. Frank and Mackenzie Shuman wrote, "The leader of [T]he Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday reminded a massive gathering of church members in Glendale to follow the covenants to unlock God's promises and reminded them about the important role that church members will play in preparing for the second coming of Jesus Christ."