A few years ago, I saw a Twitter post asking how a Latter-day Saint might respond to a situation involving family and same-sex marriage. It was a great question, so I reposted it with my brief thoughts about the tricky balance of love and faith and how I might respond, and then I happily went to bed. I had no idea what was about to happen.

I was standing in the Conference Center at Temple Square, a place I’d previously only ever seen on a TV screen. This past summer, I finally got to walk its halls in person—an experience that felt like stepping into a storybook. I’m not an art guy, but one painting in the Conference Center art gallery grabbed my attention immediately and hasn’t let go since.

Last week, I had the privilege of working a baptismal session in the Temple with our wonderful Spanish branch– most of them recent converts doing this work for the first time. They were untrained and nervous, so there were many do-overs. As I watched these humble brethren intently struggle through the ordinance, I thought back to my own first time doing baptisms for the dead, and how I managed to...

I'm writing this post from the cafe of the YMCA (I come here regularly, but I'm no gym rat– I drop the kids at the daycare while I work). Right now, this place is absolutely packed! I shouldn't be surprised– it always fills up during the first month of the year as people try to meet their resolution to lose weight and get in shape.

I looked it up just...

Thirty minutes had passed and most of the missionaries were back in the chapel. But not my companion. Forty minutes and a few more stragglers came in. But not my companion. Fifty minutes and the APs started us singing hymns and bearing testimonies to pass the time, but my mission president and my companion were still absent. I started getting nervous. Finally, after a full hour had passed, my companion...

As a software engineer, it's my job to find the optimal way to do things. I'm constantly looking for the most efficient method to sort a list, store stuff in a database, and speed up a program. And once my brain is set to "optimization mode," it's hard to turn it off.

For example, recently, as I waited for a Temple session to start, I found myself mentally inventing ways...

It's amazing how much we can learn from a story the second time it's told. Details and viewpoints you missed entirely the first go-round tend to come out in subsequent tellings (like Joseph Smith's First Vision). You may not have caught it, but this month in Come, Follow Me, we're reading one such re-telling that teaches us some important truths about love– what it is and what it isn't....

On June 5, 1976, Idaho's Teton Dam broke, sending a massive wall of water fifteen feet high over the valley below. The 80 million gallons of water that rushed over Sugar City and Rexburg carried away houses, demolished businesses, and covered the whole community in a thick layer of rancid muck. Pres. Henry B. Eyring, then president of Ricks College (now BYU-I) noticed that some individuals went to work and...

I've recently been impressed to study the teachings and biography of the First Presidency. My respect, love, and feelings for these men grow deeper with every chapter. It has been a powerful, revelatory experience. I also learned more about doctrine and Church history. For example, Pres. Nelson's biography relates how Pres. Nelson's grandfather received a visitation from his late father from beyond the veil and recorded the interview.

I have a confession to make. Most people don't know this about me, but I sometimes, even often, get bored at Church and zone out. Shocker, I know. But it's just not often that we learn something new about the core of the Gospel, right? Don't get me wrong, the principles of the Gospel never stop being interesting and wonderful, but sometime after the 40th lesson on a subject, it...