This past week in Come, Follow Me, we read Alma's words to his son Corianton. Also this past week, my wife and I started watching a new superhero show: DC's Stargirl. We're only a few episodes in, so the jury's still out. But one episode felt especially applicable to this week's studies.

In this particular episode, we meet Yolanda: a successful, vibrant, outgoing young woman. She's part of a supportive,...

Once they were "the very vilest of sinners," but a visit from an angel and a long time of anguished repentance transformed the sons of Mosiah into righteous missionaries:

They were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish…

They had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding...

Last week in Come Follow Me, we read the first part of Alma's mission to the apostates in Ammonihah. It's there that we got to meet the wicked lawyer, Zeezrom. The crafty Zeezrom tries every trick in the book to misrepresent Gospel teachings and trip up Alma's junior companion, Amulek. He even tried to bribe Amulek with (according to my math) about a month and a half's worth of a...

This past week in Come Follow Me, covering Mosiah 29 through Alma 4, we read about the death of one of my favorite Book of Mormon heroes. No, not Alma the Elder. No, not King Mosiah. No, definitely not Nehor. I'm talking about the penitent patriot, Gideon. He doesn't get quite the same name recognition as other heroes, but I still think he's really cool.

This may come as a surprise to many of you, but sometimes my children don't listen.

Take bedtime, for instance. At the end of the day, my 4-year-old son and I both know how things are going to end. If my son cooperates when it's "that time," his bedtime will be preceded by playtime, two bedtime stories, and a lullaby. If he throws a tantrum, he will simply be placed...

Jacob 5, if you are not familiar, is a long allegory about the house of Israel. Zenos, the author, compares the house of Israel to an old, decaying olive tree and describes all the efforts of the master gardener to save the tree and its fruit. It's one of those chapters that tend to get only touched on lightly. There just doesn't seem to be much there. Israel is like...

When I was little, I thought missionaries were basically superheroes. I pictured stalwart, obedient, faithful young men and women going all over the world, guided by the Spirit and teaching the truth in majesty and power, saving souls like a spiritual Superman. But then I went on a mission and learned that you can take a teenager to the temple, endow him with power from on high, set him apart...

It's no secret that the world rejects the prophets. I mean, after all, a prophet's job is to share the uncomfortable truth about what we're doing wrong and call us to repent, right? Not exactly a comfortable message. But looking in the Book of Mormon, time and time again, you see that the threats and the condemnation and the calls to repentance are usually not the main reason people get...

In a previous post, I talked about our responsibility to learn to truly "treasure" the word of God like the Nephites did– specifically, that we need to do better at prioritizing our study of the Book of Mormon. We need to "level up" our study so that we're not just reading the words on the page like a novel, but truly study and dig deep.

This is all...

Those who know me know I really like economics. It's a fascinating subject, and even humorous at times. There's a classic economics joke that goes something like this:

Two economists walked past a Porsche showroom. One of them pointed at a shiny car in the window and said, "I want that."

"Obviously not," the other replied.

OK, OK, so while economists may be smart, comedians they are not....