By Anthony E. Larson

Mormon, as the author of the Book of Mormon, was in a truly unique position. He had an intimate knowledge of two cultures that were widely separated in time yet shared the same general geographic location: the Americans and the Nephites. He was a historian and a prophet—a historian because he had custody of the plates that recorded all Nephite history, a prophet because he had been shown the future when people he called “Gentiles” would inhabit the western hemisphere.

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By Dave Ellis

I recently took a business trip via airplane. I can say ‘via’ because it sounds so continental, much like the breakfast I ate at the hotel. More on that later. I used to love to fly, pre 9/11 and post smoking allowed in cabins. That was a wonderful slice of time to fly, smoke free with fingernail clippers. Now I am totally paranoid that something bad is going to happen, and not in the ‘they are out of honey-roasted peanuts’ kind of way.

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You will, I’m sure, be happy to join with me in a prayer of thanks that we have survived another desert summer heat wave. This is the time of year that we desert rats emerge from our summer hibernation in the air conditioning, greet our neighbors, go to the park, and rejuvenate our suffering yards. In another week or so, we’ll remember why we live here. That memory will sustain us until next July, when we again consider packing it in and moving to some cooler clime.

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By Dave Jackson

Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

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By Michele Romney Garvin

Our ward had a fun youth activity whose goal was to get us to the Las Vegas temple, physically and metaphorically. We gathered in vans and were each given a dice. At each stop light we rolled the dice, and the number we got corresponded to the next direction we were to take.

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