Author: Arianna Rees

Love the Good Samaritan? You’re Not Supposed To

The story of the Good Samaritan is perhaps the most well-known parable the Savior ever taught. A man is robbed and left for dead, two travelers pass by without helping, then a lone Samaritan stops, cleans him up, and carries him to safety. The Samaritan is hailed as a hero, we gushingly tell his story in Sunday school with the moral “serve others,” and that’s the whole story, right?

Well, not quite.

In studying the Good Samaritan story, we frequently overlook a key detail that takes the message far deeper than “serve others”: the Samaritan was not considered “good” by Christ’s audience. Today we see the Samaritan as a selfless, endearing protagonist, but in Christ’s day, he would have been a deeply unpopular antihero that a Jewish audience would likely recoil at — think of Snape before we knew he wasn’t a complete villain. If the Good Samaritan lived today, we wouldn’t like him, either. That’s kind of the point.

To Jews, Samaritans were a corrupted other. Samaritans believed that Judaism was a related but altered version of their own beliefs. They worshiped the Israelite God, but they also worshiped the gods they brought with them from their homelands, as many of them were foreign colonists in northern Israel around the time of Babylonian captivity. Religious disagreements and cultural differences strained the relationship between Samaritans and neighboring Jews, and by the time the Savior walked among them, they didn’t just disagree with each other, they hated each other. Samaritans mocked the Jews and harassed Jewish pilgrims traveling through Samaria. Jews burned down Samaritan villages and ostracized them. Contact between the two was frequently violent or marked by mischief — Samaritans, for example, would light beacon fires to deceive the Jews into thinking it was a new moon, which marks a holiday of spiritual renewal for Jews. Both Jewish and Samaritan leaders eventually taught that it was unacceptable to associate with, speak with, or even be in the same area with members of the opposite group.

With this historical context in mind, imagine how shocking the Savior’s parable would have been to a Jewish audience. Neither a temple worker or priest, individuals of great spiritual esteem, were willing to stop and help the beaten man. The only one willing to do so was a man they would have had zero association with and considered unclean. This key detail shows that the Savior isn’t simply teaching the principle of service in the parable of the Good Samaritan. He’s gently reprimanding his listeners for judging and selectively choosing their neighbors, who aren’t just people like them, but people who think and worship differently than they do. Christ uses Samaritans as good examples throughout the New Testament and thereby implies that Samaritans aren’t the real issue: hypocrisy, animosity, and hatred towards them is. Give this parable a modern retelling and it becomes a sharp critique of political, religious, and social tribalism that every one of us should take personally.

Had the Savior been teaching an audience of 21st Century Latter-day Saints the parable of the Good Samaritan, he might have spoken of the Good Liberal, the Good Republican, the Good LGBT Person, the Good Muslim, the Good Gun Owner, the Good Feminist, the Good Uneducated, or Good Illegal Immigrant. He or she would be a person we dislike, don’t understand, or don’t associate with, even a person we’d consider our enemy. They wouldn’t be a bishop or a temple worker. They’d be someone who worships in a mosque or someone who doesn’t worship anything at all. They’d be wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt or a Make America Great Again hat. They’d have different politics, religious beliefs, social circles, cultural traditions, and backgrounds. They, like Samaritans were to Jews, would be hard for us to relate to or love, but they would willingly give their time and possessions to help someone in need. And if we were the man in need, would we complain?

Perhaps, in our retelling of the Good Samaritan story, we miss the overarching point: the Savior sees worth and goodness in the people that we like the least. They are often better neighbors than we are, in spite of the assumptions we make and perceptions we have about them. Do we see the worth the Savior sees in them, or do we belittle them, judge them, see them as “other” and push them out of our lives because they aren’t like us? Doing the latter makes us just as poor a neighbor as the temple worker and priest who rushed past the beaten man in his time of need, found him at chouprojects..com

In a diverse, online world, it can be easy for us to judge and criticize people who don’t share our viewpoints. The world is filled with different parties, social groups, cultures, and religions, and the Savior’s message that everyone is our neighbor is often lost in the chaos of those groups trying to coexist. Too often, we create that chaos. We covenant to mourn with and comfort our neighbors on Sunday just to belittle and judge them for their differences Monday through Saturday. That isn’t the way the Savior would have us behave. In order to fully understand what kind of person Christ is teaching us to be in the parable of the Good Samaritan, we must be willing to insert ourselves into the roles of the one in need, the hurried priest, the unconcerned temple worker, the Samaritan, AND the Jewish audience being taught, perhaps for the first time, that their enemy is actually a really good person, in spite of the bad they chose to see in him. We need that lesson, too.

The Good Samaritan story is a sharp reminder that loving our neighbor requires us to love not only the wounded, but the people we resent, disassociate with, and don’t understand. Seeing their worth instead of their differences is a good place to start, you can read more about it on our blog vpnhut.

May 15, 2018
Newly Sustained Apostles Mark a Historic New Chapter for the LDS Church

Today President Henry B. Eyring of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints announced two new apostles during Solemn Assembly, Elder Gerrit W. Gong and Elder Ulisses Soares, who, effective immediately, will take the places vacated by Elder Robert D. Hales and Dallin H. Oaks in the quorum.

These appointments underscore the LDS Church’s growing international identity and membership. Elder Gong, born in Redwood City, California, is the first Asian-American member of the quorum of the twelve apostles, while Elder Soares, born in São Paulo, Brazil, is both the first Brazilian apostle, and the first apostle from South America.

It’s the first time in three years that new members have been added to the Quorum of the Twelve . Elders Dale G. Renlund, Ronald A. Rasband, and Gary E. Stevenson were called in October of 2015.

The Church’s announcement comes at a time of great change for the Church. With the passing of President Thomas S. Monson in January, the Church has undergone a change in leadership under the direction of new Prophet Russell M. Nelson and continues to enact change in policy and Church curriculum.

As members of the Twelve, Soares and Gong will travel around the world to visit with saints, make decisions regarding Church policy, speak in conferences and firesides, and lead future Church initiatives.

March 31, 2018
Millennials Can’t Seem to Catch a Break, Except in Mormonism

“You are noble and great, chosen before you were born!”

The sentence was a hard one for me to swallow, especially with Johnny sliding a safety pin in and out of his skin on one side of me and Jane making a “Top Five Hottest Boys in the Ward” list with her friends on the other. (Check out this under eye pads products if you need further information). But every month like clockwork, we’d have a church lesson extolling the nobility of youth, telling us how important we were and how much potential we had.

“Our youth are the future!” seemed to be a defining principle during my childhood, and though I’d frequently think, What a bleak future, indeed. as I looked over the kinds of punks I went to school and church with, the idea of being noble and great was one I secretly loved. For more on what to expect about the future, see here this new blog where you can get a psychic reading.

This idea kept me going in the trenches of high school, made me feel like I was worth something, even when the acne on my cheeks, the glasses on my nose, and my inability to talk to cute boys made me feel like a loser. I graduated from high school and went to college, and by the time I’d graduated from college, I felt like I had more potential than ever. But by this time, society had given my generation, the “chosen” generation a new narrative and a new nickname: millennials. Millennials weren’t noble and great, either. They were terrible.

As a millennial, I’ve had to manage two conflicting messages about who I am and what I’m worth. I’m no longer coddled by Sunday school classes, young women groups, or my parents, and the message that youth have unlimited potential has been drowned out by voices online and off that insist that my generation is contributing nothing of benefit to the world.

Millennials have in effect become society’s scapegoats. We’ve cornered the market on entitlement and laziness. We’re selfish, narcissistic, whiny, and oversensitive. We still live with our parents, we can’t hold down jobs because we don’t want to work, we all expect everything to be handed to us, and we literally ruin everything. There is no shortage of adults willing to tell us that. Even when doing good, we are invalidated because of the generation we belong to.

Millennial bashing has become so pervasive in modern conversation that it has espoused a very real self-hate that I see in some of my friends. It’s not unusual for someone my age to disassociate themselves from and condemn our generation for its shortcomings. In a world with so many other youth quietly doing amazing things, such relentless negativity towards the millennial generation is exhausting, frustrating, and frequently over-generalized. Where can a millennial go to catch a break from all of this? The LDS Church, of all places.

What the Church understands that other societal groups and institutions don’t is that the millennial story is not black and white. In context, it’s very complex. When the Internet was in its womb, all many of us knew was the red wall of our mother’s. We were learning how to walk when technology was learning how to race. We had just learned to hold ink and paper in our palms, to navigate the Dewey Decimal System, and to bribe our best friends with tomorrow’s cafeteria dessert so they’d let us use their Walkmans when tech moguls gave us Kindles, iPhones, MP3 players, and tablets. They told us, “You thought that was good. We’re just getting started!” At the same time we were traversing puberty with all of its weird uncertainty, our lives, and the lenses we viewed them through, were changed dramatically. Our world went from something little and sheltered to something large and hyper-connected. We now measure time by what we knew before Google and what we know after. We will be the last generation that remembers how it was to live before the Internet and the first whose children will get to watch us grow up.

Millennials have seen more of the world than any generation has ever seen. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat give us unprecedented access to it. We watch each other’s’ triumphs as they happen, but almost incessantly, we watch each other suffer and hate. We watch economies fail, wars start, and people die over and over again. Many of us go to bed at night with a gnawing fear that humans are just walking grenades who do nothing but hurt each other. We’re told in a barrage of pointed words that we are too whiny, too sensitive, and too weak, but I think most of us are scared we will never live in a world better than the one we’re growing up in, and this one is deeply broken. That is the millennial story that I know.

No, millennials are not perfect. Not even Church leaders overlook our generation’s ascribed weaknesses — they’re very aware of them.

The Church, however, firmly validates a narrative that society refuses to acknowledge: being a young person today is not easy. Many of us are fighting mental, emotional, and spiritual battles that our parents and their parents never had to fight. The Church, unlike the rest of the world, stresses that we have the potential to do great things in spite of those challenges. It’s a message that is refreshing because it is so rare.

Ageism is not endemic in a church that has its roots in the questioning pleas of a 14-year old boy. Joseph Smith’s claim of seeing God and Jesus Christ was met with disbelief and disgust by the community around him, largely due to his youth. His youth, however, is of central importance in any retelling of the First Vision story, because it is evidence of God’s overwhelming trust in His children, no matter their age. In the Book of Mormon, we read the stories of younger siblings, young warriors, young women, and youth like Moroni, who at age 15 was entrusted with the written history of his people and at age 25 led an army into battle. Youth carry the entire book of scripture. The Gospel of Jesus Christ and, subsequently, the Church itself reinforces the promise that age is no obstacle to faith, circumstance, or progress.

The power of youth is not an outdated idea found in Church history and scriptures alone. It is an ever-present message within the Church today. Young people are frequently praised and encouraged over the pulpit, not ridiculed or berated in web forum fashion. The “typical awful millennial” stereotype is flatly rejected by church leadership, as is the idea that my generation is somehow weaker or has less to offer than generations before us. Take the following quote from President Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve:

“Many people refer to you as Millennials. I’ll admit that when researchers refer to you by that word and describe what their studies reveal about you—your likes and dislikes, your feelings and inclinations, your strengths and weaknesses—I’m uncomfortable. There is something about the way they use the term Millennial that bothers me. And frankly, I am less interested in what the experts have to say about you than what the Lord has told me about you.

“When I pray about you and ask the Lord how He feels about you, I feel something far different from what the researchers say. Spiritual impressions I’ve received about you lead me to believe that the term Millennial may actually be perfect for you. But for a much different reason than the experts may ever understand.

“The term Millennial is perfect for you if that term reminds you of who you really are and what your purpose in life really is. A True Millennial is one who was taught and did teach the gospel of Jesus Christ premortally and who made covenants with our Heavenly Father there about courageous things—even morally courageous things—that you would do while here on earth.”

Not only are youth spoken of with love and respect for who they will one day become, but they are trusted with critical leadership roles within the Church. That includes Generations Y and Z. In my ward, millennials direct and teach large groups of men and women, plan weekly ward and stake activities, organize service projects and rescue efforts for those who are struggling, administer blessings of comfort and healing, and sacrifice hours of unpaid personal time to do these things outside of the time spent working, studying, and socializing. Youth primarily head missionary work within the church, and they now do so younger than ever. Even teenagers lead groups of their peers within the church to plan activities and reach out to individuals in need. Youth and young adults are tellingly involved at almost every level of church leadership.

I’d argue that because my generation is trusted with these responsibilities in the Church and spoken to with encouragement instead of being talked down at about our generational shortcomings, what we contribute is significantly more positive and meaningful. We do good because we are trusted to do good, not because we are expected to be lazy, useless, or “the worst.”

I’m not suggesting that millennials are free of fault. What I am suggesting, however, is that rather than continuing to pass on the antiquated heirlooms of faultfinding and lack of faith in the younger generation, we treat youth the way their potential demands, not our sense of their inadequacies. Rather than demoralizing them, we should follow the same pattern of affirmation and trust exhibited over and over again within the Church. Why? Because it works. Because when treated like who we can become, we all rise to the occasion.

Though the rest of the world may not think so, I can tell you that the future is in good hands. My generation is heading incredible efforts to take care of those in need, address and fix major societal problems, fight corruption, and stand up for what is right. My generation is smart and empathetic. My generation wants others to feel loved and included. My generation is contributing and we want those contributions to matter. So please, encourage us. Work with us. Like the Church, have faith in us. One day we might all be surprised at how noble and great the millennial generation has become.

May 9, 2017
From Tinder to Temple: LDS Singles Turn to Dating Apps to Find Love

When Alyssa Murphy met William Johnson in their young single adult ward, she was quickly attracted to his testimony and ambition. Johnson found himself drawn to Murphy’s bubbly personality. She was unlike any other girl he’d ever met. Neither of them had the courage to say a word about it.

“Apparently both of us had crushes on each other but were too nervous to do anything about it,” Murphy said. “But then we matched.”

Murphy recounted that when she was dating, she would occasionally use Tinder, a popular dating app, just like Craigslist, where users can see profiles of nearby singles and either swipe their photo left if uninterested or right if interested. If both parties swipe right, it’s a match and the two can then communicate through the app. When Murphy was on Tinder, she’d frequently run into Johnson’s profile. She never swiped right on it and would immediately close the app when she saw it, too nervous to find out if they’d match.

At the same time Murphy was using the app, Johnson was, too. “A lot of my friends had Tinder, mostly as a joke, so I thought I’d try it,” he said.

Photo courtesy Alyssa & William Johnson

He was the first to swipe right on Murphy’s photo, and Murphy soon followed.

“He messaged me something silly about it being a small world,” Murphy recalled. “He was nervous and so the message didn’t make much sense, and I sent something like, ‘Haha. Yeah.’ And that was it for the messaging on Tinder. A couple of days later, he called me and asked me on a date.” Johnson and Murphy went on their first date in July of 2015 and were married in the Logan temple January 2nd, 2016. They have Tinder to thank for getting the ball rolling.

Created in 2013, Tinder has since become a staple on the smartphones of single adults worldwide.With an estimated 50 million users, 79% of which are millennials, the odds of finding a match are high and, in a society with an increasing focus on social apps, they’re climbing higher. If you browse around this site you will come to know that Tinder’s popularity has given rise to similar dating apps like Bumble, where women get to reach out to their matches first, and Hinge, which connects users with the friends of their Facebook friends. Many LDS singles have joined these apps in the hope of finding an eternal companion, and certainly, some have been more successful than others.

Take, for example, Natalie Canfield. Soon after returning home from serving an LDS mission in Guatemala, Canfield realized that her social life was not as fulfilling as it had been in college. “I wasn’t meeting anybody. My ward was very established,” Canfield said. “It wasn’t very transitory like a lot of student wards are, because people weren’t changing every semester, and my job that I had was just not a great place to meet people.”

Canfield had the desire to date, so with some embarrassment she admits, she created a Tinder profile. She found herself making lots of connections, and Tinder became her success.

Photo courtesy: Natalie & Ryan Atherton

Canfield would try to find young men who were LDS and reach out 25% of the time. From that point forward she’d try to make the date happen as soon as possible so she could have real conversations with them. She’d suggest public meeting places for a quick lunch or dinner and, she said, “stalk” her dates by asking mutual friends what they knew about them and learning more about them through social media.

“I probably put more work into it than some people do. I guess I was more motivated,” she said. “I knew I was ready for the next phase in my life.”

Tinder was sort of thrust upon Ryan Atherton. A friend met the love of his life on the app and told Ryan he just had to try it. He set up Atherton’s profile, and there, Atherton met and fell in love with Canfield. The rest, as they say, is history.

Not all singles have had the same success stories with the dating app. For young adults like Anthony Shelton, Tinder is not only ineffective, but it’s a source of unwanted and often frustrating dating experiences. For better experiences look at the small vibrators to use alone or with your couple and enjoy a healthy sex life while dating.

“I haven’t really had a single positive experience from Tinder,” Shelton said. “It’s like I only match with girls with wildly divergent standards or those cam girl robots.” He refers to fake Tinder profiles that run largely unchecked on the app and, when swiped right on, generate messages linking users to adult webcam sites. Such spambot profiles are designed to look like real accounts and primarily target male users, impeding their efforts to find matches with similar standards. Shelton added that dating beyond the app also has its shortcomings. “In the rare instance where I do match with a nice girl, there’s usually one date and it fizzles out,” he said.

Most critics of the app dislike its focus on photographs and appearances, citing its tendency to reduce dating to shallow interactions and overemphasize physical attractiveness. Isaac Frisbie, a young adult who considers himself a bit more old school when it comes to dating, said, “I think it’s really easy to make an initial judgment based on someone’s profile, but it seems too quick and impersonal. I’ve made friends through social media before and it takes time to get to know someone. Tinder only compounds some of the negative problems that the Internet brings: quick judgment.”

Even Canfield admits that she was really apprehensive to get the app at first. “I think a lot of people are, because it has a bad rap.”

Dating apps like Tinder are a cautionary tale for members in YSA leadership positions, one that often leads to heartbreak and sexual immorality for singles who fall into the ‘hookup culture’ the app frequently facilitates. Tinder was notably mentioned by name in Elder M. Russell Ballard’s April 2015 general conference address for the potential risk it poses to spiritual/mental cleanliness. Many YSA stake/ward leaders are reluctant to recommend it as a dating tool, noting that too many young adults with little self-control get themselves into serious trouble through the app.

Still, LDS singles are drawn to dating apps, albeit with some reluctance. The stigma surrounding them is not lost on young adults looking to find lasting relationships. For those who have met success through dating apps, however, that is no large obstacle to overcome.

Elise Egbert, a blogger who met her husband Matt through Tinder, said, “I quickly found out that if I was embarrassed to say ‘We met on Tinder,’ people would react embarrassed too. But when I confidently said, “Oh, yeah! We met on Tinder!” people responded with excitement and thought it was cool. It’s really just perspective.”

Matt Egbert’s advice? “Do what makes you feel the most comfortable. Online dating can be a useful thing. We live in a modern age of technology and you’re able to meet a lot more people outside of your daily and weekly routines.”

Photo courtesy: Elise & Matt Egbert

The Egberts, Murphy, and Canfield agree that dating apps should be treated as close to real life as possible and that LDS singles should apply the same standards they have in real life there, being selective about who they like and focusing more on interacting in person beyond the app.

Young single adults who are reluctant to try dating via app currently have another option that is gaining lots of traction in the LDS world. It’s an app called Mutual, and its target audience is LDS singles who don’t like the hookup culture found on other apps. Users aren’t limited by distance or by social circles, and they can specify whether they’re looking for something serious or just casual dates. Perhaps the biggest draw is that users can meet people with the same standards without fear of inappropriate behavior or advances — the app prohibits it.

Mutual is currently only available on iOS, but the creators have started a Kickstarter campaign to make the app available for Android users as well.

The question still stands: are online dating apps ultimately worth trying? For many LDS singles, the answer is a resounding yes — they can (and do) work, but only with the right motives and approach.

“I’ve definitely learned that if you’re finding exactly who you’re looking for it doesn’t matter where you find them,” Egbert said, “especially if the Lord is guiding you. Trust Him to lead you to what you desire, even if it’s through Tinder.”

January 31, 2017
4 Examples from #ldsconf to Help You Fix Your Boring Church Talks

If you’re preparing a lesson or a talk for Sacrament meeting, and you’re not quite sure how to start, look no further than General Conference! While most of us watch conference for the messages and the speakers (we know you have an Elder Holland fan shirt stuffed in your dresser somewhere, don’t lie), not many of us realize that conference is also a great opportunity to learn public speaking skills. Apostles and general authorities are pretty pro at it, and we can learn a lot from them. Here are just four examples from this past General Conference to help you start that talk you’ve been worrying about:

1. Start with a good story.

Elder Juan A. Uceda of the Seventy captivated us Saturday morning when he began his talk with the story of the treacherous Inca Bridge and how he was saved from falling 2,000 feet over the edge. He immediately set the scene for us and walked us moment by moment through his own experience. Not only did Elder Uceda’s story hold our attention and get our hearts racing, but it transitioned beautifully into his message about the Holy Ghost and why we should listen to it. Beginning with a story was an excellent way to get us interested in the subject of his talk.

Try starting your own talk or lesson with a personal story like Elder Uceda’s. Set the scene for your ward members and transition into the principles/doctrine you’re speaking on. If you don’t have a story that applies, use someone else’s or begin with a metaphor (or parable). The Savior spoke in parables and stories because they were so effective at capturing both the attention and understanding of his audience. Using this technique is a good way to fill time and keep your ward members interested in what you’re teaching.

2. Start with a good question.

“If we love the Savior more, will we suffer less?” You may remember this thought-provoking question posed by Elder Robert D. Hales at the beginning of his general conference talk last weekend. Asking deep, personal, and related questions such as this that invite your audience to reflect or dig for answers is a great way to start out a talk. It allows you to open up two channels of revelation: one prompted by the subject you talk about or class discussion, and the other prompted by the individual search for an answer. Whether or not your lesson or talk is filled with spiritual gems, starting it out with a question gives every ward member the chance to actively participate in the process of revelation and receive it individually. They may learn more from how they answer that question than from the rest of your talk (which isn’t a bad thing).

3. Immediately address your subject matter.

Some would say that the best way to face anything is head on. The same could possibly be said for talks and lessons. Elder David A. Bednar’s style of speaking is a great example of addressing a subject head-on. In almost every talk he gives, Elder Bednar immediately starts by noting the doctrine and principles that he has chosen to speak about. He uses scriptures and lists to teach and rarely says anything that isn’t concise and to the point. One reason why this is a great way to start a talk or lesson is that your audience doesn’t have to spend a whole lot of time figuring out what you’re going to speak about. They immediately know and therefore, can immediately think about the subject and how it applies to them. Because Elder Bednar’s talks are so to the point, they allow for much more time to teach doctrine and principles. Ultimately, these are the meat and potatoes of any talk, and the more time you have to delve into them, the better.

4. Express gratitude.

President Henry B. Eyring began his general conference talk by stating the following: “My beloved brothers and sisters, I am grateful that President Thomas S. Monson has asked me to speak in conference on this Sabbath Day.” He stressed the word gratitude to emphasize that it was the subject of the talk. In doing so, however, he emphasized something more important: sharing our testimonies and insights with our brothers and sisters is a blessing that we should be grateful for.

Too often, we like to start our talks and lessons out with cliche’ crutches that fill up time. Some of these crutches include joking about how we shouldn’t have answered the call from our bishop, how little we wanted to give our talk, or how unprepared we feel to teach. While these may, to us, seem like relatable ways to both preface our talks and justify our speaking insecurities, they too often tell our ward members that the subject matter we are about to speak on is not something to get excited about and not something worth tuning in for. Nothing could be further from the truth!

When we speak, we should more concerned with the message we have been asked to deliver than our securities or complaints about delivering it. Expressing our gratitude for the subject or for the chance to learn more about it/speak about it not only tells our ward members that what we are about to teach is important, but it tells our Heavenly Father that it’s important to us, too. Expressing gratitude to Him also lets Him know that we desire to learn more.

Conference is a great chance to learn about how to give a good talk or lesson. As you prepare your talk, pay attention to how the general authorities give theirs. You’ll learn a lot along the way.

Who is your favorite conference speaker and why? What do you like about how they teach? Hit us up in the comments below!

October 6, 2016
100 Miles on a Bicycle Showed Me Why Christ Won’t Remove Our Trials

Almost the second my front tire turned onto the freeway and I looked ahead at the gaping mouth of Sardine Canyon, I knew I was in trouble.

My dad and I were at the halfway point of the Cache Gran Fondo, a 100-mile bicycle ride that winds its way around the perimeters of Cache Valley, Utah and ends in Logan. We had just reached the ride’s main attraction, an 18-mile stretch through Sardine Canyon which, at its highest point, hits an elevation of 5,914 feet. We’d be cycling up to the summit and then down to the small town of Mantua, where we’d then turn around and climb back out. It was the kind of ride that separated the women from the girls, and I was petrified.

Aside from biking two miles to work and back every day for two months, the most practice I’d put in was a 22-mile ride up Logan Canyon. I was not prepared for extended elevation gain, and I felt it the minute I began climbing Sardine. To make matters more difficult, a 15-20 mph headwind pushed against our bicycles, and the temperature, rather than dropping, remained at a steady 93 degrees. Within fifteen minutes, sweat was pouring down my chest and back, and my legs were on fire. I was in my lowest gear, going about five miles per hour, and I had never felt so much physical pain in my life.

I’d like to say that I took the climb “like a man,” but I was noticeably unprepared. I found myself gasping like a straw in an empty milk carton and screaming through my teeth. Even though I’d known it would be hard, I’d never imagined how hard. Frantic, I began looking for ways out. I had seven or eight more miles before Mantua, and even though I didn’t want to quit, I didn’t know how it was possible for me to finish. I passed older riders who’d put their bikes down in the weeds while they tried to catch their breath. There was one right after the other, it seemed. It was hard to stifle the thought, Well, if they’re stopping, why can’t you? Just quit.

I was staring at the side of the road, consumed by the temptation of turning around when a gentle hand suddenly pushed on the center of my back. My dad, who’d been pacing himself a few feet behind me, had pedaled closer to where I was and wrapped his arm around me. He pushed me as I pedaled. The burden of the climb, which I’d been struggling to carry, immediately felt lighter, and not only just physically. There was something about feeling him there that soothed me mentally and emotionally, too. It erased my panic and concern.

From that point, we worked out an informal system. My dad would push me up the road awhile before dropping back, overcome by his own exhaustion, and then I’d pedal as hard as I could for as long as I could on my own. When I faltered and struggled, he’d zip up to me and push me again. We did this for several miles, and in the middle of it all, I regained my confidence. If my dad was there, I could get through this.

When we topped out at the summit and began riding downhill to Mantua, the fear and pain were replaced by an almost crazy elation. We’d done it. My dad raced ahead of me, and I smiled as I watched him take the curves and corners like someone who’d ridden them a thousand times.

After a long rest, we made the climb out of Sardine Canyon and pushed ourselves hard on the flats, crossing the finish line at just over seven hours. That ride and my dad’s steady example have stuck with me ever since.

When I think about life, I often think of it as a bike ride. It has its flats and downhills, insignificant moments and moments of joy; however, it often has steep hills, some that stretch on for far longer than we anticipated or feel we can handle. It throws us bends in the road, bumps, and dips. It pushes us to our breaking point, leaving us desperate and causing us to cry out, Why is this so hard? Why do I have to do this? It can sometimes make us feel totally unreachable or alone. But we are not. We have a Savior, and as I learned on a hard saddle in blistering heat on the worst hill I’d ever climbed, He is always near us.

Jesus Christ knows every detail of this ride. He’s not only mapped out the route, but He has participated in it for every one of us. Because we signed up for it premortally, knowing what it would cost, Christ will neither finish this ride for us, nor will He remove the hills — to do so would both interfere with our agency and undermine our ability to overcome. But Christ is very much aware of our burdens and very capable of making them lighter for us.

The Savior, in His infinite capacity to rescue, rides ahead of us, rides alongside us, and rides behind us with His hand at our back. He has experienced and agonized over the road to help us traverse it. He’s at our side to encourage us, in good times and bad. He stays behind us to push us along when we are close to breaking. When we know Him and recognize His hand, our capacity to feel our burdens lightened by Him increases. Christ has felt the pain we have felt, He has suffered our sufferings, and He has borne our sins to make the victory of the finish sweet for us if we but endure it well and follow Him. He has made the impossible overcomeable.

Jesus Christ is the ultimate evidence that we can both rise above immeasurable trial and attain infinite victory. What He did for us not only allows our violations and mistakes to be met with mercy, but gives us hope that our darkest days will always be followed by our happiest. With Him, we can fight. With Him, we can finish.

No matter how high or hard the hill, the Savior, like my dad, has His hand at our back, waiting to lighten our burdens. We need only seek Him and keep pedaling.

September 1, 2016
What We Forget When Tragedy Strikes

This week, the world watched in horror as a weapon-laden truck drove through a Bastille Day crowd in Nice, France, killing over 80 people and wounding countless others. You’ve seen the images on the news, watched the footage of bystanders running in terror, felt the pain as it has rippled from France to us all. The loss at Nice is a deep wound on top of a deep wound we’ve been trying to heal for years. It doesn’t seem to be going away.

Over the past few months, hate crime has become commonplace. Mass murder, terrorism, and tragedy have ceased to be strangers to us, and we’re flocking to social media to ask each other why, to make sense of it. At the end of the decade, the amount of #PrayFor hashtags we’ve tacked onto our tweets and the number of temporary profile pictures we’ve made in honor of the lost may be more than we can count. It seems to be the best most of us know how to do, along with asking, When is this going to end? After Nice, I’ve seen the response shift to, This will never end. It’s going to get worse. There is no hope.

That sentiment is a reason for all of us to take pause.

The truth that we forget, and the truth that the world desperately needs for us to share right now, is that there is hope. That hope is not found from societies that rise and fall, from sympathetic hashtags that tell the world “I’m with you.” That hope is found in a god who chose mortality to carry the burden of hate, sin, sadness, and pain so that we could obtain infinite peace. That hope is found in a groundbreaking, powerful Atonement with enough strength to cover every person who has ever lived and will ever live on this Earth. That hope is the Savior the world has estranged itself from, and though times seem dark and bleak, though the future seems hopeless, He is always there. He knows us. He’s dealt with this. His primary desire is for us to turn to Him and, in doing so, find healing and happiness in spite of this.

There are billions of people in the world right now who do not know that that kind of solace exists. Jesus Christ is a stranger to them, and they don’t know where to turn. They are hurting and weeping. They are confused and heartbroken. They feel there is no hope for them and no hope of ever being with those whom they have lost again. As disciples of Christ, our responsibility is to guide them to Him and give them hope. We cannot forget that the covenants we make every Sunday as we take the Sacrament don’t just include mourning with those who mourn. We also covenant to comfort those who stand in need of comfort. We covenant to always remember the Savior and, I’d add, be proactive about helping others to remember what He has done for them, too.

When we are burdened by the world and the actions of those who seek to cause harm and pain, we can start by finding hope for ourselves from the Savior’s words:

“And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me…

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy…

“And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you…

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:3, 20, 22, 33).

When tragedy and devastation happen again (and they will), mourn, but also be a light. Direct the heartbroken to the Savior, who not only overcame the world, but did so that we could, too. He is our hope and He is our happiness. His Atonement ensures us lasting peace and the joy of reunification with those we love.

Help others to find Him, and please don’t forget Him. He has never forgotten us.

July 16, 2016
The Miracle I Overlooked In the Story of the Loaves & Fishes

It was 4:50 in the morning, and I had approximately three minutes to eat something before leaving for my very first temple shift. I raced through a dark kitchen on my tiptoes and wolfed down a banana that had been sitting on the table. Worried that I wouldn’t have enough food in me to last throughout the day, or enough patience to eat a second banana, I looked to the slightly squished loaf of Western Family bread on the kitchen counter and felt a glimmer of hope. Bread’s filling, I thought. That should sustain me for awhile, right? Having barely enough time to snarf down a single slice, I ate one and ran.

Two hours later, in the quietest parts of the temple, my stomach made a noise similar to what it would sound like if every creature in Return of the Jedi had been thrown in the Sarlacc pit. Obviously, that single piece of bread had not filled or sustained me. It maybe had momentarily, but not long enough to make a difference or end my hunger.

As I thought about that little piece of bread and how I had expected it to fill me, I was reminded of the story of the loaves and the fishes in the New Testament and struck with new insight.

Picture it with me: the Savior has just heard of the passing of His good friend John the Baptist. Overcome, we can assume, by grief for His friend and the desire for solitude, He tries to get as far away as He can with His disciples. He, in fact, gets on a ship that takes them into the desert, almost literally the middle of nowhere. The people, hearing that the Savior has left, follow Him. These people are so desirous to be with the Savior that they don’t even think to take a boat or wagons — they follow Him “on foot out of the cities” (Matthew 14:13), leaving their homes and provisions behind to walk for who knows how long to get to Him. When they arrive, Christ, in His infinite compassion and in spite of being in the midst of His own trial, goes among them, healing their sick and afflicted.

Now, at some point, it gets to be way past dinner time. These 5,000 some odd people are in the desert, away from their homes, and have had nothing to eat for a very long time, and the disciples are, understandably, anxious about it. They approach the Savior and beg Him to “send the multitude away” (Matthew 14:15) so that they can get food for themselves. The Savior, as we know, tells them that the people don’t need to leave, and He asks His disciples to find food for them. Among all of the 5,000, they are able to find five loaves of bread and two fishes, which the Savior blesses and then breaks.

The miracle of this story that we most often focus on is that, when the disciples hand out the bread and fish, every single person receives some. Our human brains try to grasp how so few items could be split among so many and how the disciples could end up having food leftover to boot. With our small and limited understanding of this miracle, we might mentally divide the bread the fish into 5,000 pieces. They’d be pieces so small, it’d be a wonder that anybody could eat them at all. We consume ourselves with quantity and figures, but we forget another miracle that is, perhaps, more important in this story, one that sneaks quietly behind the first:

“…they did all eat, and were filled” (Matthew 14:20).

The miracle of the five loaves and the fishes isn’t only that 5,000 people all got food, but that they were all filled by it. It staved off a hunger that had likely been building for hours, and it sustained them all. Can you imagine it? With five loaves and two fishes, the Savior provided meals for 5,000. It’s incomprehensible to those of us who concern ourselves with wondering how.

The lesson here, however, is a tender and beautiful one. With this second miracle, the Savior showed the multitude and us that His love and His Atonement can fill us. He doesn’t hand it to us in portions, He doesn’t give a little to everyone. He fills us all with it. He gives us enough and then more than enough. That eternity that He promises those who follow Him is also offered completely. It’s a magnificent thing to think about.

Those of us who actively follow the Savior and want to be with Him are part of that multitude, spiritually if not physically. We might occasionally think there isn’t room for us or that we don’t matter. We might look at others receiving blessings we desperately want and think, I guess I’m not meant to have them. I guess I’m not trying hard enough. The truth, however, is that the Savior is waiting to fill our lives with every blessing. To those who follow Him, He offers eternal life individually, and He offers it in full. We must have the faith, like one in a crowd of 5,000, that when it is our turn to receive those blessings, we will receive them all.

Though a piece of bread early on a Saturday morning will not fill us, the Savior’s love and Atonement always will. There is more than enough for all. All we must do is seek Him.

April 27, 2016
10 Times General Conference Gave Us All the Feels

We don’t know about you, but we’re a little [read: a lotta] emotional after this weekend’s general conference. Here are ten times conference made us feel all of the feels:

1. When members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir wept through “Come Thou Fount,” especially this man:

*Cue sudden and unexpected sobbing.

2. When new apostle Elder Rasband’s voice wavered as he expressed his deepest gratitude for those praying for and sustaining him.

3. When the camera panned to Sister Wixom’s tear-filled eyes as the Primary Presidency got released.

We’re okay…we’re…not okay. *cry*

4. When President Monson and Elder Hales had to be helped by security/other apostles to the pulpit and we were all emotionally them.

5. When Elder Kearon shared his experiences with refugees and you could see the love pouring from his tender British eyes.

*sniff* We’re not crying! *sniff*

6. When President Uchtdorf, visibly touched by Elder Kearon’s remarks, was barely able to conduct the rest of the meeting through his tears.

CAN’T. EMOTIONALLY. HANDLE.

7. When President Eyring choked up during his opening comments as he pleaded with us to listen to the prophet; again, when Elder Arnold talked about rescuing those who have gone astray. Pretty much during every single talk. #RealTalk

8. When Elder Johnson spoke about the death of his daughter and read an excerpt from her journal about the hope the resurrection brings.

We’re done. Just…so done. *hiccuping sob*

9. When Elder Holland spoke to our souls and asked us if we knew how much Church leaders love us.

10. When conference ended far too quickly.

What conference moments stirred your soul this weekend? Tell us in the comments below!

Revisit your favorite talks now!

April 5, 2016
There’s a Reason Why the Internet Never Agrees About Who Christ Was

A few months ago, I became involved in a somewhat heated discussion between friends. The central topic of that discussion was about what the Savior would do if someone who had once had a testimony left the church and became very vocal against the Gospel. One stood firm in his belief that the Savior would be bold and unashamed, even if it meant hurting the feelings or turning over the spiritual tables, if you will, of His critics. The other defended his belief that the Savior would be infinitely loving and kind to them. Both held their ground, and the discussion eventually came to a reluctant draw, neither really abandoning their original opinion.

As I’ve looked back on that conversation, I’ve found myself incredibly fascinated by how each of my friends chose to identify with the Savior, and by extension, how anybody chooses to identify with Him. When it comes to using the Savior’s example to defend our beliefs, our behaviors, and even the actions of others, I’ve noticed that most of us pick out and relate to just one of His traits. Most people identify with a Savior who is very accepting — I myself tend to identify with that. Others identify with a Savior who is bold and even, at times, offensive, as Christ would have been to those in His day who did not understand Him or accept Him. I’ve witnessed many conversations, online and offline, where these two characteristics are pitted against each other, as if they are both mutually exclusive or the only traits Jesus Christ ever had.

I think that by doing that, however, we don’t fully understand who Christ was or the extent of His capacity to understand us.

The truth is that Jesus Christ, in His mortal ministry, was not a unidimensional figure. He cannot be classified as only “The Righteously Angered Savior” or “The Loving Savior.” Though He is the Lord, He was also human. He was complex and dynamic. He felt the full scope of our emotions and feelings, not only when He atoned for us, but when He walked and lived among us. His message was simple, but His personality was more intricate.

The Savior did not just turn the tables of the money changers in the temple. He sat at the tables of sinners and Publicans and ate with them. The Savior was not completely accepting. He, in fact, called the Pharisees fools, serpents, and vipers, “full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanliness” (Matthew 23:27). He loved those whom others would not love, He touched those whom others dared not touch. He said of enemies, “Love them as thyself,” while defending His Father with boldness and courage. He was often frustrated by the Pharisees and Jews who would not accept His message, but He also atoned for them. He said, from His cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He would let sinners wash His feet, and He would wash the feet of His disciples. He would teach at the head of large crowds, and He would stoop in the dust to address the one. He was often burdened by sadness. He sought isolation following the death of His friend, John the Baptist, and He wept to see the anguish of Lazarus’s friends. He was also filled with joy, walking among the Nephites and thanking His Father for them. He was tender, and He was firm. He was filled with sorrow for His brothers and sisters who strayed, and He was pleased to see the faith of those who followed Him. At times surrounded by thronging crowds, He was both hardly alone and often very lonely, left and betrayed by some of His dearest friends and left entirely alone in his last moments on Earth.

The truth, if it be fully told of Jesus Christ, is that He is not a Savior who only knows how to love or rebuke. He is a Savior who hurts, who joys, who agonizes, who celebrates, who weeps, who smiles, who angers, who corrects, and who adores. When we speak of Him, let us do so with the reverence that comes from realizing that He is not just who He says He is, but He’s more than we too often give Him credit for.

March 5, 2016