It's time for our semiannual General Conference recap podcast. We hope you'll join us as we discuss our favorite talks, insights we took away, and hopes we have. It was a wonderful General Conference all around, from topics of fatherhood, faith, opposition in all things, and maximizing our conference experience, to remarks on forgiveness and our responsibility to help refugees. Great stuff!

There's a little bit of news, too. It's linked below.

* Relief agencies inundated with inquiries following General Women's Session

* Upworthy picks up on refugee push

* Primary General Presidency is down with the Power Rangers

* Teens vandalize Oregon church building, leaders forgive

General Women's Meeting went down last weekend, and we were all schooled in learning how to help others, especially refugees. This all culminated in the launch of the I Was a Stranger initiative, a Church website devoted to helping refugees in your community. It's awesome. It was a landmark evening and we're excited to talk about it.

Building on that, how about some General Conference predictions? What topics shall grace our eyes and ears? We're excited, and we hope you'll join us on Twitter and Slack throughout the weekend.

Also, with conference, comes temple predictions! Will any new temples be announced? If so, where? We've got you covered.

Elder Renlund has some interesting counsel about how to not be jerks to those who don't share our faith or values. It seems obvious, right? But perhaps many of our faith do have trouble not maligning others.

The Star Valley Wyoming temple will be dedicated later this year, a whopping 18 months after breaking ground. The Hartford Connecticut Temple will also be dedicated in November.

Also, Utah creates the first-ever white collar crime database because Mormons get duped by affinity fraud. It's incredible.

There's other news, but you can link to it below and hear about it on the show!

* The 10 best things about the Women's Meeting

* Neylan McBaine loved the Women's Meeting

* Women's Meeting choir composed of refugees

* Irene Stone on why helping refugees is important

Church launches I Was a Stranger

* Temple announcement predictions

* Elder Renlund wants us to be nice

* Open houses and dedication dates for temples

* Vandals damage church in Australia

* Salt Lake to build a mosque, church to host parking

* Rexburg shut down over machete Wal Mart man

* White collar crime database

* TEDx at BYU

* Politicking from the pulpit

This music video by Marie Osmond and Alex Boye is amazing.

Presidential politics hit the Intermountain West. You had one job, Utah! One job! And it wasn't to give the state to Ted Cruz!

Either way, there have been some compelling news pieces this past week about why Mormons loathe Donald Drumpf and how Drumpf's candidacy could very well break the GOP's stranglehold on the Mormon vote. Very interesting stuff all around.

To cap it all off, an enterprising and tasteless super PAC has put out an "ad"---we generously call it that because it's little more than a meme---attacking Donald Drumpf's with, Melanie, as some sort of softcore porn artist, which was intended to turn off LDS voters and push them to Ted Cruz. Did it work? Yay for super PACs.

Brussels was attacked by terrorists on March 22. Three Mormon missionaries were among the injured, with later news confirming a fourth. If you're into international relations, tune in. After all, this stuff is Geoff's day job.

LDS Living accidentally published an article about Thomas S. Monson's death. In 2020. The future. They have the gift of prophecy!

Some white people are angry about a white man making a painting of a black Eve because it has slavery connotations. This is a very interesting perspective on the issue, and we call upon our network of experts to opine, accordingly.

In happier news, the Provo City Center Temple was dedicated on Sunday, March 20 by Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Congrats, Provo. Many congrats. We celebrate your culture.

A blogger felt guilty over not living the gospel well "enough," and this guilt almost led her into inactivity. But her bishop had some sound advice that turned the whole thing around. Let's talk about it.

Lastly, a man weaves clothing from LEGOs. Yup.

Links:

* Three missionaries injured in Brussels

* Drumpf could end GOP hegemony over Mormons

* Mormons really don't like Drumpf

* Slut-shaming Drumpf's wife

* Anger over black Eve

* Taking offense and complaining

* Provo City Center Temple dedicated

* Pressing the Testimony Reset Button

Salt Lake City gets robbed of a GOP debate thanks to Mr. Trump (and sort of thanks to Mr. Kasich). Poor Utah. What does this MEAN?

Do you know any stay-at-home dads within Mormonism? They are rare breed, indeed. One writer talks of his experiences with it and how Mormons can be less obtuse about the whole thing.

Elder Holland warns of an "epidemic" of pornography at a large, anti-porn gathering.

The Church has started its Easter campaign, aptly dubbed #Hallelujah. Look, we ran out of hashtags, OK?

Blogger Mette Ivie Harrison has a few things to say to her daughter's seminary teacher. Then a former CES instructor weighs in.

Kansas weighs passing a religious exclusion law that would allow publicly-funded groups at public universities to discriminate on who can join. The ugly side of religious freedom.

Al is in CA and has had In-N-Out thrice thus far. Therefore, an In-N-Out-vs-Shake-Shack debate is due.

Links:

* No GOP debate in Salt Lake

* Stay-at-home dads are the best

* A letter to my daughter's seminary teacher

* A warm rebuttal to a letter to my daughter's seminary teacher

* Mormon father and son open stuff on YouTube, attract millions

* Holland warns against porn "disease"

* Kansas wants to exclude

This episode comprised sixty one-minute individual episodes, so join us!

Lots has gone around this week about Eliza R. Snow being gang raped, and while it is likely true, the historian behind the research wants to make her findings and conclusions clear instead of letting the Salt Lake Tribune run with a slanted piece. That said, there's some powerful stuff here.

Mental Floss uses dubious methodology to declare Mormonism the second-largest religion in most states, including Utah. How???

Why exactly did Brigham Young have the Deseret alphabet developed? What's the deal there?

Harry Potter, Interstellar, and Star Wars are all gospel stories. It's true. One author really wants us to understand that.

Speaking of, Geoff is full of Harry Potter knowledge as it relates to media. Let him guide you through the world of intellectual property.

Other stuff, Mitt Romney reads mean tweets on Jimmy Kimmel; BYU finalizes the purchase of Y Mountain; BYU is the best college in the universe; factoids about Howard W. Hunter; an Australian dude rejoins the ballet.

Also, a weird aside into fast food.

And lastly, Al goes after Chick-Fil-A employees.

Links:

* Mormonism the "second-largest" religion

* Interstellar: a gospel story

Dude rejoins ballet after mission

* BYU owns the mountain

* BYU is THE BEST

* Eliza R. Snow was or maybe was gang raped

* NPR covers MoTab's virtual choir

* Hinckley family donates valuable books to Hinckley Center

* 11 facts about Howard W. Hunter

 

In this week's top story, female temple garments have been resized and readjusted. You may now get low riders, ladies. This is the dream.

During a training for CES instructors, Elder Ballard instructs everyone that we can't just answer difficult questions with a simple, unrelated testimony. Gone are those days. It's time to step up.

Perhaps more controversial have been some remarks from Elder Bednar about there allegedly not being an homosexual Mormons. Of course, when taken out of context, he said just that. So what is the contest? What's Elder Bednar getting at?

US Vice President Joe Biden receives his genealogy from Elder Christofferson. Irish and Catholic, wethinks.

A BYU student stake asks its members to write positive reviews of the Book of Mormon on Amazon. Al and Geoff have wildly disparate views on this one, except Al's audio cut out so it's a four-minute Geoff rant. Love it, folks. Love it.

Can the Church trademark "Mormon"?

Our own Joseph Peterson writes about five things he loved from the recent "A Savior Is Born" campaign, sort of a post-mortem on one of Boncom's better campaigns for the Church.

It turns out the caffeine in your Coke comes from coffee. D'oh.

Also, updates on what it's like to dig at Nephi's Bountiful in Oman (hint: it's a lot like digging anywhere with dirt and rock); Mitt Romney has some mysterious news to deliver at the University of Utah; can teachings on LDS.org be considered "prophetic" when not delivered by a prophet? Where are the most famous stars of Mormon cinema now? And Vocal Point celebrates 25 years of dreaminess.

Links:

* Female garment changes

* An evening with Elder Ballard

* Elder Bednar meant good things

* Joe Biden finds out he's Irish

* Mormon® or ­Mormon or Mormon

* Where are Mormon cinema's finest actors now?

* BYU ward trolls Amazon

* Joseph Peterson loves A Savior Is Born

* Caffeine comes from coffee

* Digging in Oman

* Vocal Point after 25 years

* "Prophetic"?

Do you think there's a lot of Americanism in the Church, especially abroad? Where's the line between actual Church practices and cultural stuff that we unwittingly export? Our own Josie Gleave has an article about just that.

In news of Mormons in politics, Mitt Romney is reportedly slated to endorse Marco Rubio for President of the United States, though the Rubio camp denies this. We also have information on Mitt's other potential plans.

A former Utah County commissioner is indicted for impersonating an LDS Church official to further development projects of a pal.

Salt Lake City is also getting a GOP debate in March. Get your tickets now, and watch Trump confuse everyone! Seriously, where are the Mormons that support the man?

And lastly, apparently BYU students support Bernie Sanders, which BYU now denies due to "methodology problems" with the survey. We call conspiracy!

Leaders of the FLDS Church are arrested over money laundering and food stamps fraud. Not quite as scandalous as Warren Jeffs, but wait until you see the plans to hide these folks when they go on the lam!

A few missionaries do not lock their hearts, as one man stalks a sister in the Ensign, then marries her. You are El Mundo, Elder el Mundo.

Lastly, apparently ministering.lds.org exists. Maybe we should publicize that more.

Links:

* BYU is for Bernie, oh wait, no it's not

* Mitt might endorse Marco

* GOP debate for Salt Lake

* Utah County commissioner is naughty

* FLDS leaders indicted

* Lock your heart, Ariana

* Americanisms in a global church

* Groundbreaking for Durban South Africa Temple

* President Eyring rededicates Fiji temple

* New topics for Ministering Resources

 

Greetings, dearest friends. Thanks for hanging with us for yet another week.

United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia passed away last week, and we discover Mormon groups that think the whole thing was an inside job, replete with quotations from Alma.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks is asked a direct question about LGBT suicides among Mormons, and his answer might surprise you.

Ordain Women seems to have tacitly admitted its previous strategies did not yield desirable results and has reshuffled, giving us the "Ready to Witness" campaign. We'll break it down.

More importantly, our friend, Russell Stevenson, has written a post about income inequality for the Salt Lake Tribune. We'll let you guess our thoughts and then encourage you to listen to see how you did. Russell, come back and visit us on the show.

Does music at church need to be more lively? Are our hymns rooted more in tradition than the actual definition of reverence and worship? The Genesis Choir thinks so. So do others.

Also, an epic protest for the return of a bench at BYU. This is BYU!

LDS-led archeologists will be allowed to conduct excavations in Oman to find Nephi's Bountiful, and clearly no one writing about the topic has ever heard of Oman.

Other news: the Church scuttles a hate crimes bill in the Utah state legislature; dedication dates for the Fort Collins, CO Temple; groundbreaking held for the Kinshasa DRC Temple; the Church gives $1.2 million to Ukraine; and you can join MoTab virtual chorus!

Check out or Facebook page for links to the stories on this week's show.

Why is the LDS Church opposing medical marijuana in Utah? There are interesting intersections of church and state at play in the land of the beehive.

Elder Oaks speaks at Johns Hopkins and stresses---you guessed it---the importance of religious freedom. But this speech is more interesting than others of the past.

Apparently tithing used to be literally about one's increase, as in interest earned on existing holdings. Basically, back in the day, tithing was next to nothing. My, how the times change.

Does the angel Moroni always face east on temples? That seems to be the common consensus, but apparently it's not true.

Salt Lake Tribune Robert Kirby thinks he set the curve on missionaries performing service, even though all we know of him is he listened to rock music while studying scriptures. An ensample to us all, folks.

RootsTech finishes up in Salt Lake City, and with it, a few new opportunities for members, plus the ability to print actual temple cards at home?!

In other news: the Missionary Department plays the PR game with regards to the Zika virus in South America; a sister missionary dies in a car accident in Pennsylvania; Jabari Parker talks about staying active in church; MoTab announces another European Tour of the same ol' Germanic places; and stalking by revelation---it's a thing!

Links:

* Elders Oaks on religious freedom, atrocities, and bias

* Tithing used to be different

* Church opposes medical marijuana in Utah, does not oppose legalization of opioids

* Moroni - EAST

* Temple work = convert retention

* Kirby loves himself

* Jabari stays active

* MoTab Western European tour

* Stalking by revelation

* Sister missionary killed in PA

* Zika and missionaries

Reportedly over 30 LGBT Mormons between the ages of 14-30 have taken their own lives since the policy change in Handbook one in November 2015. Church leaders have expressed their sorrow over this reports and want to encourage all of us to be more Christlike in our associations with our LGBT brothers and sisters.

Peggy Fletcher Stack does the hardcore research and claims the number of missionaries has dropped by 13 percent, even though the bigger story is that the number remains a full 30 percent higher than it was before the age minimum drop in 2012.

The Friend apparently wants to encourage girls to be engineers. Go figure, eh?

Have First Presidency messages in the Ensign changed much in 10 years? You'd think so, right? OR DID THEY?

Patriarchal blessings are now available online for yourself and any deceased direct ancestors. It's pretty cool.

The Church has a new Love One Another campaign in honor/spite of Valentine's Day. It's pretty great and consists of some noble goals. Let's break them down.

Other stuff: You'll have to listen in!

Links:

* How First Presidency messages have changed

* Patriarchal blessings available online

* The missionaries are dropping!

* Taylor Swift look-alike

* Cool temple infographics

* Love one another challenge

* Church leaders mourn LGBT deaths

* The Friend is so progressive

* Does BYU football have the most diverse coaching staff of all time?

* MoTab hits 40 million total YouTube views

* Obama defends Muslims and Mormons

* Gonzaga has had enough!