I hope you’re all watching for the general release of SAINTS this week. The first part of the series is called The Standard of Truth and begins with Joseph Smith’s experience of seeing Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove and ends with the Saints receiving their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple before setting out west. There will be four books in this series.

What makes this book unique is its very readable format. It reads like fiction but is completely based on what history has recorded. If you are seeking more information about any of the stories you read in this book you can go to the back and find “Topic” markers. These lead to additional videos and links that will further your study.

This book is an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is made available in print, ebook, Gospel Library app, saints.lds.org, audio, as well as in some foreign languages.

The purpose of this book is to cover a lot of history in the official words of the church, by making it a reader-friendly experience using facts based off of journals. Personal stories of the people who lived during these times is an example to us that we too may live in faith as believing members of the church of Jesus Christ.

There are many books that are being published by the church that focus on individual saints, their stories, and most important of all, their faith. It is being shown over and over to us that we have all been brought down on this earth to experience life, for good and bad, but there are many examples of people who overcome all the bad and fight to keep the good in their lives.

We have been called on to do the same, so it is advantageous for us to read these stories and soak in the strength, power, and fortitude that those people used in their time and we ourselves need in our difficult times.

Other books include:

The First Fifty Years of Relief Society

At the Pulpit

Joseph Smith Papers

The Journal of George Q. Cannon

So, what can we do with all of these books besides reading them?

• Start a Relief Society, Church Books Only, Book Club: Take a chapter, or three or four, and discuss faith, determination, power, or witness.
• Assign sisters historical individuals to learn about: Whether the individuals come from our own Family History, or Church History, talk about their lives and why they decided to stay with the church when things were so hard. Have these sisters share either on Sunday or during a weekly mini-class.
• Become familiar with the early Saints, and their stories, so you can readily include them in any lessons you happen to be teaching: As we study the words of our prophets, what they say will easily be reflected in the lives of these faithful Saints of our past. Use their stories to verify what our prophets are telling us.
• Share them as bedtime stories to our children: Not as a replacement for scripture reading, but additionally, tell the stories of these faithful people to our children, as inspiration to live in difficult times.

These publications are being created for a specific purpose. Let us be aware of that purpose and work to include them in all our teaching. In these last days, we need all the fortifying we can muster, and the Church is doing us an enormous favor by making these books available online, for a free or nominal cost.

Read these stories and build your spiritual reservoirs.