“TEACHINGS OF RUSSELL M. NELSON,” Deseret Book, $32.99, 420 pages

There are lessons, quotes and teachings from President Russell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on more than 100 topics in the recent “Teachings of Russell M. Nelson.”

While many of the teachings come from general conference talks given since President Nelson was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in April 1984, they are also taken from other instances when he’s spoken, including devotionals, firesides, leadership meetings and trainings in a variety of settings and audiences and also to those on his world tour earlier this year.

From “Aaronic Priesthood” to “Youth,” the teachings are in alphabetical order by topic, with a table of contents, topical and scriptures indexes and sources for each quote.

It’s a thorough and well-organized resource. It's nice to have many of his teachings compiled in one place, whether for those studying a particular topic or wanting more information.

The section on prayer, one of the longer ones in the book, includes quotes from a talk in 1984 and ones from talks in the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe and Hawaii while on the world tour earlier this year, along with several from the intervening years.

One is: “Please, help your children to know how to pray to Heavenly Father. Jesus taught us how to pray. … That connection will give them strength. Never let them feel that they are alone” (Harare, Zimbabwe, Member Meeting, April 17, 2018).

In the section on gratitude, he shares how at one Thanksgiving they had 63 people there and after dinner, Sister Wendy Nelson passed out sheets with “This year, I am thankful for” with the rest of the page blank. They asked everyone to fill out the page, whether by writing or drawing. They then collected and read them aloud to guess who wrote it.

“Counting blessings is better than recounting problems,” he concluded. (See “A More Excellent Home,” Church Educational System Fireside, Jan. 8, 1995.)