Ensign

December 2006

Contents

• Messages

  • 4

    First Presidency Message: Treasured Gifts

    President Thomas S. Monson

    These gifts from our Father will shape our lives for eternity.

  • 58

    Visiting Teaching Message: Blessings of Belonging to Relief Society

• Feature Articles

  • 14

    Taking the Challenge

  • 19

    Our First Christmas

    Abraham Menes Sagrero

    We had nothing—except love for each other and gratitude for the Savior, whose birth we celebrated.

  • 20

    Hero at the Grocery Store

    Stephenie Meyer

    The woman who couldn’t pay for her groceries was holding up everyone else in line. But what could anyone do about her?

  • 22

    This Is the Christ

  • 24

    Who Is This King of Glory?

  • 28

    The Gift That Took Our Breath Away

    Brenda Pierson

    Our children told us we would like their Christmas gift. But there was nothing under the tree.

  • 30

    Quick to Observe

    Elder David A. Bednar

    Great blessings result from being quick to notice the spiritual significance of influences and events in our lives and quick to obey commandments and spiritual promptings.

  • 40

    Go and Bring Them In

    LaRene Porter Gaunt and Linda Dekker

    The rescue of pioneers stranded by the early snows of 1856 is one of the great stories of faith and sacrifice in Latter-day Saint history.

  • 54

    What I Have Learned about Mighty Prayer

    Mary Jane Woodger

    The counsel I received from a father’s blessing helped me communicate better with Heavenly Father.

  • 59

    How the Hong Kong Temple Came to Be

    Elder Monte J. Brough and Elder John K. Carmack

    Two members of the Seventy saw how inspiration helped a prophet design a temple for a spot where building one seemed all but impossible.

• Departments

  • 11

    Questions and Answers

  • Lessons from the Old Testament

    37

    Coming of Age

    Kathleen H. Hughes

    The beautiful young queen Esther offers a model of how to make spiritually mature decisions under pressure.

  • 52

    My Father’s Last Words

    Elder Jorge Luis del Castillo

    As my father lay dying, he found the strength to teach me.

  • 62

    Latter-day Saint Voices

  • 66

    Random Sampler

  • 68

    Index for 2006

  • 76

    News of the Church

Volume 36, Number 12

Do You Have a Story to Tell?

The Ensign welcomes submissions that show the gospel of Jesus Christ at work in the lives of Latter-day Saints, especially articles with personal experiences and gospel insights. This month we invite you to share what you have learned about effective scripture study. What helps you gain new insights? What study techniques do you use that might benefit others? Label your submissions “scripture study,” and send by January 15, 2007.

Send to: [e-mail] or Ensign Editorial, 50 E. North Temple Street, Room 2420, Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3220, USA. Include your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, ward and stake (or branch and district).

Writers’ guidelines: Visit the link in the lower-right corner of the Gospel Library page at www.lds.org. Due to the volume of submissions, we cannot acknowledge receipt. Authors whose work is selected for publication will be notified. If you would like your manuscript, photos, art, or other material returned, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Using This Issue

Gaining power in prayer. After reading “What I Have Learned about Mighty Prayer,” p. 54, are you looking for additional help with prayer? Try searching for “prayer” in Church Magazines under Gospel Library at www.lds.org.

Teaching about tithing. You might share Elder Jorge Luis del Castillo’s story, “My Father’s Last Words,” p. 52, and then testify of how you have been blessed by obedience to the law of tithing.

Feeling the Holy Ghost. Members who followed President Gordon B. Hinckley’s challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 2005 (“Taking the Challenge,” p. 14) testify that they felt the guidance of the Spirit more often in their lives as a result. Are you reading the Book of Mormon now?

Coming in January

Look for articles on:

• President Spencer W. Kimball, a small but mighty man.

• Learning—really learning—by listening to the Holy Ghost.

• Easing the pain of miscarriage.

On the cover: Front: Behold the Lamb of God, by Walter Rane, courtesy of the Museum of Church History and Art. Back: Detail from Brother Joseph, by David Lindsley; photograph by Welden C. Andersen.

Inside front cover: Determination, by Julie Rogers. Courtesy of Museum of Church History and Art, Seventh International Art Competition; may not be copied. James Kirkwood, age 11, carried his brother Joseph, 4, up the five-mile (8-km) ascent known as Rocky Ridge in Wyoming on October 23, 1856, during a fierce snowstorm. Fifteen members of the Willie handcart company died that night, including James.

Inside back cover: Blessed Art Thou among Women, by Walter Rane. May not be copied.