Liahona

December 1999

Volume 23, Number 12

Contents

• Features

• Letter from the First Presidency

• First Presidency Message: A Pattern of Love
  President James E. Faust

• Latter-day Saint Voices: Gifts of Love
  Our Christmas Miracle Jacqueline Michea Martínez
  Cold Hands, Warm Heart Patricia Schmuhl
  The Crumpled Letter Chris Geilman
  Gustavo’s Smile Salvador Nanía

• Living a Christ-Centered Life
  Elder Merrill J. Bateman

• Symbols of Reconciliation
  Jan U. Pinborough

• Remembering Christ at Christmas

• Eight Tips for Building Stronger Families
  D. Ray Thomas

• Visiting Teaching Message: Preparing for the Temple

• Revitalizing Gospel Teaching

• Especially for Youth

• Mormon Message: Peace on Earth Comes from Heaven

• My Kind of Hero
  Linda A. Peterson

• Soweto’s Bright Future
  Marvin K. Gardner

• Breakthrough
  Ann Michelle Nielsen

• The Tithing Habit
  Winnifred C. Jardine

• The Friend

• A Christmas Message from the First Presidency to the Children of the World: Most Wondrous Gift of All

• Trying to Be Like Jesus
  All That He Had Angela Jack

• Christmas Crafts

• Joseph Smith’s First Vision
  Elder M. Russell Ballard

• Christmas Advent Calendar

• Fiction: “If You’re Warm, You’re Getting Closer”
  Julie Taggart Rabe

• Sharing Time: When He Comes Again
  Sydney S. Reynolds

• Friends in the News

On the cover: Front: The Nativity, by Robert T. Barrett. Back: Detail from Christ in Gethsemane, by Heinrich Hofmann; Background: Jesus Healing the Sick, by Gustave Doré.

Inside back cover: The Wise Men Journeying to Bethlehem, by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (1840–1920)