Of All Things

“Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus!”
(Ensign, Nov. 1992, 66)
—Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Quorum of the Twelve

Feliz Navidad

The seminary students of the Juárez Academy in northern Mexico made a plan to help the missionaries in their area to spread the gospel during Christmas. Three hundred fifty students each contributed a brightly wrapped Book of Mormon, that included their testimonies, for the missionaries to give to their investigators in the Colonia Juárez and Colonia Dublán stakes.

Leadership Tip

Bearing your testimony to your quorum or class members is a good way to bless their lives and strengthen their testimonies, as well as your own. Being a leader means more than organizing and delegating. It means being an example of faithfulness and obedience, as well.

A Monumental Day

In December 23, 1905, 100 years after the Prophet Joseph Smith’s birth, the Church dedicated a memorial at his birthplace in Sharon, Vermont. In 1884, all that was left of the Smith family’s small home was a hearthstone and a decaying foundation. The Church rebuilt a memorial home around the hearthstone. A large monument was also built.

The monument, a shaft of Vermont granite, was the tallest polished granite shaft in America at that time. It still stands today, 38-and-a-half feet high—one foot for each year of the Prophet’s life.

At the dedicatory service for the monument, President Joseph F. Smith, Joseph Smith’s nephew, left a blessing: “Peace be with you, and unto this place, unto this monument, and unto all who come to visit it …” (Proceedings, 26).

Our Covenants

Every member has made a covenant to do works of kindness as the Savior would do. So any call to bear witness and to care for others is not a request for extra service; it is a blessing designed by a loving Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. They have provided such calls as well as other settings, sometimes without a formal call, all for the same purpose. Each is a chance to prove what blessings flow from being a covenant people, and each is an opportunity for which you agreed to be accountable” (Ensign, Nov. 1996, 31).
—Elder Henry B. Eyring
Of the Quorum of the Twelve

Christmas Activity Ideas

• Gather a group of family members and friends to go Christmas caroling.

• If there are small children in your home or neighborhood, help them retell the story of Jesus’ birth with each child playing a part. Invite friends and neighbors.

• Learn how to say “Merry Christmas” in a few languages.

• Check out videos from your meetinghouse library about the life of the Savior.

• Read the accounts of the birth of the Savior in the New Testament and Book of Mormon with your family.

• Make and send Christmas cards to loved ones and those who might be lonely at this time of year, like missionaries or widows in your ward.