Christmas and Lights

(Anziano Wilkinson) 

So this transfer I get to stay in Pisa with Anziano Mattson! That means I get to spend Christmas here! I am counting down the the days till I get to call home and say Merry Christmas to my wonderful family! This week we have been having lots of success with showing the members the "A Savior is Born" (È Nato un Salvatore) campaign and inviting them to share it with everyone! This video, along with the opportunity to bear testimony about the savior, brings the spirit strongly every time! It is very uplifting and we hope also inspiring enough for the members to want to share that feeling/video :). This week we have been working with members a lot with this video and it had been great to visit them and help them become motivated to share it!

This week while I was reading in the Book of Mormon I found something that really stuck out to me. It was 3 Nephi 18:24, which begins "Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world." This is a concept that we are taught over and over and one that we should always be working towards every day, but sometimes we wonder what exactly we need to do to "hold up [our] light[s]". The next part of the verse explains perfectly that answer to that question when it says, "Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up--that which ye have seen me do." Basically, Christ is saying in this verse, that we hold up our lights by holding up his example, and he doesn't mean just telling other people about his example, he means living it, he means doing "that which [w]e have seen [him] do". This is such a wonderful concept! Christ's life and example was absolutely full of light; people would see his example and would want to "glorify [his] Father who is in heaven." We too should hold up the light that Christ did and we do so by mimicking the life he lived, because his life was perfectly full of light! This week, seek for ways to mimic the life of Christ so that you too can hold up the light that he held up. I promise that when you do, you will find greater joy each day and you will begin to feel the love and approval of our loving Heavenly Father in greater amounts. Imagine Christ in your shoes, imagine how he would act, then do it! It really is that simple and is more rewarding than we can even imagine.

Have a great week everyone, drink lots of egg nog for me, remember Christ this Christmas season, and hold up your lights a little higher, starting now :).

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson