Merry Christmas

First and foremost, Merry Christmas. I love you all, and you´re awesome.

Last Christmas, I talked a little bit about Christ´s birth in Jerusalem. About the sheperds and how they found Christ and then they went out and shared their experiences. This year I would like to share some thoughts on what happened during that Christmas season over 2000 years ago in the Americas. (We´re gonna be in 3rd Nefi 1, for those who want to follow along :D )

It doesn´t go into as much detail as The Bible when describing the night of his birth, but it does give us some interesting insights. First off, the righteous people of this land were waiting, and looking forward to the birth of Christ (vs8). Their lives were on the line for simply believing in the words of the prophets and hoping that Christ would come (vs9). Nefi, went and prayed all day long and the Lord told him to be of good cheer for that night, He would come into the world (12-14).

Then the sign came. There was a day, and a night, and a day as if it were one day. And I love what it says happened after that. First a ton of people fell to the ground because they knew that this was the sign of the birth of their Savior (vs 16). But the scriptures teach us that right after that, they began to understand that the Son of God would soon appear (vs 17). And this didn´t just happen to a few of them, but unto all the inhabitants upon the face of the land (vs17). They all fell the earth and they all began to understand a little better the prophets, and they began to accept the idea that Christ was coming.

Then the new star appeared (vs21), and it says that right after that, Satan began to spread lies through the people but that the majority of the people resisted and converted unto the Lord (vs22). From their Nefi went out, found, taught and baptized lots of people. And it says that as he did so, the people once again begin to have peace in the land (vs23).

This Christmas, I invite all to reflect on the fact that Christ came to the earth, that He was born all those many years ago. Let us begin to understand a little bit better what that means for us, and for those around us. If we fall to the ground cause we get hit with such a strong realization, even better :).  As we reflect on this, let us also understand that coming unto Christ through baptism and repentence is the only way that we can truly have peace in our land and in our lives.

I love you all. I know Christ lives and that he is my Lord and Savior. I hope that this Christmas, we can all come to know and understand that a little bit better.

Love,

Elder Garrett B Turley