by Sister Jennifer Randell and Rachel Garner
At the request of President Talley, Sister Jennifer Randell, a ward missionary in the Canton Ward designed a tree for the stake to donate and display at the Akron Children’s Hospital’s 36th annual Holiday Tree Festival.
The tree, entitled “The Living Christ” was on display, along with 165 others from Nov. 18-26, 2017 at the John S. Knight Center. Approximately 150,000 visitors attended the festival. This was the first year the Akron Stake decorated a tree for the event.
As directed by President Talley, the purpose of the tree was two-fold, to demonstrate that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are Christian and to testify that Jesus Christ lives. Although battling both breast and uterine cancer, Sister Randell accepted the challenge to design a Christ-centered tree, based on the Bible’s portrayal of His life and miracles. The inspired design depicted scenes from the life of Christ using ornaments featuring artwork from lds.org and explanatory and scriptural banners, and was topped with a small Christus statue. The finished tree, decorated by Sisters Margie Morrison and Kim Roncaglione (Massillon Ward), was elegant and radiated light.
Sister Randell wanted the tree to testify that “[Jesus Christ] lives! He governs and directs His church and the affairs of this world. He is our exemplar, Elder Brother, Master healer, miracle worker and the way to eternal life.”
“It was an incredibly spiritual journey for me because I went through every picture posted on LDS.org. When I got to the end, especially when I viewed the pictures of this innocent, perfect man’s torture, pain, atonement, then His triumphant glory, I found myself sobbing, both with sympathy and with gratitude. I felt so close to our Savior. I wanted this to be evident in our tree.”
Hopefully, the tree’s beauty and message “will be an inspiration to other decorators to include The Master in the future! In the meantime, may all who come across our tree know that we believe Jesus is the Christ, that we look to Him, love Him, believe Him and in Him, and that our church is headed and governed by Him.”
Akron Ohio Stake News 