Akron Ohio Stake News

by Elizabeth  Nielson

Many local Latter-day Saints were inspired by the Church’s #LightTheWorld Christmas initiative this holiday season.

Now in its second year, the initiative is based on the scripture found in Matthew 5, “Ye are the light of the world.” The goal was to inspire individuals to serve more like the Savior during the 25 days of December leading up to Christmas.

A calendar on the Church website listed a new scripture every day along with ideas on how to implement it. Church members could choose to participate daily or choose various days as they were able.

The Juhasz family of the New Portage Branch were among those who participated daily.  “We watched each video one day in advance as part of our family scripture study and discussed the suggestions of how to carry it out the next day,” said Sister Barb Juhasz. “My kids always looked forward it.”

Church members who use social media were encouraged to post their experiences using the #LightTheWorld hashtag. Sister Juhasz enjoyed using the hashtag and seeing the resulting dialog online, particularly on Day 22 (“That which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do”) when she started a conversation about seeing Christ-like attributes in the people around us. “I loved reading the responses,” she said. “Doing this initiative has been a great way to learn how to focus on His attributes and apply them in our lives.”

“Our favorite day was Day 19 (“Rejoice and be exceedingly glad”). My daughter and I wrote a letter to a young woman in our branch who has been bullied at her school because of her ethnicity. We wrote letters to encourage her, to let her know how much we love her. And I made her a ‘daughter of a king’ sign to hang in her locker to remind her every day of her worth in the eyes of her Heavenly Father.”

The Adams of the Akron Ward also used the initiative to focus more on Christ during the holidays. On Day 9, the scripture reference “I was sick and ye visited me” inspired them to bring a card and a gift to a friend who had just had surgery. “It was something small but the kids loved doing it,” said Sister Beth Adams. “They loved seeing her smile when we stopped by.”

“The kids tried to remember to look at [the calendar] on the fridge before school each day. Then we would talk about what they did during dinner. Altogether we really loved the program and hope the church does something similar next year.”

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The Public Affairs Committee asked some of the missionaries serving in our stake to share their experiences with #LightTheWorld.

Elder Weekes and Elder Kennedy, Canton Ward: One Sabbath Day in December, we were traveling down a street towards an appointment we had with an investigator. As we were walking, we saw an elderly sister raking her leaves in her large yard. We quickly ran across the street and offered our help. She first tried to dismiss us, saying she did not have any money to offer us. We told her that was no problem, and basically grabbed the trash bags and rake out of her hands. As we were serving, she was saying how glad she was for the help and was very curious as to why we were doing this, in shirts and ties no less! We did what little we could, and we planned to return and help her more. When we came back, she was practically waiting for us with her equipment, and we got back to work! When we finished, we all sat down on her porch and shared the Restoration to her. She was so open to it, thanks to our willingness to ‘do good on the Sabbath day.’

Another day, we were knocking on doors, and before we could walk up the porch, another sister stopped us, demanding why we were out and about. When we explained that we had a special message from God about Christmas, her countenance changed completely and she let us into her home. We first shared the amazing video on mormon.org, and she loved it so much. She continued to listen to us as we bore testimony of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. Later, we started reading the Book of Mormon for the first time with her whole family. We would not have gotten into that door if we did not have the special message that lit her world.

Sister Cox, Massillon Ward: I saw so many members and less-active members who were so touched by the #LightTheWorld message. It was amazing to see the light that Christ truly can bring into our lives. The most amazing opportunity I had was to share it with one of my investigators. The visit was not going very well, and it seemed like we were losing her a little bit. The spirit was out of the room, and it was hard for anything productive to happen. But when we were finally able to show the #LightTheWorld video with her, the spirit was brought back in the room so quickly. Her countenance changed significantly, and I was able to see, if only for a moment, a light in, what seemed to be, the darkness.

Sister Wooten and Sister Pentz, Wooster Ward:
The day of “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” we had an experience with some members of our ward. We went and raked leaves for their neighbors who were selling their home. While we were working several people came walking by asking who we were and what we were doing. After they talked with us, the whole neighborhood went out and raked each other’s leaves. It was an amazing experience.

When we committed [at the beginning of the month] to follow Light the World, it seemed like Heavenly Father just lined up ways we can follow the event calendar. One day we came in contact with a homeless man. He had been investigating the church but had lost contact with the Elders when he lost his home. By some miracle, we regained contact by being prompted to call a random number found at the church. When we regained that contact we came to find that he was taking a risk by going to Chicago to find work. Unfortunately, he wound up homeless with four bags of luggage on the streets of Chicago without food or shelter. He hadn’t eaten in four days and he called to find comfort talking to us because he was very scared. We both prayed that somehow he would find something to eat and a place to sleep. Heavenly Father prompted us to get some advice from a sister in our ward. She immediately offered to buy him a pizza. After much coordination, he was able to find food, and on top of that our prayers that he would find a job were answered: he was hired and given an advanced paycheck. That night we realized that we had not consciously participated in the Light the World activity for that day. Much to our surprise, we took a look at what it would have been and it was “For I was an hungered and ye gave me meat.” Heavenly Father really does use you when you commit to serve.