Christmas initiative sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Christmas initiative sponsored by the Church
DAY # 1 — JESUS LIFTED OTHERS’ BURDENS
• Ask Heavenly Father to make you more aware of the burdens of those around you.
• Volunteer to help a friend move.
• Learn more about the process of going through addiction recovery.
• Read Matthew 11:28-30 and discuss with others how Jesus can help us through life’s difficult challenges.
• Clear the snow of the sidewalks of an elderly neighbor.
• Share an experience on social media of times when prayer helped you bear a burden.
• Help a caregiver of a disabled person by running an errand or spending time.
• Carry a backpack or other load for someone.
DAY # 2 — JESUS HONORED HIS PARENTS
• Call your parents.
• Write a hand-written note to your parents or in-laws.
• Learn about an ancestor and share the story.
• Ask your parents for advice on parenting your own children.
• Create an audio recording of your parents’ life stories.
• Set up a weekly video chat with your parents.
• Digitize some old photos for your parents.
• Post about a positive characteristic that you inherited from your parents.
• Do chores with your family around your parents’ home.
• Tell your parents about how they were right, and be specific!
DAY # 3 — JESUS HELPED OTHERS TO SEE
• Point out a virtue in another person that he or she might not see in themselves.
• Promote a vision charity .
• Learn about raising a guide dog.
• Take a disability awareness course.
• Be eyes for a blind person at bemyeyes.org
• Read a scriptural account of Jesus healing a blind person.
• Read a book to someone with impaired vision.
• Use social media to help people see the good in the world.
DAY # 4 — JESUS WORSHIPPED HIS FATHER
• Attend a church service in your area.
• Make a goal to offer a kneeling prayer every day this month.
• Help clean up or maintain a church.
• Discuss with someone what it means to worship God. Make a goal to improve.
• Visit a temple or other religious site.
DAY # 5 — JESUS HEALED THE SICK
• Resolve to pray daily for your loved ones who are sick or suffering.
• Take a CPR or life-saving course.
• Volunteer at a hospital or rest home.
• Learn about how you or your loved ones could benefit from a blessing.
• Donate something to a children’s’ hospital.
• Learn how to donate your hair to people with cancer.
• Visit someone who is sick or suffering.
• Ask God for opportunities to help the sick.
DAY # 6 — JESUS READ THE SCRIPTURES
• Set your alarm early for scripture study.
• Post your favorite scripture on social media.
• Text a scripture to someone who needs a boost.
• Memorize a favorite scripture.
• Download a scripture app to make your gospel study easier.
• Listen to scriptures during your commute.
• Find three scriptures that resonate with you. Share them with someone.
• Put a scripture app on the home screen of your smartphone.
DAY # 7 — JESUS FED THE HUNGRY —
• Donate non-perishable items to a food bank.
• Invite a neighbor on a tight budget to dinner.
• Learn about satisfying spiritual hunger (start with John 6:35).
• Eat out at restaurants that give back through donated food.
• Volunteer to deliver meals to those in need.
• Learn about how fasting and giving offerings can help feed those in need.
• Share a low-cost recipe to help people better feed their families.
• Pray to know who needs help, and HELP!
DAY # 8 — JESUS PRAYED FOR OTHERS —
• Ask God how you can be an answer to another person’s prayer.
• Pray with your family, right now!
• Offering a vocal prayer of gratitude, asking for nothing.
• Pray for a friend that’s going through rough times.
• Read and reflect upon the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)
• Ask God for help in facing a big challenge.
• Write down three things that you could talk with God about tonight.
DAY # 9 — JESUS VISITED THE LONELY —
• Visit a nursing home.
• Invite a widow or widower to dinner.
• Identify someone who will be alone for Christmas. Invite him or her to attend church with you on Sunday.
• Send a friendly text to someone who could use a boost.
• Send a letter or message to someone who is currently living away from home.
• Identify someone in your neighborhood that you have never met. Take a treat to them and introduce yourself.
• Sit by a new person and get to know him or her.
DAY # 10 — JESUS HELPED PEOPLE TO WALK —
• Donate your old crutches, wheelchair, or walker to a group that refurbishes them.
• Contribute to a cause that provides crutches, wheelchairs, or walkers.
• Plan an activity that is catered to a friend with a disability.
• Research easy ways to prevent future immobility.
• Offer to help an elderly person run errands.
• Shovel snow off of sidewalks in your area.
• Donate shoes to a charity for those in need.
DAY # 11 — JESUS MINISTERED TO CHILDREN —
• Ask your children what they think your family should pray about.
• Purchase a picture of Jesus for your child’s room. Teach your child about Christ’s love for them.
• Read with a child about how Jesus interacted with children (Mark 10:13-16).
• Sign up to mentor ‘at-risk’ children.
• Take each of your children on a ‘one-on- one’ activity.
• Teach your child how to pray.
• Make time for family dinner.
• When your child is talking to you, stop everything else and listen.
DAY # 12 — JESUS TAUGHT OTHERS —
• Share your favorite teaching or story of Jesus on social media.
• Teach your children something you were taught by your parents or grandparents.
• Teach a family member or friend something you have recently learned from the scriptures.
• Invite friends into your home for FHE.
• Sign up to share your professional advice at a school career day.
• Volunteer to help coach a youth sports team.
• Watch an online tutorial to learn a new skill that can benefit others.
DAY # 13 — JESUS SHOWED HUMILITY —
• Share an experience with loved ones about a time you had to rely on God.
• Ask a parent how to deal with a current challenge in your life.
• Think of a time you were wrong about a person. Share it with a loved one.
• Do some bragging today – about some- one else.
• Ask someone for some honest advice on a personal problem you are facing.
DAY # 14 — JESUS TAUGHT OTHERS TO CLOTHE THE NAKED —
• Collect winter clothing for your local homeless shelter.
• Learn about how we should love those in need from a wise king (Mosiah 4:15-17).
• Learn some basic sewing skills, or help someone to do the same.
• Invite your children to go through their clothing and identify two complete outfits that can be donated to a thrift store.
• Knit a cap for a newborn and donate it to a hospital.
• Buy hand warmers and give them to people working or living outside in the cold.
• Donate some old clothes to a charity or thrift store.
DAY # 15 — Jesus worshipped through song —
• Invite a friend to attend a worship service on Christmas day to sing hymns and worship God.
• Share your favorite performance of a Christmas hymn on social media.
• Listen to Christmas hymns for an entire day.
• Do some Christmas caroling over video chat.
• Learn a new Christmas hymn.
• Make a Christmas playlist and share it.
• Include a musical program in your Christmas Eve festivities.
• Go Christmas caroling to the widows, widowers, and lonely in your neighborhood or church congregation.
DAY # 16 — Jesus showed compassion —
• Participate in a local sub-for-Santa for a family that could use some holiday cheer.
• Leave only encouraging comments on social media.
• Pray for an opportunity today to show compassion to someone.
• Find a GoFundMe.com account of a family or person in need and donate.
• Look a homeless person in the eye and smile.
• Volunteer to babysit the children of a single parent so he or she can finish Christmas shopping.
• Make a simple sacrifice for someone else.
DAY # 17 — JESUS CARED FOR HIS MOTHER —
• Call your mother right now.
• Make a list of all the things your mother has done for you. Send it to her.
• Identify a motherly figure in your life and take her some flowers.
• Help your mother understand a new form of technology.
• Re-create a photo from your childhood and give it to your mother.
• Set a goal to pray for and give thanks for your mother every day.
• Record your mother sharing her life story.
• Compile a list with your siblings of your mother’s favorite sayings.
• Read the account of the Savior’s last words to His mother (John 19:26-27).
DAY # 18 — JESUS HONORED THE SABBATH —
• Turn off your phone for a few hours on a Sunday.
• Attend a religious service in your area on Sunday.
• Visit a family member on Sunday.
• Memorize a favorite scripture or religious quote on Sunday.
• Discover your ancestors by doing some family history on a Sunday.
• Invite someone over for Sunday dinner.
• Spend some time updating or starting your own personal history on Sunday.
• Write down some ways you could draw closer to God on a Sunday.
• Support a business that closes on Sunday (obviously on a day other than Sunday).
DAY # 19 — JESUS CALMED THE STORM —
• Learn ways you can help people around the world through charitable donations.
• Review response plans for disasters or emergencies in your area.
• Give your family or loved ones the gift of a 72-hour kit for emergencies.
• Listen to a performance of “Master, The Tempest Is Raging”.
• Help shovel out your neighborhood after a snow storm.
• Help an elderly or disabled person winterize their home.
• Help your loved ones stock their cars with warm emergency clothes.
• Give a gift to someone who could use a pick-me-up.
DAY # 20 — JESUS SAW POTENTIAL IN OTHERS —
• Be a mentor or tutor to someone.
• Take a child to work with you and let him or her do a small part of your job.
• Donate to a scholarship at your local high school.
• Cheer someone on! Attend an event (athletic, cultural) to support someone you know.
• Help a child learn to set goals.
• Contribute your abilities to an adult education class in your area.
DAY # 21 — JESUS FORGAVE OTHERS —
• Is there a family member you haven’t talked to recently? Call him or her.
• Make a list of grudges. Find a way to let them all go.
• Do you have a particularly difficult neighbor or co-worker? Be extra-nice to him or her this week.
• Be kind instead of right for an entire day.
• Pray for someone who has hurt you.
• Re-friend or re-follow someone with whom you have had a falling out.
• Try to see things from the point of view of someone who has upset you.
• Remember a time when someone forgave you and how it felt.
• Ask God to help you be more forgiving of others in your life.
DAY # 22 — JESUS SHOWED GRATITUDE —
• Give a simple gift to your mail carrier to raise spirits during his busiest season.
• Offer a prayer of gratitude. No requests. Just thanks.
• Write a thank-you letter to someone who has positively influenced your life.
• Fill your home or office with surprise thank-you notes for people to discover during the day.
• Start a notebook to record things you are grateful for each day.
• Make a vow of no complaining for one day. For each time you break the vow, pay someone a compliment.
DAY # 23 — JESUS WAS A PEACEMAKER —
• Do you owe someone an apology? Resolve to take action and offer it.
• Tell someone why you appreciate them so much.
• Pay someone a compliment who might not often receive compliments.
• Find three “peace” scriptures and share one with someone.
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