Love. Share. Invite.

In 2021, as we entered the countdown to Christmas where we celebrated the birth of our Savior, we considered the magnificent gift of the Atonement that Jesus Christ heavily paid and freely gave to each of us. We were invited to reach out to others with Love, Sharing the Light of Christ by serving them, and Inviting them to feel of the goodness of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We were invited by President Ballard to Love, Share, and Invite at least one person before Christmas. This could be an invitation for someone to come to our home or to church, to serve with us, or to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Any invitation that helps someone feel closer to the Savior counts.

Please take a moment to fill out this form and share how you Loved, Shared or Invited another person to feel closer to the Savior this past holiday season.

I felt to visit a friend. When I arrived, the family was not home. I sat down and wrote a note to him and invited him to lead his family in righteousness and come to church. He is a great provider for his young family. His wife is a sweet wife and mother of their 3 young children. He is the only member of the church.
He felt to bring his family to church and showed up with his family on general conference weekend. Undeterred by this mishap, he brought his family to church today. Although the rest of the story has not been written, I know that God loves this family and it is ours to reflect that love and share the joy of family relationships and the gospel of Jesus Christ. These are two great gifts that God invites us to receive.

-Cletus Simpson

Serving those in need is one of the ultimate ways we show our love for Heavenly Father and our love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When I was experiencing depression and despair in my life, I turned to volunteering my time in service to help heal my emotionally wounds. It healed, lifted me and helped me to change my perspective on my life in away that I had more gratitude. And while I was in the process of healing and learning how to serve like Christ, I was doing good and lifting others at the same time. I have also found that you begin to love those you serve, including those you serve with, nothing is more powerful than serving in love and inviting your neighbor or friend to do likewise, the outcome is always the same, everyone benefits from the rewards that comes when in the act of Christ like service, and in the meanwhile inspiring and inviting others to do the same.

-Maria Campos

One of the easiest ways I can think of to invite, is to invite friends to join the Christ First Facebook page. I have recently invited restaurant staff to the page by handing them the pass along card and inviting them to join the page and become involved. I have also invited all of my Triangle area Facebook friends to the page by using the invite button on the page itself. It’s been fun to see them accept the invitation and participate on the page.

-Hal Abbott

I recently attended my 30th high school reunion in Macon, Missouri. In the weeks leading up to the event, I was a little surprised at how many people I know don't ever attend their reunions. This is only the second that I've attended, but I did love my entire high school experience. I was not a member of the Church then, so there is definitely a contrast from who I was back then to who I am now.

The reunion organizers did a great job in planning out a full schedule of events across two days, such as playing golf at my old home course, riding in a float during the Homecoming Day parade through town, sitting together in the stadium at the football game, after-game parties, a tour of the school (lots of changes over 30 years), and having a private room lunch on Saturday. It was so much fun and absolutely amazing to catch up with many friends that I've lost touch with.

When catching up with someone after 30 years, we tended to hit the major items, many of which were tragic - divorce, dealing with chronic health problems, and even the death of family members. One of our classmates just recently dealt with the sudden death of her 20-year-old daughter due to myocarditis from a rare virus. Even after five months, not a day goes by that she doesn't feel intense emotion and just long to hear her voice and hug her one more time. I found myself caught up in listening to all of their stories and struggles, the whole time being incredibly grateful for my tremendous blessings while trying quite imperfectly, but sincerely to show empathy. I felt that the only thing I could do was listen with love and compassion.

As we wrapped up the lunch and were posing for our last few pictures, one of my classmates pulled me aside and very tenderly and quietly asked, "Josh, many of us have dealt with some heavy things and are traveling back home. Would you mind saying a blessing on us before we all leave?" In only a moment, a flood of thoughts went through my mind. I was deeply touched that she would even consider asking. This particular sweet woman had gone through a divorce, back surgery, aging parents, and cancer in just the last five years. 30 years ago, I'm not sure she would have ever asked such a question of me, nor would I have been worthly or prepared to do so. I accepted the invitation but only if she made the announcement. She smiled and agreed.

We all bowed our heads and immediately the tears began to flow. I'm not sure I remember the words, but I vividly remember the feeling of the Spirit being in the room so strongly. All I could think about is how incredible the Savior has been to have descended below us all so that we could come to Him when we go through a divorce, are given the news that we have cancer, when we lose a parent, or heaven forbid a spouse or child. He understands and can heal our hearts. I am forever grateful for him.

After the prayer, I'm pretty sure I had a lump in my throat for 20 minutes. What was a fun lunch was instantly transformed into a life-long spiritually uplifting experience for everyone, all because one sweet person so humbly invited the Savior to our reunion through prayer. We are all now a little more connected to each other and feel God's love in each of our lives.

-Josh Brammer

With my calling, and just in general, I get the chance to talk to a lot of people. It has been so fun to tell people about our new YSA branch. A few weeks ago, I was talking to a sister I had never met before and she mentioned that her daughter was home living with them and struggling with some mental health challenges and life in general. In talking to this sister, I felt to tell her about our branch. I told her that President Savoldi had just spoken the week before and that he wanted our branch to be a safe haven for those who were struggling. He wanted our branch to be a place that you could come to no matter what! I told her that if her daughter ever wanted to come to text me and I would look for her and make sure she did not sit alone. As luck would have it, I had the opportunity to go to this sister's house for something completely unrelated. I made sure to ask to meet her daughter. We met and visited and I encouraged her to come to our branch. On Sunday, just before the branch started, I got a text from this sister telling me that her daughter was on her way to church. When this sweet YSA walked into our sacrament meeting, she was nervous and uncomfortable. She expected to know no one. But as she looked around she saw someone she knew. She saw a former co-worker. She immediately went to sit by him. When she did, he told her that he had been meeting with the missionaries and would be getting baptized in a few weeks. This made an impression on her. Suddenly, she had a reason to be at church. She needed to be there for her former co-worker and friend and she needed to be at his baptism too!

Another experience involved our full-time missionaries. They had been reaching out to a YSA aged young man named Nathan and invited him to church. His mom, April joined the church a few years ago and we quickly became friends. April is the only member in her family, but through her, we have become friends with the whole family. Seeing Nathan on that Sunday, reminded me to invite his family to dinner. We had invited his family to dinner a few times before, but it had been quite awhile because of Covid. We were already scheduled to feed the missionaries, so we invited Nathan's family to join us. Due to work conflicts, Nathan and his mom could not come. But his dad and brother were able to come. I was a little nervous, because most of my contact was usually through April. But we had such a good visit with April's husband and younger son. The missionaries shared a sweet message. And we have talked to April and her husband about figuring out a time in the next little bit where the whole family can come for dinner.

One last experience was very simple. Our ward Relief Society hosted a Love, Share, Invite Super Saturday. On the way to church one Sunday, I thought of friend who loves crafts and I decided to invite her to join me. I let a few of my friends know she was coming and asked them to help me make sure she felt comfortable and welcome. Our activity was yesterday and I can say that it was such a wonderful experience! My friend was surrounded by sisters who became her instant friends. At the end of the day, she sent me this text, "I so enjoyed everything about that event...the company, fun crafting, meeting new folks, and a super yummy lunch." She and another sister in my ward have a lot in common and we have made plans to get together with this sister soon!

-Melissa Hansen

At lunch in the dining hall of the private school where I work, I sat quietly and listened as one of my colleagues talked about how “stifling and smothering” it was for her when she was a teenager at a local Christian high school to abide by the biblical standards. As I opened my mouth to share my experience of being blessed for keeping the commandments of the Lord, before I could carefully express my thoughts, another colleague sitting next to me pronounced to the table that I should share my opinion because I “am Mormon” and tend to be very happy and content. I immediately felt an impression from the Spirit that I should use the proper name of the church, explaining to the group that I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I quickly reasoned, however, that I shouldn't allow my colleague to lose face. I also wanted to quickly express my personal thoughts. Again, in almost an instant, there came into my mind the former words of President Nelson that were shared in the recent General Conference, that “the name of the church is not negotiable.” I immediately grasped onto the promise made by President Nelson that “if we will do our best to restore the correct name of the Lord's Church, He whose Church this is will pour down His power and blessings upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints, the likes of which we have never seen. We will have the knowledge and power of God to help us take the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue and people and to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord." I felt a capability to act that I hadn't had a moment ago, and I realized that this capability came from faith in the Lord's words through his prophet.
I explained to the table that I was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and then proceeded to share my feelings about the blessings of the gospel and keeping the commandments. The spirit quickly descended upon the lunch table, and we spent a half-hour discussing the Church and our temple and family history work. My colleagues were very excited when they understood that we valued our ancestors so much that we would do proxy temple work for them. They talked about the benefits of knowing our ancestors and how this message should be shared with a broader community. One of the teachers spoke of the wonderful experience she had had touring the Philadelphia Temple Open House, and by the end of the meeting, I had shared and invited each one of them to use the technologically advanced database and resources at FamilySearch.org to help them learn more about their ancestors. Everyone at the table left with a huge smile on their faces and a better understanding of why it is so important to make and keep covenants.

-Kevin Greenwood

As missionaries in the Raleigh South Stake, we made it a big priority to invite others to tune in to this October General Conference. As young missionary leaders with the missionaries in this stake, we were very happy to see the report that thirty-two of our friends watched at least part of the inspiring sessions! This was a drastic jump from our average of thirteen per week. We are sure there were many who were enlightened or had questions answered, but we wanted to highlight one experience:

In the Lake Wheeler area, there is a husband and a wife being taught by the missionaries. Usually the wife, they say, is more interested than the husband. However, these missionaries reported to us that the husband actually watched more of Conference than she did. It is not to say that she was not as interested, but rather the fact that he watched as much as he did! Later, and still continuing in recent interactions with the Lake Wheeler missionaries, this couple expresses their gratitude for introducing them to General Conference. Previously it has been difficult to get them to attend church but this was a huge step in helping them feel comfortable to come!

We know that many more wonderful experiences will continue to abound as we all love, share, and invite.

-Garner Missionaries

Sister Eggett and I have been visiting with a friend of ours who didn't have much interest in the church, but as we have been showing love and interest in his life he is opening up to us. He occasionally asks us about our missionary work and has questions here and there about the gospel. We aren't pushing him too much, but we invite him to church activities, and sacrament meeting all the time. He appreciates it a lot and slowly he is showing more interest. It doesn't take a lot to open someone's heart to the spirit. A simple "hi" on your way by can lead to so many more opportunities to share what offers lasting happiness! The Gospel of Jesus Christ! We can all make a difference:))

-Sister Schnoor

Growing up I was one of the only members of the church in my elementary school in my beachside hometown. During those years a fellow classmate of mine was Jewish. While we never became close friends and we ran in different social circles, we always had a certain unspoken respect for each other given we were the token members of our respective faiths. I haven't personally interacted with him since elementary school graduation over 30 years ago. Just a few months ago my mother sent me a local newspaper article about some conservation work my former classmate was doing in the community. The article brought back memories from my past and I decided that the next time I flew back home I would reach out to him to see if he wanted to connect. Recently I sent him a message on social media and asked if he wanted to get together for lunch over the Thanksgiving holiday while I was back in my hometown. Almost instantaneously he responded with enthusiasm about getting together and we set up a time to meet. I look forward to seeing my classmate and learning about his family, his conservation work, and his journey of faith.

-Tyler Haws

I have a wonderful neighbor and friend. We have had several opportunities to talk and work together. This week I told him I would be speaking in church again in a few weeks (I have invited him in the past) and that he needed to come and listen to me. He said, "one of these days I am going to come". He then said, "What's your topic?" I responded, "Jesus Christ". He then said, "You are a good man." That's not necessarily true, but I know that he has a love for the Savior. I will keep inviting. One of these days he will come. :)

-Ray Runyan

In the month of October, I gave 2 people a Book of Mormon, one was a customer who visited our Liquidation Store, he was distraught that we wouldn’t allow him to utilize our restrooms, which led him to be seen by me, and as I sat and listened to him, he started to calm down, when then I uttered, it is a precaution to ensure your safety.

The next day when he returned to retrieve his products, I gave him a signed copy of the Book of Mormon, and he was thrilled to receive it.
The second copy of the Book of Mormon, went to a former worker who came into my office to inform of 3 reasons why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints isn’t true.
I bore my testimony, and said to him, now look on that table, and get yourself a copy of the Book of Mormon and read it!
He picked it up, looked at it, and uttered, I always wanted to read this, and left!

I invited our Neighbor and my Aunt & Cousins to our Halloween party, 19 people from my family in other states to watch a segment or all of General Conference with us, invited my neighbor again to our Christmas Program, and in November, gave 2 of my workers a Book of Mormon.
What a Blessing it was to feel the love that I have for others, especially those you responded positively to my asking.

-Christopher Anderson

I loved the Dia De los Muertos website the church created. When I saw it I didn’t think twice before forwarding it to my Methodist friend who lives in Arkansas. She is a junior high Spanish teacher and had taught her students about the holiday. After I sent the link the spirit confirmed that this is exactly what Love, Share, Invite looks like. I didn’t worry about how it would be received. I didn’t overthink the doctrine questions that might arise. I just loved my friend, shared something I appreciated, and invited her to explore it for herself.

-Tanya Quinn

I travel a lot for work, which gives me a lot of opportunity to chat with my coworkers on road trips. This last year I was driving back with a coworker and had the opportunity to share a lot about the church. My coworker asked some questions I think he was initially worried about asking but when he saw how open I was we had a fantastic back and forth. He got a deeper look into a lot of positive aspects in the church especially our focus on serving others. I know that my openness and non judgemental approach led to a great conversation and hopefully brings a new perspective about our church he would never had before.

-Lacey Martin

I have been blessed to minister to sweet Anna, who recently was nearing the end of her mortal journey. The last day of her life I was sitting with her. She lived with her daughter who, understandably, was fatigued by physical care and concern. She decided she could rest on the couch just outside the room since I would still be with her mom. As she left the room I thought that the light was bright and that maybe her mom would be more comfortable if it wasn’t on. I turned it off and sat down for just a second when the thought came to me that I couldn’t track her breathing without the light. I immediately stood and turned it back on and realized Anna wasn’t breathing. I opened the door to call her daughter and as she came in, Anna took a breath. Her daughter quickly called her kids and husband into the room where they were able to hold her hands and surround her with love as she took her last couple of breaths. I am so grateful that I was prompted to turn on the light. It allowed her family to be with her at such a meaningful time.

-Rebecca Peart

I invited a former colleague to the 'Finding Christ in the Triangle' page. I had learned that he had been attending a multitude of denominations and is from a foreign culture. His criticisms of Christianity have stopped since he started looking at the posts on 'Finding Christ in the Triangle'. I think he is seeing that there is positive news to be had, and that positive things are happening, and that Christian service occurs in the lives of Christian believers. I have since invited him to attend the ward closest to his home.
I really don't have any idea what will come of this, but I did, through prayer, invite the Spirit to direct me as to who, and how, to make some kind of invitation to someone that would bring them closer to Christ. Obviously seeing a complete conversion would be wonderful, but I can be happy that this good soul has a better perspective of what real Christians do vs what he sees on TV shows and other popular media that seems to focus on making fun of religion.

-Michael Taylor

Several years ago my bride and I were asked to home/visit teach an inactive family. In all the years only once has the front door opened to us, and we were not invited in. That said, we continue to write and leave cookies along with an invitation to join us in Church. The examples we have seen of people returning from inactivity after years, in part because of those who have befriended them has inspired us. We reflected on this as we knocked on this family's front door in December Christ has not given up on us, and he is our example.

-Joe Green

A neighbor reached out on social media to all people looking for folks to share their religion with her daughters. I reached out with a short summary on our church and she agreed to FHE at our home this week. She even lives in another ward! Hopefully she agrees to learn more.

-Kris Spring

I invited an old friend of mine to FHE and although he declined, I'm still going to hang out with him and try again later in the future.

-Christopher Barbour

We have been blessed with some fantastic neighbors. I have felt impressed in the last few years to get to know them better and do things to foster greater community. It helps that most of us have young children that are similar in age. We have had a few neighborhood potlucks, we look after each other’s kids as they roam the neighborhood, and we check on one another’s well-being.

My son was recently baptized. The Spirit reminded me that this would be a great time to share and invite. I sent a note to all my neighbors explaining to them what baptism is and what it means to us. I invited each of our neighbors to join us for this special day.

Only one of the neighbor families was able to attend. It was so special to have them there as my son was baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Even though only one family attended the actual baptism, I was able to share my testimony with all of the others just through the invite. And I felt somewhat comfortable sharing my testimony because I had already been working on the love. It’s amazing how these principles work hand in hand!

-Sarah Hessing

I have a friend who I love dearly. I had her to come to church with us and she politely declined, however, she invited my family to go to the Christmas service at her church. It was beautiful service. The congregation was full and the music was loud and powerful. After the pastor had given his sermon he asked us to sing Silent Night together and while we sang we each had a candle and we passed our light to those around us so they could light their candles as well. When we looked around in this dark room we could see more and more people receiving the light. The symbolism of passing the Light of Christ to others was so beautiful. I was so thankful to be with so many people in my community celebrating the birth of the Savior and feeling the influence of the Holy Ghost as we welcomed in the Christmas season.

-Cara Nichols

Maybe small things matter. Recently I took a little beach trip w/ my husband's aunt, who is of another faith. My thoughts about sharing the gospel w/ her centered around prayer. I have never heard her pray and while we have enjoyed many meals together, someone else is always voice.
Twice a day, it is my habit to kneel to pray. Staying in a hotel doesn't lend itself to much privacy, but I knelt by the bed anyway. Aunt Doris exited the bathroom unexpectedly and saw me. When I finished, she said, "I'm going to start doing that too. I lay in bed to pray, but always fall asleep too fast." We talked about kneeling as a way to keep our thoughts present on God, demonstrating reverence and pondering. This little act became an invitation w/o words, though I continued to be the prayer at each meal.

-Michelle Cooke

We traveled to the BYU vs. Georgia Southern Football game. We left Friday night and had car trouble an hour out in Fayetteville, NC. We googled "mechanic near me" and a 24 hour place popped up. We called and asked if they were open. Chris responded: "Not really." In the end, he said if we could get the car there, he'd be willing to take a look at our vehicle. We slowly drove there and he quickly diagnosed the problem. He could get one part in that night that he needed to fix it, but not two. So, I asked if he knew of a rental car place. He said: "You can take my car." He didn't know us and wasn't a member of the church, but willingly lent us his car for the weekend to take to Georgia. He fixed our car on the weekend and when we came back on Sunday night, we traded cars back and paid our repair bill. Chris was truly a blessing. We have since, sent him a thank you card and a Book of Mormon with Mosiah 2:17 highlighted. "When you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of our God." We were grateful for his Christlike service on our behalf and the most important thing we could share in return is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

-Kathie Marshall

I have been working with a builder and his wife on a couple of client design projects for a couple months now. They had been friendly, real, and easy to work with. We clicked right away.

The wife had their first child a couple years ago and we all know how hard motherhood can be, especially if you start at an older age. In passing the husband would mention how exhausted his wife was and how it’s been a challenge for her to take care of everything she needs to do. One particular day we met for a meeting and the husband mentioned that his wife would be coming a little late and that she had a hard morning. When she came she had pulled it together but afterward did mention how hard things were. I’m a conversation I had with her husband a day later about work I asked him how his wife was doing. He mentioned that we would be alright and that really she just doesn’t have a posse of girls to have her back. She doesn’t really have friends to lean on. I mentioned that I thought she was amazing and would happily be her friend and felt impressed to invite her to a dinner party.

Fast forward to last week when all of us met at job and the painter that was brought in just happened to be someone I knew through another builder friend who is LDS. I said hi to the painter, mentioned to him that I had this other connection to him, and when I mentioned the other LDS builders name, this new builder (whom I had been working with for a couple months) perked up and said “are you Mormon?” ;) I said, yes, I am! And he then said.. “my dad is a bishop”

Come to find out that he is an inactive member, but his parents are active and he even had an uncle give him advice about how to grow his business that he should try praying again and put goodness into the world and the right people will come into your life… he said a couple days later was when my design partner and I called them to meet. I had no idea about this but he did say early on how he felt like this was a fortuitous meeting and match.

We all left that meeting feeling like the Lord works in mysterious ways. I reminded my new friend about my dinner party and she was excited to come.

I came to find out later that her mother in law (the bishops wife) was serving in the Temple last week and met a sister from my ward and mentioned to her that her Son and daughter-in-law who has never been to church met this new designer in her ward and she was excited to work with and become friends.

It was a humbling experience to feel the Lords hand in our lives and that people are being prepared in many different ways. All we have to do is be willing to Love, share and invite goodness into ours and the lives of others. Our example matters and people gravitate to the light of the gospel.

There are undoubtedly countless prayers being made on behalf of others that we may never know about but to be an instrument in His hands is about at fulfilling as anything you can imagine.

-Riley Walker

In March of 2020, my 87yr old mother, Becky, was baptized having gained the desire and testimony to be sealed to our dad, who had passed in 2015. We did his temple work the year following his passing in 2016. Through the pandemic lockdown of 2020, an older sister in my mom’s Roanoke VA. ward (my sister’s ward) took the time to visit her weekly and teach her the temple preparation lessons and this past April 2021, a year later from her baptism, Roxanne and I escorted our mother through the temple, where she took out her endowment and was sealed to my dad, Richard. My brother in law, Laryn, stood in proxy for my dad. Roxanne and I were then sealed to our parents. My mother had said throughout the decades of her daughter’s membership in church, she would NEVER be baptized, much less go to the temple.. However, things happen to prepare our hearts for all the Lord has in store for each of us. One thing I can share of her sealing to my dad, as I sat nearby, was that she literally appeared transformed into a bright, beautiful youthful bride and was soooo happy. I can’t remember a more beautiful smile on her face. It was a beautiful thing to behold and be able to be a part of. The blessings of the gospel have continued on in our family despite the trials and challenges we have endured. The Lord has continued to Love, Share and Invite us personally to participate in the beautiful transforming gospel plan in the lives of those around us. It took my aged mother 36 years from my own baptism in 1986, joined by the multiple experiences of her growing prosperity, that grew from that pioneer baptism within our family, to set her own feet on the covenant path. My sister was promised in her patriarchal blessing that as she sought to serve and honor her parents, they would one day seek the blessings of the gospel in their own lives. I marvel at the journey we have been a part of.
Only 5 months later, on Labor Day, September 7, 2021, my mother passed through the veil, to happily join the love of her life. Other than my own temple sealing to my husband and 4 children in 1987, in the many years of my membership in the church have I’ve been so clearly reminded and aware of the importance of these ordinances that we have the opportunity to participate in and share with others. I am so very grateful to have such a living, vivid experience of how transforming Christ can be in the lives of those we love at any point in their mortal journey here on the earth. I am grateful for the focus and intentions of the Savior’s invitation and gift offered to our lives, if we are open to love, share and invite others. It can often encompass a lifetime of effort...and is indeed a glorious blessing to behold.

-Michelle Ishihara

It's been a rewarding privilege to teach English to a few Afghani refugee women each week. This is more of a love, share situation. They aren't familiar with the Savior, yet I have felt closer to Him and have felt invited by Him to do this work.
Love is a universal connection originating with Jesus Christ, which can be felt and acknowledged even with a language barrier. I'm deeply moved by the gratitude these women express with genuine smiles and warmth, conveying with the one phrase they know how to use - thank you.
One of our students in her fifties, I think, has never attended school. She cannot read in her native language. English is her first exposure to learning formally. Watching Nazia write the alphabet with eagerness causes me to see how I have taken for granted my opportunities to learn and grow in this land. Her opportunities for learning and growth have included skills that are essential in her culture and country of which reading and writing were not included. As we get to know each other, she will undoubtedly teach me things I couldn't learn in my own culture. I feel the Spirit when I'm with these courageous women. I am ready to invite when the time is right, and I believe the Lord will guide that invitation.
Meanwhile, I'm grateful to receive His invitation to serve these lovely ladies.

-Michelle Cooke