John Bytheway: 00:01 Welcome to part two with Sister Joy Jones, Christmas.

Hank Smith: 00:06 Joy, you mentioned your time serving as Primary President and traveling to different countries. I think our listeners would love to know what that was like to you.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 00:15 There are not words to describe what I felt in those experiences. I just hold those tender experiences in my heart, and truly looking into the eyes of children. When we’re talking about Christmas, Christmas is about children. We’ve talked about remembering the sacred and wondrous gift of birth and babies. Babies make us feel such hope and newness of life, and our Savior brings a perfect brightness of hope and the promise of eternal life. When I look into the eyes of babies, I’d have to comment on that first sentence in the Come, Follow Me lesson. Why does the birth of a baby bring such great joy? There is nothing like holding an infant. It’s almost what I would imagine a celestial experience to be. And I want to know, brethren, where do you look first when you hold a little baby? Where do you look first?

Hank Smith: 01:10 In those big, bright eyes.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 01:13 Yes. You look right into those beautiful eyes. Eyes are truly the window to those precious souls as far as I’m concerned. I used to stare into the eyes of my babies and I would literally ask the little one, “Where have you just been?” You know those moments where you contemplate where they’ve been, what they still remember, what they’ve experienced. Babies connect me to heaven. They connect me to my Heavenly Father and to my heavenly home. They truly bring a spiritual connection. Babies thin the veil. It’s just sacred to hold a baby. I was thinking about all the art depictions that we see of how the Savior might appear, what he might look like. We see so many beautiful representations, and I’ve noticed that when I look at a new painting of the Savior, I always tend to look at his eyes. I go right to his eyes. As I was serving on the Temple and Family History Executive Council, one of our responsibilities, along with three of the quorum of the 12, was to approve new artwork for the temples.

  02:23 It was such a beautiful experience. Sometimes we would view the art on a big screen, and other times we would be in the boardroom. We would actually see these paintings being brought in where we could actually see them framed, and they were stunning. Of course, many of the paintings were of our Savior. My eyes were drawn to his eyes. I started thinking about why. Why am I drawn to his eyes? What is that word drawn? Why do I feel that? Because I feel that it does have special significance to feel drawn to him.

  03:03 Let’s turn to Third Nephi, Chapter 27, verses 13 to 15. “Behold, I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you, that I came into the world to do the will of my father because my father sent me. And my father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross, and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me. That as I have been lifted up by men, even so should men be lifted up by the Father to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. And for this cause, have I been lifted up. Therefore, according to the power of the Father, I will draw all men unto me.”

  03:55 I know missionaries, as we work with missionaries in the Provo MTC, these missionaries are preparing for those kinds of experiences when they’re meeting with people who are learning of the gospel for the first time, learning of Jesus Christ sometimes for the first time, and feeling drawn as they begin to understand the doctrine of Christ, as they hear testifying from these wonderful missionaries. These individuals who are seeking truth feel drawn to him. The Savior’s purpose in being lifted up upon the cross is to draw all men unto him. Considering Christmas, of course, again, the shepherds were drawn, the wise men were drawn, children were drawn, so our question that we can ask ourselves is are we drawn to him? I think of things like that that we can talk to our children and our grandchildren about. Use some of the scripture terminology, read some of the scriptures, and then ask them to explain, what does that mean? How does that apply to us? How can we draw closer to him? I want to be drawn to him.

Hank Smith: 05:05 Excellent. Joy, you mentioned the beautiful moment of looking into a baby’s eyes. As you said that I thought of my experience as a dad, and for us it was a baby boy. We have one girl and four boys, and I would hold that little baby boy up to my face and look into his eyes, and then he usually threw up on me. And I both love and hate the back and forth between these serene spiritual moments and then the reality of mortal life. Christmas is a lot that way, isn’t it? It’s these serene, beautiful, amazing moments like you said, sitting in the dark and looking at the Christmas lights on the tree, and then the long lines, traffic, and trying to prepare for Christmas. In your experience as a mother and a grandmother, what have you learned that our listeners could benefit from? What have you learned about parenting and children?

Sister Joy D. Jones: 06:02 Lots. What an education it is to be a parent and a grandparent. My thoughts go to the education that we received as our son at the age of 39 passed through the veil and left his wife and five children. I look back and I remember thinking, we’re living the gospel. The family’s all doing great. Everything’s good. Everything’s intact. Then we found out that Trevor had cancer. And I thought, well, of course he’ll be healed. Of course he’ll be healed. We prayed and prayed and prayed that there would be a miracle and that he would survive that illness. By the end of three years, we were praying that Heavenly Father would take him because of the suffering that he was experiencing. I share that only because it was an education. I want you to know, we learned so much about heavenly father and his love and his mercy.

  07:01 I marvel at what it’s like to have a child on that side of the veil as well as children on this side of the veil. It’s really precious because Trevor, he had time. He had three years not knowing if he was coming or going, but he prepared his family and he told them, “I’m sure that I signed up for this.” He would always talk to them about what a great guardian angel they were going to have, that they’d always be able to call on him. He said, “I’ll be able to do more for you from the other side of the veil than I could ever do for you here on the earth.” I can remember little Sabrina came to me one day, this was before Trevor passed, and she said, “Grandma, grandma, I’m so excited I’m going to have the best guardian angel ever.”

  07:48 It’s amazing to me that our little children can really understand that life goes on. It’s not over. This is an eternal process. I’m so grateful for the experience that I personally had, to feel the peace that passeth all understanding. I had never felt peace like that before. Trevor’s funeral was the day before general conference began. It was a Friday. I was speaking that night in the women’s session. I can remember, I’m not exaggerating, okay? You’ve got to believe me. I was so excited to speak in that session of conference because all I wanted to do was stand up and tell the world, he lives. He lives and he loves us. I was just so anxious to testify of my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ, to say their love is so perfect, so permeating, so real. I felt so carried through that whole experience, and I will never look back at Trevor’s passing without feeling that peace, 

Sister Joy D. Jones: 09:00 and feeling the love of my Heavenly Father and feeling such a magnified appreciation and gratitude for what my Savior did to allow my son to someday live again. It’s just so big and so good, and I’ll try not to get too excited. Elder Uchtdorf said that hope is enthusiasm and confidence, and so we’ve got to have enthusiasm about all things. I just pulled up a little email that Trevor sent to us right before he passed away and I want to share it with you to get to know him a little bit.

  09:32 He said, “Family, I am so excited to see the other side and don’t you be bitter that I beat you there. As I was lying in my purple haze last night, I was thinking of how neat it will be there. No politics. Everyone is anxiously engaged. We’re all blissfully happy all the time. I will receive assignments and it will be a joy running to and fro fulfilling the will of the father and the son, helping others on earth passing back and forth through the veil as needed. The plan is real. Christ is our Savior and I can’t wait to see him even if just from afar as he speaks or makes a visit.”

  10:13 “Through this journey, I’ve never asked why. I signed up for this. I volunteered to return early to help prepare your grandchildren and to help you all get through this quickly dwindling telestial world. When you pray, ask for me. Ask for me to be assigned to fulfill your request. When I receive those assignments, I will be so happy each time, a connection back to my earthly family. You will soon have your own personal guardian angel. We’ve all had them already, but this time it will be me.”

  10:44 “And when your time comes to join me on the other side, know that I will be the first to greet you, there to welcome you and have all things prepared for you.”

  10:54 I share that because isn’t that the message of Christmas? Think of our Savior and what he has done for us. This is what we have to look forward to, to be together as eternal families, to live with our Savior and God, the Eternal Father once again. That is the most powerful message and all the world needs to understand and feel and live it. I get so excited about the gathering of Israel on both sides of the veil because we really are working with our loved ones. They’re helping us when we’re doing our family history, our temple work.

  11:32 I feel the influence and the urgency to continue to move forward and not be distracted, to stay focused on what really matters. Thank you for letting me share. You would love Trevor. I wish he could say hi. He had a great sense of humor.

John Bytheway: 11:50 That is priceless.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 11:52 President Nelson spoke at his funeral when he was President Nelson, the president of the quorum of the twelve. He assured all the family, we were all sitting there in the front and he said, “I just want you all to know that Trevor will be given hall passes,” something like a hall pass that you had when you were in grade school or middle school and you went to the library or maybe went to the restroom. He’ll get hall passes too and you can call on him and he will come and be with you. He will come and help. We have felt his presence at ordinations of his children and special times when one of our family members have been speaking or something and they just have these impressions that Trevor’s aware and he’s there.

  12:35 I want to see what it’s like over there. I wish we could get a glimpse of what they’re experiencing on the other side because I know it’s glorious and I know that wonderful things are happening there.

Hank Smith: 12:47 One of our guests, Derek Sainsbury, I don’t know if you remember back in our Doctrine and Covenants here. He said, “Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost.” You think of our loved ones like Trevor and when we feel the Holy Ghost, we feel that beautiful uplifting ennobling influence to do good and to be like you said, Joy, have enthusiasm, that could be our loved ones speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost. Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost and when I feel that beautiful uplifting feeling, the other side of the veil can be communicating with me.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 13:26 In those moments, doesn’t that dissipate the fear that we were talking about?

Hank Smith: 13:30 Yeah.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 13:31 Fear seems to become unnecessary. It seems to go away and we feel hope in Jesus Christ.

Hank Smith: 13:39 Yeah. You can see why the angels would say fear not.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 13:43 Yes.

Hank Smith: 13:44 Yeah.

John Bytheway: 13:45 That letter from your son is a gift that keeps on giving. I think that will bless so many people to think of it that way. When people say religion is a crutch for weak-minded people, here’s someone who the night before they’re speaking at General Conference has a funeral for her son and then you are excited. That sounds like power. That sounds like your testimony. It’s not a crutch. It’s a sword. We call it the sword of the Spirit and sometimes you have to lean on your sword from time to time. That gave you power and enthusiasm to go speak at General Conference the next day.

  14:26 Incredible.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 14:27 John. I’ve had people say that to me. They’ll say, how did you speak in General Conference the day after your son’s funeral? And all the glory goes to the father. I use that as an opportunity to tell them I am so grateful to him. It was him. It was nothing that I did. I take no credit whatsoever. I was held up by angels and given that privilege. It was a privilege and it was a blessing and it fortified me to be able to stand before the saints and to be able to declare my love and my testimony. I want to make sure that the glory goes to him and to our Savior because their power, you’re right. We cannot comprehend it. It’s just too glorious.

John Bytheway: 15:12 Your testimony of their power helped you do that. That’s beautiful.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 15:16 And I’m so grateful.

Hank Smith: 15:18 Yeah. The gospel is not weight. It is wings.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 15:22 Yes.

Hank Smith: 15:22 Yeah.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 15:23 I love that. Oh, I love that. Amen. I was going to share with you another quote from Elder Kearon because we’re talking about the other side of the veil and work on both sides. He said, “Temple service at Christmastime can be especially meaningful. The temple corrects our focus, magnifies our joy and unites families here and on the other side of the veil. Consider temple service instead of another Christmas activity that may not help you in your longing for that Christmas stillness” that we were talking about,

  15:57 “Those holy ordinances, the peace and priesthood power they hold for all who cherish them are only made possible because of the only begotten son of the father, this lamb slain from the foundation of the world whose birth we now celebrate.” Isn’t that beautiful? I love that and I agree. I have to tell you, I love all the Christmas lights. I love it that you can look out and see Christmas lights everywhere. But to me, the lights of the temple they’re on all year long. I just love it. I just love it that you can always pick out the temples because those lights are shining brightly all year long to remind of him.

John Bytheway: 16:35 When I was on my mission in the Philippines, my companion and I were walking in our barrio and there was a tree that was just lit up with fireflies. I had never seen anything like it. All the people gathered around told me that they had never seen anything like it. We had just come from Christmas conference, they put on Mr. Kruger’s Christmas. I’m watching snow falling on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, my hometown. I come home and I see this tree lit up with fireflies. I couldn’t help it. I thought, did I just get a Christmas card from Heavenly Father?

  17:13 Did he send that to me? No. No. I am not near that important that he would, but could he have? And I was stuck in that place of acknowledging his hand in all things and I didn’t know what to do with that, but I just decided Heavenly Father steered me to walk down that street and see that tree. It reminded me when you talked about the lights and it was glowing.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 17:35 And he did do that just for you. You don’t even question it. There is no accident. He loves you that much.

John Bytheway: 17:44 It’s funny that of all the Christmases that I’ve had, they blend into each other, but my mission, oh, I remember that one in great detail.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 17:57 Divine orchestration. How he does that. Is amazing, isn’t it?

Hank Smith: 18:03 Heavenly Father said, “Merry Christmas Elder,” and I thought, “This is the coolest thing.”

Sister Joy D. Jones: 18:08 Oh, I love that, and I know he does that for his missionaries. I know he does.

Hank Smith: 18:14 Joy, what you said there reminds me of a story told by my friend, Carl Grossen. He talks about experiencing Christmas away from home as a missionary in Ecuador, and he says, “Being so near the Equator, I knew I would not be having a white Christmas like those I was accustomed to. I had lots of thoughts of home, turkey, games, lights, caroling,” and then he said, “I had that sense of a need for a familiar feeling of Christmas in my unfamiliar surroundings.” He said, “I felt a renewed urgency to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ so I could make the Christmas season more meaningful.”

  18:52 He says, “One day we were given a warm welcome at the humble home of Senor Torres. He told us he’d been waiting and praying for the truth for eight years. For two months, my companion and I had passed by this house daily without stopping. Brother Torres told us later, ‘I always wanted you to stop to ask about your church, but you were always walking so fast that I thought you were too busy for me.’ Prayers had been answered, we began teaching Senor Torres and his family with great joy. Christmas Day drew nearer and we could hardly wait to see this family as we quietly approached their home for a fourth visit.”

  19:25 “Before we knocked on the door, we saw through the window a scene that touched our hearts, beauty emanated from all around the family as their loving dark eyes, rosy cheeks and soft, innocent faces glowed in the dimly-lit room. Beneath a two-foot artificial tree on a table in the corner of the room, lay the miniature figures of a nativity scene telling the story of another small family.”

  19:49 “Centuries after that nativity the Torres family, in similar humble circumstances, sat around an old table. Two young girls leaned anxiously over their mother’s shoulder as she read the book we had given them.”

  20:03 And he says, “The eldest child, eight-year-old Victor, was seated across from his mother watching attentively as his father played Silent Night on a rusty old xylophone.” Then he said, “Victor ran to greet us, came in, we sang Silent Night.”

  20:18 Then he says this, “On the third week of December, Christmas seemed complete as I watched brother and sister Torres and Victor all dressed in white and enter the waters of baptism and become members of the church. My companion turned to me and said, ‘Looks like it’s a white Christmas after all.'”

  20:36 I love that idea of Christmas, and you said the temple. One of our activities could be a Christmas tradition of making it a white Christmas and getting our family to the temple.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 20:50 That’s so beautiful.

Hank Smith: 20:51 Joy. This has been so fun. These insights and these stories, this is a perfect Christmas episode for followHIM. Is there any other thoughts you had coming into this that our listeners could benefit from?

Sister Joy D. Jones: 21:05 I want to know your Christmas traditions, but I wanted to share something because we’re missing our dear President Ballard, and I want to read this to you, but I want you to imagine his loving voice. Hear President Ballard as I read this story from him, his words.

  21:21 He said, “Sometimes at Christmas we have trouble finding the right gift for a loved one. As a missionary, I had the opposite problem. I had the perfect gift. I just wasn’t sure who I was going to give it to. When I was in Edinburgh Scotland, near the end of my mission, I saw a beautiful pink cashmere sweater set, a Scottish specialty in a shop window. There was no one I had in mind for it. I just knew I wanted to buy it, so I did.”

  21:47 “When I got home and was unpacking, I showed the sweater set to my mom who asked, ‘What in the world are you going to do with this?’ Very confidently, I answered, ‘I’m going to find the girl who fits it and I’m going to marry her.'”

  22:00 “I gave that sweater set to Barbara Bowen for Christmas in 1950. It was a bold move considering we weren’t even steadily dating at the time. I was pleased to see that she adored the sweater set. A short time later, we were engaged. That was more than 70 years ago. During this Christmas season, I give thanks to God our father for sending his son Jesus Christ to the Earth. The Savior overcame death and sin. If we follow him, we can experience everlasting joy at this time.”

  22:33 He said, “Although my sweetheart and eternal companion has passed from this Earth life, I know that because of Jesus Christ’s willingness to come to Earth, to fulfill God’s plan, we all can return to our heavenly home to live with our heavenly parents, our Savior, and our loved ones once again.”

  22:51 I love that story thinking of him being back with Sister Ballard, truly with all of his family and loved ones on the other side of the veil. What a grand great missionary. He’s been called the greatest missionary. What an example President Ballard was to us, and just love and miss him. Can I ask you what your favorite Christmas traditions are?

John Bytheway: 23:13 I have to credit my wife for this. She felt the nativity scene needed to rival the Christmas tree. Usually the Christmas tree is the big object, the bright thing.

  23:24 She got one, the figures are pretty tall. We put this on a table, but underneath she puts a layer of lights and then some burlap, and then that on top of there we have a Bluetooth speaker playing Silent Night in a loop. I’ll tell you, it draws you in when you see that.

  23:46 We also, she found a Christmas village of Bethlehem, so instead of small town USA, it’s this Bethlehem Christmas village, and it gives us a backdrop for reading the Christmas story. That’s been something that I’m really grateful that my wife had this idea of the nativity scene drawing you more than the Christmas tree. I mean, it does me, I don’t know maybe with the kids, no, but that draws your eyes because it’s so beautiful and lit up.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 24:15 It sounds inspiring.

Hank Smith: 24:17 Yeah, there’s something about getting those boxes out and getting those decorations out that really brings a wonderful feeling.

  24:27 When my wife Sarah brings out those Christmas ornaments that we’ve collected. When you see each one, it brings back a flood of memories. Even the ones we had when we were first married, we still have some of them. Many have fallen victim to a child grabbing them and pulling them off the tree, and then we think, “Well, there goes the Christmas ornament for 2001. That was a good year. We don’t have that Christmas ornament anymore,” but some have survived, and the flood of memories that comes with each one of those ornaments is fantastic.

  25:01 For a while, and this is something we probably need to do again, sometimes Christmas traditions come and go, and I think the pandemic slowed a lot of our Christmas traditions or changed them, but maybe I need to talk to my sweet wife about bringing this one back.

  25:16 For a couple of years, we would give our children $20 or $30 starting on December 1st, an amount of money, it doesn’t matter how much, and we would say, “We want you to give this away at some point between now and Christmas Eve. It can be to anyone or anything. It can be a donation. You can’t give it to yourself.” That was often the first thought was, “Okay, I give it to myself today.”

  25:42 It led my children to be on the lookout for people who might need something. I remember my son, Mason, we were at dinner. He looked across the restaurant and saw a family eating and he thought, “I want to use it right now.” We brought their server over and we were able to give them the money and we were able to watch as their server told them, “Hey, your meal is covered here.” That to me was a really neat tradition, something that I had forgotten about. Thanks for asking Joy.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 26:11 Oh, I love that. That is Christmas, and you never forget those experiences. You hold that right in your heart, and to see your children experiencing the joy of giving.

John Bytheway: 26:23 My kids are a little bit older than Hank’s now, but it’s really fun to see them get to that place where suddenly they get more excited about giving than getting. And one of my daughters that’s good on the smartphone has created a text for everybody except Andrew, everybody except Natalie, everybody except… And we’re all texting, “What’s a great gift?” And to see them get excited about, “I found just the perfect thing,” to experience how fun it is to give this perfect gift instead of just to get one. It’s so fun to see them get to that place where, “You can’t wait to see what I got for Matthew,” it’s really fun to see them.

Hank Smith: 27:00 How fun.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 27:02 They’ll remember that more than the gifts they received, they’ll remember the gifts that they were giving. Oh, that’s so sweet.

John Bytheway: 27:09 President Thomas S. Monson wrote a book called The Christmas Train, and he talked about giving a train card to another kid and he said, that is the day when giving became more important than receiving. He reached that moment and it’s fun to see that happen. Because I just tell my kids, I don’t need anything, just be nice to each other. That’s all I need.

Hank Smith: 27:29 Yeah.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 27:32 It reminds me of Ring and Runs. You’ve probably done where you’re anonymously leaving things on people’s porches and I have memories of the scrapes and the bruises of the kids as they’re sliding on the snow, trying to get the two blocks where the car is waiting for them to come and jump in. But our children are all grown and they still talk about the ring and runs, doing 12 days of Christmas reading and acting out the nativity on Christmas Eve. Remember this year’s theme for light the world is let your light shine, that’s pretty appropriate. The Messiah, that’s always a wonderful tradition at Christmas. Mistletoe, don’t forget the mistletoe. The stillness of Christmas Day, that’s something that I always think about is how the world seems to just stop on Christmas, and you’ll look outside and you don’t see any cars going by, and everything just feels quiet. And hopefully there’s a blanket of snow depending upon where you live, but there’s something really special about that. I want to share my favorite Christmas tradition because we’ve done it forever. It makes me realize, wow, we’ve been around for a long time, but we started a tradition early in our marriage, and it’s a testimony meeting. It’s the very last event. We have to go through all the events of Christmas Eve, but that’s the very last. We all gather around the dining room table and each person has their own candle in a little holder, and we light the candles, and each person takes a turn bearing their testimony. It doesn’t matter the age, however young or old, everyone participates. It’s become a really sacred little experience. We’ve been really happy to see that our grown children are now doing that with their children in their homes. It’s just sweet to be able to recognize how we feel about him, and to be able to express it to each other, to voice our feelings, and sometimes I see a tear or two on the cheeks of a grandchild, and we sing a reverent version of Happy Birthday to Jesus and then we have a little birthday cake.

  29:35 It’s sweet. It always reminds me, therefore, hold up your light, that it may shine unto the world. Behold, I am the light which ye shall hold up. I am the light which shineth in darkness. That’s what we want to do. So many of our Christmas activities and traditions are cherished and remembered because they’re concentrated focused time as family. That’s what I love remembering from my childhood is, I got to see more of my dad at Christmas. He was so busy and I just remember that was just sweet to have fun time, downtime with both of my parents. Cherish that time together.

Hank Smith: 30:11 What your children want most for Christmas is you.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 30:15 Yes, so true, so true.

Hank Smith: 30:19 Joy, what a treat this has been. I think our listeners will think of it as a Christmas gift, having you join us. What would you like our listeners to take in?

Sister Joy D. Jones: 30:29 One of you mentioned the importance of giving, that that’s more important than receiving. And I couldn’t help but think about Christmas as being about ministering. We talk so much about ministering. We’re trying to learn how to minister as the Savior ministers. We can do ministering all year long. We don’t have to do it just at Christmas. It’s such a privilege. Ministering though is the true spirit of Christmas, I believe. We can practice the spirit of Christmas in our missionary service, our temple and family history service. We can give that gift to someone else here or across the veil. What a gift we give as we share friendship, as we share our testimony, as we share our love and our time. Time is often the greatest gift of all, isn’t it? President Nelson said, and you’re familiar with this. He said, “Anytime you do anything that helps anyone on either side of the veil take a step toward making covenants with God, and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel” and that is gift giving at its best, that’s what really matters.

  31:46 Here we are preparing for the Savior’s coming. What a glorious time it is to be on the earth and what a glorious opportunity it is for us to celebrate Christmas as the Savior’s life, as his mission, as all of the incredible blessings that come to us because of him through his atoning sacrifice, and his resurrection. It’s such a blessing and I wanted to share a scripture from Doctrine and Covenants 109, verse 77. This was of course the prophet Joseph Smith, and he’s describing the Savior. I love the scripture. Listen to all of his superlatives as he tries to describe the Savior. He describes him as a being who is enthroned with glory, honor, power, majesty, might, dominion, truth, justice, judgment, mercy, and then perhaps sensing the futility of trying to list all of the Savior’s virtues. He ends excitedly summing it up with and an infinity of fullness, from everlasting to everlasting. Isn’t it a comfort to celebrate and worship a Savior that we can never exaggerate? I remember President Nelson’s sweet, simple, but powerful counsel in last General Conference when he said, “Put Jesus Christ first.” As we strive to think celestial, put Jesus Christ first. Hopefully we can make that our application from our time together today. Let’s put Jesus Christ first.

Hank Smith: 33:28 What a beautiful Christmas message. Merry Christmas.

John Bytheway: 33:34 What a day. I think that there will be thousands of people who listen differently and think of their loved ones as guardian angels, because that beautiful letter from your son. What a Christmas gift. Thank you.

Hank Smith: 33:47 Yeah.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 33:48 We’ll thank Trevor.

John Bytheway: 33:49 Thank you Trevor.

Hank Smith: 33:51 Sister Jones, thank you for taking your time with us today.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 33:55 It’s been delightful. Thank you so much. I have loved being with you.

Hank Smith: 34:00 Merry Christmas.

Sister Joy D. Jones: 34:02 Merry Christmas.

Hank Smith: 34:03 We want to thank Sister Joy Jones for being with us today. It’s been an absolute treat. We want to thank our executive producer Shannon Sorensen. Shannon, thank you for giving us and our listeners such a wonderful gift each and every week. We want to thank our sponsors, David and Verla Sorensen, and we always remember our founder, Steve Sorensen. Join us next week. We have another lesson on the Book of Revelation, we’re going to finish the New Testament on followHIM.

  34:35 Today’s transcripts, show notes, and additional references are available on our website followhim.co, followhim.co. And you can watch the podcast on YouTube with additional videos on Facebook and Instagram. All of this is absolutely free, so be sure to share with your family and friends. To reach those who are searching for help with their Come, Follow Me Study, please subscribe, rate, review, or comment on the podcast, which makes the podcast easier to find. Thank you.

  35:02 We have an amazing production crew we want you to know about. David Perry, Lisa Spice, Jamie Neilson, Will Stoughton, Krystal Roberts, and Ariel Cuadra. Thank you to our amazing production team.