Ensign

December 1996

Volume 26 Number 12

Contents

• First Presidency Message: Gratitude As a Saving Principle
  President James E. Faust

• Christmas Gift for Hungary
  Jeffrey S. McClellan

• A Vision of Service
  Elder V. Dallas Merrell

• Lunch Bag Love
  Paula J. Lewis

• Alone for the Holidays
  Kellene Ricks Adams

• Crisis Christmas in Colombia
  Blair L. LaBarge

• Costa Rica: Rising in Majesty and Strength
  LaRene Porter Gaunt

• The Restoration of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods
  Larry C. Porter

• Mormon Journal
  Our Not-Quite Tabernacle Choir Jeanne P. Lawler
  I Received the Better Gift Vicki Tyner
  Why Was Choka Here? Valerie DeCora Guimarães
  Stranded in a Small Town Frank W. Olsen, as told to Kathleen Olsen
  Three Small Headstones Carla Parsons

• Portraits

• Speaking Today: “When Shall These Things Be?”
  Elder M. Russell Ballard

• Random Sampler

• The Visiting Teacher: The Rock of Our Redeemer

• News of the Church

• Annual Index