Students said they appreciate the international focus of the LDS Church’s new Christmas video titled “A Savior Is Born,” because Christ is everyone’s Savior. The Church’s global initiative is designed to share the good news of the birth of the Savior and invite people to discover and celebrate the reason for the season, according to Mormon Newsroom.
The two-minute video captured the essence of Christmas by featuring children from a number of locations including Israel, New York and Los Angeles, saying passages from Isaiah and the “Messiah” by Handel to relate the story of the birth of the Savior, says Mormon Newsroom.
Jessalyn Entrikin, a freshman from Idaho majoring in TESOL education, shared her thoughts about using children of different ethnicities in the video. “The thing I really liked about the video was that there were testimonies of people from everywhere around the world. I think that really had meaning to me because the Savior came to Earth for all of us. No matter where we live, no matter what nationality we are or what cultures we are from, we are all children of God. We all become unified through Christ and his coming to Earth for us.”
This video launched the #ASaviorIsBorn initiative and like the church’s previous Christmas and Easter campaigns, Latter-day Saints and Christians are encouraged to share this message via social media. This initiative includes sharing the video, original GIFs and a completing the phrase ‘He was born so I…’ for a more personalized sharing.
Chelsi Montemayor, a sophomore from the Philippines studying art, said the initiative is an important message. “He was born so I can live my life in accordance to how the Savior would want me to,” she said.
“I think it is important for everybody–and especially children–to know the reason why there is a Christ, a Savior. More people should watch the video so that they know the Plan of Salvation and the purpose of the Savior.”
With a goal of attracting people from all over the world, the video was released in 33 different languages inviting everyone to find, know and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, reported Mormon Newsroom.
Norikazu Kaneko, a freshman from Japan studying business, said he enjoyed the video. He said, “It was really good because the words they used were really direct, simple and similar words. So it was really easy to understand for me even if I find it hard to understand English.”
The Church has used billboards and video boards displayed around Times Square in New York City and on top of 400 taxis traveling around the city, reported Mormon Newsroom.
The video can be found on christmas.mormon.org, as well as on the Gospel Library app. It has gathered more than 1.5 million views on YouTube as of Dec. 10.