Thousands of visitors attended a temple open house, held a few weeks before it was to be dedicated. Among them was a woman who knew little about the Church, but she had heard that Mormons are not Christians.

She went through the usual temple open house tour procedures, which included going with a small group of people into a room in the LDS meetinghouse adjacent to the temple and watching a video, the message of which centered on Jesus Christ.

In the room she saw a print of a painting depicting Jesus in the home of Mary and Martha who lived at Bethany. She noticed other art work in the hall and foyer portraying scenes in the Savior's mortal ministry, His Atonement, the Crucifixion and Resurrection. She was drawn particularly to a portrayal of the Savior's Second Coming.

Proceeding with the tour, she entered the temple. At each stop — the foyer, baptistry, ordinance rooms, sealing rooms and the celestial room — she marveled at the beauty of the building, its fine workmanship and the decor. In the ordinance rooms, she admired the murals that showed the beauty and grandeur of nature, but the artwork that drew her in, once again, were scenes from the Savior's life that she saw throughout the temple.

After the tour concluded, the woman wondered aloud how anyone could "get the idea that Mormons aren't Christians."

An adage was proven: A picture is worth a thousand words. The paintings in the meetinghouse and temple provided artistic testimony that we believe in Jesus, that we are followers of Christ.

He is our Redeemer, the Messiah Whose mission was testified of by ancient prophets and the Savior of the world Who shall come again.

He is our great Exemplar; we seek to serve Him and to emulate Him, to follow Him in His words and deeds. We add our voices to our children's when we teach them to sing:

I'm trying to be like Jesus;

I'm following in his ways.

I'm trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say. At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice, But I try to listen as the still small voice whispers,

Love one another as Jesus loves you.

Try to show kindness in all that you do.

Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,

For these are the things Jesus taught (Children's Songbook, No. 78).

The prophet Nephi engraved upon large plates the very words we have inscribed in our hearts and emblazoned upon our lips: "We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins" (2 Nephi 25:26).

At last April's general conference, President Thomas S. Monson testified of his love for the Savior and His great atoning sacrifice, saying, in part: "I believe that none of us can conceive the full import of what Christ did for us in Gethsemane, but I am grateful every day of my life for His atoning sacrifice in our behalf.

"At the last moment, He could have turned back. But He did not. He passed beneath all things that He might save all things. In doing so, He gave us life beyond this mortal existence. He reclaimed us from the Fall of Adam.

"To the depths of my very soul, I am grateful to Him. He taught us how to live. He taught us how to die. He secured our salvation" (Ensign, May 2011).

We testify of the truth proclaimed in the Book of Mormon: "Salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent" (Mosiah 3:18).

An invitation we extend to all is eloquently expressed in these words from the Book of Mormon: "I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved" (Omni 1:26).

May we live our lives so that others can see — as clearly as if shown in a picture — that we, indeed, are true followers of Jesus Christ.