In 1974, the Provo 10th Ward Primary gave a book to a sweet sister for her service. The book, "Talk Tidbits" by Albert Zobell Jr., found its way to the Deseret Industries store in Provo, Utah. My dear wife, Sheryl, bought the book several years ago while in Utah on business. This is one of the tidbits in the book.
The author Robert Louis Stevenson was said to be utterly fascinated by the village lamplighter. Each night the lamplighter would light the gas lamps that have long ago been replaced with electricity. One evening young Robert's nanny found him looking out of the window of his room.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
Robert's reply was, "I'm watching the man knocking holes in the darkness."
Zobell went on to say: "Each of us is a guide — a lamplighter — for someone else. But are we as conscientious as we should be in knocking holes in the darkness surrounding those who look to us for guidance and direction?"
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Christmas Day in 2009 wasn't going to be our best yet. My wife's family was not getting together, as we always do with Mom (after 39 years she's my Mom too), because of distance, weather and circumstance. Our daughter and her family live in New Hampshire and we are often not together at Christmas. So, just me and Sheryl and a 13-pound turkey!
The turkey went in the oven at 10:30 for a planned late meal.
With the weather, Sheryl noticed that our retired Lutheran pastor neighbor and his wife did not have any family cars in their driveway. The thought came to me to invite them to dinner.
We had watched "Mr. Krueger's Christmas" the night before and my heart swelled with the possibility of a real enactment of a version of helping someone at Christmas. After checking with Shery — almost 40 years of marriage and I have learned a couple things about spousal courtesy — we decided to invite them over. I tromped through the snow and saw the garage door going up as I got to the house. My heart sank. "They're going away," I thought.
Nope, just Oliver going outside for a moment. I extended the offer of a 13-pound turkey, leftover mashed potatoes from earlier in the week, pickles and a leftover cherry pie from yesterday for a 4 p.m. dinner. He would talk to his wife and let me know. Just then Grace came out to say, "That was Carolyn on the phone. They're going to come after all."
My heart again sank. "They're going to have a sandwich first and then drive, so I need to go to the freezer and fix something."
"Grace," I said and then retold the meal option to her: Nothing to fix and they, their daughter and friend could come eat with us. A half-hour later Grace called and said the offer sounded great to their daughter and they'd be over! As large snowflakes fell we waited for their daughter to call and say they would not be driving the 100 miles from their home after all, but no call came. Needless to say, Sheryl made a few more items for the meal. I set the table and at 4 p.m. our friends arrived.
So what do two Mormons, two Lutherans and two Catholics talk about at Christmas dinner? We had a wonderful meal and conversation, followed by all of us in the living room watching a movie Jimmy Stewart made for the LDS Church years ago about the meaning of Christmas — the love of Jesus Christ for all of us.
So how is this "knocking holes in the darkness"? We talked of how the LDS Church works with the Catholic Church (news to our new friends) to help in disasters around the world. About the church's vineyard — "Do they sell the wine in Iowa?" "No," I responded with explanation. We talked about humanitarian awards, a great sermon I had heard on the Lutheran Hour program in December and about the church's work in the friend's native country, Indonesia. Where did Sheryl and I, converts to the church, gain our knowledge to "knock holes in the darkness" with our friends? From the Church News, Mormon Times, the Church Almanac and the Ensign.
About 30 years ago, we first sat as Methodists with missionaries of your church.
"Knock holes in the darkness" not only for us — my wife, Sheryl, and I served a mission at Historic Cove Fort, Utah, this year — but also for the missionaries at Kirtland, Nauvoo, Liberty jail and all the other historic sites of the church. Tell your friends as you discuss vacation plans for this summer and they say "We're driving to the Grand Canyon" or "We're going to Ohio to see my wife's folk," or "What's there to see in Utah, we've lived here two years and haven't gotten out of Salt Lake?" There is no easier missionary work to do than to share information with our friends that shows how the Lord's church does touch the lives of millions around the world every day.
Joseph Beenken is from the Waverly Branch, Cedar Rapids Iowa Stake. He and his wife, Sheryl, recently returned to Iowa after serving a six-month mission at Historic Cove Fort, Utah.