Spiritual blindness is increasing in the world.  (James E. Faust, Ensign, November 2005, pg. 20).  As W. Grant Bangerter put it, "(the) world (is) madly throwing everything overboard, including the anchor, the compass, the helm, and even the pilot."  (General Conference, October 1977).

In stark contrast are the Latter-day Saints.  In negotiating for a lease to the property in Jerusalem upon which the Brigham Young University's Jerusalem Center would be built, President Ezra Taft Benson and BYU president Jeffrey R. Holland agreed with the government not to proselyte.  "After the lease had been signed…(one of the Israelis present) remarked, 'Oh, we know that you are not going to proselyte, but what are you going to do about the light that is in their eyes?'  He was referring to our students who were studying in Israel."  (James E. Faust, Ensign, November 2005, pg. 20).

President James E. Faust told the following story:

"Some years ago, Constance, a student nurse, was assigned to try and help a woman who had injured her leg in an accident.  The woman refused medical help because she had had a negative experience with someone at the hospital.  She was afraid and had become something of a recluse.  The fist time Constance dropped by, the injured woman ordered her out.  On the second try, she did let Constance in.  By now the woman's leg was covered with large ulcers, and some of the flesh was rotting.  But still she didn't want to be treated.

"Constance made it a matter of prayer, and in a day or two the answer came.  She took some foaming hydrogen peroxide with her for the next visit.  As this was painless, the old woman let her use it on her leg.  Then they talked about more serious treatment at the hospital.  Constance assured her the hospital would make her stay as pleasant as possible.  In a day or two the woman did get the courage to enter the hospital.  When Constance visited her, the woman smiled as she said, 'You convinced me.'  Then, quite unexpectedly, she asked Constance, 'What church do you belong to?'  Constance told her she was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The woman said:  'I knew it.  I knew you were sent to me from the first day that I saw you.  There was a light in your face that I had noticed in others of your faith.  I had to put my trust in you.'

"In three months' time that festering leg was completely healed.  Members of the ward where the old woman lived remodeled her house and fixed up her yard.  The missionaries met with her, and she was baptized soon after.  All of this because she noticed the light in that young student nurse's face."  (James E. Faust, Ensign, October 2005 pg. 22).

Elder L. Tom Perry told the following story:

"The scriptures have always seemed to equate righteous living with a special light, spirit, joy, and happiness in the lives of those who so live.

"Many years ago when I was a retail executive, we had a night watchman in one of our stores whose teenage daughter had just joined our church.  He would often comment on the change that had occurred in the life of his daughter.  Her baptism had brought a new spirit into their home.  I was attempting to use this event as a base to teach him the gospel.

"One evening as I was leaving the store, he was by the exit checking out the late customers who had completed their purchases after the store had closed.  I stopped for a minute to visit with him.  He immediately commenced to tell me about his daughter.  He said, 'You know, she just radiates since she joined your church.'

"I proceeded to tell him that having a trust in the Lord and conforming our life to the gospel plan does make a change, even in our countenance.  Just at that time I noticed two ladies approaching the door with several other customers.  They were neatly dressed, and their faces reflected a special glow.  As if my eyes were directed, I immediately noticed a “Duty to God” pin on one of the lady’s dresses, which many of our fine young men present to their mothers after achieving this special award.  I turned to my friend and said, 'Look at those two ladies coming towards the door.  They have a different look.  They, too, are members of our church.'

"He was so caught up in my remark that he rushed over to them and asked, 'Are you Mormons?'  After confirming this fact, he returned to me shaking his head and saying, 'You know, you can tell the difference.'  I agree with him.  There is a difference in those 'who trust in the Lord and do good.' ”  (General conference, April 1978).

My wife claims that I took the missionaries to a family of our acquaintance and taught them every week for a whole year.  I think that's an exaggeration, but she insists that it's so.  That was 30 years ago.  I remember the couple and their four children attending church with us in the old building on Dewey Avenue.  They were ill at ease and out of place.  The children had probably never attended church in their lives, and weren't just sure how to act and what to expect.  Their parents were the same.  They were apprehensive.  They put up with my weekly attempts to change them and bring the gospel into their lives; but eventually my efforts and our weekly visits ceased, and all came to naught.

Sometime back in that era I also recall taking the elders to visit the grandparents of those four children.  They were good people.  I'd gone to grade school with their children, liked them all, and I hoped to be able to ignite a gospel spark of interest somewhere in the family.  We had a wonderful visit that evening in their home, although it didn't result in any callback or further visits.

The wife, Doris, told me a story that I've remembered and retold many times.  She confessed that she had a secret hobby.  Her hobby was picking out Mormons.  She claimed to be very good at identifying the Mormons in any crowd.  She explained that Jack, her husband, served on the Wheat League which necessitated his attending meetings in many places around the state.  Doris accompanied him on the trips, and spent the meeting times sitting in the hotel lobbies watching people.  When she observed someone whom she judged to be a Mormon, she'd go up to the person and say, "Excuse me, but don't I know you?"

"No, I don't believe so," the person would say.

"Maybe from church?" Doris would ask.

"Well, that might be," the person would reply, and would then reveal his or her church affiliation.

"I was rarely wrong," Doris said proudly.

Her story made for an interesting conversation as we explored just what it was that made LDS people stand out, but my efforts to also turn her into a Latter-day Saint came to naught—just like my efforts to convert her son and his family.

Nearly twenty years passed.  One day the youngest son in that family of four children called me to ask how to get in touch with my number-two son—his friend of many years.  They had been friends and classmates from grade school through high school, and had been in one another's homes many times.  The young man, Jake, wanted my son to teach him the gospel.  In a few weeks Jake was baptized.  A year later he was serving a mission in Ireland where he baptized in a country where few baptisms happened.  A few months after his mission, he brought a girl to our home for us to meet.  We were astounded.  She was a beautiful, bubbly female version of Jake himself.  If ever there were two people who were meant to get together, these were them.  I'm sure they'd have never met had Jake not joined the Church and served a mission.  They were married in the temple, and now have two small children.

Jake and his wife visited our ward last Sunday during fast meeting, and both bore their testimonies.  No one but Margie and I knew the saga that brought them to that point.  They are the culmination of 30 years of missionary efforts.  Jake is now in a position where he can bless the lives of many generations of his family.  His children and grandchildren will grow up in the gospel and serve in many capacities.  He'll do the temple work for his deceased grandparents, and for many generations back.

It would be interesting to know what Doris and Jack are doing on the other side of the veil.  They now desperately want to be members of Christ's true Church.  Were they in a position to gently push and urge Jake to join the Church?  He's their one best hope to achieve salvation, exaltation, and eternal family relationships.

I don't know what, if any, influence my missionary efforts have had on this family, but I know my efforts weren't wasted.  It's very gratifying to see them come to fruition, even if it did take 30 years.

The gospel changes people.  It changes their natures, and it changes their countenances.  It puts a light in their eyes.  The Lord is that light.  He said, "I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world."  (D&C 93:2).  He also tells us to "Let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."  (3 Nephi 12:16).

That is our responsibility.  That is our calling.  It is also our covenanted obligation to see that nothing is permitted into our lives that would dim the light of the Spirit that shines out through our eyes.