Elder L. Tom Perry shares a Christmas memory

Elder L. Tom Perry (1922-2015) was called as an Assistant to the Twelve in 1972, then as a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in 1974. At the time of his passing at age 92, he was the oldest living general authority and the third in seniority among the leading quorum.

"Many years ago I found myself as part of occupation troops in a foreign land just at the end of a terrible war. It was not long after we arrived in this country before we developed a great love and concern for the people we were there to watch over. This was especially true of the young people, the children. Many times we would find them scavenging in our garbage cans looking for food to keep themselves alive. This deeply touched us, and we wanted to make a more substantial contribution to them. We raised what money we could and found a local religious group that was willing to open an orphanage for them. We donated as much time as possible to improve the facilities and provided them with the operating funds they needed.

"As Christmas approached, we sent letters home to our families asking that, instead of sending gifts to us, they send toys for the children in the orphanage. The response of our families was overwhelming! Toys arrived daily from our homes.

"We found a tree suitable to use as a Christmas tree, but we had no traditional decorations for it. A lady taught us how to make little birds by folding square pieces of paper, and these became the major part of the decorations for the tree. The presents were wrapped mostly in discarded Stars and Stripes newspapers. I'll never forget Christmas Eve with those children. I am sure many of them had never seen a Christmas tree in their lives.

"We sang Christmas carols to them, but we weren't very good at this. They had been rehearsing for weeks so they could sing a song to us in English. It was not a Christmas carol, but it was beautiful. They sang, 'You Are My Sunshine.' We were deeply touched with the spirit of the children that Christmas Eve, especially as they opened the presents sent from our families. I suppose some of them had not had a toy in many, many years.

"This is a Christmas I'll never forget because we were learning the true meaning of this great holiday season. The greatest joy we can receive in life is giving—to bring into the life of someone else a little joy and happiness."

- L. Tom Perry, "A 'Sunshine' Christmas," New Era, Dec. 1988
Click here to read the story

Elder Perry served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, and was part of the Japanese invasion during that time. Far from feeling anger and vindictiveness, he was sensitive to the struggles of the citizens there. Among his efforts as a soldier were organizing work projects to help rebuild Christian churches that had been destroyed in the conflict. This story comes from that context, as a young Tom Perry "practiced what he preached" and shared the true spirit of Christmas with people who were supposed to be his enemies.

What a great example from a great man. A true disciple will always be striving to bind up wounds, to reach out in love, and to share the message of the Savior's love.

(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2017)