"Stories on the Sabbath"

                   The Three Nephite Construction Company

            As Bishop David Bonham loaded up his six children into the van, he sighed with exhaustion at the prospects that lay ahead.  It had been three and half weeks since they had been home and now that their vacation was over and school rapidly approaching, he once again felt the anxieties that come with the beginning of a new school year.

            David and his wife, Cindy Bonham lived in Snowflake, Arizona where David taught English at Snowflake High.  Just six months earlier, their ward had been divided and Brother Bonham had been called as the new bishop.  It wasn't long before everyone soon felt the deep love and devotion that a small ward of saints can feel for each other.  Every one had unselfishly carried two or three callings and the bishop and his family had made everyone feel needed.  David and Cindy made the ward one of their  "highest priorities".  Bishop Bonham was known for his kindness and special love for the youth.  Many a youth in this short time had felt their lives touched by his wise counsel.           
            This year there had been many changes in the Bonham's lives.  One such change was the addition to their family of a new baby.  That now brought the total up to six children.  When David and Cindy had moved to Snowflake, they had not been able to find a home as big as they would like.  But luckily enough they found a two‑bedroom home that they could afford with the prospects of turning the garage into a third bedroom as they needed it.  As the years went on, and  their family continued to grow,  they knew they needed more room but their goal of adding on never materialized.  The bishop's wages had been frozen three times at the school for lack of funds and yet the cost of inflation is never frozen.  Still there was hope that with a little time and  elbow grease, it might eventually be done.  Now with six kids the need was more real than ever. However, the finances were not improving and since being made bishop, the time element wasn't there either.  David had been approached to teach released‑time seminary.  But in order to do that he would need to teach at least one hour of seminary every day for one year.  The only way to do accomplish that would be to teach an early morning English class at the high school.  The high school principal approved the proposal.  While the prospects were exciting, he knew that it would burn up more precious time, but still decided to give it a try.

            The Bonham's  were returning from a one‑month vacation to Canada, visiting some of Cindy's family.  The third week they had spent in  Provo attending the symposium for Seminary teachers at BYU.   Their children slept as they drove home, and David and Cindy once again discussed the dilemma of converting the garage.  The burden seemed even heavier.  Another summer had come and gone, and the garage wasn't started, let alone finished and the prospects of getting it done weren't any better than before.  It was about 4:00 a.m. as they pulled into the drive‑way.  It was pitch‑black as they made their way down the tiny lane.  It felt good to be home, but something felt different, very different.  Let's freeze this story for a moment and take you back in time, say about three weeks.

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            Brother Evan Bingham, the first counselor in the Snowflake 9th Ward lived next door to the Bonham's.   David and Evan had many conversations about his situation, which left Evan with a  good awareness of their circumstances.  They were good friends as well as fellow‑laborers in the Church and their wives were also very close.  The Bishop had attempted many times to start the project but had been thwarted by lack of funds and time.  He also had the huge problem of having a garage full of household boxes with no space to store them.  The problem would only increase if the garage were filled in to make a new room for the kids.  The lack of space had caused some creative approaches to the problem.  The children slept on sleeping bags that could be rolled up so that the room could still be kept orderly during the day.  But even at that, there was not enough room and the dilemma had as many problems as it had solutions.  The main problems were money and time, two things the bishop had little of.  Evan was also aware that the bishop had tried time and time again to get a little lawn to grow in front of his house, but without a sprinkler system in the hot Arizona sun, it had only been an exercise in futility.       

It was the Sunday morning after the Bonham's left for their vacation.  Brother Bingham was conducting bishopric meeting.  Something had been weighing on his mind.  He had been waiting for the bishop to leave to present the idea to the bishopric.  "Brethren, you know how the bishop has us doing service projects all the time.  Well, I wondered what you'd think about doing one for the bishop while he is out of town?"       

The rest of the bishopric listened while Brother Bingham explained the situation.  Thoughts were presented that they could perhaps pick one of the projects to do because funds were somewhat limited among ward members.  Brother Paul Reynolds (second counselor) suggested that they present the project to the Priesthood Executive Council (PEC) to see what they thought. When the PEC members came in you could feel something in the air.  Later Brother Bingham would explain "I have heard of neat things like this before but have never been there first hand to watch what happened next."  As the idea was presented to the PEC the brethren caught hold of the idea like fire!  But there was not much talk about which part of the project to do, rather the emphasis was on who would do which project.            

One problem kept surfacing...what to do with the things that were in the garage. To put the boxes in a storage unit would become a financial burden.  So, more brain‑storming took place and it was decided that they would build a storage shed in the back yard and use the same garage door they had just removed.  Ladd Tenney, the elders quorum president said, "What the bishop needs is a shed to put all his stuff in.  We'll build that if you will just show us where and tell us how big you want it."  Gary Brimhall, the young men’s president, said "The young men will put in the sprinkler system and plant the grass, just show us where."  Larry Crowther, the high priest group leader, pledged that the high priests could fill in the garage in no time flat and it just took off from there. 

By the time church started the word was out.  Evan met with Kim Brimhall, the relief society president, and that was like pouring fuel on the fire!  A list was circulated of the needs and people were coming forward with offers of money and materials.  When sacrament meeting rolled around the ward was a buzz.  Paul Reynolds was conducting sacrament meeting and announced that operation "Bonham Surprise" would begin the next night for anyone who wanted to have a great family home evening experience.
The Bonham's lived on a one acre lot with a fair size orchard that needed some upkeep.  There was plenty to do and there were plenty of people to do it.  The next night as Brother Bingham plowed the Bonham's front yard to prepare for the sprinkler system and lawn, the project began to unfold.  He later recorded in his journal:  

"I have driven a lot of tractors in my life.  I have spent lots of hours on them and part of that comes from when I was a kid.   I lived on a farm and just loved driving them, I couldn't get enough.  But I have to say that Monday may have been the first time in my life that I have had a spiritual experience while driving a tractor.  People were coming out of everywhere.  As I watched the people busily doing all the yard work, etc. I was having a hard time choking back the emotion ...I just felt grateful to be a member of such a great church and of a wonderful ward."

As the people continued to show up the whole place was like a beehive.  The orchard was groomed and trimmed and the yard was shaping up.  There were young women and relief society members transplanting flowers out of their own gardens all around the home.  The flowers were pretty, but the people were what made the whole thing beautiful.  Only in Zion could there have been such a feeling of unity and unselfishness.  People who didn't have much money were donating with childlike faith, that whatever they would do for the bishop was a symbol of those things they would do for the Lord.

The project was almost like a wonderful disease!  Everyone caught it and everyone wanted to be a part of it. Someone had a spare window that matched the other windows in the Bonham home exactly.  Others donated tile for finishing the bathroom at the back of the current garage, lumber for the construction, light fixtures, pvc materials for the sprinkler system etc. 
One member was a carpet layer by trade and offered to donate the padding and then lay the carpet for free.  When his employer heard of the project he also donated the carpet.  A ward member who was in the road construction business donated the cement to pour a pad for the new shed and even sent workers to form it up.  Members donated bi‑fold doors, paint and labor.  Non‑members in the ward and others in the community heard of the project and donated time and money to fund the project.  Insulation was donated by a local business.  A school teacher who works in the summer as a painter heard of the project and offered to match the exterior paint as closely as he could and then provided the paint and labor free of charge.  The Forthsythe  sisters made curtains for the new room.  Someone donated two new single beds.  Another family donated a ceiling fan and did some creative talking to get a local store to donate the other fan.  Ben Arney, the bishop's executive secretary, was the "gopher" who would "go for" anything that was needed.  The relief society supplied the food for the work projects and any other things that came up. 

This was no ordinary "service project."  This one came from the heart.  There was no feeling of "have‑to" it was all "want‑to."  Families began stopping by to see what needed to be done next.  Primary children came with their families and brought their rakes and hoes and worked right along with their parents. Young men and young women came back again and again to help, but this time with their families.

The project became addicting.  Everyone who had a part in helping felt like this was their own project and wanted to be in on the latest happenings.  For those who could not donate labor or supplies, they donated money.  Many donated both.  There were so many that helped in so many ways that it would be impossible to name names.  A miracle was indeed in the making!

            A neighbor had been given the key to the Bonham's house while they were  gone.  However, everyone felt that they should respect their privacy and not bring all the workers in and out of their house.  So to honor this privacy, all the volunteers used the garage entrance.  When the garage door was taken down and a wall was put up in its place, everyone, young and old, climbed in and out of the window.  All the ward members had a wonderful feeling of respect as they served their bishop and his family.  All the details cannot be written, but about half‑way through the project Brother Bingham recorded in his journal:

"We moved all the boxes of stuff out of the garage and put it in a horse trailer and then parked it in Brian Brimhall's barn to keep the rain off while we worked.  People have been more than generous.  Some giving as much as $350.  The room is framed in and the sprinkler system has been put in.  We are still going to build a storage shed to hold all their stuff.  "I suppose that there is a chance that the bishop will be embarrassed and wish we hadn't done all this, and there is a very high likelihood that we have not done things the way that he would have done them if he were here, but the effect on the ward has been phenomenal!  Yesterday we had Bill Haelbig helping us.  He's a non‑member that just showed up to donate some cash and help install the sprinkler system.  We were calling him Brother Haelbig and he was calling us "Brother" so and so right back.  What a tremendous thing it has been!  I have seen young men who have given up doing things that they wanted to do just to be a part of this.  They have stuck it out and they will be blessed for every minute of it." 

"....The fact is that the project has been a little for the bishop but mostly it has been for the ward.....I think when it is all said and done, that over a thousand man hours will have been invested and the monetary value of just the materials will be over $1500.  While many materials have been donated, who can put a value on the feelings involved?  Paul Reynolds said it well when he commented that ‘this is just one of those cases when someone is being blessed for living the gospel.'  It has been a great experience so far and it's not done yet.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to get outside myself."

"....I will be glad for the Bishop's return because my load has increased considerably while he's been gone.  Leaders are neat things.  They give direction and are looked to more than we know to give vision.  This Church is a wonderful, tremendous, sensational, phenomenal thing!!!  God grant us the ability to carry on!"
            Soon the ground was leveled, cement poured and the next day a crew of men and boys worked for 12 hours.  The new shed was completely framed, roofed and ready for paint. Now with the new addition done and the new shed almost done, all that was left to do were the finishing touches.  They had three days left to put the garage door on, and finish painting.  The carpet and pad were installed.  The outside of the addition was painted to match the house.  New motion sensor lights were put on the outside of the house.  Things were beginning to look wonderful.  At the rate they were going they would be done by Friday, just in time for the Bishop to get home.  Then the bombshell hit in the form of a call.  Brother Evan Bingham had left the week earlier to attend the same symposium in Provo that the Bishop was attending and on Tuesday he frantically called to warn everyone that the Bishop was coming home two days earlier than expected.  Brother Bingham tried to talk him out of it, but it had been no use.  The Bonham's would be home late Wednesday evening.  That meant that they had one day left to finish everything.  Things kicked into high gear and the project neared completion when Brother Bingham called to say that the Bonham's were on their way home.

            A few relief society sisters chipped in to fix dinner for them for the next night.  One neighbor who lived behind the Bonham's decided that she would watch until she saw their light and then bring them breakfast.  Many, who had done so much found it hard to sleep.  The only comparable feeling would be that of waiting to watch your kids wake up on Christmas morning....only this was better!
            A man in the ward had brought in his landscaping equipment and cleaned up all the weeds and debris at the back of the acreage.  Fences were tightened, weeds were burned and the ground was manicured.  Any evidence of who had been there was gone.  Everything looked beautiful!  A great sense of accomplishment was felt by all those who had sacrificed their time, talents and money.  As the time approached for the Bonhams to arrive, the excitement grew.  The next-door neighbor noted that all Wednesday evening they saw the lights of cars driving by slowly, as if to inspect their work and in hopes to see if the Bishop and his family were home yet.

            This truly had been a miraculous experience.  The Snowflake Stake theme is to prepare to become a Zion people.  What greater thing could this people have done to strive to accomplish such a goal?   When several non‑member neighbors heard what was being done for the Bonham's, they were touched and wanted to be a part of it too.  Who can estimate the missionary work that can be accomplished because of such Christ like actions?

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            Now it's time to unfreeze the story.  Its 4:00 a.m. and Cindy Bonham turns down her lane, exhausted ready for needed sleep.  But something feels different.  As she pulls into the drive way, the motion of her car sets off two bright lights above what used to be their garage.  In shock, Cindy looks up to see in its place a newly painted wall with a window and curtains.   At that moment David wakes up and for a minute or two they just sit there amazed and dumbfounded.  They aren't sure what they are seeing.

          As Cindy opens the car door to get out, she awakens the two older kids. David has already climbed out and is looking around.  His eye catches the glimmer of something where before had only been dirt and weeds.  As he walks closer in disbelief, he sees a brand-new shed.  By now Cindy and the kids are standing behind him in shock.  By now it is getting light, and everywhere they turn they find a new surprise.  It is like Christmas. 

Cindy is tickled to death when she sees the beautiful flowers that have been so carefully planted.  David sees some straw and fertilizer on the front lawn.  When he walks closer, he is able to see a few sprinkler heads sticking above the straw.

            This is all so amazing.  About all they can do is to shake their heads and pinch themselves to be sure they aren't dreaming.  By now all thoughts of sleep have left their minds.  For some time they just continue to walk around and marvel at the project.    One of the kids asks who has done all this.  No one can say for sure but there is a sign hanging on the front gate that leads into the front yard.  On it is written the words:

THE THREE NEPHITE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

Call 1‑800‑ H‑E‑A‑V‑E‑N

or

1‑520‑B‑L‑E‑S‑S‑I‑N‑G‑S

                                                           (Out of Small Things)