Priesthood blessing in room 325, stat

One night I went to West Valley City to pick up a young man. He was from a Micronesian island and was living in Utah while he was going to school. His family had also sent his little cousin to live with him and he had legal guardianship of that child. This guy was over at his friends house installing a dishwasher for them. I was taking him back to the Primary Children’s Hospital. I asked him if he worked there and he said no.

His little cousin had been in an accident. He had been hit by a car while playing in the street. He had been at the hospital for seven full days and my passenger had been there with him the whole time until that afternoon when he went to install the dishwasher.

I asked him how his cousin was doing and he said that he didn’t know, sometimes better than others. I felt a definite prompting to talk to him about prayer and the power of speaking with our father in heaven. I asked him if he prayed. He said he didn’t ever really pray but would love to learn. We talked about prayer and the power of God that prayer can unleash. I asked him if it would be OK if I prayed for his cousin and for him.

He was touched, he hadn’t even thought about himself. He told me that this would be amazing and that he could use all the prayers we could send his way. I said, our heavenly father will be there for you!

I asked him what religion he belonged to. I knew he wasn’t a member of our church because of the responses I got. He told me that he was a Methodist but hadn’t been to church since he was a little child.

I talked to him about the steps of prayer and how anyone can pray to heavenly father and feel his presence and his love. I also told him that prayer is a powerful thing that can unleash the hand of God in our behalf. We actually stopped the car right there and had a prayer. The power of God was palpable.

When he felt this power he was blown away. He said, this is amazing! I said, this is what it feels like when you’re in the presence of God. You need to go and pray for and with your little cousin and this feeling will help him.

I told him that I would pray for he and his cousin, and that I would have others pray for them. I actually called the temple and put his name on the prayer roll although I didn’t share that with him because I didn’t think it would make any difference to him.

I told him that as we prayed for his cousin and for him, God would send angels to bless his cousin and to lift him up in his time of despair and doubt. He said thank you. He said, I need to be able to find peace. I feel it here in this car and if I can take it with me that will be huge.

I asked him if he knew anything about the priesthood. He said that he thought that it was the right to be the preacher in your congregation. I told him that it was the power of God to act in his name. I told him that it was the power that God used to bless his children and that he gave it to men so that they could be his hands.

I told him that this is the power by which people are baptized so that they can come back to God. I asked him if he believed in baptism. He said he knew that it was necessary but that he hadn’t been baptized even though his family attended the Methodist church.

I told him that baptism was really important and that they did it in the Bible and they did it anciently in America. I asked him if he had heard about the Book of Mormon, he said yes! I told him that when Jesus came to America the prophets wrote down their prophecies and an account of his visit. This is the Book of Mormon. In that book Jesus Christ gives authority to his disciples to baptize and commands for everyone to be baptized. I told him that today we have that same authority and we are commanded to baptize so that we can come before God and be clean. He said that is really cool. He never thought of baptism as a way to clean yourself. He thought that would be a really good idea about now.

Then I told him that this same authority given to us by Jesus Christ also gives us the authority to lay our hands on people’s heads and heal them if it be God‘s will. He said what? I said we can use this priesthood and lay our hands on people’s heads and using the power of God we can pronounce blessings on the heads of sick or distressed people. I told him that we try to listen to the spirit so that we can know the will of God and pronounce it on the head of the afflicted person. I told him that through the faith of the person performing the blessing and the people involved many people are miraculously healed.

I asked him if he had any members of our church in his family. He said yes, he did! He said that he has an uncle that does interpretation twice a year when all of our important people do a big meeting in Salt Lake that is broadcast all over the world. He said that he knows that uncle is a member of the church. I told him that this uncle had that authority and could perform a blessing on his cousin.

He then got an oh my gosh look on his face. He said my uncle has been coming up to the hospital and demanding to be let in to see my cousin. He said, I’ll bet that’s what he was trying to do. He said the problem is that he is the only one allowed in due to Covid rules. He said now he wished he could let his uncle go up and give him this blessing.

I asked him if he had faith that God could heal his cousin. If he did he should go through the hospital and ask the nurses and doctors if there are any men who are active members of the church that work there. I told him they would have this authority and they could give the same blessing his uncle would give.

He shouted “yes! That is exactly what I’ll do! The second you drop me off I’m going to walk around the hospital and find someone who can give my cousin a blessing.” He said we can’t fight this battle without God.

Then I told him that he needed to go to this uncle and talk to him about the priesthood and about baptism, both which his uncle had power to perform. I told him his uncle would gladly help he and his little cousin come to know God.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon. He said no. I handed him one of Sister Secrist’s special copies of the Book of Mormon and told him that the spirit he felt when he read this book would bring him peace. This book would bring him close to God and that when reading this book he would feel the power of God in the words.

We were now sitting in the entryway to the hospital and I asked him what he felt. He said power and love. I told him that it was the Spirit of God. I told him that God sent this witness to him so that he would know the truthfulness of the things we had discussed. I told him he should tell his uncle about that and show him his book.

He told me he would do exactly that tomorrow but right now he had to go find someone that could give his cousin a blessing!

As I drove off I felt a warm exciting peace. I knew God’s will had been done in the car. I prayed in my heart for his cousin and that he would follow through. I couldn’t imagine the stress and the responsibility he felt.

He sent me a message five days later saying that his little cousin was home from the hospital and that his uncle was really excited to talk to him about the church.