Lending a helping hand

Health is another topic of primary importance both in the pioneer era and today.? In pioneer times, when doctors were few and far between and medical facilities were unsophisticated, many stories told how the Nephites healed the sick.

In one instance, a young mother named Matilda Stolworthy was praying beside her sick child, anxiously hoping her health would be restored.? She felt a breeze, then turned to see a stranger standing in the room. His kindly face, covered with a white beard, allayed Matilda’s fears and gave her the courage to offer him a chair.?He declined, saying, “I have come to see your sick child.?span style="mso-spacerun: yes">? He placed his hands on the child’s head and uttered a prayer in an unfamiliar tongue. Then he reassured Matilda that the baby would become the mother of ten.

As Matilda turned to note that her baby was asleep, the man disappeared.?She found his footprints to her front gate, but no farther.? Her daughter grew to womanhood and had ten children, and Matilda was sure that her visitor was one of the Three Nephites.

Along with healing power, the Nephites are said to possess a knowledge of the medicinal values of various roots, leaves, barks, and berries of the West. Among illnesses the Three Nephites have healed in stories are a toothache, a skin irritation, meningitis, laryngitis, lung abscesses, and “caked breasts.?span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?Often the patient recovers quickly and miraculously, and if a concoction of herbs is used, it invariably provides the desired curative effect.

In modern times, the Nephite relies on current medical practices.?Such stories depict Nephites rescuing a man from an automobile accident and bandaging his wound in “a very professional manner? utilizing artificial respiration after pulling a young boy from a lake following a boating accident; and even visiting an operating room to assist a team of baffled doctors in removing “a black-covered growth?from a woman’s stomach.

Restoring faith. Beyond the physical conditions, bestowing spiritual wealth or uplifting messages is a common motif within the Three Nephite stories.? These stories often give a sense of being in God’s special favor, which, to a religious person, imparts faith, confidence, and spiritual buoyancy.?What the saints are to Catholics, the Nephites are to westerners in general and Mormons in particular? symbols of the early days when men kept a closer contact with God.?