EARLY EXPERIENCE IN CALLING UPON THE LORD—PRAYERS ANSWERED—FAITH DEVELOPED—A POCKET-BOOK LOST—FOUND IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.

In proof of the fact that the Lord hears and answers "the prayer of faith," the writer has had abundant evidence.

Not only has he known the sick to be healed in almost numberless instances, when anointed and prayed for by the Elders of the Church, but he has had his own prayers answered in regard to other things very many times.

These answers have sometimes come, too, in such a signal manner as to leave no room for supposing that they were the result of chance.

From childhood he was taught by his parents to have faith in the Lord, and to appeal to him for help when in trouble. In doing so he ever experienced such relief and comfort, that it seemed the most natural thing for him to do when in need of help.

When a small boy, as was the case with most other boys who grew up in these valleys years ago, he was occasionally required to herd cows. Sometimes his cows would wander off and get lost, and he would be filled with dread at thoughts of going home without them. At such times, if he could get off alone, where no other person could see him, he always liked to kneel in humble prayer and ask the Lord to prompt him to go in the right direction to find the missing animals.

In looking back now at those early experiences, he cannot recall to mind a single instance in which he failed to have his prayers answered.

Thus in his early years an acquaintance with the Lord was cultivated, and he grew to regard Him as his best friend—a friend whom he could appeal to, without anyone else knowing it, with perfect confidence of having his requests granted. This was a great comfort to him, for he was a very bashful boy, and could not have asked favors of others with so much freedom as he did of the Lord. Indeed, he never dared, when a boy, to let anyone know how he prayed to the Lord when beset by trouble, and how his prayers were answered. He would even shrink from saying anything about it now, were it not that he hopes an account of his experience may tend to inspire some others with faith in the Lord.

On one occasion when riding on the range on the west side of the Jordan river he lost a pocket book, containing a considerable amount of money and valuable papers, from his pocket.

When he discovered his loss he had traveled perhaps about twenty miles, and had no idea where he had lost it. Much of the distance he had traversed was over the rough prairie where there were no roads and where sage and rabbit brush grew in abundance.

Any person acquainted with the condition of that region of country when in its wild state, can understand how fruitless a search for so small an article as a pocket book would be likely to prove on the Jordan range. One might almost as well hunt for a needle in a haystack.

However, with many anxious forebodings, caused principally by the fact that much that the pocket book contained was not his own, and that he could not replace it, if lost, he mounted a fresh horse and started upon his search.

He made his way as nearly as he could judge, without any track to guide him, over the same route he had first traveled till he got some distance out on the range. There, when far out of sight of human eyes, he knelt and called upon the Lord in earnest prayer. He asked with all the faith that he could command, that he might be led to the place where the lost treasure had fallen.

Mounting his horse again, with a hopeful feeling, he allowed the animal to choose his own course, when, imagine his joy, after going a short distance, to see the pocket book lying directly in front of his horse. With a light heart and full of gratitude to the Almighty, he returned home, feeling that a more direct answer to his prayer could scarcely have been given him.