Elder Llewellyn Harris probably had no idea what he was getting into in January of 1878 as a missionary in the Southwest Indian Mission, when he was awakened by the parents of a Zuni family with whom he was staying. The father told him his daughter was dying. Elder Harris recalled:
I saw she was gasping for breath. I felt like administering to her then, but the Spirit of the Lord prompted me to wait a little longer. I waited until she had done gasping and did not appear to breathe. The Spirit of the Lord moved on me very strongly to administer to her, which I did; she revived and slept well the remainder of the night. (Juvenile Instructor, vol 14, 1879, pp 160-161)
All was well for that night, but as Elder Harris was to learn the next morning it was only the beginning. A smallpox epidemic was sweeping through the Zuni villages during the winter of 1877-1878, with only this lone missionary and the power of the Priesthood to stand in its way.
Latter-day Precedent
The miraculous events that followed were reminiscent of what occurred on the banks of the Mississippi nearly 40 years earlier. During the summer of 1839, in the early days of Nauvoo, the Saints, who had just escaped the persecutions of Missouri and badly needed a respite, were stricken by malaria. Since many lacked adequate housing, Joseph had filled his house and tent with them but many still lay ill on the ground in his yard.
Although he was sick himself, Joseph rallied and began administering to them. In the words of Wilford Woodruff, “he commanded them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to rise and be made whole, and the sick were healed on every side of him.” (Leaves from My Journal, chapter 19)
Still, many lay sick along the bank of the river where Joseph and others continued their healing mission. After all were healed there, they crossed the river and did the same in Montrose and other settlements. The record is not clear on the numbers involved, but one can reasonably assume it was in the hundreds.
Administering to the Zuni
Like the Prophet Joseph before him, Elder Harris moved among the Zuni administering to the sick. The word spread, and soon Elder Harris found himself administering to ten to twenty families a day and as he recalled, “the power of the Lord was made manifest to such a degree that nearly all I administered to recovered.”
But the disease was spreading so rapidly he could not visit them all. At that point, the Zunis collected their sick in one place, a large room about twenty by forty feet, where they called on him to administer to them all. Of this Elder Harris wrote,
The stench that arose and the horrible sight that met my eyes is beyond description … I called on the Lord to strengthen me. I commenced, and as fast as I administered to them they were removed, but other sick ones were continually being brought in … When I had administered to the last one and went out, the sun had set and it was getting dark. [His interpreter] asked if I knew how many I had prayed for. I told him that I did not keep count; he said he had, and that it was 406. The next morning my arms were so sore that I could hardly move them.” (Juvenile Instructor)
Survivor’s Tale
There is a sequel to this story. In 1970, Dale Tingey was the mission president to Native Americans in the southwest, an area that included the Zuni Pueblo. On one occasion he attended a birthday party for a local member, a Sister Martinez, who was celebrating her 114th birthday. She was short, perhaps all of four feet, eight inches, wrinkled and shriveled up, but very active and very talkative. President Tingey, who was aware of this miracle of healing among the Zunis back in 1878 and realized that Sister Martinez might have been around at the time, spoke to her about it. She said little but pointed to the pock marks on her face and asked, “Do you know what these are?” Tingey had seen such marks before and responded, “Would they be pock marks from smallpox?” It was then that the other side of the story came out. As Brother Tingey recalls her words,
She recounted that as a girl she had contracted smallpox and that her mother and father had taken her to the large room that day to be healed by this miracle man. She said that while they were waiting, she was so sick that her father thought she had died and tried to persuade her mother they should bury her.
He said there was no value in waiting to have her healed if she was not alive. Her mother refused to leave and told her later that she just continued to massage her heart until it was her opportunity to receive [Elder Harris’s] blessing or “healing prayer.” She said that her mother had told her she revived immediately and was healed. She gave a cute smile and mentioned, “I haven’t been sick in a hundred years.” (Manuscript in the possession of the author.)
Implications Today
One of the great blessings of the restored Gospel is that the spiritual blessings enjoyed by the Saints in ancient times are available to us in this dispensation. During Christ’s ministry He walked among the people “teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” (Matthew 4:23)
People followed Him in great multitudes and brought their sick to be healed. Later his apostles provided the same blessing. Thus James was able to write, “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” (James 5:14-15)
Although we are not accustomed to hearing such stories of mass healings today, the power of the Priesthood is still exercised among the Saints every day. It may not be in one place at one time as in the days of Joseph Smith and Llewellyn Harris, but day in and day out, in the homes, wards, and stakes of Zion throughout the world, the powers of Heaven are called down for the blessing and healing of the sick.
And if all the stories of those who were healed were assembled in one place at one time we would realize that God still does move among his people and that miracles are as common now as they were then.
