The Missionary's Miraculous Recovery from Appendicitis
Published October 22, 2026 at 10:06 PM
Contributed by
Young Woman's Journal Research
A missionary serving in Germany was operated on for a ruptured appendix. Doctors declared his recovery impossible, but he survived through faith, fasting by the Saints, and obedience to the Word of Wisdom. The doctors attributed his survival to a 'higher power'.
In Their Own Words
“In the year, 1902, one of the missionaries to Germany was taken with a severe attack of appendicitis. Before leaving for the hospital he wrote, in a very trembling hand: ‘Mother, I am going to the hospital but the Lord can and will see me through.’ When the doctors operated they found the appendix broken and great quantities of puss in his body. They gave out the word that it was impossible for him to recover, but the young Elder never lost faith. He had kept the Word of Wisdom strictly. A special fast-meeting had been called and he knew that the Saints were praying for him. It was three months before he was able to leave the hospital. When he was leaving the physicians said: ‘Young man, it was a higher power than ours that saved your life.’ — The Young Woman's Journal 35:2”
Sources & References
The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 35 no. 2 (February 1924). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/25630 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high)
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