Divine protection of a Latter-day Saint Elder during the San Francisco earthquake

During the San Francisco earthquake, every room in a new hotel was severely damaged except for the specific room in which a Latter-day Saint Elder was sleeping, allowing him to escape without a scratch.

In addition to the hotel experiences of the Pacific-bound elders, other Latter-day Saints reported similar occurrences during the 1906 earthquake. Sister E. Wolfinger, a nurse at French Hospital, noted that every room in the hospital was damaged except the one where she was on duty. Elders E. H. Clark and S. A. Bunnell, residing at 606 Franklin Street, found their building severely compromised by cracks and falling plaster, yet their specific room remained entirely undamaged. Additionally, Elder Matthias F. Cowley reported that his Market Street hotel was terribly damaged, requiring rescuers to help him down an outside ladder, yet his own room remained intact without a single crack. Cowley attributed this preservation to the fact that he had dedicated his room to the Lord the previous night.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

To our great astonishment we discovered that the two rooms which we five missionaries had slept in were the only two rooms in the entire building which were intact. There was not even so much as the plaster knocked off the ceiling of either room. We were on the fourth floor, and the building was a large one, and it was twisted and wrecked in every other part. We felt that the Lord had preserved us, and we offered up our thanks to Him for our deliverance.