The Elders' deliverance through the power of silence and prayer

Two LDS Elders traveling in the South were consistently refused lodging when they discussed their destination aloud. One Elder realized they were inadvertently revealing their plans to the adversary, who was intercepting them. By choosing to remain silent about their destination and changing their course suddenly, they were able to slip into a house undetected and receive shelter.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 8 no. 1 (October 1896), page 44):

He said that two of our elders were traveling in the South and as it neared twilight, they began to query as to where they should spend the night. Houses are three and four miles apart in that section, and it was necessary to begin early to find a lodging, else the darkness would come and they would be without shelter. They began asking themselves where they should stay. One proposed a certain house and they started out for the place agreed upon. Arriving there, the man of the house and his wife were quarreling at such a rate that when they put their question they were answered very sharply, and refused. Again outside, they asked each other where next they should go, and again they started out for a place which had been named and agreed upon. Here again they were refused, and so on for three or four times, until they became very discouraged. At length one of them, more thoughtful than the other, said, “Well, we have told the devil every time when we started out just where we were going, and he has got there ahead of us every time. Now, let us say nothing, and try to circumvent him in his evil purposes.” Accordingly, they started out, and without a word as to where they were going one led the way, and pretending to go a certain way, they suddenly changed their course, found the very house they desired, and slipped in quietly and obtained shelter and rest.