Larry Echo Hawk — Eyesight Preserved Through a Covenant Prayer

In the summer before his senior football season at Farmington High School in New Mexico, seventeen-year-old Larry Echo Hawk — a member of the Pawnee Nation whose family had joined the Church three years earlier — was struck squarely in the eye by a thrown ball between two-a-day practices. With his eye swollen shut, he was taken to the emergency room, where the doctor warned that it was too early to tell but he might lose the sight in that eye. Both eyes were bandaged and he was confined to bed for a week, just as the first game of the season approached. Lying in the dark, Echo Hawk began for the first time to seriously think about what his priests quorum advisor, Richard Boren, had taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon, and the power of prayer. He slipped out of bed to his knees — the first time in his life he had ever prayed intently — and covenanted with the Lord: if his eyesight were preserved, he would read the Book of Mormon as Brother Boren had challenged him to do. When the bandages came off, his sight gradually returned to near-perfect vision within a week. Echo Hawk kept his promise, reading the Book of Mormon through and praying as Moroni 10:4 directs, and received a witness of its truthfulness — the 'unexpected gift' that became the foundation of his testimony. That testimony carried him through BYU and law school, to election as Attorney General of Idaho in 1990 (the first American Indian ever elected to a statewide constitutional office in the United States), and ultimately to service as a General Authority Seventy, sustained in 2012.

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

In the summer before my senior year of high school, I was playing football. We were in the middle of two-a-day practices. During a break, a teammate threw a football, and it struck me squarely in the eye. I went down in pain. My eye swelled shut immediately. I was taken to the emergency room, and the doctor examined me. He said, 'It is too early to tell, but you might lose the sight in that eye.' I was sent home, both eyes were bandaged, and I was confined to my bed for a week. This was a very difficult time for me. The first game of the season was approaching, and I was worried about my football career. But more importantly, I was lying in the dark, and for the first time in my life, I began to seriously think about what my priests quorum advisor, Brother Richard Boren, had taught me. He had taught me about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon, and the power of prayer. I remember slipping out of bed to my knees. It was the first time in my life that I had ever prayed intently. There I was, with bandages on my eyes, alone in my bedroom, praying for help. I remember saying, 'Heavenly Father, please, if you are there, listen to my prayer and help me not lose the sight in my eye.' I said, 'I promise, if I can just keep the vision in my eye, I will read the Book of Mormon as Brother Boren has challenged me to do.' When the bandages came off, at first I could not see out of the injured eye. But gradually, day by day, my sight came back to near-perfect vision within a week. I knew that my prayer had been answered. I kept my promise. I read the Book of Mormon through, and I prayed as Moroni 10:4 directs. I received a witness of its truthfulness. That witness was the unexpected gift that became the foundation of my testimony.