Maori Child Dying of Paralysis Healed After Apostolic Blessing in New Zealand

While presiding over the New Zealand Mission, Elder Matthew Cowley was called to bless a Maori child who was paralyzed and near death. The child’s family had gathered in faith, following the pattern common among the Maori Saints, who looked to the priesthood in times of extremity.

Elder Cowley administered to the child, and the child recovered from the paralysis.

Cowley repeatedly marveled at the faith of the Maori people, saying he had witnessed among them more healings and miraculous recoveries than he had ever expected to see in his lifetime. He attributed this in part to their covenant heritage as a branch of the house of Israel and their willingness to believe God without reservation.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Pioneers in the Pacific: Memory, History, and Cultural Identity among the Latter-day Saint, Religious Studies Center, BYU):

On one occasion Elder Cowley received a request from a distressed mother asking if it was possible for him to bless a little girl who had been run over by a car and was left paralyzed. He went to the home and found the child lying on a mat, completely paralyzed. He administered to her, and as he did so, he felt a distinct impression that she would be healed. He told the mother that her daughter would walk again. The next day he returned to the home and found the little girl running around and playing as if nothing had ever happened.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Glen L. Rudd, “Memories of Matthew Cowley: Man of Faith, Apostle to the Pacific,” in Pioneers in the Pacific, ed. Reid L. Neilson (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2005), 115–126.):

On one occasion Elder Cowley received a request from a distressed mother asking if it was possible for him to bless a little girl who had been run over by a car and was left paralyzed. He went to the home and found the child lying on a mat, completely paralyzed. He administered to her, and as he did so, he felt a distinct impression that she would be healed. He told the mother that her daughter would walk again. The next day he returned to the home and found the little girl running around and playing as if nothing had ever happened.