PRAYER

All of us like to talk over our problems or troubles, our joys and our happiness with other people. When we want to tell our friends something we ride our bike to their house, or we call them on the telephone, or go over to their house. We can also talk to them as we walk home from school. If we want to talk to our mother, we go into the bedroom where she is making
the bed, or into the kitchen where she is making cookies, or some other job and we visit with her. And, should we want to ask for our grandparents advise ,we write a letter or telephone, or go to visit them.
When we want to talk a problem over with our Heavenly Father, we kneel and say our prayers. We talk to him in our individual prayers at night before we get into bed, or we can pray in our hearts wherever we may be. We also pray in our Primary, Sunday School, and Sacrament meetings. We can even pray and tell our needs to our Heavenly Father in His most holy house, the temple.
In the temple there is a very special prayer. It is called a prayer roll. The prayer roll contains the names of people who are “sick or otherwise afflicted.” During the session the faith and prayers of the brothers and sisters in the session are united for those names on the prayer rolls.
What a wonderful blessing to be able to have a prayer said for you in the temple of the Lord. All you have to do to get your name on the prayer rolls, is to call the temple on the telephone and ask them to put a name on the roll. When adults go to the temple, they are also free to write a name on the prayer roll.
I want to share, my testimony with you to the value of prayer in the temple. Glena Ekker, my niece was born into the world very crippled. Her hands were joined backward at the wrist. Instead of her fingers extending straight out from her hand as yours and mine do, they turned back toward her elbows. She could not hold a glass of water or write with a pencil as you and I can.
To make things even worse her legs, her legs were also deformed. The bones of her legs were permanently shaped in a cross like your legs are as you cross your legs and sit Indian-style. Your legs straighten out when you stand up, but her leg bones were deformed and she would never walk the way they were.
So, when Glena was three weeks old she had a heavy cast from the waist down to her toes. Also, both arms were in casts. She went through surgery, after surgery and cast after cast. She spent so many months in the Primary Childrens Hospital that she knew the nurses on her floor by their first name. The little girl suffered great pain and laid in a hospital bed until she wore all the hair off the back of her head.
When she was five years and time to start school, Glena was still in a cast and could not walk, her mother, Cula Ekker, carried Glena to school or her younger brother, Alfred, pushed her to school in a cart. Finally, when Glena was six years old, she walked for the first time. She wore metal braces that came up to the tops of legs. Cula put heavy flower pots filled with dirt and flowers in a doll buggy to weight it down and steady the little a buggy. Holding to the handle of the buggy, Glena was then able to take a few steps. True it was only a few steps, but she walked. Glena was so proud when she demonstrated her new found skill to us, and to be sure we
were all very thrilled. Our beautiful Glena was walking.
When Glena was about sixteen years old, the doctor discovered that Glena’s hip joints were badly damaged and that surgery must be performed on the hip bones. It was to be a very serious operation and if the operation was not successful, Glena would never walk again. This was a very serious time for Glena. With surgery she may be confined to a wheel chair the rest
of her life and yet, without surgery she would not be able to continue walking.
We desperately needed the help of the Lord in a big way. Our family went to the Lord in prayer and it was decided to put Glena’s name on the prayer roll of the temple. We felt we needed extra help.
Glena entered the L. D. S. Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, the day preceding the surgery. The condition was so critical Dr. Clegg wanted one last look at the hip problem to make sure his plans were the right thing to do. The x-rays proved there was no problem at all with the hips. The bones that had been so out of place before, were perfectly in line now and no surgery was needed on the hips. Dr. Clegg operated on her hands instead and a few days later, Glena walked out of the hospital.
I believe the faith and prayers of those in the temple and of our families brought about this modern miracle of that day.
As the years went by, Glena went through more than forty-five operations to straighten her twisted arms and legs. She was not ever able to walk up steps, or stand up out of a chair alone, or dress herself alone. However, she could walk by herself on level ground and that is tremendous asset and blessing.