To fight the drought, some fast and pray

With Utah and much of the West in the grips of a five-year drought, some people have opted to go to a higher source for relief by fasting and/or praying especially for moisture. It seems these efforts may have helped somewhat too.

For example, members of the Riverton, Wyo., stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held several fasts for moisture last year.

"We fasted last summer," said Lloyd Larsen, president of the stake, in conjunction with similar stake efforts in much of Montana and Alberta, Canada. "We are faring a little better than last year."

Last year, the Riverton area only received 25 percent of its normal moisture. So far this year, it's running at about 70 percent.

The Lehi North LDS Stake also held a special fasting and prayer period among its 10 wards for moisture on Feb. 1-2 of this year, according to stake president Richard Ellsworth.

The very Saturday night and Sunday the fast was going on, it snowed heavily in most of Utah County.

"I'll let you draw your own conclusions," Ellsworth said.

He said the stake decided on its own to have the fast and its boundaries still do contain some farmland, though not as much as in the past. He's not aware of any other Utah County stakes that conducted similar fasts.

Some St. George LDS stakes may have also fasted and prayed for extra moisture last year, and indeed the area has received more moisture so far this year than last. Some wards in Salt Lake City also may have conducted special fasts for moisture during the past several months.

The LDS Public Relations Department reports there's been no specific encouragement for fasting or prayer given to wards and stakes. A few stakes and wards have simply decided to do it on their own.

However, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley said recently at Brigham Young University that prayer and fasting can indeed help relieve drought.

In a Feb. 16, 2003, speech, he urged church members who doubt the efficacy of prayer to get on their knees and pray. He believes a drought in Chile in 1969 was ended by prayer and that it could be ended here by the same means.

"Plead with the Lord," he said, "and fast and pray."

Monica Howa Johnson, spokeswoman for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake, said special group effort fasting or prayers for moisture is not typical of what Catholics would usually do.