To view the entire broadcast, click here.
The tribute, broadcast from the Tabernacle on Temple Square Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, for President Russell M. Nelson was tender, where several Church leaders shared their most personal moments and memories of the prophet.
President Dallin H. Oaks called him the “prophet of love”. He was joined by Primary General President Susan H. Porter, Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé, Elder Carl B. Cook of the Seventy and Elders Jeffrey R. Holland and Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
President Oaks said, “The last time President Eyring and I saw President Nelson was two days before he died.
“We expressed our love for him and gave him assurances that we were carrying on with the decisions he had made,” President Oaks said. “He smiled and tried hard to communicate with us. Words were difficult, but his efforts and his smile conveyed the love he felt for us as his counselors and for each of you in this great work.”
President Oaks said President Nelson “showed us the meaning of love in a world with billions of people in many nations. He caused our Church humanitarian efforts to reach out beyond our membership to include many nations with whom our earlier relationships have been frayed or non-existent.”
“He caused our church humanitarian efforts to reach out beyond our membership, to include many nations with whom our earlier relationships have been frayed or nonexistent. He preached the Gospel of love, which is paramount in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
President Oaks said, “President Nelson was our model in loving one another.
He loved us, and we felt it. His love strengthened us. When we fell short, such as in failing to love our enemies or difficult neighbors, President Nelson’s confidence in us gave us the determination and strength to try to follow the example of Jesus Christ.”
President Oaks quoted President Nelson, reminding us, “You have not committed any sin so serious, that you are beyond the reach of the Savior’s love and atoning grace.” He reminded us, “He gave you and me an unlimited capacity to love. Ask for the Lord’s help to love those He needs you to love, including those for whom it is not always easy to feel affection.”
Susan H. Porter, Primary General President
Susan H. Porter remembered the time, thirty years ago, when she and her husband Bruce were invited to meet with President Nelson in his office.
“He greeted us with quiet dignity and was kind and unhurried,” she said. “As we conversed, we could feel him looking deeply into our eyes and listening intently, not with judgment, but with love.”
The Porters didn’t know that President Nelson’s daughter Emily, had died only days before from cancer.
“Even though his soul was sorrowing, he had ministered to us with the Savior’s lovingkindness,” President Porter said.
“Two months later, President Gordon B. Hinckley called Bruce as a general authority with the assignment to move our young family to Germany.
However, less than two years after moving to Frankfurt, Bruce’s kidneys failed, and we returned to Salt Lake City for medical care. Remarkably, Elder Nelson was there to meet us at the airport. Even through the grief of suddenly losing his beloved wife Dantzel, and later his dear daughter Wendy, Elder Nelson continued to answer the call of the Savior. ‘I was sick, and ye visited me.’
He visited many, including Bruce, who underwent multiple surgeries over a decade. Elder Nelson’s visits followed a remarkable pattern. It would enter very quietly, tenderly hold Bruce’s hand, and if he was awake, he would speak softly and gently to him.
He always took time to encourage and uplift me.”
Gérald Caussé, Presiding Bishop
Bishop Caussé has met with President Nelson every week for 7-1/2 years and made this assessment:
“Many have asked me what it was like to work with him, What kind of man he truly was? My answer is simple. President Russell M. Nelson was exactly the man you believed him to be. He embodied unwavering faith, pure love, and profound compassion for all of God’s children.
His legendary gift for remembering names reflected not only a sharp mind but also a true shepherd’s heart.
“He listened to everyone intently. His eyes filled with kindness, and giving his complete attention to every word. In those touching moments, he exemplified the Lord’s teaching that the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.
“We watched President Nelson lead the church through many challenges, never yielding to discouragement, always pressing forward with trust in the Lord. He looked beyond the present moment, considering the long-term impact of each decision. How timely was his counsel to transform our home into a sanctuary of faith, just months before the pandemic began?
And how needed was this call a few years later for us to become peacemakers in the world yearning for peace?
“Truly, he was one of whom Ammon declared a seer is a revelator and a prophet also. His love for people was matched by his extraordinary knowledge of the world, its cultures, traditions, and languages.”
Bishop Caussé said, “We’ve often felt the spirit of the Lord accompany him. On one occasion, we presented recommendations on a sensitive manner to the First Presidency. True to his pattern, President Nelson invited every person in the room to share their thoughts.
When the time came to decide, he spoke with love and gentleness. The spirit filled the room. Though his decision differed from our proposal, its truthfulness impressed itself upon my mind with unmistakable clarity as the will of God.”
Bishop Caussé shared another example that occurred while he was a stake president in Paris. He was to meet President Nelson at the airport, but he arrived very late because of flight delays.
“Seeing his fatigue, I suggested canceling the dinner at our home,” Bishop Caussé said.
“With a warm smile, he assured me that dinner with our family was the most important meeting of the conference — and he had no intention of missing it.”
Later, as he and President Nelson stepped outside, the Apostle delivered a sermon that has stayed with Bishop Caussé.
“He turned to me with piercing eyes and bore a powerful testimony of the blessing of family,” Bishop Caussé said. “Then, with deep conviction, he reminded me that caring for my beautiful wife was my most important priesthood duty. I will never forget that inspired counsel.”
Carl B. Cook, Senior President of the Presidency of the Seventy
President Nelson’s gift for ministering to the one with his remarkable memory of names impressed Elder Cook.
He said, “As President Nelson approached the April 2018 General Conference, as our new prophet, he invited General Authorities and general officers of the church and our spouses to come to his office in the Church Administration Building to greet him and his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson. It was a very special invitation.
“As my wife and I approached them in line, we heard President Nelson address each person by their first name. What was our turn, he said, ‘Hello, Carl, B.’ That is what he called me, and hello, Lynette. President and Sister Nelson welcomed us warmly and invited us to come into his office and take a look around.
We felt so honored. The amazing thing to me was that there were well over 200 people who had a similar experience that day. He thanked each of us for our service by name.
It was so personal, so warm, and expressed with so much love.
“President Nelson was genuinely interested in everyone in a very Christlike way, and we all felt it. I was once on a plane with him, flying to an assignment.
I was mindful of his busy schedule and how valuable his time was, so I decided that rather than asking him questions or engaging him in conversation, I would simply spend the flight reading. After a minute, President Milson asked, ‘What are you reading?’ I replied, ‘The Liahona’. He nodded his head, and I continued reading. Then he said, ‘What article are you reading?’ And then, ‘What are you learning?’ I finally realized that he sincerely wanted to talk with me. He was interested. He cared about me, and we ended up talking the entire plane ride.
“And then, at the meeting we attended, I was sitting next to him on the stand. During the prelude music, he glanced over at my hand. He must have noticed my one fingernail that I had smashed during a work project.
He gently reached over and touched the nail and smiled. Nothing was said. It was simply a sign of compassion and love.
“Throughout the day, I noticed that all of his interactions with others reflected the same genuine Christ-like love and concern for each person. As we know, President Nelson was conversant in many languages, but as a true disciple of Jesus Christ, his primary language was love, and that love is deeply rooted in his soul.”
Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said that in watching President Nelson, he understood Emerson’s saying that “Nature magically suits the man to his fortune by making these the fruit of his character.”
He said, “Russell Nelson had great fortunes in Emerson’s 19th-century meaning of that word in his singular excellence in the field of thoracic surgery and medical research, his lifelong leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his blessings of marriage, family, and friends, who sustained him to the end. And we, too, believe these came to President Nelson as the inevitable fruit of his personal Christ-like character.
“We felt close enough to him to measure his integrity by the words that he spoke.
The very pupil of his eye, or the behavior he demonstrated when none but God could hear or see him. By these and any other measurement of whom he really was Russell Nelson gets an unblemished, straight A, the grade he got in every course he ever took–academic, scientific, musical, or moral.
“The most important manifestation of his character was the preeminence of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and his unfailing devotion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints, to be called by God to the most influential role in that church, one that only 16 other men have held in this dispensation is evidence enough of his faith, his humility, and his love for everything celestial.
And on the topic of President Nelson’s family, Elder Holland said, “his family meant everything to him.” Evidence of this was the time when Dantzel sang in The Tabernacle Choir for 20 year,s and President Nelson was in his busiest time as a heart surgeon.
“Every Sunday morning for two decades, he prepared nine beautiful girls for Church — checking on dresses pressed, combing the hair of the young ones (and in a family of 10 children, there were always young ones), and refereeing competition for use of the bathroom,” Elder Holland said. “True to the Russell Nelson character, they never — well, almost never — arrived late, or failed to smile and sing and pray, or miss the opportunity to make a ministering visit to a neighbor in need.”
These facets of President Nelson made him “something of a living temple,” Elder Holland said — an appropriate reference for the prophet who announced 200 new temples.
“My only disappointment at this bittersweet time of loss and love is that Russell Nelson was not able to rededicate his beloved Salt Lake Temple. But he will have a better view of it all now, and those in charge better do it correctly,” Elder Holland said.
Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Elder Eyring, who served as Second Counselor to President Nelson, said the prophet loved everyone and had a gift for remembering people’s names.
“With this gift, he had the ability to make each person feel loved,” Elder Eyring said.
“When a group of Church officials or staff came into the First Presidency meeting to make a presentation, he called all of them by name. When the meeting ended, as they were leaving, he would thank each of them, again calling them by name.”
Elder Eyring also counseled people to remember President Nelson’s teachings on revelation. As with so many other areas of his life, President Nelson practiced what he preached, Elder Eyring said.
“Countless times, he would come from his office to begin the meeting of the First Presidency,” Elder Eyring remembered. “He would, at times, hold out a sheet of paper and say, ‘I woke up at 2:30 this morning, got up and wrote this down. Would you read it? What do you think?’ I remember no instance of our making any suggestion. I felt again the quiet and clear assurance that the Lord leads His Church by revelation to His prophets.”
To view the entire broadcast, click here.
