Church Update

I woke up today to the news that President Russell M. Nelson, a prophet of vigor and optimism, had passed away in the night. It felt like it couldn’t be true, because he had an energy that seemed like it would go on forever. But, while discussing the God-given power to heal, he himself declared:

Even though our Creator endowed us with this incredible power, He consigned a counterbalancing gift to our bodies. It is the blessing of aging, with visible reminders that we are mortal beings destined one day to leave this “frail existence.” Our bodies change every day. As we grow older, our broad chests and narrow waists have a tendency to trade places. We get wrinkles, lose color in our hair—even the hair itself —to remind us that we are mortal children of God, with a “manufacturer’s guarantee” that we shall not be stranded upon the earth forever.

His mortal ministry has come to an end, but he has left us with an example and crucial spiritual lessons that we can continue to use to improve our lives and embrace discipleship until our time on earth, too, comes to an end.

From the moment President Nelson was sustained as the prophet, his ministry was marked by a significant hastening of the work. Some may not remember now that it was his very first general conference after being sustained as the prophet that he announced the restructuring of priesthood quorums, the end of visiting/home teaching and the beginning of their new replacement; ministering.

“President Nelson, I don’t know how many more rushes we can handle this weekend,” then-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve quipped when his turn at the pulpit came. “Some of us have weak hearts. But as I think about it, you can take care of that, too. What a prophet.”

At the close of that meeting, President Nelson also announced seven new temples, including the first for India. Each conference that followed brought more temple announcements. I remember once hearing him say, “Today I am pleased to announce our plans to build a new temple…” and then he paused, and I thought, “oh, sounds like just one this time.” But he finished that sentence with, “…in each of the following locations.” He went on to announce 15.

When President Nelson became the prophet in January of 2018, there were 159 temples on the earth. He announced 200 more in the nearly 8 years of his service as the prophet.

Within the first two years of his ministry, President Nelson would also announce changes to the youth program, reduce the church time to two hours and introduce a home-centered, church supported approach to gospel instruction within the family.

It may not have been until March of 2020 and the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic that people fully realized that the watchman on the tower was preparing for something none of us knew was coming. Churches were closed, but we were already prepared to learn at home. Visiting and home teaching with their formal visits were no longer possible, but ministering had already taken their place.

More than that, the prophet had been tutoring us in the importance of cultivating a personal relationship with the Savior (emphasized by a new Christ-centered church logo and an increased focus on using the correct name of the church). Each change instructed us to direct our discipleship through revelation and individualized guidance and to turn with ever more increasing devotion to Christ. There would be no more checking of boxes, while being a stranger to the spirit. We would have to do better. It was almost like departing from the Law of Moses for a second time.

But what will always stay with me about President Nelson is not the sweeping movements of the Church during his tenure, but the quiet, personal way he testified and shared in vulnerable ways.

In a video message about the healing power of gratitude, released in the fall of 2021, President Nelson shared a tender heartbreak as he told of the experience of losing his beloved wife of nearly 60 years. He said,

Nearly 16 years ago, my wife Dantzel and were sitting on the sofa, holding hands while we watched television. Suddenly, she collapsed. Despite being well trained to treat the very thing that ended her life, I could not save my own wife.

He went on to speak through tears of the two daughters he had lost to cancer and how no parent is prepared to lose a child. His message was one of gratitude’s power as a balm for such pains, but his honesty in revealing that that grief was still part of his experience filled his obvious optimism about life with so much more depth for me.

Only a few weeks later, I had a friend who was struggling with his faith say, “I just wish the Brethren would reveal a little more of their struggle” and I thought back to that video and how bitter President Nelson could’ve become to lose his beloved wife to something he knew how to treat, but he didn’t. I know my friend wanted to know that spiritual power isn’t just the happy result of never having to face any real challenges. And indeed, that message filled me with the assurance that it is as Paul says, ““…we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope” (Romans 5:3-4).

Russell M. Nelson and his wife, Dantzel, at the University of Utah in 1942.

President Nelson seemed to be hope personified, but it was not hope that was born of naivety, but hope born of experience, bitter and sweet, and a constant striving to align his life with the will of the Lord.

He was a prophet of the big picture, certainly, with the work hastening around the globe and the gathering of Israel becoming a more concrete concept for us all with each passing year, but he was powerfully gifted at the small picture too.

In a tribute written by Deseret news author Sarah Jane Weaver, she shared, “I was in Australia covering President Nelson’s global ministry when he walked in the room where members of the media team were unpacking their equipment. He said hello and then greeted everyone in the room by name. (Until that moment we didn’t even know he knew our names.) Then, as he was leaving, he turned and said that he had prayed for each of us that morning by name.”

As a member of the media myself, I am moved by that gesture of personalization. It was something he also extended to members around the world in his ministry that saw him visiting 32 countries and U.S. territories. His daughter reported that he was conversant in 11 languages, but as I have learned little details about how and why he learned them, I understand just how much that was in an effort to speak familiarly and closely with individuals across the world and not just to have a multilingual feather in his cap.

At 54, he hired a tutor to learn Mandarin Chinese. Why? Because he’d been in a meeting where President Kimball challenged all present to study the language to help open the doors of nations then closed to the gospel. He went right home and began, with Dantzel joining him. The very next year, he was invited to teach open-heart surgery in China as a visiting professor. 5 years after that (and only one year into his calling as an apostle), he received an urgent request to perform heart surgery on a Chinese opera singer who was considered a national hero. Though his full-time ecclesiastical position would’ve prevented him coming, he was given special permission to go ahead as a favor to the people of China.

Thankfully, the operation was a success. It was the last open-heart surgery he ever performed, and he was able to converse with the medical staff involved, in their own language, because he had followed the prophet.

At 63, he hired a tutor so he could learn enough Dutch to lead the Hosanna shout for a temple dedication. At just shy of 94 years old, he stood before a congregation in the Dominican Republic and said, “Con su permiso, quisiera hablar en español” [“With your permission, I’d like to speak in Spanish”] and gave what is believed to be the first extended address in a non-English language a Church president has ever delivered.

But it wasn’t for the honor of being the first. It was so that the specific individuals in that room could know that the Lord loved them, in their own language. It was so that each person there could understand the words of the prophet as a mouthpiece of the Lord to them, without the intercession of a translator.

He was powerful in the big picture and powerful in the small picture.

He showed so much personal love, but was also bold in issuing calls to personal responsibility. He frequently concluded a meeting or a message with a challenge to a specific action for those listening.

He issued challenges for fasts from social media, regularly sharing our gratitude, increasing temple attendance, resolving personal conflict in our lives and striving to become peacemakers. He asked for constant striving because he was constantly striving, but also left members with so many prophetic promises if we would follow through.

Scot Facer Proctor collected a list of those remarkable promises that was published here on Meridian in honor of the prophet’s birthday just a couple of weeks ago. I encourage you to read through that list and renew your commitment to follow the guidance President Nelson offered, for we all need the promises that follow that diligence.

President Russell M. Nelson’s time as prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will always be marked by the sweeping changes that affected and elevated the big picture of the global church. But he didn’t forget the “small picture” of the individual; the soul hunger we each have, and the spiritual growth we are each want, because he knew that in reality, that is the big picture. You are the big picture. Learning to reach out for the Savior with all our might is the biggest picture there is.

“…find every way you can,” President Nelson said, “to thank our Heavenly Father for sending us His Only Begotten Son”

“Because of Jesus Christ, we can repent and be forgiven of our sins. Because of Him, each of us will be resurrected…Whatever questions or problems you have, the answer is always found in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Learn more about His Atonement, His love, His mercy, His doctrine, and His restored gospel of healing and progression. Turn to Him! Follow Him…

“My dear brothers and sisters, I bear witness that Jesus Christ directs the affairs of His Church. I testify that following Him is the only way to enduring happiness. I know that His power is descending upon His covenant-keeping people, who are ‘armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.’ I so testify, with my love and blessing for each of you, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.”

We love you, President Nelson, and we will miss you. We will carry your love and blessing forward and live better for your example.