At headquarters he has served as the chairman of each of the Churchs three governing committees the Missionary Executive Council, the Temple and Family History Executive Council and the Priesthood and Family Executive Council. They would pay for all of his childrens education, wherever those children went on the face of the earth., President McKay just said, I dont think you should go, explained Elder Holland. Elder Russell M. Nelson plays horseshoes. Elder D. Todd Christoffersen followed Elder Scotts example in the October 2015 general conference by providing his own Spanish translation for his talk. On April 12, 1984, he was made an apostle by Gordon B. Hinckley. He is a father of 10. President Russell M. Nelson and Sister Wendy Watson Nelson in Pennsylvania at the dedication of the newly developed Priesthood Restoration Site in 2015. During the South American leg of his ongoing Global Ministry Tour, President Russell M Nelson surprised an audience in Lima, Peru, by addressing them in Spanish! to touch the human heart. Furthermore, he was chosen as the director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. In his service as an apostle, Elder Nelson made a special effort to speak to members around the world in their native language, often ending his talks with his testimony spoken from his own lips in Spanish, Russian, German, Mandarin, French, and other languages. However, the following year, a new companion and support entered Russell M. Nelsons life when he married Wendy L. Watson, a marriage and family therapy professor at BYU. President Russell M. Nelson and his wife, Sister Wendy Watson Nelson, at the dedication of the Brigham City Temple. President Russell M. Nelson stands in his office in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015. Credit: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News, Deseret News. President Russell M. Nelson and his wife, Sister Wendy Watson Nelson, at Machu Picchu. However, the following year, a new companion and support entered Russell M. Nelsons life when he married Wendy L. Watson, a marriage and family therapy professor at BYU. Andy Larsen: Heres where National Weather Service forecasts flooding, in the short term and the long term, Murray police officers were justified in their use of force against a 52-year-old man who died after arrest, Salt Lake County D.A. The decision to change the long-standing policy came first to Kimball after years of prayer and meditation and then to top Latter-day Saint authorities meeting in the Salt Lake Temple. It was as though something were saying to me, There is no new organization necessary to take care of the needs of this people. In 1951, he earned his Ph.D. As an apostle in that desperate era, Lee went into an isolated woods to pray about the issue, describing it in language much like Smiths well-known First Vision., As I kneeled down, my petition was, What kind of an organization should be set up in order to accomplish what the presidency has assigned? Lee recalled in a General Conference speech in 1972. On Monday, September 9th, President Russell M. Nelson will be celebrating his 95th birthday. . The LDS Church in Africa now has one website for all Church news on the continent: http://news-africa.churchofjesuschrist.org. Our competition was with disease, death and ignorance., Look, she added, what they went on to do.. What a marvelous first session of general conference we have had! Such statements echoed words and phrases used by Kimball and others to describe their experience ending the racial ban in 1978. The article continues, In 2015, President Nelson was named an old friend of China for his work to introduce open-heart surgery to the country.. The [three-member] First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles counsel together and share all the Lord has directed us to understand and to feel, individually and collectively, he said. The Church News is an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Why did President Russell M. Nelson, global leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, deliver his sermons Saturday and Sunday at General Conference while seated at the podium? President Russell M. Nelson is now the oldest President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.. Russell Marion Nelson was born September 9, 1924, in After the death of his predecessor, Thomas S. Monson, in January 2018, Nelson assumed the role of the Church President. Thats the kind of relationship they had. As a ninth grader, Gregory Schwitzer attended a career development day and heard a presentation by Dr. Nelson. President Russell M. Nelson shows his phone to a great-granddaughter. A man of perfect pitch that plays the organ during quorum meetings, President Nelson often addresses Latter-day Saints in their native tongues and is the best writer in the Quorum of the Twelve, said President Oaks. On Thursday, the church also announced they had combined African news rooms online. He was sad and he missed her, just like anybody would after so many years of life together, said President Nelsons granddaughter Katie Irion Owens. At the advent of the Korean War, Nelson enlisted in the US Army and served two years as a medical officer at army bases in Korea, Japan, and Washington, D.C. After leaving the army, he was attached to Harvard Medical School's Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston as a surgical trainee and employee for a year. As president, Hinckley did not mention God when introducing The Family: A Proclamation to the World or his plans to erect smaller temples both significant theological and programmatic developments nor even when he offered his stern 2006 admonition against the sin of racism. He also visited China and forged close professional relationships with the medical community there. The family played a lot of ping-pong. Bowman said short-lived church President Harold B. Lee believed that the faiths welfare plan to help members during the Great Depression and beyond was revelatory. President Nelson completed his medical degree in three years, graduating with the highest honors at the age of 22. Because of his knowledge of the two languages, he could speak to 86 percent of all active members of the Church in their native language. Some noticed that I sat on a chair to deliver my message this morning. President Russell M. Nelson salmon fishing in Ketchikan, Alaska, in July 2016. During a cornerstone ceremony for the Sapporo Japan Temple, President Russell M. Nelson and his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, stand with children invited to participate, from left, Kuhi Kikuchi, 10; Ryuto Miyamoto, 8; Hina Iwamoto, 7; Kaito Miyamoto, 6; and Miku Nigita, 4, who is helped by her father, Haruhiko Nigita. It was Elder Soares first time back to his home country since being called as an apostle, and he spoke to the missionaries in Portuguese. He has also received honorary degrees from Brigham Young University (Doctor of Science) in 1970, Utah State University (Doctor of Medical Science) in 1989, and Snow College (Doctor of Humane Letters) in 1994. He may be the man for whom the word gentleman was created. At that time Dantzel was pregnant with their sixth child, and they both felt very excited to welcome a boy into their family. Take this dive to refresh your memory, renew your commitment, and receive the promised blessings! He was later elected as the chairman of its executive committee. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. Jointly published by the Deseret News and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its content supports the doctrines, principles and practices of the Church. Heres a look at three of them that have inspired me recently. In the fall of 1965, Russell M. Nelson a surgeon and Salt Lake City stake president made several trips to Illinois to look into an attractive and generous offer to head cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at the University of Chicago. We joined [President Kimball] in prayer in the most sacred of circumstances, recalled Gordon B. Hinckley, who was an apostle at the time and later rose to church president. Within days, the Church News reported, the energetic nonagenarian was on a plane to that Caribbean nation. Temples are some of the most beautiful places on earth, but the work that takes place inside of them is what makes them sacred. He was recruited very aggressively by the University of Chicago, explained Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This set off an illustrious career with countless achievements. There Icould help people every day.1. WebIn his service as an apostle, Elder Nelson made a special effort to speak to members around the world in their native language, often ending his talks with his testimony spoken from The man can ski with the best of them, he said. Russell M. Nelson and his first wife, fellow University of Utah student Dantzel White, met while they both were attending college. On the campus of Church headquarters, many of the iconic locations such as Temple Square, the Conference Center, as well as the Church Office Building are connected through intricate underground tunnels to assist the brethren in moving easily between the locations without respect for weather or crowds. He would be made head of the department. I do remember how he inspired me., Sylvia Webster, one of President Nelsons nine daughters, said her father accomplishes much because he knows how to balance his life. On February 12, 2005, Nelson lost his first wife unexpectedly. He also served as the Chairperson of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at LDS Hospital. . He and the interviewer conversed in German and discussed gospel topics that Elder Uchdorf says are still very timely today., One missionary recalled when Elder Uchtdorf visited his mission and addressed the Saints there in German. He still practices and uses his ability to speak Chinese in a variety of different settings. The Church News is an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His prowess continued into high school, where he participated in debate, choir, football, and yearbook and still managed to graduate as valedictorian. degree in 1947. He additionally went on to receive surgical training at Harvard Medical School at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. said of her husband.3 In addition to prayer and the scriptures, music and outdoor activities like skiing, horseback riding, and tennis were important to the Nelson family. Over 30 years of service as an apostle have prepared him physically and spiritually to lead the Church. Brother Russell M. Nelson when he was called as the Sunday School general president of the Church in 1971. He learned the language as a missionary and said, I felt it a great privilege to be able to testify of Jesus Christ and of His role as our Savior and Redeemer in Japanese to our Japanese Saints. He also landed a job as an assistant secretary at a bank. During his 34 years as an apostle, President Nelson has visited 133 countries, participating in the dedications of 31 of those countries and opening doors for the Church in Eastern Europe and China. It adds weight to claims [he] is making., The willingness to claim revelation in public, the historian noted, has grown more rare over time.. Weve all heard Elder Uchtdorfs German accent during his general conference talks, but we dont often hear him speak in his native language. Subsequent Latter-day Saint prophets were less comfortable than Smith attaching thus saith the Lord to their admonitions. Few of them express their impressions as Joseph Smith did., When Latter-day Saint presidents say that they felt inspired or received an impression, she wrote in an email, they ARE saying that it is a revelation.. But they rarely went to the God spoke to me rhetoric., Modern Mormons typically say weve been praying and feel inspired, Mason said. President Nelson put one hand on the Apostles shoulder and grabbed his belt with the other. In his newly updated book, The Second Coming of the Lord, Elder Gerald N. Lund shares an experience he had with President Russell M. Nelson, then of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, while eating lunch in the Church Administration Building. . For example, Thursday was designated as her day to do what she likedparticularly for volunteering at the LDS Hospital and singing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choirand he made sure to be home those nights to free her up. He described it in a 2001 General Conference sermon as a plan which we believe is inspired by the Lord.. Read about President Nelsons visit with the president of Peru here. Newsroomreported, In fluent Spanish, he spoke of the importance of keeping the commandments, of the blessings of temple marriage and of the Atonement of Christ as the foundation of the Church., President Nelson decided to learn Chinese when President Spencer W. Kimball saidin a seminar, We should be of service to the Chinese. He, however, attributes the glory to God: Men can do very little of themselves to heal sick or broken bodies, Elder Nelson said. We should learn their language. In 2014, the University of Minnesota Medical School honoured Nelson with the Surgical Alumnus of the Year Award. A seated President Russell M. Nelson speaks at General Conference on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. In his service as an apostle, Elder Nelson made a special effort to speak to members around the world in their native language, often ending his talks with his testimony spoken from his own lips in Spanish, Russian, German, Mandarin, French, and other languages. By. President Nelson isnt the first prophet or apostle to address Latter-day Saints in their native language. For a considerable period, he served as the director of the University of Utah thoracic surgery residency program. Danztel died Feb. 12, 2005, just shy of the Nelsons 60th wedding anniversary. Sure enough, President Nelson has touched many human hearts in his lifetime. On June 18, 2018, the church revealed that the First Presidency has established several committees that have been assigned the task to create one hymnbook for the church. Subscribe for free and get daily or weekly updates straight to your inbox, The three things you need to know everyday, Highlights from the last week to keep you informed. This development of the artificial heart-lung machine made open-heart surgery possible; President Nelson performed the first surgery of that kind in Utah in 1955. Nelson was awarded the Heart of Gold Award by American Heart Association in 2002. Your email address will not be published. When Danztel Nelson joined the Tabernacle Choir, President Nelson stepped in. It was the last surgery he ever performed and it created much goodwill, according to lds.org. He spent eight years as the church's Sunday School General President as well as four years as a regional representative. and M.D. He remarried the following year. This ceremony took place at the Salt Lake Temple as well. He has saved thousands of lives through his diligent work, including an open-heart surgery on then-President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Spencer W. Kimball. . He earned his B.A. In that first sermon, the Latter-day Saint prophet reiterated that the privilege of receiving revelation is one of the greatest gifts of God to his children., Before Nelsons appointment more than 34 years ago to full-time church service as an apostle, he was a renowned heart surgeon. Russell M. Nelson. Nelson was a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for nearly 34 years, and was the quorum president from 2015 to 2018. As church president, Nelson is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. After dating for three years, the couple married on August 31, 1945, in the Salt Lake Temple. Nelson isnt.. It really changed things for the better., Elder Ulisses Soares and President M. Russell Ballard visited Brazilian members in August of this year. Their journey together was a long one, including not only the demands of Russells career and then his service in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but also ten children. President Ballard also recalled President Nelson checking on the late Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. And there came to me on that glorious morning one of the most heavenly realizations of the power of the priesthood of God. While there, he and his team developed one of the first machines that could perform the functions of a patients heart and lungs during open-heart surgery. A young Russell Nelson was curious. He always wanted to know how things worked, said Sheri Dew, a former member of the Relief Society General Presidency. As a 9- or 10-year-old boy, Russell Nelson got on a street car and made his way downtown to Deseret Book, she recounted. Nelson was one of the leading surgeons who worked with patients suffering from coronary artery disease. Do you have the time?. He stated that he would never forget the feeling I had as his heart resumed beating, leaping with power and vigor. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News 24 of 25 This language is one of authority and legitimation, Bowman said. Indeed, in his first nearly nine months as the Utah-based faiths top prophet, seer and revelator," Nelson has used the term revelation again and again to describe his motivation for initiatives and changes. However, the second week of President Nelson presiding over the meeting of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as the Church Security Team prepared the golf carts to assist in transporting the brethren, they saw something they had never seen before. Church. Thats the kind of affection he has for his brethren, said President Ballard. He told her, Our competition wasnt with each other. He was part of the research team that built the heart-lung machine which was instrumental during the first ever human open-heart surgery using mechanical takeover of heart and lungs (cardiopulmonary bypass) in 1951. But there was a Pentecostal spirit., The assembled men did not hear a voice audible to our physical ears, Hinckley said. His career in medicine included receiving doctoral degrees from the University of Utah and University of Minnesota, and additional advanced work in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. While there, President Nelson became friends with Dr. Zhang Zheng-Xiang, who later asked him to perform a complex surgery on a famous opera singer. I am sure it is hard to walk into a family of 200-plus people and feel like you are close friends, said Sister Webster. Soon after Aprils General Conference, Nelson surpassed the late Gordon B. Hinckley to become the oldest ever prophet-president of the Utah-based faith. He was sustained in a Solemn Assembly When hes home, hes home,Dantzelsaid of her husband.3 In addition to prayer and the scriptures, music and outdoor activities like skiing, horseback riding, and tennis were important to the Nelson family. Donate to the newsroom now. The Lord impressed it on his mind. That semester in 1942 was one of President Nelsons busiest, and at first, he declined. The chapels were filled long before president Nelson arrived.. It was our privilege as apostles to sustain what had been revealed to President Monson.. In 1964, Elder Spencer W. Kimball called Russell M. Nelson to be the president of the Bonneville Stake. He held an artificial heart valve in his hand and explained how it worked. While serving as the general president of the Sunday School, President Nelson attended a meeting where then-President Spencer W. Kimball urged those in the meeting to learn Chinese. Dr. Russell M. Nelson holds a model of the human heart. And thankfully, there a many to love! He graduated first in his class from medical school at age 22. As a devout member of the LDS Church, Russell M. Nelson has been actively involved in the matters pertaining to the church while simultaneously maintaining a busy career in medicine. Its not surprising, then, that Nelsons first major sermon to the global membership during his inaugural General Conference since taking the hierarchys helm was titled Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives. No church president in recent decades has seemed so at ease with the rhetoric of his own revelation. The real power to heal, however, is a gift from God.2. When he returned to Europe as an apostle, Europe Area President Elder Paul V. Johnson suggested he visit Sweden to address the members in their native language. President Nelson speaks to Latter-day Saints in Peru during a devotional. Hes the one Ive seen and known all these years.. He was baptized at age 16; his desire and drive to be part of the Church came much from within, said his son. President loves his family dearly. The family loved music, with all 10 children learning a musical instrument in addition to the piano. President Spencer W. Kimball speaks with Elder Russell M. Nelson, who performed life-saving open-heart surgery on President Kimball and now has followed in Following his internship, he spent three years on a team that would make medical history. Nelson attended LDS Business College, concurrently with high school enrolment. However, alongside President Oaks, they helped establish the church in every country within Eastern Europe. Those existing country-specific pages now redirect to this new hub for Church news in Africa. He would later say he felt the finest career that would be available to a human being would be that of a mother. He and his wife, Dantzel, selected a neighborhood where they could raise their nine daughters (the Nelsons 10th child, a son, was born later) and contemplated the professional and research opportunities the job would afford. On Sunday mornings when the choir performed, President Nelson helped his nine daughters get ready for Church, trying to curl our little hair and get everybody dressed., He kept the home fires going, said Sister Webster. After becoming an M.D., Nelson enrolled at the University of Minnesota for surgical training and doctoral studies. In 2007, the late Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin locked his knees while delivering a conference address; as he spoke he grew increasingly weak. On July 3, 2015, the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church Boyd K. Packer passed away, and Nelson effectively became the senior most member of the Quorum of the Twelve and was later ordained the quorum's president. Throughout his many years of service as a surgeon, general authority, and husband and father, he has blessed countless lives. The Church News is an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elder Russell M. Nelson and his first wife, Sister Dantzel White Nelson, who died in 2005. President Russell M. Nelson, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is seated as he speaks during the Saturday morning session of the 192nd Semiannual General Conference at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. It was not Dr. Nelson who would have known anything and every thing about whatever was going on with a few bones and joints. But those are revelations, too., Widtsoe was trying to help members, the historian said, grapple with the fading of the charismatic element in the church.. And this weekend will be filled with them., Donate to the newsroom now. He also served the Council of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as organist at their weekly meetings. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. [1]Gerry Avant, Elder Nelson: Husband, Father are Highest Titles,Church News, 16 February 1986, 4. If you'd like to see about providing a guest post on MLH, contact us and tell us about it. From then to now, all Mormon prophets believed their calling was to express the mind and will of God for the church and the wider world. Ever since their faiths founding in 1830, Latter-day Saints have come to expect their prophet to have regular exchanges with the Almighty, who they believe is directing the church. . When the Korean War broke out, Nelson enlisted and served for two years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Elder Andersen served a mission in France and is fluent in the language. His adherents collected Smiths proclaimed interactions with the heavens and published them (as well as other materials) in a volume known as the Doctrine and Covenants. Yes, President Russell M. Nelson does speak Spanish . In July of 2015 he was call as the president of the Quorum of the. Nelson is preparing the faithful for the long-awaited Second Coming of Christ, Reid said, and relaying Gods will is a key factor in that readying. A young Russell Nelson was curious. Right away he began thinking of the principle that all things work under the direction of laws, and so he must be able, if he learned the laws of the heart well enough, to imitate its functions in order to perform life-saving operations. Balancing their understanding of Mormon doctrine about the plan of salvation, which is built on male-female eternal marriage, with compassion for children of same-sex couples, he said the apostles considered countless permutations and combinations of possible scenarios that could arise. As the couples ate dinner in the Oaks home and spoke about the Church in Chicago, a lasting friendship formed. No one talks around here about age or how old we feel, how creaky our bones are.. After teaching the saints about faith and hope, he bore his testimony in their native language: Russian. He graduated from the University of Utah with his bachelors degree in 1945, and then summa cum laude with an MD in 1947, at the age of 22. This week, he took that knowledge Jointly published by the Deseret News and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its content supports the doctrines, principles and practices of the Church. Elder Russell M. Nelson talks about the change in ages for missionaries after the Saturday morning session of general conference Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. Credit: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News, Deseret News. What he may not have anticipated was how many hearts he would touch figuratively through his testimony, words of wisdom, and inspiring example. Nelson, the 94-year-old president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said recently that he was awakened at 2 a.m. with a distinct impression that he should go to the Dominican Republic. President Nelson has often commented on the indispensable support, was for him and for their family. Smith reported a visionary experience with God and Jesus as well as the spiritual ability to translate ancient scripture including the faiths Book of Mormon into modern English. Sister Wendy Watson Nelson and President Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speak during Family Discovery Day at RootsTech on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017. Credit: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He, however, attributes the glory to God: Men can do very little of themselves to heal sick or broken bodies, Elder Nelson said. This development saved the lives of countless patients, many in the hands of Dr. Nelson himself. He conducted one of the first repairs of tricuspid valve regurgitation on a Latter-day Saint stake patriarch in 1960 and later, on the future LDS Church president Spencer W. Kimball. Growing up, President Nelsons parents were not active members of the Church but felt it was important for a young Russell to attend Sunday School on a weekly basis.
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