When Elder Christofferson was thirteen years old, his mother developed cancer. Elder Christofferson gathered his brothers for a family prayer on her behalf. Because she was unable to continue many of her regular responsibilities, including making the family bread, he learned how to make bread and continued to make it until he went away to college.

When he was fifteen, his family moved from their small Utah town of Lindon to Somerset, New Jersey, a large and populated town that was very different from his Utah home. Suddenly he was the only member of the church in a school that was diverse in every way. This helped him develop an appreciation for those who were different from him, and also to begin to appreciate his own faith in a new way.

It was during this time he decided to gain a sure testimony of his faith. He was participating in a Mormon church pageant held in New York each year, which re-enacted the beginnings of the church in modern times. Because it was held right where Joseph Smith first saw God and later an angel, he felt this would be a good place to gain his own testimony. He went to the same grove where Joseph Smith had gone to ask God which church to join, and Elder Christofferson began to pray. However, he didn’t receive an answer to his prayers, which left him confused and discouraged. It was a month later that he received his answer, and he wasn’t even searching for it then. He was simply reading the Book of Mormon in his bedroom. He learned from this experience that you needn’t be in a special place to receive personal revelation—you can receive God’s word anywhere at all, and always on God’s own time.

Elder Christofferson was accepted into Brigham Young University, a Church-owned school, after his high school graduation. However, at the end of his first year, he took a leave of absence to serve a two-year volunteer mission for the church in Argentina. This began a life-long love for South America.

After his mission, he returned to Brigham Young University to study English. There he met his future wife, Cathy Jacob. Although he first saw her near the end of his first semester there, he didn’t meet her until the following fall. However, their relationship grew quickly, and they were married on May 28, 1968. After the two graduated in 1969, Elder Christofferson transferred to Duke University to obtain his law degree. When he graduated, he accepted a position clerking for federal judge John J. Sirica, which he planned to do for one year before moving to a new position. However, Judge Sirica was called on to preside over the Watergate Hearings, and asked Elder Christofferson to stay on through the course of the trials, because he felt Elder Christofferson was the only person he could talk to. Elder Christofferson was later asked to speak at Judge Sirica’s funeral mass.

When this position ended, Elder Christofferson met his military service requirements. Then he went to work for Dow Lohnes PLLC, followed by a position as associate general counsel of NationsBank Corp. He was an active participant in community and interfaith groups and also had a busy church life. The Mormon Church is a lay church, so members hold positions, even high-level ones, without pay while caring for families and managing careers. During this busy time in his life, he held several demanding church positions and raised five children. His work led him to live in several places: Tennessee,  Washington D.C., and North Carolina.

He was called to be an apostle of the Lord, the highest ranking body of the church, on April 5, 2008.

Unlike many Mormon apostles, Elder Scott didn’t grow up in a strong Mormon family. His father was not a member of the church, and although his mother was, she didn’t attend. Elder Scott did attend church, at the urging of caring leaders, but not always enthusiastically. This half-hearted attention to religion left him feeling something was missing in every corner of his life.

He was born in Pocatello, Idaho, but grew up in Washington, D.C. His father was an assistant Secretary of Agriculture under Ezra Taft Benson, who later became a Mormon prophet. Eventually, President Benson would play an important role in his father’s conversion, through his personal example.

Elder Scott wanted to earn his own way to college and spent summers working hard, working on an oyster boat, cutting trees, and repairing railway cars. During these hard-working summers, he began to study the Book of Mormon and gained a real testimony of his religion.

Elder Scott studied mechanical engineering at George Washington University, while playing in a jazz band. In his senior year, he met Jeanene Watkins, the daughter of a senator. When he discovered she refused to marry anyone who had not served a two-year mission for the church, he began to pray to God about this and decided to serve his mission. He was sent to Uruguay, and while he was gone, Jeanene also served a mission in the United States. They were married two weeks after he ended his mission. (Women’s missions are somewhat shorter than men’s, so she returned home first.) At the same time, he was interviewed by Hyman G. Rickover for a secret military job with the Atomic Energy Commission. Rickover seemed to dislike him, making disparaging remarks about his religion, but Elder Scott was determined to keep his Mormon religion in the interview, mentioning his mission, and listing the Book of Mormon as the last book he’d read. Just when Elder Scott was certain he wouldn’t be hired, Captain Rickover admitted he’d been testing Elder Scott, because he needed men with the confidence to stand up for what they believed no matter what. He got the job and worked for this man for twelve years.

When Richard G. Scott was thirty-seven years old, he was asked to serve as a mission president for the LDS Church in Argentina. In this unpaid position, he oversaw the missionary work of a large area for several years. This was an important time in his secular career, but he accepted the call, despite Captain Rickover’s objection. During this time in Argentina, he also worked in Bolivia with the Quechua Indians. Two of his three supervisors in this job went on to become prophets, providing him with amazing training for the future.

At the end of this service, he returned to Washington, D.C. and joined a private consulting firm that focused on nuclear engineering. During this time, his church service increased in responsibility. Eight years after his mission service in Argentina, he was invited to serve in the First Quorum of the Seventy for the Church, a high-level position. He and his family lived in Mexico City for three years of that service, as he was assigned to oversee Mexico and Central America. Elder Scott speaks fluent Spanish.

Another church position he held was Executive Director of the Family History Department. During this time, many changes were made in the church’s genealogy program, including the change of the name from genealogy to family history and the improvements in technology and the use of computers for family history.

The Scotts have known hardship among the joy. They lost two children just six weeks apart, one just prior to birth and the other during heart surgery. They draw on their faith to cope with sorrow. They have five children still living.

Richard G. Scott became an apostle of the Lord in 1988.

Even as a child, Elder Cook was known for his compassion. His older brother recalls a time when he—the brother—was the school fire drill captain. It appeared the drill evacuation he was leading would set a new school record until it was announced there was still a child in the building. That child was his little brother, Quentin, a first grader who had stayed behind to retrieve the boots of a boy who had slipped out of them and hadn’t stopped to put them back on. He didn’t want his friend to get cold feet in the snow.

As a young boy, he longed to emulate an ancestor who had been sent to rescue Mormon pioneers in the Martin Handcart Company. His grandfather told him that this ancestor was heroic because he had chosen to “follow the prophet,” meaning he would do as the prophet asked him to do. His father explained that today it was equally heroic to follow the His father required the family to set goals and work towards them, a habit which has served Elder Cook well in his lifetime. In high school, he was very involved in school events, playing both basketball and football. He was a quarterback on the football team. He also participated in debate and was chosen, along with another student, to represent the state at a national debate event. There he met five men who were or would become presidents of the United States. His senior year, he served as president of the student council.

At the age of fifteen, he decided to obtain a testimony of the “Mormon Church” for himself after watching his brother convince their father, who no longer attended church, to allow him to serve a mission for the Church. The answer to Elder Cook’s prayer was so strong he had no doubts at all as to its truthfulness.

Elder Cook attended Utah State University and served on the student council there. In 1960, he took a two-year leave to serve a mission for his church, serving in the British Mission.

On November 30, 1962, he married his wife, Mary Gaddie, in a Mormon temple in Logan, Utah. They had known each other since seventh grade. They now have three children. The next year, he graduated from Utah State University with a degree in political science. He then continued his education at Stanford University law school, graduating in 1966. He went to work for law firm of Carr, McClellan, Ingersoll, Thompson and Horn in San Francisco. His offer of employment with them came after a lunch in which he was offered alcohol, which he refused, because Mormons follow a health code called the Word of Wisdom, which prohibits alcohol. He was later told the offer was a test. His résumé had listed his church mission and they wanted to know if he had integrity enough to stay true to his beliefs even when an important job was at stake.

His church work in San Francisco put him into contact with people from many countries and with those both rich and poor. He served as a bishop (similar to a pastor) and then as the president of a stake (a stake is similar to a diocese) Both positions were unpaid, as the church operates as a lay church, and were filled as he also worked in his career. The congregations under his care often served the needs of a variety of immigrants. At the same time his church work was progressing, his professional career was also progressing. He served as the president and CEO of California Healthcare System, and when it merged with Sutter Health, he became Vice-Chairman.

He then served as a regional representative and area authority for the Latter-day Saints (“Mormons”), and next served them as a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy and then as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. He served as a member of the Philippines/Micronesia Area Presidency and as President of the Pacific Islands and the North America Northwest Areas of the Church. Another critical role he played was as Executive Director of the Church’s Missionary Department. During his time there, he assisted in rolling out a new and revolutionary manual called, Preach My Gospel. This manual changed the way missionary work is done in the church and also provided a valuable tool for families to work together to better understand their religion. This manual taught missionaries to create their own discussions with those who are learning about the church, using inspiration and personal knowledge rather than pre-written lessons.

Elder Cook now serves full-time as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and has retired from his professional career. He assumed this position on October 6, 2007.

One of his current assignments as a general authority is to oversee Public Affairs, a challenging task in a time when the church is receiving a great deal of attention. In this context, he has spoken on such challenging subjects as polygamy, issues related to Mitt Romney’s campaign, and the same-sex marriage debate. He also met with Michelle Obama when she visited Mormon Church headquarters.

Elder Oaks learned about responsibility at a young age. When Elder Oaks was just eight years old, his father died and at the age of twelve, as the oldest child, he began working to help bring in much-needed income. As a teenager, he taught himself the skills needed to obtain a radio operator’s license and then earned the bus fare to go to the testing site. This hard work paid off. He was accepted into Brigham Young University, where he met and married June Dixon. He graduated with a degree in accounting and then graduated with honors from the Chicago University Law School. It was his father-in-law who suggested a law career. He had initially wandered through several possibilities, including radio and television, linguistics, and medicine.

Elder Oaks’ career progressed rapidly. He served an internship as a clerk Chief Justice Earl Warren of the Supreme Court and then went into private practice in Chicago. He served as counsel to the Bill of Rights Committee of the Illinois Constitutional Convention. Dallin H. Oaks also served as a consultant to the Office of Economic Opportunity during Lyndon B. Johnson’s war on poverty. In 1961 he joined the faculty at the University of Chicago. He served in a variety of increasingly important positions in both his professional career and in his church service, and in 1970, he was chosen to be the president of Brigham Young University. During that time, he also served as president of the American Association of Presidents of Independent Colleges and Universities.

During this time, he worked to fight against the increasing efforts of government to regulate private schools, although he stated that in general, he preferred to be for things, rather than against them.

In 1981, he became a member of the Utah Supreme Court and by 1984 was being discussed as a leading contender for the United States Supreme Court. However, at that time he was called (chosen) by Spencer W. Kimball, then president of the Church, to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and let it be known he was no longer interested in government positions. He considered the Lord’s work to take precedence over government service.

In his service as a church leader, Elder Oaks often tackles difficult topics without apology or hesitation. For instance, he and another church leader participated in an extensive interview on the subject of same-gender attraction. He recently spoke out on the subject of divorce, recognizing the sensitivity of the subject and speaking both to those who are divorced due to the sins of others, and to those contemplating divorce for less serious reasons.

Elder Oaks is known to read as much to study the writer’s style as he is to learn the content, and this attention to writing skill shows in his talks and articles. One recent talk is often quoted by church members who are trying to prioritize busy lives. He pointed out that there were many good and worthy things to do with our time, but not all things were equally good at all times. He taught listeners to divide possibilities into “Good, Better, Best” and then make choices accordingly. The fact that he has accomplished an extraordinary amount in his lifetime, often holding several positions at once, shows he has personally mastered this concept.

Heritage

As the grandson of two former Apostles, Elder Hyrum M. Smith and Elder Melvin J. Ballard; the great-grandson of former Prophet Joseph F. Smith; the great-great-grandson of Hyrum Smith, (the brother of Joseph Smith); and the great-great nephew of the Prophet Joseph Smith; M. Russell Ballard realizes the heritage that has been left to him. It is a heritage that he gladly accepts and strives each day to live up to. When Russell was sustained as an apostle at General Conference, he acknowledged: “I would like to bear witness…[that] the veil between here and the hereafter is rather thin. I acknowledge that it’s been a great blessing in my life to be born of goodly parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents who have given everything they have been asked to give to the building of the kingdom of God on the earth.”

Childhood

Melvin Russell Ballard, Jr. was born in Salt Lake City on October 8, 1928, to Melvin Russell and Geraldine Smith Ballard. Russell was the only son born to this couple. Russell, along with his three sisters, lived in the same home in Salt Lake City from the time of their births to the time of their marriages.

Russell’s father was the owner of Ballard Motor Company in Salt Lake City. He instilled in his son the desire to work hard at whatever he did. Just as his father was known for his concern for others, so was Russell known as he encountered others from every walk of life. From the time that Russell was old enough to work, he always had a job. Whatever job he did, he performed it with vigor and commitment. To Russell, his mother was his best friend in his growing years; she was a very compassionate and tender woman.

Mission/Marriage/Family

In 1948, Russell was called by the First Presidency to serve a Mormon mission to England. As a twenty-one-year-old missionary, he was called in 1949 to be the first counselor in the presidency of the British Mission.

Upon returning from his mission, he met Barbara Bowen. While attending a dance at the University of Utah, a friend of Russell’s wanted him to meet Barbara, so he “tagged in” to dance with her. His friend danced over to where Russell was, introduced them, and Russell danced with Barbara for thirty seconds before he was “tagged out.” That was the beginning of a courtship that would last for eleven months. “She was not only beautiful, but had a sparkling personality. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to marry her, but she didn’t share the same feelings. It was a little hard convincing her. I kid her now that getting her to agree to marry me was the greatest sales job I ever did,” declared Russell.

Russell and Barbara were married eternally in 1951 in the Salt Lake Mormon Temple and were blessed with seven children—two sons and five daughters. Family was always his top priority, even with all the responsibilities he had in the Church and in his business. Barbara stated, “He’s extremely devoted to his family, and they’ve always come first. He was a bishop for many years and held lots of Church jobs, but those responsibilities have never been to the detriment of his family. When he was home, he made the time count.”

Russell always gave his wife the credit in helping him fulfill his family responsibilities. “I married the right woman. Without the help and direction of Barbara, our family relationships would not have happened as well as they did. It was hard to be the bishop, the owner of my own business, and at the same time father of these children that came along, but somehow it worked out. I give credit to Barbara and her good judgment.”

Education/Military/Career

When Russell attended East High School in Salt Lake, his friends looked to him as their leader. Russell attended the University of Utah and was known as the “bishop” to his fraternity brothers. His friends knew that whatever situation Russell was in, he would remain true to his faith and be an example of the gospel of Jesus Christ to all.

Russell’s education was a lot of hands-on work. With his father owning Ballard Motor Company, Russell had the opportunity to work with his father and learn the importance of hard work. He learned how to set goals and have objectives in business, church, and family affairs.

Professionally, Russell became involved in several enterprises, including automotive, real estate, and investment businesses. Russell was the top-selling salesman for his father’s Nash car dealership when he left it in the 1950s. In 1956, Russell returned and took over the Ballard Motor Company from his father. During that time, he also served in the United States Army Reserve. In 1957, when he left the reserves, Russell held the rank of first lieutenant.

In the late 1950s, upon returning from a business trip, Russell won the right to be the Edsel car dealer for Salt Lake. His dealership became the most successful in the country; the Ford Motor Company invited him and his associates to Detroit to explain to the other dealers how they did it. In the end, the Edsel was a failure and the motor company and dealers around the country, including Russell’s business, lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Recovery took years, but with his hard work and integrity intact over the next years, Russell was able to recover and still have the confidence of the financial institutions. He said, “To me, failure is only when you quit trying. If you keep working at a task and try to do what’s right and honest, ultimately it works out.”

A business venture that Russell was most proud of was his responsibility as president of the Valley Music Hall in Bountiful, Utah. The theater offered high-quality family entertainment for many years. Russell was able to work with numerous people in the entertainment business who offered their expertise and advice. Even though the Music Hall failed financially, Russell made sure that all investors had opportunities to recover the money they had put into it.

Russell continued over the years in various business projects. His time was also spent in various leadership positions in professional organizations and in the Chamber of Commerce. He has served on numerous board of directors such as Deseret Book Company and the Salt Palace Advisory Board.

Church Service

Shortly after Russell and Barbara were married, Russell was called into a bishopric and has served in numerous Church positions ever since. In 1974, Russell was called as the president of the Canada Toronto Mission, where he served for two years. In 1976, his call to full-time Church service became permanent when he was sustained as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. And in 1980, he was called to the presidency of that Quorum.

Along the way, he fulfilled callings as the Executive Director of the Mormon Church’s Missionary Department, he directed the curriculum and correlation departments, and served as the president of the International Mission.

October 1985 brought a change to the Ballard family, one that came unexpectedly. Barbara recalls, “It came as such a surprise. We were just ready to leave the house to go to conference. The phone rang, and it was President Hinckley who asked my husband to come to the office. He thought he would perhaps be called on to speak in conference, since one of the speakers was ill. We were relaxed on the way to President Hinckley’s office and discussed what Russell might talk about if called to speak. When we got to the office, President Hinckley called my husband to be an Apostle. I almost thought, please say that again. I don’t know if I heard correctly. Russell looked at me with tears in his eyes. It was a sobering experience.” With that, M. Russell Ballard was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in October 1985 at General Conference.

With his calling as an Apostle, Elder Ballard is now a witness and testifier of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As he sits in his office with pictures and statues of his forebearers surrounding him, Elder Ballard is humbled by the responsibility the Lord has placed on him. Speaking at General Conference in 1985 he meekly said: “I am deeply humbled at the confidence the Lord and my brethren have, and pledge to you that I will do the very best I know how… I understand the source of [this] call. This is our Heavenly Father’s Church. …I know, as I now stand before you, that Jesus is the Christ that he lives. He is very close to this work, and very close to all of us who are asked to perform the work throughout the earth in his name.”

Childhood

Dieter F. Uchtdorf was born in Mahrisch Ostrau, Czechoslovakia, on November 6, 1940.  He was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and was called to be second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. on February 3, 2008.

Dieter’s father, Karl Albert Uchtdorf, was drafted into the German Army during World War II and immediately taken from his wife and small children. Dieter was the youngest in the family and didn’t understand where his father was going, only that his father was taken away from him. Dieter’s mother Hildegard knew then that she would have to care for her family alone during a time when the war in Europe was endangering them at every turn.

With the Allies in the west and Stalin’s forces in the east, Hildegard wanted to get as close as possible to the western front. She took her children and left for Zwickau, Germany. Fortunately, her husband survived the war and joined his family in Zwickau; however, Karl had become a bitter opponent for both the Nazi and Communist regimes. The Nazis were now destroyed, and Stalin now controlled the lives of the Germans as a result of the postwar division of Germany. Karl’s political position put the family’s lives in danger, so for the second time in seven years, the family left everything they owned and, in spite of the danger, made their way to Frankfurt, West Germany.

Dieter remembers this period: “We were refugees with an uncertain future…I played in bombed-out houses and grew up with the ever-present consequences of a lost war and the awareness that my own country had inflicted terrible pain on many nations during the horrific World War II” (“The Global Church Blessed by the Voice of the Prophets,” Ensign, Nov 2002, p.10).

As a young teenager, Dieter would ride his bicycle to the Frankfurt Airport and gaze at the planes. As he watched the planes and was allowed by the airport staff to look into the cockpit, his love of flying grew. He dreamt of one day feeling the freedom of flying in the skies.

Conversion

Through the clouds of turmoil that engulfed their lives, still the silver lining shined through. It was while the family was in Zwickau that they found the Mormon Church. “After World War II, my grandmother was standing in line for food when an elderly single sister with no family of her own invited her to sacrament meeting. . . . My grandmother and my parents accepted the invitation. They went to church, felt the Spirit, were uplifted by the kindness of the members, and were edified by the hymns of the Restoration. . . . How grateful I am for a spiritually sensitive grandmother, teachable parents, and a wise, white-haired, elderly single sister who had the sweet boldness to reach out and follow the Savior’s example by inviting us to ‘come and see’ (“The Opportunity to Testify,” Ensign, Nov 2004, p.74).

Education

At the age of 18, Dieter was educated in engineering, followed by six years in the German Air Force. Then, because of a mutual relationship between the German and United States governments, Dieter entered fighter pilot training school in Big Spring, Texas, where he earned wings in the American and German Air Forces. The most considerable achievement at the school for Dieter was winning the coveted Commander’s Trophy, this for being the outstanding student pilot in his class.

Marriage/Family

Harriet Reich had been four years old and living in Frankfurt near the end of World War II. She remembers a handsome American serviceman who passed her on the street and kindly offered her a stick of gum. She took it tentatively and never forgot the young man’s face and his friendly gesture. Ten years later, two Mormon missionaries knocked on the Reich’s door. Harriet opened the door as her mother forbade the missionaries to enter. Seeing the same kind of look on the face of the missionaries as she did on that of the serviceman, Harriet begged her mother to please let them in.

The missionaries left a copy of the Book of Mormon ( a companion book of scripture to the Bible) with certain passages marked for importance. That night Harriet’s mother read the Book of Mormon. Harriet recalled how her mother’s countenance changed almost immediately. Since the war had ended, Harriet’s mother, newly widowed and the mother of two little girls, was depressed and unhappy. But as her mother read from the Book of Mormon, Harriet saw light return to her eyes. When the missionaries returned they asked, “Did you read the marked scriptures?” “I read it all,” Sister Reich said, “Come in. I have questions I want you to answer.” Harriet, her mother, and her sister were baptized into the Mormon Church four weeks later. “Life changed for us that day. Once again we laughed and ran and found happiness in our home. I owe it all to the gospel of Jesus Christ,” explained Harriet.

It was while attending a youth activity at thirteen years old that Dieter first met Harriet. Dieter recalls, “I always loved her. I fell for her from the very beginning. . . . She was a very beautiful girl. She still is.” It was love at first sight for Dieter, but not for Harriet. It was not until Dieter had completed his military duty and had returned to Germany that she began to appreciate Dieter. They began dating and were married December 14, 1962, in the Swiss Temple. Two children blessed this family–Guido and Antje.

Even with his busy professional schedule and with church callings, Dieter’s first priority was always his family. Antje recalls, “When [dad] was home, he was totally devoted to Mom and to us. Of course, everything is exciting to Mom, and Dad makes things exciting. He made everything an adventure–even going to the grocery store. They took us on some of the most exciting family vacations a child could imagine. So as children we were pretty much in a state of excitement one way or the other all the time!” Guido says, “I don’t remember any sermons. I just remember [dad] always being interested in me. We had visits, which were often walks in the evening and, on more special occasions, hikes in the mountains. I loved those times to talk. And in all such situations he taught by example.”

Career

In 1970, at the age of 29, Dieter was made captain with Lufthansa Airlines, a rank he was once told he could never achieve until late in his career. In 1972, he was made manager of the 737 fleet. In 1975, he became director of the pilot training school in Goodyear, Arizona—the principal and most-honored training post offered in the Lufthansa organization. Later his responsibilities would be as chief pilot and head of cockpit crews in 1980, and as senior vice president of flight operations in 1982.

In December of 1973, the president of Lufthansa German Airlines received distressing news:

Five terrorists had hijacked a Lufthansa 737 jet in Rome, Italy, and were making their way to Athens, Greece, with hostages on board. As they did so, 32 people lay dead in Rome, and one of the hostages now in flight was soon to be mortally shot and summarily dumped onto the airport runway in Athens. With guns to the heads of the pilot and copilot and with hostages trembling in terror, the unstable hijackers directed a bizarre path from Rome to Beirut to Athens to Damascus to Kuwait.

In an instant, the president of Lufthansa ordered into the air his chief pilot for the 737 fleet. Thirty-three-year-old Dieter was to take a small group of emergency personnel and follow the hijacked plane wherever the guerrillas took it. In every setting possible he was to negotiate for the release of the plane, the pilots, and the hostages. Then, when all of this had been accomplished, he was to fly the hijacked 737 back to headquarters in Frankfurt.

Fortunately, there was no more bloodshed and the mission was successfully accomplished.

Church Service

While attending fighter pilot training school in Texas, Dieter helped to build a meetinghouse for the local branch of the Mormon Church. Despite all the awards and promotions he received, he always felt that this was much more significant.

Amidst the changes and responsibilities of his career, Dieter was called to be the president of the Frankfurt Germany Stake and then president of the Mannheim Germany Stake. And then in 1994, he was called to the Second Quorum of the Seventy.

Elder Larsen was an Area President for whom Elder Uchtdorf served as a counselor. Elder Larsen says, “Our area in those days covered most of Western and Central Europe, countries that had been affected by World War II. Everyone who knew Dieter loved him instantly, but in those first months he couldn’t have helped but wonder about traveling and presiding in countries where they did not know him and where there were still painful memories about the war. . . . Elder Uchtdorf so genuinely loves people and is so engagingly personable that wherever he went he was embraced literally and figuratively. The gospel works miracles in such situations, and the members of the Church to whom he went were as magnanimous and kind as Dieter was humble, inspiring, and devoted to them” (Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf: On to New Horizons”, Ensign, 2005, p.10–15).

A particular situation occurred when the German government was cracking down on some lesser-known religions. Elder Anderson of the Seventy who served with Elder Uchtdorf recalls the situation, “An initial list of ‘sects’ included The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To oppose this serious threat to the work, Church leaders needed the most resolute and reputable German representative they could find to go to Bonn. That was Elder Uchtdorf. . . . His bold, courageous presentation there was so persuasive and articulate and his reputation with Lufthansa so widespread and admired that the German officials giving him audience were somewhat stunned at what they had inadvertently done. They said in effect: ‘If you are a Latter-day Saint, we do not need any more evidence than that. Your church will certainly not be included on any such list of religions in the future.'”

In October 2004, Elder Uchtdorf was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He is the first apostle in more than fifty years who was not born in the United States, and the first ever from Germany. He was called to serve as Second Counselor in the First Presidency on February 3, 2008.

Childhood

Jeffrey Roy Holland was born December 3, 1940, in the small rural town of St. George, Utah. His parents, Alice Bentley Holland and Frank Holland, were blessed with four children, but one child passed away in its infancy. St. George was the ground in which Jeffrey, his brother Dennis, and his sister Debbie, grew up and where each of their characters were nurtured.

Jeffrey’s mother, Alice, was a descendant of Mormon pioneers, while his father Frank was an Irish convert to the Mormon Church. Alice and Frank built their home in St. George in hopes of raising a family that would serve the Lord.

All three children referred to their childhood as idyllic. Alice was the anchor of the Holland home with her love and guiding hand for each of her children. Jeffrey remembers his mother’s flawless character in giving to others. She gave of herself selflessly without thought of anything in return.

Frank’s formal schooling ended in the seventh grade, but his education did not. He continued to learn on his own and eventually became a public accountant and a civic leader in St. George. Those who knew Frank and were taught by him remember the love he had for the Book of Mormon. When as a small boy, Jeffrey remarked to his father that there were no baseball teams for boys his age in St. George, his father helped organize Little League baseball in the community. Even though much of Frank’s time was spent on his work and community affairs, his children always knew that family was first above all else.

As a boy, Jeffrey was obedient; he idolized his mother and never wanted to disappoint her. He remembers that the love he had for his mother was nourished by her gentle guiding force, which always made him want to live up to what she thought of him.

As Jeffrey grew, his personality radiated to all that met him. He was friendly, obedient to his parents, and obedient to the commandments. His mother stated that, “…[Jeffrey] was an obedient boy; he was always at church, and he always took care of his priesthood duties.”

Even as a young boy, Jeffrey knew how to work hard.  When he was a paperboy and a grocery bagger, he also was a service station attendant. Because of his consideration and friendliness, people would deliberately seek him out to service their cars.

As a boy, Jeffrey loved sports. He was a member of Dixie High School’s state championship football and basketball teams in 1958, and he also lettered in football, basketball, track, and baseball.

Being on the sports teams in high school had its benefits. His involvement kept him close to a certain young lady who later became his wife. Pat Terry was a cheerleader at Dixie High School who had moved to St. George just as she entered high school. She and Jeffrey began dating two years before his mission.

Mission

At a time when it was not clearly defined that every worthy young man should serve a mission, Jeffrey as well had not solidified his decision to serve. It was Pat’s faith that helped him decide to go. Jeffrey states: “Her faith has always been as pure and as powerful and as strong as any person’s I’ve ever known.”

With determination to serve a Mormon mission and do as the Lord asks, Jeffrey was called to serve in the British Mission. Serving under two mission presidents–President T. Bowring Woodbury and President Marion D. Hanks—would prove to be a major spiritual inspiration in Elder Holland’s life. He learned to love the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. Elder Holland states, “President Hanks had a profound influence on my life, as he did upon all the missionaries’.”

As he served under President Hanks, he was assigned to be on a team of traveling trainers. “Their assignment was to help other missionaries become disciples of Jesus Christ after the manner of Mormon, who recorded, ‘I have been called of him to proclaim his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.'” As Elder Holland continued in this assignment, his love for the Book of Mormon increased and his ability to teach from it grew stronger through the years.

A bittersweet experience while Elder Holland was preparing to return home, was the mission call of his parents to the same mission he was serving in—the British Mission. Alice Holland remembers, “[My] son claimed to be the only missionary who ever said farewell to his parents at both ends of his mission.”

Marriage/Education/Career

Upon returning home, Jeffrey continued his courtship with Pat Terry. While his parents were still serving their mission, Jeff and Pat were married in the St. George Mormon Temple on June 7, 1963.

Before leaving on his mission, Elder Holland intended to return home and become a doctor. When he came home he explained, “I came home from my mission believing that God intended for me to be a teacher.” Those who knew Elder Holland on his mission, including his mission president, knew of his talents as a teacher. “[Jeffrey] is by nature a teacher. He is a gentleman, a scholar, and a diplomat–but in all those things he is a teacher,” said his mission president, Marion D. Hanks.

After their marriage, Jeffrey and Pat moved to Provo, Utah, to attend Brigham Young University. As graduation approached in 1965, Jeffrey was having doubts about becoming a teacher in English, which was his academic major. Then came an opportunity to teach religion part time at BYU while he worked on his master’s degree in religious instruction.

The Mormon Church Institute

Upon completion of Jeff’s graduate work in 1966, the Hollands moved to Hayward, California, where Jeff taught at several institutes in the area. After a year of teaching, he was appointed director of the institute in Seattle, Washington. While there, he was able to establish an institute at the University of Washington where the Mormon Church would be a major force for good among the Latter-day Saint youth. President Brent Nash, who was the Seattle Temple President at that time, remarked, “Youth were drawn to [Brother Holland]. If he was able to bring some of those young people back into the institute, the gospel changed them.”

This assignment proved to be a challenge for Jeff. Controversy and misinformation about the Mormon Church was infectious among the students and faculty on the campus. Jeff’s ability to make friends and touch hearts helped erase the ill feelings among the students and organizations of other faiths.

With the decision to pursue a career in the field of education, Jeff needed more schooling, including a doctoral degree. A Yale-educated professor at the University of Washington recommended Jeff for Yale’s American Studies program. He was accepted, and the Hollands moved to New Haven, Connecticut, in 1970.

The Hollands left New Haven and returned to Utah in 1972. This was the beginning of a new chapter in the Holland household. Jeff taught at the Salt Lake institute for only a few months before he was called to be the director of the [Mormon] Church’s new Melchizedek Priesthood Mutual Improvement Association. In this position, he was privileged to work with Elder James E. Faust, Elder L. Tom Perry, and Elder Marion D. Hanks, his former mission president.

After two years, Jeff was appointed dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University in 1974. Being young and new to the faculty, Jeff benefited from his academic credentials and his diplomatic skills. He knew how important religious education was at the university and encouraged religion as a strong central role.

After another two years, Jeff was named commissioner of education for the Mormon Church. In 1980, as commissioner, he was asked to serve on the search committee that would recommend someone to follow President Dallin H. Oaks, current president of BYU. A few days later, he was called into a meeting with the First Presidency of the Mormon Church. President Kimball, along with his counselors, told Jeff that he was to be the new president. Needless to say, Jeff was stunned and replied: “President Kimball, you’ve got to be joking!” President Kimball answered matter-of-factly, “Brother Holland, in this room, we don’t joke very much.” In 1980, Jeffrey R. Holland became president of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

As president of BYU and being in the public eye, President Holland needed the support and strength that only his family could give him. Because of his responsibilities as president, he was involved in a number of educational organizations. He raised one hundred million dollars in a fund-raising campaign, helped the school celebrate and deal with athletic successes, and helped counteract the protests against the building of the BYU Jerusalem Center.

Family

During the years spent in Seattle and New Haven, the Hollands added three children to their family: Matthew, Mary Alice, and David Frank. Even though Jeff was busy with schooling and church service, he never allowed anything to take precedence over his family. Even as small children, the children received family spiritual training on a daily basis.

Serving as President of Brigham Young University proved to be a blessing and challenge for the Holland family. Sister Holland maintained as normal a family life as possible. She never wanted to be away from home two nights in a row, regardless of the university activity expecting her attendance. While her husband served as president of a large university, she was called to serve as a counselor in the Young Women general presidency of the Church. Because her family was her primary concern, it took an enormous amount of faith and sacrifice to accept the call. With the support of her husband and children, she did accept the call and the Lord blessed her and her family tremendously through those years.

Jeff and Pat remained available for each of their children. The children always felt that they could call on their father at any time; and when they did, he set aside everything and listened to them, or attended plays, recitals, and any other activity important to them.

Church Service

The time spent in New Haven was a time of great spiritual growth, for both Jeff and Pat. Church service for Jeff included serving as a bishop in the singles ward and then serving in the stake presidency. Looking back later, Jeff knew that his service in New Haven prepared him for his future callings as a General Authority. He knew that there was more than one reason that he and his family were to move to New Haven. He believed that, “What I really got was an education in Church government–a quick course in how the [Mormon] Church was run in areas where it had not been long established, where branches and wards had to struggle.”

In 1989, President Holland was called to the First Quorum of the Seventy. At the [Mormon Church’s] General Conference, Elder Holland humbled stated, “[I have a tremendous amount of] gratitude to the Lord for the privilege of this holy calling and opportunity to serve. There is no sufficient way to express either the sense of responsibility or feelings of inadequacy one has in being called to such a ministry.” With this calling, Elder Holland continued to teach. His brother Dennis remarked, “All Jeff ever wanted to do was teach the gospel to students in a classroom. I was always sure that the Lord had the same goal in mind for him, but that the size of the classroom and the number of students were on a much grander scale than he was envisioning.”

After Elder Holland has served for five years in the Quorum of the Seventy, President Howard W. Hunter, then president of the Mormon Church, called Elder Holland to serve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. His call would now be totally focused on the role and mission of Jesus Christ and of testifying of it to the world. Elder Holland declared that being an Apostle is “to be a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he stands for, all that he is, and all that His church represents. There is an overwhelming sense of responsibility in that. It brings a deep desire to live up to the standard that the entire Christian world holds for the title ‘Apostle’, never doing anything that could ever diminish that office in anyone’s sight. This will be a lifelong refining process.”

CHILDHOOD

Russell Marion Nelson was born in Salt Lake City on September 9, 1924, to Marion C. and Edna Anderson Nelson. Russell is one of four children born to this family. He has two sisters, Marjory and Enid, and one brother, Robert.

Russell came from a long line of Mormon pioneers; all eight of his great-grandparents joined the Mormon Church in Europe and immigrated to Utah. With that legacy left by his grandparents and parents, Russell has carried on their courage and commitment in his professional life and in his church service in the Mormon Church.

From a very young age, Russell was taught how to work hard and to be committed to whatever task he encountered. At the age of ten, Russell began running errands for his father’s advertising company. As he grew and attended school, he worked part time in a bank, the post office, and a photo studio. Russell was blessed with a passion for music. His talent at playing the piano and singing led him to sing in choirs at high school and college and to perform in the musicals presented at his schools.

EDUCATION

Upon completion of high school, Russell decided to attend the University of Utah and study medicine. Doing well in his studies and being a member of several honor societies, Russell received his B.A degree in 1945. Continuing on with his medical training, he was able to complete his four-year studies in three years, and at the young age of twenty-two, in 1945, Russell graduated with high honors and qualified as a doctor.

After his internship at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Nelson had the opportunity to work on a team “for three years developing the first machine that could perform the functions of a patient’s heart and lungs during heart surgery. In 1951, the machine performed well in the first open-heart operation on a human being.”

In 1955 a medical milestone was met when Dr. Nelson performed the first successful open heart surgery using the heart-lung machine in Salt Lake City. He observed, “When I started medical school, we were taught that we must not touch the human heart or it would stop beating. Yet Doctrine and Covenants 88:36 tells us that “all kingdoms have a law given.” Therefore I knew that even the blessing of the heartbeat was predicated upon law. And I reasoned that if those laws could be understood and controlled, perhaps they could be utilized for the blessing of the sick. To me this meant that if we would work, study, and ask the proper questions in our scientific experiments, we could learn the laws that govern the heartbeat. Now, having learned some of those laws, we know that we can turn the heartbeat off, perform delicate repairs on damaged valves or vessels, and then let the heart beat again.”

After his two-year service in the U.S. Army, Dr. Nelson worked for a year in Boston at the Massachusetts General Hospital, then returned to the University of Minnesota for a year and received his Ph.D. degree in 1954.

MILITARY

Dr. Nelson enlisted in the Army to serve a two-year term of medical duty during the Korean War. He served in Korea, Japan, and at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

MARRIAGE/FAMILY

While Russell was attending the University of Utah, he was recruited to play a role in the school play. When he arrived at the theatre for rehearsal, he could hear a soprano voice that took his breath away. When he saw the beautiful dark-haired girl on the stage he was mesmerized. Introduced to him was Dantzel White, the young woman that would be performing with him throughout the play. Russell felt that she was the most beautiful girl in the world and sensed that he would marry her. Unbeknownst to him, Dantzel felt the same way. When she returned home to Perry, Utah, she announced to her family that she had met the man she wanted to marry. Three years later on August 31, 1945, Russell and Dantzel were married in the Salt Lake Temple. This family was blessed with nine daughters and one son.

Dantzel completed her education at the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in teaching and taught school until the birth of her first child.

During those lean years while Russell was in medical school and continuing his medical training, his top concern was his family. Once asked by a writer for a national magazine how he did it all, Russell explained, “We believe that our major goal in life is to strengthen our family. Service in the Church, the community, continuing education, and our occupational endeavors all are undertaken to provide development for our family.”

The writer was surprised by the answer–”But earlier in our interview you said you and your wife had always tried to obey the scripture [in Matthew 6:33] ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God.’ Now you tell me the family comes first.”

Russell continued, “He thought he had me. But I simply reviewed my long-established priorities and said, ‘I cannot seek the kingdom of God without loving and honoring first that family He has given to me. I cannot honor that family without loving and caring first for my wife!'”

Russell always gave credit to his wife, while Dantzel always gave credit to Russell. Russell stated that his beloved Dantzel was the heart of the home. She never complained. Dantzel lovingly stated, “[Russell] makes me feel that I am most important in his life. He didn’t allow the children to be rude or talk back ever. And he always says, ‘Mother is the queen of the house. Whatever she wants, that’s the way it’s going to be.’ I’ve always had that support.”

Family life in the Nelson household was completely devoted to each individual. When Russell was home, he was home; meaning that he didn’t watch television, but helped with the meals, the dishes, and homework with the children and made sure that there was always one-on-one time with each child. Each child shares that they never questioned their father’s love for them; each knew that they were “his favorite child.”

Sadness struck the Nelson family when Russell and Dantzel lost their beloved daughter Emily, who left a family of five young children. Although times were difficult, the Nelson family gathered together, buoying each other up and sharing their love and experiences of Emily with one another. Such an experience brought the family much closer together.

In February 2005, tragedy again afflicted the Nelson family with Russell’s beloved wife Dantzel passing away unexpectedly with her husband by her side. Fourteen months later, Russell married Wendy Watson, a professor of marriage and family therapy in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University.

CAREER

Upon completion of service in the military and receiving his Ph.D., Russell and his family, which then included four daughters with the fifth soon to arrive, Dr. Nelson would begin his work at the University of Utah College of Medicine. As an assistant professor of surgery, he continued in research, teaching, and surgery.

In 1959, Dr. Nelson left the University of Utah to go into private practice.

1965 brought an unexpected opportunity for Dr. Nelson. He was asked to assume the position of professor of surgery and chairman of the Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at another major university. The offer included a generous salary and an arrangement to pay entirely for the college education of all his children. The offer was overwhelming, and the Nelson’s were inclined to accept, but, after consulting with then-president of the Mormon Church, David O. McKay, they declined the offer. Not knowing the reasons why, they simply said that it didn’t feel right.

Dr. Nelson’s greatest challenge was when he was attending an area conference for the Mormon Church in England. Elder Spencer W. Kimball, who was attending the conference as well, mentioned to Russell the difficulties that he was having with his heart. When they returned home, tests were conducted that showed a deteriorating aortic valve and a dangerous obstruction in one of Elder Kimball’s arteries. Dr. Nelson explained, “The risks of an aortic valve replacement alone in a man aged seventy-seven are high. The risks of a coronary graft operation alone in a man of that age are high. To combine them would compound enormously the risk of either one alone.” Surgery was risky, as was doing nothing. On the eve of the surgery, a priesthood blessing was given to both Elder Kimball and Dr. Nelson. Dr. Nelson was promised that the operation would be performed without error and that he need not fear. The surgery was performed without complications.

Dr. Nelson became quite influential locally, nationally, and internationally. His services included acting as president of the Thoracic Surgical Directors Association, of the Society for Vascular Surgery, and of the Utah State Medical Association. He also served as director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and at the LDS Hospital he served as chairman of the Division of Thoracic Surgery and served as vice-chairman of the board of governors.

Over the years, he has received numerous honors, including the Citation for International Service from the American Heart Association and the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement.

MISSION

Russell did not have the opportunity to serve a full-time mission when he was nineteen, because the United States was at war. He did not, however, let that prevent him from being a Mormon missionary elsewhere. He sought out opportunities to act as a missionary. When others noticed that he wasn’t like the other doctors and wanted to know why, he would introduce them to the Church.

CHURCH SERVICE

During the years of his education and professional responsibilities, Russell served faithfully in all his Church assignments in Sunday School, priests quorum, bishoprics, high councils, and as a missionary on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. He then served seven years as a stake president, eight years as the General Sunday School president for the Mormon Church, and four years as a Regional Representative.

April 1984 brought a call from the First Presidency for Russell to be called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Mormon Church. Elder Nelson’s preparation, dedication, and devotion in the medical field and service in the Mormon Church has prepared him to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. In humility he explained, “I have a deep and abiding faith in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ. The work I’m now engaged in is the most important cause in the world. It’s all encompassing, it’s fulfilling, and it’s challenging. And I must do my best, because I have an accountability for this stewardship.”

Childhood

David A. Bednar was born on June 15, 1952, in San Leandro, California, to Lavina Whitney Bednar and Anthony George Bednar. Lavina was a descendant of the Mormon pioneers, while her husband Anthony was not a member of the Mormon Church. With the support of her husband, Lavina raised her three sons to be faithful members of the Church. Even though Anthony was not a member of the Church, he supported his sons by attending Church with them and helping with Church functions. When it was time for David to serve a Mormon mission, his father supported him completely.

Throughout his life and even through his letters while serving a mission, David would always ask his father, “Dad, when are you going to be baptized?” The answer would always be, “I’ll join this Church when I know it’s the right thing to do.” After David had returned from his mission and was married and living far from home, his father called on a Wednesday to ask, “What are you doing Saturday? Can you be out here [in California] to baptize me?” After many years of prayer and fasting on behalf of this husband and father, Anthony George Bednar was baptized and confirmed by his son David.

David grew up in the San Francisco Bay area where he enjoyed playing sports, working on his grandfather’s dairy farm and helping his mother can peaches and berries.

Mission

In 1971, David received a call from the Prophet to serve as a missionary in the South German Mission for twenty-four months. Years later, David would admonish the members of the Mormon Church: “All of us now are serving and will continue to serve as lifelong missionaries. We are missionaries every day in our families, in our schools, in our places of employment, and in our communities. Regardless of our age, experience, or station in life, we are all missionaries” (“Becoming a Missionary,” Ensign, Nov 2005).

Marriage and Education

After returning home from his Mormon mission, David chose to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. There he met Susan Robinson, who was completing her degree in elementary education. They attended the same ward and met during a family home evening football game. Susan likes to tease, “He threw a pass and I caught it.” David and Susan were married in 1975 and are the parents of three sons, Eric, Michael, and Jeffrey.

After their marriage, David and Susan continued to live in Provo, Utah, while David completed his education. He received his Baccalaureate degree in communications in 1976, and his Master’s degree in organizational communication in 1977. The Bednars then moved to Indiana, where David pursued and received his Ph.D. in organizational behavior at Purdue University.

Professional Career

Upon David’s graduation in 1980, the family moved to Arkansas, where David was appointed Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Arkansas—a post he held from 1980–1984. From 1984–1986, David taught at Texas Tech University before returning to the University of Arkansas. There he taught courses in organizational behavior, team management, total quality management, and managerial communication. From 1987–1992, he served as the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the College of Business Administration, as well as the Director of the Management Decision-Making Lab from 1992–1997.

Throughout his professional career, he has been the recipient of the Outstanding Teacher Award in the College of Business Administration. And in 1994, he was recognized as the outstanding teacher at the University of Arkansas and received the Burlington Northern Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching.

David has had numerous articles published—some of which were in Labor and Industrial Relations Review, Academy of Management Review, Human Relations, Quality Progress, Quality Management Journal, Cornell Research Quarterly, National Productivity Review, The Journal of Retail Banking Services, The Journal of Business Communication, and The Journal of Business Education. Together, he and Donald White authored: Organizational Behavior: Understanding and Managing People at Work; and, with Donald White and Ronald Sims, he co-authored: Readings in Organizational Behavior.

In the summer of 1997, David accepted the position as president of Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho. At the time of his acceptance, Ricks College was the largest privately-owned junior college in the United States, with an enrollment of 8,500 students. From the beginning of his appointment, President Bednar would be a president who listened, taught and participated in the students’ lives. While there, he taught a religion class every term; he and Sister Bednar invited students to come to family home evenings where they taught from the scriptures. During their years in Rexburg, close to 35,000 students were blessed to spend evenings with the Bednars.

In 2000, the decision was made to change Ricks College into a university. It would now be known as Brigham Young University—Idaho. When asked if he was scared to take on such a project, President Bednar said: “If I thought we had to execute this transition relying exclusively upon our own experience and our own judgment, then I would be terrified. But we will have help from heaven. Because we know who is in charge and that we are not alone, then no, I am not scared. I have come to know that President Hinckley’s vision concerning the future of BYU—Idaho is not really about two-year or four-year status. It is not really about academic rank or athletics. And it is not really about a name change. This announcement is about faith—faith in the future. Given all the changes that have taken place at this institution in a relatively short period of time, I testify that miracles have occurred, revelations have been received, and doors have been opened, and we have been greatly blessed as individuals and as an institution. These truly are days never to be forgotten” (“Going Forward in the Strength of the Lord,” Ensign, Mar 2005).

On August 10, 2001, Ricks College officially became BYU—Idaho. By the summer of 2004, the university was able to announce that it had received academic accreditation; four-year baccalaureate degrees were available; and the traditional academic year had been replaced by a year-round schedule, which allowed more students to be admitted throughout the year. With the year-round schedule, students could take internships away from campus at times other than the usual summer break.

Church Service

As a member of the Mormon Church, David was always actively engaged in Church service. While living in Fayetteville, Arkansas, he was called to be a counselor in the stake presidency at the young age of thirty. He also served as a bishop, as president of the Fort Smith Arkansas Stake, and as president of the Rogers Arkansas Stake. Later he would serve as a regional representative and as an Area Authority Seventy. Much of this Church service was performed while David and Susan were raising their family and while he was working at the University of Arkansas. Those that associated with David, whether it was in Church service or at the University, were always amazed with his leadership and zeal for life. One associate from the university commented, “David Bednar was part of our leadership team. He sharpened our vision. He always exuded enthusiasm for students and a passion to help his fellowman. To all our discussions he brought reason and compassion. He inspired his colleagues and students by his example and was held in the highest esteem.”

Since he has left Arkansas, David Bednar’s presence is still felt, and many believe that it was his leadership and the tireless hours that united the members there. One of his trademarks was inviting all members of the stake to bring their scriptures to every meeting. If he noticed that some did not have theirs, he would encourage them to do better.

Elder Bednar commented: “During my training before my mission, we went to the solemn assembly room in the Salt Lake Temple. President Harold B. Lee was there to answer questions from about 300 missionaries. He stood there in his white suit, holding his white scriptures. He answered every question from the scriptures, or he said, ‘I don’t know.’ I sat there and thought that I would never be able to know the scriptures the way he did, but my objective became to use the scriptures in my teaching the way that I saw President Harold B. Lee do it. That desire is the genesis of all my scripture study.”

In the fall of 2004, after serving as President of BYU—Idaho, President Bednar was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

CHILDHOOD

Boyd Kenneth Packer was born September 10, 1924, in Brigham City, Utah. His parents, Ira and Emma Jensen Packer, were the parents of eleven children, with Boyd being the fifth son and tenth child. With a legacy of Mormon pioneers who settled in Utah, he, like his ancestors, exhibited the character traits of of strength, courage, and determination to live the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout his life.

The Packer children all grew up in a home where the gospel of Jesus Christ was taught and lived. The example set by Boyd’s parents had a profound effect on his life, along with the lessons taught early in life to each of the Packer children. When teaching opportunities presented themselves, Boyd’s mother took advantage of them. One such occasion occurred when the Packer house almost burned down. She had stayed home because she had the impression not to go to town with her family. It was the perfect opportunity to teach her children how important it was to follow the promptings of the Spirit.

With the encouragement of his mother to read and study the world around him, Boyd grew to love the outdoors. Often Boyd’s mother would lay out newsprint on the floor for him to draw the scenes he would see in nature. While Boyd loved everything outside, he soon developed a particular love for birds. This fondness for birds has remained with Boyd throughout his entire life. As the years progressed, Boyd developed his talent and was able to create beautifully detailed carvings of birds. When one sees these meticulous carvings, one feels the “sensitivity to the creatures, but also the reverence for the artistry of the Creator.”

Boyd’s father was a skilled and industrious mechanic. The Packer family struggled for many years while Boyd’s father spent time building the business in his garage, and later a motor company. Boyd remembers, “Sometimes in my growing years I thought we were poor. I later learned that that was not true. We just didn’t have any money. We were always rich in the things most significant in our lives.”

As a young boy, Boyd became quite ill, and the doctors believed he had pneumonia. However, after he was well again, he discovered that he was unable to walk. It was not until he became an adult that he learned he had in fact contracted polio.

MISSION/MILITARY

Upon completion of high school, Boyd worked for a time on the construction of the army hospital in Brigham City. When he had reached the age to serve a full time mission for the Mormon Church, World War II had begun.

Instead of serving a full-time Mormon mission, Boyd enlisted in the Army Air Force in 1943. By the age of twenty, he had graduated as a pilot and then went on for training as a fighter pilot. Upon completion of training, he was ordered to the Pacific Theater. When the war ended, Boyd was stationed in Japan and remained there for almost a year.

His experiences in Japan gave him many opportunities to study the Book of Mormon (a companion book of scripture to the Bible) and to be a missionary. Opportunities to share the gospel of peace with the Japanese people became numerous. While in Japan, Boyd also had other opportunities to ponder his future. It was on one of those occasions that Boyd decided to be a teacher.

EDUCATION

Returning home from the military in 1946, Boyd enrolled at Weber State College in Ogden, Utah. He received his associate’s degree in 1948 and his bachelor’s degree from Utah State University in 1949. In 1953, Boyd received his master’s degree from Utah State and, in 1962, a doctorate of education degree from Brigham Young University.

MARRIAGE/FAMILY

It was while he was attending Weber State that he met Donna Edith Smith, also from Brigham City, Utah. Boyd was asked to give a talk in a ward that he did not usually attend. In that ward, Donna Smith was listening quite intently to Boyd speak. Donna thought, “Now, this is the type of man I would wish to marry.” On July 27, 1947, in the Logan Temple, Boyd and Donna were sealed for time and all eternity.

When asked years later how he handled a growing family and all the responsibilities that come with it, Boyd answered, in  a quite matter-of-fact way, “All of that can be explained in two words: my wife. She’s perfect!” Over the years, Donna was  a profound influence in her husband’s life. Her willingness to have everything centered on the family and her encouragement toward her husband to serve in the Church, in the community, and the education field have warranted much love and respect from Boyd and her children.

Over the years, the Packers were blessed with ten children: Allan, Kenneth, David, Laurel, Russell, Spencer, Gayle, Kathleen, Lawrence, and Eldon.

His family was his number one priority over the years. When he was home physically, he was home mentally, and nothing else took precedence. As his son Allan noted, “He is our patriarch. He’s still a father, and that’s his number one priority.”

The Packer home was filled with numerous opportunities to meet each child’s needs and to help them develop their own talents and pursue their own educational desires.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Being involved with community service was a necessary part of Boyd’s life. He served a four-year term as city councilman for Brigham City. Many lessons were learned during his experiences in local government. He cautioned many times, “experiences in local government taught [me], that many people are willing to pass judgment on the actions of those leading an organization without access to the knowledge that shaped their decisions.” Throughout his life, he often warned others against that error, whether in church, government, or the community.

CAREER /CHURCH SERVICE

During the period when Boyd was pursuing his education, starting a family, and beginning a career, there were also numerous callings to serve in the Mormon Church. Callings as a teacher, assistant stake clerk, and high councilor took an enormous amount of time. Knowing that service in the Church is vital to the eternal progression of an individual, Boyd accepted all callings that came his way with dedication and commitment to do his very best.

Trained and educated to be a teacher, Boyd Packer had numerous opportunities to use the skills he had developed. Not only did he have the education with which to teach, but he also had the ability to draw his students in through the Spirit of the Lord and to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. His service as supervisor of seminaries and institutes of religion for the Mormon Church gave him ample opportunity to personally visit and see those students and teachers in action and to help each improve as a student and as an educator.

In 1949, Boyd began teaching seminary. The old army hospital in Brigham City that he had helped build years earlier was turned into a federally run school for Indian students. From 1949 to 1955, Boyd served as the coordinator of Indian Affairs for the school with the Mormon Church Educational System.

Later in Boyd’s life, he was asked to work with the Church’s Publication Committee, which allowed him to assist in the production of numerous editions of the scriptures: The Holy Bible, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Book of Mormon.

In 1961, Boyd would be called to be an assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as the youngest of all the General Authorities. In 1965, Elder Packer was given additional responsibilities as the Mission President for the New England States mission, where he served until 1968.

In 1970, Elder Packer was called to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and in 1995 he was called to be the acting President of the Twelve Apostles. President Faust, counselor to late President Gordon B. Hinckley, remarked: “Elder Packer is very much a teacher. While all of the Twelve are teachers, he’s a teacher in the Twelve.” Elder Packer was known for his love of the Book of Mormon and the impact it had on his life. All his teachings were centered on the scriptures. He admonishes: “Stand steady. Keep your faith. I bear witness that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. God lives and directs His work. The [Mormon] Church is on the right course. It is on schedule. And I bear witness that it is righteously led by a prophet of God.”

Over the years, Elder Packer wrote numerous books, including Teach Ye Diligently, The Holy Temple, and Our Father’s Plan.

Anita Stansfield

Anita Stansfield began writing at the age of sixteen, and her first novel was published sixteen years later. For more than fifteen years she has been the number-one best-selling author of women’s fiction in the LDS market. Her novels range from historical to contemporary and cover a wide gamut of social and emotional issues that explore the human experience through memorable characters and unpredictable plots. She has received many awards, including a special award for pioneering new ground in LDS fiction, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Whitney Academy for LDS Literature, and also a Lifetime Achievement Award from her publisher, Covenant Communications. She has fifty-six published books. Anita is the mother of five, and has three grandchildren.