My beloved associates in the work of the Lord, as you know,
there are two vacancies in the Council of the Twelve Apostles.
When Russell Nelson and Dallin Oaks
were announced to be members of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles--
Russell M. Nelson and Dallin H. Oaks.
--I thought, "We have just sustained future Presidents
of the Church."
That was a feeling I had because I knew the depth of Russell M.
Nelson.
Now, I understand fully that the call to the holy apostleship
is one of witness to the world of the divinity of the Lord
Jesus, the Christ.
As a minister of the gospel, he understood
that he would go where anybody chose to send him.
His assignment was to open the doors
for the gospel of Jesus Christ in Europe
and in eastern Europe.
And he was in and out and working with government leaders
at the highest level.
And he has such great faith and believes
in the power of heaven and prayer
that, to be candid with you, many of the things
that he was able to do were heaven directed.
When President Nelson came to the Presidency,
I think everyone wondered, "Well,
what's he going to be like?
What are his characteristics?"
I could have told them then, it would be characterized by love.
As the Lord's prophet to the world,
President Nelson brings the love of God to all of God's children
everywhere he goes.
One of the striking things about traveling with President
Nelson, watching him, is how he can speak to the one
and to the ninety and nine at the same time.
And if you're keeping the commandments of God,
you will feel joy every day of your life.
He wants the people to be joyful,
he wants the Church to be a blessing,
and he himself is happy.
And he conveyed that stop after stop.
He talks to kings, he talks to prime ministers,
he talks to everyone with that same spirit.
And part of it is that he's so desirous that they
will feel God's love for them.
And he does that in a way that they just know
that this is God's prophet.
When we were in Rome for the dedication of the new temple,
we had the opportunity to have an audience with Pope Francis.
I was fortunate to be his junior companion.
The shaking of hands between President Nelson
and the Pope--there was an almost immediate sense
of brotherhood.
When we lock arms, as I locked arms with President Nelson--not
as black and white, not as Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints or Baptist, but as children of God who are
about loving everybody whom we have the occasion to minister
to.
For me an example of how President Nelson relates
on such a deep personal basis was in Samoa.
The plane landed, and the distance
from the airport to the residence of the head of state
was 17 miles.
There was a fairly large crowd as the cars came out
of the airport.
What we didn't expect is that people would line
the street for those 17 miles.
What was remarkable for me is that President Nelson leaned
out the window and he waved to every single one of them.
Russell Nelson loves people, and so every picture you see,
he's reaching out to the people.
He's reaching out to the little children.
He's holding little children in his arms.
He loves people.
He likes little people, and he likes old people.
And that makes it possible for him to be
a prophet to all the people.
And as a people, we need to be looking and acting
like true followers of Jesus Christ.
It's real.
It's deep.
It's genuine.
It's authentic.
We were with a father who had recently lost his wife.
And the children and the father were there in their deep grief,
but also in their deep faith.
President Nelson embraced them, told
them of God's love for them.
And they knew that; they felt that.
It strengthened them.
She'll be cheering for you on the other side.
She'll be close to you.
I have been affected by this remarkable quality
of genuine love for me.
He sees me as a fellow Apostle; he sees me
as someone who needs to work hard;
he sees me as someone who has assignments,
and I need to go do them.
But through that and behind that and above all of that
is that I know he loves me.
And I want to be that way.
I want to convey that to other people--genuine affection,
genuine love that marks him as a true prophet,
a disciple of Christ.
We can all love each other more and better,
and we can take that lead from Russell Marion Nelson.
President Nelson, happy birthday, and many more
to come.
Happy birthday, President Nelson.
We love you.
From all the people you met while traveling
with Elder and Sister Holland and from the bottom
of my own personal heart, happy, happy birthday!
May you have many, many more.