At a time when temple construction in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is moving forward at an unprecedented pace, President Jeffrey R. Holland and Elder Neil L. Andersen, both of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, emphasized the importance of temple covenants for individuals and families during RootsTech 2025 “Family Discovery Day” in Salt Lake City on Saturday.
“We are moving. The work is hastening,” said President Holland, a native of St. George, Utah. “I grew up within a shadow of the first temple completed in the West as the saints came to this extended valley in the Pioneer corridor. I thought everybody had a temple. [Learning] of these temples and this growth and these numbers [has been a] very personally moving thing for me.”
Elder Andersen said that “the knowledge and love of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the power, the protection, the peace — all of which comes from his holy house — will be so important as we prepare for our Savior’s second coming.”
President Holland and Elder Andersen were joined on the stage by Kathy Andersen in a discussion about temples and the transcendent lessons from their own family histories.
Participation by President Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, came as a special surprise to the audience.
“I don’t know how this happened,” President Holland said with a smile after being welcomed by Elder Andersen. “I heard there was a discovery day in this Salt Palace, and I wandered over for a hot dog and some cotton candy.”
When asked to share some lessons from his own past, President Holland said, “pray more than you pray” — a central lesson from his own months-long illness. “However much you’ve prayed, pray more.”
“And then however many places you’ve prayed, pray in more places, however many times during the day you pray, pray more times in the day.”
A small dairy farm in southeastern Idaho
Elder Andersen described growing up on a small dairy farm in southeastern Idaho when he was younger, playing several videos from larger dairy farms recounting early experiences that helped shape his later life.
Holding a rabbit in his arms, Elder Andersen recalled losing a bunny he “especially liked” when he was seven years old. “This was very dangerous, because dogs and cats could hurt this little bunny,” he explained to the children in the audience.
“I looked all over our little farm, but I could not find him anywhere. I was worried. I remember walking back behind an old barn, hesitating, and then praying with all my heart that I could find my little friend.”
“Immediately after the prayer,” he said, “an image came into my mind of a spot beneath some boards that was not too far for me. I had a feeling that I would find my little rabbit there. And sure enough, I went to that spot, and there my little bunny sat.”
This experience and many others “taught me that the Lord responds to our sincere prayers,” Elder Andersen said, citing the scriptural promise, “I will tell you in your mind and in your heart.”
‘Greatly enlarged their souls’
Sister Andersen also spoke about her ancestors.
“Although I love these noble women in my family with all my heart today, I would like to share with you some of the feelings about two of the men in my family,” Sister Andersen said.
In particular, she said, “I am so grateful for the men in my family who took upon themselves the deep responsibility and obligations associated with their priesthood ordination and their temple covenants,” and “how the keys of the priesthood and their endowment in the house of the Lord shaped their lives and greatly impacted the lives of the women and children in our family, including me.”
Sister Andersen related the story of her great-grandfather living a “very pleasant life” in Florida when two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke near their home in town. After riding to the school house to listen, he told his wife that evening “that for the first time in his life he had heard the truth.”
Her great-grandparents were soon baptized. “He had been a good man, but now he became something even more,” she said, describing how his later ordination to the priesthood accompanied “an increased desire in his heart to set aside the things of the world for the blessings of eternity for his family.”
The family subsequently sold their home and property, boarding a train near the turn of the century so they could receive sacred ordinances in the temple. Her great grandparents’ faith “changed the lives of the generations that would follow,” she said, “including me.”
Years later, Sister Andersen recalled her own parents making a similar journey after her father “became even more serious about honoring the priesthood that had been conferred upon him.”
Although her mother converted to the church during college, she said there was a period of time when her parents didn’t attend church. But later, she said her parents chose to return to church — a decision “that altered the course of my life.”
“My sweet mother instilled in my heart a great love for our Heavenly Father and her savior,” she said. “My father was a very good man, but his soul was greatly enlarged as he shaped and disciplined his life to more fully honor the priesthood of God that had been conferred upon him.”
This prompted them to take their own journey as a young family to the temple — calling the fateful journey with a car breaking down, and precious luggage lost, “a journey of faith into the unknown.”
“I still vividly remember the moment I entered the sealing room with my brothers and saw my mother and father dressed in white,” she recalled. This moment of kneeling at the altar “changed our lives with the love and promises of their sealing and eternal marriage and better understanding the purposes of life.”
Our true dependence
Referring to this vivid memory of his wife walking into that sealing room at four years old, Elder Andersen said, “you children, if you will pay attention, there will be things that will come into your mind and into your heart throughout your young life, and they will stay with you forever.”
“When we are young, our experiences in our families help prepare us to believe in God and desire to live as disciples of Jesus Christ,” shared Elder Andersen, speaking directly to youth throughout his remarks, and at one point asking everyone in the audience younger than twelve to raise their hand.
While holding a newborn calf in another farm video wearing plaid, Elder Andersen recalled, “On the farm, I constantly experience the miracle of new life. The wonder of it confirmed to me Alma’s words that ”all things denote that there is a God."
“Life is a miracle. Being with new babies on the farm helps me see how dependent each of us is on our Heavenly Father.”
“In living with cows and horses, dogs and cats and even rabbits, I came to believe that in many ways, we were like my new friend right here” — gesturing to the calf — “cared for by our Heavenly Father” as literal “Spirit children” whose “work and his glory is to help us learn here on Earth and provide a way for us to return to our Heavenly Father.”
“In today’s world,” Elder Andersen said, “fewer of us live on farms, but our children need experiences that help them to see the greatness of God, that they are sons and daughters of God, and that there is a plan for them on this earth.”
He cited recent teaching from President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ, encouraging parents and anyone caring for children to “seize every opportunity to share the teachings of Jesus Christ with children.”
‘Led as calves of the stall’
Standing next to a grown heifer cow, Elder Andersen quoted the repeated prophesy in the Book of Mormon that “the righteous must be led as calves of the stall.”
Like an animal following its master’s lead knowing that “as she follows me, I will nourish her,” he said, the Lord similarly “nourishes us with His love and assurance.”
“As we feel the love of the Savior we desire more and more to follow him,” the apostle said. “Happiness comes as we allow ourselves to be led by the son of righteousness, our Savior, Jesus Christ. How wonderful it is to be led by our Savior. He is our hope. ...
“May we desire to be led by Him, that one day we might live with Him.”
