The setting was a large hotel ballroom, filled to capacity, in Asuncion, Paraguay. It was October 2018, and members of the church from far and wide had gathered to hear from President Russell M. Nelson and Elder Gary E. Stevenson along with their wives, Sister Wendy Nelson and Sister Lesa Stevenson. President Nelson would dedicate the Concepcion Chile Temple a few days later but had scheduled stops in Bogota, Colombia; Lima, Peru; La Paz, Bolivia; Montevideo, Uruguay; and Asuncion en route.

Shortly after the devotional began, several distinguished guests slipped in and took their reserved seats on the front row. President Nelson took note of their arrival and, as soon as the meeting concluded, made a beeline off the rostrum. His first concern after the meeting was greeting the guests whom he had not been able to welcome at a reception beforehand.

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After thanking each for coming, President Nelson began to make his way back to the stage. But before he could get there, a wave of children pushed their way to the front and began to hug President Nelson around his knees, ultimately dropping him to his knees. From the expression on his face, he seemed completely happy sitting on the floor surrounded by children who couldn’t get close enough to him.

There are many words that could be used to describe President Russell M. Nelson: kind, generous, inclusive, visionary, grateful, smart, prophetic, courageous and so on. But that one episode in Asuncion highlighted some of his most enduring qualities: action, generosity of spirit and pure love.

President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hugs children after they rushed to meet him in Asuncion, Paraguay, on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

As a pioneering cardiothoracic surgeon, President Nelson learned to make life-and-death decisions in the moment. It was a pattern he carried beyond the operating room. Those closest to him often heard him say, “What’s wrong with now?” when discussing something that needed to be done.

As President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for nearly eight years, he was a leader of action. Double the number of temples? What’s wrong with now? Undertake a massive project to preserve the Salt Lake Temple? What’s wrong with now? Underscore and emphasize the correct name of the church — something he was warned could not be done? What’s wrong with now? Build a medical school at BYU? What’s wrong with now?

Sister Wendy Nelson learned early in their marriage to not ask her husband to do anything late in the evening, because he would drop everything to respond. She said, “I tried to tell him that just because we needed a hook on the back of a door, it didn’t need to happen at 10:30 at night.”

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But President Nelson was a man of action, which went hand-in-hand with his innovative spirit. Amid the articles published when he was ordained President of the Church, one journalist (who mimicked many others) wrote that “Nelson’s record during his three decades in church leadership suggests he will make few changes.”

That statement is laughable now. But if that reporter had done any homework at all, he would have found that President Nelson had always been visionary. He had a gift for seeing needs before others did — from the development of a heart-lung machine to the need for missionaries, pre-pandemic, to carry smartphones. Sister Ardeth G. Kapp, former president of the church’s Young Women organization, told me personally that the Young Women values would have never come to be had it not been for the vision and support of Elder Nelson.

President Russell M. Nelson, the 17th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sits with his counselors, President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor (left), and President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor (right), at a press conference in Salt Lake City Utah on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

President Nelson was also a man of action when it came to reaching out to others. He was naturally generous with literally everyone.

In a “Time” op-ed published four days before his 101st birthday, President Nelson emphasized two truths: first, that each of us has inherent worth and dignity as children of God; and second, that we should love and respect our neighbor.

He demonstrated his respect and generosity towards others in countless ways. When he assigned his counselors in the First Presidency and members of the Twelve to dedicate temples, rather than dedicating each temple himself, some assumed it was because of his advancing age. Not so. “When an Apostle comes back from dedicating a temple,” he explained, “he is a different Apostle. Why wouldn’t I want my Brethren to have those experiences? It’s the difference between the joy you feel in catching a fish and the much greater delight you have in watching your children catch a fish.”

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President Nelson established relationships with leaders around the globe, including those of the NAACP, and later was awarded Morehouse College’s inaugural Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize. He pleaded with us to build “bridges of understanding,” because doing so is a hallmark of peacemakers, and today peacemakers are needed everywhere.

President Nelson seemed to build bridges effortlessly, which is perhaps why the Reverend Amos C. Brown from San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church introduced him at the NAACP national convention as his “brother from another mother.” Linking his arms with others became a hallmark trademark of his. Whether he was greeting imams from mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, that had been brutally attacked or meeting with a group of eager Latter-day Saint teenagers in Vietnam, President Nelson was unfailingly kind, welcoming, and warm.

President Russell M. Nelson, his wife Sister Wendy Nelson and his children look through birthday cards as they celebrate his 101st birthday at the Church Administration Building in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025.
President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his wife Sister Wendy Nelson and his children celebrate his 101st birthday at the Church Administration Building in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. | Jeffrey D. Allred, for the Deseret News

If you were invited to a meeting he chaired, he wanted to hear what you had to say. If you didn’t participate, he called on you — even if you had less stature than everyone else in the room. The first time my colleagues and I entered the First Presidency board room after he became President of the Church, President Nelson stood up. It took my breath away. I blinked back tears as I wondered why the President of the Church was standing up for the likes of us. But come to find out, he stood up for everyone. And he would have never let a woman enter any room without standing up.

The last time I spoke with President Nelson was the day before he became ill. He called to thank me for a tiny thing I had done, something that was basically unobservable. But he noticed and called to say thanks.

He was always saying thanks, always reaching out to others, always striving for unity.

Prior to the Rome Italy Temple dedication, President Nelson assigned two photographers to take pictures of the senior Brethren at the temple. The photographers assumed he would want a series of photos taken — of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and so on. But President Nelson corrected their assumptions: “There is only one photograph that I care about,” he said. “I want a photograph of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve together.” He wanted to show the unity of the two presiding quorums of the church.

Every member of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints posed for an iconic photograph in the Rome Italy Temple visitors center in Rome, Italy, on Monday, March 11, 2019. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

It wasn’t that President Nelson didn’t welcome vigorous debate, because he did. But he drew the line at contention. “Anger never persuades, hostility never heals, and contention never leads to lasting solutions,” he declared repeatedly.

He himself had a talent for addressing delicate questions. His wife Wendy had a tendency to be “creative” in the kitchen, with mixed results. One evening he responded to what she served him by asking, “Honey, if we were in a restaurant and wanted to order this, what would we call it?”

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Both Dantzel and Wendy Nelson said that when they discussed important issues about their family and home, President Nelson’s common response was, “Mama knows best,” ending any debate. He sought unity everywhere.

Perhaps this was simply a reflection of his deep capacity to love. Nowhere was this more evident than with his family. He adored his wife Dantzel, with whom he had 10 children and a large and ever-growing posterity. His family brought him great joy.

When Dantzel passed away suddenly in 2005, he was bereft. But then, as he explained, the Lord opened his heart to love and marry again, this time with Wendy Watson.

President Nelson’s love only grew with each new family member, heart patient, church member, leader, dignitary and friend he met. When those Paraguayan children tackled him, he couldn’t have been happier. He was a magnet to children. They hugged him, kissed him and jumped in his arms in country after country. His love for the littlest members of the church was a reflection of his love for every member everywhere.

President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and his wife Sister Wendy Nelson walk at the Washington D.C. Temple in South Kensington, Maryland on Saturday August 13, 2022. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

To be in the presence of President Nelson was to feel loved, respected and encouraged. I personally have never felt more respected by anyone, anywhere.

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There are not enough superlatives to describe President Nelson’s life. From his youngest years, he seemed destined to excel at just about everything he did. Yet, for him, standing above everything else in his life was his love for and devotion to Jesus Christ. Let God prevail. Think celestial. Give the Lord a fair share of your time. Go to the temple and find the Savior there. And use the correct name of the church. “When we discard the Savior’s name, we are subtly disregarding all that Jesus Christ did for us,” he declared. “In a coming day I will report my stewardship to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and Spencer W. Kimball and others, and I want to be able to tell them I’ve done what the Lord wanted me to do.”

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One can only imagine what that reunion with the Lord Jesus Christ and past prophets must have been like, for pressing forward in the work of the Lord shaped the life of President Russell Marion Nelson.

When the Nelsons returned from the dedication of the Rome temple, Sister Nelson expected them to savor and rehearse the rich spiritual experience they had had for at least a few days. But that night in their prayers, President Nelson thanked the Lord for all they had experienced and then asked Him to help them place those experiences in their memory bins so that they could move forward with what the Lord now needed them to do.

May we do likewise. May we cherish what we have learned from this devoted and dynamic Prophet of God, then look forward and press on in the work of the Lord. Because as President Nelson repeatedly promised, the best is yet to come.

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President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints poses in his office at the Church Administration Building in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
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