Notable quotes:
“If you really want to embrace a new normal, I invite you to turn your heart, mind and soul increasingly to our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Let that be your new normal.”
“We look forward to the day when all worthy members of the Church can again serve their ancestors, and worship, in a holy temple.”
“May we go forward together to fulfill our divine mandate — that of preparing ourselves and the world for the Second Coming of the Lord.”
Summary points:
- To embrace a new normal, turn one’s heart, mind and soul increasingly to Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
- Temple ordinances and covenants prepare God’s children for eternal life, the greatest of all His blessings.
- Six temples will be built in Tarawa, Kiribati; Port Vila, Vanuatu; Lindon, Utah; Greater Guatemala City, Guatemala; Sao Paulo East, Brazil; and Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Talk summary:
Despite the commotion in the world, the Lord wants His children to look forward with joyful anticipation. “Let us not spin our wheels in the memories of yesterday. The gathering of Israel moves forward. The Lord Jesus Christ directs the affairs of His Church, and it will achieve its divine objectives.”
To truly embrace a new normal, “I invite you to turn your heart, mind and soul increasingly to our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.”
Do so by repenting daily, be increasingly pure in thought, word and deed, minister to others, keep an eternal perspective, magnify callings, and live each day more prepared to meet the Savior.
This is why there are temples. “The Lord’s ordinances and covenants prepare us for eternal life, the greatest of all God’s blessings.”
The COVID-19 pandemic required a temporary closure of all temples globally, followed by a carefully coordinated, phased reopening. In the past few months, thousands of couples have been sealed and thousands received their own endowments. “We look forward to the day when all worthy members of the Church can again serve their ancestors, and worship, in a holy temple.”
Six temples will be built in:
- Tarawa, Kiribati
- Port Vila, Vanuatu
- Lindon, Utah
- Greater Guatemala City, Guatemala
- Sao Paulo East, Brazil
- Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Just as temples are built and maintained, each person should build and maintain themselves so they can be worthy to enter the temple.
“I bless you with an increased desire and ability to obey the laws of God. I promise that as you do, you will be showered with blessings, including greater courage, increased personal revelation, sweeter harmony in your homes and joy even amid uncertainty.
“May we go forward together to fulfill our divine mandate — that of preparing ourselves and the world for the Second Coming of the Lord.”
In the news:
- In a Church News article on counsel during the COVID-19 pandemic, President Russell M. Nelson and his counselors in the First Presidency reaffirmed that the answer to conflict is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
- President Nelson and his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, recently celebrated his 96th birthday via a videoconference on Sept. 6 with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren — three days before his birthday.
- During a 2020 Mission Leadership Seminar address on June 26, President Nelson detailed how Joseph Smith, a 14-year-old boy, was taught to be a prophet.
- In a Church News video released on June 25, President Nelson and Sister Nelson shared how the COVID-19 pandemic has become the largest-ever humanitarian project of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- In a joint op-ed column published on June 8 by the online platform Medium, President Russell M. Nelson and senior leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called for racial reform, asking “people everywhere to join us in a journey of understanding and overcoming.”
About the speaker:
- President Russell M. Nelson became the 17th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in January 2018.
- He was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for 34 years.
- A renowned surgeon, President Nelson assisted on the first-ever human open-heart surgery. In June 2018, the University of Utah honored President Nelson with an endowed chair in surgery.
- He and his late wife, Sister Dantzel White Nelson, who died in 2005, have 10 children, 57 grandchildren, and 140 great-grandchildren.
- He married Sister Wendy Watson in 2006.
- President Nelson turned 96 years old on Sept. 9, 2020.
Recently on social:
- In a Sept. 20 Instagram post, President Russell M. Nelson taught that not even a pandemic can keep the Lord from embracing His children.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFXGVF3HJ0Y/
- President Nelson thanked all those who have turned the COVID-19 pandemic into the Church’s largest humanitarian project to date, in an Aug. 16 Facebook post.
https://www.facebook.com/russell.m.nelson/posts/3209158322484915
- In response to riots and protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, President Nelson condemned racism and plead for peace in a June 1 Facebook post.
https://www.facebook.com/russell.m.nelson/posts/3015443371856412
- President Nelson wrote about the sacred and sanctifying privilege that taking the sacrament is, in a May 28 Instagram post.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAu4C37njDm/
