Video: How a mission prepared President Ballard for life
President Ballard shares how serving as a young missionary in England and sharing the gospel helped solidify his testimony

President M. Russell Ballard of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stands in Old Market Square in Nottingham, England on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, in the place where he preached as a young missionary in 1949.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Video: How a mission prepared President Ballard for life
President Ballard shares how serving as a young missionary in England and sharing the gospel helped solidify his testimony

President M. Russell Ballard of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stands in Old Market Square in Nottingham, England on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, in the place where he preached as a young missionary in 1949.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
As a young missionary, President M. Russell Ballard came to receive a sure witness of the reality of Jesus Christ and of His Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Ballard returned to England with fellow Apostles, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and Elder Quentin L. Cook, who were also missionaries in England. He stood in Nottingham Square and recalled his service as Nottingham District president, of street meetings in the marketplace and the hecklers who interrupted them.
“I was 18, 19 when I arrived here, and I thought I knew the gospel,” he said. “But I didn’t.”
In this Church News video, titled “My Preparation,” President Ballard shares his memories of missionary work and the testimony he gained.
“I think in the process of sharing the gospel message here in this market place is where my own personal testimony started to become solidified in my heart and in my mind,” he said.