Family members, Church leaders and friends shared joyous tributes to President Russell M. Nelson on the day of his 100th birthday as part of a broadcast celebration on Monday, Sept. 9.
The live broadcast originated from a full-house Conference Center Theater on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.
“With joy in my heart, and a spirit of deep thanksgiving, I express my love for you, dear brothers and sisters,” President Nelson said in his prerecorded remarks.
President Nelson sat on the stage with his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, at his side. His counselors, President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring, joined him sitting on the stage. Sister Kristen M. Oaks sat next to her husband, President Oaks.
Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, organizational leaders of the Church, civic leaders, family members and friends were all in the audience.
President Nelson said he was “overwhelmed with the kindness, generosity and prayers of so many around the world” on his birthday. Specifically, he thanked all who responded to his invitation from earlier in the year to reach out to someone else in their lives who would benefit from their loving care.
“I do not know why the Lord has allowed me to live this long,” he said. He admitted that he has passed through experiences when he thought his life might end but did not. He recalled the blessing of visiting with individuals in more than 130 countries around the world and said to all those he has met, “You have made my life more wonderful.”
The celebration of his life allowed him the opportunity to thank many people for their influence on him, as well. He expressed thanks for his family — calling out the particular blessing of building an eternal family with his late wife, Sister Dantzel Nelson, and his later sealing to his current wife, Sister Wendy Nelson.
“How grateful I am for each of these remarkable women,” he said.
President Nelson shared his testimony of Heavenly Father’s plan and the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
“How grateful I am for His unfailing love and His generous guidance to me as He leads His Church,” he said.
Not missing a chance to extend a prophetic invitation, President Nelson told those watching that the length of their lives is not as important as the kind of lives they live.
“My prayer is that you will let God prevail in your life. Make covenants with Him. Stay on the covenant path. Prepare to return to live with Him again,” he invited.
Church leader reflections
The acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Jeffrey R. Holland, represented the Twelve in a recorded message, sharing memories of a 50-year friendship between him and President Nelson.
President Holland said President Nelson is “quite literally the Renaissance man.” He pointed to President Nelson’s medical career, his ability to learn languages — he has mastered basic skills in 17 languages, according to President Holland — and his ability to learn to play musical instruments like the piano and organ. President Nelson also acted as family photographer once for the Holland family when one of their sons was baptized.
Reflecting on the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:13, President Holland repeated the question, “Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple?”
President Holland said President Nelson lives the holy things of the temple.
Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson spoke from the theater’s pulpit tenderly of how she has felt the love of the Savior through President Nelson.
“I feel claimed by my Savior Jesus Christ because I have felt His love through you, His Prophet,” she said.
She also thanked him for the “immeasurable difference your voice has meant to the sisters of the Church in better understanding God’s love for us.”
President Oaks and President Eyring spoke together in a recorded video conversation about some of what they have observed and learned from their time serving with President Nelson.
“I consider it a wonderful thing to be able to learn from him,” President Oaks said.
President Eyring shared that sentiment and pointed to how President Nelson acts when meeting with someone for the first time or not.
“He is like he is the Savior’s representative,” President Eyring said. “And he is acting like the Savior.”
In that kind of an interaction, President Oaks said President Nelson “communicates love.”
President Eyring said this love causes those who meet with him to want to be better because they were around him.
Friends and family
In a recorded message, the Rev. Amos C. Brown of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, California, shared his love and admiration for President Nelson.
“He has justified his existence in this world; he did not just exist,” the Rev. Brown said of President Nelson.
The Rev. Brown also praised President Nelson’s “humanitarian, spiritual, cultural and social betterment in this nation and world.”
Marsha Workman, one of President Nelson’s nine daughters, spoke about being raised by President Nelson before he was called as an Apostle.
“No harsh words of anger were allowed among us,” she said.
She said he showed each member of the family his “love, kindness and warm sense of humor.”
And regardless of the stage of life his children were in, she said, his “principles of love, kindness and commitment to the Lord were the same.”
One of his 167 great-grandchildren, Ashlyn Owens, spoke about her grandfather’s personal and collective love for his family. She talked about how he sits at the piano to play songs and that everyone gravitates to wherever he is and whatever he is doing.
In a nod to President Nelson’s love of lists, she called her message “Top 3 Century Highlights.” The three highlights that stood out to her are his love, his steadfastness and his respect and esteem for women.
At a challenging time in her own life, she recalled that “his gentle dependability was grounding.”
Owens said she admires how President Nelson loves everyone deeply and that “because he loves others so deeply — regardless of gender — he is able to love God.”
In a video compilation, Latter-day Saints around the world wished President Nelson happy birthday in their own languages. Those wishes were interspersed by well wishes from other friends around the globe.
The Rev. Andrew Teal, a chaplain, fellow and lecturer in theology at Pembroke College, Oxford University, expressed his gratitude for President Nelson as a kind of pioneer.
“Thank you for leading your people as a true pioneer leader, leaving no one behind,” he said.
And Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, the executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, said President Nelson has lived his life with purpose and thanked him for his “light, love and loyalty.”
The Rev. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., founding dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, said, “Longevity has its place, and its place is Temple Square.”
The video concluded with the Luz de las Naciones musicians performing “Feliz Cumpleaños” in the Conference Center.
Other music included numbers performed by Nathan Pacheco, Jenny Oaks Baker and accompanist Jared Pierce. Pacheco sang “Una Furtiva Lágrima” and was joined by Baker to perform “We Ever Pray for Thee.”
President Nelson’s family — including children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren — sang in a recorded video “I Will Be What I Believe.”
The congregation joined in singing “Rejoice, the Lord Is King!” and “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet” in addition to the happy birthday song following the benediction.
The event was broadcast live on the Church’s YouTube channel and on broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, and it will continue to be available to watch on demand in those platforms.
