It was a Sunday morning in Jamaica — a 12-year-old boy walked the long 2 miles alone to church. “This might be my last Sunday. Maybe I won’t come back,” he thought. Did anyone know he was struggling?
God did, and He sent someone to help.
“There are experiences — so many — the Lord knew what I needed and invited people to be a part of my life, to guide me,” said Elder Kevin G. Brown, looking back on his time as a youth. “This journey has so many people in it.”
Elder Brown was sustained as a General Authority Seventy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the April 2025 general conference. He and his wife, Sister Nadine Carter Brown, testify of God’s all-knowing, steady, watchful and loving care in the lives of His children.
At the chapel steps
Elder Brown was baptized when he was 8 years old, but he often attended church meetings on his own. His father died when Elder Brown was 5, his mother was not a member, and though his grandmother had been baptized, her activity in the Church was inconsistent. Nevertheless, Elder Brown said, God did not leave him without help, always providing a person just in the “nick of time” to guide, teach and motivate him.
When Elder Brown was 12 years old, that person was a sister missionary.
On that particular Sunday, after he completed what might have been his final trek to church, young Kevin Brown saw a missionary, Sister Anderson, standing on the steps of the meetinghouse.
“She had no idea what’s going on,” explained Elder Brown. “She walked with me, asking me how things were going.”
They walked into the corridor toward the chapel. Sister Anderson stopped and opened the two doors of the cupboard where hymnbooks were kept. On the top shelf, Elder Brown spied something that caught his attention — a brand-new, gold-trimmed triple combination and Bible.
“Whoa,” Elder Brown remembered exhaling in awe. For years, he had carried the blue Book of Mormon with the angel Moroni on the cover and a thin, red-edged Doctrine and Covenants, along with the Old Testament and Gospel Principles manual all tied together with a string.
This new set not only bound three books together, it was indexed. Elder Brown said he “found it very appealing.”
Seeing his awe, Sister Anderson invited, “I’ll give these to you if you beat me reading the Book of Mormon.”
Elder Brown, being very competitive by nature, responded: “OK. You’re on.”
‘That changed my life’
Remembering President Ezra Taft Benson’s invitation to read the Book of Mormon for 30 minutes a day, he decided to get up early enough every morning to read for half an hour before going to school.
“In my house, the only place that was quiet enough was the bathroom,” said Elder Brown. “So, I would get up at 6 and kneel over the toilet and pray and ask the Lord if the Book of Mormon is true.”
When he was finished reading, he would again kneel, pray and ask before heading to school.
It was a Wednesday morning about two weeks later when that little 4-by-6-foot room became Elder Brown’s “sacred grove.”
“I just knelt, and as I said, ‘Heavenly Father,’ I didn’t even have to ask the question,” he recalled, saying the Lord answered him with two profound understandings: First, he was known and loved by Heavenly Father. Second, the Spirit confirmed the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith, God’s Prophet.
“I remember getting up off my knees. I felt like every hair on my body was standing up; it just went from my head to my toes. I was emotional, and I was excited.”
Elder Brown wanted to immediately run to the church to tell Sister Anderson, but it was Wednesday. When Sunday finally came, Elder Brown ran as fast as he could to church. Sister Anderson was standing there, in the same place as before.
“Sister Anderson, Sister Anderson, guess what?” he exclaimed. “I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know this is God’s truth. I know Joseph Smith is a Prophet.”
She hugged him tight then walked arm-in-arm with him to the cupboard. To his surprise, she took the new set of scriptures and handed it to him. He questioned why she would give him the scriptures when he had not gotten ahead of her in his reading.
Sister Anderson smiled and explained, “Kevin, that was never, ever the intent.”
He said the Lord provided a person and the right invitation for a competitive young man right when he needed it.
“That changed my life. No one could take that away from me. No matter how long I live, I will never forget it. I remember it vividly. It is burned in my heart, in my memory, my soul.”
“I think the Lord, because of His omniscience, has a vision of each person’s life that sometimes we take for granted. He does not have a veil. He is not doubting your goodness or your potential.”
— Elder Kevin G. Brown
‘Earthly angels’
Into his teen years, willing people actively guided Elder Brown along the covenant path. His branch president and teacher of Sunday, seminary and institute classes, Hugh Powell, became like a father to him, welcoming Elder Brown into his home every day. As his branch president and home teaching companion, President Powell consistently invited Elder Brown to serve and learn by doing.
Elder Brown was often the only student in his seminary class. Looking back, he said this personal tutoring helped him through his teenage years and solidified his knowledge of the gospel.
Sister Brown said God has continuously provided support on the covenant path through what she calls earthly angels.
“The Lord placed people in our path to help us as He ordered our steps,” she said, “and those people were earthly angels for us.”
‘We got a vision’
Elder Brown and Sister Brown both grew up in Jamaica. However, they first met only during his time as a full-time missionary in the Jamaica Kingston Mission (1995-97).
Though the idea of dating her had not occurred to him, Sister Brown felt prompted to reach out shortly after he finished his service. So, after his return, she invited him to her birthday party.
After talking and dancing for three hours, Elder Brown went home with some new thoughts to consider. He felt to ask the Lord about dating her, fasting and praying for a couple of days. When the answer came, it was as strong as when he received his testimony of the Book of Mormon.
“The Lord wanted me to actually not just date Nadine but marry her,” he said, noting that Sister Brown was ahead of him in the process, asking him what took him so long.
As their relationship moved toward marriage, Elder and Sister Brown looked to the example of the many senior missionary couples who had served on the island throughout the years.
“We got a vision of every shape and size of a couple that you could imagine,” Elder Brown said of the couples who often celebrated 40 years of marriage while serving in Jamaica. “That gave us the sense that every marriage could work.”
Being sealed in the house of the Lord was the first priority for Elder and Sister Brown, but with no temple on the island, saving for airfare to a temple meant there was no room in the budget for traditional wedding elements.
Several Church and family members provided an unexpected celebration for their wedding on June 5, 1999, in Kingston, Jamaica. Still others assisted with travel documents and arranged lodging at a Church member’s home near the Atlanta Georgia Temple so their marriage could be sealed by priesthood authority the following week.
‘Desire to try’
Sister Brown said the people the Lord placed in their paths helped them “desire to try.” They would act on that desire and learn.
A Church Educational System area director, Kent Rappleye, played a key role in Elder Brown earning his master’s degree at an important time. Rappleye’s repeated urging motivated the Browns to make earning his master’s degree a priority.
Rappleye’s particular type of mentorship was exactly what Elder Brown needed at that time in his life, helping him increase his efforts. He submitted his master’s thesis on Sept. 15, 2012, just one month before he and Sister Brown received the call to be mission leaders.
The Lord knows how to help
Experiences throughout his life have taught Elder Brown that God knows exactly how to help each of His children personally.
“I totally, wholeheartedly associate the people who have influenced my life to God’s omniscience,” he said, clarifying that all of these circumstances were not coincidences, rather part of God’s divine, all-knowing and loving design.
“I think the Lord, because of His omniscience, has a vision of each person’s life that sometimes we take for granted,” Elder Brown said. “He does not have a veil. He is not doubting your goodness or your potential.”
Elder Brown expressed gratitude that the Lord has worked with him “one step, one day, one person, one miracle at a time.”
About Elder Kevin G. Brown
Family: Elder Kevin George Brown was born May 18, 1976, to Desmond Holness and Patsy Williams Brissett, in Manchester, Jamaica. He married Nadine Lezanne Carter, also of Jamaica, on June 5, 1999, in Kingston, Jamaica, and they were sealed a week later, on June 12, in the Atlanta Georgia Temple. The Browns have five children and reside in Kaysville, Utah.
Education: After earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Technology, Jamaica in 2008, he went on to earn a master’s degree in governance and public policy from University of the West Indies in 2012.
Employment: His career with the Church’s Seminaries and Institutes of Religion began in 2001, where he has served as an institute coordinator, division director of training services and associate administrator.
Church service: At the time he was called as a General Authority Seventy, Elder Brown was serving as a Utah Area Seventy in the Twelfth Quorum of the Seventy. Elder Brown has also served as a bishop, president of the Jamaica Kingston Mission (2013-16), mission presidency counselor, district president, district presidency member and branch presidency counselor. He served a full-time mission in the Jamaica Kingston Mission, 1995-97.
