Sister Nina M. Garfield joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a senior in high school in Boulder, Colorado, where friends and their families “loved her into the Church.”
“They loved me into the gospel,” she said. “It was people who loved me and made me feel a part of this wonderful ward family.”
Sister Garfield was sustained as first counselor in the Primary general presidency on Saturday, April 4, during the Saturday afternoon session of the April 2026 general conference.
The new Primary leaders will begin their service on Aug. 1.
Nina Marie Sparks was born in a United States military hospital in Tokyo, Japan, on March 21, 1958, to Robert Sparks and Kiyoko Saito.
Her father was in the U.S. Army and didn’t speak any Japanese, and her mother worked at the Army base and didn’t speak any English. But during their courtship, the two would meet at a coffee shop, flipping through a Japanese-English and an English-Japanese dictionary to communicate back and forth.
Sister Garfield recalls her father telling her how he didn’t have any money, so he would slowly sip one cup of coffee for hours, just so he could sit and talk to her mother. After a couple of years of courtship, the two married and moved to Missouri soon after Sister Garfield’s birth.
This move to Missouri was extremely hard for Sister Garfield’s mother. Sister Garfield shared: “Moving to a new country, with no friends and having to learn a completely new culture and language, was challenging. My grandmother helped my mom assimilate into American culture.
“My grandmother would say, ‘Kiyoko, put your best clothes on and put Nina’s best clothes on, and we’re going to town,’” Sister Garfield said. “And so she would take my mom, and they would walk the town square and introduce my mother to people. She was just so instrumental in making her feel comfortable and teaching her what this new country was like.”
After Sister Garfield’s father finished school at the University of Missouri, her family moved to Boulder, Colorado, where she was first introduced to the Church.
In eighth grade, she was invited to attend Church and youth activities by a friend.
“It was quite a large youth group, and they just were so kind, and their families were so kind, and truly they just embraced me,” Sister Garfield said. “They taught what it meant to be welcoming, loving and kind.”
Sister Garfield was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in January 1976.
‘The best of blessings’
Sister Garfield said she has received “the best of blessings” as a result of joining the Church, including “the best husband, great kids and opportunities to serve.”
“I love the gospel of Jesus Christ,” she said. “I often think about where I would be if I didn’t have the gospel, and I am so grateful for it. It has blessed my life over and over and over.”
Sister Garfield attended Brigham Young University. After running out of money, she returned home to Colorado to work. While home, she met her future husband, David R. Garfield, who had just returned from the Italy Milan Mission.
After a few years of dating, the two were married in the Ogden Utah Temple on July 30, 1980. David Garfield graduated from BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School, and the two began their family in Broomfield, Colorado.
“We often talk about that time as being magical,” Sister Garfield recalled. “I made lifelong friends there while we raised our children together and depended on one another.”
In 1998, the Garfields moved to Long Lake, Minnesota, where Sister Garfield found “lifelong friendships with people in and outside of the Church.”
“I feel that during this period in my life, I was able to grow closer to my Savior. It was a great time to be with the wonderful Saints of Minnesota. We had a beautiful chapter of our lives there,” she said.
“I love that we bring our families to church and teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m so thankful for people who have made so many sacrifices to make sure that His gospel moves forward.”
— Sister Nina M. Garfield
After the Garfields’ five children were grown and out of the house, she and her husband moved to San Francisco, California, where her husband, David Garfield, served as stake president in the San Francisco California Stake in 2017.
Sister Garfield’s husband died at the age of 63 of pancreatic cancer in July 2019.
“We shared a wonderful life together in marriage, our family and the Church,” Sister Garfield said. “He had a wonderful life. He did so many great things and touched so many people, and it just was cut short.”
Despite the loss of her husband, Sister Garfield said she and her children are very grateful for the miracles that extended his life and allowed him to attend several important family events before he died.
“God grants us miracles,” Sister Garfield said. “They’re not always the miracles that we want, but God knows our struggles and hears our prayers.”
‘Welcome, we’ve been praying for you, and we love you’
One special moment has stood out to Sister Garfield from the April 2026 general conference where she was called and sustained, along with President Rosemary K. Chibota and Sister Theresa A. Collins, second counselor.
Sister Garfield recalls meeting the outgoing Primary general presidency — President Susan H. Porter and her counselors, Sister Amy A. Wright and Sister Tracy Y. Browning.
“They came and they said, ‘Welcome, we’re so glad you’re here.’ And ‘We’ve been praying for you’ and ‘We love you.’”
Those three phrases were repeated over and over again — “Welcome, we’ve been praying for you, and we love you.”
Said Sister Garfield: “And I thought, why can’t we incorporate those things into our visits when we’re ministering, any time new members come to our Church or people move in or to youth or to our Primary children — just those three things: ‘Welcome, we’ve been praying for you, and we love you.’”
On Sundays, Sister Garfield likes to watch families worship together.
“I love that we bring our families to church and teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ,” she said. “I’m so thankful for people who have made so many sacrifices to make sure that His gospel moves forward.”
Sister Garfield hopes she can support teachers and “help them realize the importance of the work they do.”
“It’s very, very important,” she said. “It’s invaluable for some of these kids who don’t get to hear very much about the gospel in their homes. And Primary may be the one time that they can come and learn about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost.”
Looking back at how she’s been blessed in her life by Heavenly Father, Sister Garfield said she feels privileged to be a part of some of the first steps children take on their covenant path.
“One of my goals is to try to help parents to teach children more about Jesus Christ and His life and the love that He has for them,” she said.
Her ultimate message to Primary children is that their Heavenly Father loves them.
“You are His child, and He loves you, and He wants you to return to Him one day,” she said. “No matter what you look like, the color of your skin, no matter if you are different in any way, you are Heavenly Father’s child, and He loves you, He knows you, and He will guide you through your life.”
About Sister Nina M. Garfield
Family: Sister Nina Marie Garfield was born in Tokyo, Japan, on March 21, 1958, to Robert Sparks and Kiyoko Saito, and was raised in Boulder, Colorado. She married David R. Garfield on July 30, 1980, in the Ogden Utah Temple. They have five children. David Garfield died of cancer in July 2019.
Education: Attended Brigham Young University.
Church service: Served as a stake and ward Relief Society president and is a former stake Relief Society counselor; ward Young Women president and counselor; ward and stake Primary presidency counselor; and ward Primary president.
