Russell M. Nelson, our dear friend—because he was such a dear friend to all—graduated from mortality on September 27, 2025. Like millions of my fellow members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I reflected on the life of this prophet of God and how his ministry impacted me personally.
I shook the hand of then Elder Russell M. Nelson after one of his discourses at Brigham Young University. While I attended BYU, I made a goal to shake every Apostle’s hand. I arrived at devotionals and firesides early to get a seat, enabling me to accomplish that goal before graduating in 1995. Elder Nelson felt kind and relatable while delivering his discourses with profound and stirring power.
President Russell M. Nelson Visited Hawaii
President Russell M. Nelson began his prophetic ministry in April 2018 with a world tour beginning in London and ending in Hawaii. After London, he visited Jerusalem.
“As the new president to the Church, I felt that there were two messages that I would like to convey to our people,” President Nelson said. “One is that Jesus is the Christ and He has a message for all of God’s children. And the second is that His is a global invitation. We invite all of God’s children to come unto their Savior.”
He gave a similar message at a regional conference in Laie, Hawaii. Because of my ward calling, Anthony and I were invited to attend the conference in person. The packed Cannon Center welcomed President and Sister Nelson and President and Sister Holland. What a glorious and memorable moment I experienced when, listening to President Nelson in person, the Holy Ghost indelibly imprinted a knowledge that Russell M. Nelson was a prophet of God. His words floated over the congregation and penetrated my heart, and the Holy Ghost confirmed his words and prophetic call.
Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
In October 2018, President Nelson extended “a prophetic plea” to the women of the Church “to shape the future by helping to gather scattered Israel.” He extended four invitations: to hold a 10-day fast from social media, read the Book of Mormon before the end of the year, attend the temple regularly, and participate fully in Relief Society.
I had been called as a seminary teacher that summer and began teaching at the first of August. Because of some long-standing health challenges, fulfilling that calling wreaked havoc on me. By October, I was in zombie, survival mode. I drove from Ewa Beach to the Laie Hawaii Temple weekly and felt like I participated fully in Relief Society.
Then, President Nelson, a prophet of the Lord, invited me to do those four things. Would I follow the prophet’s invitation or not?
I logged out of social media and deleted it from my phone for 10 days.
I altered work hours and began working in the Laie Hawaii Temple one extra afternoon.
The only time I could add reading the Book of Mormon was before seminary at 6:10 am. Getting adequate sleep was one of my major challenges. I set my alarm, got up earlier, and began reading the Book of Mormon every morning before going to teach the Doctrine and Covenants. I found I could do it! How was that possible? I finished the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.
Among the doctrine and spiritual aspects of reading the Book of Mormon so quickly and straight through and being in the temple more often, I gained a deeper testimony of following the prophet. If I accepted the prophet’s invitation, the Lord would strengthen and magnify my abilities and efforts. The strength gained from that small prophetic challenge accepted has had lasting effects.
A friend from Ewa Beach, who also accepted those challenges at that time, messaged me an invitation to join her in reading the Book of Mormon by the end of the year in memoriam. It’s easier to accept the invitation this time, and I’m doing it with a willing and grateful heart.
Temples! Dubai, China, Edinburgh, and Maui
I finally came to terms during President Nelson’s presidency that I may not reach my goal of visiting every temple in the world. I’ve visited over 100, but need a more profitable job at this point to reach that goal. I’ve decided that visiting the 49 temples extant when I made the goal will fulfill it. I have 16 of those original temples still to visit. I will still reach for the loftier goal as possible.
Four temple announcements are particularly meaningful to me. President Nelson announced a temple in China and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on the same day in 2020. I jumped from my chair and rattled off all of the happy Arabic words I could think of. I felt so much joy at those two announcements. I didn’t know if I would be alive for a temple announced in the Middle East and China. And I was!!
When we lived on Maui, I’d stand at the edge of a favorite cliff and pray for a temple on that island. I thought we’d be there forever (like I used to think at every move,) and I couldn’t imagine anything more lovely than Maui with a House of the Lord. I cried at hearing Maui’s temple announced.
I served my mission in Scotland, assigned twice to Edinburgh. Edinburgh is my second-favorite city I’ve ever lived in (second only to Jerusalem.) I’ve found so many ancestral connections to Scotland and Edinburgh. The whole country is a sacred space to me for so many reasons. Hearing President Nelson say, “Edinburgh Scotland,” overwhelmed me, and I screamed in surprise and jumped up and down (totally reverently, President Nelson!)
Priesthood Restoration Site
In 2015, President Russell M. Nelson dedicated the Priesthood Restoration site. 2024 marked the 195th anniversary of the Melchizedek Priesthood’s restoration. I’d read President Nelson’s thoughts about the site in Heart of the Matter and saw the videos and news clips the Church presented in May 2024. I’d never been to that site, but after hearing some of President Nelson’s response to the sacred space, I wanted to go, too.
“Both the anticipation of that event and the actual experience itself moved me deeply,” President Nelson wrote in his 2023 book, “Heart of the Matter.” “Other than the Sacred Grove and a few additional landmarks in and around Palmyra, New York, there may be no other location in history of Church history as central to the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ as is the area in and around Harmony.”
As he and others walked a new trail system throughout the woods where the Aaronic priesthood was restored, President Nelson noted that “the reality of priesthood keys and priesthood power was tangible.”
“This was holy ground,” he wrote. “The reason for such a profound feeling of reverence is clear. The restoration of the priesthood keys to the earth was crucial. Priesthood keys authorize men on earth to act and speak in the name of God.”
“Act and speak in the name of God.”
Hosanna Shout
2020 brought worship at church and in temples to a halt and inspired the actual application of a home-centered church. During the April 2020 general conference, along with so many other incredible things, President Nelson asked us all to participate in the Hosanna Shout. Anthony and I stood in our little living room in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and followed President Nelson’s directions. While I knew millions of people also participated, it felt so personal and intimate and holy—President Russell M. Nelson, President Dallin H. Oaks, President Jeffrey R. Holland, and me and Anthony.
The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World
With reverence and gratitude, we as His Apostles invite all to know—as we do—that the heavens are open. We affirm that God is making known His will for His beloved sons and daughters. We testify that those who prayerfully study the message of the Restoration and act in faith will be blessed to gain their own witness of its divinity and of its purpose to prepare the world for the promised Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Stand with Confidence in the Presence of God
President Nelson’s Messianic messages increased: Prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Savior. He is coming! I sat riveted as I identified Second Coming language that soon became clearer and clearer, with music attached. In his final general conference message, President Nelson again affirmed the needed preparation for Jesus Christ’s Second Coming and that we can stand with confidence in the presence of God now.
Increased time in the temple will help us prepare for the Second Coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We do not know the day or the hour of His coming. But I do know that the Lord is prompting me to urge us to get ready for that “great and dreadful day.” …I testify that Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of Israel, leads this, His Church. He is preparing to come again. May we likewise prepare to receive Him.
Increase Your Time in the House of the Lord and See Miracles
My most meaningful and important takeaway from President Russell M. Nelson’s ministry centers on his perpetual pleas to increase time in the House of the Lord. He promised that miracles we could never imagine would flow to our families. Having experienced blessings after following his 2018 invitations to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year and attend the temple more, I kept increasing my temple attendance every time he pled with us to do so. I sought miracles in my family. President Nelson promised miracles. I had a growing testimony that his promises were fulfilled. I kept increasing my temple attendance.
And suddenly, unexpectedly, a miracle occurred in our family. It was astounding, never before imagined in my wildest dreams. While telling the story to my aunt, I mentioned President Russell M. Nelson’s general conference promises and how I focused on those as I began intentionally worshipping in the temple. She asked for the quote I mentioned, and I realized the conference talk promises spanned the years of President Nelson’s presidency. I reviewed all of his talks and pulled out the pertinent promises. Essentially, they all boiled down to this:
if you consecrate more time to worshipping in the temple, the Lord will bless you in unexpected ways with miracles.
The Lord fulfills the words of His prophet! Blessings have poured from heaven into the Hargrove home. The power and mercy of God are clearly evident. Light and truth pierce mortality’s darkness. The family tree expands and blossoms. The veil thins. I have never felt closer and more known to my ancestors than now. I have never felt the power of God more actively in my life than now. Never have I seen such fruit from following prophetic counsel as now. Never have I felt so much internal peace.
These are all resultant blessings promised by a prophet of God. And I believe that all of Russell M. Nelson’s words will be fulfilled just as magnificently.
I thank God for a prophet!
President Russell M. Nelson encouraged deeper personal conversion by reminding me of my divine identity and purpose. He challenged me to study scriptures searchingly. He became our grandfather and loved us as his own. I joined the Lord’s battalion and think celestial. I recognize the power that God blesses me with. I am following a tutorial to be spiritually empowered to meet challenges ahead. He challenged me to forgive and be a peacemaker. But mostly, President Nelson, quietly and ably, invited me to stay on the covenant path so that I could truly know Jesus Christ, the Living Son of the Living God, and he believed I could.
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