PROVO, Utah — Early in his medical career, Dr. Russell M. Nelson read in Doctrine and Covenants 130:20: “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated.”
Spending his days researching how to save patients with failing cardiovascular health, the young doctor reasoned that the “kingdom of the heart” would also be governed by laws.
“And my job as a researcher was to discover what some of those laws were that pertain to the beating of the human heart — the pumping action,” said President Nelson, now President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “And so, by learning the laws, we learned how we can turn a heartbeat off and have it start up again.”
The discovery that understanding eternal laws — and following them — will always lead to blessings has defined President Nelson’s career as a pioneering heart surgeon and his almost four decades in Church leadership, he said Saturday, June 24, during the 2023 Seminar for New Mission Leaders at the Provo Missionary Training Center.
Joined at the podium by his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, President Nelson recounted a time while training others to perform surgical procedures that include stopping and then restarting the human heart, in which a professor asked: “What if it doesn’t work.”
President Nelson’s response was definitive: “I said, ‘It always works because we know the divine law that governs it.’”
President Nelson told the mission leaders that there is another “divine law that works 100 percent of the time” and will not only bless missionaries but also every Latter-day Saint.
“It is simple,” he said. “You focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will know how to resolve every challenge you have had.
“And when you teach, you teach the doctrine of Christ. You want your missionaries to be disciples of Jesus Christ through all of eternity. Help them to start now.”
‘Preach My Gospel’
Addressing new mission leaders, President Nelson also spoke about the second edition of “Preach My Gospel” and about his own missionary experience as a young doctor visiting China.
Four decades ago, President Nelson — who introduced open-heart surgery to the People’s Republic of China — received an invitation from the minister of health in the People’s Republic of China to serve as a visiting professor. There he was greeted by Dr. Zhang Zhen-Xiang, a tall, handsome Chinese surgeon.
As the two doctors were getting acquainted, President Nelson saw in his mind’s eye the surgeon dressed in white. He immediately questioned how that could be, all the while knowing he had clearly seen his new friend ready for baptism.
For many years the pair continued their professional collaboration — with President Nelson visiting China one year and Dr. Zhang the United States the next.
“We became very well acquainted,” President Nelson said. “He knew my family and my friends. And he felt something.”
Several years after President Nelson accepted a call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which ended the medical exchange, Dr. Zhang wrote him a letter. “He said, ‘I have lived under Chinese rule, Japanese rule, Communist rule. And none of it makes sense to me except for the way you live.’”
Dr. Zhang, along with his wife, asked President Nelson if he knew anyone in Toronto, where they had recently moved, who could teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ.
President Nelson attended his friend’s baptism and returned a year later to attend the temple with him.
The gospel plan
President Nelson said mission leaders and others who share the gospel often initially see “the first stone in the lake” but don’t see the “ripple effect.”
He then directed the congregation to the front cover of “Preach My Gospel,” which contains a scripture sharing the words of Jesus Christ: “Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day” (3 Nephi 27:20).
Said President Nelson of the Savior’s statement: “That verse is the gospel plan in a nutshell. In one sentence, He refers to faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, enduring the end and then, by implication, judgment.”
He added that he doesn’t know of a better explanatory text of the gospel of Jesus Christ than “Preach My Gospel.”
“I suggest that you study it, teach it and experience the joy of knowing what the gospel of Jesus Christ embraces.”
‘You will never be alone’
President Nelson’s visit to the seminar came as a surprise to most leaders in the congregation — and took place exactly six months before Christmas Eve, on June 24.
Sister Nelson said because they were able to spend time at the seminar, Christmas came early.
President Nelson called his wife “a keen observer” who has used observation to “help many people.”
She used that keen observation as she studied the photographs and biographies of the new leaders and listened to every address at the mission leadership seminar with her husband, she said.
“I am sure you have discovered over the years that the Holy Ghost is not a good secret-keeper,” she added. “In His capacity as messenger, the Holy Ghost has witnessed to us over and over again of your love of the Lord and His restored gospel. And we love you for that.”
She also spoke of observing the preparation and heroic service of the new leaders — and all who answer the call to serve.
“On your mission, the Holy Ghost will be your constant companion,” she said. “You will never be alone as you serve the Lord.”
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