[MUSIC PLAYING: "PRESS FORWARD, SAINTS"] [APPLAUSE] Good evening, everyone! Welcome to the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Tonight we're gathered to celebrate a landmark in the life of President Russell M. Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We're honored to be joined by President and Sister Nelson and their family, as well as President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency, members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, General Authorities and General Officers of the Church, and their families. We extend a special welcome to government, civic, and religious leaders of many faiths. And we are especially delighted to be celebrating with all of you! President, welcome home to you and Sister Nelson after another remarkable international trip, this time to Central and South America. We are glad you're home safely.

[APPLAUSE] President, you just never stop, do you? We're all trying to keep up with you. Ruth and I, along with our support staff, have run some unofficial numbers. Since you have been the prophet, a little over a year and a half, you have traveled over 90,000 miles. You have also been in 28 countries and by our count have met with more than 100 world and religious leaders. And here is something really profound: you have spoken to more than one million members and friends in audiences all around the world. [APPLAUSE] President, there is no question--you have brought happiness and hope to so many. You are helping us strive to find enduring joy through Jesus Christ. This is certainly a joyous occasion tonight, so thank you for letting us share this special evening with you. How appropriate that we begin with an opening prayer offered by your son, Russell M. Nelson Jr. Our most kind and gracious Heavenly Father, we are grateful to be gathered here tonight to celebrate the birthday, the life, and example of our dear prophet, President Russell M. Nelson.

We're grateful to all those who have made this evening possible, and ask Thee to bless them for their efforts. Please bless the performers, the technicians, and all those involved tonight, that they may perform to their best abilities and in a manner pleasing unto Thee.

We're grateful for all the many blessings Thou dost bestow upon us so generously. And we say these things in the name of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, amen.

Thank you, Russ. On September 9, 1924--95 years ago next Monday--Marion and Edna Nelson welcomed a nine-pound, 11-ounce baby boy into the world. The name they gave him was Russell Marion Nelson. He was a child of a true pioneer heritage. Between 1855 and 1863, all eight of his great-grandparents had joined the Savior's restored Church--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--and gathered from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and England all the way to the tiny pioneer outpost of Ephraim, Utah. The verdant landscapes of Scandinavia and the British Isles were very different from the desert wilderness of Utah. But President Nelson's ancestors were not drawn to a familiar landscape. They were drawn to the tops of the mountains, as Isaiah prophesied. With Jesus Christ's gospel in their hearts, they "[came] with singing unto Zion," and the hills and valleys were alive with their joyful songs. Please welcome Jenny Oaks Baker and her children, Family Four, performing a medley from The Sound of Music. [APPLAUSE] [JENNY OAKS BAKER AND FAMILY: THE SOUND OF MUSIC MEDLEY] [APPLAUSE] The word father, to my dad, I think, is his highest calling. He oftentimes has said, "There are Twelve Apostles, but you only have one daddy." And he takes that responsibility very seriously. He has never made us feel like he was too busy to be our father. He and my mother worked together to help us all feel really important. My parents met at the University of Utah at a rehearsal for a play. Daddy was busy studying and had his nose in his books, and Mother was up singing. And he noticed her. He took his nose out of the book and looked at her and said, "Who is that girl?" Growing up in the Nelson household was fun. Imagine living with your best friends and having wonderful parents. It was always fun. We enjoyed being home together. We did a cross-country camping trip to go to the New York World's Fair, and we just played. It's one thing that I am in awe about my mother and my father, is how much they taught us without actually saying anything. Just by the way they lived their lives, the way they taught the gospel in our home. We learned love. We learned respect and how we want to be like the Savior. Our number-one goal is to return to live with our Heavenly Father. I know my father was really busy, but I never really realized it. He had a great way of making time and making us know that we were important.

Sunday mornings, my mom was gone to sing in the Tabernacle Choir. He had the responsibility of getting nine girls ready for church and out the door on time, and he did it with love. He loved and cherished my mother. And he was very supportive of her--she was a wonderful singer and a wonderful musician--and always encouraged her to be who she was. [CHOIR SINGING]

One of my favorite things about being President Nelson's grandson is that I get to see him in constant motion. He is always moving; he has endless energy. But he always has time to pull us aside individually and see how we are doing. In the fifth grade, I remember an experience where we were asked to do a report on our hero, and I choose my Grandfather Nelson. And in the end, our heroes were invited to come to an assembly, I didn't think he would be able to make it. He was such a busy man. But I asked him to come, and he came and stood right next to me as I gave my report and spoke about him as my hero. To be around Grandfather is just to feel love and to feel just like you are the most important thing in the world to him. And I remember, as a young grandchild, they had a riding lawn mower. It was like we'd get in line in the back of the house to go sit on Grandfather's lap and take a lap around the yard as he mowed. He's always there for you when you need him. He made it look easy. He made being a father look easy. And now as a father myself, I'm realizing all that he did do for us and everything he was able to accomplish. So for me it's meant a lot. I was the only son, and now I have four boys of my own. And so it's been a great thing to be able to pass that along to them, and I hope I've done a good job doing that. [FAMILY SINGING "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"] Happy birthday, Daddy--95 years. You are amazing. You are a great example to me and to the whole world. We are grateful for you and for all that you do, for the love and the tenderness that you show. We love you. Happy birthday, Grandfather! [APPLAUSE] Well, as you can see, President Nelson's life has certainly been filled with joy in his family. Of course, it wasn't all easy. For each of us, it is the Savior who strengthens us to "stand on mountains" and "walk on stormy seas." Here to sing "You Raise Me Up," please welcome Donny Osmond. [APPLAUSE] [DONNY OSMOND: "YOU RAISE ME UP"] [APPLAUSE] Thank you, Donny. President Nelson is always lifting us. He is such a powerful leader! It is interesting serving at Church headquarters with my last name, Nielsen, and the prophet's last name, Nelson. It gets even more interesting when my wife's name is Wendy and his wife's name is Wendy. Because of how changing our assignments can be around here, we have all of our mail sent to my office. Many of our bills are put in my wife, Wendy's, name. Not long ago, I was walking down the hallway and President Nelson was coming the other way. He greeted me and then said, "Giff, this morning I just about paid your power bill!" [LAUGHTER] He continued, "Then I took a closer look, and it was your Wendy's name on the bill instead of my Wendy." So my first thought was, "Do you still have the check? I want to frame it."

I was taught once again an important lesson--that our prophet is all about adding power to our lives, in more ways than one. [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE] President, you are such a blessing to us! And speaking of blessings, please welcome Gentri, singing "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing."

[APPLAUSE] [GENTRI: "COME, THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING"] [APPLAUSE] In 1956, Dr. Nelson did the first open-heart surgery in the state of Utah. At that time, the main challenge was actually open-heart. There had been closed-heart surgery done, but the problem was, as soon as you open up the heart, there's a lot of blood in it. And what are you supposed to do with that blood? And that blood is meant to go through your lungs to get oxygen and then go to the rest of your body, to your brain, to deliver oxygen. And so we had to figure out a way, "How do you support the patient's circulation while not having the heart do any of the work?" And so that was the development of what we call today the heart-lung machine. Dr. Nelson, in his time when he was up in Minnesota, worked with John Kirklin and Walt Lillehei. And these people were at the forefront of the technology. When he came into medical school, he would have been told that the heart is an organ that you don't touch. But I think he just recognized that there's problems here. "This is what we need. I'm going to do what I need to do to help move the field forward." He laid it upon himself as a challenge in the attempt to try to help others that had sufferable disease that could not otherwise be faced. It turns out that when he came back to Utah in the '50s and did this operation in 1956, Utah was just really the third state in the country to do open-heart surgery. It had such a huge impact. Somebody could get a heart valve replaced rather than die. Or a child that would otherwise die, because they couldn't get blood flow through the lungs, was able to get an operation that allowed them to live. These are pretty profound things that happened. He was a part of that history of what we all today just take for absolute granted. I did a heart surgery this morning, and I didn't even think twice about the fact that I was putting someone on the heart-lung machine. And it was because of him.

Being a part of that original team has to be considered a key accomplishment. But from then on, there were multiple accomplishments. He's a master surgeon, and his results were phenomenal. He had this particular way of putting a tube into the pulmonary vein. And he told me that would always work. Stick with it. Well, as I got more proficient at whatever I was doing, one day I was operating with him, and I put that stitch in. And I thought, "I can improve that a little by just sort of incorporating more tissue and making a circular stitch." And he just stopped me, and he said, "Do it the way I told you, and you'll never get into trouble." And he's right. I've done that particular maneuver the same way that he taught me for the next, what, over 40 years now. And it's always worked. The thing that Dr. Nelson is most noted for within the academic environment is the fact that he was the program director of the training program for future heart surgeons. He was a born teacher. He loved to teach. And he just had a unique skill at it. I've heard many people say that it was a different feeling in his operating room. He never was degrading but wanted everyone to know that they added an important part. For a young resident, it was a very tense time, coming into the operating room and knowing how high the stakes were if you made a mistake. But Dr. Nelson had a way of just calming you down. And even if you made a mistake, he would very carefully explain how you did that wrong and maybe a better way would be to do it this way the next time. And it just sort of encouraged you to do it better than you had done before. He held multiple national positions. And he was right there in that group that were doing, every day, something that was moving the needle that we cannot even come close to moving right now. I'm very grateful for the privilege it's been to be one who could make a contribution in medicine. True, he was a great scientist, a phenomenal clinician, but he always carried with him that aura of being a man who really had faith. I think he projected that to his patients. It gave them confidence to put their lives in his hands. For us as physicians and surgeons, the Dr. Nelson piece we actually don't separate from the President Nelson piece, because we think that the two are pretty close together. You know, we look to him and the way that he's conducted his life, the way that he was a physician and a surgeon. We strive to be like that. Well, Dr. Nelson, I certainly wish you a very happy 95th birthday. You've done so many great things in your life and have been so important to so many people, me being one of them. It's been an honor to be able to have learned from you in every aspect of life. And I just can't thank you enough for what you have meant to me and my career. [APPLAUSE] [CHOIR: "HIS VOICE AS THE SOUND"] [APPLAUSE] As his colleagues regularly observed, Dr. Nelson's achievements in medicine express a deeper, spiritual impulse to seek and find that which is "virtuous, lovely, ... of good report [and] praiseworthy." As a boy, President Nelson rode the streetcar to the Salt Lake public library and spent his days reading books. That same enthusiasm for learning has helped him gain a variety of skills and talents that have enriched his own life and certainly blessed so many others, such as studying new languages, skiing with his family, and playing the piano and the organ. And now we have a surprise for you. President Nelson will now play "Prelude in C Minor" by Chopin--one of his favorites. [APPLAUSE] [PRESIDENT NELSON: "PRELUDE IN C MINOR"] [APPLAUSE] President, you are a perfect example of magnifying talents. Thank you for that. President Nelson's many achievements are not only the result of busy days and hard work. He has also sought the help of heaven both day and night. Seeking through the night is the subject of Puccini's aria "Nessun Dorma"--or in English, "No One Sleeps." Please welcome tenor Nathan Pacheco. [APPLAUSE] [NATHAN PACHECO: "NESSUN DORMA" FROM TURANDOT] [APPLAUSE] Wow! Through his work as a heart surgeon, President Nelson has been a disciple and a witness that because of Jesus Christ, it is well with our souls.

[CHOIR: "IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL"] [APPLAUSE] My beloved associates in the work of the Lord, as you know, there are two vacancies in the Council of the Twelve Apostles.

When Russell Nelson and Dallin Oaks were announced to be members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles-- Russell M. Nelson and Dallin H. Oaks. --I thought, "We have just sustained future Presidents of the Church." That was a feeling I had because I knew the depth of Russell M. Nelson. Now I understand fully that the call to the holy apostleship is one of witness to the world of the divinity of the Lord Jesus, the Christ. As a minister of the gospel, he understood that he would go where anybody chose to send him. His assignment was to open the doors for the gospel of Jesus Christ in Europe and in Eastern Europe. And he was in and out and working with government leaders at the highest level. And he has such great faith and believes in the power of heaven and prayer that, to be candid with you, many of the things that he was able to do were heaven directed. When President Nelson came to the Presidency, I think everyone wondered, "Well, what's he going to be like? What are his characteristics?" I could have told them then. It would be characterized by love. As the Lord's prophet to the world, President Nelson brings the love of God to all of God's children everywhere he goes. One of the striking things about traveling with President Nelson, watching him, is how he can speak to the one and to the ninety and nine at the same time. And if you're keeping the commandments of God, you will feel joy every day of your life. He wants the people to be joyful; he wants the Church to be a blessing. And he himself is happy, and he conveyed that stop after stop. He talks to kings, he talks to prime ministers, he talks to everyone with that same spirit. And part of it is that he's so desirous that they will feel God's love for them, that he does that in a way that they just know that this is God's prophet.

When we were in Rome for the dedication of the new temple, we had the opportunity to have an audience with Pope Francis. I was fortunate to be his junior companion. The shaking of hands between President Nelson and the Pope--there was an almost immediate sense of brotherhood. When we locked arms, as I locked arms with President Nelson--not as black and white, not as Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Baptist, but as children of God who are about loving everybody whom we have the occasion to minister to. For me an example of how President Nelson relates on such a deep personal basis was in Samoa. The plane landed, and the distance from the airport to the residence of the head of state was 17 miles. There was a fairly large crowd as the cars came out of the airport. What we didn't expect is that people would line the street for those 17 miles. What was remarkable for me is that President Nelson leaned out the window and he waved to every single one of them. Russell Nelson loves people. And so every picture that you see, he's reaching out to the people; he's reaching out to the little children; he's holding little children in his arms. He loves people. He likes little people, and he likes old people. And that makes it possible for him to be a prophet to all of the people. And as a people, we need to be looking and acting like true followers of Jesus Christ. It's real, it's deep, it's genuine, it's authentic. We were with a father who had recently lost his wife, and the children and the father were there in their deep grief, but also in their deep faith. President Nelson embraced them, told them of God's love for them. And they knew that; they felt that. It strengthened them. She'll be cheering for you on the other side. She'll be close to you. I have been affected by this remarkable quality of genuine love for me. He sees me as a fellow Apostle. He sees me as someone who needs to work hard. He sees me as someone who has assignments, and I need to go do them. But through that and behind that and above all of that is that I know he loves me. And I want to be that way. I want to convey that to other people--genuine affection, genuine love that marks him as a true prophet, a disciple of Christ. We can all love each other more and better, and we can take that lead from Russell Marion Nelson. President Nelson, happy birthday and many more to come. Happy birthday, President Nelson. We love you. From all the people you met while traveling with Elder and Sister Holland, and from the bottom of my own personal heart, happy, happy birthday! May you have many, many more. [APPLAUSE] [CHOIR: "ALLELUIA"]

[APPLAUSE]

Around the world, families feel to sing "Alleluia" for a living prophet. We especially delight to hear children and youth sing about following you, President Nelson. Truly, it's a time of great inclusiveness and dynamic energy in the work of salvation--a time when everyone is needed and every contribution counts. With this in mind, please welcome the Bonner family and their new arrangement created especially for tonight's celebration: "Hallelujah, the Prophet's Medley." [APPLAUSE] [BONNER FAMILY: SONGS OF THE PROPHETS] [APPLAUSE] And now it's time to sing a song we all know by heart. Happy birthday, President Nelson! [LAUGHTER] [THE BONNER FAMILY AND CONGREGATION: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"] [APPLAUSE] Leave it to a little child to make that happen. A hallmark of President Nelson's ministry is his call to all God's children everywhere. In his first message as President of the Church, he spoke from the Salt Lake Temple and said, "Our Father in Heaven cherishes His children, and He wants [us each] to return home to Him." That invitation comes to us through the still, small voice of the Holy Ghost, always softly and tenderly, even to the most weary among us.

[CHOIR: "SOFTLY AND TENDERLY"] [APPLAUSE] And now please welcome back Donny Osmond and Nathan Pacheco. [APPLAUSE] [DONNY OSMOND AND NATHAN PACHECO: "THE PRAYER"] [APPLAUSE] That was electric! Thank you, Donny and Nathan. They can sing, can't they? Yeah, one more time. [APPLAUSE] Well, what a wonderful evening this has been! As we have celebrated tonight, our hearts have been drawn toward our Savior Jesus Christ. We are so grateful that President Russell Marion Nelson is called to be His living prophet on the earth today. Happy birthday, President Nelson. We love you. Happy birthday, President. [APPLAUSE] [CHOIR: "GUIDE US, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH"] [APPLAUSE] President Eyring, this audience has heard a lot about President Russell M. Nelson's professional accomplishments and his remarkable service to the family and the profession and the Church. Now we have an opportunity to talk about some of our own observations. What comes first to your mind? Actually, if you'd just asked me, "What's it like to be with him?" He has more love for people, I think, than almost anybody I've ever been around in my life. He's just remarkable. And I think you feel that too, with me too, that he not only loves us--he sees the best in us. He's interesting; he sees good in people to a degree that's really quite remarkable. That feeling of love also comes out in the fact that he's such a good listener to people. Every time you're with him. And he is good at understanding the impact of decisions on a variety of different people--the young, the single, the married, the aged. I'm always amazed. When decisions seem to be administrative, he'll always think of the impact on people--either the people of the Church, or you as you sit with him. He's very concerned with how it will affect the people. Exactly. And that raises another thing that I've admired so in him, and that is that he is an effective decision maker. Oh my. He's not a postponer. Never. Like a surgeon who must make a decision right now and can't appoint a committee to study it. Yeah. He is gifted at noticing when we need to postpone a decision to get more facts. But for the most part, when something comes before him, he decides it. And we love that. Even in our schedules, he moves everything as rapidly. "Why not now?" whenever we have-- Sure. "If we're going to do it, let's do it now." And one of the great things that I admire about President Nelson is the way he unifies people of different points of view and different levels of experience and maturity. He finds the common ground. It's interesting. Whenever he meets people who may be very different from him in their religious or political beliefs or whatever, he has a feeling of--"You and I have more in common than we have differences." I've found that he is my most effective friend and associate in looking at a manuscript I've written--perhaps 10 or 15 drafts. He can always find a way to improve it. He's a master of the language. But he does it to himself too. It's fun to have him offer you a chance to read one of his drafts. And it says "6th draft." And more than that, I've seen a 13 or 15th draft.

He always puts the work of the Lord first. Always, yeah. When he was called, we saw him put aside his prominence in saving hearts, and reaching out to all members of the Church and, indeed, to the whole world in long-term service to the Lord in changing hearts. Changing. He's a heart healer. He's a heart healer and a great one. And he's had that influence on me, and I'm grateful for it. On all of us. We love him as a friend. Yes. And through him, we love his companion, Wendy Watson Nelson, who enhances his service in such a marvelous way. In a marvelous way. This wonderful experience of visiting with you about this, I think, has helped me understand how much we appreciate him and how much his life has meant to us and how much we hope it goes on a long, long time. And so we often say, "Happy birthday and many more." I think we say that. Let us say that to him right now. President Nelson, happy birthday and many, many more. Amen. We love you. [APPLAUSE]

My dear, precious family and friends, I am totally overcome with feelings of love and gratitude. I cannot adequately thank the many who have planned and performed for us tonight. Please know of my heartfelt feelings of appreciation and affection! I thank you all most sincerely.

I reflect upon those who have made my life possible. I am ever so grateful for my petite mother, who entered the valley of the shadow of death to give birth to this baby boy, who weighed in at nearly 10 pounds.

[LAUGHTER] I am ever grateful for a father who taught me to respect and honor womanhood. He also taught me the importance of education and the joy of rendering service of worth for other people. I am thankful for my teachers through these many years. They have insisted on excellence of effort and a continuing search for truth, whether it comes from a scientific laboratory or by revelation from heaven. Truth is truth.

To my dear wife Dantzel--the mother of our 10 children--I am eternally grateful. She embodied all the attributes of a devoted wife and saintly mother. Our dear children have always been a credit to their parents. They have prayerfully sought to know the will of our Heavenly Father. Now they have children and grandchildren of their own.

Two of our 10 children have already completed their sojourn here in mortality and now live on the other side of the veil. Perhaps they and their mother each received a "hall pass" to witness this event tonight. [LAUGHTER] To my beloved wife Wendy, I express my profound love and deep appreciation. Wendy is a devoted servant of the Lord, willing to fulfill any challenge in His holy work. She is a great blessing to me, our family, and to the entire Church.

To my counselors, President Oaks and President Eyring; our colleagues in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Seventy, the Bishopric; our General Officers; each member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and to our many choice friends not of our faith, I express my deep feelings of love and appreciation. It is a great privilege to serve beside you throughout the world. These colorful flags represent the many nations where our members reside.

Every day of my life, I thank my Heavenly Father--in the name of Jesus Christ--for the gift of life and the privilege of serving His children.

On occasions past when my mortal life was in grave danger, They intervened with help that only They could have delivered. Jesus the Christ is literally my Savior, my Redeemer, my Exemplar and Friend.

In this celebration tonight, efforts have been made to depict the influence of the Lord in my life. From my earliest childhood to my most recent miraculous experience, I acknowledge timely and generous help from heaven.

In retrospect, I can see things now that I could not see at the time. I not only know that God lives; I know that He loves His children. He wants us to have joy, choose to return to His holy presence, and receive the blessings, all the blessings that He has in store for His faithful children. If I have learned anything certain in my 95 years of life, it is that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God. His Church has been restored in these latter days to prepare the world for the Second Coming of our Redeemer. He provides the doctrine, covenants, and ordinances that enable families to be perpetuated beyond the grave. He is the Light and the Life of the World. Only through Him can we reach our divine destiny and eventual exaltation.

My message to the world is simple and sincere. I invite all of God's children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior, receive the blessings of the temple, have enduring joy, and qualify for eternal life. Most humbly and gratefully, I thank you for this sublime celebration tonight. To each of you I express my love, my gratitude, and my testimony, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

[APPLAUSE] [CHOIR: "LET US ALL PRESS ON"] [APPLAUSE] [REPRISE: "LET US ALL PRESS ON"] [APPLAUSE]