It was in October 2019, while delivering an address to the sisters of the Church, that you looked out into the congregation at your dear wife, Wendy, your daughters, granddaughters, and great-daughters, and then exclaimed you felt like you would like to claim all of us as part of your family,

with deference to the women closest to you,

Wendy, your daughters, and many granddaughters. And with an expression of heartfelt gratitude for their sacrifice in sharing you with the world,

let me say that I feel claimed and part of your family.

What a blessing your kindness,

love, and respect have been to me personally, and what

an immeasurable difference your prophetic voice has meant to

the sisters of the Church in better understanding God’s love for us and the spiritual treasures available to us as we make

and keep covenants with Him.

Your unprecedented temple building around the world has been accompanied by prophetic invitations to do the spiritually invigorating work to understand the gift of God’s power,

accessible to every woman and man who makes and keeps covenants in the house of the Lord. You have invited us to fix our focus on Jesus Christ.

You have taught us that yoking ourselves to

the Savior through covenants is liberating and spiritually empowering.

And with every prophetic invitation you have promised blessings. When we enter into a covenant with God and keep that covenant,

you have promised an extra measure of God’s love, His merciful patience, and power that strengthens us to withstand our trials,

temptations, and heartaches better.

President Nelson, I have seen and felt peace among the Saints that defies understanding and can only be explained by covenant confidence, that special kind of rest that comes to those who enjoy a covenant relationship with God.

Thank you for teaching us and inviting us to seek the guiding, comforting, and testifying presence of the Spirit to understand what it means to be covenant women of God.

Thank you for expressing confidence in us as covenant women to play a vital role in preparing the world for the Second Coming of the Savior. You’ve invited us to speak up and speak out,

teaching the doctrine of Christ and articulating truth to courageously defend morality and families to shepherd God's children along the covenant path.

And while expressing the crucial part women play in building up the kingdom of God and inviting us to change the world, you have graciously reminded us that no one can do everything,

nor should we try. President Nelson, you have blessed the sisters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to feel loved and precious and necessary. I had never met a prophet and President of the Church prior to you extending the call for me to serve as the Primary and then Relief Society General President, and in anticipation of that first meeting, I wondered what it might be like to be in your presence. Would your piercing blue eyes see into my soul?

Would you know all my faults and weaknesses? Would I feel again the pain of my past mistakes in your presence? No.

On that first occasion and every subsequent occasion,

you have looked me in the eyes and your clear blue eyes have communicated love.

Love and compassion and mercy and confidence in me,

even when I hadn't earned it by earthly standards.

President Nelson, I feel claimed by my Savior Jesus Christ

because I have felt His love through you, His prophet. What a gift. What a treasure. And I trust that on countless occasions you have looked into the eyes of thousands of people around the world, members of His Church and friends, and they likewise have felt the love of God. Joyfully and with all the fervor of my soul, I

declare to the world that President Russell M. Nelson is a holy man. The

Lord's mouthpiece on the earth today, a mighty prophet of God.

I am sure of it. President Nelson's prophetic invitations and promised blessings will bring enduring happiness.

Of this I know and testify. Happiest of birthdays to you, dear President Nelson.

I love you. We love you. In the sacred and holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.

[APPLAUSE]