“President M. Russell Ballard,” Friend, January 2020
Meet the Apostles
President M. Russell Ballard
Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Illustrations by Jared Beckstrand
He’ll turn 92 this year! His birthday is October 8.
He and his wife, Barbara, have 7 children, 43 grandchildren, and 95 great-grandchildren!
In college, friends called him “the bishop” because he always tried to choose the right.
He keeps an Oreo cookie in a display case on his desk. It reminds him of a young boy who received a package of cookies after his long journey to a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece. The boy insisted that President Ballard take the very first cookie.
“Do the best you can do day after day.”
President M. Russell Ballard,“The True, Pure, and Simple Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Ensign, May 2019, 28.