Elder Daniel L. Johnson

Of the Seventy

Elder Daniel Leroy Johnson of the First Quorum of the Seventy believes that the ordinances of the temple are the crowning blessings of the gospel. “Temple attendance affects so many aspects of gospel living,” he says. “If we will go to the temple as often as we can, it can be the single biggest influence for change in our lives.”

Elder Johnson was born to Leroy and Rita Skousen Johnson on December 15, 1946, in Colonia Juárez, Mexico, where he was raised and where a temple was dedicated in 1999. He has seen the temple’s effect on the members there. “Life revolves around temple attendance in that community now,” he says. “It has changed lives.”

Elder Johnson has had the opportunity to see the gospel change lives throughout the Americas. As an Area Seventy in the Mexico North Area, Elder Johnson visited many places where he had served as a missionary in the West Mexico Mission from 1966 to 1968. “Every city where we had missionaries in the ’60s now has at least one stake,” he says. “It’s marvelous to see so many strong leaders.”

Elder Johnson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and economics from Brigham Young University. He and his wife, LeAnn Holman, were married in 1970 in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple.

The Johnsons, who have six children, have lived in Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela; and in Utah, Minnesota, and Texas, in the United States. “We have been able to watch the Church grow,” he says. “It’s a miracle.”

The Johnsons have tried to contribute to that growth wherever they have lived. In addition to serving as an Area Seventy, Elder Johnson has been president of the Guayaquil North Ecuador Mission, counselor in mission presidencies, counselor in a stake presidency, bishop, ward Young Men president, and Gospel Doctrine teacher.