Jeffrey Roy Holland

Elder Holland was born December 3, 1940 to Frank D. and Alice Bentley Holland.

He married Patricia Terry in 1963. They are the parents of three children.



A student leader and varsity athlete at Dixie High School and Dixie College in his native St. George, Utah, he received his bachelor and master degrees in English and religious education, respectively, from Brigham Young University. He obtained master and doctor of philosophy degrees in American Studies from Yale University.

Elder Holland was active in professional educational activity prior to his call to full-time Church service. He served as president of the American Association of Presidents of Independent Colleges and Universities (AAPICU), on the board of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) and as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Presidents Commission. For his work in improving understanding between Christians and Jews he was awarded the "Torch of Liberty" award by the Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'rith. He has served on the governing boards of a number of civic and business related corporations and has received the “Distinguished Eagle Scout” award from the Boy Scouts of America. He is the author of eight books, one of which he co-authored with his wife, Patricia.

Jeffrey R. Holland served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah beginning in 1980. He is a former Church commissioner of education and dean of the College of Religious Education at BYU.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on June 23, 1994. At the time of his call to the Twelve Apostles, Elder Holland was serving as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, to which he had been called on April 1, 1989.

In 2009 he had one of his most memorable conference talks, where he yelled, slammed the pulpit and shamed all of the naysayers that say bad things about us.


Some of the books he wrote include

Broken Things to Mend

However Long & Hard the Road

Christ and the New Covenant

Trusting Jesus

Robert Dean Hales

Elder Hales was born in New York City.

He graduated from the University of Utah, and holds a master of business administration degree from Harvard. He was a jet fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force.

He married Mary Crandall, and they have two sons.    

Prior to his call to full-time Church service, Elder Hales had a distinguished business career, serving in executive positions with three major national companies.

He was a Regional Representative for five years prior to his call as a General Authority. He earlier served as a branch president, bishop, high councilor, and stake president’s counselor. He was president of the England London Mission in the late 1970s and has served as first counselor in the Sunday School general presidency.

Elder Hales received his call as a General Authority on April 4, 1975. He served as an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and later as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. He was Presiding Bishop of the Church from April, 1985 until called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Elder Robert D. Hales was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 2, 1994.

Richard Gordon Scott

He was born November 7, 1928, in Pocatello, Idaho, a son of Kenneth Leroy and Mary Whittle Scott. At the age of 5, he moved with his parents to Washington, D.C., where his father served with the Department of Agriculture, later becoming an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture.

He is blessed with a gifted wife, Jeanene Watkins, to whom he was sealed July 16, 1953, in the Manti Temple. She passed away May 15, 1995. They are the parents of seven children.

He graduated from George Washington University as a mechanical engineer, served a full-time mission to Uruguay, and completed post graduate work in nuclear engineering at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. From 1953 to 1965 Elder Scott served on the immediate staff of Admiral Hyman Rickover, directing the development of nuclear fuel for a wide variety of naval and land based power plants. Elder Scott received an honorary Doctor of Christian Service degree from Brigham Young University in 2008.

From 1965 to 1969 he presided over the Argentina North Mission in Cordoba, Argentina. Upon his return, he worked as a private consultant for nuclear power companies.

He served as a Regional Representative in the Uruguay, Paraguay, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. areas until his call as a Seventy.

Richard Gordon Scott was sustained an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 1, 1988. He was called as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy on April 2, 1977, and served as a member of the Presidency of that Quorum from October 1, 1983, until his present calling.

Elder Scott loves our Father in Heaven, His Beloved Son, and all of the Father's other children. Elder Scott enjoys a variety of special interests. He has a deep love for the natural beauty of the world.

Some of the books he wrote include:

Finding Peace, Happiness, and Joy

Joseph Bitner Wirthlin

He was born June 11th, 1917 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Joseph L. and Madeline Bitner Wirthlin.

He married Elisa Young Rogers and they are the parents of eight children.

He is a graduate of the University of Utah in Business Management and a former president of his trade association.

Served as a bishop, stake president's counselor, and a member of the General Sunday School general presidency.

He was sustained as an Assistant to the Twelve on April 4th, 1975, to the First Quorum of Seventy on October 1st, 1976 and to its Presidency on August 28th, 1986.

He was sustained as a member of the Twelve Apostles on October 4th, 1986 and ordained an apostle on October 9th, 1986.


Some of the books he wrote include

Press On

Finding Peace in Our Lives

Melvin Russell Ballard, Jr.

He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 8, 1928, to Melvin R. and Geraldine Smith Ballard. He attended the University of Utah.

He married Barbara Bowen in the Salt Lake Temple on August 28, 1951. They are the parents of two sons and five daughters.

As a young man, he served a mission to England for the Church where he was a counselor in the mission presidency. He has also served as a bishop twice.

In 1974, he was called as president of the Canada Toronto Mission where he was serving when called to the First Quorum of the Seventy in April of 1976. As a member of the Seventy, he supervised and trained leaders in his assigned geographic regions. He later served as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy from February 1980 to October 1985, overseeing the Church’s Quorums of the Seventy. Much of his ministry has been focused on missionary work.

Prior to his call as a full-time Church leader, Elder Ballard had interests in the automotive, real estate, and investment businesses. He has served on many Church and civic committees and boards.

Elder M. Russell Ballard is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been serving as an Apostle since October 6, 1985, traveling throughout the earth to instruct Church members and direct day-to-day affairs of the worldwide Church.

Dallin Harris Oaks

He is a native of Provo, Utah (born in 1932). He and his late wife, June Dixon Oaks, are the parents of six children. She died July 21, 1998. On August 25, 2000, he married Kristen M. McMain in the Salt Lake Temple.

Elder Oaks is a graduate of Brigham Young University (1954) and of The University of Chicago Law School (1957). He practiced law and taught law in Chicago. He was president of Brigham Young University from 1971 to 1980, and a justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 1980 until his resignation in 1984 to accept his calling to the apostleship.

He has been an officer or member of the board of many business, educational, and charitable organizations. He is the author or co-author of many books and articles on religious and legal subjects.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks has served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since May 1984.

Books that he has written include:
With Full Purpose of Heart: Collection of Messages by Dallin H. Oaks
Pure in Heart
Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith
The Lord's Way
Cases and Text on the Law of Trusts (University Casebook Series)
His Holy Name
Trust Doctrines in Church Controversies
Religious freedom and the Supreme Court (Ethics and public policy reprint)
Wall Between Church and State
Criminal Justice System and the Indigent: Study of Chicago and Cook County
The missionary work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Elder Oaks Reviews President Ezra Taft Benson's Central Message as President of the Church, focusing on his encouragement to make stury of the Book of Mormon a continual process in order to avoid condemnation
Reading Church history
The historicity of the Book of Mormon
[Miscellaneous publications]
"A private university looks at government regulation"
Unruly laws for lawmakers: [address]
The effects of Griffin v. Illinois on the States' administration of the criminal law (Council of State Governments. BX-308)
The popular myth of the victimless crime (Commissioner's lecture series)
Recent events involving Church history and forged documents
Trust Doctrines in Church Controversies


Books about him include
Utah Supreme Court Justices: Dallin H. Oaks, Charles S. Zane, William H. King, Michael Zimmerman, Michael J. Wilkins
People From Provo, Utah: Julianne Hough, George W. Pace, Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Marvin S. Hill, Reuben D. Law, Dallin H. Oaks, Stew Morrill

Russell Marion Nelson

Born September 9, 1924, Elder Nelson is the son of Marion C. and Edna Anderson Nelson. He and his wife, the former Dantzel White, have ten children.  Sister Nelson passed away in February 2005. In April 2006, he married Wendy L. Watson.

An internationally renowned surgeon and medical researcher, Dr. Nelson received his B.A. and M.D. degrees from the University of Utah (1945, 47). Honorary scholastic societies include Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha. He served his residency in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and at the University of Minnesota, where he was awarded his Ph.D. Degree in 1954. He also received honorary degrees of Doctor of Science from Brigham Young University in 1970, Doctor of Medical Science from Utah State University in 1989, and Doctor of Humane Letters from Snow College in 1994.

His professional work included the positions of research professor of surgery and director of the Thoracic Surgery Residency at the University of Utah and chairman of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City.

He has authored numerous publications and chapters in medical textbooks, Elder Nelson lectured and visited professionally throughout the United States and in many other nations prior to his call as a General Authority. A host of awards and honors have come to him, including the Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Utah; the Heart of Gold Award from the American Heart Association; a citation for International Service from the American Heart Association; and the Golden Plate Award, presented by the American Academy of Achievement. He has been awarded honorary professorships from three universities in the People’s Republic of China.

Dr. Nelson has served as president of the Society for Vascular Surgery, a director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, chairman of the Council on Cardiovascular Surgery for the American Heart Association, and president of the Utah State Medical Association.

He is listed in Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in Religion.

Elder Nelson has held numerous positions of responsibility in the Church. He served as stake president of the Bonneville Stake from 1964 to June, 1971, when he was called as general president of the Sunday School. Prior to his call to the Quorum of the Twelve, he was serving as a Regional Representative assigned to the Kearns Utah Region. He had previously served as Regional Representative for Brigham Young University.

Elder Russell M. Nelson was called as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 7, 1984.

Some of the books he wrote include:

Russell M. Nelson: Father, Surgeon, Apostle
The Gateway We Call Death
The Magnificence of Man: Truth--And More (Classic Talks Series)
Hope in Our Hearts
Perfection Pending, and Other Favorite Discourses
Lessons from mother Eve: A mother's day message
The Power Within Us (audio cassette)
Honoring Spencer W. Kimball on His Eighty-Fifth Birthday
The Top 10 Mormon Biographies Including From Heart to Heart by Russell M. Nelson
Bountiful Harvest

Some of his speeches include:
Brigham Young University Fireside and Devotional Speeches, 1984/85
Brigham Young University 1988-89 Devotional and Fireside Speeches
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY 1989 90 DEVOTIONAL AND FIRESIDE SPEECHES
Brigham Young University 1990-91 Devotional and Fireside Speeches
Speeches - Brigham Young University 2002-2003

Books about him include:

Insights from a Prophet's Life Russell M. Nelson