A Prophet to the World Turns 101

On his 101st birthday today, September 9, 2025, Prophet and President Russell M. Nelson is celebrated not just for his longevity but also for his loving personal outreach around the world. When he became president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2018, the then-93-year-old Apostle quickly made his way to meet Church members far away from Salt Lake City.

The prophet logged over 115,000 miles, visiting 35 nations in his first two years at the helm.

Among the first stops for this Church leader focused on peacemaking was Jerusalem, the city of peace.

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“As the new president to the Church, I felt that there were two messages that I would like to convey to our people,” President Nelson said in Jerusalem in 2018. “One is that Jesus is the Christ and He has a message for all of God’s children. And the second is that His is a global invitation. We invite all of God’s children to come unto their Savior.”

President Jeffrey R. Holland, who accompanied President Nelson on the first of the prophet’s four major trips, called his experience with the prophet a “spine-tingling thrill.”

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“I’m in the company of President Russell M. Nelson, a modern prophet in every sense that there were ancient prophets [in Jerusalem in biblical times], with the same authority and the same priesthood and teaching the same gospel,” President Holland said.

President Holland also taught that President Nelson — and any Church president — is not just a leader for Latter-day Saints. His words are for everyone.

“He’s the prophet to the world, and he has that view. He has that prophetic seership,” President Holland said while the two were in London. “We sustain him as a seer and a revelator, and he is looking at the whole world.”

In 2018, President Nelson visited Israel, Kenya, Zimbabwe, India, Thailand, China, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile. He followed that up in 2019 by visiting Samoa, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Tahiti, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia.

In every locale, the prophet pointed people to Jesus Christ and His holy house. In Kenya, for example, he taught that “our message to the world is that Jesus is the Christ and that His way of life is the way of joy and happiness not only in this life but in the life ahead.”

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To the Thai Saints, he declared that his desires for them “[are] the same as my desires for people of Taiwan or any other city [or] country. We invite all of God’s children … to come unto the Savior and enjoy the blessings and benefits of their temple and have everlasting life [and] joy.”

In India, where a house of the Lord is coming to Bengaluru, he said, “The temple is our ultimate destination here on planet earth. All the blessings that God has in store for His faithful people come in the temple.”

In Hong Kong, President Nelson reminded Saints that “everything we do in the Church is to make life better for other people, to bring them joy. And how do you do that? By building strong families. Those families are made stronger because of covenants made in the holy temples.”

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In Vietnam, he taught that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ contains the truth of the eternal nature of the family unit.

“We recognize the importance of families,” President Nelson said. “We rejoice in the revealed knowledge that families can be perpetuated and be here forever.”

The prophet also spoke about the importance of family with the king and queen of Tonga.

“[The king] understands ... the significance of the family and God’s eternal plan,” President Nelson said. “As we work for strong families, we will have strong nations in a kinder world.”

In Australia, President Nelson commented on Church growth in that country, which had tripled between his call as an Apostle in 1984 and his visit in 2019. He said the cause of membership expansion is rooted in Jesus Christ.

“Often I am asked, ‘What’s the reason for this growth?’” he said. “[I] answer, ‘Because the Book of Mormon is true.’ Think of its two purpose statements — one, for the convincing of Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ and, two, that God will remember His covenant made with the house of Israel and that Israel will be gathered in these latter days. The instrument by which that gathering of Israel will take place is the Book of Mormon. Without the Book of Mormon, there would be no gathering of Israel.”

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Elder Gerrit W. Gong, who accompanied President Nelson to seven countries in the South Pacific in 2019, praised the prophet’s Christlike care for the Saints.

“What he’s done is something quite magnificent — to come and be with the people in a way that brings the Lord’s love,” Elder Gong said.

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Sometimes President Nelson, who is conversant in 11 languages, spoke to people in their own tongue. During ministry visits to several Latin American countries in October 2018, the polyglot prophet gave significant portions of his sermons in Spanish. In Peru, for example, he delivered introductory remarks in English. Then he transitioned, saying, “With your permission, I would like to address you in Spanish.”

The entire coliseum erupted in applause.

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“It’s been just remarkable,” said Elder Gary E. Stevenson, who accompanied the prophet in South America in 2018. “I never imagined that I would come and have to wear a headset, through translation, to listen to the words of President Nelson. That was a surprise to me.” He said then that as President Nelson spoke in Spanish, “it just touches your heart. There’s a reverence. There’s a silence, and then everyone’s wiping their eyes. Tears are flowing, and it’s just a remarkable thing. It’s an indication that the Latter‑day Saints love their prophet, and the prophet loves the Latter‑day Saints.”

President Nelson’s ministry has stretched beyond the Latter-day Saints. In New Zealand, the prophet reached out to Muslim leaders in Christchurch whose mosques were targeted by terrorists in 2019. Fifty-one people died. On behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ, he donated funds to help them rebuild their sacred spaces.

“We’re brothers,” President Nelson said. “It’s incomprehensible anybody could do that to another human being.”

As President Nelson marks another year of life, his global ministry has shifted from the bustling travel of earlier years to a powerful digital outreach. While the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and a back injury in 2023 restricted his ability to be out among the Saints, his hopeful, Christ-focused messages still reach millions. Through the miracle of technology, his voice is heard around the world via social media and the Church’s semiannual general conferences.

The prophet’s optimism throughout his ministry and his own difficulties is founded in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.