‘We don’t have to be perfect’: A peek inside Ardeth Kapp’s 90th birthday party

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At Sister Ardeth Kapp’s 90th virtual birthday celebration, not one, but four rounds of Zoom calls were needed to give friends and family enough time to express their love and appreciation. All of those eager voices testify of the great influence Sister Kapp has had in the lives of so many.

Sister Kapp served in the Young Women General Presidency from 1984 to 1992, but her service to the young women of the Church did not end there. Church News shared that Madison Ardeth Zollinger, whose middle name is a testament to Sister Kapp’s influence on the Zollinger family, joined the call from her mission. Sister Zollinger said, “The most precious nugget of truth you taught us is that we’re all children of God.”

Sister Kapp told her young friend, and the hundreds of others joined on the Zoom call, “We don’t have to be perfect. We just have to do the very best we can, and that’s enough.” 

She also took a moment to remind her friends and family of their worth and potential. “Heavenly Father knows us by name,” she said. “He’ll magnify our righteous influence.”

In a previous interview with LDS Living, Sister Kapp shared that she has seen that to be true in the opportunities she’s had to serve throughout her life.

“How would a little girl in a farming community [be here]? We don’t know,” Sister Kapp said. “The Lord knows who we are and where we are. But we stand in amazement, don’t we?”

Read more about Sister Kapp’s life and her perspective on all the changes to the Young Women program, Come, Follow Me, and the Church as a whole since Russell M. Nelson became president in the LDS Living article “What I Learned from Spending a Morning with Former Young Women General President Ardeth Kapp.”

Lead image: Annie Barker, Deseret News
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