The hope that carries us: What Stage 4 cancer taught a 21-year-old about Christ

On Tuesday, our new prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, announced the Church's new First Presidency, an event noted by news outlets across the nation. Here is a glimpse into what these outlets are saying about our new Church leadership:

The story of Joseph makes me think about what it really means to be free. During the early years of Joseph’s life, while he was experiencing the viciousness of murderous brothers and the solitude of slavery and the pain of imprisonment, his brothers were (1) committing murder (Genesis 34), (2) committing immoral acts (Genesis 35, 38), (3) plotting murder (Genesis 37), and (4) lying to their father (Genesis 37). Which of all the sons of Jacob was most free? There are some lessons to be learned here. Part of the answer to this question comes as we consider who bows to whom and who sits on a throne and who lives with decades of guilt and remorse.

Twenty-year-old Elder Emilio Ignacio Pradenas Diaz died on January 15 after a brief, undiagnosed illness, and the cause of death is still undetermined. Elder Emilio Ignacio Pradenas Diaz was serving in a city in Argentina in the Uruguay Montevideo West Mission at the time of his death. We are praying for his family and the members of his home stake, the Santiago Chile Ñuñoa Stake.

Have you ever been surprised and frustrated by people whose phones go dead right in the middle of the day? It seems like such a basic thing to plug it in at night. But sometimes finding your charger is just too much at 11 p.m., or maybe you have an older phone that won’t hold a charge. Lucky for us lesser mortals, there’s power save, which rations power by cutting nonessential functions.

If I were teaching this lesson, I might begin by pouring water into several different shaped containers and asking class members to comment on what we can learn from that activity about the qualities of water. Someone will probably say that water takes the shape of its environment. If you then ask for words that describe water, you might get words like these: flimsy, unsound, mercurial, capricious, changeable, wobbly, fickle, erratic, unreliable, undependable, vacillating, untrustworthy, variable, mutable, impermanent, unsteady, uncertain, transitory, ephemeral, inconsistent, precarious, and unstable. I am amazed at how many words the English language has to describe this rather undesirable characteristic. But this lesson will require us to think about them because we are going to talk about three people who were much like water (one was even compared to water), and one young man who was as unlike water as it is possible to be.

"Who, in seeking the counsel of the brethren, has put their money where their mouth is about who's a prophet?" Elder Holland said. "If we ask for their opinion, are we willing to take it? That's a magnificent quality in my mind. One that I've seen repeatedly in the childlike humility and simplicity of Russell Nelson's faith. . . . He's that humble, he's that childlike, at every level and in virtually every other human relationship that I've seen him in. He's just that pure. He's just that simple in his faith."

At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, President Russell M. Nelson answered questions from the media at his first press conference as the prophet of the Church. Along with his newly appointed counselors—President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring—President Nelson answered questions from local media outlets in Salt Lake City as well as from reporters calling from as far away as Brazil.

“You will look back on this cherished and exciting adventure of mortality, and you will understand,” Elder Uchtdorf said. “You will see that the dots really did connect into a beautiful pattern, more sublime than you ever could have imagined. With unspeakable gratitude, you will see that God himself, in his abounding love, grace and compassion, was always there watching over you, blessing you and guiding your steps as you walked toward him.”

President Russell M. Nelson’s life has been one full of genius, service, compassion, accomplishment, and even heartbreak.