Hear Him Heal You

Honoring President Nelson: A Legacy of Love and Transformation

• Morgan & Joel • Season 1 • Episode 30

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The unexpected passing of President Russell M. Nelson at 101 years old has prompted profound reflection on his extraordinary life and ministry. In this heartfelt tribute episode, we share our personal experiences with this remarkable prophet and explore the lasting impact he made on both the Church and our individual spiritual journeys.

President Nelson wasn't just a spiritual giant—he was a pioneering heart surgeon who helped develop the heart-lung machine, fundamentally changing modern medicine before transforming the Church through inspired leadership. We discuss the providential timing of his inspired initiatives like Come Follow Me, which prepared members for home worship just before the pandemic made it necessary. The consistency of his message throughout decades of service—focusing on divine potential, personal revelation, and coming unto Christ—demonstrates his profound connection to heaven.

What made President Nelson particularly special was his ability to combine surgical precision with spiritual discernment. Those who met him often described feeling he could "see into their soul," yet his gaze always conveyed Christ-like love rather than judgment. We share the moving story from his "Price of Priesthood Power" talk, where his sixty-year dedication to healing a family spiritually demonstrates true priesthood power in action. His persistent emphasis on hearing the Savior's voice and discovering our divine identity will continue to guide members long after his mortal ministry has ended.

Though we mourn his passing, we take comfort knowing his work continues beyond the veil. President Nelson's legacy of love, compassion, and inspired leadership has forever changed the Church and our personal discipleship. How has President Nelson's ministry impacted your life? Share your thoughts and join us in honoring this remarkable servant of God.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Hear Him Kill You with Morgan and Joel. This podcast is for those who are imperfect and rough around the edges, but are still wanting to come under Christ. Essentially, it's for everyone. So join us to get yourself out of the mental mire, find meaning and emotion, and leave that behind. This is where we hear him to be healed. Alright. Welcome back to another episode, Lil Flock. We got Biscuit Boy here. He just wanted some loves, so and he won't leave me alone for some reason. So Biscuit might be on here for a while today. So I think I haven't loved him enough. He wasn't held enough as a child. So that is false.

SPEAKER_01:

I can fact check that one. That is false. He got too much love. That's his problem.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, Biscuit. You need to go away. Goodness gracious. This dog. Anyways. So and I figured we would do an episode today as kind of a tribute to President Nelson, who had just passed away yesterday, actually. It's kind of crazy. I woke up, first thing I saw was that uh he had passed away. So kind of crazy. I was not expecting that. Usually, like you usually you have like somebody like the churches put out like, hey, they're not doing well, yada yada. No, not in this case.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, there's a lead up normally, right? It's like, oh, he's been in the hospital or something, or like everyone kind of is expecting and just waiting on the edge of their seats, kind of like, okay, what's that happened? I was seriously just getting up to listen to like college football recaps this morning. Uh-huh. Because it was a crazy day in college football yesterday, but that's not what we're here to talk about. But, anyways, I I got on YouTube and all of a sudden I see the first thing I see is a little short of a president Nelson. I've made a personal goal that whenever I see the prophet on my feed, regardless of what I was intending to do, I'm gonna click on that first, right? That's something I made so that when I'm on social media, I'm remembering to not get too sucked into the what's it called? The YouTube wormhole that just takes you places. Anyway, so I always try to like, whenever I see something by the church is put out, I try to watch it or keep in the loop. I was like, oh, it's President Nelson, and I'm watching it. And it's like, oh, that a memorial or something of his life. And I was like, oh odd. Like it enregistered me at first, and I like I scrolled down the one or two more, and then it's like next post is like, rest in peace, President Nelson. I was like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. I was like, I was like, wow, and I was not expecting it, you know. Obviously, I was a little sad. I I wore black to church today. I wore all black, I did.

SPEAKER_00:

Um I uh I you just never thought he was going to pass away. Like a hundred and one. He was a hundred and one, like, and someone's telling me it's like one in a thousand a chance that someone lives to be a hundred or more. So he was definitely what I think that's like a tenth of a percent. So uh, and the chances of uh that person being the prophet are also like one in eight billion. So he was just a man, he was a special guy for sure. And uh and it was uh talking about wearing black, like one of my buddies at church today while we were sitting there, he's like, Is it just me or is every girl in here wearing a black dress today? It was like seriously, almost like every girl was wearing black or some dark color to church. It was crazy. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Um, but yeah, no, I mean, I I definitely was caught off guard, but uh I talked to my brother briefly. Uh, whenever something happens in the church, he's like one of the first people I talked to or call. And, you know, I was obviously a little sad, you know. I love President Nelson, and uh we'll we'll go into more of that later in this episode. But um just speaking with him, he says, you know, obviously it's a sad time for the church as a whole whenever we lose an apostle or a president of the church, you know, one of these prophets, here's in revelators. But he said at this point, President Nelson was it was getting harder, you could tell. He goes, and he's like, you know, he's gonna be able to do a lot more on the other side of the veil when it comes to the work. He's gonna be able to do a ton with his powerful testimony and with his ability to have such Christ-like love and charity for people. So, I mean, we just have to remember that the work does go on afterwards. I know sometimes we think that like when people die, everyone just understands the gospel now. Not true. There's a reason we have missionaries and people teaching the gospel on the other side. Yeah. Because you have the same spirit in this life as you in the next, right? So, anyways, it was just good to reflect that even though his mortal ministry is done, he will continue the work on the other side of the veil. And, you know, his legacy and what he did as the president of the church will live on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It's kind of funny. President Nilsen was the so far, he's been the only apostle prophet that I've actually met in person. On my mission, I met him twice. So he came and spoke to our mission during like when they were dedicating a temple, and then he later came back for a state conference where he gave a special address at a state conference in the zone I was in. And funny enough, I remember him making this joke while we were um sitting there as a mission. He's like, basically, he was just talking about how like as missionaries we need to like serve, uh, serve worthily, like complete your two years. And he's like, and then you're done. Me, on the other hand, I have to die to get released. I remember him making this joke, and I just I just remembered it, and I was like, Well, President Nilss has finally been released. Um and uh not not in a bad way or anything, but it's just funny that he made that exact joke when he was talking to uh our mission. And uh, but it was also fun meeting him the two times that I that I was able to. Like, it's he would like you would shake his hand, he would like stare into your soul, and you're like, this man knows everything about me now. Like, I I bet you. And it was after he'd sh so it was three missions that showed up for for when he came and uh spoke to us. And he so there was like over 300 missionaries he we had to wait through, and he shook every single missionary's hand. And after doing that, he did stand up and say, He's like, Brothers and sisters, there's some of you here that are not worthy to be here. And he's like, I invite you to go uh talk to your mission presidents. And I was like, dang. And which is a like like I think we it's kind of like a really good, like um, and this will lead into what we want to talk about, but I think like that was his like really his goal was he wanted just everyone to come under Christ and not just live in in sin or live in misery. Like he really did really want to help people, and it really came down to he was also a surgeon, so he wasn't only trying to just heal people physically, he was also trying to heal people spiritually as well and bring them to Christ, even if it was uh inviting a ton of missionaries to go talk to their mission presidents. So that's that's a cold bar. Yeah, that was the first thing he said after getting shaking all our hands, and then he talked about how he he would have to die to get released from his calling. So those are the two things back to back that he said right before he started talking. And I don't remember anything else from that talk. I'd have to go back and look at my notes for my mission. I'm sure I have it written down. But funny enough, those are the two things.

SPEAKER_01:

Man, so yeah, I gotta be honest, I don't think I don't think I can remember. I don't think I even wrote anything down when uh we had an apostle visit. We had umdorf, and I I don't think I wrote anything down. The only thing I remember vividly was him saying that five minutes would change your life. He's like, after your mission, he's like, you'll just take five minutes every day to do simple things like praise, read, do things like that. He's like, change your life. That's the only thing I remember. So that's that's uh poor example on my part.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, at least you remember something like somewhat applicable to your life. I just remember him telling us to repent and that it he would have to die to get rid of me.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no. Anyways, uh yeah, no, I'm just reflecting, just kind of my thoughts this uh today about President Nelson and the things and the changes that we've seen in the church since he came in, right? And his leadership and the criticism he had to face and and in a very tough adversity, right, with the COVID-19 pandemic and dealing with a very politicized virus and a very politicized issue, very hard and divisive issue, especially not just with the virus, but in our politics, you know, in our nation, the United States, uh, which the church is headquartered in, right? So those politics affect the church in a lot of ways. Yeah. And to see how him and the brethren weathered the storm during this time, remained faithful, valiant, strong, and encouraging and filled with love this whole time, it's always been awe-inspiring to me because you know, a lot of times I have not felt those ways. And whenever I show up for general conference, I always walk away with a feeling of peace, assurance, and knowing that the church was in good hands and that Heavenly Father had prepared these men to be leaders, not just prophets and seers and revelators, but to be leaders in the church and to lead this organization.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I also like President Nilsson, I would say has probably been the most pivotal prophet for me. Um, because I feel like I grew up with President Hinckley, and then I was in my teen I was a teenager with and like with President Monson. And it was I I just remember like even right before President Nelson was called, like his talks were just straight fire every time he got up when he was the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. And I feel like it was because he was like I really was starting to be more attentive to the gospel because I was preparing for a mission, I was on my mission, that his talks stood out every time. And then into being a young adult in college and all those things, like he him being the prophet, like and all the changes he made, it was like there for a minute, it was just like every general conference, big change after big change, and it almost became like, what's gonna be the bomb that's gonna drop general conference this time? Right? And everyone's like, oh, they're gonna get rid of the word of wisdom. That was always the one that people like threw around.

SPEAKER_01:

But we always choked around that he was gonna reinstate polygamy. We're like the because I feel like every time General Conference was coming, President Nelson would say something like, My brothers and sisters, this is going to be a historic event, historic conference. And it was always something like crazy. People were talking like, oh my god, dude, we're gonna start practicing polygamy again, or we're gonna get rid of the word of wisdom or this. And then it was always something way more profound, like the restoration uh proclamation, which I love, right? Or, you know, the implementation of ministering, of ministering, or of come follow me, right? And going to a more home-centered worship rather than a church-supported system of worship. And so there's so many big things, and they're bigger than what people even realize. Some people think that they were just, I don't know, yeah, trying to stay relevant or modern, but they weren't. These are very um, I didn't even say this, just very deeply inspired and very, they were very intentional.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_01:

These weren't things that were done just for clicks. The church isn't about clicks, they're about souls and salvation. And so, you know, when we really look at what what was the purpose of Come Follow Me? Well, I think the church and the brethren and President Nelson saw that it was time that the saints start to understand in a greater capacity what personal worship looks like, right? And what worship looks like within the home and starting to structure our lives more after those of the Old Testament patriarchs, right? Yeah. Where they had their ordinances, they had their rituals, right? But a lot of them, their ministry was force first and foremost within their own homes, homes with their families, right? And um, that was one thing that stood out to me as like being able to now have, especially during COVID. I mean, we were all ready for when COVID happened. We'd been practicing worshiping in our homes now for a year. COVID happens, and what do you know? We've we've already been doing this. The only difference is now we implement the sacrament within our own homes as well, right? And that was so profound. And for me, when I realized that I was like, wow, these really are prophets, seers, and revelators, right? Who are communing with the Father, who are communing with the Son and the Holy Spirit, and they are preparing us for the coming trials. So yeah, that that was something that was a real testimony builder to me.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I also just loved, so I did you ever read his autobiography, President Nelson's? No, I did not. That's okay. Um, well, this is your this is your invitation to repent and go read that. But I really loved for like it's been great to see President Nelson's like historic presidency of the church. But not only was he a historic as a president of the church, he was also just in general, seriously a historic person through his medical career. Because he he helped uh develop the heart-lung machine that allows for heart transplants. And he just is like our like modern medicine would have been detrimental. Like if President Nilsson hadn't done what he'd done in modern medicine, we would have been set back a ton. Like, so to see him be just so great in every aspect of his life, and like he had I can't remember, like how many, like 10 kids, 12 kids, or something like that.

SPEAKER_01:

I think it was nine daughters and one son. Yeah, something like that.

SPEAKER_00:

And just yeah, and then like how he talked about how he lost his first wife. Like, he lost his first wife to a heart attack. Him being a heart surgeon lost his first wife to a heart attack, and like him having to like one of the cool stories was after his wife died, he went to I think it was Elder Benson at the time, and he's like, he was like, How hard is it or how what complexities does it bring to me being an apostle without a wife? And he's like, Well, you become the exception rather than the rule. And meaning it's harder because usually their wives accompany him on assignments, and even though he was dealing with the grief of losing his wife, he realized that he he just he made the decision because to make his life or his uh time as an apostle easier by getting remarried, which now you have Wendy Nilsson, right? And all that. And so it's just like he always wanted to be doing what was best for not only for humanity uh when he was like a surgeon, but also for the church as well, even though that required him to like even though he still loved his first wife, he still decided to get remarried because that's what what the Lord would want me to do in this time. Um I don't know. It's a it was a very interesting story in in his book, um, and just just seeing all the things he accomplished and and then just the historic presidency that he had.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Something else that it's kind of interesting because just literally last week I had the prompting to a very distinct prompting of like, hey, you need to go back and listen to and find something from President Nelson. I didn't know what it was I was looking for, right? And I was just reading about President Nelson and um, you know, about his ministry, and somehow I ended up on a BYU speech that he gave. And what was so interesting is I think that speech was given at least 10 to 15 years ago, maybe even more. It might have been in like the 2000s, right? Yeah. So, anyways, I am sitting there listening to this talk, and I was like, this sounds so familiar to the one he just gave about our divine potential, you know, and our our identity. And I realized like his teachings have been consistent, right? And he has been so adamant on us finding our divine potential as sons and daughters of God and identifying first with our Savior Jesus Christ. And and that was something else that really stood out to me is like his message has been consistently one of love, one of seeing the potential in each human life to become like our Father in heaven, and that we treat ourselves as such. A little on the nose, but fair enough. Why did you hear that one?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. So actually, it wasn't that talk in particular. It was the message that he gave. I can't remember if it was before that talk or after, right? And it was a quick little like YouTube video titled like Hear Him. And um I remember at that point kind of wondering at that time. I'm trying to remember if this happened afterwards. What when I can't remember exactly when that message came out, but I remember watching it, and I want to say it was right before my mission or right after I got out on my mission, and I had a really hard struggle with um the whole vaccines and everything right at the time because that was a hot topic, and you know, I was a question of like I didn't feel like personally that they should be getting involved in this, and I was really upset about it. And anyways, I had a lot of internal turmoil, and I was like, is this really the prophet or is he just chilling for the government and a big farmer? I wasn't thinking right, obviously, you know. I was much younger too, full of uh hiss and vinegar, as my dad would say. But um, you know, I was a little hot-headed, thought I knew everything. Anyways, I remember just sitting there saying a prayer and just wanting to know like, is President Nelson actually the prophet and the president of the church? Is he actually the one who has the keys and the mantle of the prophet upon his shoulders? And I remember I was prompted to watch that video, and as I was watching that video, I it wasn't really anything that he said, so much is just it's funny that you mentioned this earlier. It was his eyes, and like I felt like he was looking at me through the screen, right? I felt like he was looking right into me, speaking to me, and I could just feel nothing but love in that moment. Love for him, love from him, and I was just filled with that love of Jesus Christ, that charity. And I knew then that President Nelson was in fact called to be a prophet seer and revelator, and to be the president of the church to lead and guide us. And and ever since then, I don't think I've really had a hard question or anything that really I had a hard time coming to grips with because I knew that he was called and that he was chosen by the Lord for this time. Yeah, and so that was a big testament to his ministry that the Lord gave me.

SPEAKER_00:

That's why I like that talk and that message in general. Yeah, no, that's a good one. What do you think mine is then? I don't think you'll guess it, but I'm just curious to be celestial. I did listen to that one today, but that's not the one. Yeah. Mine was the price of priesthood power, and it was actually given before he became, I think it was either the talk, right? I can't remember when he was called to be prophet or when President Nelson or uh Monson passed away, but um the price of priesthood power was the last general conference I attended on my mission. So and that one like that one hit me a lot because I think like my fatal flaw in as a member of the church is like I always feel like unworthy. Like even though I can be trying my best and and fell over again and I choose to repent or or whatever, it's just like constantly feeling unworthy. And the price of priesthood power was one of those talks that just like it kind of like was a great mix of like, yeah, you need to repent because you are unworthy, but it's like but you also have so much potential. Like, if you would just do X, Y, Z or do just a little bit more, then you could change lives. You could have the power to go and help so many people. I love the story from this talk where he talks about how while he was a surgeon, a family had three kids with congenital heart failure, and the first their first son died without a definitive diagnosis or whatever, but then they brought their other two daughters to him. He performed surgery on both of them, and they both died shortly after the surgeries. And he just talked about how like for six decades, sixty years this experience just weighed on him because he because the family had the family like held resentment against him and the church and they weren't active. And he talks about how he had this spiritual experience where these two daughters came to that came to him in a dream and told him that they weren't sealed to anyone and that they needed his help. So he reached back out to this family. The mother had passed away, but the father and one of their sons was um were still alive. And he reached out and they were finally willing to meet with him. He had reached out over the years, but they never would uh meet with him. And so this father was then eighty-eight, and that means President Nilsson was around ninety-two when he reached out to them. And he he called this, he he told the father about this experience and how he's like, they want to be sealed to you for time and all eternity, but you and your son are gonna have to make some drastic life changes to be worthy to enter the temple because neither of them had been in doubt. And over the course of the year, both the son and the father prepared for prepared to enter the temple, and they were eventually sealed as a family. And President Nilsson performed that sealing. What's crazy to me, and the reason why I love that story, is that is actually what priesthood power is. Often we think priesthood power is we're a hundred percent obedient in the gospel, we're perfect, right? Or it's giving a good talk, or it's or it's showing up and and performing the ordinance of the sacrament, or and all those things are good things, but really the priesthood power is knowing when or always being ready to receive revelation from God, and then pairing that with a willingness to act on that revelation to go and heal or uplift people, help them come under Christ so they can be healed. That is what really priesthood power is. And when we are going about with that attitude and that intention, we can be like President Nelson and change lives. And I think that's the talk where I'm like, I want this to be what I'm known about. I hope one day that like people will look at my life and be like, oh, Morgan, he went about doing good. He went about healing lives, he went about being a friend to everyone he could. He went about sacrificing his time, his energy for the betterment of others. Like, and I th I think President Nelson is the one that helped instill that in me, you know, and I want to live up to that one day. So that's that's who President Nelson was to me. And one of his talks I was like hugely influential. And I still to this day, every time I think of President Nelson, that's the talk that comes to mind as well. And so, um yeah, there you go. That's all I got.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I think that was great, you know. I think honestly, we can all agree that the legacy of President Nelson was one of love, compassion, one who taught the importance of repentance and the joy and peace it brings into our life. He was an example of charity and and what it is to be a servant of Christ. And and and I think our hearts are full with gratitude for his service. And, you know, obviously some mournful feelings for his loss, but we know that his work will continue. We love you, President Nelson, we love your family, and we pray for you and your family. It is time, and you know, we know you will keep up the work and the cause of Christ.

SPEAKER_00:

Amen. Well, with that said, remember, little flock, despair not, but do good, build upon the rock, and always hear him. See you guys.