Oaks, Dallin H.
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Jane Clayson Johnson: President Eyring, at the announcement of this new First Presidency, you said that you have seen the power of God come upon President Oaks. Could you speak more about that? And in your initial conversations, what has it been like to counsel with this new prophet? President Henry B. Eyring: I watched him and suddenly it was a different man. Suddenly, it was clear that he was receiving revelation of exactly what to do in a very, extremely, quick, short time. And I really had the feeling this is not the same man I was with a day or two ago. It's another man. There was a kind of quiet clear knowing exactly what to do and it was, to me, a spiritual experience.
President Henry B. Eyring
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Sheri Dew: Here’s the unfair question: If you had three words to describe him — which is the unfair part, because it probably is dozens and dozens of words — but if you had to pick three that you think define your husband, what would they be? Sister Kristen M. Oaks: The first one, “wise.” He is so wise. He’s careful about what he says, what he doesn’t say. He’s wise. It’s a gift, and he sees danger from afar. ... Sister Kristen M. Oaks: He’s been very specific about doctrine, and I think if people really spent time with him, they would be amazed. They would befriend him, and they would run to him for help. Sheri Dew: So, let’s now add to that. If you could sit with any member of the Church — or every member of the Church, if it were possible — and say, “Here’s what I want you to know about President Dallin H. Oaks,” what would you say to them? You’ve told us some qualities which are powerful. What would you want them to know? Sister Kristen M. Oaks: That he always tries to do what’s right. He doesn’t ever cut a corner, and I don’t know, he doesn’t take perks. He’s really judicious, he thinks through it, and he really loves people. And he acts — he never says anything that he doesn’t think Heavenly Father has inspired him to say. He’s very, very careful, and I think that’s why he was such a good counselor to President Nelson, because he saw all the wonderful things he did, and he was totally supportive.
Sister Kristen M. Oaks
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Mary Richards: And you’ve been able to be with our dear Prophet, President Dallin H. Oaks, and more recently, Feb. 10, when he spoke at BYU. And I wondered if you could tell me about hearing that message from a living Prophet there and those things he invited us to do. Elder Clark G. Gilbert: Yeah. You know, can I share one thought on President Oaks in this? I really, for me, the substance of that talk was amazing. I will come back to that. But it also gave me a witness of his calling as the Prophet. In the weeks ahead of that, we had been working on a message. I had been doing some research on his behalf to get ready for that message, and it was to commemorate the sesquicentennial of BYU, 150th anniversary. He was excited to give that message. I was excited. It was going to be the bookend of a former Prophet who had spoken, President Kimball in 1975 on that campus. And I went in with some assignment follow-up that had come from President Oaks. And he said, “Clark, when we were first working on this, I was not yet the Prophet. And now that I am the Prophet, He is giving me a message that I need to give. This will be the first public address I have given as the Prophet.” You will remember at conference, he was not yet ordained the Prophet. He said, “This will be the first address.” And then he gave me an assignment to carry it to all of the Church Educational System. So we streamed it for the devotional, replaced the devotional on every other campus. So instead of having a speaker at BYU–Idaho, it was a livestream of President Oaks. And at BYU–Hawaii and at Ensign College, we showed it in all the institutes, it was the Pathway devotional. It went all across the world. And of course, the Marriott Center was completely full, and we had done so much work to prepare for that. And then he mentioned at the start of the talk the weight and loneliness that comes with being the Prophet and how he felt that mantle. He said the mantle gets described in many ways, but for him, he felt the weight and the loneliness of being there, and he had the strength of it, and in a very personal way. And then after he shared that, he shared the message the Lord had given him to take to the whole world. And those messages are what not only the young people of the Church need right now but the whole world needs. And I felt like I had a front-row seat to not only see that message come together but have a witness that it came from the Lord through the Lord’s Prophet. And so right now, that message, we will have that through conference to study and learn from that. If you want to overcome questions and doubts and concerns you have, stay anchored in Jesus Christ, and be humble. Turn to trusted sources, and be patient. And he gave those four messages in such a powerful and beautiful way. And that would have been a powerful message at any time. But knowing that this was the message that God gave His Prophet, that the Prophet had to give up a message he would have loved to give on the history of BYU and its significance, but he is God’s Prophet on the earth, and He listens to the Lord, and that was the message God wanted us to hear. So what a beautiful opportunity for me to see that and now bear witness of that in this assignment.
Elder Clark C. Gilbert
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