Pneumonic for remembering the apostles:
He was raised in Salt Lake City. His parents were not active, , he was not raised in the church but would go
occasionally with a friend. They had a faithful home teacher who asked the
parents if he could baptize him since his father couldn’t’. He worked to activate
them his whole adult life and they finally got baptized when his father was 80 then
he was made Elder and they were sealed in the temple.
He played football in high school and later as a heart surgen
was able to save his coach’s wife.
He has perfect pitch
He was invited to participate in a musical in the university and
was reluctant until he saw a beautiful girl named Danzel. She later sang in the
Tabernacle choir and he watched the kids so she could go.
He developed a heart/lung machine that changed the medical
community. He later saved President Kimball’s life.
His wife died at home while they were sitting there together. With
all his medical knowledge he couldn't save her. One year later he married
Wendy. She was raised in Canada.
He opened the missionary work in Eastern Europe as a new apostle
so was always connected and very interested in the work there.
At 93 he still went skiing with his grandchildren every Monday
and didn’t need any kind of glasses. Their immediate family of children,
spouses and grandchildren is over 100 people, so when they get together they
have to do it at a church building.
Whenever he and his wife traveled together, they played scrabble
to keep their minds active. He has an amazing memory and remembers people’s
names. He is very warm, very sensitive to less actives and wants to help them.
He is about 6’ tall.
President Oaks will be the next president of the Church. He was
born in 1932 so he is 89 years old. He was named after Cyrus Dallin because his
mother posed for Cyrus and loved the name. Cyrus Dallin is the man who created
the Moroni statue. His father died of tuberculoso when he was 76, so he was
raised by a single mother who had no source of income, so she went to school in Chicago and left the kids with their grandparents. While they were there, the grandmother
had a nervous breakdown but recovered to be able to help raise then.
When he was 11 he got a job weeping the floor in a radio repair
place and was fascinated with it, so at age 13 he became a radio announcer for
games and other things.
He wanted to go on a mission, but with the Korean war, only one boy could go on a mission from any ward at a time. Several of the general authorities didn't serve missions for the same reason.
So he stayed in school. He went
to BYU and met his wife who was an identical twin. It took him some time to be
able to tell which one he was in love with.
They have 6 kids. He went to law school in Chicago. When he left,
his mother told him that his father had a rule to never study on Sundays but to
devote Sundays to religious study and service. He wanted to follow his father’s
advice, so that’s what he did.
He taught law, became president of BYU and served on the supreme
court until called to be an apostle.
She used to teach aerobics in a 5am class. (someone in the class
used to go to her classes.)
At the time that June used to teach aerobics, Dallin taught
Sunday School. His classes were so popular that they couldn’t get anyone to serve in Primary or anywhere else, because everyone wanted to go to Sunday School, so they would record his lessons,
then pass them around. Each person was allowed to keep the recording one day
than had to pass it on.
His wife died at 51. He thought it was very awkward to be a
dating apostle. The Lawrence’s knew them when they lived in a building in SLC
(sounds like many general authorities lived in that building. Laurel and June
used to study together.
Elder Ballard is 93. He was born in SLC. He is the grandson of 2
apostles – one from his father’s side and one from his mother’s side. His parents
were not active so his grandfather baptized hi. He served a mission in England.
He is one a only a few general authorities who didn’t get a degree.
He sold cars and had his own dealership. His wife was in a wheel
chair and Laurel used to visit her every Tuesday. All the wives took turns
visiting his wife. They were a stunningly handsome couple, lie movie stars when
they were young.
He would so the shopping and cooking on his time off from being
an apostle, but hated to go to Costco because he always got recognized and
couldn’t finish his shopping because he couldn’t leave his wife very long. People
always wanted to talk to him in Costco.
After she died, he took all the wives who had served her and
their husbands, rented a big van and box seats to a Jazz game. Someone said he made cinnamon
rolls for a new neighbor refugee? Who moved in nearby to welcome them.
Elder Holland is 81, born in St George. His father was not ative
but mother was. When Jeffrey was 10, one day the bishop and Sunday School
president came over and called Frank to teach Sunday School. He accepted the
calling, put out his cigarette and never smoked again.
With his wife, Patricia, they had 3 children. She developed
breathing problems and couldn’t go anywhere for a year. He prayed fervently and
constantly that she not be taken. He also asked members to pray for her and she
eventually recovered. The Lawrences traveled to the middle east with them. On the
flight, the pilot announced that they had someone famous on the plane. Laurel
thought it was amazing that the pilot thought the Hollands were that famous,
but then the pilot said Brad Pitt was on the flight. People wanted his
autograph and pictures, but some Philippine women went to Elder Holland to ask
for a picture and he said, only if we can include my wife. (it was wise that he
didn’t allow pictures of himself with other women without his wife). While
Larry was a general authority seventy, he met with Jeffrey weekly. He loved
their meetings.
President Eyring; he was born in New Jersey. His father was a
professor at Princeton. Elder Eyring went to Harvard business school, was a
professor at Stanford, a seminary teacher, then president of Ricks. His oldest
son is now president of BYUI. They said the son has a great sense of humor.
They have 6 children and his wife has serious dementia. James
5:10 says people can take the apostles as examples of pain and trials. They are
not exempt from anything.
President Uchtdorf: their family fled East Germany and were
separated several times. He had several traumatic experiences as a child. The family
joined the church while he was young.
At 19 he joined the German air force to become a fighter pilot,
but he had to learn English first. He said that was the hardest thing he ever
had to do.
6 years later he was a pilot for Lufthansa airlines. He married
Harriette, they have 2 kids. He was a stake president twice, then called to be
an apostle. He and his wife went to the United States thinking it would be a visit,
but had to stay and live here. When he was made a general authority, the
members in Germany were weeping for joy because they felt that meant that God
had forgiven their people for Germany’s part in the war.
David Bednar was born in Oakland. His father was not a member
but attended. From a young age he asked his father all the time when he would
get baptized. His father said, I won’t get baptized for you or for your mother.
I will get baptized when I feel it is right.
He served a mission in S Germany and still asked his dad in
letters every week when he would get baptized. Finally his father wrote and
asked what he had planned for a certain date because he was getting baptized
that day.
He has 3 sons. He got a doctorate at Purdue, later president of Ricks. He was an apostle at age 52 – the 2nd youngest.
Quentin Cook – his father was not active. When his older brother
wanted to serve a mission, the father said he should use that time in school
becoming a doctor. He really wanted to serve, and Quentin wanted to serve when
he was old enough, so they prayed really hard together one night. During the
night, the older brother had a dream where God told him 3 things – that Christ
is the Savior of the world, the Church is true, and Joseph Smith was a
prophet.
The next morning they went to their father and bore strong
testimony, and the father let him go serve. On his mission he was companions
with Jeffrey Holland. He later became president and CEO of California Healthcare
System.
At one point his brother was the stake president and he was his
counselor.
At 62 he was called to be an apostle and able to serve with
Jeffrey Holland again.
Todd Christofferson. He was born in Pleasant Grove, Ut. He served
a mission in Argentina. He and his wife have 5 children. He worked at nations
bank and gave up a very lucrative career to be an apostle. Once a person asked
how much the church pays for someone to entice someone away from such a career. The answer was that they wouldn’t
believe it if they heard the truth.
His wife keeps him on a very strict health diet. When he visited
in Russia, she sent certain foods with him and sent a list of things he could
and shouldn’t eat.
Neal Anderson served his mission in France. Got his MBA at Yale.
Ronald Rasband – never graduated from college. He was the Elder’s
Quorum president in a student ward and the High Councilor over that ward was
John Huntsman. He was so impressed with him that he offered him a job with Huntsman
Chemicals in Ohio 3 months before he graduated.
They have 5 children.
Gary Stevenson served his mission in Japan. They have 4 sons. He
founded Icon Fitness that manufactures the treadmills that every company sells.
They said if you have or have been on a treadmill, Stevenson’s company probably
built it.. he is valued among the apostles because he has a wealth of practical
experience.
Dale Rendlund. His parents are from Sweden, and he served his
mission in Sweden. He went to medical
school in Utah and became a heart
surgen. After their daughter was born, his wife got ovarian cancer so they can’t
have more children. The daughter never married and is now past child-bearing
age, so they won’t have any grandchildren.
He and his wife served in Africa. Whenever there was a mission president’s meeting, they would all get together. Dale’s wife, Ruth, advised Laurel to clean out and organize the area office, which she did. She said it was a wonderful experience and blessing to do that. They became good friends.
Elder Gong is from California. His parents are from China. He served
his mission in Taiwan. He was lecturing at the MTC when he met his future wife
who was passing through on her mission. After he mission they got together.
He taught at Georgetown and John Hopkins, then became assistant President
of BYU. 
Elder Soares is 63, from Sao Paolo. They have 3 kids. Only he and
President Uchtdorf were educated and employed in their native countries before
being called as apostles
