March 9, 2025, 4:30pm MDT
Long before the 12 apostles’ quorums, Elder Neil L. Andersen grew up on a small dairy farm in southeastern Idaho, USA, where he had a lifestyle experience that taught him to do daily household chores, caring for animals, and trusting in God and becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Leading the heifer on a rope in a farm video, he said: He is our hope and our salvation. …I witness Jesus Christ as our Savior and Savior. He lives there. We may one day live with him, as we hope to be led by him. ”
The Dairy Farm visit was featured on Saturday, March 8th as part of the keynote speech on the third and final day of RootStech 2025 by Elder Andersen and his wife, Sister Cathy Andersen, Family Discovery Day.
Elder Andersen and his sisters were joined on the stage by President Jeffrey R. Holland, the quorum president of the 12 apostles of the Latter-day Saint Church of Jesus Christ.
After the lessons of Elder Andersen’s farm, and after a lesson on being led by the Savior in his life, the Dutch President reflected the differences that Jesus Christ and the Gospel made for him.
“It’s just as different as life, and I’ve even been born into a church,” he said. “It’s so big that it’s the Savior that I can’t really convey the difference in that 85 years. That means everything to me. And the work is getting faster. The work is moving.”
Family Discovery Day is a free, one-day event during Route Tech, designed to help members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints discover and celebrate the family’s heritage. The event also features music from the piano guy and other activities, and was held in person at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City and can be viewed online at rootstech.org.
Temple construction
Elder Andersen opened with the theme of “the incredible times we live in when temples are built at an unprecedented pace.”
He pointed out that when he and his sister Andersen married in 1975 at Salt Lake Temple, there were 16 surgical temples this month 50 years ago.
“We are moving. The Dutch president, from St. George, Utah, said: “When the saints came to this extended valley of the Pioneer Corridor, I grew up in the shadows of the first temple completed in the west. I thought everyone had a temple. (Learning) these temples and these growths and these numbers (a) were very personal touching for me.”
Since 2018, President Russell M. Nelson has announced 185 new temples. Meanwhile, 60 temples have been dedicated or rededicated. President Nelson dedicated the church’s 200th home, Deseret Peak Utah Temple, on November 10, 2024.
“The knowledge and love of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the strength, protection, peace, everything from His Holy House is so important that we prepare for the Savior’s second coming,” he said.
Examples of faith and sacrifice
Sister Andersen focused on two men in her family, great grandfather Daniel Henry Allein and father James Bernard Williams, to celebrate the priesthood and to make sacrifices to be sealed with the family in the temple, shaping their lives and influencing generations.
“I am very grateful to the man in my family who has inherited to myself the deep responsibilities and duties associated with the ordination of the priesthood and the covenant of the temple,” she said. “It expanded their souls and changed them a lot” (see Doctrine and Covenant 121:42).
In one video segment, sister Andersen spoke about how the two missionaries found Arline and his wife in Florida. They were baptized in 1898.
Recognizing the importance of being sealed as a family, they sold all their possessions, boarded the train with 11 living children, including the grandmother of the Andersen sisters, and traveled to Utah to be sealed at Logan Temple. They returned to Florida and remained faithful for the rest of their lives.
In another video segment, sister Andersen spoke about her parents, Bernard and Martha Williams. Bernard Williams introduced Martha to the church. She was baptized and the couple got married. Martha Williams was a member of her family’s first church. Examples of Jesus Christ’s devotion to the gospel blessed and inspired their children, Sister Andersen said.
When sister Andersen was four years old, her parents decided to drive families across the country to be sealed at Salt Lake Temple, a 2,300-mile one-way journey. Her mother devoted several months to sewing her children’s white clothes.
The grandmother of sister Andersen lends them a new car, but a few days after the trip it broke down and caused an expensive delay. They also lost their suitcase in some way homemade temple clothes, and their efforts to find them failed.
Despite these set-offs, the family eventually arrived in Salt Lake City, sealed in the temple in just one day. The Andersen sisters said it was worth sacrifice, and made a deep impression on her at a young age.
“It’s now over 60 years now, but I can vividly remember the moment I entered the ceiling room with my siblings and saw my mother and father dressed in white. We kneeled on the altar and were sealed together as a family,” she said. “This has changed our lives.”
She concluded by expressing her love for her Heavenly Father and sharing her testimony of Jesus Christ.
“From the depths of my soul I believe Jesus is my Savior and Savior. I love and worship him,” she said.
Gospel Lessons on the Farm
Back at the dairy farm, Elder Andersen reflected on his experiences using bottles to teach gospel lessons to feed his baby calves.
“On the farm, I was constantly experiencing the miracles of a new life,” he said in a video filmed on the farm. “The wonder of that confirmed me (the book of the Mormon Prophet) that “everything shows that God exists” (Alma 30:44). Life is a miracle. ”
He continued. “Being with a new baby on the farm helped us to see how dependent each of us is on our Heavenly Father. …Living with cows, horses, dogs, cats, and even rabbits, we believed in many ways that our new friend (baby calves) were like being cared for by our Heavenly Father. There is one very important difference, however. We are literally the Spirit Children of the Heavenly Father. His work and glory is to help us learn here on earth and provide a way to return to our Heavenly Father.”
Elder Andersen said in the video he lost his favorite rabbit at age 7 while holding the bunny and was afraid of its safety. After a failed search, he went behind the barn and prayed for the help of his Heavenly Father. Soon the image of a nearby location came to his mind, and he found a rabbit.
“This experience and many others have taught us that the Lord responds to our sincere prayers,” he said.
The Savior’s Second Coming
Elder Andersen concluded his remarks with his Savior’s Witness and Second Coming, Temple and Family History work.
“The miracle of our time in restoration is the most special time God has given us prosperity to build these worship houses all over the world.
“The temple is the testimony of the soul’s immortality. When we take the names of our ancestors, our still living ancestors, we go to those houses of the Lord and connect with that world… and at the same time, we focus on our Savior, Jesus Christ. We learn about him. We willingly make a contract with him to follow him and maintain his commandments. And we will become those who need to be anticipating his return. When that unforgettable day comes, we will gather to meet him, and whether on this side of the veil or on the other side, it will be a day of great joy and joy. I testify that the day will come. I witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I know that he lives.”
