May 24th, 2025, 7am MDT
It was a Sunday morning in Jamaica – a 12-year-old boy walking two long miles alone to the church. “This may be my last Sunday. Maybe I won’t come back,” he thought. Did someone know that he was struggling?
God did, and he sent someone to help.
“The Lord invited people to be part of my life and to lead me,” Elder Kevin G. Brown recalls his time as a young man. “There are so many people on this trip.”
Elder Brown was maintained at the general meeting in April 2025 as 70 presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ for Latter-day Saints. He and his wife, Sister Nadine Carter Brown, knowing everything about God in the lives of his children, testifying to steadily, careful, loving care.
On the stairs of the chapel
Elder Brown was baptized at the age of eight, but he often attended church meetings himself. His father died when Elder Brown was five years old and his mother was not a member, and his grandmother was baptized, but her activities in the church were inconsistent. Nevertheless, Elder Brown said that God did not leave him without help. He provided people who were always on “Nick of Time” and guided, taught and motivated him.
When Elder Brown was 12 years old, he was a sister missionary.
On that particular Sunday, after he completed his final trek to the church, young Kevin Brown saw the missionary Sister Anderson standing on the stairs of the meetinghouse.
“She didn’t know what was going on,” Elder Brown explained. “She walked with me and asked how things were going.”
They walked into the hallway towards the chapel. Sister Anderson stopped and opened two doors in the cupboard where the hymns were kept. On the top shelf, Elder Brown spits out something that caught his attention – a brand new, gold trimmed triple combination and the Bible.
“Oh, oh,” Elder Brown recalled exhaling in awe. For years he carried the blue Mormon book with Angel Moroni on the cover, and the thin, red-rimmed doctrine and covenant.
This new set not only tied together the three books, but was also indexed. Elder Brown said, “I found it very attractive.”
Seeing his adoration, sister Anderson invited him, “If you read the Book of Mormon and beat me, I will give you these.”
The innately very competitive Elder Brown replied, “OK, you’re on.”
“It changed my life.”
Remembering President Ezra Taft Benson’s invitation to read the Book of Mormon for 30 minutes a day, he decided to wake up early every morning to read for 30 minutes before going to school.
“The only place in my house that was quiet enough was the bathroom,” Elder Brown said. “So I woke up at six o’clock, kneeled on the toilet, praying to the Lord, asking if the Book of Mormon was true.”
When he finished reading, he kneeled again, prayed, asked before going to school before asking.
About two weeks later, on Wednesday morning, when that small 4 x 6-foot room became the “sacred plant book” for Brown’s elders.
“I just kneeled down and said, ‘Heavenly Father,’ I didn’t even have to ask a question,” he recalled, saying that the Lord answered him with two deep understandings. Second, the spirit confirmed the truth of the Book of Mormon and the Prophet of God, Joseph Smith.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ppgviaujk
“I remember standing up from my knees. I felt all my hair in my body stand up. I went from head to toe. I was emotional and excited.”
Elder Brown immediately ran to church and wanted to speak to Sister Anderson, but it was Wednesday. When Sunday finally came, Elder Brown ran to the church as quickly as possible. Sister Anderson was standing there in the same place as before.
“Sister Anderson, what do you guess?” he cried. “I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that this is God’s truth. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet.”
She held him tightly, then walked with him to the cupboard, arms over her arms. To her surprise, she took a new set of Bibles and handed it to him. He wondered why he gave him the Bible when he didn’t reach her with his reading.
The Anderson sisters smiled and explained, “Kevin, that was never intended.”
He said that the Lord offered people and the right invitations to competitive young people when he needed it.
“It changed my life. No one could take it from me. No matter how long I live, I will never forget it. I remember it vividly. It is burnt in my heart, in my memory, in my soul.”
“I think the Lord has a vision of life for each and every one of us, which we take for granted at times, for his omniscience. He has no veil. He does not doubt your goodness or your potential.”
– Elder Kevin G. Brown
“Angel on Earth”
In his teenage years, people willingly led Elder Brown aggressively along the path of the covenant. His branch president and Sunday teacher, Hugh Powell, a seminary and institute class, became like his father and welcomed Elder Brown into his home every day. As his branch president and home education fellow, President Powell consistently invited Elder Brown to serve and learn.
Elder Brown was often the only student in his seminary class. Looking back, he said that this personal tutor helped him throughout his decades and solidified his knowledge of the gospel.
Sister Brown said God continued to support the path of covenant through what he called the angels on earth.
“The Lord put our way on our path and helped us when he commanded us to walk,” she said.
“We got a vision.”
Elder Brown and sister Brown both grew up in Jamaica. However, they first met in his time as a full-time missionary at the Kingston Mission in Jamaica (1995-97).
The idea of dating her had not happened to him, but Sister Brown felt that he was urged to reach out shortly after he had finished his service. So, upon his return, she invited him to a birthday party.
After three hours of speaking and dancing, Elder Brown returned home considering his new ideas. He felt that he wanted to ask the Lord about dating her, fasting, and praying for several days. When the answer came, it was as strong as he received testimony from the Book of Mormon.
“The Lord wanted me not only to actually date Nadine, but to marry her,” he said.
As their relationship moved towards marriage, Elder Brown and his sisters turned to the examples of many senior missionary couples who had worked on the island for many years.
“We got a vision of every shape and size of a couple you can imagine,” Elder Brown said of the couple who often celebrated their 40 years of marriage while serving in Jamaica. “It gave us a sense that all marriages would go well.”
Sealing in the Lord’s house was a top priority for Elder Brown and sister Brown, but as there are no temples on the island, saving airfares to the temple meant there was no room in the budget for traditional wedding elements.
Several churches and families offered an unexpected celebration of their wedding in Kingston, Jamaica on June 5, 1999. Still others helped with travel documents at the church members’ house near the Atlanta Georgia Temple, and were able to be sealed by priesthood authority the following week.
“I want to try it”
Sister Brown said that the Lord helped those whom he placed in their path “want to try” them. They act and learn based on their desires.
Kent Rappley, area director of the Church Education Systems, played a key role in Elder Brown, earning his Masters degree at a critical period. Rappleye’s repeated promotion motivated the Browns to make his master’s degree a priority.
Rappleye’s certain types of mentorship were exactly what Elder Brown needed in his life at the time, and helped him increase his efforts. He submitted his master’s thesis on September 15th, 2012. It was only a month ago that he and sister Brown were called to become mission leaders.
The Lord knows how to help
Throughout his life, experience has taught Elder Brown that he knows exactly how God can personally help each of his children.
“I totally relate my life to those who have influenced God’s omniscience,” he said. It made it clear that all of these circumstances were not coincidental, but rather that they were not part of the all-knowing, loving design of God.
“I think the Lord has a vision of each and every one of us, because of his omniscience, that we take for granted at times,” Elder Brown said. “He has no veil. He doesn’t doubt your goodness or your potential.”
Elder Brown expressed his gratitude for the Lord working with him.
About Elder Kevin G. Brown
Family: Elder Kevin George Brown was born on May 18, 1976 to Desmond Holness and Patsy Williams Brissett in Manchester, Jamaica. He married Nadine Lezanne Carter of Jamaica on June 5, 1999 in Kingston, Jamaica, and a week later he was sealed at the Atlanta Georgia Temple on June 12. The Browns have five children and live in Caysville, Utah.
Education: After earning his bachelor’s degree from the Institute of Technology in Jamaica in 2008, he received his master’s degree in governance and public policy from West India University in 2012.
Employment: His career at the church seminary and religious institute began in 2001, where he served as the Institute’s coordinator, division director of training services, and associate administrator.
Church Service: When he was called the 70 Presidents, Elder Brown served as the Utah Region 70 in the 12th Quorum of 70. Elder Brown served as Bishop, Chairman of the Jamaica Kingston Mission (2013-16), as a counselor for the President of the Mission, district president, district president and presidency counselor. He served on a full-time mission at the Kingston Jamaica Mission from 1995 to 97.
