June 22, 2025, 2:58pm MDT
Provo, Utah – In the newly-called, newly-called final message about to begin serving around the world, Church President Russell M. Nelson shared his testimony from the Book of Mormon and his ability to strengthen individual conversions to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
On Sunday, June 22nd, President Nelson shared his message in a pre-recorded video with new mission leaders gathered at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. He urged new leaders to help Latter-day Saints’ missionaries in Jesus Christ to be transformed and included in their converted lives during their ministry.
“Perhaps you won’t see so many life changes at other times in your life. These include of course the lives of those who find and participate in your mission,” he said. “But at least what matters is the conversion of the missionaries.”
President Nelson invited his new mission leader to embrace the “Book of Mormon conversion power.”
“One of the biggest conversion tools you and your missionaries can use at your disposal is the Book of Mormon,” he said.
Changing the Book of Mormon experience
President Nelson recounted the experiences of Perley P. Pratt, who read the Book of Mormon for the first time.
Pratt wrote about the time: “I read all day. Eating was a burden, I didn’t want food. Sleep was a burden when night came.
His conversion took him and his family away from his childhood home in New York. He traveled multiple times for missions heading to California and south from England across the Atlantic Ocean and from Chile to serve across the North American continent.
President Nelson said that Prophet Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon explanation provides answers to why millions of individuals have their own conversion experiences by studying and living what the Book of Mormon teaches.
“I told my brothers that the Book of Mormon is the most correct of all books on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and that person would be more angry at the lesson than any other book, approaching God.”
President Nelson said the Book of Mormon is God’s Word.
“It teaches the doctrine of Christ and explains more about the Savior’s tone sin than other books. It restores some of the “mortal and precious” truths that have been lost during various translations of the Bible over the centuries,” he said.
President Nelson said that because of the value of including these teachings and truths, the first presidency frequently offers the Book of Mormon as a gift to those visiting.
“We enjoy these conversations a lot,” he said. And when offering them copies of the Book of Mormon, President Nelson said that when they turn to the appearance of the Savior recorded in 3 Nephi 11, they will often read a portion of “this precious book.”
“We can probably imagine the spirit of entering the first presidency room,” he said, citing 3 Nephi 11:10-11, 14.
“Behold, I am Jesus Christ, and it is the world that the prophet testified.
“Behold, I am a life of light and the world, and I was drunk from the bitter cup my Father gave me, and praised me for taking the world’s sins on me.
“That you may push your hand into my side, and that you may feel the prints of your nails in my hands and my feet means that you may know that you are the God of Israel and the God of the whole earth.”
President Nelson said the response to these poems differs depending on the different guests who hear them. And he said that many of them are “overwhelmed by emotions… of course the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ testifies.”
Power and Blessing
President Nelson promised that these same kinds of experiences could be shared by mission leaders and missionaries when making the Book of Mormon “the cornerstone of your teaching.”
“Encourage your missionaries to study diligently. Help them see that in this book there are answers to their questions,” he said.
He also shared three different powers that missionaries can gain from the truths taught in the Book of Mormon.
• The power to do the impossible.
•The power to become increasingly pure.
•The power to teach God’s authority.
President Nelson was closed with the promise of blessings of increased personal conversion. Strength and protection for your family. and call guidance.
Finally, President Nelson shared his love for his new mission leader, saying, “I love you, my dear friends.”
With the four-day seminar concluded, the new mission president and his wife begin to leave for the assigned mission. Most will begin serving for the next 10 days, with most going for three years before returning home.
Of the 167 new mission leader couples, 42 will go to missions headquartered in 29 different US states. The other 125 couples will serve on missions headquartered in 48 other countries.
