[ORGAN MUSIC PLAYING] “I Know that My Redeemer Lives”

Thank you, brothers and sisters. President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, will now conduct the funeral. You may be seated.

Brothers and sisters, we welcome you to the funeral services for our beloved friend and associate, President M. Russell Ballard,

who passed away on Sunday, November 12, 2023 at the age of 95.

His wife, Barbara, preceded him in death five years ago.

President Ballard was ordained an Apostle on October 6, 1985, after serving as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy and as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.

He served as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from January 14, 2018, until his passing.

President Russell M. Nelson, who is viewing these proceedings from home,

has asked me to conduct this funeral.

We recognize President Ballard's local priesthood leaders, Bishop Brian L. Jensen of the 18th Ward and President Seth P. Andrews of the Salt Lake Ensign Stake, who are seated on the stand.

We note with sincere appreciation President Ballard's dedicated and loyal staff members who served him well for many years. Prior to the funeral, the family prayer was offered by Brother Bradford J.

Brower, a son-in-law. The music today will be provided by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square,

under the direction of Mack Wilberg and Ryan Murphy,

with Richard Elliott and Andrew Unsworth at the organ.

The choir will open this meeting by singing “Consider the Lilies.”

The invocation will then be offered by Sister Brynn B. Huntsman, President Ballard's daughter.

[MUSIC PLAYING] “Consider the Lilies”

Our Father in Heaven, we are so humbled and grateful to be here.

As we bow our heads and ask Thy Spirit to be with us as we mourn, but also as we celebrate our dear father, President Ballard.

He has been such a teacher through the world and to us, and we are so grateful that we’ve had the opportunity to learn from him, watch him serve others for over 50 years.

He was never wavering in his love for the Savior,

and we watched this on many occasions.

I’m so thankful for the plan of salvation, for our Savior,

who my father loved. And because of this knowledge

or belief that we have of the plan of salvation,

we know that he is not lost to us, that he is with our dear mother,

and they are rejoicing together.

We are so grateful, Heavenly Father, for this beautiful soul that has loved people all over the world,

has shared his testimony, and has given

every minute he could to serve the Savior and Thee.

We ask for Thy Spirit to be with us as we continue through this meeting,

this funeral, that we may feel the love of Thy Savior who buoys us up,

and we are grateful, Heavenly Father, for Thee,

and do these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

We will now be pleased to hear from two of President Ballard's children,

Brother Craig B. Ballard and Sister Holly B. Clayton.

Following their remarks, the choir will sing “Faith in Every Footstep.”

We will then hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and President Jeffrey R. Holland, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

After their remarks, the choir will sing “Have I Done Any Good?”

It will then be my privilege to offer closing remarks.

I was only four years old when my dad was called to preside over the Canada Toronto Mission.

And from that time forward, he was in full-time church service for the next 50 years.

I was 15 when he was called into the Quorum of the Twelve.

He was always busy, but he also took time for me.

As a young teenager, I remember the

the advice he often gave me came in short and memorable phrases like, “Cool your jets,” “Measure three times, cut once,” and, one of our favorites, “Think straight.”

One of dad’s favorite sayings was “Keep it simple.”

My father's ability to tackle complex issues was remarkable.

He always knew how to get to the heart of a difficult problem quickly.

He had incredible vision to know what needed to be done and the wisdom and fortitude to do it.

His favorite scripture was John 14:15: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

It doesn't get much simpler than that.

He wanted every Latter-day Saint, especially his children, to think deeply about the lives of faith lived by early Church leaders like his ancestors Hyrum and Joseph Smith, Joseph F. Smith, and Melvin J. Ballard, and he testified often of their faith.

At one point, my father sent me a letter on my mission, while I was just learning how to get my legs under me.

And he said, you have the prophets.

You have the blood of prophets in your veins.

I thought to myself, well, no pressure there.

I hear them saying . . . my dad would always say, I hear them saying, meaning his ancestors, all the time, “Get with it. Do something worthwhile. Get going, boy. Don’t just sit there.” They were doers. They had to be doers.

My dad was a doer. Two days before he passed, he was convinced he was going to the office on Monday.

I'm sure he's still hard at work, but now he has an office with an unbelievable view.

Dad was always a visionary. With faith and hard work, he inspired people and moved the work of salvation forward.

He moved people through events like the sesquicentennial celebration of the pioneers or places like This Is the Place Heritage Park.

He moved people by bringing them together for interfaith councils, reuniting descendants of Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith,

or for large scale humanitarian projects around the world.

He moved people through his books on diverse topics like suicide, our search for happiness, and counseling with our counselors—

counseling with our councils. Dad moved our souls. He taught us how to live and share the gospel of Jesus Christ through his 88 general conference addresses and countless other sermons.

My dad didn't just preach the word, he lived it every day.

He really loved people around the world and helped them progress wherever they were . . . helping them progress wherever they were on the covenant path.

He always said, never postpone a prompting.

Often he would be returning from an assignment, weary and jet-lagged, but instead of going home, he would ask me to accompany him to the hospital or to someone's home to give a blessing.

In fact, the last blessing he gave in this life was to someone while he was a patient in the hospital. He was just like that. That's who he was.

When I was a young missionary serving in Japan, my father came to my mission. And I will never forget what he told the missionaries, in no uncertain terms. He said that he knew Jesus Christ.

I was expecting him to share some great spiritual manifestation. Instead, he simply said, I know Jesus Christ because I serve Jesus Christ.

I'll never forget that moment. I knew he spoke the truth because I had witnessed his selfless service throughout my life.

I have watched him minister to the one, counsel in Church councils, create inspired programs like JustServe, and help change the way we do missionary work through Preach My Gospel.

Today, in my own small way,

I, too, can say that I know Jesus Christ because I strive to serve Him.

I believe that there are thousands, perhaps millions around the world who, because of my father’s example,

have developed a stronger testimony of the Savior in the same way,

one drop at a time. At the risk of being too personal,

one of the last things my father said before he passed, I think illustrates the life that he led while he was transitioning from this life to the next. He first asked me, Am I clean?

As though it was a question. After a lengthy pause,

as though he was being assured from the other side, his question turned into a statement. He said emphatically, grasping my hand with strength, I am clean, I am clean.

As I think about that, I truly feel that this reference is a dream that my father’s great- grandfather, Joseph F. Smith, had,

in which he was delayed on his journey and was dirty and stopped to take a bath and get clean. When he finally went to the door of a mansion,

the Prophet Joseph answered and said, Joseph, you are late.

Joseph F. Smith replied, yes, but I am clean, I am clean.

Dad, you have fought a good fight. You finished your course. You have kept the faith. I love you, Dad. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

To his children, Dad is like a mighty oak.

He is grounded and solid and steady. Even in his busy and demanding life, he has always been there when it mattered most to us.

We have all faced life's challenges, from the seemingly small things like scraping our knees in a fall, or battling nerves, or singing in a concert, to bigger life moments like heading out to serve missions and choosing our eternal companions.

We have even suffered through the pains of poor health and loss of spouses and children. In these times when we were hurting,

Dad was always there to wipe away our tears, calm our troubled hearts, and soothe our aching souls.

He has been our broad shoulder to cry on, and his chest was a peaceful place to rest our weary heads.

Dad has always had a great sense of humor. We think he learned that from our mother, who never took herself too seriously and never let him do so either.

He would play shaky bridges with us when he came home from work and would, more often than we wanted sometimes, tickle us until we cried for mercy.

He was quick with a joke and ready for a laugh.

He would tease us all into taking a lighter view of life.

Dad never hesitated to call down the powers of heaven on our behalf.

He gave us blessings when we were ill, troubled, or sad.

When I was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, Dad was devastated.

He called the family together to fast and pray for me.

I was in a world of fear and uncertainty.

When the evening of the blessing came, he laid his hands upon my head and offered up a sweet prayer,

pleading with the Lord for a blessing of strength, peace, and healing for me. Dad always gave us wise counsel and advice when we were confused and needing direction.

He gave us encouragement to move forward with a positive mental attitude and an eternal perspective.

He always helped us feel that things would work out.

He shared in and celebrated family moments. From his own children down to his first great-great-grandchild, he made every effort to be supportive.

He attended baptisms and blessings, sporting events and high school performances, and was there to give us a hug no matter the outcome. Years ago, my sister was living in San Diego.

She had her first child and her husband, who served in the Navy, was deployed.

She was feeling lonely, so she drove home to visit.

When it came time to head back, Dad didn’t want her to drive home alone.

He was assigned to a stake conference that weekend, but he told her, I found someone to take the conference and I am driving you home. We aim to live up to the example of our father and our beautiful mother. To each of his seven children and their spouses, Dad was always a father first and foremost,

and each of his 43 grandchildren knew him best as their grandpa.

Our mom was his everything,

and he counted himself the luckiest man in the world to have won her heart.

He would consistently remind us that his best sales job was winning her over.

Sometimes in the last few years, he would even tease us that if mom was in heaven without him too long, she might find someone else she liked better.

Mom has always been and still is his queen.

It has been nearly 50 years of full-time service to the Savior for Dad.

He never stopped pushing, never stopped ministering, never stopped loving.

He was motivated in all things by his love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He carried a picture of the Savior in his coat pocket, and he would often hold it up and say how much he loved Him and loved serving Him. Before he passed away, he would often tell us, I still have a few things to do. But he will always have a few things to do.

And Dad will never stop, never give up.

As Craig has said, Dad was a man with incredible vision of what needed to be done and the wisdom of how to do it.

He was a consensus builder, a problem solver, a unifier,

a dear friend to many, and had a kind heart open to all. We will miss him.

We rejoice in the promised blessing that he and mom are together again, and that families are together forever.

The Lord prepared Dad to do a great work here on earth, and the world is truly a better place because he was in it.

We are certain he and mom are already hard at work beyond the veil.

We love you, Daddy. Take Mama dancing. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

[MUSIC PLAYING] “Faith in Every Footstep”

I appreciate the opportunity to express the deep sense of loss that we all feel at the passing of our dear friend

and great leader, President M. Russell Ballard.

I’m grateful for the marvelous remarks by Craig and Holly.

They represent President and Sister Ballard’s seven exceptional children

and wonderful extended family.

President Ballard's love for his wife Barbara,

his children, and posterity was always preeminent in his thoughts and actions.

I rejoice in his reunion with his precious Barbara.

Since her passing, there was hardly a meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when he did not mention how much he missed her.

Encouraged us to be more attentive to our wives and children.

The beautiful musical rendition “Faith in Every Footstep,”

which President Ballard commissioned,

evokes memories of his epic efforts to overcome divisions and honor pioneers of all faiths. He desired to help build unity.

He chaired the Pioneer Sesquicentennial Celebration in 1997

and provided ongoing support for the This Is the Place Heritage Park.

The principal message in the hymn “Faith in Every Footstep” is an invitation to give service to and build faith in Jesus Christ.

This was President Ballard's life mission.

He served 47 years as a general authority,

38 of which he served as an Apostle of the Lord.

The marvelous work referred to in the hymn is the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Proclaiming the Restoration was the greatest desire of his heart.

President Ballard was called to serve as a missionary in the British Mission in 1948, just three years after the end of World War II.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and I were called to the same mission twelve years later.

Two years ago, President Ballard wanted to have the three of us teach the gospel across the British Isles.

President Russell M. Nelson approved the assignment, but said with a smile that the precedent for all three of us going to visit our mission together was, if there are three general authorities who served in the same mission over 60 years ago,

then I will approve it.

Much was accomplished in this assignment.

Elder Holland and I were amazed to watch President Ballard stand on a wall in the center of Nottingham, where he had held street meetings 73 years before. What a missionary.

What a teacher. Even more impressive was his showing us a spot near a stream where he had had a spiritual confirmation of the truthfulness of the gospel he was teaching.

President Ballard was blessed with a remarkable heritage.

Both of his grandfathers, Melvin Joseph Ballard on his father's side,

and Hyrum Mack Smith on his mother’s side, were apostles.

His great-grandfather, Joseph F. Smith, was the president of the Church for 17 years, from 1901 to 1918.

His great-great-grandfather, Hyrum Smith, was martyred in Carthage Jail along with his brother, the Prophet Joseph Smith.

President Ballard never saw this heritage as a badge of honor or an entitlement of any kind.

He did see it as a responsibility to teach the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He believed strongly that he would be both accountable to the Lord

and to Joseph and Hyrum. He had sculptured busts of Hyrum and Joseph on his office shelf. I believe, with this powerful motivation,

M. Russell Ballard was the most dedicated missionary of our generation.

I am confident that these faithful ancestors have greeted him with love and deep appreciation. One of the reasons he has been such a great missionary and leader is his love for people. All people, everyone he met, realized he was truly interested in them

and any challenges that they faced.

He believes that the gospel of Jesus Christ was the answer to life's truly important questions.

His love of people was not conditional.

He continued to love and associate with them, whether they accept the gospel message or not.

As a young missionary, President Ballard served as a counselor in the mission presidency

to both of his mission presidents, Selvoy J. Boyer and Stayner Richards.

He kept pictures of both mission presidents on the wall of his office.

During this mission, he helped introduce a standardized teaching plan in England and eventually to all of Europe.

President Ballard and Barbara were called as mission leaders to the Canada Toronto Mission in 1974.

Their young family accompanied them.

This was a seminal experience for the entire family.

His experience in both the British and Canadian missions prepared him to be engaged in and preside over many of the major missionary initiatives during the nearly 50 years he served as a general authority.

Over that period, he was deeply involved in three consecutive missionary training guides.

The Uniform System for Teaching the Gospel in 1985,

Preach My Gospel in 2004, and Preach My Gospel, second edition, released last June 2023. I had the privilege of serving with him in the preparation of the last two guides.

This is one of the highlights of my life.

The centerpiece of the Church’s missionary effort has always been

the doctrine of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of the Lord’s Church.

No one has taught this more powerfully or thoroughly than President Ballard over the last 50 years.

For the past five years, President M. Russell Ballard has been the beloved president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. We love him.

He has been a strong leader and has left the quorum in a great place.

He has declared, I can say to you, the Church is secure and always will be secure, because the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the three Apostles who make up the First Presidency will always guide this Church in the direction it should go.

President M. Russell Ballard was a mentor to each of us in the quorum and many, many others. He was a warm bridge builder with a great sense of humor and was kind to everyone.

He was wise and tried to keep things simple.

He was inclusive and invited everyone into his circle.

He exhibited great character and integrity in every aspect of his life.

His personal testimony of the Savior was strong and unwavering.

I am eternally grateful to have been blessed by the power of his testimony.

I testify of the reality of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the assurance of salvation, exaltation, eternal life, and reunion, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

In the fall of 1990,

33 years ago, I was the newly named and totally ignorant president of the Europe North Area of the Church.

I’d been a General Authority Seventy just over 11 months.

Barely situated in my new international location,

I was then informed that someone named Melvin Russell Ballard was going to be my first contact in the Quorum of the Twelve.

That, of course, continued the long-established practice of apostolic supervision of the worldwide Church under the ultimate direction of the First Presidency. Well, talk about being frightened, frantic, and having your Edsel crash on the freeway.

I could have walked under a door with high heels on. Of all the members of the Twelve, Russell Ballard was the Apostle I knew the least.

Having had little ecclesiastical exposure to him, and no personal contact at all.

What I did know is that he was one of the most remarkable missionaries of any era in the Church. And me?

It had been 30 years since my mission,

and I was pretty rusty on my door approach.

I also knew that as a very young man,

Brother Ballard had been an entrepreneurial whiz in the business and financial world, and there I was.

I couldn't balance a checkbook,

and I thought stocks and bonds were what they strapped Charlton Heston into

on that slave ship.

Ben-Hur eat your heart out. That night in my bedroom,

I dropped to my knees in a state of despair.

I knew I was going to disappoint Elder Ballard, the First Presidency, the Lord, myself, everyone in this new assignment. I wept. I was young.

I pled for peace and some reassurance.

I then heard a voice

so stunning that I stopped praying mid-sentence

and considered every syllable I had just heard.

Like a handful of other similar experiences in my life,

I don't know whether it was an audible voice

or one delivered directly to my mind, but that distinction doesn't matter.

What was communicated was this. Jeffrey, this is my work, not yours.

So you rejoice in the arrangements I choose to make. I deserve that.

But then I heard the unbelievable.

Russell Ballard will be one of the best friends you will ever have in this world.

You will enjoy his company and seek his counsel for the rest of your life.

That brief, unforgettable, unexpected answer to prayer has been more than fulfilled in every detail

a thousand times over. Far more than I can say possibly this morning.

What I can say is that for the next three years, we cherished those long hours laboring together in England and Scandinavia,

laughing and crying and loving the work, eating fish and chips on the run, and avoiding lutefisk at Christmas time.

Then, most unexpectedly, I became a fellow member of his quorum,

where I have enjoyed his friendship and wise counsel for more than 29 years,

six of which I have been at his elbow, watching closely his leadership of that quorum. Even more personally,

may I say that during my recent five-week hospital stay,

three weeks of which were spent in an unconscious journey to the doorstep of death, President Ballard gave me blessings or visited or called the hospital every single day

for those touch-and-go weeks while my life hung in the balance.

How do you thank a man for that?

I have since tried to do something in that way, with reciprocal visits and calls to him every day during the last two or three weeks of his life. And thanks to this remarkable family who I love so dearly and who honor me with this invitation to speak,

I got to kiss President Ballard's cheek for the last time,

just hours before he passed.

Like the thousands, now millions,

who’ve been blessed by Russell Ballard’s witness of our Savior,

I, too, bear witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Redeemer of all mankind, the life and the light of the world.

I celebrate President Ballard as one who will indeed come forth triumphantly

on the morning of the First Resurrection.

He will do so as the recipient of a gift flowing from the great atoning sacrifice of the Holy Lamb of God,

a gift which is the central splendor of the eternal plan of divine mercy,

of which Melvin Russell Ballard Jr.

has been a special witness, and still is. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

[MUSIC PLAYING] “Have I Done Any Good?”

My remarks are in two parts.

First, to the family of President M. Russell Ballard

from the First Presidency.

We extend to you our heartfelt condolences at the passing of our dear friend and associate, President M. Russell Ballard.

A truly remarkable man, husband, father, grandfather, and esteemed Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He leaves to you, his posterity, a legacy of enduring faith and commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As was his hope, he passed from this life into the next with his testimony burning brightly.

As the great-great-grandson of Hyrum Smith, President Ballard had a tangible connection to the Prophet Joseph Smith. That connection inspired him throughout his life.

It would be impossible to measure President Ballard’s impact for good

during his sojourn in mortality. As a young missionary to Great Britain,

as a mission president in Toronto, and as a general authority, he has traversed the globe many times,

teaching and testifying of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel.

He has been a courageous warrior for truth.

President Ballard was a gifted leader.

His zeal for missionary work is legendary,

and he led out in developing the original version of Preach My Gospel.

His thoughtful, contemplative nature was a blessing to the council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

His tremendous energy and delightful sense of humor will be greatly missed by all who had the privilege of associating with him.

In his final conference address, President Ballard said to members of the Church, Oh, how I love you.

What a glorious experience it has been to look into your faces,

to be in your presence, and to feel your love that you have for the Lord and for the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

to which we now respond, Oh, how we love President Ballard.

How glorious it has been to associate with him, to be inspired by his loving care for his beloved Barbara,

to hear his resounding witness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Until we meet again, dear friend and brother,

we thank you for a lifetime of tireless service,

inspired teaching, and genuine kindness.

May we strive to follow your extraordinary example as a covenant-keeping disciple of Jesus Christ. May you, his loved ones, receive a blessing of comfort at this tender time of parting. With our love and warm regards, Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks, Henry B. Eyring.

The First Presidency.

In addition to that letter from the First Presidency to the Ballard family, I am privileged to add something about M. Russell Ballard

from each member of the First Presidency to the members of the Church. President Ballard and I sat beside one another in the meetings of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for almost 33 years. President Eyring knew President Ballard intimately for about 40 years. President Nelson

knew President Ballard longer than either one of us.

Each of us loved this man. We were inspired by his fervent testimony.

We learned from his many great leadership qualities

and we were blessed by his influence throughout the Church.

He has been an exemplary leader of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during his many years in that capacity. We will miss him.

The other leaders of the Church will miss him.

Our missionaries will miss him. The members of the Church will miss him.

Fortunately, our loss is a gain for innumerable loved ones and leaders who are greeting him on the other side of the veil.

There and here, his influence for righteousness is and will be profound and permanent. We bid him an affectionate farewell

for now. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

We thank all who have participated and those who have prepared the building and handled the countless details associated with these proceedings. We also express appreciation to the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square,

and to their conductors and organists for the beautiful music they have provided.

The choir will close this meeting by singing “I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go.” The benediction will then be offered by Brother Paul N. Clayton,

a son-in-law. After the benediction, please remain in your places until the official cortege has departed Temple Square as shown on the monitors.

The interment will be at the Salt Lake City Cemetery, where Brother Clark R. Ballard, a son, will dedicate the grave.

[MUSIC PLAYING] “I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go”

Our beloved Heavenly Father,

we humbly bow our heads at the conclusion of this service

and express our gratitude to Thee, principally for Thy Son Jesus Christ, for the restored gospel,

for the plan of salvation and the peace that it brings us.

And Father, we express our great gratitude to Thee

for Melvin Russell Ballard Jr., for his leadership, for his love, for his example. We pray, Father, that we might walk with faith in every footstep as he did.

We pray that we might remember him even as we remember Thy Son,

that we will follow, that we will go and say and be what that would have us to be.

We pray Thy blessing on his family that we, Father, might,

as he would ask and has asked many times,

love and support and stay close to each other

in the years that come. We love thee, Heavenly Father,

and ask these blessings in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Brothers and sisters, please stand.