LDS students in the health professions had a unique opportunity Nov. 12 to hear from an apostle who once walked in their shoes as he trained for a career in medicine.
Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a practicing cardiovascular surgeon for more than 30 years, encouraged students in the greater Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area to reach for excellence in their professions, Mormon Church callings and home life.
His address to LDS students, who convened that evening in the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors Center, was one of two speeches he gave Nov. 12.
Earlier in the day, at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Md., Elder Nelson shared his experiences as a military surgeon with students from different military services.
"You feel a responsibility when you have a human life in your hand," Elder Nelson told medical, nursing and biomedical military officers at USUHS, the nation's federal health sciences university.
Dr. Norman M. Rich, emeritus chairman of the Department of Surgery and one of the institution's founders, invited Elder Nelson to speak as part of the 11th annual Oliver H. Beahrs Distinguished Surgical Lecture series. The two men are longtime friends who respect each other's pioneering contributions to medicine.
Many students and faculty noted how Elder Nelson is a role model of "the healer's touch," both as a surgeon and as an apostle.
"Elder Nelson is an example to everyone in medicine because everything he does speaks of excellence," said Dr. David Welling, a member of the Church and associate professor of surgery at USUHS. "He is respected because of his great contributions to the medical profession and the way he has honored his commitments to the Church and to his family."
Others pointed out that Elder Nelson went through the same rigorous medical training to become a surgeon and then walked away from his professional career to accept a calling as an apostle.
"Yet he never looked back and accepted his new assignment willingly as a new chapter in his life," Brother Welling said.
That evening, Elder Nelson addressed Mormon medical, dental and nursing students from George Washington University, Georgetown University, the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, Howard University and USUHS. Emphasizing the principles of agency and repentance, he told students to keep a gospel perspective as they make choices and covenants.
"Remember the long range goal is to be reunited with Heavenly Father and our families forever," he said.
Elder Nelson likened the effort by students to meet the standards of excellence of others to that of jumping over high hurdles toward graduation, specialization and certification. There comes a time, he said, when something more important becomes the primary focus.
"It's what you demand of yourself," he emphasized. "It's not what you need to do, but what you need to become."
He suggested the students ask themselves how they want to be eulogized at their funerals and whether they will be acknowledged for traits such as faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, Godliness, humility and diligence.
"The most important gift God gave you is agency," Elder Nelson emphasized, noting that choices either draw people toward the Lord, or away. "You are free to make choices, but once you make them, you are never free from the consequences."
The most critical choice, he said, is the one of fidelity. The first responsibility of priesthood holders is to honor their wives. Priesthood holders will be released from their Church assignments, but covenants to their companions are eternal.
Elder Nelson also advised that to make good choices people should develop a gospel perspective of tolerance and love.
"We can never tolerate behavior that is self-destructive," he cautioned. "Real love like the Savior's is always obedient to the commandments of God and manifested by service."
For those concerned about overpopulation, he pointed to the Lord's first commandment to multiply and replenish the earth, adding that there is "room and enough and to spare" and that "all will be provided in God's own way."
He expressed great respect for the human body's ability to reproduce, defend and heal itself. Calling the aging process God-given, he observed that it's "visible evidence that we won't all be stranded on earth together," so people might as well learn to love it.
"The Creator has created life in perpetuity," he noted, explaining that through the Atonement, the Lord provided the unconditional gift of immortality. But eternal life and the healing power of the Lord are contingent upon true repentance, he said, which he defined as such a mighty change that it affects not only the heart, but also the mind, the spirit, and even the way a person breathes.
Elder Nelson's advice was timely for USUHS medical student David Cowart of Salt Lake City because he is learning to balance the demands of school, a Church calling, and a family that includes a 14-month-old and a newborn. "Elder Nelson is living proof that it can be done," he said. "He was personal, giving both spiritual and practical advice about how to do it. If we put the Lord first, everything else falls into place."
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