Difference between revisions of "Boyd K. Packer"

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President Boyd K. Packer is the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Boyd Kenneth Packer was born on September 10, 1924, in Brigham City, Utah. Although he was the tenth of eleven children born to Ira and Emma Packer, he was the first to be born in a hospital. He grew up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was baptized into the Church as a child. While still a young boy, Packer suffered from what the doctors believed to be pneumonia. However, after he became well again, he found he was initially unable to walk. It was not until he reached adulthood that he learned that he had actually had polio.

Military Service

As he reached the age to go on a full-time mission for the Church, World War II began. Instead of serving a full-time mission, President Packer served in the U.S. Army as a fighter pilot. It was while he was on one of his missions that he decided that he wanted to pursue a career as a teacher. While in Japan, Boyd K. Packer performed the baptism for the first person baptized in Japan after World War II.

Post War

When the war ended, President Packer attended Weber State University and later Utah State University. One Sunday, President Packer was asked to give a talk in a ward that he did not attend. A young woman named Donna Edith Smith was at the meeting and later said that when upon hearing him speak she thought “Now, this is the type of man I would wish to marry.” On July 28, 1947, Boyd K. Packer and Donna Smith were married, together they had 10 children.

CES Employment

After receiving his bachelor’s degree, President Packer taught seminary in Brigham City for six years. At the same time, he also worked on getting his master’s degree from Utah State University. President Packer later went on to earn a PhD from Brigham Young University. While working with the seminary, President Packer helped to open the first seminary for Native Americans. Later President Packer was asked to work with the Church’s Publication Committee, allowing him to assist in the production of numerous editions of the scriptures. President Packer is well- known for his knowledge of the scriptures and for his quick wit.

In addition to serving in the Church, President Packer has actively served in the community. He has been a city councilman, and has received awards for his efforts in educational and civic affairs.

Artistic Talents

President Packer developed talents as an artist and learned how to carve and paint beautifully. At one point he even considered becoming a professional artist. President Packer continues to exercise these talents; he has even illustrated a few books. One such book, published in 1977, was entitled Mothers. President Packer wrote the book and created the beautiful pictures of birds that are shown every couple of pages. Some of his carvings of birds, and a 'Noah's Ark' with carved animals he made for his grandchildren, were displayed in an exhibition at the Church Museum of History and Art in Salt Lake City.

Church Service

On October 1, 1961, Boyd K. Packer was called to be an assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The calling was a surprise and given to him only about an hour before it was to be announced in General Conference. His wife and family learned about the calling as it was being announced to the rest of the members of the Church. President Packer was only 37 and the youngest of the General Authorities. In 1965 he was given an additional calling, to be the Mission President for the New England States mission, where he served until 1968. On April 9, 1970, Boyd K. Packer was called to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

President Boyd K. Packer served as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles June 5, 1994 to February 2, 2008 [1], which means it has been his duty to preside over the other apostles. President Packer has served as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since February 3, 2008, when a new First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were constituted.

In the April 2008, President Packer summarized his worldwide travels in church service:

"I am no different from the Brethren of the Twelve and the Seventy and the Bishopric with whom I have served for these 47 years when I tell you that the records show I have been in Mexico and Central and South America more than 75 times, in Europe over 50 times, Canada 25 times, the islands of the Pacific 10 times, Asia 10 times, and Africa 4 times; also China twice; to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the Dominican Republic, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, and many, many other places around the globe." (April 2008 LDS General Conference)

President Packer has not kept a formal journal. Much of his experiences and testimony have been documented in talks and sermons he has given over the years.

Quotes from President Boyd K. Packer

• "We may one day stand alone, but we will not change or lower our standards or change our course."

"On the Shoulders of Giants," BYU J. Reuben Clark Law Society Devotional, February 2004

• "We need not fear. Fear is the opposite of faith. I have been in the councils of the Church and seen many things, I have seen disappointment and shock and concern. Never once have I seen any fear."

"The One Pure Defense," Address to CES Religious Educators, February 2004

• "Often, however, the things we carry are petty, even stupid. If you are still upset after all these years because Aunt Clara didn't come to your wedding reception, why don't you grow up? Forget it. If you brood constantly over some past mistake, settle it—look ahead. If the bishop didn't call you right—or release you right—forget it. If you resent someone for something he has done—or failed to do—forget it. We call that forgiveness. It is powerful, spiritual medicine. The instructions for its use are found in the scriptures.

"The Balm of Gilead," Ensign, November 1977, 59-61; November 1987, 16-18

• "Prayer is your personal key to heaven. The lock is on your side of the veil." (Nov 1994 General Conference)

Stories from Boyd K. Packer's Life

Experiences With the Scriptures

• Elder Packer shares his experience reading The Book of Mormon for the first time as a boy (LDS General Conference April 2005)

• Elder Packer describes his first attempts, around the age of 10, to read The Book of Mormon (LDS General Conference April 2004)

• Boyd K. Packer learns to reconcile his faith with his military service while studying The Book of Mormon (LDS General Conference April 2005)

• Boyd K. Packer finishes reading The Book of Mormon for the first time as a soldier in World War II. (LDS General Conference April 2002)

• President Hinckley jokes at a conference that he cannot use Elder Packer's scriptures, because after years of study and markings, "You have everything crossed out!" (LDS General Conference, April 2002)

• Elder Packer explains how, as a seminary teacher, he would use the concordinance to help people find scriptures they were looking for. (Ensign 1985, pg 49+)

• Elder Packer explains how the counsel in his patriarchal blessing to "guard and protect your body" has blessed his life. (LDS General Conference, October 2000)(LDS General Conference, April 1996)

Experiences with Prayer

• As his combat plan is running out of fuel, Airman Boyd K. Packer tests his brother's lesson about the power of prayer and a favorite hymn to bring peace and assurance (LDS General Conference, October 1999)

Service to Others

• Shortly after being released from the Air Force following World War II, Boyd K. Packer helps fill bags of wheat, at a Church welfware mill, to help starving people in Europe (LDS General Conference April 2002)

Family Experiences

• The Holy Ghost teaches President Packer not to fear for the future that his grandchildren will face (LDS General Conference April 2004)

• A spiritually sensitive grandmother quietly helps sister Packer tend to ten small children in sacrament meeting while Elder Packer was away on church business (LDS General Conference, April 2003)

• A bedridden grandfather (Sister Packer's father) blesses the Packer children with his presence and the opportunity for service (LDS General Conference, April 2003).

• As a young boy, Boyd K. Packer witnesses his Sister Adele die from the measles (LDS General Conference April 2004)

• Boyd K. Packer's brother, Leon, jokes with him first on the air strip and then upon receiving a call as a general authority "See you upstairs if you think you can make it." (LDS General Conference, April 1999)

• Harold B. Lee's wife teaches Elder Packer's son about tithing (the story with the shiny and dirty pennies). (LDS General Conference, October 1998)

• Elder Packer's young son reminds him that he is a child of God "I not a monkey, Daddy, I a person." (LDS General Conference April 1994)

Experiences as a General Authority

• Elder Packer hears President Kimball bear witness in Denmark that the apostles hold the priesthood keys held by Peter (LDS General Conference, April 2008; LDS General Conference, April 1995)

• Elder Packer recounts feelings of inadequacy when called as a general authority (LDS General Conference, October 2007)

• Elder Packer bears his testimony to the First Presidency during his call to the apostleship (LDS General Conference, October 2007)

• Elder Packer learns, while listening to the tabernacle organist, of the assurance of the Holy Ghost in his ministry (LDS General Conference April 2007)

• At a symposium, Elder Packer uses humor to respond to preposterous claims about members of the Church (LDS General Conference October 2006)

• Elder Packer receives an impression of the strength and future of the church while watching faitful saints in the Philipines who serve well despite their poverty. (LDS General Conference October 2004)

• Elder Packer learns to trust the missionary work in a province in Canada to young missionaries who hold "the priesthood of the Almighty God" (LDS General Conference October 2004)

• President Packer attends a missionary zone conference to which the mission president couldn't attend due to a gale. "The young zone leaders conducted that meeting with as much inspiration and dignity as their mission president might have done." (LDS General Conference October 2004)

• Elder Packer teaches a stake president the importance of valuing grandparents for what they are and not just what they do in the Church (LDS General Conference, April 2003)

• Elder Packer calls an unassuming man to be patriarch of a stake (LDS General Conference, October 2002)

• Elder Packer rescues a Peruvian orphan from being banished from a Sacrament Meeting service LDS General Conference, April 2002)

• Elder Packer is carried off in a train before he can help an orphaned begger in Japan LDS General Conference, April 2002)

• Elder Packer helps a sick first grader in a hospital open a Christmas package from his Navajo mother LDS General Conference, April 2002)

• Elder Packer attends a Sacrament Meeting presentation by special needs children (LDS General Conference, April 2002)

• Elder and Sister Packer meet with Relief Society members in Czeckoslovakia, behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War (LDS General Conference, April 1998)

• Belle Spafford, General President of the Relief Society, teaches Elder Packer of the importance of accepting calls to serve (LDS General Conference, October 1997)

• As an airman in the air force, Boyd K. Packer experiences the humiliation of being unclean after a week-long trip through the desert without being able to wash. That experience later helped him understand the principle of being washed clean spiritually. (LDS General Conference, April 1997)

• Elder Packer learns from President Harold B. Lee of the infinite nature of the atonement. (LDS General Conference, October 1995)

Links

To see a video of Boyd K. Packer bearing testimony of Christ and the Restoration, click here.

Sermons and Writings of Boyd K. Packer

LDS Newsroom Biography of President Packer

PBS Interview Transcript with President Packer

Boyd K. Packer's life has been chronicled in a biography by Lucile C. Tate, entitled Boyd K. Packer: A Watchman on the Tower (http://deseretbook.com/store/product?sku=3046866).