Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is currently hospitalized for observation and treatment of ongoing health complications, according to a Thursday, Aug. 3, statement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The hospitalization comes two weeks after the July 20 death of Sister Patricia Terry Holland, Elder Holland’s wife. He attended both the July 28 funeral service held in the Conference Center Theater in Salt Lake City and the July 29 graveside service in the St. George Cemetery in St. George, Utah, the city where Elder and Sister Holland grew up and were married.
“Elder Holland is grateful for the many prayers offered in his behalf in recent weeks for his health and during this time of mourning,” said the Aug. 3 statement published on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. “He sincerely appreciates the well-wishes and kindnesses shown to him and his family by the members of the Church and those who know and care for his family.”
The 82-year-old Apostle has been dealing with a kidney condition and undergoing dialysis, explained an April 6 Church statement, which added that he had been given leave from Church assignments and meetings for a period of time to allow his medical treatments and recovery to take full effect. He had not attended any sessions of April 2023 general conference after he and his wife were diagnosed with COVID-19.
Elder Holland wrote on social media on April 1 how he would miss general conference for the first time and would be watching while holding hands with his wife. He also took the opportunity to testify of Jesus Christ on Palm Sunday weekend and moving into Holy Week.
“I hope you will join me in recognizing and appreciating that all sins and sorrows, all disappointment and depression, all temptation and all tears may be put behind us through the divinity, atoning sacrifice and triumphant Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
After taking two months off, Elder Holland started slowly returning to work in early June, writing on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter how he had been away due to some serious health challenges. He said he and his wife had been touched by the cards, notes, thoughts and especially the prayers people have offered on their behalf.
“Your sweet gestures during this demanding time have reminded us that God watches over us, that we can always trust in Him, and that He very often answers our prayers through other people,” Elder Holland wrote.
He said often it is the difficult, demanding times of lives that are the growth periods and defining periods. “On days when we feel we have been pushed to our limit, we are reminded that we won’t be pushed beyond our faith,” he said. “We won’t discover just how much strength we do have until it is tested, refined and tested again.”
Later that month, Elder Holland provided a health update and expressed his thanks for prayers on his behalf in a June 24 interview recorded during the 2023 Seminar for New Mission Leaders in Provo, Utah. His message was published as a Church News video titled “Prayers of the Saints.”
“I’m staggering toward the finish line,” he says in the video. “I refuse to get off the track. I’m still in the race. And I’m grateful to the Saints for that, for those prayers.”
During the July 28 funeral service for Sister Holland and in a brief message read by their oldest son, Elder Matthew S. Holland, a General Authority Seventy, the Apostle acknowledged that “the circumstances of his own health and emotions” prevented him from standing to make an “extended tribute to his beloved companion.”
Calling Sister Holland “the greatest woman I have ever known,” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said he is heartbroken by her loss yet sustained by the power of prayers of so many. “I thought the onset of neuropathy and dialysis was enough,” he said. “But this loss of Pat so unexpectedly has been devastating.”
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