According to a statement released by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Friday, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has been released from the hospital after spending about one week there.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, who had been admitted to the hospital for a short period of observation, has been discharged from the facility, according to Eric Hawkins, a spokesman for the church. “He is getting back to his regular activities.” He and his family are grateful for everyone’s kind wishes and prayers at this difficult time.
Jeffrey Holland Sickness
According to what Hawkins had reported the previous day, Elder Holland, age 79, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was admitted to the hospital the week prior after suffering from illness for a number of days. The COVID-19 test came back negative, and the doctors are moving forward with the diagnostic process.
Elder Holland was called and consecrated an apostle on June 23, 1994, after the passing of President Ezra Taft Benson, which resulted in a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve.
Tuesday will mark the 26th anniversary of Elder Holland’s appointment as an apostle. A general authority within the church, Elder Holland had been serving in that capacity. Before devoting his full time to the service of God in the church, he was the president of Brigham Young University from 1980 until 1989.
This past month, at the beginning of the month, he was one of forty religious leaders who participated in “Coronaspection,” an interfaith conversation of introspection about the coronavirus pandemic that was sponsored by the Elijah Interfaith Institute. Elder Holland carried on a conversation with Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein for fifty-one minutes as they were both videotaped in Elder Holland’s home office.
He stated that the fact that Jesus Christ occasionally sought isolation in order to refresh himself, gather strength, and obtain divine assistance has always left an impression on him. He stated that the lull in activity caused by the pandemic has been unprecedented for him. You can also read about Len Goodman’s Sickness.
“This retreat for me, this solitude, which I have not had in 40 years — I was a very young president of a university 40 years ago, and I haven’t had seclusion and solitude time in four decades — that has affected me, and it has been with a determination to return to public, collective, congregational service, not hide from it, but to be a better person in doing it and maybe have a little more sympathy, empathy and insight for those out in that congregation. I’m just a little more conscious of people’s hopes and dreams and some of their disappointments.”
Elder Holland, in his capacity as chairman of the executive committee of BYU-board Hawaii’s of trustees, announced the appointment of John “Keoni” Kauwe as the 11th president of the university in May. BYU-Hawaii is one of five colleges and universities owned and controlled by the church.