Orlando R. Kelm is a retired professor from the University of Texas at Austin. He served in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the McCombs School of Business for over 37 years, teaching courses in Portuguese and Spanish language and linguistics. His research and publications focused on the cultural aspects of cross-cultural communication and the creative use of technology in language learning.

Orlando was born in Calgary, Alberta, raised in Taylorsville, Utah, and educated at Brigham Young University and the University of California at Berkeley. He served in the São Paulo Norte Brazil mission, and his three favorite hobbies are studying foreign languages, acoustic guitar, and astrophotography and nature photography. Orlando recently published the book It’s a Patriarchal Blessing!.

Links

It’s a Patriarchal Blessing
Email Before a Patriarchal Blessing (Microsoft Word format)
Email Before a Patriarchal Blessing (PDF format)
Transcript available with the video in the Zion Lab community
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Highlights

Orlando discusses his experiences as a patriarch and the significance of patriarchal blessings. He emphasizes the importance of viewing these blessings as affirmations of identity and divine potential rather than as mere checklists or warnings.

00:02:28 – Orlando’s Calling as a Patriarch
00:03:52 – Challenges of Starting as a Patriarch
00:04:48 – Training and Preparation for Patriarchs
00:05:41 – The Pressure of Giving a Blessing
00:06:29 – Communicating First-Time Blessings
00:07:06 – Orlando’s Role as the Only Patriarch
00:07:55 – Impact on Gospel Study and Preparation
00:08:34 – Revelation and Inspiration in Preparation
00:09:40 – The Importance of Compassion
00:10:37 – Note-Taking for Blessings
00:12:00 – Reviewing and Editing Blessings
00:13:27 – The Nature of Patriarchal Blessings
00:14:35 – Preparing Candidates for Blessings
00:17:30 – Helping Candidates Feel Comfortable
00:19:06 – The Role of Patriarchs in the Church
00:20:10 – The Blessing Aspect of Patriarchal Blessings
00:21:09 – Avoiding a Checklist Mentality
00:22:32 – The Role of Personal Agency
00:23:36 – Orlando’s List of Recommended Talks
00:24:45 – Reducing Anxiety for Candidates
00:26:07 – The Experience of Giving Blessings
00:27:30 – The Importance of Seeing Potential
00:28:59 – Understanding Lineage in Blessings
00:30:33 – The Significance of Covenant and Gathering
00:31:47 – Contributions of Different Tribes
00:33:44 – The Role of Personal Revelation
00:35:58 – Flexibility in Interpreting Blessings
00:37:09 – The Lifelong Relevance of Blessings

Key Insights

The Nature of Patriarchal Blessings: These blessings should be viewed fundamentally as a positive source of love and divine identity. Orlando emphasizes that they are not patriarchal warnings, admonitions, or “chewing outs,” but rather tools to help individuals understand their divine worth.
Preparation as a Patriarch: The process involves intense, ongoing spiritual preparation. Orlando explains that he often feels like a “faucet that cannot be turned off” in the days leading up to a blessing, as he studies scriptures and topics prompted by the Holy Ghost to prepare his mind to receive impressions.
Mortal Delivery of Revelation: Patriarchs receive inspiration, but they must articulate it using their own mortal capacity, vocabulary, and understanding. Consequently, a patriarchal blessing is a collaboration between the Spirit and the patriarch’s mortal expression.
The Fallacy of the “Checklist”: Recipients should avoid viewing their blessings as a list of required events (e.g., marriage, missions, children) to be checked off. Instead, they should see the blessing as a resource to be applied to all of life’s decisions, challenges, and experiences.
Understanding Lineage: The declaration of lineage is not a DNA test but an invitation to participate in the Abrahamic covenant and the gathering of Israel. Each tribe’s unique description provides a different “skill set” for how an individual can contribute to the Lord’s work.

Leadership Applications

Alleviate Anxiety: Leaders can help reduce the nervousness people feel about visiting a patriarch by fostering opportunities for the patriarch to interact with ward members (e.g., firesides, sacrament meetings, or activities) beforehand, making him a familiar figure rather than a stranger.
Foster a Broad Interpretation: Bishops and leaders should encourage members to interpret their patriarchal blessings with flexibility. When members feel confused by their blessing, leaders can help them understand that the meanings may evolve and deepen as they face different stages and challenges in life.

The award-winning Leading Saints Podcast is one of the top independent Latter-day Saints podcasts as part of nonprofit Leading Saints’ mission to help Latter-day Saints be better prepared to lead. Find Leadership Tools, Courses, and Community for Latter-day Saint leaders in the Zion Lab community. Learn more and listen to any of the past episodes for free at LeadingSaints.org.

Past guests include Emily Belle Freeman, David Butler, Hank Smith, John Bytheway, Reyna and Elena Aburto, Liz Wiseman, Stephen M. R. Covey, Benjamin Hardy, Elder Alvin F. Meredith III, Julie Beck, Brad Wilcox, Jody Moore, Tony Overbay,