Shes everything one would hope for someone in that role. Elder Gong as a baby with his parents. Although reasonable latter-day saints have long, long since realized there is no place for any disapproval of marriage based on race, this is still a big deal. As I said at the last time new apostles were chosenI would have preferred to have seen three Caucasian apostles from outside North America than three apostles of color who were born and raised in Utah. Ours is a worldwide Church. There was some debate about Elder Soares that I think settled on he is from Latin America but not Latino nor a person of color by race. Photo by Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News. July 10, 2022. Today, I love myself, scars and all, and I am awestruck by the simplicity at being happy, something I would never have believed possible in my younger years, says Gong, who shares an apartment with his longtime partner. Currently, he is the fourteenth most senior apostle in the church.[6]. [9] The Gongs married in the Salt Lake Temple on January 4, 1980. From at least 2002, Gong served as special assistant to the president of BYU for planning and assessment. Having people who know about petroleum extraction is always useful! Too many glories to express. Hemos detectado que ests en un navegador no compatible. )[16] Gong and his wife are the parents of four sons. I think generational biases are difficult to overcome when seeking the Lords will on things great and small. [38] On October 16, the church announced that he and his wife had successfully completed their quarantines, and that Gong had been cleared by his doctors to resume his regular assignments the following week.[38]. Some places wanted to send only the best and most artistic children to participate. [23] Among his assignments while in the Presidency of the Seventy, Gong served on the Church Board of Education and Boards of Trustees, where he also served as a member of its executive committee. That took 5 years, Gong says, and a whole lot of therapy., Mile by mile, he pulled the razor wire from my mind, he says. You may know that the LDS Young Womans program was way cooler in the early 20th century than it has been during the lifetime of anyone alive today. Youd think wed try to start making trends on this issue as opposed to following them. Photo courtesy of the Gong family. 37 Views. @Felix, my understanding at least according to Wikipedia is that Elder Gong is the son of a Chinese-Immigrant-family-in-California father and a Chinese-immigrant-family-in-Hawaii mother. There is joy and warmth as my boyfriend pulls me close for a hug, and I marvel at the easy laughs and unqualified smiles that we share as we sit on the couch watching TV., There is celebration, he says, in my families of both queer and of birth., Though Gong still claims aspects of Mormonism in his spirituality, he has added theistic Taoism, Zen Buddhism and any parts of a religion that seem resonant civility, care, forgiveness, treating humans with dignity and compassion., He learned those principles from growing up Mormon, he says, but they are not unique to the church., The churchs patterns and behaviors of abuse, he says, dont have to be there; they are not inherent in the doctrine.. I have personally experienced stinging examples of this bias: confusion about our children, surprise about us being together, and even comments along the lines that I did it backwards by being a white woman married to my Korean-American husband. 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It is our fervent hope and prayer that someday soon the Lord will open the way for the spread of the gospel here in China. Cannot load blog information at this time. Cynthia, thanks for sharing. Gerrit Walter Gong (born December 23, 1953) is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Five Frameworks on Iraq. A lot of good viewpoints and thoughts. Prior to becoming a general authority, Gong served in the church as a stake Sunday School president, high councilor, seminary teacher, bishop, stake president, and area seventy. This means that Gong is the first member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in a multi-racial marriage. Elder Gong said he and Sister Gong love being with the members in every place they have the privilege to go. [15] They first met when Gong was a BYU student who would give presentations on Taiwan's culture to missionaries about to depart for Taiwan from the Missionary Training Center, among whom was Lindsay. Reflecting the increasing diversity of the Church, Elder Gong became the first Asian-American Apostle, Elder Soares the first Apostle from South America. Please come find your family, all your generations, and bring them home.". The annual genealogical convention being held this year from March 2-4 at the Salt Palace Convention Center, 100 S. West Temple in Salt Lake City, and open to virtual and in-person visitors features special keynote speakers, classes and an expo of family research merchandise. The free event will feature live music, food and family discovery activities, with prizes ranging from DNA kits to a new laptop. Gong had the same dreams as other young Latter-day Saints, serving in callings with a wife and children, and spending eternity in heaven with his family. They will . Blood. Their children had a hard time in Korean schools because of the round eyes. Does that mean they never should have gotten married? There was almost no better realistic possibility than these two picks. Its pretty easy to support and sustain what were used to; harder when there is a significant shift. For women of Asian descent, this results in a hypersexualized stereotype, an extreme but superficial sexual desirability captured in the ugly term yellow fever. For men of Asian descent, this same underlying stereotype results in media representations and prejudice against them as emasculated and lacking in sexual desirability or prowess. Gong then studied international relations at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, receiving a master's degree in 1979 and a D.Phil. Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Susan Gong, will also be featured at the conference as keynote speakers on Family Discovery Day the last day of the conference focused on making connections and celebrating family heritage. Come join us on an international journey of connection and belonging at @Rootstech Family Discovery Day any time March 4 after 1:30 p.m. (MST). Looking back, Gong sees plenty of clues to his sexuality that he failed to recognize at the time: Staring at a male underwear mannequin when he was a child. Elder David A. Bednar and Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Primary General President Susan H. Porter; Sister Kristen M. Yee, Second Counselor in the Relief Society . My last post must have sounded like trolling as it has disappeared. Once ordained they joined the growing circle of priesthood power.. Two, he is interested in everything, which makes him a fascinating person to live with. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax We feel the need to be compassionate to all. Yes, I have the most beautiful grandchildren. Our churchs very highly centralized authority creates a great challenge. Elder Gong, the oldest of three children, inherited his parents love for learning. Here in China, members of our small LDS ex-pat branch are thrilled at Elder Gongs call to the Quorum of the Twelve. I am just grateful to know that this comes one day at a time and that when you are on the Lords errand, you receive the Lords help. I held my ground and I silenced their rage with my story as I spoke with my own voice. Cautioning against interracial marriage on the grounds of it being challenging seems to contradict every Relief Society lesson Ive sat through about overcoming differences in a marriage. In the April 2022 General Conference, Elder Gerrit W. Gong said, " [W]e each have a story. [27][28][29][30], In November 2019, Gong presided over a worldwide broadcast that announced the LDS Church's new youth program. It is heartbreaking when we are asked questions about religion, but cannot respond. I spent part of the weekend looking for synonyms for overwhelming because overwhelming doesnt seem to cover it, said Sister Gong. By Emily Ashcraft, KSL.com | Posted - Feb. 27, 2023 at 5:46 p.m. Elder Gerrit W. Gong and Sister Susan Gong will be the keynote speakers for Family Discovery Day at RootsTech on Saturday. Thanks, New Iconoclast. Otherwise it would be hard for that person to win the confidence of the senior leadership. Gong was born in 1953 in Redwood City, California, to Walter Gong and his wife, the former Jean Char, and raised in Palo Alto, California. These appointments in terms of age and church experience were right In the sweet spot consistent with recent apostle picks. He witnessed how the Lord touched many different people in Vietnam. (See related story.) My family name.. If the supposed universal differences between men and women are assets in a marriage, why not differences in race? As part of RootsTech 2023, Elder David A. Bednar and Elder Gerrit W. Gong will provide instruction to stake and ward leaders in the annual Temple and Family History Leadership Instruction. With all the comments here I echo the joy in seeing a diverse Quorum. Thanks, Cynthia, and beautifully written. Their marriage was performed by apostle David B. Haight, who had connections to their families from his time in California. They will share some of their stories at Family Discovery Day during RootsTech 2023. [7], Gong graduated from Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, in 1971. We were grateful others were excited for children to have creative opportunities.. Theres also a correlation between small wedding ceremonies and divorce suggesting that couples thrive on social support. He is the son of Gerrit W. Gong, . The couple hosts grandkids camp every summer, which includes crafts and adventures, and loves to travel with their sons. Never a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Well, my point was that the churchs mission requires deep, sensitive and reciprocal engagement with all of the worlds cultures in a way that most commercial organizations do not. It will be another important step when we have the first woman of color wife of an apostle, the first black man, more examples of lives lived on more continents and in bodies with different abilities, anddare we hopethe first woman. Its not a Chinese, Mormon or academic dinner-table topic. Elder and Sister Gong's presentation will be broadcast on Saturday . Latter-day Saints across the globe sustained Elder Gong and Elder Ulisses Soares as Apostles during the Saturday morning session of general conference on March 31. Members of Elder Gerrit W. Gongs family stand in front of a mural project with the children who assisted them in Vietnam. Having crushes on boys in elementary school. Until he was 10, Matt Gong, the family's fourth of four sons, lived in the Washington, D.C., area, where his dad worked at a policy think tank. Latter-day Saint apostle Gerrit W. Gong speaks to members of the media in Salt Lake City in June 2018. We were grateful others were excited for children to have creative opportunities. * I can attest that there are challenges inherent in my interracial + intercultural marriage, but there are challenges in every marriage. As he said, "We each have a story.". Revelation: 2 Reserve a spot at the After-Party by FamilySearch using eventbrite.com. In October 2015, Gong was appointed to the Presidency of the Seventy, filling a vacancy created by Ronald A. Rasband's call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. #progress. Their circumstances are different, but their faith and testimonies are in many ways the same, he said. Thank you for sharing! No registration is required. The LDS Brazilians I know are adamant that they are of European descent and that they are not Latino. This expressed so much of the happiness I feel today. Beyond the symbolic impact (which is important) no one should expect there will be much short or medium term impacts, but in 20 years when they become senior apostles there might be some hope of more open minds outside of the US conservative/Utah experience. Big smiles in the Hedgehog home. Elder Gerrit W. Gong's talk from the April 2022 general conference was all about family history, and it gave us lots of good insights. By that, I mean, sure hes of Asian decent, but he is still the same mold as all the other GAs/Apostles. Good going church! they wondered. Weeds, she told him, were plants growing where they werent wanted., His queerness, the opposite of his religious ethnicity, was something I was born with but not into, Gong says in an LGBTQ Affirmation conference speech, I had to discover it, like a secret birthright.. I do expect that their calling will reflect a process of opening the churchs leadership to the churchs global realities. Gerrit was named after Gerrit de Jong because his mother had lived with de Jong and his family while she was a student at BYU. Gerrit W. Gong and his wife, Susan Gong, leave the stand after the Saturday morning session of the 188th Annual General Conference in Salt Lake City, Friday, March 30, 2018. Bensen, recounting your personal experience with a few interracial marriages in [your] own family and supposing you can generalize from those experiences with those few particular people to arrive at broad statements about how race functions in marriage is, at the very least, a trifle naive. Its also more than a trifle condescending, considering that youre trying to correct someone who has actual first-hand experience of the potential issues youre describing. So, I will clarify to satisfy you both. [22] While in the presidency of the Asia Area, Gong resided in Hong Kong but supervised the work of the LDS Church in all of continental East Asia except Korea, Taiwan, and all of Southeast Asia, except the Philippines and south Asia. As someone interested in the photographic impact of light, color, composition, and moment, Elder Gong imagines the childrenand others like them in Nepal, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Utahenjoying the space. Hi MB, Im really not the expert to speak on that. And he still didnt know how to love himself. After the meeting we entered a large room, where on chairs on three sides of the room priesthood leaders were ordained one by one, recalled Sister Gong.
