Elder Gerrit W. Gong currently serves as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The mural they created, which added light to the once colorless space, wasnt theirs. [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]. Winter 2003 Contact Us Advertising News & Alumni. I also rejoice in the callings of Elder Gong and Elder Soares. *We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred).. Much of this post is good, though the backdrop of white supremacy is a bit much. Brazilian members of the Church make up over 8% of the total church membership (as of just over a year ago). Its very, very hard to do that with a small, centralized leadership group. Members of Elder Gerrit W. Gongs family and the army of street children they enlisted to help them paint the scene stood back and examined the work. Four of my children have married half mixed spouses, two half Japanese and two half Hispanic in Utah. [11] Gong was a professor at various times at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University. The in-person Family Discovery Day event will also feature free classes, activities and access to the expo hall. they wondered. Ask Peter. On my mission, I learned that the first things to grow on the battlefields of France after World War I, were poppies, blood-red poppies, Gong tells the Affirmation virtual audience. Did the Utah Legislature do enough to save the Great Salt Lake? Work to make it different, but live in reality, too. Its most likely that any individual called into the Q12 is pretty socially conservative. We were grateful others were excited for children to have creative opportunities.. This has been a great day in my long life! Yet in this case and always the Lord calls his Apostles. A few early apostles married Scandinavian immigrants, but thats really stretching the definition of interracial marriage. That our interactions would be nitpicked to brand us as avatars of ideologies, Gong writes on a Facebook post. He hasnt aged at all. [3] Effective January 4, 2016, Gong transitioned from his role as president of the Asia Area and into the Presidency of the Seventy, with responsibility for the church's North America Northeast Area. Its nice to have this forum where you can say what you are really thinking rather than in a classroom at church where you pretty much have to say the party line. [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. [5][1][2] As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Gong is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. He previously served as a member of the Asia Area Presidency and member of the Presidency of the Seventy.During his 20 years in Washington, D.C., he served as special assistant to the undersecretary of state at the U.S. State Department, as special . I believe the Lord uses those who have specific skills to move His church forward.and Sister Gong is fluent in Mandarin. [12][13] He joined this latter institution in 1989. 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. Members of Elder Gerrit W. Gongs family stand in front of a mural project with the children who assisted them in Vietnam. My white cousin married a Korean woman and lived in Korea for several years. Im sorry to hear this, but grateful that I was raised in the 50s to 70s by open minded, faithful Mormon parents, for which I am grateful for every day. Is Elder Gong of mixed race? If the supposed universal differences between men and women are assets in a marriage, why not differences in race? Here goes: When the names of the two new apostles were read I felt sick in the pit of my stomach. Coming out, though, wasnt the happily-ever-after he had hoped it would be. [9][10], In 1985, Gong became a special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of State. He was born on December 23, 1953 and his birthplace is California, Redwood City California. Those interested in participating in the conference can register online at https://rootstech.org. He is the son of Gerrit W. Gong, . Sane liberals in the church dont have any illusions about their influence.). There is, in fact, a slightly higher divorce rate for interracial marriages. Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Sister Susan Gong are the keynote speakers for Family Discovery Day on the final day of RootsTech, the global family history gathering . Elder Gerrit W. Gong, newly sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and his wife, Sister Susan Gong, in Salt Lake City. :). @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. Brazilians, in the USA, dont like getting lumped in with latinos. They will . Copyright Daily Herald | www.heraldextra.com | 1200 Towne Centre Blvd. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. Download Photo. He is also ranked in the richest person list from United States. [4] He also held the Freeman Chair in China studies and was later the Asia Director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Gong reflects on September 11th and reviews perspectives on war. . But the churchs mission is to reach throughout the world and serve people in their own languages, in their own cultures, and on their own terms without being destructive. He has been a general authority since 2010 and served as a member of the church's Presidency of the Seventy from October 2015 until his calling to the Quorum of the Twelve in March 2018. The following is a summary of what he said. I also know that its possible to find joy and peace in the church even when we find ourselves with a minority opinion. Biography. No registration is required. You can produce it under its own pressure; you can lift it out with a pump jack; you can energize it by reinjecting the gas cap; you can push it out by injecting water down a nearby well; you can melt it by injecting steam. (Courtesy photo by Ryan Di Spaltro) "Ours is a worldwide Church. RootsTech 2023, a global gathering of family history enthusiasts, will be in-person at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City and virtually at rootstech.org. Shout out to Jusok. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Benson, although its not incorrect to say the manuals (Kimball) advise caution, they go a little further than that in recommending/expressing preference for racially homogenous marriages. Revelation: 2 I hope that we will each make an effort to discover our own family stories, to record them and to share them with our children and grandchildren. The fact that they are an interracial couple didnt even occur to em; I was just thrilled that there is finally some more international representation in the upper-most echelon. This is a big deal. We need to love till we do not marginalize any of our Fathers children. They understand that diversity is out there, but they havent lived it, and there is no substitute for living it. Happening March 4, Family Discovery Day is free online and in-person. He witnessed how the Lord touched many different people in Vietnam. (See related story.) 31 October 2021 by Gerrit W. Gong 16,100 sq ft (1,500 m 2) on a 7.7-acre (3.1 ha) site That was a message about God that he wanted to share and prompted him to serve a two-year mission for the church, he says in the interview. Although the family had provided the sketch, paint and brushes, something had shifted. However, I think that making leadership more diverse is almost certain to be a liberalizing influence over the long term. His Chinese American family was also highly academic both parents have advanced degrees and had wide-ranging conversations, even heated debates. Home Realizacje i porady Bez kategorii gerrit gong family picture. Yipp BG, Robbins SM, Resek ME, Baruch DI, Looareesuwan S, Ho M. Src-family Kinase Signaling Modulates the Adhesion of Plasmodium falciparum on Human Microvascular Endothelium Under Flow. Bright colors and vivid images filled the once-blank cinder block wall of the soup kitchen in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. All quotes by Gerrit W. Gong and in blue (unless otherwise noted). To appreciate why this feels especially significant to me that we have not only an interracial couple, but specifically a Chinese-American man and a white woman, we have to have a frank talk about how racism in the United States manifests against Asians and Asian-Americans, specifically in regards to gender and sex. It depends. He previously served as a member of the Asia Area Presidency and member of the Presidency of the Seventy.During his 20 years in Washington, D.C., he served as special assistant to the undersecretary of state at the U.S. State Department, as special . A former bishop and stake president, Elder Gong has served as a General Authority since 2010 and in that capacity has seen the Church grow and develop across the world. Either way it helps us abide and grow. This is because, in the white supremacist schema that subconsciously permeates our thinking, the latter is seen as marrying down in a way that the former is not, even though both are examples of interracial marriages. Some of the activities include a throw-back photo challenge, family history Twister, family selfie station and a giant family tree. They began dating a few years later, in the summer when Gong had returned from Oxford to spend a few weeks with his parents, during a time his father was a BYU professor. They will speak at Family . A powerful couple to help open up China. This expressed so much of the happiness I feel today. Pressure from Mormon Blogosphere/Political Correctness: 0. I was worried that it would be deletedinstead I have been encouraged to look at it in new ways that I hadnt considered. In the April 2022 General Conference, Elder Gerrit W. Gong said, " [W]e each have a story. Now as a newly sustained member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles he will share a different kind of light with Gods children throughout the world. Come discover yours. He had a close almost familial relationship with de Jong and would refer to him as "Grandpa de Jong." (Haight had helped to overcome some of the misgivings some family members had about the interracial marriage. 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. Here in China, members of our small LDS ex-pat branch are thrilled at Elder Gongs call to the Quorum of the Twelve. 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 argued my doubts to a standstill and reclaimed my beliefs from where they lay.. I believe inspiration comes to those who seek, as does revelation-like who to call to be apostles. Its impossible to have any credibility as a global church if we have almost no cultural and ethnic diversity among the most senior leaders. Even if you werent aware of all these nuances, youve probably absorbed from US culture the idea that its more normal or expected for a woman of Asian descent to be married to a white man, than for a white woman to be married to a man of Asian descent. Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter. I seriously doubt President Nelson was pandering to progressive Mormons. [35] The church later announced that Gong, whose wife has ties to Taylorsville, Utah, would preside at the October 2020 groundbreaking for the temple in that city. He encouraged listeners to connect with ancestors and descendants in uniting God's family. Although the character of the racism people of Asian descent experience in the US is very different from what Latinx and black people face, and the significance of that should not be minimized, it is still racism. Our hopes, ideologies, bigotries, boxes, traditions, and so many other human frailties stand in our way of knowing what God really wants for and from us that its sometimes seems a miracle to ever get it right. I dont know how it came to us; it just did, said Sister Susan Gong. 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. Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Susan Gong, will attend the event Since there is a sub thread discussion about race here, Ill just highlight this very good and enlightening piece by PBS from a few years ago about race in Brazil. All three parts of Gongs identity have shaped him, including heroic tales of service and sacrifice, and are worth celebrating. He and Ulisses Soares filled the vacancies created from the deaths of Thomas S. Monson and Robert D. He began to heal, until there was one final battle: to face institutions and people who had harmed and abused him. The Gongs were married in 1980, not long after the lifting of the race-based priesthood and temple ban in 1978. Elder and Sister Gong's presentation will be broadcast on Saturday, March 4 . Elder Gerrit W. Gong, the first Asian-American Apostle, is a faithful lifelong Church member. Thanks, New Iconoclast. Elder and Sister Gong said they have also felt the outpouring of support from members throughout the world. I confess Im a bit surprised that the OP is so vehemently opposed to suggestions of caution when approaching an interracial marriage. 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. His mother met the missionaries as a teenager in Honolulu, Hawaii. It makes all the difference to know who my family are." My friend muses, "A bent branch does not mean a bad tree. Susan and Gerrit Gong (Church News photograph). Also on the whole model minority thing we dont exactly need to go very far back in history, especially California history, to find plenty of horrific discrimination against Asians. I hope my expression of joy in todays news does not in any way detract from any mixed feelings others may be having. His known family tree is extensive (bless the tradition of Chinese family genealogy record-keeping) and is 100% Chinese. His mother's family were ethnic Chinese in Hawaii, while his father's family had lived in California and other parts of the United States after his ancestors had emigrated from China in the late 19th century. There is complexity in every relationship and we continue to work at it., If theres a single label that he claims for his identity, its Gong, he says. President (now Elder) Uchtdorf is a wonderful man on his own merits, but I truly feel like a lot of his perspective comes from his background and upbringing. Still, they often have warred within the psyche of this 29-year-old, leaving wounds that have taken years to heal. When I realized that they were the new Apostles, I had chills all through my body, the hair on my arms stood up, and I felt so joyous. The church desperately needed someone who represented Latin and South American saints symbolically and with experience in the 12. During a press conference related to the open house for the rededication of the Washington D.C. Temple, Gong shared that one of his first memories was of being sealed to his parents in a temple of the LDS Church. Gerrit W Gong; Education. :). Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Susan Gong. [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. The greatest Mormon blog in the universe. [25], In May 2018, Gong and his wife spoke at the BYU Women's Conference. 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. AmyT thanks for weighing in! Today we both celebrate andlook forward. It is heartbreaking when we are asked questions about religion, but cannot respond. (For more reading on this, seehere,here, and here.). Race dynamics and categories in the US and Brazil are each independently complicated and fraught, and also very different from each other in subtle ways. Mormons across the globe cheered the /">appointment in March of two apostles who seemed to represent the faith's growing diversity</a> Gerrit W. Gong, a Chinese-American, and Ulisses Soares . 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. Latter-day Saint apostle Gerrit W. Gong speaks to members of the media in Salt Lake City in June 2018. In the Saturday afternoon session of the April 2022 general conference, Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave a talk titled "We Each Have a Story" in which he encouraged his listeners to work on their family history. Perhaps social support could be encouraged rather than interracial marriage being discouraged. Representation matters. 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. It belonged to the children. Thoughts of not having that became unbearable, he says, and so he repressed them. in 1980. If I were to see him on the street, I would definitely think, (sorry for the non-PC stereotype) white-guy. Reading the D&C, it seems that revelation is often (indeed, almost always) responsive to external realities. [24], On March 31, 2018, Gong was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Maybe well get rid of those now. Every member of the Gong family had a special role in the project, from creating the sketch to mixing the paint to organizing the children. Elder and Sister Gong's presentation will be broadcast on Saturday . We were grateful others were excited for children to have creative opportunities. His father joined the Church after attending Stanford University, where his parents met and dated. Put On Thy Strength, O Zion. Blood. I genuinely feel this way and am not in any way trying to be disruptive or to be a troll. If my voice is silenced (deleted) I will take the hint that Im not welcome here and will quietly go away. That being said, my thoughts are that we may be making more of Elder Gongs lineage than is really there. With his wife, Susan, Elder Gong helps build Gods kingdom by serving all of His children. Daily news, articles, videos and podcasts sent straight to your inbox. Discover Gerrit W. Gong's Wiki Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. 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. LDS Church wants to light up a temple in a place that prides itself on dark skies, For husband-and-wife team, this new restaurant is the culmination of a decadeslong dream, Gong took his place for a lifetime appointment in the faiths Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, asked in 2018 if having a gay son had affected his views on LGBTQ. Of course not. John. Having crushes on boys in elementary school. Anyone who thinks otherwise is giving themselves a little too much credit. His mother's family are ethnic Chinese in Hawaii, and his father's family lived in California and other parts of the United States after his ancestors emigrated from China in the late 19th century. deductible, Report a missed paper by emailingsubscribe@sltrib.comor calling801-237-2900, For e-edition questions or comments, contact customer support801-237-2900or emailsubscribe@sltrib.com. These appointments in terms of age and church experience were right In the sweet spot consistent with recent apostle picks. Elder Gongs parents, both professional teachers, collectively spent more than 70 years in the classroom. I dont know where his wife was born but with Susan as a first name I would assume she is American as well. Hi MB, Im really not the expert to speak on that. Too many glories to express. This white British woman with Japanese husband and two children is with you all the way on this one. Thank you, Cynthia, for your poignant thoughts. Meet Elder Gerrit W. Gong: "Unfailingly Kind" Family Man. Elder Gong loves learning and spending time with family. A photo of my husband and me should immediately clarify why this is a point of particular personal significance to me: Jusok and Cynthia Lee engagement photo (La Jolla, CA, 2000). Its not a Chinese, Mormon or academic dinner-table topic. [4] Prior to becoming a general authority, he served as Assistant to the President of Brigham Young University (BYU) for Planning and Assessment. And I suspect their international cred was perceived as a big plus, not a minus. In order to celebrate Elder Gong's birthday, here are some photos showing his life and ministry to Latter-day Saints around the world. I dont expect that these men will be cultural or political reformers. Such ties can bring help from the other side of the veil." Gerrit W. Gong We Each Have a Story "If you want a happier family, create, refine and retell the story of your family's positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones. He was called to London on a Mandarin-speaking mission in 2011. Next I would really love for Adam and Eve in the temple videos to be an interracial couple. But the Gongs explained their project was an opportunity for all the children. Im also the white half of an interracial marriage. Again, its complicated and fluid. I felt like the church that I have always thought was lead by God had caved in to the relentless pressure from those in the Mormon blogoshphere who are obsessed with promoting political correctness and diversity. From one who knows nothing, I couldnt help but see Elder Gong being placed in position to help open up China. Gerrit W. Gong was born on 23 December, 1953 in Redwood City, California, United States, is a Leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, first leader of Asian descent. People. After Joseph's baptism, the Young brothers taught their family and friends in Canada and baptized over 150 individuals and established four branches of the church, including ones in Kingston and Sydenham. Christ Church, Oxford; Edit. 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