Oh Lord, hasten the healing of our unbelief. 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. Review of "We Each Have a Story" by Apostle Gerrit W. Gong. 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. Winter 2003 Contact Us Advertising News & Alumni. Put On Thy Strength, O Zion. 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.. Shout out to Jusok. I suspect that beneath much of the positive chatter Im hearing about these two appointments is the belief that these men will somehow bring more than just racial diversity to church government. Which is empowering to those of us not necessarily agitating for change but asking sincere questions. For, say, a company whose mission is to suck oil out of the earth wherever possible, super-centralized leadership is not much of a problem; an organization like that just has to know how to focus its financial and political power like a laser, and acting at times like a steamroller is part of the game. Elder and Sister Gong said they have also felt the outpouring of support from members throughout the world. Reserve a spot at the After-Party by FamilySearch using eventbrite.com. Hemos detectado que ests en un navegador no compatible. Next I would really love for Adam and Eve in the temple videos to be an interracial couple. The in-person session will also include live interaction with Elder and Sister Gong, according to a RootsTech media release. It depends. This means that Gong is the first member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in a multi-racial marriage. From one who knows nothing, I couldnt help but see Elder Gong being placed in position to help open up China. Im sorry youve had to deal with this racism, you are a beautiful couple!! Also I agree with Jason K. If the word of Wisdom initiated with Emma, then it appears the Lord expects His prophets to look in every direction when seeking inspiration. Cynthia you make a great couple. The meeting will be available on the Gospel Library app and online in 11 languages beginning I know several members of Elder Gong's extended family, and they couldn't be a more dynamic, talented, kind family. 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His Chinese American family was also highly academic both parents have advanced degrees and had wide-ranging conversations, even heated debates. I experienced confusion, sexual assault and rejection as I stumbled through my new life, Gong says. [11] Gong was a professor at various times at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University. 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. Why treat it like a zero-sum game? I struggled to find meaning in the spiritual void left by having been a flower growing in the wrong place., He hated that God had been taken from me, he says. 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. All three parts of Gongs identity have shaped him, including heroic tales of service and sacrifice, and are worth celebrating. And thus he came to see his gay self as a weed in the Latter-day Saint garden. I will update the post as I get further information. My wife is Japanese and Im Puerto Rican, whoop dee doo. Donors who contribute . Citation They hadnt earned my forgiveness, but I had.. I personally am not concerned about quota filling in the Quorum. It makes all the difference to know who my family are." My friend muses, "A bent branch does not mean a bad tree. 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. 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. Hopefully Im not missing anyone, but I do not see that any of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve married Native American women. But sucking it out by reducing the surface pressure below 14.7 psi wont accomplish much. In the April 2022 General Conference, Elder Gerrit W. Gong said, " [W]e each have a story. Elder Gerrit W. Gong, the first Asian-American Apostle, is a faithful lifelong Church member. Johnif all are alike unto God, then you should expect that there are people worthy to be apostles from all racial backgrounds, not just one. Keynote speakers will include Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his wife, Sister Susan Gong; actor Sean Astin of Lord of the Rings fame; singer Jordan Sparks; photographer Me Rah Koh; and others. Sane liberals in the church dont have any illusions about their influence.). Much of this post is good, though the backdrop of white supremacy is a bit much. Both Elder and Sister Gong served as full-time missionaries in Taiwan; the couple married in January 1980 in the Salt Lake Temple. Representation matters! His fear was that people would politicize me and my dad. But so is rejoicing for many other peoples realms of thought. :). 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. 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. 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. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. 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. Gong had just been named an apostle. Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Sister Susan Gong will be the keynote speakers for Family Discovery Day on the final day of RootsTech, the global family history gathering taking place virtually and in person March 2-4, 2023. [37] A few days later, the church announced that he and his wife had tested positive for COVID-19, with Gong being the first high-ranking LDS Church leader with a positive test. Just start with the Chinese Exclusion Act and Japanese Internment. I had won the war in coming out but was left as broken as the battlefield.. Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and his wife, Susan, have rich family histories from Hawaii and Ireland. . 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. Mica Nicole is sure she had encountered one but was out and about and couldnt recall the specifics for me. [5] 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. Arab? 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. Did the Utah Legislature do enough to save the Great Salt Lake? That isnt to say father and son agree on all things. There are both benefits and penalties to being racially mixed. Gerrit W. Gong Featured. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax Thanks for calling attention to the interracial marriage barrier being broken and what this can mean to many families. Its nice to see that a worldwide church now boasts 17% non-US born apostles. 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. Once ordained they joined the growing circle of priesthood power.. 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 . Its impossible to have any credibility as a global church if we have almost no cultural and ethnic diversity among the most senior leaders. He hasnt aged at all. Because my story is happening publicly at the highest levels of the church, people ascribe extra meaning to it, he says in the interview, but from within the story, it feels like a typical narrative., The apostle and the queer son are just family, Gong repeats. Please come find your family, all your generations, and bring them home.". Big smiles from this multiethnic family too. Download Photo. Ours is a worldwide Church. Still, they often have warred within the psyche of this 29-year-old, leaving wounds that have taken years to heal. Hi Benson, we should definitely all come to the same interpretation of calling the view that a white woman marrying an Asian man is marrying down a white supremacist view. 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. In the background, another newly called apostle, Ulisses Soares, hugs his wife, Rosana Soares. 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. [31][32][33][34], In early 2020, the church announced that Gong would preside at the November dedication of the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, originally set to occur in mid-November. I seriously doubt President Nelson was pandering to progressive Mormons. Matthew Gong, Matthew Gong is a minority three times over in his own words Chinese American, Mormon and queer.. I also suspect that some of these people are forgetting that the world is not lacking in socially conservative Hispanics or Asian Americans. Photo by Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News. Then whatever is revealed is always so outside a lot of peoples realm of what, who, or how things should be that murmuring is inevitable. One is Jacob Hamblin, often nicknamed Buckskin Apostle, though he was not actually part of the Twelve. Sexuality, however, was never discussed. 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. I held my ground and I silenced their rage with my story as I spoke with my own voice. You were referring to citizenship and location of childhood ambient culture. The free event will feature live music, food and family discovery activities, with prizes ranging from DNA kits to a new laptop. I was never so different [that] I couldnt be potentially included.. I hope this new leader does indeed provide an example that normalizes your family to our fellow Saints! 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). 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. But its a relief to know that the oil companies dont have to suck so hard. 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. I dont know how it came to us; it just did, said Sister Susan Gong. After his call to the First Quorum of the Seventy, he served as a counselor in the church's Asia Area from 2011 to 2013,[18][19] then as the area's president from August 2013 until the end of 2015. I know several members of Elder Gongs extended family, and they couldnt be a more dynamic, talented, kind family. [3] He is the LDS Church's first apostle of Asian descent. Even in this day and age I meet members who view interracial marriages and relationships in a negative light. Very happy about these calls for all sorts of reasons; thanks for adding another very cogent one to the pile! 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). Gong then studied international relations at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, receiving a master's degree in 1979 and a D.Phil. And love that something so small an interracial marriage can yet be so huge for your family and for others. Acompaa al lder Gerrit W. Gong, del Curum de los Doce Apstoles, y a su esposa, la hermana Susan Lindsay Gong, en un viaje internacional de descubrimiento familiar. He is the son of Gerrit W. Gong, . 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 . He encouraged listeners to connect with ancestors and descendants in uniting God's family. I believe the Lord uses those who have specific skills to move His church forward.and Sister Gong is fluent in Mandarin. Of his new assignment, Elder Gong said it was overwhelming to have President Nelson tenderly take my hands in his and extend a call to the apostleship. Discover Gerrit W. Gong's Wiki Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. In doing so, he gave himself the chance to extend grace to his past selves. (The . (For more reading on this, seehere,here, and here.). 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). Copyright Daily Herald | www.heraldextra.com | 1200 Towne Centre Blvd. There is, in fact, a slightly higher divorce rate for interracial marriages. (Haight had helped to overcome some of the misgivings some family members had about the interracial marriage. Weve always been struck by the enthusiasm and skill of children who come together to beautify their environment, Elder Gong said. The churchs rhetoric against such marriages was very strong in the wake of the 1978 revelation, as if SWK wanted to communicate Hey, lets not go crazy with this thing. That attitude has slowly dissipated, but even now its not quite gone. . 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. The greatest Mormon blog in the universe. [12][13] He joined this latter institution in 1989. "Ours is a worldwide Church. That our interactions would be nitpicked to brand us as avatars of ideologies, Gong writes on a Facebook post. I have five other children that have married Caucasians as well. The following is from FamilySearch: SALT LAKE CITY, UTAHElder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his wife, Susan Gong, will be the featured keynote speakers for Family Discovery Day at RootsTech 2023. Though Gongs relationship with his parents got off to a rocky start after he came out not for lack of love or rejection but for miscommunication they are now as close as ever and talk almost every week. He has deep credentials (both in church service and big worldly accomplishments), and he is born and bred American. Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Susan Gong, will attend. [9] The Gongs married in the Salt Lake Temple on January 4, 1980. No accent here! Cheers. Felix and Carolyn, First hand knowledge here. July 10, 2022. 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. [1] [Updated x2] There were early, polygamous members of church leadership who had Native or indigenous wives. And Fred, it is interesting to me your physiological response to their call. Their marriage was performed by apostle David B. Haight, who had connections to their families from his time in California. If I were to see him on the street, I would definitely think, (sorry for the non-PC stereotype) white-guy. However Im not excited about the call because of his increasing the racial diversity in the Quorum of the Twelve (which he doesnt) but rather because he brings a -cultural- diversity that is very welcomed. [9][10], In 1985, Gong became a special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of State. We were grateful others were excited for children to have creative opportunities. Come find your voice, your song, your harmony in Him. Elder and Sister Gong said it was wonderful to join members from across the world for general conference, to sustain President Russell M. Nelson and the First Presidency, and to witness continuing revelation bless the members of the Church in all their many circumstances. Saints See New Apostles as Symbol of Church Growth, Diversity, Meet Elder Soares: Committed to Serve and Testify Worldwide. [4] Prior to becoming a general authority, he served as Assistant to the President of Brigham Young University (BYU) for Planning and Assessment. Too many glories to express. Reflecting the increasing diversity of the Church, Elder Gong became the first Asian-American Apostle, Elder Soares the first Apostle from South America. Anyone who thinks otherwise is giving themselves a little too much credit. But today, let us rejoice! 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