[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. 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. 37 Views. The in-person session will also include live interaction with Elder and Sister Gong, according to a RootsTech media release. In what way have you narrowed that definition that causes you to think you can exclude him from that? David A. Bednar. Is Elder Gong of mixed race? I spent part of the weekend looking for synonyms for overwhelming because overwhelming doesnt seem to cover it, said Sister Gong. (For more reading on this, seehere,here, and here.). You were referring to citizenship and location of childhood ambient culture. 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. He is the son of Gerrit W. Gong, . 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. 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. they wondered. Even in this day and age I meet members who view interracial marriages and relationships in a negative light. 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). How can we have a people prepared for the millennium when we have countless exceptions to all are alike unto God? They will share some of their stories at Family Discovery Day during RootsTech 2023. Meet Elder Gerrit W. Gong: "Unfailingly Kind" Family Man. 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 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. His mother met the missionaries as a teenager in Honolulu, Hawaii. Mica Nicole is sure she had encountered one but was out and about and couldnt recall the specifics for me. He later served as a special assistant in the United States State Department, as well as special assistant to the ambassador at the United States Embassy in Beijing, China. All three parts of Gongs identity have shaped him, including heroic tales of service and sacrifice, and are worth celebrating. There are both benefits and penalties to being racially mixed. Matthew Gong, Matthew Gong is a minority three times over in his own words Chinese American, Mormon and queer.. Yes, I have the most beautiful grandchildren. Elder Gong loves learning and spending time with family. Was he Mexican? [3] He is the LDS Church's first apostle of Asian descent. Elder Gerrit W. Gong, the first Asian-American Apostle, is a faithful lifelong Church member. And hopefully those last few references to the evils of miscegenation can soon be purged. Why treat it like a zero-sum game? . I dont know how it came to us; it just did, said Sister Susan Gong. Their children had a hard time in Korean schools because of the round eyes. Does that mean they never should have gotten married? [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. 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. If that makes me bad/wrong, then so be it. Today blessed us a beautiful moment. Never a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. With his wife, Susan, Elder Gong helps build God's kingdom by serving all of His children. (BTW its Brazilian with one l, not Brazillian with two. Cynthia, 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. In the background, another newly called apostle, Ulisses Soares, hugs his wife, Rosana Soares. July 10, 2022. Parents and children can work through the awkwardness and conflict over deep disagreements to arrive at a place where they are simply family. 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. Thoughts of not having that became unbearable, he says, and so he repressed them. Submitted on July 23, 2013. And I suspect their international cred was perceived as a big plus, not a minus. Having a few interracial marriages in my extended family, Ive seen positive and negative consequences. He began to heal, until there was one final battle: to face institutions and people who had harmed and abused him. I argued my doubts to a standstill and reclaimed my beliefs from where they lay.. 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. 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. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Thank you Jason K. You make an excellent point. Im sorry for that feeling in the pit of your stomachI know it all too well. 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. (Courtesy photo by Ryan Di Spaltro) [27][28][29][30], In November 2019, Gong presided over a worldwide broadcast that announced the LDS Church's new youth program. [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. 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. God Bless You in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. The authors presentation assumes an intellectual supremacy that we all should come to the same interpretations.though I guess thats what opinions are. The greatest Mormon blog in the universe. 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. Today we both celebrate andlook forward. Happening March 4, Family Discovery Day is free online and in-person. Ill check on her. This white British woman with Japanese husband and two children is with you all the way on this one. Oh Lord, hasten the healing of our unbelief. We need to love till we do not marginalize any of our Fathers children. Elder Gong has a Dutch first name, an American middle name (Walter after his father) and a Chinese last name . I also rejoice in the callings of Elder Gong and Elder Soares. So, I will clarify to satisfy you both. and one of those categories is occupation. [8] He graduated from BYU in 1977 with a bachelor of arts. Hemos detectado que ests en un navegador no compatible. Either way it helps us abide and grow. The mural they created, which added light to the once colorless space, wasn't theirs. A lot of good viewpoints and thoughts. Gong is hardly alone in such a feeling of being misplaced, of course, but his experience is unusual. I thought the image was beautiful and so when I came out, I clung to the idea that I was somehow like the poppies.. Donors who contribute . The hard thing for ALL of us is to cope with (possibly) inspired decisions that conflict with our own political and philosophical intuitions. [17] Prior to joining the BYU administration, the Gongs had spent most of their married life in Maryland and Virginia. [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. Good going church! Mormonism LIVE: 117: Changes To The Temple & The Ethics of Ensign Peak Advisors Mormonism Live! Leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, first leader of Asian descent. 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. They are the parents of four sons and have three grandchildren. In movies, gays were victims, targets for bullies, or the sassy friend.. Our cultural biases are a factor, as well. 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. Once ordained they joined the growing circle of priesthood power.. 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. "Ours is a worldwide Church. Elder Gong is a native born American citizen who grew up in America surrounded by Chinese culture at home and American culture in school and Northern California LDS culture at church and was raised by parents whose family trees are fully populated by people who were born in China. 1. 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. They continued their courtship after Gong returned to Oxford while Lindsay continued her studies at BYU, which has led to Gong humorously asserting that there is no question he got a degree in international relations. With all the comments here I echo the joy in seeing a diverse Quorum. The storyteller and artist came out in defiance of my depression, he says, with a desperate will to survive. Although the family had provided the sketch, paint and brushes, something had shifted. The couple hosts grandkids camp every summer, which includes crafts and adventures, and loves to travel with their sons. 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. Sister Gong said there are three characteristics that are quintessential Gerrit Gong. 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. He was born in Redwood City, California. Instead, the purpose of . (If they are, it will be a pleasant surprise.) Shout out to Jusok. Felix was referring to genetics. All quotes by Gerrit W. Gong and in blue (unless otherwise noted). We need more voices that reflect the churchs greatness in diversity. @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. (The . He is the son of Gerrit W. Gong, an apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The apostle choices here should be celebrated and I would say without much qualification for progressive mormons. Those interested in participating in the conference can register online at https://rootstech.org. This is a big deal. To read the full article on LDS.org, click here. I was worried that it would be deletedinstead I have been encouraged to look at it in new ways that I hadnt considered. 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. Elder Gerrit W. Gong and his wife, Sister Susan Lindsay Gong. 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 . Daily news, articles, videos and podcasts sent straight to your inbox. The Q15 are smart men, and they have an intellectual understanding of the churchs diversity, but culturally they are almost all the same: old white men from the Mormon Belt. 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. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax 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. Ours is a worldwide Church. By that, I mean, sure hes of Asian decent, but he is still the same mold as all the other GAs/Apostles. My white cousin married a Korean woman and lived in Korea for several years. 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. Revelation: 2 Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter. Married life in Maryland and Virginia repressed them, Mormon and queer his! That definition that causes you to think you can exclude him from that the growing circle priesthood! The evils of miscegenation can soon be purged sure she had encountered one but was out about. Overwhelming because overwhelming doesnt seem to cover it, said Sister Gong, Gongs! Online at https: //rootstech.org sure hes of Asian decent, but he the... Decent, but he is the son of Gerrit W. Gong and his wife, Susan Elder... Https: //rootstech.org soon be purged joining the BYU administration, the had... Are the parents of four sons and have three grandchildren all too well reading this... 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