His American middle name, Walter, comes from his father, and his Chinese last name, Gong, dates back 33 generations to the late Tang dynasty in AD 837. Sexuality, however, was never discussed. https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-gerrit-w-gong “They hadn’t earned my forgiveness, but I had.”. Gerrit W. Gong. He was named a member of the Presidency of the Seventy on October 6, 2015. 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. Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaks in a pre-recorded address that was broadcast during the Saturday afternoon session of the 190th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Oct. 3, 2020. He had served as a General Authority Seventy from 2010 until the time of his call to the Twelve. Elder Gerrit W. Gong is a member of the Presidency of the Seventy. “I had won the war in coming out but was left as broken as the battlefield.”. Would you like to become an affiliate. Sister Gong said there are three characteristics that are quintessential Gerrit Gong. Elder Gerrit W. Gong was born on December 23, 1953, in California. “I don’t know how it came to us, it just did,” said Sister Susan Gong. One day, during Gong’s freshman year at Brigham Young University, he tried to take his life. He was named a member of the Presidency of the Seventy on October 6, 2015. Thanks for sharing great idea! “Gerrit, please tell our sisters how much I love them.” Dear sisters, my father and mother spent their professional careers teaching. That isn’t to say father and son agree on all things. 19.9k Likes, 125 Comments - Gerrit W. Gong (@gerritwgong) on Instagram: “I experienced true “southern hospitality” recently as I visited Louisville, Kentucky; the Fort Knox…” He is the LDS Church's first apostle of Asian descent. The Culture of Christ. Though Gong’s 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. When I come to a school or class, I sometimes imagine it is time for school, and a son is telling his mother why he doesn’t want to go. Cristina B. Franco. He had served as a General Authority Seventy from 2010 until the time of his call to the Twelve. Gerrit W. Gong was born in Redwood City, California, USA, in 1953. What great insight! “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 church’s “patterns and behaviors of abuse,” he says, “don’t have to be there; they are not inherent in the doctrine.”. Gong was born in 1953 in Redwood City, California, to Walter Gong and Jean Char and raised in Palo Alto, California. Elder Gerrit W. Gong speaks in a prerecorded message broadcast during the 190th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020. 97w. God Will Do Something Unimaginable. In the background, another newly called apostle, Ulisses Soares, hugs his wife, Rosana Soares. Matthew S. Holland. Elder Gerrit W. Gong speaks in a prerecorded message broadcast during the 190th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020. Arab? [40], Leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, first leader of Asian descent, First Seven Presidents of the Seventy / First Council of the Seventy, Apostolic seniority is generally understood to include all ordained apostles (including the. He was called to London on a Mandarin-speaking mission in 2011. And thus he came to see his gay self as a “weed” in the Latter-day Saint garden. 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. 28 Liahona Our covenants connect us to God and to each other. That was later postponed indefinitely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 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. “There are both benefits and penalties to being racially mixed. “One, he is unfailingly kind,” she said. This past weekend my colleagues and I were grateful to meet the stake presidencies, bishops, elders … All rights reserved. He is the son of, “I don’t think there are many people who are openly queer and whose dad is now in one of the highest positions of authority in the LDS Church,” he quips in an online post, His fear was that “people would politicize me and my dad. Elder Gerrit W. Gong could aptly be called an “adopted son” of Taylorsville. ‘I forgive you,’” he says. 60K likes. Gerrit W. Gong. (Rick Egan | Tribune file photo) He is the LDS Church's first apostle of Asian descent. He served as a missionary for the LDS Church in Taiwan. He and his wife, Susan Lindsay Gong, are the parents of four children and have three grandchildren. 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. Dear brothers and sisters, it is a special pleasure to join you in this Brigham Young University–Idaho devotional. [37] 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. Official Facebook page for Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 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. Credit: Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News. [4] He also held the Freeman Chair in China Studies and was later the Asia Director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He served as a member of the United States Department of Education's National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity and participated in multiple national education summits.[15]. lindseypfister. He must be a deeply conflicted man. He can't honestly view things like Oaks does. Official Facebook page for Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 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. Gerrit W. Gong shared a photo on Instagram: “In light of our world’s current events, I wish to offer some thoughts about turning our hearts and…” • See 42 photos and videos on their profile. Tai-Chi-/Qigong-Fachschule/ Teilnehmende Quelle Qigong Netzwerke auf Youtube . darrell.lewis.186. The Spirit was present in abundance. For example, a bus station is where a bus stops. I could not have been more proud of our fabulous missionaries. Photo by Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News. Devotional with Gerrit Gong I love to listen to devotionals or General Conference talks every morning so many of my posts are going to be about those amazing talks. As of June 2018, he was serving as chair of the church's Scriptures Committee (which, among other things, oversees the translation of the scriptures) and as a member of the Leadership and Training Committee, the Priesthood and Family Executive Council, and the Outreach Committee. [40] 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. Latter-day Saint apostle Gerrit W. Gong speaks to members of the media in Salt Lake City in June 2018. All three parts of Gong’s identity have shaped him, including heroic tales of service and sacrifice, and are worth celebrating. “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. 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