“This Is the Right Place,” Liahona, July 2021
This Is the Right Place
By Elder Gerrit W. Gong
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
From a devotional, “This Is the Right Place,” delivered July 16, 2018, at This Is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Church is the place where we invite all pioneers—old or young, of every nationality, background, or circumstance—“to stand as witnesses of God.”
Photographs from Getty Images
Each of us has a pioneering story as part of a chain of pioneers—pioneers past and pioneers future. This is my pioneer story.
My name is Gerrit Walter Gong. Gerrit is a Dutch name. It comes from Gerrit de Jong, the first dean of fine arts at Brigham Young University. My mother stayed with his family as a young student at BYU. Walter is an American name, chosen by my father, Walter A. Gong, while he served in the U.S. Navy. Gong is a Chinese surname that means “river.”
This makes me the only person I know with a Dutch first name, an American middle name, and a Chinese last name.
My grandparents, from Southern China, settled in Merced, California, where they ran a laundry. To deliver correct clothes to their customers, they noted with Chinese characters on the packages of clean clothes specific things about each customer. Reportedly, they wrote things like “Woman who lives two houses three blocks down” or “Woman with red hair.” My favorite identifier was “Man with stinky feet.”
A big change came when my father joined the U.S. Navy during World War II and was commissioned as an officer. He had a gift for electronics and teaching. He was assigned to teach others to use radar to see over the horizon—often a matter of life and death for those on board.
After the war, he attended Stanford University, where he earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in engineering and science education. At Stanford, he met Jean Char, who became my mother.
She had joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a young teenager in Honolulu, Hawaii. She listened and knew with all her heart that the restored gospel was true. She was the only member of her large family to join the Church.
My parents were married three times: a Chinese wedding for the relatives, an American wedding for the friends, and a sealing in the house of the Lord for time and eternity.
So, that’s a brief story about me—a pioneering story of selling the family cow to pay for passage across the Pacific Ocean, joining the Church, and establishing a multigeneration gospel family in California.
My wonderful wife, Susan Lindsay Gong, is a fifth-generation descendant of Utah pioneers who entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Her mother, Marian Bangerter Lindsay, is the wife of Elder Richard P. Lindsay, who served as a General Authority Seventy. Susan and I met in Utah.
“Begin with the End in Mind”
We know the story of President Brigham Young (1801–77) entering the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. President Young had seen the valley in vision and knew it when he saw it. As President Russell M. Nelson has said, “Begin with the end in mind.”1 Brigham Young did that.
President Nelson has taught, “If we will truly receive the Holy Ghost and learn to discern and understand His promptings, we will be guided in matters large and small.”2 President Young did that as well.
Our first recorded account of the historic declaration “This is the right place. Drive on” comes from Elder Wilford Woodruff (1807–98). Speaking at a Pioneer Day celebration in July 1880, Elder Woodruff recounted: “On the 24th, I drove my carriage, with President Young lying on a bed in it, into the open valley, the rest of the company following. … While gazing upon the scene before us, he was enwrapped in vision for several minutes. He had seen the valley before in vision, and upon this occasion he saw the future glory of Zion and of Israel, as they would be, planted in the valleys of these mountains. When the vision had passed, he said, ‘It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on.’”3
When I see a prized personal pioneer possession—a colorful quilt, a beautiful shawl, a little girl’s doll, a little boy’s hoop game, a perfectly preserved rifle—I think, “Someone loved and needed this enough to carry it across the plains.” To me, these personal heirlooms and treasures symbolize creativity, beauty, faith, and determination.
Three Kinds of Pioneers
When I think of the words “This is the right place,” I think of three kinds of pioneers.
First, I remember and honor the legacy of President Young and those early pioneers who entered the Salt Lake Valley and made it the right place with help from Native Americans, religious leaders of other faiths, and those from many circumstances and backgrounds who made this place their home.
Second, I recognize the ongoing gathering of latter-day pioneers and their generations in 189 of 224 countries and territories across the world. I recognize growing centers of strength, including 3 countries in which are recorded more than 1 million Latter-day Saint pioneers in multiple generations. There are 22 countries in which we have records for more than 100,000 Latter-day Saints. Of these 22 countries, 13 are in Central and South America, 4 are in Asia, 3 are in North America, 1 is in Europe, and 1 is in Africa.
We admire and salute Latter-day Saint pioneers on every continent. Spiritual pioneering continues among those who face persecution for the sake of the Savior’s name; who consecrate and sacrifice, sometimes almost beyond imagination; and who do what they do because the Church is the right place for them spiritually.
Third, I remember the great pioneers of all generations who remember their forefathers with gratitude and who reach out with kindness and neighborliness to help the pioneers coming behind them.
This third kind of pioneer crosses not only oceans, plains, deserts, cities, and towns but also—and perhaps equally important—school playgrounds, parking lots, cultural halls, and fences to build bridges of understanding, compassion, friendliness, and neighborliness.
A Two-Fold Invitation
In a sense, each of us is a pioneer and a part of a chain of pioneers. Our invitation as Latter-day Saints is twofold:
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To be grateful to those who eased the way for us, whether in the Church or in the community.
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To help those coming after us, whether new to the Church or the community or to both.
So, this is the place where pioneers like Susan’s forefathers entered the Salt Lake Valley after walking 1,200 miles and were greeted by new friends and neighbors.
This is the place where we salute and honor those already established, who welcome newer, more recent latter-day pioneers and help them become good parents in their homes and good citizens in their communities.
This is the place where we invite every pioneer—old or young, of every nationality, background, or circumstance—“to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9) with those who need empathy, comfort, and help.
This is the place where we offer hope and strength, a chance, a smile, a helping hand, a welcoming handshake, a comforting embrace.
In the restored Church of Jesus Christ—in this “right place”—we honor each pioneer in each generation and in each circumstance—past, present, and future.
Brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends, may we always remember our heritage with gratitude. May we always offer a warm smile and a helping hand to those who are still coming and making their own right place among every nation, kindred, and tongue, and from every state of heart and hope.
In doing so, may we find enduring joy on the covenant path for all generations on both sides of the veil, who declare with gladness, “This is the right place.”