Elder Lino Alvarez

Of the Seventy

Lino Alvarez and his bride-to-be, Argelia Villanueva, were both returned missionaries, but their first visit to a temple came when they were sealed in Mesa, Arizona, in 1967. The experience was completely new to them, but one thing they understood very clearly—the commitment to consecrate all of their efforts to the Lord.

“We have always tried to serve him and to complete every assignment to the best of our ability,” he says.

That is the attitude Elder Lino Alvarez carries into his new calling as a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy. “I feel unprepared, because I know what kind of work the General Authorities do and what kind of men they are,” he reflects. “But one thing the Lord has taught me through the years and through the Church leaders I have known is to serve with no other objective than the welfare of the members.”

Brother Alvarez’s service as a member of the Church began when he was baptized at age twelve. Born in the village of Arteaga, Coahuila, on 18 July 1944, he was living in Saltillo with his family when they joined the Church.

It was in Piedras Negras that he met his future wife, after receiving a bachelor’s degree in education and beginning his teaching career at a small school there. He has taught at Church schools in Mexico and in Chile, where he began teaching seminary and institute classes. He was serving as director of the Church Educational System for Mexico at the time of his call as a General Authority.

He has been a bishop, a counselor in a stake presidency, a patriarch, a mission president (Mexico City South, 1982–85), a regional representative, and most recently, Young Men president in the Benemerito Sixth Ward, Mexico City Mexico Zarahemla Stake.

Elder and Sister Alvarez have three children; two are serving missions and one is preparing for a mission call.