Elder Tai Kwok Yuen

Of the Seventy

On the wall of the Tai living room hangs a scroll inscribed with Chinese characters that read: “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Josh. 24:15.)

Ever since his baptism in 1959, Tai Kwok Yuen, recently called to the Second Quorum of the Seventy, has endeavored to follow that scriptural admonition.

“This is our family motto,” Elder Tai says. “This scripture has reminded us constantly of the importance of serving the Lord.”

Tai Kwok Yuen first heard about the gospel when a neighbor invited him to attend sacrament meeting. By the time he had heard all the discussions, he knew the gospel was true. However, his aunt, who reared him after his father was killed during wartime, refused to give the seventeen-year-old permission to get baptized.

Finally, after a year of pleading by young Kwok Yuen, she consented and he was baptized in the swimming pool at the mission home. “I never dreamed that thirty years later, I would move into this same site to start my calling as a mission president,” Elder Tai reflects.

Born in Hong Kong on 30 June 1941, Elder Tai first met his future wife, Hui Hua Lai, in church while he was organizing a branch choir. The Tais are the parents of three children.

Their family has lived in Taiwan, England, and the United States while Elder Tai has worked in chemical marketing.

“The business training and management experience, coupled with the exposure to different cultures, has helped me tremendously in fulfilling my church callings,” Elder Tai says. “I believe in the Lord’s timetable—if we live worthy lives by following gospel precepts, we will feel the guidance of the Lord. I know that Jesus Christ lives and directs this church, which is the only true church of Christ on the earth. Through Christ’s atoning sacrifice, mankind may return to live with the Savior and Heavenly Father for eternity.”