Elder Valeri V. Cordón is Called to Serve

The Apostle Paul, and other early disciples of the Church were sent to foreign lands to share the gospel, to minister to the people, and to serve the Lord. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we continue to follow this principle with General Authority Seventies sent throughout the world. In the Caribbean, we welcome a new General Authority Seventy to the Area presidency, Elder Valeri V. Cordón and his wife, Glenda Zelmira Zea Diaz.

Both Elder and Sister Cordón grew up in Guatemala and speak fondly of their early years there. Due to challenging circumstances, Sister Cordón was separated from her parents at the age of 13, first moving in with an aunt, and then later at the age of 16, moving in with the family of her best friend. In 1984, she was introduced to the Church by her uncle. This is when she felt the Spirit and was counseled to read the Book of Mormon regularly. Her friend’s family was also Christian and were very supportive of her beliefs. Over time, her testimony grew strong.

It was at the age of 19 when Sister Cordón met a young Valeri Cordon that she had three choices placed before her: move to USA with her mother, serve a mission, or marry Valeri. She chose to marry and the Cordón family was born. While raising their children, she continued her educational endeavors, interior design, and human resources. The BYU Pathway program opened other doors for learning, so currently Sister Cordon is focused on business studies and improving her English language skills.

Elder and Sister Cordón have three married daughters: two live in the United States and one in Panama. They count their blessings as they thoroughly enjoy their two granddaughters.

Elder Cordón was born in 1969 to parents who had accepted the gospel and valued it in their home. This provided important lessons to the Cordón children at very young ages. For example, age-appropriate lessons started at age 7, teaching him how to provide for himself, establishing a mission savings account at age 9 and receiving his patriarchal blessing at age 12. These were all foundations that established critical life practices and an awareness of the need to be prepared for potential doors of opportunity.

In 1984, at the age of 15, Elder Cordón and his older brother left their home to attend school in another city where they could study technology. Living on their own, Valeri recalled his mother teaching him to always serve, so once they were established in their new home, he went straight to the bishop and asked for a calling. Since he was very young, Elder Cordon served in several callings, as a member of Aaronic Priesthood quorum presidencies, Sunday School president, auxiliary secretary to the bishopric, then at age 19, he was called to serve a mission in El Salvador.

While attending school in Guatemala and studying computer science, the textbooks were all in English, and by the time they were translated to Spanish, the information was obsolete. Realizing that learning English would be a critical skill, he figured out a way to move to Texas to attend the University of North Texas for six months, with a focus on learning English. He returned to Guatemala, received his computer science degree, and later, in part because of his newly acquired English skills, was hired by a British pharmaceutical company located in Costa Rica.

President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) left a lasting impression on Elder Cordón during one of the videos that aired between sessions of conference, in which the prophet simply said, “Improve your education”. As a result, he took every opportunity to follow this counsel.

When the opportunity arose to enter an MBA program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he commented to the area president about the educational opportunity , saying, “This is going to help my career” to which the president replied, “No, this will help the Church.”

Now Elder Cordón feels strongly about sharing his testimony to always be prepared, look for opportunities to improve yourself, and the Lord will bless you for those efforts.

Elder Valeri V. Cordón has also served in other callings, including seminary teacher and institute teacher, elder’s quorum president, stake mission president, high councilor, bishop, stake president, counselor in a mission presidency, high priests group leader, Area Seventy and as a member of the fourth Quorum of the Seventy in the Central America Area. He was sustained as a General Authority Seventy on April 2, 2016, and during this time, Elder and Sister Cordón were called to serve as mission leaders of the California Los Angeles Mission. While recently serving in the North America West Area Presidency, and as the assistant executive director of the Priesthood and Family Department, he was called to serve here, as a member of the presidency of the Caribbean Area.