Sitting at a grand piano above the small choir in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Sister Joey Ko accompanied her fellow sister missionaries during a musical fireside on Sunday, Sept. 28.

Photo by Greg Hill

Kuan Peng Ko, center, and wife Shu Chi, with son Wei Shawn on Taipei's "temple square," rejoice in daughter's Temple Square service.

Photo by Shaun D. Stahle

Sister Freja Cross, left, of Sydney, Australia, and Sister Joey Ko of Taipei, Taiwan, are serving full-time missions in the Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission. Because of their parents' willingness, prior to their marriages, to listen to missionaries, the two sister missionaries have been nurtured in the gospel since their births.

Musically, spiritually and in other ways she fit right in with the other missionaries who daily share the gospel with visitors on Temple Square. Since the fireside, Sister Ko has been transferred to choir director, one of her several duties in the Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission. She is certified to guide tours in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and English and is working on certifying in Korean and Cantonese.

But how did she get here from her home in Taipei, Taiwan? It is an inspiring story, probably not unlike many that could be told by missionaries all over the world. It begins with her parents, gospel pioneers whose sensitivity to the Spirit made it possible for their daughter to grow up in the Church on an island far from Salt Lake City.

Nearly four decades ago, Kuan Peng Ko answered when sister missionaries knocked on the door of his family home in Tainan, Taiwan. A teenager at the time, he invited the missionaries in only to have the rest of his family "run away," he said during a Church News interview at the Taipei Church Administration Building. Touched by the message, he was taught by various missionaries for a year before he was given permission by his family to be baptized on May 26, 1973. He said he didn't feel like he had a testimony of the gospel at the time but was baptized because "the missionaries asked me to."

Two young women close to his age were baptized at about the same time in his branch, he said. They kept him active through friendship and inviting him to activities.

Finally, two years after his baptism, he was studying the gospel in an institute Doctrine and Covenants class when, he said, the Spirit confirmed to him that the Church was true and kindled in him a testimony that has grown throughout his life since.

Shu Chi Chan was living in Taipei in the 1970s when she was contacted by sister missionaries at age 19. She accepted their invitation to attend Church activities and felt good when she was participating, she said during the Church News interview. She was baptized Sept. 21, 1979, at age 21.

Sister Chan joined a stake choir conducted by Brother Ko. "When he first saw me, he thought I was someone else," Sister Ko said, recalling her first encounter with her future husband. They soon found themselves living in the same ward and began dating. A year later, on Jan. 23, 1984, they were married. They were sealed in the Taipei Taiwan Temple after it was dedicated that December; Brother Ko having directed a choir at the dedication.

"We got married because we each felt we would remain faithful in the Church," they agreed.

That has proven to be true as they have served faithfully in the Church. Currently, in the Taipei Taiwan Central Stake, Sister Ko is stake Relief Society president and Brother Ko is the patriarch.

They are the parents of daughter Sister Wei Yi (Joey), now serving on Temple Square, and son Wei Shawn.

Brother Ko said one of his most special experiences as a patriarch was giving his daughter her blessing, an important factor in her desire to serve a mission.

E-mail to: ghill@desnews.com