News Release

Diverse Backgrounds, United in Purpose

In December 1943, a little boy named Peter was born in Skuodas, Lithuania. When he was 10 months old, his family fled to Liepaja, Latvia to escape the Russian invasion. The family sailed to Germany under cover of darkness and remained there until 1950 when they arrived in Melbourne as war refugees where they were sent to a migrant camp in Port Stephens near Newcastle. Sometime later, Peter’s family moved to Islington and in 1959 he met a beautiful young girl named Genivive [Genny] who lived in the neighbourhood. 

Genny was born in August 1945 in Koblenz, Germany, of Polish parents.  Not long before Genny’s birth, her father was killed by a damaged allied bomber unloading its bombs.  Following Genny’s birth and the end of World War 2, Genny’s mother had an “arranged” marriage so that she could take her daughter to Australia for a better life.  They arrived in 1949 and spent time in various migrant camps in New South Wales until they moved into a house in Islington, a suburb of Newcastle. 

Over the ensuing few years, Peter and Genny’s paths crossed and during their courtship, on a visit to her family home, Peter found Genny and her mother speaking with missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Over several months, both Peter and Genny knew the gospel they were learning about was true but their families were unhappy about any further involvement of both young people.

Genny’s parents allowed her to be baptised at age 18 in 1963 and Peter had to wait until he was 21 in 1965.  Throughout those waiting years, Peter and Genny attended Latter-day Saint church services every week.  On the 17th of March 1967, they were married in a civil ceremony and on the 21st March they were sealed in the Hamilton New Zealand Temple.  They have raised three sons and a daughter and are grandparents to 13.  Peter served as Mission President from 2002-2005 in the Latter-day Saints’ Baltic Mission in Europe. The mission area comprised the nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

In December 1946, in Geneva, Switzerland, baby Francois Hoesli was born to Jakob and Louise Hoesli. He joined a family which were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Francois’ paternal grandmother was baptised into the Church in 1920 and his grandfather and father were baptised in 1930.  In 1969, at the age of 22, Francois set off on an adventure to see the world and landed in Sydney, Australia, without being able to speak a word of English.  As he attended a worship service in the Latter-day Saints’ South Harbour Branch, Francois met Renate Kothgasser, an Austrian returned missionary who had recently migrated to Australia.  They became good friends and before leaving Australia, he proposed to Renate, which, she says, “really surprised her.”  He spent the next 18 months travelling to New Zealand, Samoa, Hawaii, United States and Canada before returning home to Switzerland in August 1970.  

Judenburg, Austria, was the birthplace of Renate Kothgasser.  She was born to Roman and Elisabeth Kothgasser in August 1943.  At age 20, Renate was searching for the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  Shortly after, two Latter-day Saint missionaries came to Renate’s home.  She says she “immediately felt the spirit” and wanted to learn more.  Her testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ began to develop and in December 1963 she was baptised.  From September 1964 to September 1966, Renate served a fulltime mission for the Church in her home country.  Two years later, she migrated to Australia and not too long afterwards, she met the man who would become her husband and the father of their children.  In September 1971, Renate travelled to Switzerland after accepting a proposal of marriage in a letter, and on the 30th of October they were married in the Latter-day Saints’ Bern Switzerland Temple.  The couple lived near Zurich. Three sons and two daughters were born to them before they migrated to Australia in 1980.  Their sixth child, a daughter, was born in Australia.  They have eight grandchildren.

When World War 2 began, six-month old Lionel Walters was evacuated from Singapore to India with his paternal grandmother and other relatives.   He was born in the General Hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in June 1941. In 1945 they returned to Singapore and Lionel was raised under the loving care of his grandmother.  In January 1958 he migrated to Sydney, Australia to undertake an apprenticeship as an aircraft engineer with Qantas Airways.  Through various circumstances, he came to know and work with a man who was a member of the Church.  This friend invited Lionel to stay with his family after the company they both worked for ended production in South Australia and Lionel’s friend and his family moved to Melbourne.  Lionel took up the offer of his friend and subsequently was baptised in October 1964.

Marianne Botting was born in February 1948, the third of four daughters of Cornelis and Anna Botting, in Schuddebeurs, Zeeland, the Netherlands.  Marianne spent a wonderful childhood in that same province for nine years and then her family moved to the capital, Den Haag, from where the family migrated to Australia in February 1958.  On arrival in Melbourne, the Botting family transferred from a large ship to a train which took them to a migrant camp called Bonegilla on the border of Victoria and New South Wales.  After some weeks, the family moved to Melbourne and while attending school, Marianne was introduced to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by a school friend.  The family began to listen to the missionary lessons and were baptised in May 1961.  In August 1964, Marianne was introduced to Lionel Walters when he attended church services with a family in her ward – the family of the man who had introduced Lionel to the gospel.  The two enjoyed a great courtship and were married in October 1966 and later sealed in the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. They have raised a daughter and three sons who have given them ten grandchildren.  Lionel served as president of the Singapore Mission from 1982-1985 and covered the countries of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India.

The six “young adults of yesteryear,” Peter and Genny Barr, Francois and Renate Hoesli, and Lionel and Marianne Walters, all originating from distant lands, began service as the Presidency and Matron and assistants of the Sydney Australia Temple in November 2011. 

Temples are not regular places of Sunday worship for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  They are quite different from the thousands of regular chapels or meeting houses all over the world that are used for Sunday services. Temples are considered houses of God, a place of holiness and peace separate from the preoccupations of the world.  They provide a place where church members make formal promises and commitments to God. They are also the place where the highest sacraments of the faith occur – the marriage of couples and the “sealing” of eternal families for eternity.

At the beginning of this anniversary year of the dedication of the Temple, the presidency and their wives received an invitation from the First Presidency of the Church to extend their service to a fourth year, an invitation they all welcomed dearly.

The 30th anniversary of the dedication of the Sydney Australia Temple will be celebrated from September 20th through the 24th, 2014. 

Read more about Latter–day Saint temples and watch a short video on temples

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