Ensign College Devotionals

Moroni Juarez was born and raised in the state of Washington, in the Yakima Valley. After graduating high school, he served as a missionary in the Mexico, Mexico City West mission. Following his mission, he attended Brigham Young University Idaho, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in health psychology. During his time at BYU-I, he met and married his sweetheart, Bailey.Brother Juarez has been working with Ensign College since January of 2023. He currently helps lead the recruitment efforts of our school as an Outreach and Admissions Counselor in the Admissions Department.

Elder Yoon Hwan Choi was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 4, 2009. At the time of his call, he had been serving as a member of the Eighth Quorum of the Seventy in the Asia North Area. From 2009 to 2011, he served as a member of the Asia North Area Presidency. From 2011 to 2013, he served as an Assistant Executive Director in the Temple Department and a member of the Boundary and Leadership Change Committee. He served as president of the Washington Seattle Mission (2013–2015), President of the Asia North Area, and First Counselor of the Philippines Area. He currently serves at Church Headquarters in a variety of departments and committees.Since joining the Church in 1973, Elder Choi has served in a number of Church callings, including full-time missionary in the Korea Busan and Korea Seoul Missions, counselor in a bishopric, bishop, high councilor, stake mission president, counselor in a mission presidency, counselor in a stake presidency, stake president, and Area Seventy.Elder Choi received a bachelor’s degree in business information management from Brigham Young University–Hawaii in 1988. In 1989, he received a master’s degree in business information systems and education from Utah State University. He has been an instructor at Brigham Young University–Hawaii and Utah State University; manager of sales, administration, marketing, and customer support at Data General Korea; director of CDC and MBS Venture Capital Company; and the regional manager for temporal affairs for the Church in Korea. Elder Choi was born in Seoul, South Korea, on May 18, 1957. He married Bon Kyung Koo in September 1982. They are the parents of three children.

Brian K. Ashton was appointed by the Board of Education of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the second president of BYU-Pathway Worldwide in 2021. He had served as the organization’s first vice president of field operations since 2018.President Ashton holds a bachelor of arts degree from Brigham Young University and a master of business administration from the Harvard Business School. He began his career as a management consultant and has been a founder, executive, and board member at several startup companies.From 2015 to 2019, President Ashton served as Second Counselor in the Church’s Sunday School General Presidency. He served as a missionary in the Peru Lima South Mission.President Ashton was born in Provo, Utah, the oldest of nine children. He has lived all over the United States during his lifetime.Brian married Melinda Earl in the St. George Utah Temple in 1996 and they are the parents of seven children. Together, she and Brian presided over the Texas Houston South Mission from 2012 to 2015.

Paul S. Edwards was born in Utah and grew up in New Jersey and Colorado. He served a mission in Southern France. After studying history at BYU, he earned his law degree and a doctorate in jurisprudence and social policy from the University of California, Berkeley. Within higher education, Brother Edwards has taught courses in law and politics at numerous universities including U.C. Berkeley, BYU, and George Mason; he has also served as vice president for academic affairs at the Institute for Humane Studies, as president of the Mercatus Center at George Mason, and as provost at Southern Virginia. Within government, Brother Edwards was a judicial law clerk to Judge Cecil Poole on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and served as the policy and communications director for Utah Gov. Gary Herbert. From 2010 to 2016, he worked at the Deseret News as the editorial page editor, and as editor-in-chief and publisher. Brother Edwards is now a professor at BYU where he directs the Wheatley Institute. Brother Edwards and his wife Margo have four children and three grandchildren.

Elder Claudio R. M. Costa was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 2, 1994. He was released October 5, 2019. He has served in the Presidency of the Seventy and as President of the South America North, Brazil North, and Brazil Areas. Elder Costa has also served in the presidencies of the Brazil and South America South Areas, and as President of the North America Southeast Area. He served at Church headquarters as an Assistant Executive Director in the Missionary Department and as a member of the Boundary and Leadership Change Committee.Elder Costa studied marketing in São Paulo as a young man and later served for 13 years in various positions in the Church Educational System. At the time of his calling as a General Authority, he was the director of the Church’s institute of religion in São Paulo.Elder Costa has served the Church as an institute and seminary teacher, counselor in a bishopric, bishop, stake high councilor, counselor in a stake presidency, mission president, and regional representative.Elder Claudio R. M. Costa was born in Santos, Brazil, on March 25, 1949. He married Margareth Fernandes Morgado in September 1978. They are the parents of four children.

Sean Christopher Murdock was born in Oakland, California and raised in Utah and Washington. Brother Murdock and his wife Angela are the parents of eight children. They have been married for twenty-three years and were married in the Portland, Oregon temple. After meeting and getting married, his wife encouraged him to return to college after what was a rough academic semester at BYU Provo. Brother Murdock reluctantly applied for readmission, and the miracle that followed was his successful re-acceptance and then his graduation with a bachelor’s in computer information systems at Western Governors University. Brother Murdock received his master’s in business administration with a focus in IT Management. He has worked for several companies from small startups to 30,000 person corporations and enjoys aspects of all of them. Working for Ensign College and BYU Idaho have been Brother Murdock’s most rewarding professional experiences to date.Brother Murdock served his mission in the Alaska Anchorage mission.Brother Murdock’s official job title is Program Chair of Computer Science at Ensign College.

Jennifer Harrison is an accounting professional with a background in industry, consulting, and academia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a Master of Accountancy (MAcc) with an emphasis in Information Systems from Brigham Young University. Jennifer began her career as an auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Los Angeles, later transitioning to consulting and industry roles.Her academic journey includes adjunct teaching at LDS Business College and Westminster University, where she became a full-time faculty member. Jennifer’s move to Ensign College was preceded by her online teaching roles with BYU-Idaho and BYU Pathway.In addition to her academic and professional pursuits, Jennifer and her husband operated a seasonal greenhouse, orchard, and pumpkin patch business, utilizing their 5-acre property to teach their children about entrepreneurship. She continues to provide accounting services to start-ups and non-profits.Jennifer resides in Lake Point, Utah, with her husband. They have three children and four grandchildren.

Gayle Jordan Randall was born at Hill Air Force Base and grew up in Lake Point, Utah. She attended Brigham Young University, earning a bachelor’s degree in Child Development and Family Relations. She completed additional studies at BYU toward an Elementary Teaching certificate, interning at Draper Elementary.She served senior missions with her husband, Scott, in the Philippines, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Philippines, Croatia, Ensign College, and Kentucky before returning to Ensign College, where she serves as the Alumni Specialist.Sister Randall and her husband, Scott, have six children (four living) and twelve grandchildren.

Brent D. Fillmore was born in Payson, Utah. Brother Fillmore earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the University of Utah with an emphasis in International Relations. He earned a Master of Education degree from Utah State University in Secondary Education with an emphasis in the Supervision of Teaching. Brother Fillmore has worked in Church education since 1992 as a seminary and institute instructor and administrator, including work in teaching, training, information management, software development, communications, marketing, strategic projects, and student recruitment.He and his wife Joan are the parents of 6 children. He served the Church as a missionary in the Brazil Porto Alegre mission and as a Mission Leader with Sister Fillmore in the Portugal Lisbon Mission (2018-21).

President Bruce C. Kusch became the 13th president of Ensign College on April 17, 2017. He previously served as the Chief Academic Officer from March 2016 until assuming his current role.President Kusch began his Church Educational System service in August 2002, joining the Business Management Faculty at Brigham Young University-Idaho. While there, he also served as the Associate Academic Vice President for Curriculum and as Associate Dean for Online Programs. Before joining the BYU-Idaho faculty, President Kusch worked in the high technology industry in Silicon Valley, CA. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Phoenix, an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management, and a PhD in instructional design from Idaho State University. President Kusch served as a full-time missionary in the Guatemala-El Salvador Mission, and from June 2012 to June 2015, President and Sister Kusch served as mission leaders of the Mexico Cuernavaca Mission. He currently serves as an Adult Sunday School teacher in his ward.Sister Alynda Kusch is a graduate of BYU-Idaho. Following her graduation, she taught for the BYU-I Culinary Arts department until she and President Kusch left for their missionary service in Mexico. She currently serves as a counselor in the Young Women presidency in her ward. Both President and Sister Kusch were born and raised in Southern California. They were married in the Los Angeles Temple and are the parents of four children and 15 grandchildren.