A house RESOLUTION

to recognize and honor Elder John D. Amos of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-Day Saints, and to commend him for His faithful service in Christ.

Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives is pleased to learn that Elder John D. Amos was named an Area Seventy and a member of the Tenth Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the April 2023 general conference; and

Whereas, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long had a presence in the Palmetto State.  In 1839, the first Latter-day Saints came to South Carolina to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and in 1947, the first stake, or group of congregations, was created in Columbia, covering the entire State.  The Columbia South Carolina Temple was dedicated in 1999, and serves members from nineteen stakes in South Carolina, North Carolina, East Georgia, and Northeast Tennessee; and

Whereas, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has 44,230 church members in South Carolina in seventy-nine congregations with one hundred eighty-five fulltime missionaries, consisting of young men and women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, serving in the State.  The Church also has 1,601 enrollments in church education; and

Whereas, born in 1961 in Lafayette, Louisiana, Elder Amos earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Southern University in 1989, a certificate in nuclear engineering from the Naval Post Graduate School in 1993, and a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Central Florida in 1995; and

Whereas, he has worked as a nuclear engineer for the United States Navy, a design engineer for Westinghouse, and a fellow engineer for Siemens Westinghouse.  Since 2002, he has worked for Siemens as an engineering manager and engineering director; and

Whereas, Elder Amos has served in a number of church callings, including bishop, counselor in a stake presidency, and president of the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission; and

Whereas, under the direction of Elder Amos and his predecessors, the church has provided service and humanitarian assistance over the past several years and stocked community food pantries throughout South Carolina; and

Whereas, Church resources have blessed many throughout South Carolina to include donations to the Salvation Army for kitchen equipment; the Spartanburg Opportunity Center for assistance in aiding the homeless population in the Upstate; computers for the Genealogy Lab at Aiken's Center for African American History, Art and Culture; and a grant in 2019 for the Center for Family History at Charleston's International African American Museum; and

Whereas, after the natural disasters of Hurricane Florence in 2018 and the Seneca tornadoes, the Church provided clean-up supplies and food during the disaster recovery.  Hundreds of disaster relief response volunteers provided over 91,000 hours of service while completing nearly one thousand work-order requests.  The Church also provides humanitarian aid around the world; and

Whereas, in 1990, Elder Amos married Michelle Evette Wright, a woman of devout faith, who serves the church in many ways, and like her husband is also an engineer, having worked with NASA for over thirty years.  He and Sister Amos reside in Oviedo, Florida, and together they reared three fine children; and

Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives values the ministry of Elder Amos to his church, and the members wish for him blessings and fruitfulness in his continued ministry.  Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, recognize and honor Elder John D. Amos of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and commend him for his faithful service in Christ.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Elder John D. Amos.

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