First Couple Sealed in the Davao Philippines Temple As Latter-day Saints Embrace New Blessings Close To Home

Just two days after its dedication, the Davao Philippines Temple witnessed one of the sacred ordinances for which it was built, the sealing of a husband and wife for time and all eternity.

Joseph Labang of Tagum 2nd Ward, Tagum Philippines Stake, and Jennifer Balopeños of New Bataan Branch, Monkayo Philippines District, were sealed in the Davao Philippines Temple on May 5, 2026, becoming among the first couples to make eternal covenants in Mindanao's first house of the Lord.

From Mission Field to Covenant Path

Joseph returned home on July 26, 2025, after completing full-time missionary service in the Côte d'Ivoire West Africa Mission. Like many returned missionaries, he came home with a deepened testimony, a refined character, and a readiness to take the next steps on the covenant path.

Those steps came sooner than perhaps he expected.

Just weeks after his return, Joseph attended the Multi-Stake Young Single Adult Conference held at D'Leonor Inland Resort and Adventure Park in Davao from August 23 to 25, 2025. It was there that he first met Jennifer Balopeños. What began as a friendship formed in the spirit of a Church gathering grew steadily and meaningfully over the months that followed until both knew the friendship had become something more.

A Temple Made for Moments Like This

For decades, Latter-day Saints across Mindanao made long and costly journeys to temples in Manila or Cebu to receive sacred ordinances and to be sealed as families. The dedication of the Davao Philippines Temple on May 3, 2026, by Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles changed that, and Joseph and Jennifer's sealing, two days later, stands as a living testament to what that change means.

For this young couple, the temple was not a distant destination requiring sacrifice and travel. It was close. It was theirs. And they walked into it together.

In his dedicatory remarks, Elder Renlund had invited the Saints of Mindanao to see the temple not merely as a building to admire, but as a place to enter often and let the Lord teach them. "Feeling close to God is good," he said. "But it's a greater blessing to draw closer to God by making and keeping temple covenants."

Joseph and Jennifer did exactly that, two days later.

A New Beginning, Rooted in Faith

The story of Joseph and Jennifer is, in many ways, the story of a generation of Latter-day Saints in the Philippines, young people who grew up in the Church, served faithfully, attended conferences and activities, and found in those sacred spaces not only friends, but eternal companions.

Their sealing in the Davao Philippines Temple on May 5, 2026, is more than a wedding. It is a witness that the temple, newly dedicated and already fulfilling its purpose, is doing exactly what Elder Renlund promised it would do, binding families together, one covenant at a time.