Eduardo Ayala

Eduardo Ayala (born 3 May 1937) was the first Chilean general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
Ayala was born in Coronel, Chile. He married Blanca Ester Espinoza in 1959 and they are the parents of three children. In 1968, Ayala, his wife, and oldest son were baptized into the LDS Church. The other children were baptized once they reached the age of eight, the age at which Latter-day Saints are baptized.
In Coronel, Ayala worked in industrial planning for a mining company. In the early 1970s, the family moved to Santiago to continue his work in industrial planning. While still a student, Ayala worked as a textile engineer where he invented several weaves and patterns still in use today. In 1974, LDS Church apostle Boyd K. Packer called Ayala as president of the newly formed Santiago Chile Stake; at the same time, Ayala accepted full-time employment in the Church Educational System. He served at various times in his career as director of an Institute of Religion.
Ayala served as a regional representative twice and as a mission president in Uruguay. He also served as interim mission president in Concepción, Chile after the previous mission president had to return home due to the death of his wife. In 1990, Ayala was called as a member of the LDS Church's Second Quorum of the Seventy, becoming the first general authority from Chile. Ayala was released as a general authority in 1995. As a general authority, Ayala served as a counselor in the presidencies of church's South America South and South America North areas.
After his service as a general authority, Ayala served as president of the church's Santiago Chile Temple.

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