SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has died after having a stroke while serving as a mission president in the Philippines.

Church spokesman Daniel Woodruff said in a news release that Bradley Wayne Kirk died Wednesday morning after having a stroke Monday. The 61-year-old Kirk and his wife, Shirley, arrived to lead the mission in the Asian country in July.

The Kirks are from Clovis, California. They have three children.

The Kirk family said in a statement that they are deeply saddened, but feel comfort that he died serving a church mission in a place that was dear to his heart. The family says Kirk loved music, family and the outdoors.

Mission presidents usually spend three years overseeing young men and women on proselyting missions considered rites of passage.