Senior couple send off

Yes--a full day of travel to get home

We had a marvelous experience on our mission in Brazil. This summary will give you a better idea of what we did in our five months there and some of our thoughts about it.

We will also be giving our report in sacrament meeting on Sunday, February 9, at noon (Mountain time). Our ward building is at 1960 North 1500 East in Provo. The meeting will also be Zoomed at the following link: https://tinyurl.com/54fs7cvx   

Our Mission in Brazil, 2024: Looking Back at a Wonderful Experience

James Welch

 

When I was a young missionary in Brazil in 1970, my mission president said, “Brazil will get under your skin.” And it was true—over the years it has pulled me back several times for short visits. I’ve stayed in touch with people (not an easy task before the days of the Internet), and I still think in Portuguese sometimes. For some reason I never forgot my Portuguese, and people were surprised that I showed up 54 years later still speaking the language. In fact, I was often complimented on my accent. I’m not sure if they were just being nice, but it did always put a smile on my face.

 

I told Deanne many times that I hoped we could go to Brazil on a mission—I wanted her to see Brazil—after all I’d talked about it so much, and she has met a number of my companions. I had 14 of them, and I’m still in touch with most of them.

 

The way this mission came about is sort of interesting. When I was in Joinville, my first city, in 1970, I met the Koch family, one of the pillar families of that branch (no wards then). When I read that Joni, one of their sons, was the current Area President of Brazil, I reached out to him and told him of my interest in going there on a senior mission. I said, “You probably don’t remember me—after all, I was 20 at the time, but you would have been only 10.” He answered, “Sure I remember you—you were the organist!” What a memory the guy has!  So one thing led to another, and we were called to help on their 4^th annual Vilazinha de Belém, or Bethlehem Village. This year they wanted to add a series of concerts (right up my alley), and also a thing called a crèche exhibit. Little did they know that Deanne has 37 years of experience putting on crèche exhibits. So it was meant to be!

 

We arrived in São Paulo in August 2024. I know all missions come with their challenges.  We had to invent the process for putting together the concerts and a crèche exhibit, make contacts with people all over the area, invite people to perform in musical ensembles and to lend their crèches. It took a lot of work with leaders in the area office and the wards and stakes. Luckily we like doing this sort of thing.

 

The reason we go on missions is to teach and preach of Christ. We were able to do it in a friendly, natural way. Everyone loves music, especially Christmas music. It was a win-win—the people who got to listen (thousands and thousands) and the people who got to perform—a dream realized for them as well. These were not professional musicians—mostly wards and stakes and families--but they presented their gifts with such love and dedication, and everyone loved them for it.

 

And you should have seen people’s eyes light up when they walked into the nativity room. They’d never seen anything like this: nativities from around the world, in all styles and colors and materials, from crystal to crochet, wood to clay, and more. A lot of photos and videos were taken. Some people left with tears in their eyes.

 

So that was our payoff, to see people basking in the music and the sights of the Vilazinha. Everyone loved it. The majority of visitors were non-members, and probably most of those were first-time visitors. They had to be impressed. By the time the five weeks of the Vilazinha were over, there had been over 100,000 visitors!

 

We had other things to keep us busy as well: We signed up to be ordinance workers in the São Paulo temple. That was interesting, performing the ordinances in Portuguese, and occasionally in Spanish or English. We met such wonderful people on our shifts. In Provo we are not far from a temple, but in São Paulo it was even closer--across the street! We also signed up to teach in the English Connect classes. There are always students eager to improve their English.

 

As I did in Provo, I volunteered at the São Paulo Missionary Training Center, where I played the piano for their Wednesday evening devotionals. They have about 300 missionaries there at any given time, from Latin America and the US, heading to missions around the world. We also put on a Christmas day devotional and sing-along for them. We love the vibe at the MTCs.

 

We were technically part of the São Paulo West Mission. We admire President Hunt and his wife. They gave all the young and senior missionaries a new Book of Mormon on October 1 and challenged us to finish it by Christmas—which we did together. That was a very enriching experience for us.

 

We got to do a little travelling. Everyone has to go to Rio and to Iguaçu Falls, quintessential Brazil, lively and colorful. But we also traveled to my old mission cities in what was the Brazil South Mission in 1970. In my day there were only four missions in the whole country (now there are 36). There were only about 35,000 members of the Church in Brazil then, and now it’s approaching 2 million. There were no wards or stakes or temples. Now there are 285 stakes (83 in the state of São Paulo), and 10 operating temples, 2 under construction, and 11 announced, for a total of 23.

 

It was very nostalgic for me to be in Joinville, Santa Catarina, again. This area was where the first members of the Church in Brazil lived—they had come from Germany, and the gospel was preached in German until around WW2. This is where the very first Latter-day Saint chapel in South America was built, and I remember it well (including the baptismal “font” outside that the teenagers would fill with a hose during the summer and go swimming). Deanne and I spoke in sacrament meeting the Sunday we were there, and I recognized some people I had known 54 years previously. Funny, we all look a little older… Most rewarding was to see Selma Bittencourt Lopes, a young woman whom John Tanner and I had taught (and I had baptized in the “font”). She was there with some of her children and grandchildren. It was so heart-warming to see her again, with her posterity being raised in the Church.

 

In the meantime, we drank in the experiences of living in São Paulo. It’s big—the largest city in South America, fourth largest in the world, with about 22 million people. It’s like living in New York City. No car, lots of walking and subway and buses (and all public transportation is free for us “idosos” over 60 years!), rubbing shoulders with the natives who were unfailingly friendly and courteous.

 

Some things I will remember: 

 

The noise! No mufflers on motorcycles, and lots of those. And yet in the middle of the night, I could hear tropical birds singing in the tree outside our apartment.

 

The outdoor feira, like a farmers’ market. I went every Saturday morning and loaded up on mangoes, papayas, mamão, pineapples, passion fruit, guavas, star fruit, melons. So fresh, so good, so inexpensive.

 

The delicious aromas coming from neighboring apartments, cooking their mid-day almoço (lunch), typically beans and rice. My absolute favorite, I’m totally hooked, so I learned to make black beans in the pressure cooker. It’s easy, by the way: sauté onions and garlic in some bacon and sausage, throw in the beans, add bay leaf and water, and cook for 30-40 minutes. Heaven on earth.

 

Remember, Christmas is in the middle of summer in South America. It took some getting used to tropical weather at Christmas. Luckily it wasn’t as hot this year as it can be. A tender mercy.

 

As for music: There I was, a professional musician in Brazil on a musical mission of sorts. I did get to play a couple of recitals on famous pipe organs (Campinas Cathedral and Mosteiro São Bento in São Paulo), and I made connections with several area organists. I was, however, surprised to learn that there no organs in any LDS meetinghouses, and even the pianos or keyboards they have are not always very good—and there is not always anyone to play them. They did rent an electronic organ for me for the concerts in December. People seemed to be intrigued with it—few had ever seen or heard organ music played live. At the same time, I don’t think they’ll miss it much after I’m gone. It’s just not what they’re used to.

 

As we learned when we were in Jerusalem, being on a senior mission is a rewarding experience. You get to meet wonderful people—members and non-members—in a more casual way. And you become friends. In addition to the work that senior missionaries are assigned to do, they also have a fair amount of freedom (you can get up when you want, you can watch TV, you can leave your companion to go on errands, etc.). Yes, you have to work a little harder to stay disciplined when the rules are so flexible for senior missionaries. But the best thing about a senior mission is working alongside and hanging out with other senior couples. Instant friendships are made. These are the greatest people! They all want to be on their missions, they’re not having faith crises, and they have a lifetime of wisdom and experience (and patience). Who knew that old people were that much fun? Senior missions are the best.

 

We could never sum up the experiences of the last five months in a few paragraphs, but Brazil exceeded our expectations in so many ways. We are happy that we could be part of sharing the message and the happiness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will always have warm memories--“saudades,” as they say--of our time in Brazil.