A red-letter day in Recife

During the final months of my mission I served as both district leader and branch president in Maceió, the capital city of Alagoas, in northeastern Brazil. Those were days of great joy for a young servant of the Lord.

One of the red-letter days of my service in Maceió actually occurred four hours up the coast in Recife. It was Thursday, September 10, 1970. We had traveled to Recife for a missionary conference in the afternoon and a member district conference in the evening. And we topped the day off with a baptismal service that evening, ever and always a highlight for missionaries.

Elder Gordon B. Hinckley of the Council of the Twelve was in town, along with his dear wife, and with our mission president and his wife.

In the missionary conference, by some twist of fate, undoubtedly Presi­dent Johnson's twisting, I was the only missionary par­ticipant, shar­ing the program with Sister Marjorie Hinckley, Sister Virginia Johnson, President Hal R. Johnson, and Brother Hinckley, who spoke in that order. I was first on the program, discussing for a few moments priesthood stewardships and the blessing powers of the priesthood.

Sister Hinckley's talk really impressed me. She spoke of the modern-day miracles she has been seeing, including the growth of the Church and the members thereof. Last Sunday, she related, she saw the third stake in São Paulo being organized. South America holds a special spot in her heart. She compared the work here to the construction of a great building. Sometimes an elder may feel he has done nothing on his mission, but hundreds before have felt the same. In reality, they have all placed their bricks into the edifice, and the kingdom grows.

During President Johnson's talk I had a brief but wonderful inter­view with Brother Hinckley. Knowing I was branch president, he asked me a little about Maceió. We talked about both the city and our little branch. We talked about my companion briefly. He asked me what I most admired in him. I had to think on that one, not that I could not think of anything, but that I had to choose one trait of many that I admire. I answered, "His ability to love others."

Brother Hinckley asked, "Don't you love people?"

I responded, "I certainly try."

He rejoined, "But your companion does a better job?"

He told me he had recently been to stake conference in Nampa. When I asked how they were doing, he replied, "They miss you, Elder."

We also spoke of my schooling plans, and I learned that Brother Hinckley once had been an English major also.

My companion, Elder Dana Blackham, was interviewed right after me. He was asked about his companion too. That evening Elder Blackham shared with me what he said to the Apostle: "I love him for his ability to stay close to the Lord."

The highlight of the afternoon was when Brother Hinckley held a question-answer session and spoke to us. That was a marvelous ex­peri­ence. Once again the Spirit bore witness that here was an Apostle of the Almighty God. I was so impressed by so many things he said that I cannot even write them all here.

He taught us that there was no shame in saying, "I don't know," if we did not know something. He said that to him the gospel is be­coming simpler and more beautiful and his faith likewise simpler. To me that was profound. He told us to stick to the scriptures and not worry too much about reading everything else that comes off the presses.

Someone asked him about the Second Comforter. His response was that we have our hands full trying to keep the constant com­panionship of the First Comforter. Worry about that first.

His comments on the draft situation made things look rather hopeful as far as my being able to finish my education without interruption. At the time I had left on my mission, two years earlier, I assumed after my couple of years for the Lord that I would also be giving a couple of years to my country.

Brother Hinckley spoke also about adultery and fornication by way of inspired warn­ing. He said he did not always speak of that subject, as if inspired to do so on this occasion.

And then he bore his apostolic witness to the divine mission of the Savior and the truthfulness of the restoration of the gospel.

This evening's district conference was an added spiritual feast. We had the members from Maceió all sitting together on the front three rows. As great as the talks of President and Sister Johnson and Sister Hinckley were, and all of them were a spiritual treat, the highlight once again was Brother Hinckley's remarks.

The beauty of his lessons came from their simplicity. He took a flower from a bouquet on a nearby table and compared it to a member of the Church, beautiful today but tomorrow dry and withered because it had been cut from its stem. Inactivity because of misunderstanding, harsh words, personal weakness leaves us cut off from the Church, and we die spiritually.

He spoke about the word recife, which means reef, since he was in Recife, comparing it to the Church as it protects our lives and gives them peace and calm.

In addition to his inspired insights, Brother Hinckley also has a fantastic sense of humor. The members, unfortunately, had to experience that a step removed through an interpreter.

An elderly couple from Maceió had traveled to the conference, and we held a quick baptismal service for them after the session ended. We had decided that the four-hour car ride would be less strenuous for them, given their age and health, than finding a suitable location to baptize in the ocean at Maceió. The last time I had baptized someone in Maceió, we had to walk a quarter of a mile out from shore in ankle-deep water to find water deep enough to immerse the rather smallish eight-year-old boy. With adults we would have had to walk considerably farther, half way to Africa it would have seemed. At least the meetinghouse in Recife had a proper baptismal font.

Elder Blackham baptized Apolinário Cecílio dos Santos, and I afterward confirmed him. I baptized Idelta Craveiro Santos, and Elder Black­ham confirmed her. They were certainly happy. It had been a big day for them, but they survived. And we were filled with a special joy, Elder Blackham and I.