Henrique Mariani de Agostini

Yeah. I remember I walked in on January 1st, a holiday. So I went to my mother that night and I said, “Mom, I am serving a mission. Here’s the call and I leave in 3 weeks.” Oh my gosh. Everything I was afraid would happen, happened. And that’s why I kept the peace for 3 months. But, on the last night, the last Sunday at home was a testimony meeting. I told the Bishop, “I don’t want to give a talk. I don’t want anyone to know until I have no choice.” The last Sunday in the chapel was testimony meetings. Ten minutes before the meeting was over he stopped the testimonies saying, “We’ve had enough testimonies for the day. I’m going to take the liberty to hold the last 10 minutes because Henrique’s leaving on a mission tomorrow and he needs time to say goodbye.” And my mother gets up and goes to the microphone. I said, “Here we go.” She said, “Come to the house tonight. Let’s say goodbye to Henrique there.” All the young men and young women and it was a big group. “Come and have a little get-together at my house.” I was surprised. So, that meeting went on and on and on and I said, “I need to pack. I’m leaving at 8:00 in the morning. I need to pack. I need to pack.”

So finally they left at 11:00 at night or something like that and I had to take one girl home because she was alone. In Rio de Janeiro, girls don’t walk alone at night. So I came back home to start packing and I didn’t want to wake anyone up because I knew I was walking on eggs. And I got to my room and I turned the light on, and everything was done. My mother had packed everything.

…So the next day I got up, I took a shower, I put on my suit and nobody got up to say goodbye. My mother got up and said, “Are you ready to go?” I said, “Yup.” She opened the door to the elevator. Did not even go to the bus station. She said, “I wish you the best.” I said, “Thanks Mom. I love you. Thank you” and I left. She said goodbye at the front door.

…It was a very sad goodbye. She hugged me, she kissed me, but obviously her heart was broken. So much sacrifice for college and now I’m leaving it all behind. Could not be more disappointing than my brothers, my cousins, and my uncles. Nothing could have been more disappointing. But at least he’s not involved in drugs. That’s the consolation. At least he’s not involved in gangs and drugs. You know, at least he’s a good man.

Read or listen to Henrique Mariani de Agostini’s full oral history.