The wife was there. The husband was a salesman. He traveled a lot. He was out. But she said, “Yeah, we would like to hear you. Why don’t you come back.” Then, she gave us a date. We went back and later baptized the family. This is the family now. [Pointing to the picture.] Shortly after the husband’s baptism, I left. This was 1979. In 2000, I was President of America Online in Brazil. It was, at that time, the largest internet company in the world. It was the Google, the Facebook—of the time, of 2000. And I had a friend who was serving as Mission President in Juayua, El Salvador. He invited us to go visit. We went. We had never been to El Salvador. While there, he asked me to go and do a fireside on a Sunday.
At that time, I was being invited to do firesides all over Brazil because I was a member of the Church and president of the top internet company in the world. I was president of the area there. So I went and talked. When I finished, a lot of people came up to visit with me. There were maybe 3,000 people in attendance. The whole chapel and cultural hall and the stage were filled with people. So, a lot of people came to greet me, to thank me for the talk.
And then, this woman, from another state–thousands of miles from Sao Paulo, sat in front of me, looked at me in the eye, and said, “You don’t remember me, do you?”
And I immediately, obviously, remembered her. I said, “Sister Rosa, what are you doing here?” And she said, “Well, we moved some years ago. We are now living here, and I was so glad to hear that you were speaking today.”
She was not with her husband. She had the youngest with her. Her husband and oldest son were not there. I said, “Where is your son? Where is Brother Inger?” She said, “Brother Inger is a bishop now, and he couldn’t come. He is doing interviews. My oldest son is serving a mission.” She told me she was the Stake Relief Society President.
So, what was the biggest impact that the 1978 decision of the church, the revelation, had on Brazil? Huge impact! Huge!
Brazil would never have become the force it is today in the church if black people were not allowed to be members.
Read or listen to Manoel Amorim’s full oral history.
