About three decades ago, mission president Asael Sorensen initiated a period of fasting and prayer for the purpose of converting Brazilian men with leadership ability.
Soon afterward, three young ministerial students in a Protestant seminary heard the message of the restored gospel and joined the Church.The three, Helio Camargo, Walter Queiroz and Saul Messias, have subsequently served as stake presidents and mission presidents, and one, Elder Camargo, became the first Brazilian General Authority, now a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy.
Other leaders followed this trio. Among them are two of Brazil's finest eye surgeons, Dr. A. Heliton Lemos and Dr. Valentim Claret Santos Goncalves, associates in their Bethesda Eye Surgery Clinic in Curitiba.
The elder of the two, Dr. Lemos, joined the Church in 1968 while serving in the Brazilian army. He was introduced to the Church by a roommate, Vicente Telles, who was investigating the Church and five other religions as well.
Elders Lynn C. Rowe and Allen Franklin Edwards explained the message of the Restoration to Lemos and Telles. "I was so impressed and excited that I read the Book of Mormon in a week and was baptized three months later," said Lemos. His roommate, Telles, was baptized a year later.
Dr. Lemos, now a regional representative, is a distinguished physician, and member of national medical, ophthalmological and surgical societies in Brazil. He not only has his own eye clinic and private practice, but also serves the Brazilian Army as a Major Doctor Ophthalmologist.
He and his wife, Rosina de Aencar Lima, were sealed soon after the Sao Paulo Temple was dedicated. They have five children.
Dr. Lemos was joined at his clinic by Dr. Goncalves in 1984.
Dr. Goncalves, 30, has been a member of the Church four years and is a counselor in the Curitiba stake presidency.
He completed medical school in Taubate, Sao Paulo, in 1980. After residency training, he studied two years at St. Louis University in Missouri.
"After six months in St. Louis," he said, "I met a very special friend on the basketball court. His name was John Vassar, a medical student who had been a missionary in Uruguay and Paraguay.
"There followed three years of fellowshiping, patience, answering my questions, persisting with invitations to meetings, firesides, and dancing at the ward," continued Dr. Goncalves.
"Then one night, when I was studying the book of Matthew, the Spirit testified so strongly about Jesus Christ that I asked fervently about the Holy Ghost. I felt the burning in my bosom, and my heart beat twice as fast until I thought I would die. The next morning, I decided to be baptized."
He said that after about six months of activity in the Church, "I learned how much I needed the Church, and what real happiness is. Through my patriarchal blessing, I understood that I had to go back to Brazil, where I would be led through the promptings of the Spirit, as though by the hand, to establish myself professionally and serve the greatest number of people."
He felt impressed to go to Curitiba, where he visited Dr. Lemos.
"He promptly gave me the key to his office, offering me all of his instruments to enable my immediate work. He invited me to work in his surgeries and private work. I learned from that how much the Lord had taught this noble man, who unselfishly gave me all the tools I needed to get started."
A year later, Dr. Goncalves and Regina Lucia Gualberto Combacau were married in the Sao Paulo Temple. They are parents of one daughter. Two of his sisters have also joined the Church.
The doctors regularly share the gospel. They keep a big box of copies of the Book of Mormon in their offices. They frequently offer copies of the book to patients or other doctors, taking a little time to bear their testimonies about the Book of Mormon and its truthfulness.