CEDAR CITY — Brad Green's mission for the LDS Church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ended with a bang. Literally.
And that his father, Garth Green, can apply even this bit of humor to the March 12 shooting in a lawless suburb of the South American city is indicative of how this Utah family is putting a bad situation into perspective and moving on. Both father and son were seriously wounded in the unprovoked attack.
Now, back home in Cedar City, they are seeing local doctors for further treatment. Next Tuesday, Garth, 51, will undergo reconstructive surgery on his left arm, which is now "boxed" and swathed in protective bandaging. With the vitality of youth on his side, Brad has recovered rapidly and will only have to make monthly visits to local physicians to see that his abdominal and other wounds continue to heal properly.
"What they (doctors) did in Brazil was excellent," the father said. But the pins, plates and screws they used to put his shattered left arm together need to be put inside, and additional treatments are hoped to ameliorate nerve damage.
Garth and Wendy Green had gone to Rio de Janeiro at the end of Brad's mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to share his mission experience and to accompany him home. Returning to their hotel after a day of visiting with some of Brad's acquaintances, the family inadvertently got into a neighborhood known for its violence.
In the pouring rain, Garth Green missed the freeway entrance and got on the wrong road. As he passed a car in the right lane and moved over to get into the right lane, the other car speeded up and Green suspected the other driver thought he might have cut him off. " I thought it might be a case of road rage. The car pulled around us on the left and people in the car got out. As soon as I saw guns, I knew we were in trouble. Something in my head said 'go,' and I took off."
Green isn't certain how many gunmen there were, and as he roared off, bullets hit their rental car and both Garth and Brad were wounded. The father suffered a shattered left arm and less serious injury to his right arm and a bullet went through his right lung. Brad was hit in the abdominal area and one arm. They were able to get onto the freeway and went about a half mile farther. Their car ran into the steps of a little store when the elder Green lost the use of his arms.
For Wendy Green, who was in the back seat of the car and out of the line of the bullets, the whole thing "was not real." She could see her husband was losing color and she made a compress for his chest wound "out of what was in my purse." Her son lay on the ground, using a cell phone someone had scrounged up to summon an ambulance.
Frantic, she did the only thing she could think to do: She prayed. At that juncture, a van drove up — one of a series of miracles she felt occurred in their behalf — and local people helped get the wounded men to a local government-sponsored hospital — the kind, where, she said, "They do meatball surgery, just what needs to be done."
Later, they were moved to a private hospital for follow-up treatment that would stabilize them enough to make the long air trip back to Utah.
Going through such an experience in a country where they didn't speak the language could have been devastating for the parents if not for the outpouring of concern shown by scores of Brazilians.
"People lined up at the hospital and waited for a chance to see us," said Garth Green. Many of them apologized for the brutal act on behalf of their countrymen, he said.
If their communication often was the "point and grunt" kind, there were many meaningful exchanges between the Greens and their Brazilian visitors.
"I hugged half of the people in Brazil," Brad exaggerated. From his perspective as a missionary who had thought his work was completed, it was an interesting turn of events. The hope of every missionary is to have his message heard. On the day after the shooting, "Nine million people heard about our church on television," he said. Nurses and others in the hospital were asking for copies of the Book of Mormon, he said.
"Justice" isn't something the Greens are concerned with. They were told that police went into the neighborhood where they were wounded to try to "clean it up" and that there were resulting gunfights. One 25-year-old bystander was killed, and television crews who went to cover the events had equipment stolen, they were informed.
But revenge isn't on the Greens' agenda.
"It's hard to protect ourselves from life. We're not scared. We'll just appreciate this extra lease on life and go on living." said Garth Green, cradling his injured arm.
Monday, because of his injuries, the father missed the opening of a fifth outlet for his business, Southwest Wholesale Plumbing Supply Co., in Page, Ariz.
Brad is turning his attention to school. He will study computer science at Southern Utah University and looks forward "to a job that doesn't exist yet" — the nature of the fast-evolving computer scene.
The litter of hundreds of balloons, yellow ribbons and signs that welcomed them home is gone. The media blizzard has abated and the Greens are ready to settle back to life as it was pre-Rio.
E-MAIL: tvanleer@desnews.com