During their ministry in multiple cities in Brazil Sept. 8-18, Sister J. Anette Dennis, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, and Sister Tracy Y. Browning, second counselor in the Primary general presidency, saw humanitarian efforts of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and met with many Brazilian members of the Church.
The leaders held devotionals, trainings, ministering visits and focus groups with children, youth, single adults, women and missionaries.
“The people of Brazil are so warm and welcoming,” Sister Dennis said. “It was a blessing and privilege for us to be there and meet so many wonderful members of the Church during the devotionals, instruction and ministering visits.”
Sister Browning said Brazil was a special ministry assignment.
“There is a visible light surrounding the saints there. I don’t think I was ever embraced by a ‘stranger’ in Brazil — only by faithful, and loving members who wanted me to immediately know that I was a ‘friend,’” Sister Browning said. “I will cherish the hugs I received forever.”
Some of the time Sister Dennis and Sister Browning — accompanied by their husbands, Brother Jorge Dennis and Brother Brady Browning — were together, including during a visit to the Brazil Missionary Training Center and the Church’s Institute of Religion in São Paulo. Other times they were in different cities, including Londrina, Goiânia, Campinas, Ribeirão Preto and Belo Horizonte.
“We will never forget our time among the wonderful Saints in Brazil nor the kindness shown to us while we were there. We know the Lord is very aware of each one of our Heavenly Father’s sons and daughters in that area of the world,” Sister Dennis said.
Messages of love and covenants during devotionals, ministry visits
In each women’s devotional, Sister Dennis focused on the blessings and priesthood power women have access to when they make and keep temple covenants. She quoted from President Russell M. Nelson’s general conference talks, as well as his teachings about covenants in the October 2022 Liahona magazine.
Elder Roberto Leite, an Area Seventy in Brazil, said Sister Dennis’s messages were full of love and kindness, and the women in each meeting felt the love she conveyed from Heavenly Father for them.
“I loved the following message from Sister Dennis: ‘Love is the key to everything we do; the key to reaching people who aren’t coming to Church,’” Elder Leite said.
Sister Browning said the devotionals and instruction meetings she took part in São Paulo, Londrina, and Ribeirao Preto were a privilege.
“It was special to be able to extend love, bear testimony and offer encouragement in their lives and in their Church assignments,” Sister Browning said. “In these meetings we talked about temples of the Lord and the power, strength and learning that comes when all members (children, youth and adults) accept the Lord’s invitation to prepare ourselves to enter His House.”
Brazil has 10 temples in operation and 10 more announced.
Elder Leite said during the ministry visits, the main message was to bring the love of Heavenly Father and his beloved son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the women.
The scheduled ministering visits were prayerfully selected by the local leaders, Sister Dennis explained.
“It was a great blessing for us to be in the homes of so many wonderful and faithful members of the Church and feel their strength and deep faith in the Lord despite the many difficult challenges they are facing,” she said. “I could feel the Lord’s love for them, and our faith was strengthened by theirs.”
Sister Browning said, “It is always a great privilege to have members open their homes in mutual friendship and love.”
Together, Sister Dennis and Sister Browning held a devotional for Primary children ages eight to 11 the afternoon of Sept. 16 in São Paulo, where children participated by playing the piano, leading the music, giving prayers and testimonies and singing in a choir. Children and their parents also watched remotely.
Elder João L. Oppe, an Area Seventy in Brazil, said Sister Dennis and Sister Browning interacted with the children the entire time. “It was a very nice experience to see them participating and answering the questions that were asked,” Elder Oppe said.
The next day, Sunday, Sept. 17, the leaders attended local sacrament meetings and held a devotional along with members of the Church’s Brazil Area presidency for young men and young women at the São Paulo Brazil Stake Center.
Humanitarian outreach in Brazil
Sister Browning and Sister Dennis dedicated part of their Brazil visit to support humanitarian efforts from the Church in different regions.
On Sept. 11 in Londrina, Sister Browning attended the delivery ceremony of 80 computers from the Church to the city’s mayor and secretary of education. The donation will benefit more than 2,000 students in four schools in the region, opening the doors to more efficient digital learning.
The same day, in Goiânia, Sister Dennis visited the Association of the Physically Handicapped of the State of Goiás, known as ADFEGO, which promotes the training and professional qualification of people with disabilities. The Church has donated over 1,000 wheelchairs to the organization and provided training for physiotherapists.
While in Goiânia, Sister Dennis met with the mayor’s wife and a group of lawmakers and community leaders about efforts to help the most vulnerable people in their city. She toured a maternity hospital which takes care of the most vulnerable of mothers and babies and also does breast cancer screenings.
In Ribeirão Preto, on Sept. 13, Sister Browning toured ADEVIRP or Associação dos Deficientes Visuais de Ribeirão Preto e Região (Association of the Visually Impaired of Ribeirão Preto and Region), while Sister Dennis in Belo Horizonte visited Cidade dos Meninos, or Boys Town, which helps educate children, teens and adults and keeps them out of poverty or addiction.
Cidade dos Meninos is working on a project with funding from the Church that includes new classrooms equipped with computers, sewing machines and educational supplies with the objective of self-reliance and human dignity. A program was held to thank the Church for its support, and local Church leaders, collaborators, beneficiary families and alumni attended.
On Sept. 15, Sister Browning visited the São Paulo headquarters of non-governmental agency Amigos do Bem, or Friends of Good, and learned about how the organization works to help families, children and youth in the rural northeastern backlands or countryside.
While there, she announced on behalf of the Church a large donation of money, food, equipment, buses, ambulances and other vehicles for the organization.
The Church has donated to Amigos do Bem in the past, including donating new school buses in April 2023 to help reduce school absenteeism.
Also on Sept. 15, Sister Dennis visited the headquarters of Américas Amigas in São Paulo, which is a private, non-profit organization working to reduce the mortality rates of women from breast cancer. The Church is supporting the organization in those efforts — especially to increase their mobile cancer services in hard-to-reach areas with vulnerable populations.