Dear Brothers and Sisters in the world, it is my honor to greet you in the name of Jesus Christ and this humble but loving group of Saints in Brazil in which thanks to the will of the Lord, I have the honor of belonging.

I would like to tell you a story about how a Venezuelan refugee has become part of this community of Saints in southern Brazil, a story that as you will see is not only about us but also about you, thanks to your support for this work.

My name is José Chávez, I was born in the city of Maracaibo in Venezuela forty-one years ago, being blessed with good parents, great-grandson of Sephardic Spanish immigrants, in a good environment and with enough resources to survive and prepare academically to face any challenge in life in a normal country. It can be said that at 19 years of age I was a common young university student, but without interest in spiritual and religious issues. One day I met some LDS missionaries and the Book of Mormon came into my hands. I had not read the scriptures but when I had it in my hands, something “clicked” on my mind and in my heart; so following the promise in Moroni 10: 4-5 I asked the Lord if what I was reading was true. It was then that for the first time I felt the Holy Spirit with a feeling of joy and a very strong emotion starting at that moment my path in the restored gospel.

With the passage of time I found doctrines that did not match either the Bible or the Book of Mormon, so I started looking for information on the internet and contacted brothers from various branches of the restoration in the United States who answered my questions and they visited me to instruct me in the gospel. Among those brothers were those from the conference of branches and Brother Gary Metzger whom I thank for guiding me in my first steps in the restoration. At the same time my  family and friends met to study the scriptures, creating a small group in the neighborhood where I lived. At that time we came into contact with the Church of Jesus Christ in Pennsylvania who began to visit us more frequently. They taught us with much love and faith, administering also the ordinances and sacraments. With the passing of time I was ordained Elder of the church with the authority of the priesthood that came from the line of Sidney Rigdon. I also had the opportunity to attend a conference of that church in the city of Chicago where to my pleasant surprise there was also Brother Gary as a guest.

Time continued to advance and our group was organized, we had our sacramental meetings and a study group that was still growing, as well as my family began to grow as I now had a wife and two children.

Unfortunately, changes began to occur in my beautiful country; the government expropriated companies and organizations, blocked the freedom of monetary exchange so that only the government could exchange our national currency for foreign currency—which caused private companies to close and foreign companies to leave the country—leaving a lot of unemployed people, I being among those people.

The same government  took control of the distribution of food, placing corrupt and inexperienced people as managers of state enterprises which caused a shortage of food in all states, unleashing a famine throughout the country.

Due to the closure of companies, the economy fell and the currency had to be devalued every month, so the salaries of university professionals were less than $30 per month and the minimum wage does not reach $10, which is why thousands of people began to protest against the government, from 2014 until now. Since they had no weapons, the protests were with flags and banners, while the government sent the national guard and the army to shoot the protesters.

The neighborhood where we lived was the focus of several protests. The military arrived firing regardless of the fact that children, old people and sick people lived in the buildings. We saw how several people were injured and killed; those who were imprisoned were horribly tortured in an attempt to force them to betray the leaders of the protests to be able to imprison them.

Gradually, everything else deteriorated. It was impossible to get medicines. Hospitals were saturated with people they could not attend because they did not have enough medical supplies. Many children and adults sick with cancer and other chronic diseases began to die because they did not have treatment. People who needed dialysis stopped being treated and many died.

The famine continued to advance so that most people lost a lot of weight until they were in a skeletal condition. Parents had no way to feed their children. Many people began to eat from the garbage in the streets which also caused the increase of crime and insecurity.

Millions of people began to flee the country, mostly across borders. According to data from UNESCO (United Nations) there are more than 4 million Venezuelans who have fled to other countries, many of them in refugee status.

Public services also went bankrupt to the point that in our city, Maracaibo, began an electrical rationing so we had electricity only 8 hours a day, in a place where it is always summer and temperatures often exceed 40 degrees celsius (104^oF).

In my case, we had not thought about emigrating but when spending time with my one month salary I could only buy food for three days. Our situation deteriorated to the point of being able to eat only once a day. I lost more than 60 pounds of weight and my 13 year old son suffered from malnutrition. Our quality of life continued to worsen. We had to sell our car in order to eat, so we now had to walk long distances. We had to walk across the border to Colombia to buy some food, and many times the military on the Venezuelan side of the border would take away part of what we could bring. We could never buy clothes again, and our clothes and shoes began to break leaving us with very little clothes to wear. It was impossible to buy medicine. If we got sick we could only turn to our prayers with faith. We felt like the Hebrew slaves in Egypt waiting for a Moses to lead us to Zion—we asked for that every day in our prayers.

One day Brother Gary (with whom I have always been in contact) asked me if I had heard about the Sealed Portion of the Book of Mormon; I said yes. What I knew was that Moroni was asked to include it in the plates, then sealed the vision of Jared’s brother and that it would be revealed in a future time. However, it was included in the records and Joseph Smith Jr was instructed not to translate it. Then the brother told me that the Sealed Portion had come to light in Brazil and that he saw the plates with his own eyes. Upon hearing that, I immediately began investigating the Sealed Portion and how it appeared in Brazil.

Looking for information, I found the story of Brother Mauricio Berger and the testimony of Brothers Joni, Wagner, and Valdecí. I had not deepened much in my research but the same thing happened as when I first took the Book of Mormon in my hands; something “clicked” on my mind and in my heart so I immediately prayed to the Lord for guidance and received the same response from the Holy Spirit as a fire from within, so from that moment I knew that this work is true.

In spite of all the inconveniences that little by little were ending our life expectancy, I clung to my faith in our Lord—since if we lived, for Him we lived and if we died, for Him we died; the important thing is that His will be fulfilled. I had many desires to come to Brazil and meet Brother Mauricio, the witnesses and all the beautiful group of Saints that we could see in the information on the internet.

We wanted to come to Brazil not only to escape the horrible reality that we lived in our country but because through the Holy Spirit I felt that things were happening here like when the Church was restored in 1830. So we began to pray to our heavenly Father so that a path would open and we could see in person everything that was happening. In my heart I knew that Brother Mauricio Berger is a Prophet and that the true priesthood authority was being organized. I couldn't stop thinking about everything that was happening, the ministering of angels and the Sealed Portion.

When it seemed that hope was farther away, the Lord presented the opportunity to my son José Ángel and me to meet with brothers from the conference of branches in São Paulo, Brazil. My wife told me that we should do our best to fulfill our desire to meet the Brothers in Palhoça that she could stay and resist for another time waiting to see the will of the Lord, since if He wanted us to go out He would provide the way.

In order to leave the country with my 13-year-old son, my wife had to cross the Colombian border with us on foot so that there was no problem in taking the child out of the country without a special permission from the government. Then she had to return to Venezuela alone in the same way.

We took a plane from Riohacha in northern Colombia, to Bogotá and then we entered Brazil through the city of São Paulo where we spent four days sharing with the conference brothers until Thursday, August 1, when we decided to take a bus to Florianopolis.

We had previously contacted Brother Valdeci Machado who was always willing to receive us. In fact, he went to pick us up at the road terminal and lovingly gave us lodging in his house.

The emotion could not be greater! We were going to know the work with our own eyes and we also had the opportunity to meet the Prophet, the witnesses and all the Saints in Palhoça. That same day at night Brother Valdeci gave me a copy of The Sealed Book, and I had the opportunity to start reading it for the first time.

The next day in the morning we went to a meeting in the Center to study the Sealed Book. I felt like I was arriving in Kirtland when brothers from other cities and countries came to meet the saints. With great joy we were able to greet and embrace the witnesses and members of the priesthood. It was as if I already knew them; we were also received with joy and love. Then Brother Mauricio arrived and I had no idea what words to say to a Prophet. I felt a strong energy in him and told him, “It is an honor to meet a prophet.” He smiled and with much humility told me to call him by name, that our only leader is Jesus Christ and we should serve only Him.

After telling our brothers the situation, they told us that we should not worry because they were going to help us. They immediately offered to locate us in a new home and began to look for rental options. As we arrived in winter and we didn't have many clothes, the Brothers and Sisters gathered clothes and blankets so that we could bear the cold.

Shortly after this they found an apartment next to a brother for us to move into. They also gathered food and bought everything we needed to be able to eat for a while. They also obtained a ticket for my wife to leave Venezuela to Colombia so she could come to Brazil—where thanks to God and the brothers we are together again. Never in my life had I seen a group of Saints act with so much love and work so well together to help other people. They are a big family to which we are proud to belong. There are no words that can thank all their noble acts.

Brother Mauricio told me that four months earlier he had a revelation that a foreigner was going to come to work in the Work. For me it was a great honor and a great blessing to be able to start working on the Work of the Lord with these noble Saints in Palhoça.

One time we were getting ready to go on a missionary activity and Brother Mauricío looked at my shoes (they were the only ones that I had and were full of holes in the soles from so much walking). He told the Brothers, “We need other shoes for Brother José.” They asked the size but in Brazil the sizes are different from those of Venezuela. I could not say exactly what it was, so Brother Mauricio took off one of his shoes and asked me to try it on, seeing that it was from my size, he took off the other shoe and insisted that I put it on. I told him that I could not leave him without shoes, so he took mine and put them on. At that time I jokingly said, “I had never been in the shoes of a prophet!” He smiled and replied, “It is good to be in the shoes of a missionary!”