Missão Brasil Santa Maria
Here are free resources about the Brazil Santa Maria Mission:
Aqui estão alguns recursos gratuitos sobre a Missão Brasil Santa Maria:
- Mission address and phone number
- Mission map
- Missionary blogs
- Facebook groups
- LDS Mission t-shirts and gifts
- List of past mission presidents
- Cultural articles written by returned missionaries
- Survey with RMs
*Other Mission Pages: Brazil LDS Missions.
Brazil Santa Maria Mission Address
Here’s a recent address for Brazil Santa Maria Mission. We try to keep this info up to date, but it’s a good idea to check the mission address with several sources, including your mission packet or the mission office.
Brazil Santa Maria Mission
Caixa Postal 21.896
Patronato
97020-970 Santa Maria – RS, Brazil
Phone Number: 55-55-3222-1666
Mission President: President Marcelo Louza
Brazil Santa Maria Mission Map
Here’s a link to the mission map for the Santa Maria Mission (LDS). To access the official, up-to-date LDS.org map for the Santa Maria Mission:
Brazil Santa Maria Missionary Blogs
Here’s a list of LDS missionary blogs for the Santa Maria Mission. This list includes the missionary’s name, URL and when their blog was updated.
*Download free app for LDS missionaries learning Brazilian Portuguese
Brazil Santa Maria Mission Groups
Here are Santa Maria Mission Groups- for LDS missionary moms, returned missionaries, mission presidents and other alumni of the Santa Maria Mission.
- Santa Maria Mission (Missao Santa Maria) Group (864 members)
- Missao Santa Maria (Presidente Zobrist) Group (398 members)
- Missao Santa Maria – Pres. Parrela. 2013-16 Group (301 members)
- Servi Missao Santa Maria – RS Brasil Group (168 members)
- Missao Santa Maria Facebook Group (95 members)
- Missao Santa Maria Junto com Pres. Linhares Group (76 members)
- Missao Brasil Santa Maria Facebook Group (28 members)
- Santa Maria Mission Moms and Friends (LDS) Group (18 members)
- Santa Maria Mission Facebook Group (9 members)
Brazil Santa Maria Mission T-Shirts
Here are T-shirts for the Brazil Santa Maria Mission!
Shirt designs include Brazil Santa Maria Mission logo/emblem shirts and Called to Serve shirts. The shirts make great gifts for pre-missionaries, returned missionaries and missionaries currently serving. LDS Mission shirts come in all sizes: Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large, up to 4XL. The mission designs are printed on white shirts and are shipped to you.
*Simply click on a shirt design to view the details and submit an order. The designs on mission t-shirts may also be printed on other LDS mission gifts, including: Brazil Santa Maria missionary aprons, Christmas stockings, ties, pillow cases, teddy bears and Christmas ornaments.
*Click here to browse Santa Maria Mission gifts
*Click here to see our new shirt design for the Brazil Santa Maria Mission:
Brazil Santa Maria Mission Presidents
Here’s a list of current and past Mission Presidents of the Santa Maria LDS Mission.
- 2016-2019, Marcelo Louza
- 2013-2016, Adalton P. Parrela
- 2010-2013, Isaias D. Ribeiro
- 2007-2010, Rodrigo Myrrha
- 2004-2007, Roger W. Mack
- 2001-2004, Domingo S. Linhares
- 1998-2001, Duane H. Zobrist
Brazil LDS Statistics (2016)
- Church Membership: 1,326,738
- Missions: 34
- Temples: 6
- Congregations: 2,038
- Family History Centers: 341
Helpful Articles about Brazil
Brazil Santa Maria Missionary Survey
Here are survey responses from Brazil Santa Maria RMs, to give you a snapshot into what it’s like to live in the mission.
When did you serve?
- December 2009-December 2011 (Cory)
- 2002-2004 (Adriano)
- 2001-2003 (Clark)
Which areas did you serve in?
What were some favorite foods?
- Churrasco, Xis, lasanha. (Cory)
- Churrasco – barbecue. (Adriano)
- Churrasco (grilled meat), black beans and rice, yucca root (baked or fried), churros filled with doce de leite. (Clark)
What was a funny experience?
- Getting tricked while knocking doors and a man acting like he was incredibly upset that we were bothering him but it turned out to be a member trying to fool me. (Cory)
- Tínhamos um batismos agendado para um sábado no final da tarde, deixamos a bia batismal enchendo e 1 horas antes da reunião batismal fomos até a capela para arrumar tudo, quando chegamos o foro do teto tinha caído dentro da pia batismal, então esvaziamos a pia, limpamos e quando fomos encher novamente para o batismo tinha acabado a água na capela, então conversamos com o vizinho da capela e ele deixou que usássemos a água da casa dele para encher a pia novamente. (We had a scheduled baptisms for a Saturday late afternoon, we left the baptismal bia filling and one hour before the baptismal service went to the chapel to fix everything. When we arrived, the venue of the ceiling had fallen within the batisma sink, then we had to empty the sink. We cleaned it and when we went to refill for the baptism there was water all ove in the chapel. Then we talked with the neighboring house and he let us to use the water from his house to fill the sink again.) (Adriano)
What was a crazy experience?
- Getting stopped by a man who was drunk and demanded that we destroy his crucifix. (Cory)
- Batemos em uma casa na cidade de santa maria, bairro santa marta, uma senhora saiu para nos atender, então nos apresentamos e perguntamos se o marido dela ou filhos estavam em casa e que gostaríamos de ensiná-los. Ela foi bem receptiva e pediu para que entrássemos e chamou os filhos e perguntamos e seu marido, poderia chamar ele também, ela disse melhor não vamos ouvir a mensagem de vocês só nós mesmos, então o marido apareceu e perguntou, vocês são mórmons ou testemunhas de jeová? e eu disse somos mórmons, ele pegou o fação e disse saiam de minha casa agora, não quero vocês aqui e se passarem na rua matarei vocês, pegamos nossas coisas e saímos correndo o mais rápido possível. (Hit on a house in the city of Santa Maria, Santa Marta neighborhood, a lady came out to meet us. Then we stood and asked if her husband or children were at home and that we would like to teach them. She was very receptive and asked for us to enter and called the children and asked her husband too. She said it best we not hear the message just ourselves, then her husband appeared and asked, you are Mormon or witnesses of Jehovah? and I said we are Mormons, he took the faction and said get out of my house now, I do not want you here and if we pass on the street I will kill you, we took our stuff and we ran as fast as possible.) (Adriano)
- People routinely told us that we spent a lot of time in dangerous areas, but I rarely ever felt endangered. I did once teach a discussion to someone who pulled out a loaded revolver from his pocket in mid discussion. He explained that he had it on his person because he thought some people might stop by (I forget why). We wrapped that discussion up very quickly and went on our way.
What was a spiritual experience?
- Encountering someone who passed through life experiences that prepared them to easily enter the church. (Cory)
- Passei na cidade de são Gabriel no verão, e lá a temperatura chegou a 43°C e caminhar nas ruas com esse calor era bem difícil, então em uma tarde falei a meu companheiro, vamos orar pedido chuva, pois está muito quente, fizemos a oração, logo após terminarmos a oração começou a chuva que durou 2 dias, ficamos muito felizes pela chuva ter amenizado o calor, porém muito mais alegres por saber que Deus ouve nossas orações. (Spent time in the city of San Gabriel in summer, and there the temperature reached 43 ° C and we walked the streets with this heat and it was pretty hard. So one afternoon I told my companion, let us pray and request rain because it is very hot. We did pray, after we finish the prayer it began to rain and that lasted two days. We were very happy the rain had eased the heat, but much more joyful to know that God hears our prayers.) (Adriano)
What are some interesting facts about the Santa Maria Mission?
- Even though it’s in Brazil, it is VERY cold during the winter! (Cory)
- O povo Gaúcho tem uma tradução muito bonita de dança e respeito, e tem seus próprios modos de se vestir, a roupa tradicional a pilcha. (The Gaucho people have a beautiful translation of dance and respect, and have their own ways of dressing, traditional clothing to pilcha.) (Adriano)
What was the weather like?
- Hot and humid in the summers and very rainy and cold in the winters. (Cory)
- No inverno a temperatura chega a -10°C e no verão a 43°C (In winter, the temperature reaches -10 ° C and in summer, 43 ° C.) (Adriano)
- Ever changing. Hot days would break 100 °F fairly routinely, with more humidity than a kid from Utah was used to. Winter nights would reach about freezing and usually get up to at least 50 °F, as far as I remember. But even in the winter it would warm up to the 70s or even 80s for a day or two and then cool back down. Rain storms seemed to roll in very quickly some days – I remember leaving the house one morning, getting about 5 blocks away before looking to the sky and, seeing the dark clouds rushing towards us, rushing back home to grab umbrellas before the skies opened up on us. (Clark)
Any things you really like about the area/people?
- Everyone is very friendly and the members are very supportive of the missionaries if you show that you care about them. (Cory)
- As pessoas na maioria são muito receptivas, bem educadas e alegres. (People are mostly very receptive and polite and cheerful.) (Adriano)
Any packing/clothing advice?
- Bring a waterproof jacket and a few pairs of good walking shoes. Bring a long sleeve thermal shirt to wear under your while shirt for winters. Bring an umbrella that will not break easily as the winds are brutal. Bring a lot of the cheap CTR rings for recent converts that you’ve baptized. (Cory)
- Use protetor solar no verão e casaco no inverno ! (Use sunscreen in summer and in winter coat!)
- Cuffs in pants are excellent at catching dirt – get pants without cuffs. Layers are great. You want about a 3:1 ratio of short to long sleeve shirts. Americans have big feet, which make buying shoes in Brazil hard – I made it through my whole mission on 3 pairs, your mileage may vary (literally). (Clark)
What blessings did you receive from serving a mission?
- A love for people so different from me. I am entering medical school next year with a desire to assist the Hispanic population in their health care needs because I grew to love cultural differences. (Cory)
- Fortaleceu meu testemunho sobre o evangelho de Cristo, que as coisas que ensinamos, acreditamos e vivemos sem duvida nos ajudará a voltar a presença de Deus e saber dessas coisas com muita convicção nos faz querer ser melhores e um exemplo para nossos familiares. (It strengthened my testimony of the gospel of Christ, the things we taught, we believe and live undoubtedly to help us to return to God’s presence and know these things with much conviction. It makes us want to be better and be an example to our family. (Adriano)
- I learned that I can do hard things. (Clark)
What are some skills you gained?
- The ability to speak to people easily and befriend them. I also learned to enjoy service. (Cory)
- Orar melhor, discursar melhor, aprender caridade, amor e serviço ao próximo e uma nova linguá. (Pray better, speak better, learn charity, love and service to others and a new language.) (Adriano)
- I learned to repair electric shower heads. (And boy, do I use that all the time!) (Clark)
What do you wish you knew/did at the beginning of your mission?
- While studying is important, study for your investigator’s needs. (Cory)
- Saber melhor as escrituras faria uma grande diferença. (To better know the scriptures would make a big difference.) (Adriano)
- It is very easy for missionaries to ask people to join the church, but I think too few of them appreciate that joining the church is a decision that will profoundly affect every single aspect of someone’s life. That includes things like getting married, paying tithing, changing diet (coffee, tea), disappointing your Catholic mother, abandoning hobbies (soccer games are on Sundays), and opening yourself up to the ridicule of others. I wish I had had more empathy, compassion and patience for anyone considering turning their life completely upside-down after a few visits from some missionaries speaking bad Portuguese. (Clark)
Any advice/testimony for pre-missionaries going to Santa Maria?
- Be ready to work hard and you will see fruits of your labors. Do not focus only on baptisms–focus on maintaining recent converts and members as well and they will give you referrals that will lead to strong converts. (Cory)
- Amem seus companheiros como verdadeiros irmãos, obedeça as regras, respeite seus presidentes, pois nesse período eles serão seus pais, lembre-se que o líder da ala ou ramo que vocês passarem é a maior autoridade local, então respeite-os e trabalhe juntos e como disse o pai do presidente Hinckley, esqueçam de si e vão trabalhar! (Love your fellow as true brothers, obey the rules, respect their Presidents, because in this period they will be your parents, remember that the leader of the ward or branch you passed is the largest local authority, so respect them and work together and as said the father of President Hinckley, “forget yourself and go to work!” (Adriano)
- The first few weeks or months in the field are a big adjustment. You have probably never spent so much time continuously with the same person, and you have probably never spent so much time doing the same stuff. Oh, and just communicating during the day is EXHAUSTING. Everything is exhausting. But it gets better. You get used to the food, you slowly figure out your way around town, you slowly make a few friends in the ward, and as you get used to missionary work, it isn’t so tiring. Don’t get too discouraged that things aren’t any fun at the beginning. It gets better. (Clark)
What was a funny language mistake?
- The verb “to flee” and a very offensive swear word are very close. I once used it talking about a Book of Mormon story and my companion gave me a wide eye look and told me to avoid using it ever again. (Cory)
- Em uma conversar o Elder ao invés de falar o cachorro foi atropelado ele disse o cachorro entrou pelado. (Atropelado = Ran over, Entrou pelado = got naked. In a conversation, the Elder instead of saying the dog got hit, he said the dog got naked. (Adriano)
- An investigator once told us that she could tell that we spoke English at home because our accents were worse in the morning and improved over the course of the day. She inspired me to give up English entirely for 4 months. Not that giving up English made my accent go away, but it was a fun experiment to finally totally immerse myself in the language after roughly one year in the field. In my last zone, I was the only American, so by then I had no choice but to give up English. (Clark)
Alex (Brazil Santa Maria Mission)
–Paraphrased from Alex’s mission interview–
Mission Info and the Temple
The church in southern Brazil is actually really old. The first missionaries that went to Brazil went to the south to teach German immigrants. Missionaries were called German speaking to southern Brazil. The switch wasn’t made until the 60’s I think, and that’s when missionary work really exploded. Right now there are six stakes in the mission. The nearest temple is about five hours away in Porto Alegre. Our members would travel there frequently. Five hours away is a little far, but new converts would still have opportunities to go to the temple.
Baptisms
I’m not sure why, but southern Brazilian missions tend to baptize a lot less than the missions in the northeast. They tend to have a lot better retention though. That’s just one of the things that make it different.