The Senior Apostle

Rattling off memorized Portuguese phrases and well-remembered American hymns, an ebullient, white-haired apostle of Jesus last week exhorted Mormon converts in Brazil to "know in your hearts that Joseph Smith is the true prophet of God." The speaker's evangelical fervor poured forth naturally: he was Joseph Fielding Smith, 84, grandnephew of the founder, grandson of the prophet's martyred brother Hyrum, son of former Mormon President Joseph F. Smith, and himself senior member of the Council of the Twelve (the group of elders who are the spiritual and administrative leaders of the church). Traveling through southern Brazil on the first leg of an inspection tour of Mormon missions in five Latin American countries, Smith could be well satisfied with what he saw. Working without pay and under primitive conditions, Brazil's 267 Mormon missionaries have won 30,000 converts, expect to baptize 2,000 more within the next six months, will open a large, modern chapel in bustling Sao Paulo this winter.

Direct from God. Apostle Smith can well remember when the future of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was not nearly so promising. His life spans the Mormon Church's transition from a persecuted rebel sect to one of the most dynamic congregations in Christendom. As a boy, Smith's father followed Brigham Young across the plains, traveling in a covered wagon with his mother, widowed when a mob lynched her husband. Growing up near the Great Salt Lake, he had five wives and 42 children; his tenth son was Joseph Fielding Smith, who recalls: "I called my mother 'Mom' and my father's other wives 'Aunt.' They each had their own house and lived separately. The Lord had commanded us to have plural marriages; they were needed because we had lost so many during those marches across the plains."

In Salt Lake City, young Smith learned not only how to plow a field, but also how to fight off an Indian attack. Throughout his youth the bustling Mormon community was watched over by federal troops and attacked by Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy. Shortly after Smith's 25th birthday, his father, who was senior apostle in the Council of the Twelve, succeeded to the presidency of the Mormon Church. "It was wonderful, but rather frightening to have him in the house," recalls Smith, "because the president is the only man to get revelations direct from God."

With Smiles & Songs. After the Mormons finally agreed to stop multiple marriages, Utah was admitted into the Union in 1896. Despite the limitations of monogamy, Smith has a sizable Mormon brood: eleven children, 54 grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren. His third wife, Jessie (the first two died), is a soloist in the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir. All the family adhere strictly to the Mormon regime of no coffee, tea or alcoholic beverage. One Brazilian jovially complained to Elder Smith last week: "The danger to the world today is not Communism, but Mormonism. You people work fast in our country with smiles and songs. Then you have lots of children, who study and get ahead of our kids. Then you get yourselves elected to government positions and boom! you pass a law banning coffee and Brazil falls flat on her face."

Apostle Smith is next in line for the presidency of the church, now held by David O. McKay, 87, by virtue of his seniority in the Council of the Twelve. Cracks Smith: "Think of all the Mormons who have to die before a man gets to be president." A fiery doctrinarian, he has written a dozen books on Mormon dogma. Preaching in Brazil last week, Elder Smith well knew that, like his father and great-uncle, he may soon be called to the post in which, as Prophet of his church, he would communicate directly with the Lord.

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