Helen Bay Gibbons in South America, 1978

Helen Bay Gibbons, who served on the General Boards
of the Relief Society, Sunday School, Young Women, and
Melchizedek Priesthood MIA 

The following are two accounts, written by my late parents, Helen Bay Gibbons and Francis M. Gibbons, about my late mother's General Board assignment in South America in 1978:

Our First Visit to South America 

by Francis M. Gibbons

Several months after the revelation on priesthood was announced [in 1978], Helen received an assignment from the presidency of the Relief Society to visit sisters in several countries in South America. It was decided I would accompany her at our own expense. Sister Roy Hatch of Mexico, a member of the Young Women General Board, was assigned to accompany Helen, and her husband, Dr. Roy Hatch, had decided to accompany his wife. We teamed up with the Hatches at Rio de Janeiro. There we learned a quirky truth about Brazilian politics. Although Sao Paulo is by far the largest city in Brazil and its airport at Guarulhos is the busiest of all, all flights into Brazil must land at Rio, and the Sao Paulo passengers must then take a short flight into Sao Paulo. This oddity is the result of the international popularity of Rio as a vacation mecca for today’s jet set. In Sao Paulo, Helen and I were the guests of the newly appointed president of the Sao Paulo Temple and his wife who lived in an apartment in the Vertentes. Years before, Helen had worked with the temple president on one of the general boards. While Helen and Sister Hatch did their work with the local sisters, Dr. Hatch and I attended a session in the temple and also served as the witnesses of the temple sealing of a young couple from Uruguay. There was an interesting and unforeseen consequence of this sealing when we reached Montevideo later in the tour.

In Montevideo we stayed in the mission home, which was known far and wide as Tuttle’s palace. It had been built while Ted Tuttle resided there. Its popular name derived from the fact it was larger than most mission homes and had more amenities than the others. The mission president at the time was a man named Robinson who came from the Mormon colonies in Mexico. Thus he was well acquainted with the Hatches. We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with the Robinsons, sans turkey. However, they were able to rustle up some chickens.

We attended a sacrament meeting in Montevideo, where we were all called on to speak. Both of the Hatches spoke Spanish fluently, but both Helen and I needed translators. During my remarks, I noticed several sisters in the audience were weeping. I learned later the young bride whose sealing Dr. Hatch and I had witnessed in Sao Paulo was the daughter of the bishop in Montevideo. Neither of the parents had the resources to attend the services in Sao Paulo, so my mentioning it evoked the tears I mentioned.

Following the meetings in Montevideo, we were driven the length of Uruguay to the city Rivera, on its northern border. There was a light drizzle over part of our route, which brought out the ponchos on the cowboys we saw along the way. It was a delightful sight.

The streets of Rivera were crowded with ancient American cars. This was a condition we found in many South American countries. The city of Rivera is on the border separating Uruguay and Brazil. For most of the leaders here, Spanish was a second language for them, which was a blessing for us since they spoke Spanish haltingly, enabling us to understand easily.

When the sisters had finished their work in Uruguay, we flew to Buenos Aires, where Helen and I were accommodated in the mission home of Elder Robert Wells, the mission president. The Wells took us on a tour of places in the city that were especially interesting to Latter-day Saints. This included the place where Melvin J. Ballard dedicated South America for the preaching of the gospel. His dedicatory prayer included language that indicated the work there would begin slowly like the growth of an oak tree. This is exactly what happened. The Wells had a young daughter with them named Sharlene, who played the Paraguayan harp for us and who later became Miss America. Had we known this was the real Sharlene Wells, we would have given her more coverage in our diaries.

During our stay in Buenos Aires, the king of Spain was in Argentina on a diplomatic visit. Our visit to a notable restaurant coincided with the visit of the king and his party, so that we accidentally became part of the festivities honoring the king. Never again would we be that close to royalty.

Our flight over the Andes to Chile was memorable, as I was absolutely certain our plane wouldn’t make it. These mountains are HUGE. Eight years later when I was assigned to labor in South America as a member of the Seventy, we would learn much more about them. Here I renewed acquaintances with boyhood friend, Bruce Gibson, who was serving as a mission president. Later we traveled to southern Chile, where we visited with one of the daughters of Mary and Bob Ellis, who, it turned out, was the troubleshooter for the mission president. [This is Chris Ellis Quincy, who in 2019 is serving her third mission, and still "troubleshooting" wherever she goes!]

We parted company with the Hatches in Chile and found our way home separately. It was a joyous introduction for us to this fabled land and its wonderful people.

Source: From, "Francis M. Gibbons--Prepared to Serve" by Daniel Bay Gibbons, unpublished manuscript.

The Gift of Tongues

by Helen Bay Gibbons

In the latter part of 1978, The Relief Society General Presidency assigned me as an emergency substitute for another board member. I was to fulfill an assignment in South America even though my Spanish was extremely limited. Nearing the end of our tour of five countries, I participated in Regional Conferences with my companion, Jean Hatch, a member of the Primary General Board.

On Friday, December 1, 1978, we arrived in the city of Concepcion, Chile. On the following day we were to meet with members of three Stakes. Jean went to plan with the Primary leaders. I was ushered into a small classroom in the Stake Center where I would meet with a dear sister, Sofia de Arias, the host Stake Relief Society President. Hermana Arias spoke absolutely no English, and her Spanish issued forth in such a rapid-fire stream of words, I was unable to follow her. The American wife of a Church employee, Sandy Holland, who had served a mission in Chile, was there to serve as translator. There were five of us in the room: Sandy, Sister Arias, her secretary, one of her counselors, and I.

Sister Arias began explaining in her “machine-gun Spanish”, at first nervously, and finally with growing confidence, her plan for conducting the Relief Society session the following day. We were concentrating on communicating with each other, while Sandy repeated her Spanish into English, and my English into Spanish. We spoke to each other almost without thinking of language differences, intent on the content of our discussion.

As we were talking together, a special sweet feeling pervaded the small room. Then I noticed that Sandy and the other sisters were crying. It was then I realized Sister Arias and I were understanding each other in our own language before Sandy could interpret for us. “Lo entiendo," Sister Arias would say, (“I understand it.”)

An inexpressible spirit of love filled the room. When the planning session was over, all of us embraced each other as sisters who knew we had shared a miracle.

Source: Computer files of Helen Bay Gibbons (1921-2015)