One day in 1930, David John Ballstaedt, then 25, was tapped on the shoulder by his bishop.

Bishop John Ralfour said he'd been impressed that Elder Ballstaedt could help answer a need for more missionaries to Brazil.The young man accepted, and soon received a formal mission call, a letter from President Heber J. Grant calling him to serve in the South American Mission. About a month later, on May 26, 1930, he entered the mission home in Salt Lake City and shortly thereafter was en route to Brazil by train and ocean steamer. He and a companion, Jack C. Cannon, arrived in Joinville, a German colony about 125 miles south of Sao Paulo, in June. Three days after he arrived in Joinville, he was called as district president. He succeeded Elder Emil Schindler as district president and held the position until Elder Schindler returned on a second mission Feb. 18, 1932.

"Language was a challenge," Brother Ballstaedt said. "I was German by birth, but I had to re-learn the language.

"I tried to keep the missionaries busy. I was anxious to get things going. I was always a hard worker and I expected very much from my missionaries."

One of the first things that Elder Ballstaedt did was to open several new areas. In September, he and his companion, Elder Cannon, opened the area of Rio Preto under interesting circumstances. Rio Preto was a new German colony, some 700 miles north, just above Rio de Janeiro, where many homes were primitive and much land was still forested.

Mission Pres. Reinhold Stoof wrote a letter to the missionaries indicating that an LDS member from Germany now lived in Rio Preto and wanted the missionaries to visit. The member was Augusta Lippold. Her husband, Roberto, however, was not a member. In fact, the missionaries later learned, he had migrated to Brazil to take his wife and children away from the influence of the Church. However, it was her letters to Salt Lake City that brought missionaries to Brazil.

Elder Ballstaedt and Elder Cannon traveled to Rio Preto by train and were met by George Lippold, a son of of Roberto and Augusta Lippold. He took the missionaries to his home.

"Sister Lippold was very, very happy on our arrival," recalled Brother Ballstaedt in a recent Church News interview. "We didn't see Brother Lippold until we had been there for three or four weeks. He was a painter and was often away three or four weeks at a time. When he got home, and saw [us and] the way we were treated, he was very much upset.

"He often complained about having to support the missionaries," said Elder Ballstaedt. Many years later, he said, Brother Lippold had a change of heart and joined the Church.

The missionaries taught the gospel in Rio Preto and in several nearby towns. Brother Ballstaedt said some homes in the area at that time had dirt floors with no living rooms. Straw, placed on the ground with a burlap covering, served as mattresses. "Occasionally, chickens, cats, dogs and pigs would visit us in the kitchen while we were eating our meals."

One day as they were walkiing along the railroad tracks between towns, a storm began. Young George Lippold, their guide, walked on the rails.

"The still, small voice said to me, `Tell George to get off the rails,'" recalled Brother Ballstaedt. "I did, and had no sooner completed my sentence and George moved off the rail when lightening struck the rail ahead of us and scattered dirt and made a large hole under the rail. . . ."

When they heard rumblings that an army revolt was brewing, they decided to immediately return to Joinville. However, they found the revolutionary army had already taken ovwer the trains.

"We begged and pled with the officer to let us travel with them," but to no avail, he said. But when a train near them began to move, they ran alongside and soldiers pulled them aboard. On the train, an officer was less sympathetic. He "looked us over, never said a word, and took his hand gun out of his holster and looked it over and polished it a little with his elbow." When the officer learned they were American missionaries, his attitude changed. He proudly showed them his American rifles, which were his favorites.

On the train, the soldiers respected the young missionaries and a week later when the train stopped in Joinville, some 40 or 50 men lined up and each gave the missionaries a farewell hug.

"The Lord softened the hearts of these men so we could get back home without problems," said Brother Ballstaedt.

He said that when he completed his mission in 1933, "we had 80 baptized members, and 17 children who were blessed, but no priesthood bearers. We opened five areas."

In 1984 he and his wife, Helen, visited Brazil.

"I had no idea the Church would grow as rapidly as it has there," he said. His wife, Helen, observed, "Some of the people David baptized were still attending, and their grandchildren were the bishops and stake presidents."