His life hinged around a letter that was never delivered
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Anyone who has lived a full life likely looks back and asks, "What if?"
What if I had married the other girl? What if I had studied geology instead of, say, law? What if my high school football team had punted instead of passed on fourth and long? How would my life have been different — and what would have been lost?
H. Clark Fails is 86 years old and still haunted by a lingering case of "What if?"
If the postal service had done its job and delivered an anticipated letter, Brother Fails believes he would have never been stationed in Costa Rica, where he served his country and was instrumental in establishing the Church in that peaceful strip of Central America.
"I do feel very blessed and very fortunate that the Lord chose me to do that," said Brother Fails of the Geneva Heights 1st Ward, Utah Orem Geneva Heights Stake.
Back to the letter.
In 1941, young Clark Fails had returned home from serving in the Spanish-American Mission and was awaiting a government appointment in Washington D.C. His talent for languages was sharper than his rifle aim, making him better suited to be a civil service translator rather than an Army infantryman.
The letter securing the appointment never arrived. He would later learn it had been lost in the mail. In December of that year, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, thrusting the United States into World War II. A few weeks later Brother Fails was drafted into the Army and began his basic training in California.
One day young Pvt. Fails was told to report to base headquarters. He anticipated a clerical assignment on the base but instead was told he was being transferred to a military post near Washington D.C. His east coast flight included a layover in Salt Lake City where he spent 15 minutes with his girlfriend, Adrienne Willis. It was a happy quarter hour — she accepted his marriage proposal.
Pvt. Fails was eventually given a job as a military courier, delivering briefcases carrying classified documents between various government offices. During one assignment he was "bawled out" by a colonel for not removing his hat indoors. Pvt. Fails reminded the colonel that couriers must keep one hand on their briefcase and the other free at all times. Embarrassed, the colonel hastily apologized.
"I thought at the time, 'Well, now, this colonel is a real human being,' " said Brother Fails, chuckling at the division sometimes felt between officers and enlisted personnel.
Impressed by the colonel's compassion, Pvt. Fails later sought him out.
"I told the colonel, 'Sir, I think I could be doing something more valuable,' " said Brother Fails, who had earned a college degree and taught languages in high school before his mission. The colonel agreed. A short time later he traded his private's lonely chevron for a warrant officer's uniform and was on his way to an embassy assignment in Costa Rica. His wife, Adrienne, whom he married while on furlough, was hired to be an embassy secretary.
The Church was nonexistent in Costa Rica. Brother and Sister Fails sometimes attended an American community church, but felt unsatisfied. Instead, the couple spent their free time studying the scriptures and other Church materials together.
Later, a few other Church members from the U.S. were assigned to various positions in Costa Rica. A servicemen's group was organized, with Brother Fails as leader.
"We began holding Church meetings, including the sacrament," he said.
The fledgling unit became a spiritual haven for the handful of LDS folk. One man would baptize his wife and step-daughter during Brother Fails' tenure. The group also located a baptismal certificate of a German-born woman living in Costa Rica. When she learned of the tiny congregation she became a regular at Sabbath meetings.
"Several of our Costa Rican friends also accepted our invitations and attended our services," Brother Fails said, though none would be baptized until the first group of missionaries arrived later.
After the war, Brother Fails returned to the States with his wife and was given an Army discharge. But they soon returned to Costa Rica to take jobs at a school teaching traditional courses to U.S. students and English-as-a-second-language courses to "Ticos," or Costa Rican natives.
In the autumn of 1946, Brother Fails received two letters — one containing a job offer from the language department at Boise Junior College, the other a letter from President Arwell L. Pierce of the Mexican Mission saying the First Presidency had added Central America to the mission boundaries.
President Pierce soon visited Costa Rica and, with Brother Fails' assistance, drafted a letter asking for the country's formal recognition of the Church. They delivered the letter to the country's minister of justice, who met them graciously and said he would respond to their request shortly. The petition was soon granted and they began making preparations for opening missionary work in Costa Rica.
Meanwhile, Brother Fails decided to accept the job in Boise and he and his wife returned home, believing Costa Rica would be revisited only in memories.
A short time later, Brother and Sister Fails bumped into President Pierce at an April general conference session. It was a fortuitous encounter. President Pierce asked if Brother Fails would again return to Latin America to serve in the presidency of the Mexican Mission. He accepted. Brother and Sister Fails returned to Costa Rica.
Brother Fails and President Pierce were humbled by the task of calling the first missionaries to be assigned to Costa Rica.
"We knew we had to have good elders to send them that far away and into different countries," Brother Fails said.
The mission presidency selected Elders Robert B. Miller and David D. Lindgard. Brother Fails accompanied them to Costa Rica in the autumn of 1947 and used his connections with the country's leaders to secure resident visas for the young elders. Later, the group visited with the president of the country, presenting him with a Book of Mormon.
It was an exhilarating period for Brother Fails. At the time, he and the other Costa Rican "pioneers" were cautiously optimistic the Church would succeed in the country dubbed "The Switzerland of Latin America."
"I did hope the Church would take hold and expand," he said.
Today, there are more than 30,000 Tico members. President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, recently dedicated a beautiful temple just outside the capital city of San Jose. The growth has thrilled Brother Fails, recalling those tiny gatherings with fellow members of his servicemen's group. He marvels over what he would have missed had that anticipated letter arrived decades ago.
"I thank the Lord for causing that letter to disappear," he said. "I have no question that He did it because what happened to me in the Army was far greater to what my life would have been if I had been in a cubbyhole in Washington, D.C."
E-mail: jswensen@desnews.com
