Keepa has published several posts having to do with the opening of the South American Mission late in 1925. There’s the diary of Rey L. Pratt, president of the Mexican Mission and one of the three elders, with apostles Melvin J. Ballard and Rulon S. Wells, who started the work there, and some history of the struggle to cross from the German-speaking investigators who called them there to the Spanish-speaking majority on the continent as Herta Klara Kullick: Key to a Continent.
But I hadn’t mentioned that Assistant Church Historian Andrew Jenson had wanted to be a fourth elder on that mission. His ship had touched briefly at Buenos Aires in 1923 when Elder Jenson was on one of his far-flung trips to gather Church history throughout the world. That generation’s most literary apostle, Orson F. Whitney, teased the Danish Jenson (affectionately) with a mock epic about his being the patron saint of that mission to open South America:
How it Happened
Orson F. Whitney
(Tune: Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight)
Buenos Aires’ sun was setting
O’er the Andes far away
When three stalwart Mormon Elders
Anchored in la Plata Bay.
They were from the Rocky Mountains,
And they felt quite “rocky” too,
After eighteen days of tossing
On the boisterous briny blue.
Yes, they did some tall old tossing,
And the fishes caught what fell,
Feasted on it and felt happy,
But the elders felt like – well,
Felt like having Andrew Jenson
Who had erstwhile been that way,
And they wondered if his spirit
Hovered still above that Bay.
Had not Brother Grant been hasty
In declining pilot aid
From this Viking, who is throwing
Chris Columbus in the shade?
He had been their John the Baptist,
Just a few short months before,
And would fain have joined this mission,
As its member number four.
Well, they’d have to do without him,
And trust only in the Lord –
Though it seemed a little risky,
With St. Andrew not on board.
Soon they landed in the city,
Where the bonny air so good
Quickly heals the sea-sick stomach,
Which then craves no other food.
Hour by hour their souls grew stronger,
Hour by hour and day by day;
Then they knew that good St. Andrew
Had for them prepared the way.
But the devils saw them coming
And they rallied to oppose
Melvin, rulon and brave Rey L.,
Whom they numbered with their foes.
On the streets of Buenos Aires
Stood the dauntless Mormon three
Very much like those old Romans
Who best back all Tuscany.
Spanish devils, German devils,
English, French and Portuguese,
And a host of other devils,
Each endeavored them to seize.
“Come on, boys,” their captain shouted,
“It will be an easy fight.
Make short work of these three weaklings –
Jenson is not here tonight!”
But without their host they reckoned,
For the Viking’s blade was bared –
The Assistant Church Historian’s
Dreadful Ghost upon them glared.
Dazzled, blinded by its brightness,
Now the ranks of death and hell
Fled in utter consternation,
Faster than my tongue can tell.
Thus the South American Mission
Opened was by Elders Three,
With the soul of good St. Andrew
Hovering o’er them – don’t you see?
Then all hail to our three heroes –
Melvin, Rulon S. and Rey!
And all hail to Andrew Jenson
Great Preparer of the way!
It’s a fun poem. I can’t imagine St. Andrew not liking it.
Andrew Jenson’s place in LDS history – both making it and writing it – is greatly underappreciated. In my personal library, I often find myself searching through his L.D.S. Biographical Encyclopedia, Vol. I for information on individuals and events that I can find nowhere else.
Good job, Ardis, as usual.
No question but that our history would be thinner and poorer without his extraordinary efforts. I understand Reid Neilson has another book coming out in 2022 about Jenson’s travels to preserve historical details that would otherwise have been lost.