Marski, Geraldo Roberto (1913–2010)

Geraldo Roberto Marski, pastor and teacher, was born November 6, 1913, in Latvia, then part of the Russian empire. His parents, August and Emile Marski, were Lutherans from Germany. They had immigrated with their four oldest children, Emil, Johana, Hedwig, and Else, due to the threat of war. A short time after Geraldo’s birth he was registered as a Latvian citizen. In their new country, August Marski worked as a gardener and a maintenance assistant at a residence.¹

When World War I began in 1914, August Marski, now a Latvian citizen, was called to fight in the Russian army. However, he was captured by the Germans at the beginning of the conflict, staying under arrest until the war ended.² When Germany defeated Russia in 1915, the German army occupied Latvia. Life became very difficult for the Marskis, now a family of seven, with Geraldo’s mother Emile and grandmother Karoline looking after five children. They were in need of food, clothing, and medicine.³ Young Geraldo Marski caught a persistent fever. His mother prayed, “My God, if you preserve the life of my youngest, delivering him from this terrible sickness, I will give him over to you to be a missionary and proclaim the name of Jesus.”.⁴

In early 1918 Emile Marski became ill, dying May 26. Geraldo was only five years old. His father August returned from the war at year’s end, but Geraldo did not recognize him, having not seen his father since he was nine months old. August remarried to a widow with a small child.⁵ In search of better living conditions, the Marskis immigrated to Brazil in July 1922.⁶

Traveling in a group of twenty people, the Marskis landed in Rio de Janeiro, traveling down to Santa Catarina, heading to the city of Alto Benedito Novo. Their first accommodation during the trip was with the Falauer family, who were Seventh-day Adventists. At first, the group was a bit careful, since there was some apprehension about Adventists. However, the entourage’s driver assured them that “Adventists are good people,”⁷ and they were welcomed with kindness. The next day they were introduced to the German colony that would be their home. It resembled Germany, including the commerce, the register office, the churches, and police station. Only German was spoken there.⁸

Geraldo Marski’s first job in Brazil was as a babysitter at the Adventist family’s house, where, at only eight years old, he took care of a small child. On Sabbaths he would follow them to the church. He worked in that home for about a year, until, because of an illness, he was taken back to his father’s house.⁹ A little while later, a man named Christian invited Geraldo to work in his house, taking care of his newborn son. At first, Geraldo and his father resisted the idea, but his stepmother insisted that he could go since he was “too small and weak to work on the farm.” So it was that he went to work for that family, who were also Adventist.¹⁰

At 11 years old Marski had never stepped in a school, and didn’t know how to read well. One day the grandmother of the family he served came to the house and gave him a book so that he could practice his reading. The title of the book was “Cristus Unser Heiland” (“The Story of Jesus”). The book had introduced that family to the Adventist message, and it did the same for Marski.¹¹

Sometime later, Marski became ill again with a strong fever, followed by a pain in his right leg. Knowing that two people in the community had died of that disease, he prayed to God for healing, and he was answered. However, he became lame on his right foot, a disability that stayed with him his whole life.¹²

The interaction he had with the family, including Bible studies and participation in Sabbath School, convicted Geraldo Marski to become a Seventh-day Adventist. Knowing this, his father brought him back home, for he wanted Geraldo to be a Lutheran.¹³ August Marski tried to convince him away from his new beliefs, but when Geraldo showed him about the Sabbath, the state of the dead and many other subjects, straight from the Bible, his father could not gather his arguments. Hoping to make his son leave his newfound faith, August Marski put Geraldo to work with a nonbeliever’s family. However, Geraldo had the opportunity to work at the home of Teodore Kossmann, one of the leaders of the local Adventist Church.¹⁴ Teodore was a friend of August, so there was no reluctance. Nonetheless, when he went to work for the Kossmanns, Geraldo was warned not to become an Adventist.¹⁵

At his work, Marski had the opportunity to read books by Ellen White and other Adventist literature, as well as participate in church meetings.¹⁶ Marski worked for six years with the Kossmann family and was able to study at the Benedito Novo German Adventist School for a year.¹⁷ He was baptized June 10, 1930, by Pastor Karl, at the Joinville church. When his father came to know about his decision, he became furious, saying that Geraldo could never visit him again, nor call him Father. The property he owned was transferred to his stepmother’s daughter. This reaction devastated him, for he loved his father.¹⁸

Two years later, Marski’s stepmother called him, saying that his father was in a critical health state. When he went to visit him, his father began to cry, asking his son to pray and sing for him. After this event, August recovered, stopped smoking, and changed his behavior towards Geraldo. He died in October 1934.

Now an avid student of the Bible, Marski desired to become a minister of the gospel. As a prospective student at Brazil College (now known as UNASP-SP), he had many difficulties, among them the scarcity of funds, his physical disability, and the fact that he did not speak Portuguese very well.¹⁹

At the beginning of 1933, while in Benedito Novo, Geraldo Marski received a visit from Pastor Henrique Stoehr, and he shared his interest in studying at Brazil College. In September 1933 he was offered a scholarship to work.²⁰ Geraldo arrived at Brazil College on September 27, 1933. At that time, industrial students would work for one year and study the following year. During the day, Geraldo did farm work, and before dawn he milked the cows at the dairy.²¹

In 1934, he did the fifth grade and in 1935 he only worked. The following year, he was meant to study sixth grade, but he was able to take a special test and moved straight to seventh. After that, he was supposed to spend another year working. It was then that he decided to try canvassing as an alternative.²² He enrolled in the Paraná-Santa Catarina Mission’s campaign, through which, for one year, he canvassed in the city of Joinville. In this campaign, he reached the second place in sales. ²³ From then onward he canvassed during all his vacations, which allowed him to graduate in Theology in 1941.²⁴

He began his ministry in 1942, as an administrative assistant at the Paraná-Santa Catarina Mission’s office, located in Curitiba. That same year, he became a Bible instructor and, later on, an assistant at a series of evangelistic campaigns, held also in Curitiba.²⁵ Geraldo was responsible for visiting many people, including Adventists. It was through this work that he came to know Alaíde, a young Baptist who, through the influence of her neighbors, watched the Adventist meetings. Geraldo and Alaíde started to date and, on December 5, 1942, became engaged. The wedding ceremony was held January 25, 1944 at Curitiba Central Church, and performed by Pastor Durval Stokler de Lima. Geraldo and Alaíde had three sons, David, Arthur, and Paulo, who all became pastors.²⁶

A short time after their wedding, Geraldo Marski accepted a call to become the pastor of the Siqueira Campos district, in the north of the state of Paraná.²⁷ Afterwards, he worked in the district of Cambará, in the countryside of the state, made up of the city of Ribeirão Claro. The church there was going through difficulties. The mission had already voted to sell the building, but Marski conducted one evangelistic series in the city and another on a farm, and the local church was restored.²⁸

Geraldo was ordained February 21, 1948.²⁹ That same year he accepted a call to pastor in Joinville. The church faced many challenges; the congregation didn’t even have their own building. The church conducted Sabbath School in a house that the city’s authorities did not allow anyone to live in, due to its structures that could fall at any moment.³⁰ After some time, they rented a hall to accommodate the local church and to hold an evangelistic series. The focal point of Marski’s sermons was faithfulness to God, the keeping of the Sabbath, and the returning of tithes and offerings. After the meetings, the first baptism took place and communion was held, ceremonies that had not taken place for years.³¹

Marski worked in Joinville from 1949 to 1952. In 1953 he accepted the invitation to serve in Londrina, still in Paraná. From 1955 to 1957 he pastored the district of Campo Grande, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. In 1957 he received a call to work in Cuiabá, the capital of the state of Mato Grosso.³² In 1958 he was appointed president of the Mato Grosso Mission. In 1960 he accepted the offer to become chaplain of São Paulo Adventist Hospital. It was his custom to visit patients, not only when they were in the hospital, but also when they were in their homes, after their recovery. During this time, he was also an elder at the São Paulo Central Church.³³

In 1964 he was called to be pastor of the Campinas Central Church, where he served for four years.³⁴ Afterward he pastored the church in the city of São Carlos. He taught Religious Education at São Paulo Academy (now UNASP-HT) from 1970 to 1972,³⁵ when he became pastor of the Central Hortolândia Church.³⁶

In 1976 he went back to Campinas with his family to once again serve at the Central Church. There they stayed for three more years. During this short period of time, three Adventist churches were built in the city. Near the end of 1977, Geraldo retired.³⁷ He continued to preach in Weeks of Prayer and congresses for many groups, including pastors. He also published two books through the Brazil Publishing House, “First the Kingdom of God,” a biography, and a junior devotional in 2002.³⁸

Geraldo Marski died August 15, 2010, 96 years old, in the city of Hortolândia. Three characteristics made him special: his dedication, his faith, and his optimism, which infected others around him and brought them to overcome their problems.³⁹ Throughout his lifelong journey, he read the whole Bible 70 times.⁴⁰ He carried with him the message preached by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6: 33).⁴¹

Sources

“A suprema esperança de um pioneiro,” Revista Adventista, November 1991. Accessed February 12, 2020, https://acervo.cpb.com.br/ra.

Ramos, Erson Leal. “Volta de Jesus,” Revista Adventista, March 1992. Accessed February 12, 2020, https://acervo.cpb.com.br/ra.

Lima, Odete G., Primeiro o Reino de Deus. 4^th ed. Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2002.

Braga, Rosemeire; Eneas, Jael. “Escolas de profetas.” Revista Adventista, July 2010. Accessed February 12, 2020, https://acervo.cpb.com.br/ra.

Lessa, Rubens. “Geraldo Marski.” Revista Adventista, September 2010. Accessed February 12, 2020, https://acervo.cpb.com.br/ra.

Sarli, Tercio. Minha vida de pastor. 1^st ed. Campinas, SP: Certeza Editorial, 2007.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association. Years 1943, 1959, 1961, and 1971. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Notes

1. Tercio Sarli, Minha vida de pastor, Campinas, SP: Certeza Editorial, 2007, 161-162; Odete G. Lima, Primeiro o Reino de Deus Tatuí, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 2002, 10; and “A suprema esperança de um pioneiro,” Revista Adventista, November 1991, 5.↩

2. Sarli, 161-162.↩

3. Sarli, 162; and Lima, 10.↩

4. Sarli, 162; and Lima, 10-12.↩

5. Sarli, 163; and Lima, 13-15.↩

6. Sarli, 164; and “A suprema esperança de um pioneiro.”↩

7. Sarli, 164; and Lima, 25-26.↩

8. Sarli, 164; and Lima, 27.↩

9. Sarli, 165; and Lima, 28-29.↩

10. Sarli, 165; and Lima, 30.↩

11. Sarli, 166; and Lima, 31-33.↩

12. Sarli, 166. Lima, 33-34.↩

13. Sarli, 167; and Lima, 34.↩

14. Sarli, 167; and Lima, 33, 37, and 39.↩

15. Ibid.↩

16. Ibid.↩

17. Sarli, 167; and Lima, 40-41.↩

18. Sarli, 167; Lima, 44; and “A suprema esperança de um pioneiro.”↩

19. Sarli, 167-168; and Lima, 46.↩

20. Sarli, 167-168; and Lima, 49.↩

21. Sarli, 169; Lima, 50-51 and 53; and “A suprema esperança de um pioneiro.”↩

22. Ibid.↩

23. Sarli, 171; and Lima, 58.↩

24. Sarli, 170-171; and Lima, 55-57.↩

25. Sarli, 172; Lima, 68; “Parana-Santa Catarina Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1943, 153; and “A suprema esperança de um pioneiro.”↩

26. Sarli, 173 and 179; Lima, 69-70; and “A suprema esperança de um pioneiro.”↩

27. Sarli, 173; and Lima, 73.↩

28. Sarli, 174; and Lima, 79-80, 83.↩

29. Sarli, 175; and Lima, 94.↩

30. Sarli, 175; and Lima, 97-98.↩

31. Ibid.↩

32. Sarli, 176; and Lima, 100 and 105.↩

33. Sarli, 177; Odete G. Lima, Primeiro o Reino de Deus, Tatuí, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2002, 119, 123; “Mato Grosso Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1959, 162; and “South Brazil Union Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1961, 169.↩

34. Sarli, 177-178; and Lima, 127.↩

35. Sarli), 178; Lima, 133-134; “São Paulo Academy,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1971, 373.↩

36. Sarli, 178; Lima, 133-134; and “São Paulo Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1973-1974, 238.↩

37. Sarli, 178; Lima, 136, 139; and “A suprema esperança de um pioneiro.”↩

38. Sarli, 178; “Primeiro o Reino de Deus,” Revista Adventista, January 1991, 22.↩

39. Lessa, Rubens, “Geraldo Marski,” Revista Adventista, September 2010, 2; Ramos, Erson Leal, “Volta de Jesus,” Revista Adventista, March 1992, 4.↩

40. Sarli, 179.↩

41. “A suprema esperança de um pioneiro.”↩