Kettle, Azarias Dolzanes (1934–2005)

By The Brazilian White Center – UNASP

The Brazilian White Center – UNASP is a team of teachers and students at the Brazilian Ellen G. White Research Center – UNASP at the Brazilian Adventist University, Campus Engenheiro, Coelho, SP. The team was supervised by Drs. Adolfo Semo Suárez, Renato Stencel, and Carlos Flávio Teixeira. Bruno Sales Gomes Ferreira provided technical support. The following names are of team members: Adriane Ferrari Silva, Álan Gracioto Alexandre, Allen Jair Urcia Santa Cruz, Camila Chede Amaral Lucena, Camilla Rodrigues Seixas, Daniel Fernandes Teodoro, Danillo Alfredo Rios Junior, Danilo Fauster de Souza, Débora Arana Mayer, Elvis Eli Martins Filho, Felipe Cardoso do Nascimento, Fernanda Nascimento Oliveira, Gabriel Pilon Galvani, Giovana de Castro Vaz, Guilherme Cardoso Ricardo Martins, Gustavo Costa Vieira Novaes, Ingrid Sthéfane Santos Andrade, Isabela Pimenta Gravina, Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Jhoseyr Davison Voos dos Santos, João Lucas Moraes Pereira, Kalline Meira Rocha Santos, Larissa Menegazzo Nunes, Letícia Miola Figueiredo, Luan Alves Cota Mól, Lucas Almeida dos Santos, Lucas Arteaga Aquino, Lucas Dias de Melo, Matheus Brabo Peres, Mayla Magaieski Graepp, Milena Guimarães Silva, Natália Padilha Corrêa, Rafaela Lima Gouvêa, Rogel Maio Nogueira Tavares Filho, Ryan Matheus do Ouro Medeiros, Samara Souza Santos, Sergio Henrique Micael Santos, Suelen Alves de Almeida, Talita Paim Veloso de Castro, Thais Cristina Benedetti, Thaís Caroline de Almeida Lima, Vanessa Stehling Belgd, Victor Alves Pereira, Vinicios Fernandes Alencar, Vinícius Pereira Nascimento, Vitória Regina Boita da Silva, William Edward Timm, Julio Cesar Ribeiro, Ellen Deó Bortolotte, Maria Júlia dos Santos Galvani, Giovana Souto Pereira, Victor Hugo Vaz Storch, and Dinely Luana Pereira.

First Published: June 24, 2021

Audio

Azarias Dolzanes Kettle, evangelist canvasser, was born on April 6, 1934 in the city of Maués, in Amazonas. Son of Armando Mendonça de Christo Kettle and Rosina Dolzanes Kettle, Azarias had 12 siblings: Justina, Luiza, Eunice, Gerson, Noemi, Samuel, Maria, Edgar, Judith, Ananias, Frederico, and Walquírio, Azariah being the fifth born. His father was the son of a British immigrant who arrived in Manaus at the time of World War I. During this period there was significant immigration due to the offer of a large number of jobs in the fields of latex extraction and rubber trading. Armando was a teacher in Maues, and it was he who taught Azarias to read and write, providing his elementary education.¹

Armando and Rosina Kettle learned the Adventist message through a canvasser named Hans Mayr and accepted it, becoming some of the first Adventists in the region. Thus, when Azarias was born, his family was already Adventist. Azarias was baptized when he was about 17 years old by pastor Leo Halliwell, the same pastor who baptized his father years before. After his father died, Azarias started working in a leather industry, located in Manaus, to provide for the family.²

After leaving that industry, he took a canvassing course and started working as a canvasser in Manaus. In 1960, he became a literature evangelist for the church. Before he married, he was called to serve as departmental secretary of publishing in the Baixo Amazonas Mission. In 1964, he transferred to the North Coast Mission. He subsequently asked for permission to leave canvassing in order to study for a few months at Northeast Brazil Junior College, but didn’t complete his studies.³

On May 26, 1964, he married to Aida Maria Nunes at the Sao Bras Church in Belem, Pará State, in a ceremony officiated by Pastor Enéias Simon. Aida had bought a book from Azarias, learning the Adventist message through him. Aida was born in Souré, Pará State on August 1, 1940. During the period that she accompanied her husband in the places where he worked, she worked as a teacher at some of them. As a result of this union, three children were born: Paulo Cezar Nunes Kettle, born on March 18, 1965, and twin girls, Mônica and Márcia Nunes Kettle, born on June 14, 1972, all of them born in Belém, capital of Pará State.⁴

Kettle's ministry as a literature evangelist was spread across different regions of Brazil, having worked in the cities of Fortaleza, Teresina, Tocantins, Sao Luís, Belém, Manaus, Belo Horizonte, Governador Valadares, and Uberlândia. Besides working as a canvasser, Kettle served as secretary and associate director of the publishing department.⁵

He retired in 1994 while living in the capital of Minas Gerais. At that time, he started working for the Adventist Book Center in a store located in downtown Belo Horizonte. He worked there for two years. While retired, he also helped in the Belo Horizonte Central Church as an elder, preaching, and doing missionary work in the churches to which he was invited. He passed away on July 23, 2005, in Belo Horizonte and was buried in the Bosque da Esperança cemetery.⁶

Azarias Dolzanes Kettle made a relevant contribution to advancing the Adventist message in Brazil through canvassing. He served for 40 years as a literature evangelist, as secretary and associate director of the publishing department, and developing missionary work in several Brazilian cities. His ministry made it possible for many to learn about the Adventist message.

Sources

“Falecimentos.” Revista Adventista, October 2005.

Kettle, Loriza Nascimento. Uma Igreja na Selva. 1ª edição, Campinas, SP: Millennium Editora, 2016.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, various years.

Notes

Loriza Nascimento Kettle, Uma Igreja na Selva (Campinas, SP: Millennium Editora, 2016), 40-43; Samuel Kettle, to Ryan Medeiros, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, September 22, 2019; and Mônica Kettle, to Ryan Medeiros, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, September 10, 2019; and Aida Kettle, to Ryan Medeiros, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, September 15, 2019.↩
Samuel Kettle, to Ryan Medeiros, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, October, 2019; and Aida Kettle, to Ryan Medeiros, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, October, 2019.↩
“Lower Amazon Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1961), 168; “Lower Amazon Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1965-1966), 205; Samuel Kettle, to Ryan Medeiros, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, September 22, 2019; Aida Kettle, to Ryan Medeiros, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, September 15, 2019.↩
Samuel Kettle, to Ryan Medeiros, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, September 22, 2019; and Aida Kettle, entrevista concedida virtualmente to Ryan Medeiros, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, October, 2019; “Falecimentos,” Revista Adventista, October 2005, 38.↩
Aida Kettle, to Ryan Medeiros, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, September 15, 2019; “North Coast Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1975), 239; “Central Amazon Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1977), 260; “Minas Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1982), 277; “Central Minas Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988), 285.↩
Aida Kettle, to Ryan Medeiros, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, September 15, 2019; and Mônica Kettle, to Ryan Medeiros, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, September 10, 2019; “Falecimentos,” Revista Adventista, 38. “Central Minas Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1994), 267.↩