
Esmeralda Gomes
Photo courtesy of Brazilian White Center - UNASP.
Gomes, Esmeralda Monteiro (1926–2020)
By The Brazilian White Center – UNASP (2)
The Brazilian White Center – UNASP (2) 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. The following are the team members: Melissa Querido Batista, Priscila Carvalho dos Santos, Allan Sleyter Soares de Atayde, Jonatan Ferreira Nascimento, and Leo Eduardo Menegusso Valenzi.
First Published: August 14, 2024
Esmeralda Monteiro Gomes was an Adventist pioneer mission worker in Brazil. She helped establish several churches in places with no prior Adventist presence.
Early Years and Conversion
Esmeralda Monteiro Silva,1 who would later become Esmeralda Monteiro dos Santos (after her first marriage), and Esmeralda Monteiro Gomes (after her second marriage), was born on July 7, 1926, in the city of Recife, Pernambuco, in the northeast region of Brazil. She was daughter of Joaquim Monteiro and Amélia Rafael Silva.2
Esmeralda was introduced to the Adventist message in her childhood at the Arruda Adventist School, in Recife, Pernambuco, where she studied.3 There, she met her spiritual mentor, teacher Ana Garcia, who influenced her to become an Adventist.4 Later, Esmeralda was baptized by Pastor Gerônimo Garcia at the Arruda Adventist Church, also in Recife.5
After finishing primary school, Esmeralda was invited to study at what is now the former East Brazil Academy, currently the Petropolis Adventist Academy (IPAE), in the city of Petrópolis, state of Rio de Janeiro.6 After graduating, Esmeralda was called to serve as a preceptor at the former Northeast Brazil Academy,7 which would later become Northeast Brazil College (ENA) in Belém de Maria, Pernambuco.8
First Marriage and Pioneering Work
Esmeralda soon married Severino Bezerra dos Santos (1923-1961). Severino worked as a businessman and trader in the knitwear arena in addition to being a fervent volunteer Adventist missionary, who worked in places where there was no Adventist presence yet. This led the couple to move to the city of Garanhuns, Pernambuco.9 In Garanhuns, they became true pioneers. In her years there, Esmeralda saw and helped four churches open, and she became the principal of the city’s Adventist School.10
Severino, in addition to being a supporter of the A Voz da Profecia (The Voice of Prophecy) radio program in the region,11 was the one who secured the land where the first Adventist Church of Garanhuns was built.12 Severino died prematurely, in September 1961, the victim of a car accident. His funeral took place in Garanhuns, and it was attended by more than 1,000 people. At the cerimony, pastors Dourival de Souza Lima, João Isídio da Costa, John Baerg, José C. Bessa, and José Maria de Almeida spoke.13 Esmeralda and Severino had four children; two girls: Daleth and Daise, and two boys: Dilson and Dailson.14
Second Marriage and Missionary Work
After becoming a widow, Esmeralda married again, this time to Edmócles Gomes, with whom she had a daughter, Dilene. Edmócles worked for many years as a biblical worker. He helped to establish several churches in Pernambuco and São Paulo.15
Esmeralda continued as a fervent volunteer Adventist missionary in Garanhuns. On November 13, 1972, she helped in the foundation of the first Pathfinders Club in the heart of Pernambuco.16 The club was named “Sete Colinas” (“Seven Hills”) due to the geography of the region.17 The club belongs to the Central Adventist Church of Garanhuns, which is part of the Central Pernambuco Conference (APeC).18 In 1977, Esmeralda helped coordinate the Pathfinders Club’s participation in a parade that took place in Garanhuns in partnership with the Brazilian Adventist Education and Adventist Social Assistance. The event brought together many young people, who carried items such as the Pathfinders Voluntary Missionaries logo, a replica of the Luminar II speedboat, and posters that showed the Christian moral values defended by Seventh-day Adventists including awareness against cigarettes and toxic substances.19
Pathfinders and Retirement
After several years of service in Garanhuns, in 1990, Esmeralda moved to the city of Hortolândia, São Paulo,20 where she continued her personal ministry, helping to found and strengthen several churches and Pathfinder clubs in that city.
She served for more than 40 years in the Pathfinders Club’s leadership, where she held various positions such as: director, counselor, Bible class instructor, and cook (both in Pernambuco and Hortolândia). Esmeralda became known for the affection she had for the Pathfinders, always visiting them and studying the Bible with their parents who were not Adventists.21
Esmeralda actively participated in Pathfinder clubs and camps until she was 80 years old when, for health reasons and on her daughters’ advice, she ceased being involved wtih direct activities. After she stopped working directly with the Pathfinders, Esmeralda took over the Education Department of the Central Seventh-day Adventist Church of Hortolândia.22
Charitable Work
Esmeralda, herself a fruit of Adventist education, always recognized the importance of Christian education, which is why, in her ministry, she dedicated herself to helping many underprivileged children study in the Adventist education system, especially when she was director of the Education Department at the Central Hortolândia Church, where she contacted schools in the region several times, including what is currently Brazil Adventist University, Engenheiro Coelho campus, and the Adventist School of Hortolândia in order to obtain scholarships for these children as well as helping to collect money to purchase school materials and uniforms for these children and young people.23
Last Years
In addition to being a great Adventist missionary wherever she went, Esmeralda was a dedicated mother and missionary at home. Recognized as an upstanding woman of prayer and someone who had God as a priority in her life,24 she always was a spiritual support for her family and friends. In their home, every Friday, everyone in the house was clean and tidy and ready to hold their sunset service together. In their home, every day at 6 a.m., their family gathered for family worship and to read the Bible.25
Esmeralda raised all her sons and daughters in the way of the Lord. Her two sons, Dilson and Dailson Bezerra, became Adventist pastors. Three of her daughters also married Adventist pastors. In addition, some of her 14 grandchildren and great-grandchildren also became Adventist pastors, teachers, and missionaries in Brazil and other regions of the world.26 Esmeralda passed away in 2020, at the age of 94, avictim of COVID-19, in Hortolândia, São Paulo.27
Sources
Baerg, John. “Fim da Jornada,” Revista Adventista 57 (January 1962).
Beschi, Giovanni Batista. “Clube de Desbravadores ‘Sete Colinas.’” Desbravadores é Aqui, August 26, 2019. Accessed April 24, 2024. https://desbravadoreseaqui.blogspot.com/2019/08/clube-de-desbravadores-sete-colinas.html.
“Clube de Desbravadores Sete Colinas Associação Pernambucana Central.” Encontre um CLUBE. Accessed April 24, 2024, https://clubes.adventistas.org/br/apec/11379/sete-colinas/.
Diniz, Ribamar. “Colheita em terra árida: início adventista no Nordeste brasileiro.” Notícias Adventistas, February 5, 2024. Accessed April 24, 2024, https://noticias.adventistas.org/pt/colheita-em-terra-arida-inicio-adventista-no-nordeste-brasileiro/.
“MEMÓRIA.” Revista Adventista 115, no. 1363 (November 2020).
Siqueira, Paulo. “Garanhuns Aplaude a Igreja Adventista.” Revista Adventista 72, no. 10 (October 1977).
Tavares, Cleodon. “Perseverança Recompensada.” Revista Adventista 41 (July 1946).
Notes
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Dilene and Kesil Ebinger, interviewed by Jonatan Ferreira Nascimento, Centro de Pesquisas Ellen G. White: UNASP Campus, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, April 26, 2024.↩
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Dilson Bezerra, interviewed by Jonatan Ferreira Nascimento, Centro de Pesquisas Ellen G. White: UNASP Campus, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, June 21, 2024.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Dilene and Kesil Ebinger, interviewed by Jonatan Ferreira Nascimento, April 26, 2024.↩
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Dilson Bezerra, interviewed by Jonatan Ferreira Nascimento, June 21, 2024.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Cleodon Tavares, “Perseverança Recompensada,” Revista Adventista, 41 (July 1946): 7.↩
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Ribamar Diniz, “Colheita em terra árida: início adventista no Nordeste brasileiro,” Notícias Adventistas, February 5, 2024.↩
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Dilson Bezerra, interviewed by Jonatan Ferreira Nascimento, June 21, 2024.↩
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“MEMÓRIA,” Revista Adventista 115, no. 1363 (November 2020): 46.↩
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John Baerg, “Fim da Jornada,” Revista Adventista 57 (January 1962): 34.↩
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Dilson Bezerra, interviewed by Jonatan Ferreira Nascimento, Centro de Pesquisas Ellen G. White: UNASP campus Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, June 21, 2024.↩
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John Baerg. “Fim da Jornada,” 34.↩
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Dilson Bezerra, interviewed by Jonatan Ferreira Nascimento, June 21, 2024.↩
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Dilene and Kesil Ebinger, interviewed by Jonatan Ferreira Nascimento, April 26, 2024.↩
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“Clube de Desbravadores Sete Colinas Associação Pernambucana Central.” Encontre um CLUBE.↩
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Giovanni Batista Beschi, “Clube de Desbravadores Sete Colinas.” Desbravadores é Aqui, August 26, 2019.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Paulo Siqueira, “Garanhuns Aplaude a Igreja Adventista,” Revista Adventista 72, no. 10 (October 1977): 30.↩
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“MEMÓRIA,” Revista Adventista, 46.↩
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Dilene and Kesil Ebinger, interviewed by Jonatan Ferreira Nascimento, April 26, 2024.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Dilson Bezerra, interviewed by Jonatan Ferreira Nascimento, June 21, 2024.↩
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Ibid.↩
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“MEMÓRIA,” Revista Adventista, 46.↩