Ángel Abrea and 'A Chain of Conversions': A Dream, a Sunbeam, and Latin America's First General Authority (1927–1981)

Even before missionary work officially began in Argentina, Italian immigrant Mariana Bini dreamed that Christ's true Church would be restored to the earth, recognizable because it would have the gift of healing and the same organization as the New Testament church. She sought it diligently until her death in 1927. Ten years later her daughter and granddaughter Mary Bender Olmo found Bini's old friends, who gave them a Book of Mormon; after praying that night, Olmo knew this was the promised church and she and her mother were baptized. In 1942, while serving as a local missionary, Olmo taught Zulema Abrea and her son Ángel. Zulema became a remarkably effective missionary. One day ten-year-old Ángel was singing 'Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam' while delivering milk; a customer overheard, asked about the song, and her family began attending meetings. On March 20, 1981, Ángel Abrea became the first native of Argentina sustained as a General Authority Seventy.