Dr. Marcus H. Martins, former Department Chair of BYU–Hawaii’s Department of Religion, returned home in August 2014 from serving as a mission president in Brazil São Paulo North Mission. He served from July 2011 to July 2014 with his wife, Mirian Abelin Barbosa.
He is a professor who teaches Doctrines of the Gospel, Doctrine & Covenants, and Church Organization and Leadership.
Martins is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was involved in making a new Portuguese translation of the Book of Mormon. He is of African descent and was the first black member to serve as a fulltime mission. His father, Helvécio Martins, was the first black General Authority of the Church.
Martins has taught Religion at BYUH since 2000. Even with all of his religious experience, Dr. Martins felt like some of the most important things he learned from his mission were some of the most basic doctrines. “I learned how far the Lord’s mercy is and how profoundly the doctrine of Christ can change a person’s nature. Seeing our new missionaries become great missionaries and the miracles happen in the lives of both missionaries and their investigators was remarkable.”
Of the challenges he faced in the mission field, Martins said, “We were one of the five missions located in the third largest metropolitan area in the world, São Paulo. Depending on the neighborhood, a lot of people live in high rises or in gated communities, and that posed a problem for our missionaries because they could not tract.”
However, Brazil missions are expecting to start using social media in order to overcome this type of problem.
Eric Marlowe, an assistant professor of Religion, said Martins’ ethnicity is a benefit for the Religion Department. “Few faculty members reflect the diversity of this campus better than Dr. Martins. There are few issues associated with ethnicity that he has not experienced personally and handled deftly.”
Speaking on the benefits of having a return mission president, Marlowe said, “This rich combination of knowledge, experience and competence allows Dr. Martins to significantly and uniquely contribute to the educational experience here at BYUH.”
Bryan Fetner, a junior from Mililani majoring in international peacebuilding, was a student in Dr. Martins’ REL 431H class, Doctrines of the Gospel.
He said, “It’s exciting to be able to have a recently returned mission president teach religion classes here. I know that in my class with him I’ve learned a lot about how the Gospel is very deep and that there is always more to learn.”
Martins joined the Church in 1972. He is the author of “Setting the Record Straight: Blacks and the Mormon Priesthood." He publishes videos online to give insights on doctrine for his students and people interested in knowing more about the Church.