NEWSFLASH: Missionary, His Father Shot in Brazil

A wrong turn by the father of an LDS missionary serving in Brazil put both father and son in intensive care in a Rio de Janeiro hosptial after they were attacked in a slum. Bradley Green, 21, and his father Garth Green, 51, are "out of danger," according to Dr. Luis Fernand Correia of Rio's Samaritan Hosptial. But Correia says both ran the risk of loosing their lives.

Missionary Shooting Leads to Death, Arrest in Brazilian Slum

Police in Rio de Janeiro have killed one man and arrested another as they stepped up patrols in the slum where an LDS missionary and his father where shot Saturday night. Police increased their force in the neighborhood from six to 28 men following the shooting, and subsequently killed a 27-year-old man in a gun battle and arrested another man, who was carrying large quantities of cocaine, hashish and marijuana. Meanwhile, doctors at Samaritano Hospital say that Bradley Green and his father, Garth Green, could be released as early as Friday.

Transgendered Mormon Sues over Excommunication

A woman who had a sex change operation and was subsequently excommunicated fro the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is fighting the Church's injunction to keep her out of LDS chapels in Hong Kong and has filed a counter-claim seeking her re-instatement. Jessica Park, who was known as Stewart J. C. Park before the operation, says that the LDS Church's Hong Kong International District excommunicated her in a "highly humiliating" and "painful" manner. The LDS Church's spokesman in Hong Kong was not available to make a statement to the South China Morning Post.

To Serve or Not To Serve: A Question of Mission

Young men of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have been charged with the responsibility to serve a full-time mission. The years spent as a missionary are life-changing and usually positive. But when an LDS young man chooses not to serve, the social pressures to change his mind can often be intense.

Other Churchwide News

Two Days After Missionary Shot, TV Reporters Held Up in Brazilian Slum

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL -- A group of armed men held up reporters from two Brazilian TV networks, taking the videotape they had shot of Vila do Joao, the neighborhood where LDS missionary Bradley Green and his father were shot on Saturday. The reporters were filming for a story on violence in the slums in response to the attack on the missionary and his family. The story indicates that the Greens were both released from Bonsucenso General Hospital on Monday after they had been treated. The violence against the Greens was the third attack on foreigners in Rio de Janeiro so far this year. Vila do Joao is home to a criminal organization that controls drug sales in a group of similar slums called the Complexo da Mare, which are strategically located near the center of the city and its main port.

Brazilian Television Reporters Held Up in Rio Agencia EFE 12Mar01 N2

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