The early Adventist church in Caracas, Venezuela. Rafael López Miranda sits in the middle of the second row.
Looking Back
Rafael López Miranda An Adventist martyr in Latin America
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Visitors to the house where Rafael López Miranda spent the night before he was murdered GC Archives 24
October 2021 AdventistWorld.org
he first Puerto Rican Seventh-day Adventist didn’t begin his spiritual life auspiciously. After the death of his firstborn son, Rafael López Miranda (1883-1922) often found solace in alcohol, frequently terrifying his wife and children with his rages. To the delight of his family, however, he responded when Adventist missionaries began preaching in Puerto Rico in 1912. He attended Bible studies and participated in prayer meetings, culminating in his baptism that same year.1 According to Adventist historian M. E. Olsen, López was the first Puerto Rican to become a Seventh-day Adventist worker.2 López later traveled to the Dominican Republic, and then on to Venezuela. He arrived in Venezuela in 1919. He sold copies of the newly translated Spanish edition of A. O. Tait’s classic on Bible prophecy, Heralds of the Morning. As he pressed into the jungle interior, López found a family who accepted the Adventist message. This family was soon joined by others, and the small group grew into a company of 35
