The mountainous, lush appeal of Southern Brazil is much different from the flat lands of Dallas, but Ed Volfe has made a comfortable transition.
Volfe, a native of the town of Maringa in Parana, Brazil, was appointed chaplain intern to the university in June and has come to SMU with the ambition to assist and nurture religion on campus.
According to Volfe, continuing his dreams of education and experience in America was not an easy task. It started at the age of 14, when he began the daunting task of teaching himself English.
“I knew in my heart one day I’d be coming to the United States to share Jesus Christ with people in this country. I just didn’t know when that would happen,” Volfe said.
Volfe taught himself English over the course of two-and-a-half years from a “Learn English” weekly periodical that he bought from a newsstand. His now-fluent English is a bridge to further his spiritual education here in America, and his slight accent is a reminder of the deep Brazilian roots where his spiritual journey began.
Volfe says that he has felt the presence of God since the age of seven. He states that he understood even from this young age that if he didn’t belong to God with his heart, soul and body, his life was meaningless.
His love for the ministry and spreading the word of God was founded within the walls of a Brazilian Methodist church, according to Volfe, but branched as far as Taiwan and Australia, where he spent time as a missionary distributing the Bible and sharing the news of Jesus Christ.
Volfe is now taking time off from traveling to engage in the duties of being chaplain intern.
His agenda includes assisting at the Sunday service in Perkins Chapel, being available to pray with and counsel others and assisting the Rev. William M. Finnin, Jr., Th.D, chaplain to the university, from whom Volfe received his new position.
Volfe feels that SMU has given him the opportunity to approach people of different religious backgrounds and discover new things about other religious views, as well as to build on his own faith.
He plans to visit each of the 30 campus ministries.
According to Volfe, his personal mission is not simply to fit into the shoes of a typical Christian leader, but to truly help others.
“I am not only here to share spiritual things, but to help people with all different issues, such as social justice and personal problems,” Volfe said.
Volfe’s past has paved the road for his future. “I want to pursue a Ph.D. in counseling or religious studies before going back to Brazil,” Volfe said.
He also dreams of fighting for those living in societies that oppress and rob them of their identity and dignity as persons. At the beginning of his career, Volfe is already a spiritual teacher to those who gain strength from his stories of past triumphs and aspirations for a bright future. Asked to sum himself up in a single quote, Volfe said, “If it does not exist, invent it.”
Simply put from a man who has spent his short life inventing a future from scratch and will spend the rest of it inventing futures for others.