“Placentero nos es trabajar” or “Despedida” is one of the more popular hymns that is included in Latter-day Saint hymn books, written by a Latter-day Saint, but not in the English hymnal at this time. Hence, I’ve been consistent in pointing it out as a likely candidate for inclusion in the forthcoming hymnal. While I’ve talked about this hymn in the past, this post will serve two purposes—first, it is going to be where I pick up the Mexican Mission Hymns series. Second, it’s also a co-post for a recent interview with John A Gonzalez—the grandson of Andrés Carlos González, who is the author of the hymn—at the Latter-day Saint history blog From the Desk.
History of the Hymn:
Andrés Carlos González was the author of “Placentero nos es trabajar.” As his grandson summarized:
Andrés Carlos González … was born and raised in the small town of Nadadores, Coahuila, México. He was one of more than fifteen children of Juan and Juliana González. His father was a teacher by profession (and unique in that he was the only Protestant in town,) unlike his staunch Catholic mother.
It was Andrés’s older brother, Manrique, who eventually determined Andrés’s destiny. Manrique left home as a young adult searching for more significant opportunities and finally found work in the Latter-day Saint colonies in the nearby state of Chihuahua. Writing home, Manrique shared his experiences and his happiness in the colonies. Intrigued, Andrés left home at seventeen and, following the path his brother forged, eventually joined the Church, falling in love and marrying. His bride, Minnie Spencer, was born and raised in the colonies to parents who had moved from Utah to help colonize the area with other Church members from Utah.
Manrique González, it should be noted, also contributed a hymn to the Mexican Mission hymnbook. In any case, John Gonzalez wrote some of the reasons that Andrés is signficant:
In terms of Church service, Andrés was the first native Mexican to serve as a full-time missionary called from Church headquarters, wrote the words to a beloved hymn in the Spanish hymnal, and was the “first” Mexican to serve in several other significant callings. His progeny includes children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who are committed members of the Church, served full-time missions, served in many leadership roles, and one who is an emeritus General Authority Seventy.
Andrés represented many firsts for native Mexican members of the Church.
The story of the time when “Placentero nos es trabajar” was written happened during the mission that Andrés served. As John wrote:
In 1910, Andrés was a young married man with a wife, a three-month-old son, and a job as a bookkeeper for the Pajarito Mining Company when he received a letter from “Box B” in Salt Lake City. “Box B” was the post office address of the Church’s Missionary Department—the return address that signaled to every young Latter-day Saint man that he was being called on a mission.
It was not unusual for single or married men to receive a mission call from “Box B” at that time, but in the 80-year history of the Church to that date, none of those missionaries had been native Mexicans. Andrés was called to serve in the Mexico Mission. When it came time for him to report, he kissed his wife and young son goodbye and began walking south. It took 24 days of hitchhiking on wagons and donkeys and walking to reach Mexico City. For two years, he would preach the gospel, mostly in cities within a day’s travel of the capital—Cuernavaca, Ozumba, Atlautla, San Pablo, and Amecameca.
During that time, he had to work around the unfolding Mexican Revolution:
Andrés spent most of his mission in smaller towns near Mexico City. Catholicism still dominated those towns, and missionaries were not always a welcome sight. One day, Andrés and his companion decided to reach out specifically to Protestants, hoping that those who had left Catholicism might be more open to hearing the message of the restored gospel.
Andrés and his companion stood on a street corner. They began singing a familiar Protestant hymn, “Sweet By and By,” from a tune by American Civil War composer Joseph P. Webster. Since he grew up in the home of his Protestant father, Andrés was familiar with the hymn. The idea of the two missionaries singing backfired when a group of Protestants surrounded them and said they had no right to sing that hymn. The crowd warned the missionaries that if they ever tried to sing that hymn in public again, they would be arrested.The next day, the two missionaries were back on the same corner singing a different hymn. Police were summoned, the war of words escalated, and Andrés and his companion were thrown in jail.
That night, sitting in a jail cell and wondering if he would become one of the many people who simply “disappeared” when arrested during the revolution, Andrés found hope in the music and sentiment of Sweet By and By. He spent the night writing new lyrics to the tune, praising the work of those who spread the gospel and promising a sweet reward for the faithful in the next life. Andrés’ words and Webster’s music were published in the first Latter-day Saint Spanish hymnal in 1912 under the title Despedida (“Farewell”). Later the name was changed to Placentero nos es trabajar (“It is pleasant for us to work”). It would become a standard for Spanish-speaking Mormon congregations into the 21st Century. It is Hymn 88 in the current Spanish Church hymnal.
Thus, the hymn “Placentero nos es trabajar” came to be.
Andrés made his way home after he was released from his mission and ended up moving to El Paso, Texas. There, he and Minnie raised a family and served faithfully in the Church for the remainder of their lives. For more on Andrés Carlos González, feel free to head on over to the Latter-day Saint history blog From the Desk.
Hymn Text
Table 1. Lyrics in Spanish-language hymnals over the years.
| 1912 | 1940 | 1992 |
| Placentero nos es trabajar, En la viña del gran Rey Jesús, Y honroso nos es predicar, A su pueblo, su ley y su luz. Por su luz, por su luz, Placentero nos es trabajar, Por su luz, por su luz, Moriremos con El sin pesar. | Placentero nos es trabajar, En la viña del gran Rey Jesús, Y honroso nos es predicar, A su pueblo, su ley y su luz. Por su luz, por su luz, Placentero nos es trabajar, Por su luz, por su luz, Moriremos con él sin pesar. | Placentero nos es trabajar En la viña del gran Rey Jesús, Y honroso nos es predicar, A Su pueblo, Su ley y Su luz, Por Su luz, por Su luz, Placentero nos es trabajar. Por Su luz, por Su luz, Moriremos con El sin pesar. |
| La palabra de Dios escuchad, Con ahinco, fieldad y fervor; Para siempre jamás recordad, Su pureza, verdad y amor. Con amor, con amor, La palabra de Dios escuchad, Con amor, con amor, La bandera de Dios empuñad. | La palabra de Dios escuchad Con ahinco, fieldad y fervor; Para siempre jamás recordad Su pureza, verdad y amor. Con amor, con amor, La palabra de Dios escuchad, Con amor, con amor, La bandera de Dios empuñad. | La palabra de Dios escuchad Con ahínco, lealtad y fervor. Para siempre jamás recordad Su pureza, verdad y amor. Con amor, con amor, La palabra de Dios escuchad. Con amor, con amor, La bandera de Dios empuñad. |
| ¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues adiós! El momento de ir vino ya; Si guardamos la fe del gran Dios, Nos veremos aún más allá. Más allá, más allá, ¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues adiós! Más allá, más allá, Moraremos con el vero Dios. | ¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues adiós! El momento de ir vino ya; Si guardamos la fe del gran Dios, Nos veremos aún más allá. Más allá, más allá, ¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues adiós! Más allá, más allá, Moraremos con Dios en amor. | ¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues adiós! El momento de ir vino ya. Si guardamos la fe en el gran Dios, Nos veremos aún más allá. Más allá, más allá. ¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues adiós! Más allá, más allá, Moraremos con el Dios en amor. |
Meter is 9.9.9.9.6.9.6.9, with stress on every third beat
Table 2. Text of the hymn translation:
| 1912 Spanish | Prose English | Poetic English |
| Placentero nos es trabajar, En la viña del gran Rey Jesús, Y honroso nos es predicar, A su pueblo, su ley y su luz. Por su luz, por su luz, Placentero nos es trabajar, Por su luz, por su luz, Moriremos con El sin pesar. | It is pleasant for us to work In the vineyard of the great King Jesus, And it is honorable for us to preach, To his people, his law and his light, By your light, by your light, It is pleasant for us to work By your light, by your light, We will die with Him without regret. | It is pleasant to work with the Lord In the vineyard of Jesus, our king, And an honor to preach his great word, To his people, his law we will bring. In his light, in his light, It is pleasant to work with the Lord, In his light, in his light, We will die without guilt through his word. |
| La palabra de Dios escuchad, Con ahinco, fieldad y fervor; Para siempre jamás recordad, Su pureza, verdad y amor. Con amor, con amor, La palabra de Dios escuchad, Con amor, con amor, La bandera de Dios empuñad. | Listen to the word of God With determination, faithfulness and fervor; Forever remember, His purity, truth and love. With love, with love, Listen to the word of God, With love, with love, Take up the flag of God. | Hear the word of our God unto you; Come with fervor, great zeal and belief, And forever remember anew, The uprightness and love of our chief. With God’s love, with God’s love, Hear the word of our God unto you, With God’s love, with God’s love, Grasp the banner of God and be true. |
| ¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues adiós! El momento de ir vino ya; Si guardamos la fe del gran Dios, Nos veremos aún más allá. Más allá, más allá, ¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues adiós! Más allá, más allá, Moraremos con el vero Dios. | Oh siblings, goodbye, oh, goodbye! The time to go has come; If we keep the faith of the great God, We’ll see each other in the beyond. Beyond, beyond, Oh siblings, goodbye, oh goodbye! beyond, beyond, We will dwell with the true God. | Oh, dear brothers and sisters, farewell! For the time we must leave has arrived; If we stay in the faith and do well, Past the veil we shall meet there revived. Past the veil, past the veil, Oh, dear brothers and sisters, farewell! Past the veil, past the veil, With our God, we forever shall dwell. |
Music
The tune for the hymn is “In the Sweet By and By.”
Here is the music with my English translation:
New Music:
I thought it might be best to avoid writing new music for this one, since it is so well loved as it is. Instead, I am sharing an arrangement of the hymn that I made for use in my ward choir as a PDF in the link below. (Note that it uses an earlier rendition of my translation at the end of the first verse. It sounds better with the updated translation, but I lost the Finale file of the piece in a recent computer crash.)