Santa Maria, Brazil by F. W. Spies

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Aug 13, 1914

Santa Maria, Brazil

By F. W. Spies

SANTA MARIA is fifteen leagues distant from Caruaru, the nearest railroad station. The whole country between these two places (and there are many regions like it in this state of Pernambuco) bears in a special sense the marks of the curse of sin. There is a dry season of six months, and a wet season of the same length of time. At the close of the dry season, there is not a green leaf to be seen for many miles around. All is withered and dead. And, in fact, the inhabitants of this section are happy if, after a period of six months, rain sets in. Sometimes it fails, and that may mean eighteen months without rain, and very likely the starving of all live stock.

On our way from Caruaru, after riding for hours in the hot sun, we approached what seemed a clear, cool, refreshing rivulet. We were glad for the prospect of getting a good drink; but when we tasted the water we found it to be strongly saline, and not fit to drink. The inhabitants tell us that all the water found in the earth or in streams in this section is more or less salty, and cannot be used. To provide a water supply, the people dig holes of all sizes, shapes, and depths in the earth, and in the rainy season these fill up with water. This is the water supply for man and beast as long as it lasts. Although it is now the rainy season, and this water supply is at its best, it is not very enticing, even to a thirsty person, to go to one of these water holes covered with all sorts of plants and swarming with water insects and animals, for a drink. It is now almost two weeks since we have seen any fruit worth mentioning. In the dry

season, the bill of fare is very meager.

But why are we in such a place anyway? A certain inhabitant of Santa Maria heard of a sister in Caruaru who kept the Sabbath. His pastor had told him that the only way one could get along with those Adventists was not to talk with them, for if a person ventured into a conversation with them, he was lost. However, this faithful pastoral instruction, instead of having the desired effect, led the man, who had once been a Catholic and whose priest used to talk in the same way about the Protestants, to think that there must be something wrong with such advice, and he became curious to know more about these Sabbath keepers. He went the fifteen leagues to Caruaru, partly on business, partly to meet the Sabbath keepers. After a valiant struggle to defend the first-day sabbath, he was so far worsted that he went home with a copy of Portuguese “Bible Readings,” resolved to study the question; and in Santa Maria we now have about twenty persons in six different families who are keeping the Sabbath, and others are interested.

It certainly seems strange that the truth should find its way into such out-of-the-way places, and yet, as we talked to these persons of the glories of the new earth, where the difficulties of the present life and the curse now burdening this old earth will be forever past, they could certainly appreciate all the promised blessings. The writer has been accompanying Elder Ricardo Wilfart through this state, his new field of labor, introducing him to the brethren, and among other places we visited Santa Maria. May the Lord grant that the work that looks so promising here at this time may develop into a good, strong church. F. W. SPIES.