p. 11 | Rio Grande do Sul Camp Meeting by O. Montgomery

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 8, 1916

Rio Grande do Sul Camp Meeting

By O. Montgomery

O. MONTGOMERY

LEAVING La Plata, Argentina, Monday noon by train, our party reached Buenos Aires in good time to take the night boat for Montevideo, Uruguay, arriving there at about eight o’clock the next morning. We spent the day at the mission headquarters, with Brother and Sister F. L. Perry and Brother J. T. Thompson. We have a very nice mission property there, well located, which provides a neat little hall for public worship, an office-room for the mission office and tract society, and in the rear four pleasant living-rooms with a little court. Brother and Sister Perry have occupied these rooms in the past, but now, as they have been called to Chile, Brother Thompson, who has the secretary-treasurer work of the mission, will live there and look after the work in the city.

At 7 P. M. we took the train for a twenty-four-hour ride, in a second-class coach with its wooden seats, for the border of Rio Grande do Sul, where we spent the next night at a hotel in a small Brazilian town. At 6:45 A. M. our train started for Santa Maria, where we arrived before dark. Here we found a good German hotel, the proprietor of which could speak good English. We were well cared for for the night, and took the train the next morning for Montenegro, the place of the camp meeting, arriving at about 5 P. M., Friday, four days after leaving La Plata.

Rio Grande do Sul is the most southern state in Brazil, lying just north of Uruguay and east of Argentina. While there are several states in Brazil which are larger than this, yet this is by no means small, being a little more than twice the size of Pennsylvania, and having a population of a little more than two million. Here, as in all Brazil, Portuguese is the official state language, although German is spoken by many, there being about six hundred thousand Germans here.

Montenegro is a beautiful little city of about six thousand, lying just between the foot of the mountain whose name it bears, and a beautiful river. The camp was pitched on one of the main streets, very near the business section, easy of access to all. About two hundred of our people were in attendance, many coming long distances over difficult roads. Traveling facilities are not the same here as in the United States. Some were present who rode five days on horseback. The third day of the meeting some arrived who had been fifteen days on the way, having had to wait several days for a boat, and then when on the way the boat stuck fast in the sand, causing another delay. One woman came four days on horseback and two days by train.

In the day meetings it was necessary to translate each talk into either German or Portuguese, and when we spoke in English it was necessary to have two translators. The Portuguese-speaking brethren were on one side of the tent and the Germans on the other side. The two brethren who translated stood one on each end of the platform, and translated each sentence into the language of the people, both speaking at the same time. Notwithstanding the seeming confusion, the Lord blessed the instruction given, and the people were able to grasp the lessons. In the night meetings, the Germans occupied one tent, and those who spoke Portuguese the other. The workers who could speak these languages had charge of most of these meetings. There was a good attendance from the city, and a good interest was developed, which will be carried forward by a company of workers, and it is hoped that many will decide for the truth.

This conference was organized in 1906, and now has seventeen churches and six companies, with a total membership of 780, 245 having been added during the past two years. This is the largest and strongest conference in the Brazilian Union, and is self-supporting, its tithes and offerings being sufficient to care for present needs, but not enough to enable it to do any aggressive work.

Besides Elder H. Meyer, who is the president, there are in the field one ordained minister, five licentiates, and one brother who is a Bible worker, to carry this message to the thousands who are yet in darkness. It was a source of much encouragement and pleasure to find so many promising young men in the work. With experience and proper training, they will greatly strengthen the work in this field.

A few special meetings were held for the splendid class of young people who were present at the meeting. The colporteur work, which is being carried forward by the field agent and a company of ten colporteurs, is making good progress. The Lord is blessing this work. Our colporteurs find it necessary in many parts of these fields to travel long distances on muleback, over most difficult roads and into remote sections, selling the books as they go, instead of taking orders for later delivery. The colporteur in many of these fields is truly a pioneer.

Elders F. W. Spies, John Lipke, and R. Wilfart, who were in attendance at the organization of the division conference at La Plata, Argentina, and were returning to their fields of labor in Brazil, together with Prof. W. W. Prescott, Elder N. Z. Town, and the writer, were the workers present from outside the conference. Besides speaking several times themselves, Brethren Spies and Lipke rendered valuable assistance as translators.

As Brother A. Preuss, the former secretary and treasurer, was unable to carry the office work longer on account of poor health, Brother A. Langenstrasse, one of the young men of the field, was elected to that office.

Resolutions were adopted in harmony with the policies of the new division conference and the union conference, looking toward the strengthening of the colporteur work, the home missionary work, and the young people’s work. Resolutions were passed recognizing the new Brazilian Union school as the training school for this conference, and also providing that definite plans be laid for the starting of several good strong church schools. One of the greatest problems in these fields is the education and training of the children and youth.

There is a spirit of courage and confidence which bespeaks progress in the future. The Lord is blessing the work, and we expect to see a splendid growth during the coming year.