In 50 years, and possibly most important, there should be a solid spiritual foundation. The initial differences of opinion and objectives, so inherent to new congregations, should have been amalgam- ated into a united body with a functional leadership.

When all this has occurred, the group will be both young and old.

Young, because it will vigorous and dynamic with a will to work.

Old, because many victories will have been won, much experience gained and there will be a “Bank of Wisdom” with a lot of deposits and substantial saving accounts.

In the report that follows, Arlo Hibner was the moderator of these sessions, with Myron Kramer and Duane Miller as assistants. This took place June 13 and 14 of 2019.

Now, just a word on what you are about to read. In this issue we will present the transcript of what was said in the sessions. The sound system was supplied by the folks who rented us a tent large enough to comfortably seat everyone. They also supplied the sound system. At times it worked quite well, some- times not so well, and occasionally the recording device didn’t work at all.

My niece, Leanna Santana, transcribed the entire proceedings, some in Portuguese, some in English. Her task was complicated by the problems in the sound system, as well as effects of stage fright in some of the talks. As a result, there were some ambigui- ties which I have attempted to improvise into some- thing readable. It is possible that a few speeches, or parts thereof, were unrecorded, which explains their absence in this transcript.

We recognize that this report doesn’t follow all of the editorial guidelines normally used in BN; there will some discrepancies and errors.

And so we begin…

Opening and prayer

Myron Kramer

When I was a youngster 12 years old in 1969, we moved to this area. For me it was an enormous adven- ture. True, it was a lot of work, but it was only years later that I understood what this cost my parents. They left their homeland and its surrounding customs to seek out a land that my dad had seen only brieìy.

They faced a lot of difficulties. All of us who live here today are reaping the beneëts of their sacriëce.

The hymn we just sang, Seguirei a Meu Bom Mestre [Where He Leads Me I will Follow] says that if Jesus is by our side showing us the way, we will go anyplace He leads. I imagine that is how my folks [Daniel & Anna Kramer] felt when they made this move. Together with this I would like to quote 1 Samuel 7:12, where it says, “Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.”

When we moved to this area, brother Denton Burns and others spent days and weeks measuring the land purchased and dividing it into plots for each owner. Since I was only 12 or 13 years old at the time, I wasn’t very involved. Then when we purchased land in the state of Mato Grosso we had to go through this same procedure.

When a tract of land is being measured, the surveyor starts at point A and places stakes at regular intervals, as well as at angles. Occasionally he looks back to see if everything is lining up. I see this happening during this event. We look back to see if we continue on the path God chose for us. This helps us to chart our path for the future.

[Prayer]

Talk

Daniel Kramer

Before this move we lived in the eastern part of the U.S. At this time the bulk of the church was in the Midwest. It was on a visit there that I had my ërst encounter with this idea of a move to another country. It happened one evening when I was in the home of a brother by the name of Clarence Wedel. We discussed some of the concerns of the brethren in the Midwest. He asked me this question: “Have you thought the time may come when we feel the need for emigration to another country because of the humanistic inìu- ences in our schools?” He then asked me directly, “Do you think there will be another emigration?”

I said, “Yes!” and lifted my hand, pointed toward heaven, and said “It’ll be up, not out.” Then I added, “Brother Clarence, where would we go? The world has been populated. When they left Europe, they came to America. Those living in Russia came to America.”

He said, “Oh, there are large areas in Australia and in South America.”

To me it didn’t make any sense. Later I met another brother in Georgia. And he brought up the same question, the same concern. But I still didn’t see light. I thought at that time that the way things were going in the world, with all the things creeping in, that the next exodus of God’s people would be up. In 1964, there was a meeting called of all the ministers in the United States. And it was a large group and there was a deep discussion concerning humanistic spirit that was creeping in and wanting to take over the world. It was evident that it was affecting the public schools and its curriculum.

There were also concerns in the military area. There was a concern that this could affect our position as conscientious objectors. That was the basic reason for calling the meeting.

As the meeting came to a close, minister Abe Toews took the ìoor and informed those present that there was a group interested in going to South America to  investigate  the  possibility  of  colonization.  The group was asked if they would support this project. He made this statement: “What we have discussed here today makes this more urgent.”

After that meeting I was in Min. Harry Wenger’s home. There was a large world map on the wall.

There was a group of brethren standing around the map studying South America and discussing the meeting we had just come from. I was standing on the outside edge of that group and as I listened to what they were saying and looking at the map, some- thing stole into my heart way down deep. I came to the conclusion that if such a move would take place. I wanted to be part of it for the sake of my six children. And then when I opened up to that I discovered that there was a wave of concern among the brotherhood, especially in the Midwest. That is where my interest in the project began.

When I returned home, I told my wife about the birth of this movement and the support it had from almost the whole ministerial body of the United States. I put forth an effort to keep up with what was going on. Those brethren who asked that permis- sion made it clear they were not asking for ënan- cial support. Each one was willing to pay his own expenses. This group then brought a report to the Conference of 1967 in which a decision was made that the General Mission Board and the Colonization

Board be responsible for  this project. With  this authority of the Conference, based on that ministe- rial meeting that I talked about, step number one and step number two were set into motion. They decided to send another group to investigate Brazil because of its permission for conscientious objectors.

They then came back in 1968 at the annual meeting and brought their report on Brazil. These two boards, the mission board and colonization board, were authorized to send a group to Brazil to begin this work. Our beloved brother Denton Burns and his family, Dick Toews and his family, were sent to Brazil by those two boards. And that’s how it started.

They moved to Anápolis, here in the state of Goiás. Soon after they were here, Homer and Hazel Unruh came to Brazil on a tourist visa. Harold Dirks and family also came. These four families set up tempo- rary headquarters in Anápolis. They bought them- selves a vehicle, ëtted it out with camping equipment and made a trip.

I have heard different reports, but the only one that I remember them talking about, was the trip from Anápolis to Goiás Velho. From there they continued until they crossed the river into Mato Grosso. They sent word back to the U.S. they felt the need for more help. They had not come to any conclusion. Back in the U.S. the word went out asking for volunteers. I don’t know how many volunteers actually appeared, but there were ëve brethren that were accepted: Min. John Penner, Daniel Martin Sr., Deacon Enos Miller, Daniel Coblentz and myself.

We got here about in the middle of the week in the year of 1969, probably about the middle of February. We spent the rest of the week until Saturday night discussing our plans or what we were going to do. On Saturday night we had purchased a new VW Kombi, had all our camping equipment ready, and were ready to start out on Monday morning.

During this time it happened two or three times, that we newcomers would ask, “Well, where have you been? What have you seen? Where are you going to take us?” At that point the only thing they really had to present to us was on the other side of the river in the state of Mato Grosso.

Since Denton was the interpreter, he was the one that had contacts with different people and land to look at. And as I remember it, this land over in Mato Grosso was a contact that he had. But he would always end up like this: “Someone said you need to go to Rio Verde and look at land over there.” We asked him different times why he thought we should go to Rio Verde. What do you know about Rio Verde? Why don’t we go where you’ve been and look at what you saw? And he always answered that he felt we should go to Rio Verde. As we look back we can’t help but feel that the message about Rio Verde was the good Lord speaking. And what did we do? On Monday morning we didn’t start out for Mato Grosso. We went to Rio Verde instead.

When we left on Monday morning we went straight to Rio Verde. In Rio Verde we looked at four different fazendas. Nestor Fonseca was the mayor of Rio Verde; he showed us his fazenda right on the other side of the creek, I think they called it the Sapo. When we got there we went to the corral where they were milking cows with the calf tied to the leg. We went to his house in town and had café da manhã with him.

After that we went to the fazenda of João Artino, and some of you will remember him. And then we went to Carrinho Cunha’s fazenda, Fazenda Laje, it’s called today yet. But the fazenda right next to town was not interesting to us. We didn’t want to be right next to town. And the other two fazendas were too big. Where would the money come from to buy them? So we were getting ready to go back and go to Mato Grosso. But having bought a new vehicle, Brother Denton figured we needed to have the first checkup. So we went to the Sudoeste Volk- swagen place. There by chance we met a man by the name of Manoel Norberto. He also had a piece of ground he wanted to show us. And so we went. Back then there was not a road straight to Montividiu like there is today. We had to go way up around to get there. We spent the night at his fazenda. A little hill between the fork of the river. And he showed us this place where we are today, known as the Monte Alegre. There were several of us that were ready to call it done. But they still wanted to show us Mato Grosso and there were several that were not happy with this ground; it was too weak, too sandy. So, after looking at this place, over yonder out beyond Montividiu and out that way and we set up our tent on the land that Jake Loewen bought later on.

We had a real interesting experience there before the sun came up. Someone asked, “What’s this all about?” I got up put on my clothes and headed outside. Dan Coblentz was right behind me. Pretty soon everyone was outside. We couldn’t ënish the night because of an invasion of cutter ants. One of the brethren had part of the seat of his pants taken out. Another’s bath towel was pretty well done in. It was an exciting experience, but we got everything straightened out, had our breakfast and devotions and headed off. And we ended up at Iporá. From Iporá we went to Piranhas. From Piranhas we turned right and headed to the place where we were going to cross the river. We were really close to the river on Saturday night.

Remember we left on Monday morning and by Saturday night we were at that place. And then on Sunday we had our devotions and Sunday school. We had lots of time to discuss what we had seen and what we were looking for. So it was that on Monday morning we were going to cross the river into Mato Grosso. I don’t remember whether they said it was a ferry boat or a bridge, but there was a little creek with a beautiful little valley, maybe about 25 acres, and a bridge where there were two logs on which to cross. And a nice little place of water there to wash our clothes and take our baths and everything and get ready.

Monday morning we were going to cross the river to go to Mato Grosso. And would you know that on Monday morning at about four o’clock in the morning, there was a terriëc thunderstorm. Water poured down and ënally one by one we got out and ran for the car. And we were there all but Denton he said the only place that wasn’t leaking was right at the peak of the tent. All at once there was a stroke of lightning, the kind that is blinding and it looked like it was right on that tent. We were worried, but about that time Denton popped out of the tent and came running.

The next morning we saw that it was a buriti palm tree just on the other side of the tent, and lightning struck that tree and not the tent. Before our break- fast was over and we had ënished our devotions, we had to move the tent and the Kombi uphill. That little valley was ëlling up with water. The next day was beautiful sunshine. It took time to get every- thing dried and ready to go. By lunch it was over and somebody said when can we cross this river? There was still a meter of water over the bridge. And then somebody said is this the Lord telling us not to go to Mato Grosso? And it created a discussion and it was tossed back and forth. Some were in favor, others were ready to leave. In the end, it was a united deci- sion that God had closed the door to go into Mato Grosso. We should turn around and go back to Rio Verde. That’s what we did.

On the way back to Rio Verde, we took the same route to get to Rio Verde to go back to Anápolis, and there are other interesting details that I think everyone would be interested to know but there’s not time for it. When we got back, there were still two in the group that had quite a stiff resistance and we got in touch with Manoel, the owner of the land. Together with him we made another trip around this place called the Fazenda Monte Alegre, and as close to the water as we could get we took the kombi through bushes and tall grass. At the end we told him we need a little bit more time. We said, “Tomorrow morning we will tell you yes or no.”

We made it a matter of special prayer that night, next morning after breakfast and devotions, we sat in a circle and discussed the past week. We got to the place where it was decided that we would begin and each one was supposed to give his personal opinion about the matter. Five of us had already spoken in favor of saying yes. And then our beloved brother John Penner began speaking in his slow and careful way. He made a quick review of our trip and came down to this point. He said “We are right on the edge of development. In Santa Helena 45 km away, they are already planting soybeans and corn.”

He made this statement. “It is true that we found land that was more fertile, but he said we are right here. The road will be coming. Electricity will be coming and with modern technology that is avail- able, we can make this land produce. We need a place to start.”

We knew that both João Artino’s fazenda and Carrinho Cunha’s Fazenda had much better soil. But for the price of the land and the size of it, where would the money come from? Before us was this tract of land, Fazenda Monte Alegre, the price that the owner was asking for it, and which we agreed to pay, was twenty thousand US dollars. There were eight of us. Divide that between us and it came to two thousand five hundred dollars each. That was a deciding factor. It was within our reach. (Brother Daniel Martin Sr., was not in it, because he was not ready to commit himself.)

We felt at ease with the deal. After John Penner was finished, the other two brethren who initially weren’t in agreement, with teary eyes and a trem- bling voice, joined with the rest of us. They were convinced that God had put his hand on this place One of the things John Penner said was: “We have come to the boonies to buy some good land, but we can’t take the road with us. We can’t take the electricity with us.” He had a prophetic vision of what would happen in this region. When I see the roads we drive on and the electric lines coming through, I remember John Penner and the presentation that he made.

We now all felt God’s hand was in our decision. He had closed the door for us to go to Mato Grosso. And that’s how it came about that this piece of ground where we are today, with the Monte Alegre river down there, Piripitinga Creek over there, and to think we paid two dollars and a half an acre for this ground.

Oh! I could tell a lot more about this experience but I guess this is enough. I honestly believe that was the leading of the hand of God. John Penner also said in his little speech that this ground with all the water we have and with modern technology we can make it produce. This is our starting place. Others can come and buy land. And that’s what happened. Lots of land was bought around the Monte Alegre. Most of it better land than what we had. But the good Lord took care of us.

In a way I could say, we didn’t meet Manoel Norberto. He met us at the VW agency when we stopped there for the first inspection of the new vehicle here in Rio Verde. How did it happen that Manoel Norberto showed up and we went with him to his fazenda? And then we didn’t come on this road. There was a trail across the Piripitinga. And from that trail we came to his fazenda and he showed us this place.

We went back and then we went to Jake Loewen’s fazenda that he bought later. And there’s a real story that goes with that when we came back, but there’s not time to tell that here. I don’t know if that answers your question but we can talk about it later. I didn’t think we had time to talk about that, but when we came back, we set up our tent at the same place we had set it up the first time at that fork in the river, and then his cowboy got on his horse and rode over here to the waterfall to tell Manoel that the gringos had come back. And the gringos had told him that we would come back and tell him the answer yes or no in about ten days.

Before that first time we came there was a man from Minas Gerais had looked at this fazenda and was going to buy it. I picked up this story that Manoel Norberto had offered this ground to this man for 40000 cruzeiros. When these gringos came around he doubled the price to 80,000. And at that time the exchange rate was 4 to one. That’s where it comes in that it was 20,000 US dollars.

Well now Norberto went home that night yet, and it was the next day that we made that circle on this place, when we got down to the falls, there was a beautiful camping tent set up. The night before the hippies left there about midnight and someone told us they were taking fish to the fish market to sell.

This man was buying this place for a hunting and ëshing reserve. He went to Minas told his friends he was buying a hunting paradise over in Goiás. And he brought his friends and they were down there hunting and ëshing.

João Souto was with that group, he was up on top of the bank there where our big lake is now, there was just a small natural lake there and he was digging ësh worms. I went up there to see him and talk with him.

But anyway I went there to help him dig ësh worms and we couldn’t talk together, I couldn’t talk Portuguese he didn’t talk English. But this way I motioned, you take this put it on a line and throw it in the river. Years later after João Souto was already among us people he told me, “You don’t know how close you came to not buying that place.”

It was he who told me later this story, but when that man came back, he had bragged to his colleagues back in Minas that man told them this man is in ënancial trouble. He’s asking 40,000 but I feel I’ll buy it for less. He came back in the week that we were traveling and were going to buy this place. Manuel Norberto told him it’s not for sale now. Some gringos came by here and they promised to come back and until they come back it’s off. en he offered more money. But Manuel Norberto said no, I’m waiting on the gringos. And then we came back and then after that meeting that morning, I had forgotten to say this, it was like a little members meeting that we had there, when everybody had spoken, then it was time to take a vote. It was 100%. at’s part of this story about this place. And a lot more.

Publication Work

Kevin Warkentin,

Chairman Publication Board

This is truly a great work and many of you have served on this board. I remember the time when my dad served. As a youth at the time, I thought it entertaining. Since some of the other board members had young people, during these board meetings we had our own “youth meetings.”

We have asked Charles Becker to present a history of the work, as he was our translator right from the beginning.

Charles Becker

What have been the basic functions of the Publi- cadora Menonita? We will mention four:

1. To translate and publish the Mensageiro (Messenger) and Sunday School quarterlies
2. To translate and publish doctrinal material
3. To translate and publish story books suitable for children, youth and adults.
4. To serve as the central office for affairs relating to the Colony and church in Brazil.

The first Mensageiro was published on 30 September 1984. It was printed on a spirits dupli- cator, which accounts for the blue ink. Since then a 16-page issue has been published every two weeks.

The next issue to be released will be number 917. Charles Becker was the translator/compiler of the

Mensageiro from its inception through issue number 642, when Stephen Kramer assumed the responsi- bility. Eduardo Vieira assisted in the translation for a period and at present Leanna Santana is translating most of the articles.

Stephen Kramer will now give us a rundown on Sunday School material that has been translated and published.

Stephen Kramer

The Youth and Adult Sunday School lessons are translated directly from the English and are published chronologically with the original.

The children’s and intermediate lessons have been translated and are recycled every three years. By using this system, during their time in Sunday School, until they begin studying the Youth and Adult lessons, they study the same lesson three times, but on different levels. Each time the memory verse is more complete.

Charles Becker

Doctrinal material and for church use.

Right from the beginning a great deal of importance was given to doctrinal material, the main one, of course, being Bible Doctrine and Practice. Especially on doctrinal books, great care was taken in the translation and the proofreading. There were many sessions with the proofreaders to assure ourselves that the Portuguese would transmit the exact meaning of the English.

The first doctrinal booklet translated was Prin- ciples of Faith, which 50 years ago was the official doctrinal publication of the church.

In terms of importance, the next book published was a translation and adaption of The Christian Hymnal. Myron Kramer headed this project and will give us a rundown of how this came about.

Myron Kramer

The Hinário Cristão was born out of a desire to have our own hymnal. However, before that became feasible, we had to ënd an existing hymnal to be used in our church services. I think it was bro. Pete Loewen who was asked to check this out. Different hymnals were presented to the church. The hymnal used by the Baptists in Brazil was selected as the most viable. This book was used for many years. It was during the 90s that the subject of our own hymnal was discussed. It was decided that we would begin working toward the compilation of our own hymnal. A committee was chosen to begin this work and select the hymns to be used. The brotherhood was asked to translate beloved songs out of the Christian Hymnal.

[At this point Myron asked all those who were involved in the selection, translation and proofreading of hymns, as well as setting up the hymnal, to stand to their feet. It was amazing how many had been involved. It was mentioned that a number who were involved no longer living in Brazil.]

In 1997 I purchased a Finale music program for setting up the songs. Carman Loewen and I worked on this. As Charles mentioned, this is a work that is very dear to me. Days and days were spent working on setting up the hymns. When the day came that I handed Charles the ënal song so he could set up the hymnal, I told my wife, “I don’t know what I am going to do with my time now.” For so long my life had circulated around this phase of the work.

There is no doubt that God’s blessing has been upon this work.

We knew from the beginning that improve- ments would need to be made on this hymnal. And that is what is happening right now. We feel that more songs need to be added. We don’t know if the present hymnal will be enlarged or if we will make a supplement.

I would like to point out that it takes more than a committee to come up with new songs. To write or translate a song is different from writing or translating a text or a tract. The good translation of a song depends on an inspiration from on high. Different times I have decided to translate a song, but nothing happened. I prayed about it, but even so there was no inspiration. There is a song He Makes Me Worthy that I would like so much to see in Portuguese. Maybe someday the Lord will give me an inspiration. Or maybe someone else will be inspired.

I wish so much we had some song writers in our midst who could start a song from scratch. And here is a word of advice. If you translate or write a song and it doesn’t go over, don’t despair. Back in the 70s and 80s, when I was a youth, a serial publi- cation dedicated to songs written by church writers was published in Canada. I think it came out every three months and prospective song writers could send their work to be published. I think I have all, or at least most, of the issues. A tremendous lot of songs were printed, but in the end I doubt if over ten percent actually are sung today. It is like an ore mine in which tons of rock are extracted to come up with just a small amount of metal. That is how God’s gift works in the writing and composition of songs. It is through practice that we learn. Let’s not despise the gift God has given us.

Charles Becker

Myron gave us a true-life picture of what is involved in the translation and writing of songs. I might add that the songs he has translated are top-of-the-line. When someone asks me for advice on how to become a writer or translator, I give the first requirement as buying a large waste basket. If you begin writing and the waste basket remains empty, look for something else to do.

I understand that for wine to be top quality, it must be placed in storage for a prolonged period of time. When I write something of a more permanent nature, I like to file it away for at least several months and then look at it. This permits me to see what I have written from a new perspective and I end up making corrections—or tossing it in the waste basket.

The same principle should apply to song trans- lators and writers. Put what you have produced in cold storage for several months and then review it. Don’t head to the printer before the ink is even dry. Give what you have done “some time to age,” give it to some experienced writers or translators and ask for their honest opinion.

The Publicadora Menonita has published over 70 books and booklets that we have translated. Approxi- mately half of these are for children. In N America you have an abundance of good children’s stories published by other religious groups. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Brazil. There are very few children’s books on the market that meet our stan- dards. As a result we have translated and published approximately 70 books, with around half of them being for children, which include:

Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible Pilgrim’s Progress

The Shining Sword Visions of Heaven and Hell Mary Jones and Her Bible

10 volume Summer Bible School Course

A few of the adult books translated and published are:

Bible Doctrine and Practice Keeping the Faith

The Martyrs Mirror (condensed version)

The Mirror of Truth (condensed version)

The Christian Home and Child Training

Just a note on Hurlbut’s. Over three thousand have been printed, most of which are destined to free distribution. The printer in São Paulo has made us a special price for a soft cover version. Nearly 1,500 have been handed out to date.

We have had a proofreading committee from the onset of our literature work. It has worked efficiently and a lot of man and woman hours and days have gone into this work. I say “woman hours” since it isn’t unusual for the wife of the proofreader to become actively engaged in the projects. Also, almost all of our literature has been carefully revised by a Japa- nese lady, Marilsa Akemi Nakayama, who has a God-given talent for this kind of work. Faith has carefully checked all these books and tracts.

The 40-plus tracts translated and printed here have gone through the same proofreading process. [Marilsa was present in this meeting and spoke a few words.]

Literature work involves quite a few people, but as in many undertakings, there must be an under- girding of individuals who have voluntarily prepared themselves. This is true especially in both translation and revision. Myron Kramer, Stephen Kramer and Eduardo Vieira fall into this category. It has been a pleasure to work with them. When I relinquished my duties as translator and editor of the Mensageiro, as well as of Sunday School quarterlies, Stephen picked up the work. Leanna Dirks Santana has studied the language extensively and now is also being used as a translator.

Stephen Kramer

My involvement with the publication work began in early 1990. We were just back from 8 months on the mission field, trying to teach Portuguese to 3 missionary couples. In that experience I possibly learned more Portuguese than they did and that had awakened my interest in language and grammar.

There was a vacancy on the proofreading committee, left by a brother who moved to the States, so Charles Becker took to handing proofreading work to several brethren, including me. At that time Gospel Tract was in the process of re-writing their tracts to improve readability and understandability. Because of that, Charles was re-translating the ones we had in Portuguese as well as translating several new titles.

He would hand out these translations with a pretty short deadline. They were short texts, well- written in the original and well translated, but still needing a careful proofreading, both for spelling and grammar, as well as consistency of the message and meaning. At that time the proofreaders used a color coded system, using a red highlighter for obvious typos and spelling/grammar errors, yellow for content issues considered serious, and green for suggestions of personal preference. It so happens Charles is colorblind, so he could see the red pretty good and most of the yellow, but most of the time said he had not seen the green.

Charles would do the first set of corrections based on the suggestions of all 5 proofreaders, then hand out the corrected copies. We would check the corrections and mark further suggestions, then get together in a meeting of the proofreaders and translator to discuss the corrections.

That dry season we were having a meeting twice a month. Charles would walk into the meeting carrying a candy jar, which he would put conspicuously in the center of the table. We would go through the mate- rial line by line and each one could question changes that had been made and/or make suggestions and defend them. If a majority supported a suggestion, Charles would make a note on his copy to include it in the document. If someone began to talk too much or make too many suggestions that did not ënd support, soon someone would pointedly shove the candy jar over in front of them as suggestion they might better suck candy and listen.

All of this was a highly dynamic process. If we made a suggestion in the ërst reading that Charles did not put in the corrections, we could bring it up in the meeting, but best be prepared to defend it vigor- ously. Because of that we would end up researching, studying and learning a lot. I believe it was also a learning process for Charles & Faith. There were a number of issues that we hashed over during those years and formed concepts and guidelines that we still use today.

In the next few years I took a break from that work for lack of time while working as office super- intendent in the Tract Office. But after leaving the Tract Office I again became involved in the proof- reading work and was privileged to help on quite a number of books, both of children/youth literature and also historical and doctrinal works.

Just a little about O Mensageiro. In the 80’s when publication of the Portuguese Messenger was begun, it seems the main focus was to provide reading mate- rial for our brethren. For many years there was a children’s story column, and also serial publication of many of the books that were in translation.

In the 80’s and early 90’s, there was a growing correspondence at the Tract Office with interested contacts in various parts of Brazil. As part of that correspondence, copies of O Mensageiro were sent to a number of those contacts. This led to requests for subscriptions and as part of the tract work, Gospel Tract began to pay the printing costs for Messengers sent to several of these contacts on a regular basis.

This “subscription” list grew, and with it there was a growing correspondence of these contacts with Charles Becker, the editor of O Mensageiro.

Around 1994 the General Tract Board felt it was time to begin withdrawing their involvement and funding from the Brazil field to apply it to other, newer, fields. As part of the process of scaling back the Brazil tract work to a scale that the Brazil church could handle, it was decided to quit funding subscriptions to O Mensageiro. Readers were offered a subscription at cost, but very few of them subscribed. In that way the circulation of O Mensageiro was again limited almost entirely to the Brazilian membership.

In 2006 I began helping with the actual transla- tion work on a part-time basis and after a few years started working almost full-time with translation and editorial work. I feel it has been a real privilege to be involved in this work. I thank God for this privilege and also want to thank Charles & Faith for their patience and forbearance in these years of collaboration.

I would like to challenge our young people. If there is someone who enjoys this type of work, it is a worthwhile work to which you can dedicate your- self. It will not be wasted time.

Daniel Holdeman

[active on the Brazil Publication Board for a number of years.]

This work has progressed quite a bit since I was on the board when Charles was responsible for the work. We as a board didn’t know much about how things should work and what kind of equipment we needed, so we had to rely on him quite a little.

End of publication session

João Souto

I may not have played such a great part in the establishing of the Colony, but I was the ërst one to work up some small plots so crops could be planted. At the time I was working for Manoel Norberto [from whom the original tract of land was purchased]. I did this for John Penner, Dick Toews, Jona Dyck and Denton Burns. When I ënished working up the plots, Dick Toews asked me to disk a roadway through the trees, since at that time there was no road to the Colony, other than a ësherman’s trail. I started at where the Literature Center now is located and disked all the way down to the river, where Dick and Denton lived. I could say a lot more, but time doesn’t allow it.

John Unruh

There are so many things I would like to say, but just make a few comments. I agree very much with what Myron Kramer said in the opening. My wife and I and our two oldest children were on the same plane that Daniel Kramer’s were on when they moved here. Daniel has covered quite a few of the initial happenings, so I won’t repeat what has been said.

We were here on a tourist visa, but I was involved in the surveying of this initial tract of land. We wouldn’t move on a permanent visa until the end of 1980.

Now I’d like to comment on something different. We are a nice group of people here this morning. There are a lot of young folks. When I say “young folks,” I am referring to those who are 40 years old, or less. Those of you who are in this age bracket today are enjoying a life that you take for granted. Butitisimportanttoremember that all these comforts have come about because of the efforts and sacrifices your parents and grandparents made in the beginning. I want to encourage you young people to take this seriously.

Years ago my great-grandparents left their home in Russia. I was able to enjoy the benefits of many of their sacrifices, but even so, we have it better financially here today than when I was a boy at home. So when you hear about how hard it was here in the beginning, let it soak in. This is why we are having the 50th anniversary celebration. We want to remember and make the best of it.

Harold Holdeman

I was 11 years old when my parents moved to Brazil. I am sure my Dad would have liked very much to be here today. There are some here who came in 1969 and 1975: Charles Becker, Daniel Kramer, uncle Jake Loewen, uncle Ike Loewen, Richard Mininger. Would you all please come up here to the front.

Now I am going to call some to the front who are now the age you were when moving to Brazil.

[A number of young men came to the front.] When Charles & Faith moved to Brazil they had 2 children; Daniel & Anna Kramer had 6, uncle Ike & aunt Rosalee had 7, my dad & mom had 9. They bought their tract of ground from seu Ademar, who is here today. Please stand up, Ademar. He was 28 years old when he sold us our place. Daniel Kramer told me their family now numbers 127, with grand- children and great-grandchildren.

All of these who moved did so because they had a conviction.

Ike Loewen

I’m not here in front to talk about all that has changed. We had hard times here, but we have had hard times in the US as well. I want to mention what has NOT changed during the years. The only way we can have salvation is by giving up our will. That truth is worth more to me than everything we went through in our years here.

Mark Loewen

Before moving to Brazil we as a family would sing the song, How Much Farther Can We Go? We also sang it a number of times over here. We felt it reflected  the  situation  in  North  America.  There were three basic reasons for our move to Brazil. As brother Daniel has already said, he wanted to live in a place where he could raise his children on the farm. Land in the US was very expensive and we heard about the cheap land in Brazil. We checked this out and found it was true. This was our first reason for moving to Brazil.

Next came the possibility of “mission work through colonization.” This vision was very much alive in those who made the move to Brazil and is the second reason for the move.

The sixties were a time of change in North America. Public schools were beginning to use tele- vision in the classrooms and sex education was being taught to young children. We must remember that at this time we did not have our own church schools. Also, society was becoming liberal and materialistic, which was having an effect on the church as well. We felt that a more isolated environment would have a positive spiritual effect. This was our third reason for making the move.

We will now sing the song.

Zaida

Good morning to everyone. My name is Zaida.

I am Ademar Mesquita’s daughter.

I want to take this opportunity to thank God for the opportunity of being here and sharing a few thoughts with you. At the time the first families moved to this area, I was some six years old. When I heard this family sing it filled my heart with gratitude because God made a place for them in our lives. I am thankful for the opportunity of learning to know not only them, but other families as well.

This friendship is precious to me. And I want to thank everyone for the invitation to be here today. I thank God that I have learned to know and have contact with you. Thank you very much.

Mim Dirks

I am Denton Burns’ youngest daughter. I was very excited about our moving to Brazil, and so were my friends at school. They asked many questions, for which of course we didn’t have the answers. It seemed to take a long time but finally the last paperwork was done, the last things were bought, and we had said goodbye to everybody.

There we all were in the airport in Miami; that whole bunch of children, looking in the stores to see what there was to see to pass the time. What really interested us was that each gift shop seemed to have a bunch of stuffed alligators dressed up like people: teachers, doctors, bride and groom and so on. We thought we were going to be seeing a lot of alligators soon. We didn’t know it would be 25 years before I ever saw an alligator in the wild.

Then we were ënally on the plane, and after we were in the air a while someone said “Look! look there’s a light; it must be Cuba.” So we got out the binoculars and here it was just a light on the end of the wing.

Of course, we were going to stay awake all the time but ërst thing I knew Daddy was saying “Wake up Toots we’re almost there.” And the ërst sight I had of Brazil I thought “red.” Red roofs, red dirt and the sun coming up, so the sky was reddish too. Now, whenever I think of arriving I think of red. We were already down in Brazil, but we kept saying “…when we get to Brazil” because the truth is that it  wasn’t  the  Brazil  we  were  expecting.  We  were ready for houses on stilts, woods and wild animals and instead we were in one of the fanciest hotels of that time in Brasília, the capital. But it was great; the hotel people let Tim and me go up on top of the hotel to ìy our kites.  We turned them loose, but they didn’t go up, they went down. But when you are way up high it doesn’t matter so we had a lot of fun. Sometimes Mama would let us go to the TV tower. Back then they would let you climb the ladder so we’d go way up and look around. Or we would go visit the Crown of Thorns Cathedral, which at that time was only the crown with red dirt underneath.

After a couple of weeks we rented a chácara (a small plot of ground in the country with a house) close to Anápolis. It had a big old house on it that had been built by an American woman.

Later on we met Dr. Gordon, who started the evangelical hospital in Rio Verde. He told us that one time when they were coming to Brazil, this woman was on their ship too. She was 17 and was the captain’s girlfriend. They later got married. I don’t know how she ended up in the interior of Goiás. The house had round windows to look like portholes.

The Dyck Toews family was the largest, so they lived in the main part of the house. Our family lived in the part that my dad called the slave quarters; it was one big room and a bathroom, and above that was another room the same size with another bathroom. The room had two walls of windows and had been the dance hall. That is where Homer and Hazel stayed.

That was a fantastic chácara. It had fruit, flowers, woods, a waterfall, a little lake and marmosets. There were all kinds of things that children enjoy. On the second day Leroy and I found a lemon tree. We got some and snuck into the house, got some sugar and made  some  lemonade  just  for  us.  The  Bible  says, “Bread eaten in secret is sweet” and so is lemonade. But that was the only time we enjoyed that, because we woke up to the fact that we were living in a country that had all kind of fruits in abundance. There were plenty of lemons. We could even use the little green lemons in our slingshots.

There were two neighbor boys, Tião and Rosa, who helped us enjoy ourselves. They taught us an easy way to fish. That was to shut one of the doors of the irrigation canal that came out of the lake. When it all got dry we just had to pick up the ësh. But what we didn’t know and they did know was that it supplied water to three or four houses farther ahead. When we heard some women coming hollering angrily, the boys told us to quickly shut the irrigation gates and get out of there, then we began to wonder. They made lots of fun of our Portuguese too.

After 6 months we went to Rio Verde. We had a breakdown, so didn’t get there until on a Sunday.

There were cars parked on the streets but the only other vehicle we saw driving around was a jeep. It seemed like it was a really dead little town.

June on the fazenda (hacienda in Spanish) without any tent or a house was very cold, since we had to sleep in the open. The covers were wet with dew and the macaws flying over yelling seemed to be saying, “What weird people! They don’t seem to have the good sense to get under the trees.”

What really stands out is when more people start getting there. When we got back from Brasília, after getting John, Alma and Eldon Penner from the airport, it was a beautiful moonlit night. Eldon was 18 or 19 at the time. Tim and I played tag with him.

Next Charles and Faith arrived. Tim and I were so excited that we were really cutting up, we were so happy. And then one wonderful day a white pickup drove up. It was the Dirks family. They had driven all the way from Bonners Ferry.

There were the animals too… My little monkey that came to school and one time to church. Some- times, riding on our dog and dressed in her little dress that Sue Kramer made for her, she would come to where I was swimming.

There are many good memories; weddings, births, baptisms. But one day the sad news came that my dad was had been killed in a car accident. To a certain point my youth was over. The people were so good to us, especially three people that really tried to help me out and fell in a little bit for the lack of a dad. I am grateful to them to this day. One was minister Reno Hibner, one was Jake Loewen and even now Ike and Rosalie treat me like a daughter. Sometimes thinking of the past we think things were better than now, but the Bible says, “Don’t say why were the former days better than the ones now because you never do that with wisdom” I want to use my memories as bricks to construct a better future.

Charles Becker

I want to say a few words about the difficulties the ërst settlers faced here in Brazil. I have listed a few of them.

Language. This is a good place to start. Daniel Kramer said that he and João Souto, strictly through gestures, discussed how to put a worm on a hook.

That worked, but when feeling a bad pain, in the head, the stomach, a leg, and it became necessary to go to the doctor, it became more difficult to explain these feelings by gestures.

To share thoughts was a real problem, especially when we had Brazilian members in the church. We learned how to ask for a glass of water, but were unable to express the deep feelings of our heart, which was actually a lot more important.

A different culture. We could talk all day on this, but I want to mention only one aspect. There are those who believe Brazilians don’t value the truth. That isn’t true. It’s just that when a Brazilian tells something at times his version of the truth is more elastic than what we are used to. Americans, on the other hand, are considered very rude by Brazilians because of their tendency to blurt out things that in their culture is considered offensive. We would ask someone how he felt about something. He would answer us and then later we would ënd out this wasn’t exactly how he felt. Why did this happen? The Brazilian felt that to blurt out the truth, American style, would be offensive. It took us a while to get used to this.

A different currency and inflation. Here is a quick rundown of what has happened with Brazilian currency since 1942:

1942 The official currency called Réis became the “Cruzeiro”

Three zeros removed

1967 The “Cruzeiro” was renamed the “Cruzeiro Novo”

Three zeros removed

1970 The “Cruzeiro  Novo”  assumed  original name of “Cruzeiro”

Three zeros removed

1986 The“Cruzeiro” wasnowcalledthe“Cruzado”

Three zeros removed

1989 The “Cruzado” was named the “Cruzado Novo”

Three zeros removed

1990 The “Cruzado Novo” now returned to the original name of “Cruzeiro”

No zeros removed

1993 The “Cruzeiro” was now called the “Cruzeiro Real”

Three zeros removed

1994 The “Cruzeiro Real” became the “Real”, and continues until today

Three zeros removed

Now for a little explanation. Going back to 1942, when the currency was the “Réis, it would take 2.750.000.000.000.000.000 Réis to be equivalent to one of our current “Reals”, which has lost 83% of its buying power since 1994.

All  this  came  about  because  of  high  inìation, that for a time was over one percent per day, hitting almost 2% for a short period — and compounded. I remember the time I wanted to buy some clay roof tile for a project. I went to a fellow who sold tile and asked the price. He told me. I thought it rather  high,  so  I  told  him  I  would  look  around.

Nonplussed, he returned to his work and made no effort to convince me his price wasn’t all that bad.

I went around town from one business to another and finally returned to the original seller. I told him, “Well, I guess I’ll take the tile. Your price is the best.” Showing no sign of smugness, he said, “That’s fine. But there is something you need to know. The price has gone up.”

That was inflation. Prices went up every day. And not just a little bit.

Banking. I think about the worst was going to the bank. Back in those days there was no electronic banking. The Banco do Brasil had some 15 teller windows. The Bradesco bank nearly 40. This only begins to make sense when we remember that with high inflation the amount of bills we must carry can almost become a burden. Thus it wasn’t unusual to see customers carrying attaché cases and paper bags filled with money, not to mention pockets bulging with bills. I remember one fellow who stepped up to the teller window, who after emptying his pockets, unbuttoned his shirt and in a monetary caesarean, begin removing packets of bills from his abdominal area.

There was the time I entered the bank, looked the long lines at each teller window and saw one with only two customers. I thought it strange that with so many long lines, this one was so short. It was a no-brainer to pick the short line. Looking around, I did notice that the other customers seemed to be struggling not to smile as they watched me smugly take my place as third-in-line. Soon I became the most  enlightened  customer  in  the  entire  bank. Resting on the floor before the customer in front of me was a bulging satchel, which he picked up, placed on the ledge of the teller window and began removing packets and packets and packets of bills. Like the United States Marines, I don’t believe in retreating,  so  I  did  an  about-face  and  carefully studying the floor tile, marched forward to the end of another line. The fact that all of the customers contained their humor was a tribute to Brazilian propriety.

And I can’t forget a gentleman known as the “Barão.” He had an enormous midriff, partly because of a gigantic hernia and partly because the revolvers he had tucked into his waistband. He would look for a prospective customer, reach under his shirt and pull out a ërearm. Bank officials all knew him and would indulgently smile as he tried to peddle his wares to bank customers.

Grocery shopping. A special trial to the women- folk was going shopping in the grocery stores. Fifty years ago they bore no resemblance to stores they were used to in N America, or to supermarkets in which we purchase our groceries here today. To begin with, everything was “Greek.” The packages were different from those in N America. With mounting frustration, a product was finally chosen, believing it was the equivalent of what they would have purchased back home. Alas, when arriving home and opening the container, it was not! And so it went.

Climate. Back then people didn’t talk about the four seasons. It was basically the dry season and the rainy season. The dry season is considered to be our winter. When we moved here it got colder than it does now. Global warming? Maybe. I do have a different idea. Back those days virtually no ground was farmed, except for a bit of slash and burn hand farming. Much of the ground was “campo” with little vegetation. Some was cerrado with trees large enough to require a bit of clearing, usually by pulling a long cable or chain between two tractors to knock the trees down. Then a tractor with a blade would push them into long windrows, left to dry, and then burned. Finally there were woods in which the trees were cut down by axes, the underbrush would be cut down by long scythes, left to dry and then burned.

The fallen trees were cut into manageable sizes and snaked out with long cables, to take to local sawmills. Every year the entire countryside was burned.

Most of these fires were set. The reason was that once the native grass dried up, it was almost worthless as pasture. So, when the rainy season was about to begin the ëres would be set. When the rains began the tender sprouts made really good pasture grass.

These fires were so extensive that it was impossible to put them out. They would burn for days, indeed

weeks. The result was that for at least two months the sky was darkened with smoke. This of course meant that without direct penetration of sun rays the temperature dropped. At least, that is my theory… My version of global cooling.

Vehicles. Almost all cars had only two doors. So far as I know, there wasn’t a single automatic transmis- sion in town. Most of the vehicles were canvas-topped Jeeps, VW bugs, VW kombies, and an assortment of prehistoric Chevy pickups and other cars. None, of course, with air conditioning or heaters.

Especially in international airports quite a few of the taxis were VW bugs with the front seat removed.

That space was reserved for luggage, together with the space under the hood. Depending on the size of the family, it could require two vehicles to transport a family of eight or ten.

Banking today. When our banking system was updated, it became one of the most efficient in the world, especially for online banking. I can comfort- ably and efficiently do almost all of my banking anyplace in the world where there is internet access. I talk with my manager by WhatsApp. When the manager for my chicken barns needs supplies or parts, he simply goes to the store, asks for what he needs, signs his name, and several days later I get a barcoded bill. I open my Banco do Brasil, scan the barcode, insert my code (with my thumbprint) and request that it be paid. This I do on my PC. Imme- diately a QR code appears on my screen. I then open the BB app on my iPhone, scan the code and in instants I receive a numeric code, which I insert on the PC. The bill is paid and I attach the receipt to the invoice that I got from the store where the supplies were purchased. It goes into my stack of stuff for income tax and everything is settled, in a matter of several minutes.

Bureaucracy. I think that of all that raised our blood pressure here in Brazil, this is at the top of the list. Some 40 years ago to travel to the US—which wasn’t only for foreigners—it took going to some 10 or 12 different offices (which included several in Goiânia) for documents.

The metric system. It took a while, but once we got used to…

Meters instead of yards,

Centimeters instead of inches,

Kilometers instead of miles,

Liters instead of quarts,

Celsius instead of Fahrenheit,

Hectares instead of acres,

Sacks of grain instead of bushels,

Kilos instead of pounds,

…once we got used to it, well, let’s just say it’s light years ahead of the complicated antiquated English System.

Driving laws and practice. Don’t ever stop at a stop sign (PARE), if no one is coming. It is the perfect formula to get the rear end of your vehicle bashed in. STOP means yield. And YIELD means step on it and take your chance.

When we moved to Brazil there was a store called Casa  das Louças. The owners were  from Lithuania. Jonas Pagyris, together with his wife, son and daughter-in-law, ran the store. It was a cluttered place with literally thousands of items… pots and pans, silverware, appliances, toys—well, you name it. The amazing thing is that they apparently had all the prices in their head. I never saw them consult a price list for anything. I suspect they analyzed the buying potential of the customer and then set the price accordingly.

Anyway, it wasn’t unusual seeing them in the doorway (remember that in Brazil the entire store front often is a series of roll-up doors). One day when I came to the intersection where their store was located there were two cars side-by-side, each pointed in a different direction. The drivers were chatting through their open windows, blocking the street. I made the unforgiveable mistake of honking. After all, I had business to do and needed through.

The one fellow paused the conversation long enough to glance at me with an almost compassionate look that clearly said, “Please, can’t you see we’re talking? What is the hurry?”

Well, Mrs. Jonas Pagyris took it all in and loudly enough for everyone to hear, proclaimed,—referring to me, obviously— “He’s the most obnoxious man on the Colony!” I plead no contest. And no longer honk.

Roadsandstreets. Fifty years ago, when Rio Verde was a little town of approximately 30.000 residents. I’m not sure there were any “paved” streets—that is, with asphalt. A few streets were cobblestone. There were no paved roads coming in from any direction.

This meant that, depending on the weather and condition of the road, the 220 km to Goiânia could take between three and six hours. Vehicles that made the trip very often soon had gray hairs. During the dry season we would arrive covered in dust and almost unrecognizable. During the rainy season it was in and out of water holes for almost the entire stretch.

Farming. When we moved here farming as we know it now was nonexistent. The first soybeans planted in this part of the state was here on the Colony. Harold Dirks planted a few acres, but after he harvested the beans, there were no local buyers.

There was a buyer in Goiânia, but the freight to trans- port the grain would cost more than they would pay, so he roasted the beans and fed them to his hogs.

Fertilizers and lime were not sold here. The first lime used had to be trucked in from a company near Goiânia—nearly 200 km on a dirt road.

The combines—if you could call them that—had no bin. Rather there was a platform off to one side where one or two men could stand to fill sacks and sew them up. They were then pushed off onto the ground to be picked up later by a tractor and trailer.

The first rice planted here on the Colony was harvested by a little combine with a four-foot header and run by a Volkswagen engine, the kind used in their famous beetles.

The sacked rice was hauled to town and stored in large sheds. In some cases the stacks were up to 30 feet high. These towering stacks of rice were absolutely vertical, as if a plumb line had been used to stack them. Since there was rice from many different owners in each stack, an identifying number was painted onto the sacks. When a grain buyer would want to check the quality of the rice he wanted to purchase, he would punch the bag with a pointed narrow stain- less steel tube and remove a sample. This sample he would place in the open palm of one hand and with the heel of the other exert a rotary grinding motion.

This would show him the quality of the grain. When finished, he would blow the hulls away and put the rice on a flat surface, where the whole grains would be separated in a small pile, the half-grains in another and the fragments in yet another. Based on the size of these three little piles, the buyer would give a price. And then the haggling would begin.

Cattle. When we moved here there was a race of brahma cattle called Indubrasil. I think they originated in India. They were large and their outstanding feature was the ears. They were so long that they hung down well beneath the neck and were curved inward. Thus, they would cross and create a truly amazing spectacle. I believe that some of these ears were a foot and a half long.

So far as I know there were no dairies in the area. All milking was done in the corral. To make this system work, the calves had to be separated from the cows towards evening and penned up overnight.

The next morning the cows would be milling about outside the corral, anxious to be reunited with their calves. Often this milking session would begin at three o’clock in the morning. The only light was a small conical tin lamp with a thick wick protruding from the center. These lamps—called lamparinas— could burn kerosene or diesel fuel. When fueled by diesel fuel, a dark plume of smoke would ìoat into the breeze.

After penning up the cows in the corral, the cowboy would open a small gate to an adjacent pen, letting just one calf out. Hearing its baaaaaaah, the mother would jostle its way through the other waiting cows and in seconds be reunited with the calf.

It needs to be pointed out that these Brahma cows do not let their milk down so they can be milked.

They must be primed. The calves were born for this task. They would apply several vicious head butts to the udder to get things going and then latch onto one of the teats for satisfying gulps of warm milk. The cowboy would be standing by with a short rope of braided tail hair, and after maybe a minute, with a deft flick of the write toss the rope over the neck and then around the nose, forming a quick hackamore. Now he would jerk the calf away from its meal and tie the head to the front leg of the mother.

Thus, with the milk now ìowing, he would squat down with a small bucket held between his knees and begin milking. Often there were no more than two or three liters in the bucket. If the cow was really a good milker there might be five or even six.

Again with a flick of the wrist, he would release the rope tied around the cow’s leg and from the calf’s neck, letting it go back to the source of milk and suck. When it appeared the cow was being stingy, the calf would deliver a few more vicious butts to the udder to get its point across.

One by one the calves would be released and the cows milked. After milking 30 or more cows, there would seldom be more than a hundred liters of milk that could be used for making cheese or churned into butter.

Construction. Except for the very poor sections of town, virtually all construction is hollow tile or brick, which is then plastered or covered with ceramic tile. All this being nonflammable, residential fires are extremely rare. So rare, in fact, that a town with 25 thousand inhabitants in N America has a much larger and better equipped fire department than that of our local town of 250 thousand inhabitants. Most occurrences are either from automobile accidents or industrial fires.

Dr. Jerônimo. We insert here that when we first moved to Brazil all lawyers were addressed as Doutor. And so we have Dr. Jerônimo Carmos de Moraes, who merits special mention in the history of the Colony.

The Brazilian legal system was about as foreign to us as the Portuguese language. We soon discovered that many of the routine transactions made in N America here required the help of a lawyer. Dr. Jerônimo was our lawyer from the onset and faith- fully served us for over 40 years until his retirement. We soon discovered that land purchases were never as simple as having the seller signing a title and the land was ours. To begin with most of the land had not been accurately surveyed and often transactions sloppily recorded in the land office. For example, someone with a thousand hectares of land might sell 500. The land office would give the buyer a clear title for the 500 hectares purchased, but neglect to record the amount subtracted from the original plot. Thus, the seller’s title would show that he still owned a thousand hectares of land that could again be legally sold. And that is where Dr. Jerônimo would come in. He would go to the land office and check out the abstract. It wasn’t unusual for him to tell us: “The land you want to purchase has a problem. It can easily be solved and you can get a clear title, but to do so we will have to go to law. I know that you people don’t believe in going to law, so I advise you not to purchase the land.” In the thousands of hectares of land Dr. Jerônimo checked

out for us, never did we have a problem.

(There was the case of an American—not of our group—that wanted to purchase land in a neigh- boring state. He wanted to hire Dr. Jerônimo, as the lawyer, and me as interpreter, to check out the title. Since this American was, to put it mildly, a complicated fellow, we gave a rather steep price for the job—and for putting up with his disagreeability. He felt the price was too high and hired a lawyer in the local town. Too late, after the final payment had been made, he discovered that the seller and the lawyer were in cahoots. He lost everything.)

Dr. Jerônimo was not only our lawyer, but our friend as well. When Denton Burns and Pete Loewen were involved in a fatal accident near Goiânia, and Chris Stoltzfus critically injured, Dr. Jerônimo happened to be in Goiânia (or rather, God “happened” for him to be there). He found out about the accident and took over, arranging for the bodies to be taken to Rio Verde. This was in the dry season and the roads were extremely dusty. It was in the middle of the night when Dr. Jerônimo and his wife led the hearse to the Colony. Dr. Jerônimo was very light- complected, but that night he and his wife were a dark red.

Many of the early adoptions on the Colony were handled by Dr. Jerônimo. He recently died and we owe him an enormous debt.

Electricity. When we moved to the Colony there no houses, no roads, no telephones, and no electricity. Needless to say, there were no refrigerators. During the first days, we learned how to use candles, lanterns and 12-volt light bulbs connected to the car battery.

Then came generators that were run part-time and especially in the evening for lights.

After a number of years, the big news was that the Banco do Brasil would furnish the ënancing to build an electric line to the Colony. Here consumers must foot the bill to have the line built. We had a big meeting and decided to go ahead with the project.

The interest would be 9% per annum. Then when it came time to sign the contracts, the bank informed us that the interest had jumped to 13%. We felt this was too high and had another big powwow. Finally, somewhat tremulously, we decided to go ahead and sign for 12-year financing.

After 12 months we made the first payment. It wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be since inflation had just begun to show its talons. Then it really took off. Since 13% was a ëxed rate, by the end of the second year the payment didn’t amount to much. After the fourth year people were going to the bank and paying off the entire loan, as it didn’t make sense to mess with what now amounted to pocket change. So, basically we got our electrical line almost for free. It was a glorious day when the transformer was installed and we had electricity 24/7 (except when the power was off, which happened rather frequently).

No more running out to turn off the generator in a rainstorm before going to bed.

Uncertainty. This was the virus that kept people awake at night, and all too frequently, caused them to have sale and return to N America. The result of these sleepless nights produced some disturbing personality aberrations. For some it became difficult to think objectively. At times they made both premature and immature decisions.

I recall a particular incident. Our neighbor, Aristóteles Mesquita Lima, from whom some of the Colony land was purchased, still worked with an ox team and he had a trail he followed through the land that now belonged to the colonists. When roads were being built they followed the new boundary lines, and not the trail used by the neighbor. The question was: Would the trail, used maybe three or four times a year, need to be kept open, possibly fenced in as a corridor? Or should Aristóteles begin using the new roads, that would soon be in place?

Would we fence the oxen off? Or did they have the right-of-way to their old trail? We discussed it in meetings held for this purpose, in Sunday School, anyplace where two or three were gathered inside or out. The subject in itself was appropriate, but hardly the heat it created. In the end the ox cart had to follow the roads.

The uncertainty was endemic which mushroomed on the fateful day that changed everything. Denton Burns had lived in Mexico a number of years and spoke Spanish. Since Spanish and Portuguese are first cousins, as well as because of his organizational abilities, he became the ex officio Colony representa- tive in governmental, legal, commercial and internal affairs, not to mention his skills as a carpenter. This was more than a full-time job, relegating his own projects to the waiting list. When the Pete Loewen family moved to Brazil, things improved for Denton. Pete, the logistical specialist, who with a five-minute notice was ready to hit the road. Thus, on his frequent trips, Pete would take the wheel of the car and let Denton catch up on some much needed sleep, or to catch up on his paper work.

When tragedy struck and Denton and Pete were killed in a car accident some three years after the founding of the Colony, and Chris Stoltzfus was critically injured, we didn’t have so much as a ceme- tery. In no way were we prepared to be set adrift by these two leaders. This is a story for another time, but suffice it to say, this did nothing to calm jittery nerves.

From something to nothing. In N America we had a source of income, a home, a congregation, rela- tives — in many cases both parents were still alive, and at times grandparents — comfort, reliable cars, good roads… the list can go on and on. But then there was the day in which the auctioneer repeatedly shouted, SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! as earthly goods were transformed into greenbacks. Part of them were then delivered to an international banker who transformed them into cruzeiros. The rest were carefully stashed away in a special emergency account for a rainy day. When the US dollars finally were deposited in a newly opened account in the local Banco do Brasil, they had undergone the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Te amount shown on the balance sheet was enormous. The bubble soon burst. The price charged for anything that needed to be purchased was also enormous. Then the day came in which the money in the bank was no longer sufficient for what needed to be bought. With a sickening feeling, the decision was reached that some dollars still in the US, stashed away for a rainy day, would have to be brought in. And then the scene was repeated. With each repeat the anxiety increased. If this kept up, soon there would no longer be enough dollars left for return tickets. It was decision time.

Arlo Hibner

I want to insert something here. When moving from one country to another, there will be new situ- ations. One is what people eat. I remember the first hotel we stayed in when arriving in Brasília. The food served at breakfast was different from what we were accustomed to. I had never seen a papaya before in my life. What were we supposed to eat? The yellow part or the seeds? So I watched others to see how to go about eating papaya.