In 1940, my son Heinrich and his family moved to Rio das Antas to serve the congregation there. Having left behind some of their household goods with us in Nova Esperanca and having extremely limited resources, their new home in Rio das Antas ended up being furnished very primitively. To help them out, I decided to take some of their belongings to them.
However, this was far easier said than done. A major obstacle was that the trip had to be broken up into multiple legs, making it especially awkward to travel with a lot of baggage. In addition, long-distance buses in the modern sense did not yet exist, and only a few short stretches were traversable by vehicle.
The route from Nova Esperanca to Rio das Antas was one we knew well, having travelled it often. On the first day, we would take a horse-drawn carriage 45 kilometers from Nova Esperanca to Hamonia (now Ibirama). The second day started with 80 kilometers by narrow-gauge railway from Hamonia to Blumenau, following which we would transfer to a bus and ride 78 kilometers to Jaraguá, where we would spend the night. On the morning of the third day, another train left from there for Porto Uniao, covering the approximately 300 kilometers by 10:00 or 11:00 in the evening of the same day. The fourth day called for a third train ride, this time from Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre, to travel a distance of somewhere between 110 and 120 kilometers in about seven hours. In total, the journey took four days, for a total distance of about 600 kilometers.
There was another option, too, for those of us willing to spend a few days on horseback; our brothers from Rio das Antas often preferred this approach since, in addition to saving money, it allowed them to essentially halve the distance by taking a more direct route.
Knowing all this, I wondered whether I could deliver my children’s belongings by horse to avoid loading and unloading everything once or twice a day. However, the roads were in extremely poor condition back then; in fact, they were not so much roads as dirt trails made by settlers and hikers, and they featured some long, lonely, and dangerous stretches. Nonetheless, I decided to risk it, asking the now deceased Brother Gillung, who was no longer young even at that time, to accompany me with his horse-drawn cart. I offered what I could afford in compensation; he agreed, and we set out, expecting the trip to take about seven days.
On the first day, we made it as far as Lontras. On the second day, we reached the edge of the highlands. On the third day, we crossed into the mountains, camping in the wilderness overnight; the area was a hotspot for bandits, so Brother Gillung left a stable lamp burning in the cart all night. The night passed peacefully, and when we arrived in Curitibanos on the fourth day, Brother Gillung left his horses in the pasture overnight. To his horror, he awoke the next morning to see that the nocturnal frost had frozen all the grass, leaving the horses with nothing to eat.
In Curitibanos, we had to change our plans as we learned that the ferry we intended to take over the Marombas River, 20 kilometers away, was out of order. This made it pointless to continue with the cart, so Brother Gillung parted ways with me in Curitibanos, returning to Nova Esperanca alone. For my part, I took a bus up to the river’s edge, where I hired a dugout canoe to ferry me and my baggage across the river. The boat was so narrow that I had to balance the boxes on the canoe’s gunwales instead of putting them by my feet. Fortunately, the river crossing went well, and once on the other side, I was able to take a bus to Caçador. On the sixth day, I finally arrived at our children’s place in Rio das Antas.
It had been an arduous journey and one not free of danger, as Rio das Antas had its own problems with bandits and horse thieves, with the latter targeting our settlers with some frequency. Nonetheless, I made it through unmolested, and I still thank God today for His gracious protection and assistance on this journey.
This is one example of what missionary service in Brazil meant at a practical level. My wife and I made many such journeys and experienced a lot of hardship, but we did it for our Lord and Savior, gladly taking such things upon us for Jesus’s sake.
This journey would look very different today. Brazil has undergone a transformation, and travel is much faster and more comfortable. We can thank God that the people who came later were able to take advantage of this change. When we arrived, great sacrifices were required, but we did it all for the Lord. Others who served God with us at the time made similar sacrifices. God will give us all our due.
Back in Germany, before emigrating to Brazil, we had already applied for a visa to enter Argentina. This made it possible to visit the Radke family near the city of Leandro N. Alem, Argentina, in early 1937. The rainy season made it difficult to hold larger meetings, so Brother Adolf Weidmann and I traveled to Crespo in the province of Entre Rios, where we stayed with the Günter family. The Günters had moved to Argentina from Russia’s Volga region, where they had come to the faith and become acquainted with two of our preachers: Brother Doebert and Brother Ebel.
The Günters were alone in Argentina for many years, living according to the knowledge God had given them. After some time, they got in contact with sisters and brothers of the Church of God, through whom they invited preachers to visit. Before long, a congregation had formed in Crespo, with Brother Günter serving as its pastor. From what I remember, we spent four weeks in Crespo and the surrounding area on that visit, during which time we held services there as well.
Be the first to comment