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FOREIGN MISSION BOARD 267
The Pathway to Peace in North Brazil
MILDRED COX
The word which he sent . . . , preaching good tidings of peace by
Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all).—Acts 10:36
The Pathway to Peace in North Brazil has been fortified during 1945 by
Baptists as they have witnessed to the saving grace of the Prince of Peace.
Their witnessing has been by personal testimony, by the preached word, by
classroom instruction, and by the pen.
During the last three years Brazilian youth offered its life on Italian soil,
Brazilian citizens redoubled their efforts to produce rubber, wax, vegetable oils,
cotton, and metals in large quantities for the war effort, and Brazilian ports
were utilized as stepping-off places to the European and Asiatic theaters of war.
All this, in order that peace might come to earth. But the forty-three Baptist
missionaries in North Brazil know that neither armaments nor peace councils
can bring real peace to the hearts of men, and so they have earnestly sought
to open up the real* "Pathway to Peace" throughout the North.
Dr. Everett Gill, Jr., with his family, has resided in Pernambuco since
August and, with Recife as headquarters, he has visited each one of the fields
in the North in which there are resident missionaries or where mission funds
have been expended. His personal contacts with our Brazilian constituency
have been a blessing to all concerned, and his winning personality and sane
judgment have done much to strengthen the ties between Baptists of the two
Americas.
In all the centers where American service men were stationed, missionaries
conducted regular worship and prayer services in English for them. In Bahia,
Mr. and Mrs. M. G. White preached regularly at the Base and the USO. In
Recife, the English Bible class on Fridays and the Sunday night services in
the Training School chapel were attended by large groups, and more than
forty men accepted the Lord, as Saviour or rededicated their lives to his service.
We know of two young men who, in these services surrendered to a call to the
ministry. In Natal, Mr. and Mrs. Tumblin ministered to stranded missionaries
as well as to service men.
THE AMAZON
During the first six months of 1945, Mrs. C. D. Hardy stayed alone at her
post, ministering to the sick, especially in poor and underprivileged homes in
and around the city of Manaos, superintending the Ida Nelson Primary School
of 127 pupils, thirty-four of whom were boarders, and mothering the twelve
orphans, housed in her home. The Bible Institute enrolled about fifty students,
all of them promising young people, and one of them already doing evangelistic
work. Upon Mr. Hardy's return from a short furlough, he sent Mrs. Hardy
to the United States while he resumed his evangelistic efforts in the launch,
making short trips to nearby stations, enlarging and bettering the equipment.
The First Church of Manaos borrowed Dr. Harold Schalley from the seminary
faculty for six months. That church has erected a good educational building
and baptistry and there were thirty-three baptisms. By wise purchasing, Mr.
Hardy acquired property adjoining that which the Baptists already owned, so
that almost an entire city block is now at the disposal of Baptist institutions
there.
PARA
Belem, capital of the state, and the rubber port at the mouth of the Amazon
River, has been very much besieged by different denominations and religious
sects. During 1945 it was the center of unusual activity by Baptists. Mr. and
Mrs. D. P. Sullivan moved into this field in April and, in spite of having to
reside in a hotel for months because of the housing crisis, they began their
active ministry in the First Church. This historic church is planning to build
in the center of the city, for the business section has gradually left it stranded
in its original location. Two other churches in the city and three nearby can
be reached by train or omnibus, but the other three are five hundred miles up
the river In January, Sostenes Barros, a seminary graduate, accepted the
pastorate and responsibility of this group of ehurches. He resides in Santarem,
a headquarters city built by there, Southern he travels refugees by launch from U.S.A. to the after other the churches Civil War. and preaching
With his