WHILST visiting the Campo de Minas for some special conferences, we took the opportunity to visit various houses of believers, amongst them was that of our brother, Fernandes. He called together his happy family, and we had some hymn-singing, for they are quite musical. “How long have you been converted?” we asked of our good brother. Fernandes rose from the block of wood that served as a seat, and went over to the block-calendar. Taking down the one in use, he counted the old cards that were behind it, of which there were nine, and replied, “ten years, Senhor.” The significance of the back numbers of cards would be apparent to a Brazilian believer. When a man is converted, he buys a text calendar each year. This contains the daily text, and below it the references of the Scripture Union daily portions, which are annually supplied from headquarters by courtesy, to the compilers of the calendar. The Christian families read these portions every morning. The head of the house comments upon the passage, and then leads in prayer, the whole family being gathered around, and always standing for the prayer. In the evening, in many of the households, the calendar is again taken down, the daily text for the day is read, and prayer follows, before retiring for the night’s rest.
We then asked Fernandes to give us an account of his conversion. He told us that he believed that he had been possessed of a demon, and in any case he was a thoroughly bad man. He loved to drink caxaca (a type of whiskey made from the cane sugar), and to fight, and would often return home in a drunken condition, and ill-treat his wife, and cause his family to flee from the house. Ten years before our visit, he had been invited to the house of a neighboring farmer, Oscar Rezende, who had “turned Protestant,” the neighbors said, though Oscar himself would have said that he had been “converted,” and was now a. “crente” (believer). He is always our host when visiting the Campo, and the extent of his hospitality would “take away the breath” of any Britisher. Even though he may have 30 or 40 other guests in his house to sleep and to feed, he looks after each individually, which oversight he usually performs with a baby or child in his arms to relieve his wife of the burden. He is a natural gentleman. When he laughs it sounds like a Gatling gun going off. His father, after having had thirty children, had been murdered. Then Pedro Rezende, our veteran preacher had visited his relatives, and evangelized the neighborhood.
Oscar, and some of his brothers and sisters, had been converted, and he opened his house for Gospel meetings. To one of these our friend, Fernandes, was invited, and he went along to see what it was all about, and being fond of music, was especially attracted by the singing. It so happened that they sang the hymn (translated into Portuguese, and to same tune as sung in English) “The Gospel Bells are Ringing.” The first verse has the text John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) paraphrased, and this took hold of Fernandes, the tune helping to fix it in his mind. Now, it is not often that a Brazilian such as he, comes to a meeting for the first time, and is converted straight away. Our friend, however, appears to have received the message immediately, and on leaving the house, he told us, he jumped two meters into the air, which he declared was because the devil went out of him! After this record gymnastic feat, he proceeded with equal dexterity to rid himself of all that pertained to his old evil life. Instead of beating his wife, he began to love her, instead of frightening his children, he began to teach them to sing hymns, and to take them to the Sunday school and other meetings. He bade a tearless farewell to his old friends, and to his firearms, and was to be found at every meeting possible. He told us that he had a box of “saints.” On our expressing surprise that saints should be so confined, he explained that these were images of various saints, which the “faithful” regarded as holy relics, but the believers called them “idols.” Soon after his conversion, he invited together his neighbors to give them a surprise. When all were assembled in front of the house, he lighted a bonfire, and then to the astonishment and horror of the company, he emptied the contents of the box into the fire. There was a howl of indignation, and one old man rushed to the rescue of the “saints.” He managed to secure one, but its head broke off, and he ran off with the broken fragment. Fernandes seems to have enjoyed the general consternation, and cried out that if the “saints” had either sense or strength, they would save themselves. As it was, they were all reduced to ashes.
An old companion, a former fighting friend, of Fernandes then began to come around the house and call out “Protestant,” and other hard words. At last our friend got hold of him, and laying him out on the dirty wet ground, rolled him over and over with a large staff, used for beating the rice. Having thus taught his former friend “respect,” he allowed him to get up, and go home. The local Church, however, heard of these proceedings, and had something to say on the subject. Fernandes was called to give an account of his “lapse.” He explained that he had not hurt the dear fellow, and had only sought to teach him humility (a Christian virtue), and respect for his neighbors. The Church, however, took another view of the matter, and told him that they did not regard it quite like that. It could not be considered as Christian conduct, and Fernandes must go and beg the man’s pardon. Our brother, therefore, went and humbly apologized and became again quite friendly with the man who had tried to persecute him. This same man, when he was dying, called for Fernandes, and before he passed away, was brought to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by his old friend’s words.
Fernandes began to evangelize his relatives. He kept on the track of his brother for two years, until he was converted. This brother, Acasio by name, has since been a great help for he has some gift as a preacher, and for many years now has rendered valuable service in spreading the Gospel within a radius of twenty miles of his home.
As we enjoyed a few happy hours with this family, we found it difficult to visualize this kindly man, with his sense of humor, who looked so happy in the midst of his family, as a one-time drunken bully and wife-beater, but such is the power of the Gospel.