uandu.

The Word spread up the country first amongst Mr. Vidal's relatives and
friends. At Santa Barbara the station master, Carlos Mendonca, was
converted, who is now pastor of our church at Cantagallo. He first
moved to Rio Bonito and founded a church there, the truth spread, in
other directions also and so the light which the unknown colporteur
left with this farmer has shed its rays of blessings upon a whole
county. Twenty-one years ago, a Bible which belonged to a Catholic
priest, or rather a part of a Catholic Bible, fell into the hands of
the old man, Joaquim Borges. Through the reading of this Bible, he
abandoned idolatry and other practices of Rome and put his trust solely
in the Lord Jesus for his salvation. For sixteen years he resisted all
attempts of priests and others to turn him back to Rome, always giving
a clear and firm testimony to the truth of the gospel. During all this
time he never met with another believer. Hearing of him, E. A. Jackson
wrote him to meet him in Pilao Arcado. He came 120 miles and waited
twelve days for the arrival of the missionary. As Jackson had through
passage to Santa Rita, he asked the captain to hold the steamer while
he baptized Mr. Borges. Before administering baptism Jackson preached
to the great crowd on the river bank and on the decks of the steamer.
It was a solemn and beautiful sight to behold this man, seventy-seven
years of age, following his Lord in baptism at his first meeting with a
minister of the gospel and before a multitude which had never witnessed
such a scene. Dripping from the river, Jackson welcomed him into the
ranks of God's children. The missionary embarked on the steamer and Mr.
Borges went back to work among his neighbors. Up till the present time
not even a native minister has visited him, for the lack of workers and
funds to send them. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it
entered into the heart to conceive the glorious things God has prepared
for the man who will go to work for Him among the neglected people of
the interior of Brazil.

In the State of Sao Paulo is a boy, Ramiro by name, now about thirteen
years of age, the only son of parents who do not know a letter of the
alphabet. Indeed, he is the only one in a large connection that has
been taught to read.

The family lives about twenty miles from their market town, Mogy das
Cruzes, to which they go to sell the meager fruits of their labors on
the little farm. In this town they h