ADVENTIST HERITAGE

 

 

Most of this article is taken from the book, Light Bearer to the Amazon, Leo Halliwell’s memoir of their experiences. 

 

Once again on the river, we had not gone far when we sighted a man out in front of his home with a white towel waving for us to stop. The fever was very bad this year, and was taking a great toll of life. As our little boat came alongside his place, we saw a number of sick who had collected there to wait for the Luzeiro. We set up our clinic on the porch of the little thatched home. Canoes seemed to come from all directions. Some fishermen brought in a little child whom they had found in a home in a hammock with its dead mother. All in the home were dead from this terrible plague except this little baby, who was about 6 months old [and] also very sick.

 

MUSEUM PIECE: Luzeiro I in dry-dock. José Alves, the last captain, says, “All north Brazil was influenced by the pioneering of the Halliwells.” It was late in the afternoon when we had treated the last patient. As Mrs. Halliwell was very tired, we moved downstream to a beautiful spot. As the sun sank low in the west, its last rays painted the sky a beautiful crimson, and the reflection in the peaceful waters seemed perfect. The tall palm trees along the banks threw their shadows far out in the stream, and the parrots and other tropical birds were flying overhead, returning to their rest for the night. In the tropics there is no twilight. The beautiful crimson disappeared, and darkness settled down around our little boat. [Then] the eastern sky began to brighten when soon the tropical moon came riding forth over the tops of the palms to reverse the position of the shadows and paint the dark waters a beautiful silver. 

 

Out of Darkness 

All was quiet as we sat there on our little boat, thrilled with this bit of Amazon scenery. We listened, and out of the distance came a sound that was very faint; but as it drew closer, we could distinguish the sound of a paddle cutting the water. Soon a little canoe shot out of the shadows, and as it came into the silvery light of the moon, we could discern the form of a mere boy. Before he spoke we knew what he wanted, and he called out, “Do you have any medicine for the fever?”

 

As he crawled up over the side of our boat, his drawn, pale face told us that he too was a victim of the terrible fever. As he sat there in our boat, Mrs. Halliwell inquired, “What is your name?”

 

“Antonio,” was his reply. “I have been three hours in my canoe, trying to reach your boat.”

 

“Where are your father and mother?” we continued.

 

MONUMENTAL FIGURES: Generations of Adventists have learned about missions by reading the adventures of Leo and Jessie Halliwell. “Father died yesterday with the fever,” he replied, “and Mother is at home now, burning up with a high fever…. I had two brothers, but they died last week.”

 

As we prepared a hypodermic injection of quinine for him, we asked how old he was. I will never forget his reply. “I am 10 years old and am struggling on toward 11.”

 

I very much doubt if little Antonio ever reached 11 years of age.

 

“Antonio, how long have you been sick with this fever?” we asked.

 

“He answered, “Three months.”

 

“Haven’t you had any treatment?”

 

“Oh, yes; I’ve been treated by the witch doctor…. He shut us up in a little hut, and burned hair and feathers and leather and ox horn, trying to smoke out the evil spirits that were causing the fever. Then when he couldn’t smoke them out, he got a limb from a thorn tree, and beat us with that.”

 

Then the boy pulled up his blouse, and showed us his little back covered with deep sores, caused by the thorns that plowed in his flesh as the witch doctor tried to beat out the evil spirits. 

 

Theirs Were the Hands of Jesus 

We treated little Antonio, and gave him medicine and food to take home to his mother. Then we watched that little, frail, sick form crawl from our boat into his canoe, glide off across the path of silvery moonlight, and disappear in the dark shadows. We listened as the strokes of the oar became fainter and fainter, and finally died out in the distance.

 

PUBLIC RECOGNITION: The Cruzeiro do Sul commendation was given to the Halliwells by the president of Brazil—an honor to those who give relevant service to the nation.Little Antonio was going back to his home, but not to what we in the United States call home. His was only a hut on the bank of the river, with the dense jungle behind, full of wild animals, snakes, and the anopheles mosquitoes that transmit the deadly fever. His was a home of poverty, sickness, suffering, superstition, and finally death. But the saddest of all, they were without God and without hope in the world. Like little Antonio, there are thousands and thousands of people living along the great Amazon who have never heard of the Saviour’s love for lost humanity.

 

Halliwell said, “We are thankful that the Lord has given us health to work in the Amazon region. We count it not a sacrifice, but a privilege; … we have never regretted our decision [to serve in Brazil], no, not for one moment.”²

 

Today the impact of the Halliwells’ work can be seen and felt in the institutions dreamed by them for the Amazon jungle. A medical clinic established in 1941 is the Belém Adventist Hospital today, one of the main medical institutions in the north of Brazil. The church operates two large hospitals in Belém and Manaus. There are 59 schools with 21,000 students currently enrolled; some 1,600 churches with 311,000 members and more than 250 pastors. North Brazil College is set to be operational by 2010.

 

There have been 25 Luzeiros in the Amazon. Today just one launch is still maintained by church members. The conference equips the districts with about 11 “fast boats” that are cheaper to acquire and maintain.