[Sister Alvear]

We went to another place in Brazil. We stayed in the pastor's home. He had six children. Two girls were married, and the four boys were home. All of the man's married life, he had worked for $12.50 a week and supported his family. He would catch a truck on Monday morning, go into an Indian reservation, (He is a carpenter) and stay until Friday. He had to feed himself, and support his family on twelve dollars and fifty cents a week.
This pastor was starting a work fifty miles away, so we hired a man with a van to take us to his work. There was a little old woman and her husband. They had taken some sticks, pieces of lumbar, and stuck them up to make a frame for a house. They had taken some black plastic and made the top and the walls.
The people in that area are so ragged. I had never seen such big patches on britches, as I saw on her husband. They didn't know we were coming, the appointment was for next Sunday, for the pastor to go, but because we came, he wanted us to go up there to meet these people.
As soon as we got there, this brother (looked like he weighted one hundred pounds) ran and put on a dingy white shirt with those patched pants, and put him on a necktie, and ran to invite the people. He was telling them to come on; we are going to have service. The people gathered there in front of the little plastic shack.
After the service the woman wanted to show us her house. She was so proud because it was the first house she had ever owned. It was only two little tiny rooms. I looked at her feet, and at all of their feet. I've never seen human feet look like their feet. Their feet looked like animal's feet, because they have to go barefoot. How man y pairs of shoes could you buy out of $12.50 a week and feed a family?
This is a place where it gets cold in winter, and Sister Alvear said they suffer when winter comes. (It is in the opposite part from Bahia) They are humble, kind, thankful and happy. You will never find a more appreciative people than the Brazilian people.
While I was at the Alvear's house, I picked up a book and began to read. I thought, This explains them so much. I told about the first hospital that was built in Brazil by a doctor who came from London. It told about this lady who was taken on an oxcart to this hospital. She was there several days before the baby was born, and she was so thankful for how sweet the nurses treated her. She had never been treated so kind in her life, and when the little baby was born (it was a girl) she named her "Hospital."
Just before I left Bahia, Brother Jose cried and said to me, "Sister Holmes, stay and help us." In addition, I thought, how could I help you? I can't understand what you say; you can't understand what I say. I was speaking this through Sister Alvear. I thought, "Sister Alvear and them have to go back to Campinas where they live, and the people couldn't understand what I say, I don't know how I could help you.
But, I thought, I can help you. It's like Brother Joel told the church when I got home. After they heard the story, he said, Folks, we can't feed the whole world, but we can help feed God's people who are hungry.