6 Wednesday, August 25,1999
By Matthew McKeown
Capital Times Editor
For most of us, summer vacations are spent working or
taking a class or two. If we’re lucky (or had a really good
summer job), we go to Ocean City for a weekend. That
wasn’t the case for senior Communications major Craig
Donmoyer this year.
Craig spent a month in Brazil with a friend, Amy Taylor,
and her missionary family. The connection between Craig
and the Taylors began in 1996 when Craig met Amy while
attending HACC. The were both students and members of
a campus Christian group.
Originally, the trip was to have taken Craig to a village
north of Sao Paulo where Amy’s parents are working with
a local tribe. That plan changed before he left because
Amy’s brother Chad, a high school senior who is also in
Brazil, was seriously hurt in a bus accident.
The Taylor family was together at the school for New
Tribes Missions, the Christian organization through which
the Taylor’s spread the gospel to native Brazilians. The
school is located near the city of Goiania, approximately
400 miles northwest of Sao Paulo.
Craig left for Brazil on May 1 , right after he finished
classes. New Tribes gave him a place to stay in the
school’s dormitory where all the children of missionaries
live. Craig said that the parents go into the field to work
with the tribes and the kids stay with the teachers who also
serve as dorm parents. Parents and children are separated
for as much as 10 months at a time. The missionaries do
take some time off from their work once school is finished
for the year. The school has a total of 60 to 70 students.
Chad was one of seven in his graduating class in May.
Chad sustained severe injuries because of the bus acci
dent. Both arms were broken in more than 50 places and
his doctor considered amputating both arms. Fortunately,
the doctor decided against it and Chad’s injuries began to
heal although he was unable to care for himself while both
arms were in casts. When Craig arrived, one of Chad’s arm
was still in a cast. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Chad’s
tongue was cut so badly that he had to take speech therapy
to relearn how to speak. Amazingly, he is doing well,
Craig said.
Amy, meanwhile, was teaching fourth grade at the
school. She is currently a sophomore at Lancaster Bible
College where she is studying to become an elementary
school teacher.
The school year concluded with Chad’s graduation
ceremony. Craig and Amy, along with Amy’s father, sister
and younger brother, traveled to take Amy’s grandmother,
who was with them for Chad’s graduation, back to her
home in Jacutinga. Chad, because of his therapy, stayed
Four Weeks with Missionary
CENTERFOLD
behind as did Mrs. Taylor.
Jacutinga, a picturesque town not far from Sao Paulo, has
cobblestone streets and a large, ornate Catholic church.
Catholicism, said Craig, is not practiced the same way in
Brazil as it is here. There, African voodoo is mixed into
the religion to make for an unusual service. The voodoo
part came from the slaves who were brought into Brazil
centuries ago and mixed their beliefs with that of their
Spanish and Portuguese conquerors.
Crime in Brazil is high, Craig said, so homeowners have
to protect their properties by having a fence with spears or
broken glass on top to keep potential thieves out. Amy’s
grandmother was no exception. She even had bars on her
windows, images seen in large U.S. cities.
The crime rate is high because people don’t have much
money and it’s easier to steal. Craig said he was told that
with $6OO, he could start a house, buy land and live com
fortably for two years in Brazil.
Subtle hints of poverty are evident. Many Brazilians
travel by bicycle. Those who have cars drive Volkswagens
because of their efficiency. The original design of the
Beetle is still made in Brazil. The VW Gol is the most
popular car and can be seen everywhere, Craig said.
After returning to New Tribes’ school, Craig and the