18. Witnesses: Luis Busnadiego

He was born on the 28^th of May 1958 in Tordehumos (Valladolid, Spain), on the day of the election of Pope John XXIII. After being ordained a priest, in February 1983 he arrived as an Augustinian Recollect missionary to Brazil. Today he lives in Arroyo de la Ecomienda (Valladolid, Spain), after having left the religious life.

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I went to the mission because my superiors believed that I was prepared for it; I was a volunteer with a lot of enthusiasm and prepared to do anything. The mission has always needed people. It would seem that those in charge of the Order, for some time now, are more aware of the need of sending more human resources to the prelature. I had heard of Tapaua, but you always have a fanciful notion of the missions. The nice thing is to be shoulder to shoulder with the simple people. Our arrival brought joy: two more religious! But I found it difficult, and it fell to us to get on with it by ourselves. In Tapaua I continued the guidelines laid down: to look, and little by little, to go on getting involved in the work of the pastoral direction in the prelature.

Tapaua was a happy town, where bit by bit I got used to life. Two weeks later my companion, Nicolás Pérez-Aradros, went to visit the river people. Tapaua was a continuous flow of people, for constantly people from the interior travelled in order to live in the city.

Before visiting the communities, they advised by Radio Rio Mar from Manaus when we would be arriving. We would stay a day; when it got dark the first contact was an evening meal and preparations for the next day. The next day, early, were the very important registrations. For many of them it would be the only document (baptism, confirmation or marriage) that they would keep with any responsibility; often in a well corked bottle so that the paper would not be ruined.

When the registration and the certificates were done, we celebrated the Eucharist and the other sacraments. When the celebration finished we used to eat together. Everyone would bring what they had, and when then that was finished we returned to the boat to leave for the next community in order to arrive in the evening.

In the city the activity was different, always very constant. Saturdays and Sundays were the most relaxed. Every day we would have a full day: waking up, washing, praying and having breakfast. Then there would start a steady flow of people who passed through the parish. If you could leave you would go and visit some people; if you didn’t have classes, until lunch time. Or you ate in people’s houses, where you found and touched on the reality of some of the families. We tended to have classes in the morning and in the evening. At six was Mass or novenas in the houses or district communities. In my time there was only the community of Saint Augustine.

The daily Mass was in the main Church, Saint Rita’s. On Sundays we had a celebration in for children the main Church in the morning; in the evening at 19.30. And at 18.00 in Saint Augustine’s chapel. With classes and the celebrations, you got to know the people; it was day to day contact.

At that time, they completed the opening of a roadway towards the national trans-Amazon road, which was done by a group of people sent by the local government. They tried to start a road to be able to connect with Manaus more quickly. But it was no more than an attempt.

Although they tried to keep them apart, the Church had dealings with the civil authorities who helped us and collaborated with the activities. It is important to highlight the patron saint: nine days of festivities, with an exaggerated amount of activity, in order to raise funds for the parish.

Where the parish school had been we built a parish hall. There was also a group for young people called the Bats, who took part in the local football league competition. Their endeavours will one day come to light because it was historic: we took part in the creation of the football competition in Tapaua, and its regulation.

Our pastoral activity was basically to be with them. And with the means which the parish had to help them, give them advice, guide them. I think they saw us as shepherds who looked after and protected the herd. They were very satisfying years. When hard work is done with pleasure, does it stop being hard?

It is true that when I was left alone in the town it was a lot of things for one person alone, but… I in a combination of youthfulness, attitude, effort, pleasure, dedication, commitment and I don’t know what else you got to everywhere and attended to everyone, and nothing bad happened. The Gospel came alive: he who leaves mother, brothers… will receive a hundred times more. You got to all the places, and in time I became tired out. Later I went to Manaus to rest and attend to some parishes and groups of young people. It’s what happens to me now, I don’t know how to stop, I am always involved in a series of activities. That’s how I am, or was I made this way?

The great priority was not to lose contact with the river communities, and to know that week by week they had their meetings and celebrations with their booklets we sent them. In the town, we were attentive day to day to the pastoral programs in the parish.

When we went on holidays to Spain the other religious received you marvellously, with a lot of interest for the mission and a lot of interest to go there. They asked you about your companions and the situation of the country. In my family the same support as always, but it weighed on them; definitively they wanted me nearer. The people in my town they loved the joy of the celebrations, the Masses’ and the involvement they had in them. Even today there are good comments on those of my time. There was an abundant support, and the best thing was to bring them the problems from the mission and they would get involved in supporting the projects that we carried out.

The first impression I had of Tapaua was that their people are the most joyful that I have ever known. At the beginning it seems that they are lazy, but rather it is that their way of looking at life. With or without a religious spirit, it is really Christian with everything placed in God’s hands. It is surprising their conformity with the situation and facing all things with the greatest ease. They are not lazy; they are people who live life as the nature that surrounds them proposes.

The city was well organized, but the greatest problem was the lack of amenities. The doctor and the nurses worked miracles with the little means they had in the hospital.

For my own religious life Tapaua was the place where I fulfilled my aims as a religious and a priest, where I could carry out my diaconal service and put my gifts at the disposition of others. Always those who have less are those who give more. I am not sure if it has been my years as a priest or Tapaua, but I live life in a different way now. I am a long way from the Amazon spirit, but it truly inspires me day after day.

I want to take advantage of this opportunity to thank all those people who were close to us and to whom I never had the opportunity to thank: to all of them my “muito obrigado” (many thanks). Thank you for making me see things from another perspective. I keep hold of many good memories that would require many more pages. But I would say: what are fifty years? A breath, a sunrise or a sunset on the Purus. Look around you Tapaua, they are the beginning of a life.

I have lost friends, but thanks to God I continue to receive news from Tapaua. And from a distance I continue to feel for its problems, and to be happy for its progress. That’s how things are now. Thanks to everyone.

NEXT PAGE: 19. Witnesses: Juan Cruz Vicario

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