Biels In Brazil

A Child's Christmas

2011-12-24T16:43:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas brings back fond memories of how we celebrated in Brazil. For years, the ritual was the same. We would practice daily for weeks for the Christmas program that always took place at the Church at around 3PM on the Saturday afternoon before Christmas. Mom would buy boxes of candy from a distributor and we would have an assembly line set up, filling up the bags that Santa would hand out at the program.

After the program, we would head out for a walk to the ice cream parlor. (Remember, it was summer down there...) We would get to the gate and Dad would say, "Oh, wait! I forgot something. Be right back!" He would dash in and take the presents out from their hiding places (which we had already found) and put them under the tree. As we got older, we would wait impatiently at the gate, rolling our eyes, knowing what he was doing, but thinking it was funny that he still had to play the game. When we got back, it would be, "Oh, look! Santa must have dropped by while we were out!" We had already felt the packages, shook them around and had some guesses about what we were getting. But, sometimes he succeeded in being especially sneaky and took us completely by surprise. Like, when Charles and I got new 3-speed bikes! That was something! And, I'll never forget when I got my OWN cassette player. I could listen to my own tapes and to whatever radio stations I wanted to in my own room. That was unforgettable.

Presents were opened on Christmas Eve at night. We always had guests over who had nowhere else to go. We would sit in the living room and read the Christmas story from the Bible and sing some hymns. Christmas was definitely about Jesus first, with presents as the icing on the cake. We took time in opening the presents, each one opening one so that everybody could see and then it would be someone else's turn. Not like the frenzy I've witnessed in many places as an adult. We always got something that we really wanted (the bike, the player, etc.) and then clothes. One year, I got a pair of jeans, brand new indigo blue jeans. Too tight. I had a growth spurt and my Mom wanted me to take them back. I begged to let me wear them for the night. I was serving one of the guests coffee (very hot coffee) and tripped. Coffee all over the new pants. My mother was absolutely disgusted with me because now she would not be able to return them. Money was tight for them and now I can look back and understand why she was so mad.

Our festivities would wind down at around 11PM and soon a knock would come at the front door. "Pastor, can Rachel come over to my house now?" That was Adelia, my friend since I was six years old. For years, my parents let me go down the block and spend Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve with her family.

Me with the Ogama family, 1982

Even though they were Japanese, they celebrated the Brazilian way: a feast of finger food, every kind of goody you can imagine, tapas style. Several weeks before, they would have built a huge manger scene, taking up a large coffee table. They made hills out of paper bags, ponds out of mirrors, trees and bushes out of sticks and little potted plants. The manger scene would be at the top of the hill and the clay shepherds and magi were out towards the opposite ends of the table. Every day we would move them a little closer to the baby Jesus. On Christmas Eve, they would arrive. We opened more presents, mostly things we had made for each other.

Those days were days of waiting. They were centered on the gravity of God becoming human, of the babe promising love and redemption.

Now my Christmases are a huge contradiction. I have been involved in some form of retail sales for the last 25 years. When I had my brick and mortar shops, I was exhausted by the time Christmas Eve came around. Now that it is all online, I am still exhausted. We depend on these sales to build our businesses, but it takes away the ability to wait, the expectancy. And, then the commercialization of it all now... it's just disgusting. A big part of the problem for me is that I have no children, so I can't replicate the traditions that my parents instilled in us. The joy that children experience is still real. They are the ones that make the celebration fun and exciting. But, then, we all have that child within and that is the challenge: to make each year be a Child's Christmas, where innocence and abundance meet the Child made Man.

Feliz Natal!!!!

May 2012 be a wonderful one for us all!

Letter to Grandpa and Grandma Biel, September 25, 1975

2011-01-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

Mato Grosso Farm Scene, Brazil, 1973

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my family wrote to her. Apparently, she also had some that were written to my Grandparents. She returned them in 2010. Most are recorded here. They were not entered in chronological order, so the best way to view them is by year, found in the index on the sidebar.

Dear folks:

Thank you for your letter of the 15th! It had quite a bit of news that I hadn't heard yet, for example, that Roger had suffered a heart attack. One thing you didn't make clear in your letter was whether you bought that Buick for us or for yourselves. It really sounded like a good buy! When I told the kids they said, "Buick? What's a Buick?" Anyway, MANY THANKS! And, you can draw the US$100 out of our account to pay for it. Please do, and put it in your name.

By the way, I didn't renew my Minnesota Driver's License. I'll just use the Brazilian one again.

News here is a little hard to come by. I've heard it mentioned that there's been a round-up of Communists lately, and I believe it's time for there was an oblique announcement in the paper (local) the other day saying that the people should not get excited, because certain measures were being taken to guarantee their tranquility.

In a week and a half, I'll be doing a swing through Southern Mato Grosso to try and find out what's going on there. Apparently, the pastor got out of town- fast and went to a far corner of the parish where he's well-liked and abandoned the rest of the parish.

Heidi Lampe, Miss Apucarana, 1975

Rachel is studying piano again, this time without being driven to it. We've got a University girl from another town living with us- a former beauty queen- (you'd like her, Dad: blond, long hair, blue-eyed, tallish, and very precious), also a piano player and she and Rachel are hitting it off famously. Tonight they went to a piano concert together- True to form, Rachel has picked up another friend older than herself.

We've got some English neighbors- or have I told you that? They're experts in plant seed development. Their company plans to work for 20 years in Brazil before it gets a break-even return on its investments! They're Anglican and one studied to be a priest before he became interested in zoo-technology.

For the last couple of months, I've been reading up on ethics and trying to work up a paper on "Pastoral Ethics". This was to be presented for debate at the "Conselho de Pastores de Maringa". (Local pastor's council) It was sort of a time bomb, because there's been quite a bit of sheep-stealing going on. They asked me to do the paper because I was the least involved of any of them. It went over very well. I'm happy to say, and the discussion following the six page manuscript was very productive.

Now that we know where the car is coming from it's pretty certain that we'll fly in to Minneapolis or Rochester. Please don't go spending money unnecessarily, it's precious! I've got boots and that car-coat that I had before, which will serve just fine. They're here. Not sure what the others need. Hope we get a snowy winter!

It finally rained, Hallelujah! It's been a couple of months since our heavy frost. What the frost didn't kill the drought attacked, and what didn't dry up the plant lice by the billions sucked dry. Now it's planting time again (beans, rice, coffee, and later, soybeans).

Love,

Joey

Letter to Marian and Frank, January 6, 1973

2011-01-02T10:26:00.000-08:00

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. She returned them in 2010. Most are recorded here. They were not entered in chronological order, so the best way to view them is by year, found in the index on the sidebar.

Dear Marian and Frank, Lisa and Eric,

Since I didn't write anything on the Christmas letter, I now will make an effort to tell you the news.

Before Christmas, I helped an agronomist missionary family as they got their things ready to move to another city. The seven of them slept here a night. A neurotic lady from our church came a week before Christmas and stayed for four days. Cliff had programs for three days in various places so he didn't have time right away to talk to her family. She has had mental problems for over twenty years and has stayed here before. She calls many times or stops by to talk, then I listen for an hour to two hours. About the only way I can help her is to listen to her problems. Her husband says he has a cross to bear, but the family could try to be more understanding. Another family that has problems is a Church of Christ missionary family. When she is overtired or under pressure, she has emotional outbursts. They have been in Brazil for one and a half years and now are packing up to go back to the United States for the other couple that works with them wrote to the U.S. recommending that they be ordered back. I feel sorry for them for they have many things to sell, then have to rebuy them when they get back. They were a risk to be sent here for they spent two years in Africa and she had emotional problems there.

The Church of Christ has different ideas. They don't use instruments in the church for the Bible says "to make melody in your hearts" which they interpret to be without the help of instruments. Also, they don't celebrate Christmas for they say we don't really know the date of Christ's birth, which misses the whole point. Some date has to be chosen so that we can observe it.

Helen is happy to have a second hand bicycle. It's been about two years since she decided that she was too big for her tricycle. Charles's old bike was traded in for a new one. Rachel got science sets which have a microscope. For a science project in school, Cliff helped her build a telegraph, which she got a good grade on. Another father helped his child build one. Cliff said it was going to be a battle to see which father got the best grade. The kids are enjoying the kitten born in the first part of November. Another one was given away on Christmas day. We think our kitten has a hernia. Cliff says that some day it may bump its head too hard against a post.

Next week we have Vacation Bible School. The children have vacation now until February 12th. Then Helen will start first grade Brazilian School. Right now she is half way through the first grade English course that I give in the mornings. Charles doesn't have too much homework, but Rachel does, so I have to supervise that during the school term. The teacher makes them work hard. Every two weeks they have to give a book report. Even though Charles doesn't have any competition, as he is the only one in his class, the teacher says he is doing very well. At times, Rachel lets things pile up and doesn't get good grades on a test, but her final grades are alright. Rachel, almost eleven, is 5 feet 2 inches tall. Charles is almost nine and is getting too heavy. We decided we should eat more fruit as all of us could lose some weight.

Some more urine tests done show that Helen doesn't have an infection, but she continues to wet. The urologist in Minneapolis wrote indicating that a medication which was given last July at higher dosages, so now she is taking it for two months at a lower dosage. Our field representative of the mission office said that we can take her to the Mayo Clinic when on furlough. I hope that the problem is solved soon. Before Christmas I spent many hours sewing plastic pants bigger for the night wetting, but the biggest bother is daytime wetting.

Our church was used in December for Baccalaureate services for college graduation for those who are Protestants. This week a junior high school (included ages 14-25) held services here after first going to the Catholic church. cliff had the service for the junior high school. A week before Christmas, Cliff attended graduation of the first class in our Bible Institute in Londrina. There were six that completed the three year Bible course.

We had an enjoyable New Year's with the Louie Becker family who live one hour from here. We played games with the children, went for a walk to the park and finished the day by singing Christmas songs and eating my birthday cake. Just before Christmas, we got a tape Cliff's family sent. We enjoyed hearing it even thought most only said a few words. It seems like they had a hard time thinking of something to say with everyone sitting around and watching them when they were trying to talk. Seems like Frank found it the easiest to talk. I haven't had Lutafisk or however you spell the fish dish.

We haven't gotten a letter from you in a long time. Hope you will write us right away when the baby is born. LaVonne wrote that Lisa is quite the artist, that she sent Mike a picture when he was in the hospital. I hope to get Helen to write to Lisa before I mail this. It's almost 100 degrees today and we are at the swimming pool.

Love,

Donna and Joey

Easter Letter, 1974

2011-01-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. She returned them in 2010. Most are recorded here. They were not entered in chronological order, so the best way to view them is by year, found in the index on the sidebar.

Dear friends in Christ:

Greetings to you all! Did you have a good Easter? And, you mothers, was your Mother's Day a happy one, and bright? A salute to you mothers! A child's such a messy little thing, so slow to grow and learn. It's born with a will full-blown, a gale wind that fills its sails yet has no captain to chart its course. Slow, so slowly, by fits and starts through long slow years of creeping growth, the child, weaned, blends into his destiny. Some call their mother blessed, whose years of youth and strength in the slow years, a mother's strength molded to the child's weakness. And, then it's mind, a darkness into which, probing, pushing, come filtering the first weak tentative rays: words the child hears, repeated, first empty sounds, that pattern themselves into its life, and then spill out in childish jargon groping for the sense of what's about. And when the mother's there it's her wisdom that first lights its mind, putting the tiny hand to the wheel that steers life's course.

To all who have a mother's heart, this toast! God grant the grace to have joy and peace in fitting His children to their destiny.

We've been having a busy time of it. Some of the highlights:

At the Maringa church there was a record number of communicants on Good Friday: 96.

We dedicated a church in Ivaipora. They have just a small congregation: 18 families. However, they managed to build a very nice little church without any aid from outside the parish.

Until now we'd met in the home of a member. I am temporarily taking care of the church and have been for the past two years. We have services twice monthly, when possible. Until then, the maximum they'd had was services six times a year.

At Borazopolis, which is on the same road, we had the special joy of seeing a family reunited which had been split by business dealings mixed with avarice and wine. They all communed together on Holy Saturday. The wounds heal slowly, they only get together under the sign of reconciliation: worship, in the name of Jesus.

Sunday school seems to have been rejuvenated in Maringa by moving the hour to the same as worship and calling on mature members as teachers. About 35 are enrolled. On Mother's Day they did a very nice program in the afternoon.

A new man has come into town: a Swiss who speaks English, French, German, Spanish, Swahili, and a little Portuguese. He's an engineer and worked for many years in Africa, then came to South America and is "trying out" Maringa. His driving interest seems to be making money and loneliness brings him to church. He's an outspoken, rabid racist and and anti-Jewish. He has been strongly influenced by a so-called "Jewish Manifesto". Now this is where I want some help from some of you. Who can tell me anything about a "Jewish Manifesto"? I'd be much obliged. The copy he's got was published in Spanish, in Argentina.

Right now I'm a little laid up with a cracked ankle-bone. I'll have a cast on until the end of May. coming soon after a bum knee makes me think I'll have to give up playing futebol de salao (court soccer) with the young adults.

We had very good participation in a Bible camp in February. About 30 youth from the parish went. Now we are looking forward to the retreat in July which we will be in charge of as it will be on a farm near here. The farm belongs to a doctor and it is used mainly for retreats. With the bunk beds, there is room for 75 people. The theme will worship.

Helen's bladder problem was finally diagnosed and operated: a cyst near a urethra. She was operated on in Sao Paulo by a surgeon considered to be one of the best urologists in the world, and is recovering well. She is still taking medicine and has monthly urine check-ups in the nearby city of Londrina. She has no more wetting in the daytime, but still needs diapers at night.

Rachel is doing much better in school lately, is as tall as her mother, has begun confirmation study, works on her stamp collection and is teaching English to a class of neighborhood children she got together.

Charles goes every day after school to a nearby park to visit the animals there. His allergy to dust has been bothering him. He is taking a vaccine by drops for six months which we hope will relieve the stuffed nose and sneezing.

Power to you all, in what's right.

Clifford Biel and family

P.S. Farmers are hurting: soybeans are only $4 a bushel (30 kilos)

+++++++++++++ On the backside of the above, typed letter, a handwritten one to the Beiwel's:

Dear Frank and Marian:

Well, the last ones on my list! I've been writing letters all yesterday and all day today, to my family and Donna's. Today I was to have gone to a meeting in Joinville, traveling all night by bus each way. But my foot swells to much yet when it's down, so I didn't go. Instead, I've been sitting on the bed, listening to the record player and writing letters.

We gave Rachel a record for Christmas and enjoy it more than she does! Andy Williams, "Alone Again".

You really shouldn't spend money sending candy every Christmas- We eat it all up and then - wait. For the next Christamas! We hope to be home for furlough for Christmas, '75. We're talking about that. It fits the kid's school vacation and they want to see SNOW! and feel COLD! Yek! And, maybe everybody won't be so busy like they are in the summer.

Sounds like everybody is really skimping there in the States. We're also pinched, but I think we'll break even this year. The cost of living here has jumped 25% in three months while income has held steady.

Saturday we're going to Marilia (about four hours drive from here) for the silver wedding anniversary of our colleague there. I'll be preaching, but what can you say to somebody who's been hitched that long?

There was a hilarious cartoon in TIME. Gold Meir and Willy Brandt were sitting on a park bench. He says to her, "If this were a week earlier, they'd call our meeting a summit conference."

A girl just stopped by and gave us an invitation to her wedding in the Catholic church. Five years and she's never come to church here. Her brother is Antonio Roberto, who is studying to be pastor (Lutheran). Her mother is a spiritist. She's marrying a Japanese.

Well, carry on. Let us hear from you.

Yours,

Joey and family

Letter to Beiwel's, March 26, 1977

2011-01-02T08:52:00.000-08:00

Surgery on Velvet's ear with Doutor Luiz

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters we wrote to her. She returned them in 2010. Most are recorded here. They were not entered in chronological order, so the best way to view them is by year, found in the index on the sidebar. This is one that I wrote when I was 15 years old.

Dear Beiwels,

Hi, there, how are you all? I trust that you're fine. We're O.K.

Please forgive the double "L" on Helen's letter. She didn't know better.

Velvet died yesterday night. She was 13 years old and had tumors, was blind, deaf, but we still liked her. (That is, Mom, Helen and I). (Oh, by the way, she was our Puli dog, sort of like a sheep dog or an overgrown poodle.)

Velvet in 1977

Dad was traveling to Sao Paulo and came home this morning.

Guess what! I'm thinking of studying 12th grade in the States. I'll only be finishing 9th in June, so it's a long ways off. It's an idea though.

Thanks a lot for your presents. We weren't expecting them. We were already so happy for the books and candy. You shouldn't torture us that way with candy, it's SO fattening! (But delicious!) I really enjoy reading books. These will last for a long, long time. I've got lots of friends who read, too. (We're really bookworms.)

That embroidery sure is beautiful. Thanks a million to whoever chose it! I'm putting my drawings in that subjects thing. It's really handy.

Well, I guess that's all. Please write back. We enjoy knowing what's happening to you all even more than getting presents. (I guess that's cuz we luv you)

Shalom,

Rachel

Letter to Marian and Frank, April 19, 1974

2011-01-02T08:38:00.000-08:00

Biel Family, mid-1970's, Brazil

Cliff Biel doing the Hamburger Skit

You would have enjoyed seeing Joey in a skit at the mission conference. He did it at the fun night at Bible Camp and the youth really thought it was good. A man who owned a hamburger industry liked to try hamburgers out at different places to see if anyone served better hamburgers. At the place where Joey was a cook, he thought the hamburger had a different flavor so he asked for the recipe. When he found out the same ingredients were used, he asked to see the cook making them. Out came Joey, shirtless, oil on his skin and then water poured over to look like a lot of sweat, cigarette hanging from his mouth and a tattoo on his heart saying "meat". He demonstrated and at the end, to flatten the meatball, he put it under his armpit. That was where the different flavor came from.

The next day, when Joey came late for breakfast, I told the people at our table that he was helping to make more hamburgers. We had hamburgers that noon but round ones. Several people told us that if and when they came through our city, they hoped we won't serve them hamburgers. We have been having the mission meeting with wives every two years. The men get together once a year for a business meeting.

Helen is doing fine. I called the doctor yesterday after receiving the urine results done last week in Londrina. He says to keep on giving medicine to keep the urine free of germs and do another urine test in a month. Apparently, this will go on for some time. It take three hours to get to Londrina by bus, about 15 minutes to do the urine exam, have lunch with Gaylord Grant's and then come back. Thus, it takes all day. We leave at 8:30 and get back at 5 p.m. We have a laboratory here but the medical care is better in Londrina so the doctor thinks they are more careful in doing lab tests.

Helen saw an unpleasant sight when I took her swimming two weeks ago. While we were there, a 16 year old boy was pulled out of the deep end of the pool. They don't have lifeguards at pools here. No one did anything- I went and turned him over and barely started giving chest-arm respiration when a doctor who was playing tennis started mouth-to-mouth respiration and his wife, an anesthetist, gave heart massage. I couldn't find any pulse. When they got their instruments, the doctor couldn't hear any heartbeat and said that just by looking at the boy's eyes, he said that he was dead. He used an instrument to look in his lungs and said that there wasn't any water in the lungs. Apparently, the boy had eaten off and on during the afternoon, had stomach cramps, and disappeared without any signs of distress. He had been under water for at least half an hour, the doctor thought. After seeing this, Helen said we can sell our membership at the club as she doesn't want to go back.

For some time, Rachel and Charles haven't wanted to go- they have friends playing here all the time. It is too bad that they don't have public pools and we could pay whenever we could go. The club fees have gone up to $10 per month and now gasoline is so expensive so we might as well sell our membership.

Since the children didn't have school on the day after Easter, we went to a city one hour from here to visit with the pastor's family there. We will go as a family to get together with all of the pastor's families in our area, about nine of them, on May 1st which is a holiday.

You may have heard from Cynthia's letter that Joey was in bed for a week due to a swollen knee. After a week, he hobbled around. He thought he would need a cane, but an ace bandage helped. Now he has been fine. I told him that he should play mostly chess since he hurt his knee in a soccer game.

One of Rachel's English students gave her an egg (chocolate) that cost about $6. I told her that maybe I should start teaching if I could get valuable gifts. I spend time every day helping Helen with reading in English as she is weak due to not paying attention to phonetic sounds. She is improving but is having a harder time than Rachel or Charles for they went all day to school in English until last August and had Portuguese on the side. Now it is the opposite for Helen- having little time of school in English. Her main problem has been spelling but by studying, she is doing much better. In Portuguese you spell as you pronounce a word. Charles is too busy playing to do hardly any extra reading in English, but Rachel reads many books. One of the books that I read I found interesting, "Ana and the King of Siam" for which the movie "The King and I" was made. A television series about this is being shown.

We went to see the movie "The Day of the Jackal" about the plot to attempt to assassinate Charles De Gaulle. It was interesting and full of suspense.

We have a shampoo that you might like, Marian. It has vitamins in it and brings back the natural color. Several of our pastor's wives have started using it. One who was much grayer than Joey has no more grey hair. Joey refuses to try it as you would have to wash your hair two or three times a week and he goes for three weeks without washing as he feels that washing it makes it soft and it doesn't stay in place. With all the talk about streaking, they said at our mission meeting that now with this shampoo, no pastor has to have streaks of grey hair.

Love,
Donna and Joey

Letter to Marian and Frank, February 4, 1974

2011-01-01T22:29:00.000-08:00

Helen on a ladder, a bit younger than in this letter.

Dear Marian, Frank, Lisa, Erik and Julianna,

Greetings from the huge city of Sao Paulo (largest in Brazil). Wouldn't ever want to live here- the traffic is terrible and some days there is a lot of smoke due to factories but the medical care is the best in Brazil.

We were here for five days- January 14th through the 18th for X-rays, blood and urine tests. I was with Helen the 2.5 to 3 hours it took to do the x-rays for they let me hold her hand. I was impressed how thorough the 19 x-rays were done on the kidney and bladder. While the dye was in the bladder, the x-rays from the right side and lying flat on the back showed everything normal, but on her left side of the bladder a cyst was found. She had to urinate and several x-rays showing the bladder full and half full and empty showed that the cyst was larger when the bladder was empty and in the cyst a residual of the urine stayed. This apparently was (the wetting) better when she took sulfa or antibiotics but only surgery was the solution. The medical term is diverticulum. I wish I had a Merck Manual to understand it better, although the doctor did a diagram for me. He said that this is from birth, so apparently the x-rays at Fairview Southdale taken 2.5 years ago weren't thorough enough. I'm glad we finally found out what was wrong. the doctor says that there could be a complication from the surgery, in that the urine could try to go up the ureter to the kidney- he called this reflux and said that he tried to prevent this from happening by doing certain things in the operation. This doctor was recommended to me by our dentist in Maringa. He is a urologist for children. Since I came here, I found out that he is consdiered to be one of the best in Brazil and is well known.

After the exams, Helen and I went by night bus to Curitiba where we me Joey, Rachel and Charles and then drove for seven hours to a city where a pastor from our district was to be ordained at his home church. This pastor is our age but did a short course offered due to the shortage of pastors. He had correspondence lessons to do and Joey was his tutor the last year. Before he became a pastor he worked with his family at a tile and brick factory in the country by his father's farm. Here shingles aren't used on roofs, but tiles. It was interesting to see the process of how the tiles were made. We also visited an old folk's home for 75 residents where this pastor that was ordained had worked for four years before going to our own district. The sermon was given in German since most in that area prefer that language- we had a copy of the sermon in Portuguese.

On our way back home we were by the ocean so we spent two days at the home of a Dutch couple who live one block from a nice beach . This couple had lived for 15 years in the U.S., five years in Canada and went back to Brazil to be by their only son who had married a Brazilian when the parents left Holland 25 year ago and stayed here for 5 years. Now they are about 68 years old and haven't tried to learn Portuguese which all their grandchildren can speak. They lived in Maringa for a few months and we helped translate for them but they decided it was too hot there for them. Joey wouldn't go in the water but we had fun jumping in the waves. The sun was very hot one morning. I made Helen and Charles wear shirts but Rachel took hers off and consequently got a burn so her back peeled. We didn't get lotion under Charles nose, thus large water blisters formed which made him look funny. While on the beach we saw a beautiful film made in Austria, "Sissi", spoken in French with Portuguese subtitles- only Helen couldn't read fast enough so I explained as it went along. The movie was about a girl who was chosen to be the queen of Austria- Elizabeth was her real name.

Rachel and Charles had their birthdays while Helen and I were here for exams. Rachel made a cake and invited a few neighbors. Rachel is now my height. According to the Reader's digest, one can double the height for girls at 18 months and add an inch for good nutrition. She and Helen should be 5' 9".

Today is the 8th day in the hospital and Helen will get out. We will spend two days at a pastor's home here before we go back on a 12 hour ride by night bus. She has had a catheter in for seven days. When she got up a plastic bag was taped on to her leg so she could walk around. For two days she has had a lot of gas. They didn't give her an enema before surgery. She didn't have a B.M. for five days and then it was very hard, finally they gave an enema but still she has gas pains quite often. The doctor didn't leave any order for gas so they gave her medicine for pain in order to go to sleep for two nights. Just about everywhere you go, there are couches in each room for a relative to sleep by the patient. Nursing care is better here than in Maringa yet relatives are the ones who feed a patient when he needs help, gets them out of bed, helps them walk. Nurses come in just when it is time to give the bath, take the temperature, or give medicine, unless we call them. There is no T.V. in the hospital unless one has a portable one to bring. We brought a tape recorder, coloring books, dolls, and many books. Most days I read to her and when I read all of the books, I bought comic books. Now that she is better she will play with her dolls, so I can write letters. Helen had 11 stitches from the surgery. American school starts on the 11th, so I will probably carry her up the steps so that she can go. Brazilian school starts on March 1st. That gives her plenty of time to recuperate.

We didn't hear from you , Cynthia, Louie of Stan's for Christmas. Laurie sent Rachel a letter. Just think, Juliana is almost a year old! Will she be walking soon? Wish you could send us a picture of her when she has her first birthday. How about printing us a letter, Lisa, or drawing us a picture? Hugs and kisses to all,

Love, Donna and Joey

Thought Eric would be interested to hear that while we were in the hospital we saw helicopters going on top of a 22 story building about 8 to 10 blocks from here to save people from a fire. It was tragic in that 200 people died. Many jumped and there wasn't any netting so they had an instant death. They had fire equipment such as hoses and extinguishers inside, but the 1000 people that worked there panicked and didn't remember to use them. The whole city stopped working to see this tragedy and many of the duty nurses went back to work and hundreds of people went to give blood that was needed. We heard ambulance sirens all day long. Fire started when an air conditioner exploded due to over heating of the electrical wiring. The fire department complained of what little equipment they had and what few firemen for this size of a city, and said many more could have been saved if building codes had been enforced- such as helicopter landing on top of the building- the only helicopter that could go up there had to land on skis. One man held a wet curtain over his nose and mouth. He waited calmly for three hours to be rescued while others became desperate and jumped. He said he would have waited all day and encouraged others not to jump.

Thurs. am. We got back home. Everyone is fine. Helen has to take antibiotics by mouth for a month and then have a urine exam before the doctor says everything is O.k.

Love, Donna and Joey

Rachel, Charles and Helen

Letter to Marian and Frank, October 18, 1973

2011-01-01T21:30:00.000-08:00

Mom and Charles with Duchess, the cat.

Helen in uniform, 1972

The children are in a Catholic school about four blocks from our home. They are there from 8 a.m. to noon, Monday through Saturday and have English at the American school from 1 to 2:30 P.M. they like the school and it seems quite neat and orderly compared to many public schools that I have seen. One thing that I find a nuisance is that the Brazilian school doesn't furnish books, so we run to several book stores to get what we want. the children have to wear uniforms- navy blue skirt or slacks, sweater, white knee socks for the girls, black shoes, white blouse or shirt.

Rachel in a Regina Mundi Parade, 1974

Helen doesn't get any science in the Brazilian school and Charles doesn't get much so I'm buying the American textbooks from the school here and giving it during the three month vacation in December to February. Charles needs help on math for the Brazilian school gives more things sooner than the American system- we have been working on the multiplication and division tables. Charles and Rachel have English at the Brazilian school but don't have a textbook as it is very simple- names of animals, parts of the body and they know more than the teacher. This next Monday students from the small American school in Londrina will come to have a sports day in the afternoon.

This next week I plan to go on a bus at night with one of our church members who has to go to the Swiss Embassy in Curitiba. She has huge sores due to varicose veins on her legs and needs to show them so that she can get help from the Swiss government to help pay for medical bills and for a helper to do the housework. Her husband is from Switzerland. Last year, I helped her get a document stating that she is an invalid and can't do her work. She suffers from high blood pressure and has liver problems, so she can't travel alone.

Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have many Jews living there. We have many Arabs in our area- mainly from Lebanon. I don't know what percentage of petroleum Brazil gets from the Arab countries, but they will be getting more from Venezuela, however, this may not be enough and if the war continues for some time, gas may have to be rationed here.

When our large suitcase ripped across the top on the way back, I thought a sheet was missing, but now have checked through everything and can't find the material for two pillow dolls that Cynthia gave me, the green and white checked dress Marian gave Helen, and Rachel's music sheet. Helen feels bad about the dress you gave her and when she mentioned the dress I looked for it and discovered that we don't have it. Don't buy a suitcase like the one you paid us for, for in the long run it is expensive and can't be used again. Helen forgot many words so we have to practice reading. How does Eric like the picture Rachel took of him? Your family picture turned out well.

Love, Donna and Joey

Letter to the Beiwel's, December 27, 1974 (Friday)

2011-01-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

Rachel Biel, around 12 years old.

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. This is one that I wrote to her family when I was 12 years old. She returned the letters in 2010. Most are recorded here. They were not entered in chronological order, so the best way to view them is by year, found in the index on the sidebar.

Dear Uncle Frank, Auntie Marian, Lisa, Eric, and Juliana,

Hope you had a Merry Christmas. We had a pretty nice one though Christmas Eve was more excited. We opened our presents that night and went out for supper.

Thanks for the stamps, Uncle Frank. I sure appreciated them. I didn't have hardly any of them. I hope you like the "1 cruzeiro" that I enclosed. Seven of them make 1 DOLLAR.

Sorry to hear you (Lisa) and Eric had chickenpox. I hat it when I was 4 years old. I'm also sorry to hear you both will be wearing glasses, but many people look prettier in them.

For Christmas, Helen got an Egipcian game called CARCARA. We had it the last time we were in the States. It sure is fun! Mom and Dad are playing it right now- scoring: Dad-1, Mom-0. I got a dart board and nine darts, we sure have fun with it. I gave Dad a little flashlight which you could adjust 4 types of screwdrivers on to it. He sure was happy with it.

I'm happy to hear that more books are coming even though you shouldn't have gone to the bother and work of doing it all. My little library is finally starting to grow. It has some real nice romance books by Grace Livingston Hill. Lately, I read an excellent book by Corrie Ten Boom. It's called the "hiding Place". She hides Jews in this little place in her house in Holland and than gets caught for it and goes to a concentration camp. You really should read it.

Lisa, Helen really misses you. All the time she talks about is "When we get to the States, Lisa, Polly and I will do this, this and this." She really misses you.

I can hardly believe we're going to the States in one year and at Christmas! I always wonder if it is fun to ice skate. We still have our roller skates, but I wonder if it is the same.

Now I have 1350 stamps. Most of them are from Brasil. I've 200 Brazilian ones and 151 American ones.

This last few weeks we went to two special films: Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell. Have you watched any of them? I liked Godspell a lot better than Jesus C.S.S. Mary fell in love with Jesus in J.C.S.S In Godspell the disciples were dressed as clowns and Jesus had a huge blonde afro. He also had on a Super Tea-shirt on and overalls. Some things in it were just a riot.

Well, I guess I'd better end now. With Great Love,

Rachel Biel

PS. Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you that I'll start school (Both B. and A.) on March 1st.
PPSS Dad's planning to take us (Charlie and I) on a bike hike. We each get to choose a few friends to go along. We'll stay out about 3 or 4 days. My bones are aching to go (and so am I).

Tchau

See you, I mean.
Write you later, alligators.

Easter Letter, 1972

2011-01-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

Rural Preaching Point in Parana, Brazil, 1970's

Maringa, Parana

April 11, 1972

Dear friends and brothers in Christ:

Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost greetings to you all! I'd meant to get off a Christmas letter, but it just woudn't "jell". So this letter will have a little "hash" flavor to it, a mixture of different things.

First, the gist of what was to be the Christmas letter:

Theme thought: "They grew him old too soon, and when they turned again to look on him they beheld... a babe still lying in a manger; God's mystery still intact."

They look on him, these people with their "hip-pocket god".

They have all the answers, they know all the truth, and so

HURRY BABY, GROW.

There's a crisis on, you know.

There's a nation to be built, a world to be saved. My house isn't paid for, and men are enslaved.

So they grab the baby and grow him up fast,

Flesh out his muscles with their Positive Thought,

Stand him on boxes so He towers over all.

And fill out his education with a transplant to His head:

The latest in tape-recorders with the best that's been said.

NOW, DO YOUR THING, GOD--- we're waiting.

Well, wait.

Wait til the Babe grows up in his own good time,

Wait til He bends his finger-- and shatters our universe.

Wait til He grows tall-- so tall we see Him from our knees.

Wait til He speaks, and our words are stopped midcourse in wretched shame.

Wait, -- and look again at a God no man can hurry, no man can shape.

NOW, DO YOUR THING MAN--- God is waiting.

Worship.

News of the parish and of the church:

We had a rather intensive schedule during the Lenten season, but it was rewarding, too. It began witha youth retreat in Cianorte during the weekend of Carnaval that ends Ash Wednesday. Even though it rained cloudbursts every day, we had a blessed retreat. A total of 75 young people participated.

Special services were held every night in different points of the parish. Our theme may sound rather blatant to some ears, "Enemies that War Against our Soul (life with God)". The enemies considered were Insubordination, Sensuality, Avarice, Vices, Satan, False Religion. Did somebody groan?

Of the approximately 600 people who make up our parish, 225 communed on or about Good Friday. On or about, because we have eight meeting places in the parish, the most distant being a 3-hour drive away.

A rural German Lutheran family in Parana, Brazil, 1970's

I think where I felt the greatest joy was at a small rural community where the men had a long tradition of never communing. Not too long ago we had a long talk about that and they became obedient to the Word of Christ. However, we separated the communion from the worship service and have the communion just before the coffee and cake that always comes about the middle of the afternoon. (Church is at 12:00 in the home of a member). All who are confirmed gather around the table. We have the service and then pass first the plate and then the chalice form person to person at the appropriate moment.

An old German lives there, sharp of mind, fingers gnarled and stiff like old iron hooks; he has been many things, including a communist. Twice he's given me essays he wrote, one on what's wrong with Einstein's concept of space and the other on what's wrong with Einstein's concept of time. Before, when we've had Communion, he's stayed home; this time he came. However, when we were ready to begin the Supper, he disappeared.

"Whup! Wait a minute! Where's Uncle August?" asks one of his nephews (who is already a grandfather).

"I think I saw him down under the orange trees."

"Well, we better get him, too."

Afterward, they are talking very freely during coffee about it (there are no whispered conversations in Keller.)

"Yes," allows Uncle August, "it's the first time I've taken Communion." So, he hadn't finished confirmation in Germany. Then he chuckles and says about the Supper, "but, I guess it didn't do any harm." And, he seems somehow very satisfied with that summation.

Afterward, he slipped me one more essay he'd written: this time on the "soul" and the "spirit".

Next weekend there will be a District Conference of the Church at which time our district will be subdivided into North and South. The North, of which we are a part of, will have ten of the smallest and largest parishes of the church: smallest numerically, largest geographically. All receive some kind of subsidy from the church and are multiple point parishes.

Significant and basic decisions will soon be made about the type of ministry which will be carried out here; whether it will be traditional, "worker-priest", self-serving, missionary or whatever. Pray for us.

The Bible Institute in Londrinda now has 32 students doing the Bible Course while continuing with their secular studies.

In Christ,

the Biels (Clifford)

Family is well.

Letter to Lisa, 1969

2010-12-31T23:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Lisa,

Grandma Biel wrote that you are sick. I'm very sorry to hear that. I hope you and your family are better now. I'm on vacation now until the middle of February. In Brazilian school I passed to third grade. Do you have a school picture you can send me? We had a storm which took some tiles off of our roof. Many trees were blown over. Two people died because of the storm. I stayed for four days at friends homes while Mama and Daddy were traveling.

Merry Christmas

Rachel

Christmas Letter 1972

2010-12-31T23:31:00.000-08:00

Dear friends in Christ:

Greetings once again at this Merrie Xmas time! We hope You-Know-who is running your lives and that as a result you are reveling in the ever more abundant riches of His kindness. And if he's NOT running your life, well then, we hope your world gets shaken to its sandy foundations to the point where you can take Psalm 119:65-72 for your very own.

A Christmas Meditation: "No Pill for Mary"

She could have taken a pill--
Well, not that kind exactly sold
by Druggists everywhere (you know:
the Miracle for Today- "Dance the Piper's free)--
her "NO" would do as well,
Though then she'd miss the pleasure.

They hadn't learned yet,
in the Oldene Dayes,
The trick of it,
How to Dance to God's Tune
and not to pay the Piper.

It must have been delightful talking
To God with Him, for once, responding.
Delightful, but for the pain
in what He had to say.

There must be a way to have the pleasure
but not the pain.
Mary didn't know it... (could we say,
She didn't want it?)
Her pleasure included the message's pain.

For there would be pain:
   The pain in Joseph's heart: "An angel
   told me, Joseph dear,
   This child's from God."
   And then, his pain,
   "An angel? Oh, yes. Oh, God!"

   The People Pain, "You're gaining weight, Mary."
   "You'll be marrying soon, Mary?"
   "Such a shame you couldn't wait..."
   Talk, borne silently, for what could she say?
   "It's not Joseph's child..."?
   "This angel said to me..."?

   The mother's pain, for a child
   she bore but could never claim.
   "A sword shall pierce your heart."

PAIN. She must have sensed the pain.
And with the pain, her pleasure:

   "Here am I, I am the Lord's servant;
   As you have spoken, so be it."

Can there be pleasure had
in mere talk, even with God Himself?
If nothing is said, the message doesn't matter?
What joy is had by those who take a Pill,
Then sit in t cozy sterility at God's feet
As all his words point robustly beyond them
to borning Life?

What Light! What Sound! God's messenger arrived!
God, give me pleasure! God, give me pain!
Let my pleasure be the pain
of the Word you have spoken
coming to triumphant life.

No pills, to save me from your action!

Sweep up in the whirling winds
of your might plans
My Life.

"Here am I, I am the Lord's servant;
As you have spoken, so be it."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Highlights of the work here:

The VIII General Convention of the IECLB: I had the rare privilege of attending as the pastor-delegate from the Northern District of the State of Parana. What was especially inspiring was a new self-awareness generally evident, that the time is now for the IECLB (The Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confessions in Brazil) to be a living witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ to the Brazilian people. Motions were passed preparing the way for more aggressive financial and evangelistic planning. Also, a new "Document for Faith and Life" was adopted, beautifully written in Portuguese. It showed a slight ambiguity at one point, the Lord's Supper, leaving the door open for those in our church of a more Reformed orientation.

A RETREAT: WHERE ARE WE GOING? Organized here in the North of Parana for the purpose of restructuring, if necessary, the work here. Two members of the Executive Committee of the IECLB were present, and about thirty laymen and pastors from the North of Parana. It was held here in Maringa. The women of the congregation did a marvelous job of organizing, everybody cooperated beautifully. The results: some parishes were restructured into team ministries. It was decided to work for a Visitation Pastor in the District whose task would be to make systematic visits with special program to all of the principal congregations each year, in our District. Special attention will be given to Stewardship and Evangelization. A questionnaire had been distributed by the District Council to all the members of our church in the North Parana District. Among other things, it showed average family size to be about 3 children, average admitted gross income to be about $2,000 dollars a year. A relatively sever language problem still exists, and the people are relatively conservative ecclesiastically. And, they want more Bible studies and the overwhelming majority thinks that there should be more Brazilians in our churches. It was decided that our district should think of itself as a "living shoot" and not a dead branch of the church. Where are we going? Where the Lord leads us!

++++++++++++++++++++

The biggest family news is that we are on the "22-2" plan, and will be home for furlough for two months in July and August. We plan on deplaning in Miami, buying a car and driving up through North Carolina (newton), Columbus, Ohio, and on through Iowa and up to Minnesota. Exact dates have not been fixed as yet.

Brazil is now the world's no. 2 exporter of soybeans.

I guess that's not really family news. We're all in relatively good health. Donna is letting her hair grow longer. Rachel is starting to exhibit some disturbingly ladylike symptoms at intervals. Charles is highly imaginative. I wish he would settle down and be as serious at least as Jerry Lewis. And, Helen is still very much the cuddly baby of the family, though she shows signs of outgrowing that. She's reading quite well.

Merry Christamas, and a Happy New Year!

Cordially,

Cliff, Donna, Rachel, Charles and Helen

Letter to Marian and Frank, December, 1971

2010-12-31T22:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Marian, Frank, Lisa and Eric,

I see that I won't get many letters written if I don't make copies.

Joey seems to enjoy being back here. It was nice to come back to the same house and only unpack clothing. Within a couple of days, we were back to normal. The girl who worked for me called the day we arrived and was here to help me the next day. Helen was bashful about speaking Portuguese again, but within a week she had no trouble.

Joey has taken on two more preaching points twice a month. One is about 45 minutes from here and the other is on half hour from there. Another pastor was serving them, but he has a bad case of hepatitis so they will probably become a permanent part of our parish. They are happy that Joey plays the violin as they haven't had anyone to accompany them.

I was gone for five days to a regional retreat for women. Two from here went with me. It was a long 11 hour trip to the ocean front. We enjoyed the retreat but it ended with the sad news of a fatal car accident of the pastor and his wife, of the church where the retreat was held. The pastor had given a talk 36 hours before the accident. They hadn't taken their children along on the trip. They had been her for 12 years from Germany. Relatives from Germany were called to come and get the three small children.

Two afternoons I have taken women to visit a shut-in. Since these women are in their 60's or 70's, they prefer German. Joey studied for on month, twice a week, to learn some German. The school year is over and he hopes to continue in March when classes start again.

Joey teaches the women's choir soprano and alto parts by playing the violin. We will sing three hymns and one will sing a solo. The children's program is on the 19th. We have a confirmation service on January second where four will be confirmed.

We had a Thanksgiving pot luck at our church- about 45 Americans counting the children,. At the dinner a missionary was telling of his recent trip with six children, wife and trailer driving for two months from Minnesota down to the Panama Canal then through the west side of South America coming up through Argentina and Uruguay into Brazil. This pastor used to be with our mission but works now with the the Lutheran Free church. They stayed with several missionaries in other countries and he said we should be thankful we have more religious freedom and friendly people.

Charles Biel, 1971

Rachel and Charles are doing well at the small mission school in Maringa. Charles is the only second grader. He hasn't been having school in the afternoon so he went to a private Brazilian school where he finished first grade- doing just the Portuguese. Next semester he will stay three afternoons a week at the American school and will have a Portuguese teacher go to his school. Rachel has one classmate in the 4th grade. The teacher says they are working harder this year. There was some talk of reducing the hours at the American school and doing Brazilian school, but the math system is different and would be confusing and they are assigned a lot of homework in the Brazilian school since they only go for three hours. A new couple will come in July for the American school so we hope that they will continue at that school. It looks like in August I will have to start teaching Helen first grade as the mission that runs this school only accepts first graders if there is one from their mission and they don't have any.

Rachel Biel, 1971

I have taken Rachel to see ballet put on by students of this city. It was well done. This week we went to hear a piano recital of the students studying in their ninth year. One girl was from our church, who is the organist, and graduated from the course, in all, eleven years as there are two years of introduction. Rachel is continuing lessons after we got back and is in the introduction.

Helen has been going to a nursery school every morning. She still wets up to four or five times a day, so I think she will have to have another dilation of the urinary canal. It will be six months in February since the last time, and the doctor said that it is usually done every six months until it is no longer necessary. I'm planning to have her taken to an urologist in January and think she can have it done in our city.

I've been doing painting in our guest bedroom, Cliff and my bedroom and the dining room. A sixteen year old boy did a good job in the living room. I hoped that he could do more of the painting, but he helped while he had a cast on his left arm and when the cast came off, he went back to work on his regular job working as a bellboy at a hotel. He had helped paint the hotel for seven months. Some of those days that I painted were 100 degrees and when I put the paint on, it dried instantly. I certainly got tired of painting but am glad that it was done.

I have joined the English club which meets once a month. It is mainly for Brazilian women to practice their English. There are about 10 American women in this city. One lady who speaks English that moved here in August is Dutch. She came here 25 years ago and stayed in a German speaking community for four years, then went to Canada for five years and then to the U.S. for 15 years. When they were here for the first time, their only child decided to stay here to marry. This Dutch couple came to retire and be by their only grandchildren, but can't enjoy them much as they don't speak Portuguese. They say there is no place like Santa Barbara, California, and may go back there. He went with Joey to a rural area one Saturday for church services and visited with the members in German.

We have a kitten that drinks out of a doll's bottle. The mother cat was run over by a car. The kitten eats bread wet with milk. We still have our big cat, Blackie, and our dog, Velvet. Rachel bought gold fish with her money but didn't have a fish bowl for them, so they were in a regular bowl. One day when we were gone in the afternoon, we forgot to put the cat out so she had a delicious meal of fish. Charles wants a canary or a rabbit but I doubt that we will get them as it ends up being mother taking care of animals.

Happy to hear your folks got down to see you, Marian. Hope you can do that more often.

Helen misses Lisa and Polly- especially when her neighborhood friends went to school in the afternoon and she was home alone. I tried to read to her every day. Now they have vacation for 2.5 months so she is busy playing.

Rachel made a list of the Yearling Books like "The Good Master" that her school bought. Now I can't find the list. We are going to borrow some "Jack and Jill" from one of the families to see if she likes it better than "Children's Digest" which she gets now.

Hear you went as a family on one of Frank's trips- hope you had an enjoyable time.

Who lost the most weight by Thanksgiving? Joey and I lost 10 lbs. the first month back. We didn't diet- guess it was getting back to a normal routine.

A blessed Christmas!

Love,

Donna and Joey

Letter to Marian and Frank, January 20th, 1971

2010-12-31T21:06:00.000-08:00

Dear Marian and Frank,

I can't get my pen to work, so will peck away. You will be happy to know that we got your books on Charles's birthday on the 15th. Everyone was delighted and Charles found his two cats in the lovely cat book. We saw the movie, "Doctor DoLittle" a long time ago. It is an interesting book. I started the book by Catherine Marshall and am enjoying it. We have read only one of the condensed Reader's Digest- about the Maya family. I have been busy reading books but also make Rachel read some to Helen. A special thank you from all of us.

Mary wrote that Louie and Rosie have a boy born on my birthday. Happy to hear the news and must write to congratulate them.

Thanks for the pictures. It is the first time that we have seen Erik. He has curly hair like Lisa had. Marian and Lisa look very nice in the pictures.

You asked what we did on Christmas Day. We went to a home where four families that are related got together. It was a pot-luck dinner and very good. It turned out to be a hot day. We were pleased with the plays for the program that was held on Christmas Eve. At 10:30 a visitor arrived at our home and stayed overnight. She missed a bus to go to Cianorte. We didn't know her before and found her to be very pleasant. She was here this week on her way back to her home in Porto Alegre.

Off and on, a lady who is 69 years old comes to our house, has slept here two nights and has had several meals. She isn't quite right in her mind and none of her relatives in our country church want her for when they have tried to help she got the police to believe that they took money of hers and then the relatives had to pay. she has been at an old folks' home in the capital of this state, but managed to get away. She didn't have but one dress so I gave her one of mine in order to wash her dress. The relatives know that she is staying at a home for transient people and that she comes here often but no one has done anything about it. The lady never married and has only nieces and nephews close by. Very sad but she talks a lot and I only understand half as he sometimes puts German in with her Portuguese.

Mary wrote that they might get a humidifier instead of a drier. No one has said how much we should send or did someone pay for us?

While we were in Londrina for our spiritual retreat we took the children to see the "Love Bug" about a car called Herbie. It was cute- showing how he could win races but when his owner didn't pay attention to him, he would have temper tantrums. "Ben, the Bear" is here this week. We saw it in the States almost four years ago and they don't remember it.

I heard Minnesota got a lot of snow this month. We have had a lot of rain causing flood over the main highway to our capital, so barges have had to take people and small cars across. Today was one of our hottest days- about 100- right now the children are swimming in the rain, or rather, downpour.

We have a seminary student coming for part of the time when we will be gone. Now Joey is busy with Vacation Bible School in two churches. Two girls from the Bible Institute are helping. Also, Joey has to go to Cianorte (1 hour drive) often as he is on commission for our mission public school. Next month is a five day Bible camp right before Lent starts. Starting next month I will visit women that seldom or never come to Women's Bible meetings which start again in March when summer vacation is over. Rachel and Charles have off from school until February 9th. I try to take them swimming several times a week. Rachel knows how to swim, Charles will dive from the shallow side and can swim a short distance and Helen likes the water, but won't put her head under.

I have asked my Dad to get three second hand sleeping bags or air mattresses. We won't be staying at any mission home as those are for one year furloughs. They would give us money to rent a furnished apartment but we hope that won't be necessary as we hope to stay with our brothers, sisters, and parents. I think the only deputation will be visiting churches in Brooklyn and Columbus, Ohio on the way to Minnesota and then later we will go to Havre, Montana, perhaps by train as the latter pays for half of our support.

We just heard that we will be having physicals at the Mayo Clinic when we are on furlough. Apparently, the clinic was happy to have the opportunity to study those that live in tropical or semi-tropical climates. There are many types of worms here that they have never heard of in Minnesota. Charles just had a blood test, an X-ray and gets hysterical whenever anything is done. He had a sore muscle in his leg and the doctor ordered tests, but everything was normal. I don't know how it started, but he is the worst when it comes to shots. Three people have to hold him down.

Joey is teaching Charles how to play chess. The cards you sent we played once showing how they had to follow suit and the highest card takes the trick. But, we didn't explain about hearts yet. While in Londrina we got a memory game consisting of pairs. Most are animals, fruits, and different designs. Usually, we play with about 40 pairs at once- all are turned over and mixed up. So far, Charles has been the winner. I remember in what area one was turned up that I want, but I don't do well. Even Helen does as well as I do much of the time and she doesn't even pay attention to the cards that are turned up. They are calling me to play a game now.

Love,

Donna and Joey

Sorry but this typewriter jumps and we haven't been able to get it fixed.

Letter to Grandpa and Grandma Biel, February 14th, 1977

2010-12-31T20:13:00.000-08:00

Our house in Maringa, late 1970's.

Dear Mary and Harvey,

The candy and books arrived a few days ago! We didn't pay anything on the books and just $2.50 for the candy. Thanks for your part in the gift. Marian wrote that she sent another package later that has 30 pillow designs that I had asked for. I don't know if Cynthia or Marian paid for them and I asked them to get a check from Harvey from our bank account to pay for them. I cleaned off a shelf to put these books on and stamped our name in them as we lend them out and borrow from others during the year.

I just got your birthday card as even though it had the correct address, it was put in the post box of another pastor who was traveling until last week. Thus, I just wrote a thank you letter to Mrs. Gordon Nagel.

We are thankful that you weren't hurt worse than you were when you fell, Mary. We've been fine except for diarrhea due to heat, I suppose. For several days it's been 88 degrees in the house.

Our house was broken in to for the first time in nine years that we have been here. We went out of the city at 3:30 P.M. to a wedding. We were going to be back by 7:30 to turn yard lights on as Joey had a preaching point to go to, but it rained a lot so we didn't get back until 9:30 since with heavy rain he couldn't go to the other place. An empty barrel was used to step on top of our bathroom roof which slants up to the second floor to the guest room. The rooms upstairs weren't locked but the window was shut. The metal bar for locking the windows had been missing for years. They tried to break into Helen's bedroom which is the easiest window to get in. they took the radio from the kitchen but left it upstairs by the window they entered and took the new tape recorder of Charles and Rachel's, five tapes of Charles, new slacks of Rachel's, Rachel's blue jeans, and her necklace from Stan and LaVonne saying "I am a Lutheran" on the back. We figured it must have been someone alone or else he would have taken more things. We knew some windows in our house were easy to get into and now we are going to ask to have them changed. We were upset, but thankful that more things weren't gone. We hope the police will get the tape recorder back as it is being sold in the city for it has a radio, monitor, and would be easy to identify. The only clothes gone through were Rachel's. I bought her new blue jeans as Bible camp starts on Friday. I plan to give Charles money for some tapes as it was his birthday and Christmas presents that he lost. This is the 4th tape recorder in nine years stolen from us. The first was on the airplane just before we moved to Maringa. It was replaced by the Airlines after six months. Joey bought another one since we didn't know if it would be replaced. That was stolen from our car three years ago, and a year ago, Joey lent one to an English couple and it was stolen from their house. They didn't replace it as they hadn't asked to borrow it but we asked if they didn't want to use it. We still have Joey's tape recorder which I had locked up, plus check blanks, calculator, money, and camera when we were gone on the bicycle hike. On those nights, my maid and her brother slept here.

Bike trip to Fazenda Kelina, 1979

Ten children, ages 13-16, bicycled the 18 miles with Joey. Helen and I took bedding, clothes and food by car. Most of the children that went with us weren't active in the youth group, but some are going to Bible camp and we hope they will become more active in church. Three from one family haven't been to church in 10 years although Joey has visited them many times. While on the bike hike, we spent a lot of time in the swimming pool at the doctor's farm, Fazenda Kelina. Helen and I didn't go in as much as we didn't want to get sunburned as Charles, Rachel and Joey, who peeled afterward. The flies were so bad one night that we could hardly sleep, so we sprayed the house twice the next day. One family of church members that live about 4 miles away, gave us a sack of corn on the cob for our meals.

This last week we were gone for two days and one night to Ponta Grossa, a five hour drive to see the family that recently moved there after language school. Pastor Charles Eidum is the one that saved Rachel at the beach. They have children the age of our own children so they enjoyed the visit. They are having a difficult time with the language. It is amazing to see how little they can communicate after one year of study, but then we remember how we were in that situation. We hope they will come and see us in July when there is a month break in school.

Helen and Charles enjoyed the children's Bible Camp. Helen said that she would have liked to stay longer. I took 16 children by train. Seven were from our city and the rest from a neighboring parish, for the train service starts in our city and other cities further in the interior don't have it. I stayed overnight and took a bus back the next day. This Friday for Bible Camp for ages 14 and up they will go by train for four and a half days. The train costs 2.5 times less than the bus.

I bought paint remover and took off paint around the floor back in the living room and dining room plus a door. The paint was peaking through and showing two different colors. I wore rubber gloves but it was the hardest and messiest work I've ever done. Painting is a picnic compared to paint removal.

We had seen pictures on T.V, plus from "Time" magazine and have read about the terrific cold weather. As one friend wrote to us this winter is only for polar bears. While you are suffering from the cold we have had one of the worst floods of all times. It is about three to four hours distance from us. It will affect beef prices because about a sixth to a fourth total of the beef cattle drowned or starved to death.

I'm sending a letter t the International Institute as we haven't heard anything about the books we sent back for Rachel's 8th grade. We figured that they should have gotten them in September. If there is a refund, we asked them to send it to you to be deposited in our account.

It is nice that you can have a T.V. in two places. I wish we had gotten a portable one for we have meetings in our living room and then have to push the T.V. into our bedroom for the children to watch it. It always scratches the floor.

Before I got this mailed we got your letter wit the Valentine's Card. It came right on the date.

All of those snowmobiles in the family... Sounds like the winter has plenty of snow for them. Hope they are careful.

Thanks for the stamps you sent in Rachel's birthday card. While in Ponta Grossa Rachel and Charles Eidam traded 224 stamps and she put some US stamps and Brazilian ones that she didn't have. She spends all of her money on stamps.

I found another use for ace bandages- for elastic bands on Joey's underwear! He had five underwear that were good except for the elastic. I got three fixed with one ace bandage. I tried to buy an ace bandage here, but they don't make ones that stretch. One of my American friends in this city thinks she has an ace bandage that she can give me as she is soon going back to the States. If she can't find it, I'll let you know. Send one cut up in three pieces- one piece at a time for I used slightly less than a third for each underwear.

You mentioned a special type of orange. We have it here for about three months. It is delicious. It is a cross between an orange and a tangerine. They are so easy to peel.

All for now,

Love,

Donna and Joey

PS Joey just wrote to Cynthia and Nels- mainly because of the accident of Cynthia's. Hope she has completely recovered now.

Letter to Marian and Frank, December, 1969

2010-12-31T18:36:00.000-08:00

Rachel and Charles Biel

Iguazu Falls, Brazil, 1969

A few days before Christmas Charles graduates from the nursery-kindergarten school. Hopefully in August he will start first grade at the mission school.

In January we will go to a family camp called "word of Life" which all but two of the mission families from our church will attend. Some of the families I hadn't seen for three years as we went on furlough, then they did when we got back and we live too far away to make a visit unless we take a vacation.

Cliff continues to travel often. Recently, a week at the Bible Institute in Cianorte, three days to a pastor's meeting in another state. This last month was one of confirmation of nine in the country church, 11 in the city church and almost the same number in a neighboring city plus a class to be done this month at a chapel where he goes twice a month. For five weeks we had a girl from our country church doing confirmation as family is moving soon. When Cliff was traveling, I had three lessons a day with her. It seemed like there wasn't much time left after preparing for women's Bible studies, taking and getting the children from school, going to sewing class for two hours every day.

At the end of September, I went to a four day retreat for women held in Londrina, a two hour drive from here. Two women from the country church and three from here went. It was the first retreat held in this area- we had 65 women. It went well except for problems of language as some older women understood only German and others understood only Portuguese. We feel that German was used too much and hope they will gradually will use it less as the youth prefer Portuguese and soon these will be a part of our women's group. In the morning our Bible studies were divided into groups of Portuguese and German and the rest of the program was given in either language.

In the end of October, we had our yearly festival in the church with dinner of barbecued steak and potato salad, cakes sold in the afternoon plus a bazaar of clothes. This year everything was sold. Now with this money plus money that the members have pledged we plan to finish the church tower and put in bells. I helped with the bazaar held for Charles's school. They are working on the construction of the Japanese Methodist church where services are held in the same building.

We have applied for a three month furlough from June to August in 1971. Then we plan to come back to Maringa. Time seems to be going very fast and before we know it, we will be visiting with you. Soon two of our neighboring missionaries will be gone on furlough and the only American of our mission nearby will be Gaylord Grant in Londrina. We have become good friends with the German missionaries in Campo Mourao, an hour drive from here. The only other American missionary in this state where we have our church is a nine hour drive from here and the rest are 12-30 hours drive in other states. This state was where our mission work started but now that we are a part of the Lutheran Church of Brazil and many of our mission churches don't exist or only remain only as preaching points, we can go to wherever we receive a call.

Cliff has become a good photographer. He takes photos for weddings and confirmations and makes the copies that they want, thus he didn't have time to get our pictures done yet from the vacation in July.

Wedding at Querencia do Norte

We went to see the waterfalls of Iguacu which are higher and greater in volume than the Niagara Falls. They are in our state, a seven hour drive, mostly on dirt roads.

Sete Quedas with Kathy Fedde

By the time you get this, Christmas will be over. We hope you will have had a joyous one.

We haven't gotten your new address. How do you like your new home? I suppose that by now, Erik is a busy little toddler, getting into things. Does he walk yet? Here there is never a dull moment.

If things don't go right, Rachel says that I don't love her. She's very emotional. At times she tries my patience.

It seems like a long time since we have heard from you, but I realize you could say the same to us. Hope you are fine and will write soon.

Love,

Donna and Joey

Letter to Marian and Frank, June 1, 1969

2010-12-31T09:36:00.000-08:00

Leadership classes in Londrina, Parana, Brazil, 1960's.

Mauro and Edilma at Leadership school in Londrina

Cliff is the representative for youth work in the Northern part of this state. He went to a meeting in another state to plan various types of Bible camps. One is on music, another on Evangelism and another on the Church's social responsibility. Some camps are too far away for our youth. After that meeting four pastors from around here and the director of the hostel in Londrina were at our house for dinner and an afternoon meeting for planning the Bible camps.

Square Dancing at the Leadership School

Londrina, Parana, Brazil

Last week Cliff was gone for three days to a meeting in the Southern part of the state. It was a nine hour drive one way. Each church was to take two representatives. One of our representatives was waiting in a nearby town for Cliff. While he was crossing a street he was hit by a car. Cliff spent the afternoon with him in the hospital. He was taken to the hospital unconscious, but fortunately, the head wounds were not critical and he is recovering with a couple of broken bones.

This Thursday we will have women from neighboring cities and I'm sure there will be a good turnout of our group to hear the wife of the pastor who lived for 27 years in a nearby city of Rolandia and formed most of the churches in this area. Unfortunately, I won't be able to understand it for even though the pastor's wife has been in Brazil for 30 years, she speaks only German. This weekend Cliff has exchanged parishes with a German pastor. They do it once every two months in order have German services in our parish. The pastor and his wife frequently stop here when traveling. Their oldest daughter, almost six, came along this time to play with Rachel.

For one month, Manuel from our church in Londrina, lived with us. He is a 25 year old man who was waiting for a work permit in Germany. He is not of German background. He has spent one year in the State's on scholarship. While here, he helped his sister teach English at the Fisk school. We enjoyed having him with us. His mother is helping care for the missionary children at the the hostel in Campinas.

A few days ago, Cliff was 33 years old. We bought him a shirt a month ago. He acted as if the present were a surprise but later said that Helen had showed him where I had hid it the day it was bought. In spite of getting older and Cliff is much grayer now, we are continuing to be blessed with good health.

When do we get some pictures of your children? These pictures we are sending we made four for each brother and sister, Aunt Martha, two sponsoring churches, for our parents and scrapbooks of ours- it came to over 100 pictures. It certainly comes out much cheaper doing it ourselves and we can blow up the best part of the picture.

Today it was 42 degrees at 7 a.m. and 50 degrees in the house. We heated the kitchen and Joey heats his office. A cold spell usually lasts three to four days. This kitchen has a door on it, leading to a hallway which goes to other rooms. Our other house in Loanda didn't have a door going to the hallway, so we used a bedspread to keep heat in the kitchen.

While making this letter and developing pictures, we caught six mice in the oven- all small. As soon as we got one, we threw it out and used the same bait. Since then, I caught two more and had gotten three big ones on a previous day- total of eleven. They seem to like the oven in the cold weather- the nest must be underneath the grill but we can't find anything.

All for now,

Love,

Donna and Joey

Letter to Marian and Frank, February 5, 1969

2010-12-31T00:39:00.000-08:00

The church in New York where Cliff interned wrote and asked him to find a work of art to be presented at the end of April for churches in the Eastern States that have been promoting missions and that have mission interest. It was hard to find something but Cliff got a primitive art of Jesus and disciples around a triangular table with flowers in the middle. Above them is a curtain with gaudy ribbons to pull the curtain back. The colors are vivid and the painting is simple but we found several things that are meaningful such as a table shape that could signify the Trinity, flowers for the ressurection, and the curtain could represent the sin which separates us from God and the red curtain could signify Jesus's blood which took away our sin, etc. They wanted to spend $50-$80, but it cost $130. Now we are going to wrap it for air mail and hope we can send it or else find an American going there soon.

While at Bible camp, we had a birthday party for 4 children that had birthdays that week. I went to the nearest city and bought things to go with the cake that was made at the camp. One girl was 2, another 5, Charles 5 and Rachel 7 and besides them, two adults and one teenager had birthdays.

Since we got back two weeks ago, we have had someone for dinner almost every day. The first few days other missionaries came through on their way to their homes, then a Brazilian boy from our former parish came here for three days and traveled two days with Cliff when he had services, and other Brazilians, mostly youth, have come on the other days. We had Vacation Bible School here last week with about 26 children. Next week it is in our country church. This week Cliff is gone to another state for meetings on Evangelism. He is near a beach and we could have gone along but I didn't think it would be much fun if the children couldn't be with cliff, as he has meetings all day and in the evening. In two weeks he will be gone for 5 days for Bible camp in Londrina which is the time that many Brazilians celebrate Carnival before Lent starts.

The last two weeks we have been going to a dentist who is our neighbor. Cliff had most work done- one tooth had an abscess and had been hurting but most dentists were on vacation. Rachel and Charles had their teeth coated with fluoride. I had some work done and Charles had two large and two small cavities. In the States, Charles was given medicine to make him sleepy so here he almost didn't let the dentist work but with medicine on the gums he didn't feel the shots but it was hard to convince him of this.

Rachel starts Brazilian school in two weeks and we will continue with Calvert for English. For her school she needs a white duster to wear over her clothes so that all the children will be dressed alike- some schools use uniforms. In August, we were told the American School plans to have second grade so we can send her then. During vacation we have gotten some library books from the American School.

It is still very hot- 90 to 95 every day, but I have started to think of winter clothes as May last year was our coldest month. I have taken apart some of my skirts that haven't been used for years and am having them made for slacks for the girls. The many dresses we brought along for the girls are out of style for they don't use dresses with full skirts that tie in the back and for this hot weather, straight dresses are cooler but with material from full skirts, dresses can be made.

I read in the newspaper from my hometown that a girl who I at times babysat for when I was in high school, was elected as one of the representatives of the Lutheran Church of America for a meeting to be held in Brazil in 1970 of the Lutheran World Federation. We hope that she will be able to visit us in our home.

We have given three male puppies away but have Luci, a white female and the mother. Last week, a friend of Rachel's gave us a kitten but it doesn't like the dogs and has had to be rescued from a tree, the roof, and inside the attic of a bedroom.

We got pictures of Ricky and Shannon. When do we get one of Eric and Lisa? We have to try to get some pictures taken soon.

Love,

Donna and Joey

Letter to Lisa, Late 1970's

2010-12-30T23:41:00.000-08:00

Helen with Bobby, late 1970's

Dear Lisa,

Hi! How are you? Rachel is visiting us. You knew that she is studying in Campinas, didn't you? Well, she did anyhow. She brought a friend from Campinas with her, so we are showing her the city!

I'm sorry I didn't write sooner. (hope you forgive me)

Tomorrow is Independence Day, so I don't have school 'til tomorrow.

My birthday was last month.

I have just finished "The Hiding Place". They were in World War II in Holland, where they hid some Jews and went to prison.

Now I am going to school on Rachel's bike. I sold mine to the neighbor who still hasn't payed.

Every Tuesday, I go the the German Folk Dance. I don't have a partner, but I dance with a girl. It's just to learn anyhow.

Rachel has three friends sleeping here. It seems like the room is crowded. Charles had a friend over, too, so we are quite crowded. Rachel is going away today so I already planning a party.

My Mom gave shots to a lady. She's really fat. Goodbye!

Your cousin,

Helen

P.S. Write soon!

Letter to Marian, December 6, 1963

2010-12-30T23:22:00.000-08:00

Christmas Card 1963, Loanda, Brazil

Dear Marian,

Greetings from the hot interior of Brazil. We have been having a terrific hot spell. Rachel has a lot of heat rash. We bought a fan which we appreciate very much even though the electricity goes off at 11 p.m.

My ankles have been swollen which sometimes makes it hard to walk. I had an x-ray which ruled out twins. The baby hasn't been as active as Rachel was so Cliff says we will probably have a boy. If our baby is born here and not in Londrina during the conference, we will have to take our buggy to the hospital for they don't have a nursery. We also have to supply sheets, diapers, blankets, etc. for the baby which is probably just as well for we will know the things will be clean.

We were very shocked when we heard of Jack Kennedy's death. When our neighbors told us I asked if he died of a heart attack. We heard the details from Voice of America. One of our neighbors said that 99% of the people want Brazil's president out of office and they wouldn't be surprised if he were assassinated.

We are going to spend Thanksgiving with the Olsen's in Cianorte, a four hour drive on poor roads, but since it rained for six days before, the roads were unfit for driving. This last week we visited Jack Aamot in Paranavai, a two hour drive from here. When we were there we bought toys for Christmas for Rachel. I gave her some of them now. She especially enjoys the buggy for her doll.

Rachel with Doll, Loanda, Parana, Brazil. 1963

A Baptist couple from England will be moving here in March. they were our back door neighbors for three months in Campinas but we didn't get to know them very well. The lady is very quiet and was sick with morning sickness, thus I hardly got to know her. As of now, we are the only foreigners here. We have visited with a German couple in a neighboring town, Santa Isabel. The wife speaks English quite well but her husband doesn't know any English and since we don't know German, we converse with him in Portuguese. This German couple is strongly Catholic.

We had to buy water for a few days. I was happy to see it was for only a few days for I figured that it would cost $12 a month for our small family. Some of the people in this town have been buying water for months.

Rachel is starting to say words that include two words such as horseshoe, sun suit, watermelon, butterfly, etc. She has learned some new Portuguese words but most are English for she seldom plays with other children. Rachel gave me a scare one day when she fell from the top of the sofa-chair and hit her head hard. When I picked her up, she couldn't breath. I gave her mouth to mouth respiration and she was running around within 5 minutes. I thought she was dying but she probably was unconscious for a few seconds.

"Bye, Bobby..." Rachel in the car.

Andy Olsen's from Cianorte visited us one weekend in November. It was good to see them for we got to know them well when we were in language school together. When they were here, our dog, Bobby, jumped the gate and followed the car about half ways to the neighboring town. We didn't stop for we had just enough time to get to church and I thought he would find his way home but we haven't seen him for three weeks. Rachel still talks about him. We are going to get another dog after conference in January.

Rachel Biel with dog, Bobby, in Loanda, Parana, Brazil

1963

My small women's group in church will be making sacks of goodies for the Christmas program. Many poor children will come. My group of women think Cliff and I should go around and ask stores to give donations and other people such as some Germans who supposedly are Lutherans. We don't agree with their idea and are going to keep it as work done by the church.

I went to the doctor to get my left ear irrigated for i couldn't hear in that ear due to excess ear wax. We have been feeling fine and hope the same is true with you.

Donna ends here, Joey starts here.

I suppose that you'd like to hear a word about our work, too. Right now it doesn't amount to much more than study (language and sermons and preparing Bible studies). Naturally, I have plans for the future which include a lot of visitation and open-air meetings. Right now I feel that preparation is of great importance. This isn't to say that I've done nothing "evangelistic". However, my contacts outside of the already organized work have been limited.

The coming conference in Londrina should be a highly decisive one. The main topic of conversation will probably be about our relationship with the German Lutheran Church of Brasil. They have a critical shortage of pastors and are hampered by the usual diseases of the State Church and of the tensions of a transplanted culture. In this case, they have little regard for reaching the Brazilians, and they try to maintain the German language and customs. The young people, however are rebelling. Doesn't all of this sound just a little familiar, to us in the United States? Watch for developments.

Guess that's it for now. I feel a little like the hypothetical man who was always promising to write more later, and on his dying day called for paper and pencil and scratched, "Sorry I didn't write much before, but MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

Another note from Donna:

We sent slides to our sponsoring church and put Saetersdal on the list so maybe you can see them. We are sending a tape to you folks and hope it gets there for Christmas. One side is mostly of Rachel.

We wrote and asked your parents if they would like to invite a Brazilian girl to their home for a weekend. She is living with missionaries on furlough in Northfield. We know the girl and thought some weekend you could pick her up on your way home. This girl speaks English well and is going to high school in Northfield.

Did you contact the Peterson's at the Seminary? The Landvik's in Northfield said they will bring anything for us when they come in July.

Love,

Donna, Joey, and Rachel

In Memoriam: Otto Tollefson

2010-12-29T09:52:00.000-08:00

Clifford Biel, Otto Tollefson, and Bob Roiko

It was with great sadness that I received the news of Otto Tollefson's passing. Barbara, his wife, sent out the following email:

Dear family and friends –

I am Barbara, the wife of Otto Tollefson. I am using Otto’s e-mail address and list of contacts to communicate the passing of Otto on Friday, December 24th, at 4:55 p.m., at Franciscan Hospice in Tacoma, Washington.

Otto died from colon cancer, just three weeks shy of his 80th birthday. All the children were with their father before his death. He died peacefully, with family surrounding him until his final breath.

You are invited to participate in our celebration of Otto’s life and faithful service to our Lord. There will be a memorial service on Sunday, January 2nd, at 2 p.m., at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church by the Narrows, 6730 North 17th Street; Tacoma, WA 98406.

Address: 11111 Aurora Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98133.

Here is a recent photo of the Tollefson family (minus Dean):

Scott, Helen, Barbara, Otto, Adel and Joel Tollefson

For many years, Otto has been instrumental in keeping the Brazil families connected via email updates. We all knew that if we had something to share, we could send our news to Otto and he would get it out to the rest. Now, many of us have reconnected on facebook, which has been a great tool to have more regular tidbits, photos, and updates.

Otto also edited a book in 1998 about our time in Brazil, "Seed Falling on Good Soil". He requested contributions from the mission families, which together, give a wonderful snapshot of their ministry and of the people whose lives were transformed while they were in Brazil. The text Otto chose for the tone of the book comes from Matthew 13:3,8,23:

"Once there was a man who went out to sow grain... But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants bore grain: some had one hundred grains, others sixty, and others thirty...

And the seeds sown in the good soil stand for those who hear the message and understand it: they bear fruit, some as much as one hundred, others sixty, and others thirty."

The book is still available on Amazon. Click on the photo for more info.

Otto had recently been working for St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Washington. He described his service in his bio:

"The greatest gift I received on my 70th birthday was to officially begin as interim pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. But like “the man who came to dinner” I stayed on! What was expected to be a six month relationship has continued for almost three years. My part-time responsibilities now focus on visitation and teaching adult forums.

The journey from my childhood home in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, began on D-day, June 6, 1944, when our family moved to Seattle. My education included the Seattle Lutheran Bible Institute (now Trinity College), Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, and Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN.

Upon ordination, my wife, Barbara, and I were privileged to be among the first group of missionary families that went to Brazil under the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1958. Our ministry was first in church planting and school administration in a new wild west frontier area, and later in stewardship, evangelism and lay training in a large Lutheran parish in Joinville, Santa Catarina.

On return to the US eighteen years later I served First Lutheran Church, Poulsbo, WA, and then as mission developer of Christ the Servant Lutheran Church, Lacey, WA. Barbara continued with her nursing, piano and church music careers. One of our greatest joys has been our joint ministry as clergy presenting couple with International Lutheran Marriage Encounter.

We treasure our ties with people in Norway through our heritage, with Brazil through our ministry, and Scandinavian and Eastern European counties through LME and seminars we’ve given. We have five adult children and ten granddaughters. My ‘occupational therapy’ time is given to flower and vegetable gardening, reading John Grisham’s novels and Ann Rule’s true crime stories, and cheering on the Mariners."

My father was one of the tallest of the missionaries and Otto was one of the shortest, as seen in the first photo, taken in the early 1960's. Of course, this was always a joke at missionary reunions. But, the Tollefson family made its impression on my young mind for a much more important reason: Barbara saved my life!

We were at a mission retreat in Camboriu, Santa Catarina, at the ocean front. Most of the pastor's and wives were meeting in sessions up a hill, removed from the beach. A couple of the wives were watching us kids as we played in the water and sand. The day before we had been able to wade quite a distance out into the ocean, but there had been a storm during the night and the undercurrent was powerful and great rifts had been made in the sand, under the waves. I was around 12 or 13 at the time (1974?) If I remember correctly, I was standing in the water with Kathy Fedde and Ruth Foehringer. I felt a huge undercurrent start pulling us out, so I pushed Kathy to Ruthie, who pulled her out while I was sucked away.

Someone ran up to the meeting and everybody came rushing out. My father doesn't swim (and hates the ocean) and he started throwing logs that were on the beach out into the water, hoping that I could grab on to one of them. Pastor Charles Eidum swam out to me and grabbed me. I had been pushed down repeatedly, with violence, by big waves that were crashing down on me. I remember feeling a calm certainty that I would soon die. Chuck Eidam pulled me in about half way, but then he started to succumb to the waves as well. Barbara Tollefson had life saving experience and she charged in, storming through the waves and pulled both of us out. There can be a lot of power wrapped up in those small packages! (She is short, too...)

I sat on the beach, recovering my breath, everybody relieved that all of us were still alive. My brother, Charles, sat down next to me, looked at how white I was from fear and said, "Boy, you sure have a lot of freckles!"

The old guard is passing on and we are sorry to see them go. Otto certainly planted his seeds on fertile soil. His work and dedication will be remembered by many and will continue to produce fruit. Those of us who have had the honor of knowing him and his family certainly will continue to carry a piece of him on with us in our journeys.

My heartfelt sympathies go to the Tollefson family.
Que Deus esteja contigo!

Note: Please feel free to leave comments about Otto or his family here. Click on "Comments/Comentarios" below and a box will open up where you can write...

Letter to Marian and Frank, September 22, 1968

2010-12-24T23:21:00.000-08:00

This last week the weather was very variable. On Monday, it was cool- 58 in the morning and in the house. By Thursday afternoon it was hot and stuffy, 90 in the house and outside, then it rained and back to 56 again in the morning and 75 in the afternoon. Actually, I prefer the cooler weather as hot weather makes me tired. Next month we go on daylight savings time.

We have two boys staying with us for another two or three weeks until houseparents come from the States for the hostel. They are gone most of the day. The seven year old enjoys playing with Rachel and Charles and the 11 year old likes to read books.

Rachel and Charles go to nursery school in the morning until the summer vacation comes in December. Now Charles can speak Portuguese much better and always is playing with someone while I teach Rachel. Helen plays many mornings with a four year old girl from our church. Helen has learned a lot of Portuguese, too. I'm amazed at all of the things that she can say. When people come for church, Helen shakes hands with them and says, "Good morning" in Portuguese. As yet, I haven't gotten her toilet trained but now with warmer weather I hope to have it done soon but she loves to play outside all day long.

I certainly have enjoyed the navy blue blouse you gave me for Christmas. I have one skirt I wear it with and hand another skirt made that also goes with it, from a skirt that you gave me. I had a blue lace dress made to go to a neighbor's 15th birthday part. Fifteen here is considered the year for debutante. The party we went to was more elaborate than any wedding I've been to. We didn't stay for the dance which started at 1 am and finished at 3:30 am. I plan to use the lace dress for weddings in the church.

Donna Biel in her blue lace dress.

Joey was gone from Monday until Thursday of this week for a mission meeting. Gloria Grant stayed with me as she didn't want to stay alone and her five boys are at the hostel in Campinas. We seldom see Joey on weekends as he has three services on Saturday and three on Sunday. He has been trying to visit the members plus spent a week three weeks ago in Cianorte at a Bible School teaching the students. I have learned to drive the church's jeep and use it for taking Rachel and Charles to and from school and for getting groceries.

To raise money for the church, the women are embroidering aprons, pillow cases, dresser tops, tablecloths, etc. I'm doing a pillow case. In November they will sell everything and at the same time serve cakes which one can buy. Another thing to get ready for is the last Sunday in October. Our women's group will have women from nearby cities here for a day while we have two guest speakers. One speaker will speak to the older women in German and the other will speak in Portuguese. We will have to feed the women that day but the speaker suggested making soup with potatoes, macaroni, meat, vegetables so not much time would be needed for preparation.

Women from our church in Maringa, 1970's

If we decide to apply for a three month furlough after three years, we have to apply by March of 1970. It would be June to September in 1971 so it wouldn't interfere with the children's education.

Greetings to Rosie and Louie, Cynthia and Nels for I have to write to our parents yet. It seems like Joey doesn't have much time for writing and it is getting harder for me to do it. Tell Rosie Rachel has worn her dress from the wedding almost every Sunday.

We hope all is going well for you. I wrote to Mary to get you a present from us so hope you get something you need.

Love,

Donna and Joey

Letter to Marian, December 9, 1968

2010-12-24T20:42:00.000-08:00

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. She returned them in 2010. Most are recorded here. They were not entered chronologically. The best way to sort through them is to use the index on the sidebar and view them by year.

Dear Marian and Frank,

Thanksgiving has come and gone and soon Christmas will be here. This year we celebrated Thanksgiving twice. We were in Cianorte the day before Thanksgiving and seven families were present. There were few children as most were in the hostel for school. We had turkey for the first time since we have been in Brazil. We didn't have a long visit as it had been raining and started again on our way home. We almost spent the night on the road as it was terribly slippery. I took us two hours to go 22 miles until we got to the tarred road. The other dinner was here in Maringa with about 60 present- 2 Baptist families, 2 Methodist, about 7 from the United Missionary Society and us. After dinner the school children gave a program. Both dinners were pot luck. I made 5 pumpkin pies and salad.

Our church held its annual fund raising drive the 24th of November. Some of the men came here three days before and made wooden benches, tables and put up canvas on top for shade. The women had a bazaar of embroidered pillowcases, aprons, tablecloths, and little girls' clothes. Women made potato salad for dinner and steaks were barbecued by the men. In the afternoon, cakes were sold. We ended up throwing some potato salad away and cakes were sold very cheap to get rid of them as the attendance was poor. It was a lot of work plus very hot in the days of preparation and the day of occasion. It was a lot of work, but the fun and fellowship- and the profit made it all worthwhile. One of our missionaries told of his church which prepared 170 chickens and 3 steaks and had 65 chickens left and many steaks.

On the day of our bazaar, Rachel woke me up at 1 a.m. to tell me that Velvet, our dog, was having puppies under her bed. I thought the gestation period was 3 months instead of 55 days so thought we had premature puppies. There are 3 male and 1 female. They are mostly white with a little black on them and have a smooth fur- the mother is part poodle and all black. The children are delighted to have puppies around. We have an empty bedroom upstairs where they stay but at times Velvet moves them under Rachel's bed.

Rachel and Charles's baner-ha school had a bazaar for which I baked 9 duz. cookies and gave 2 aprons from our bazaar. Rachel is having graduation on the 19th of this month from kindergarten. She is over half-way done in first grade Calvert. Rachel is doing very well in school. On most tests in this course she has gotten 100. She loves to read and reads her books to Charles. We plan to send her to Brazilian first grade in February. In August we hope the mission school here will have second grade. Charles didn't get many stars for good behavior at nursery school. He was the youngest one there and even though he couldn't sit still for long he has learned some songs. While I teach Rachel Calvert in the afternoon he plays next door with a 4 year old boy and gets along well with him. Helen is starting the "why" age. She has several little friends that she plays with and older girls like to take her for a walk.

For Christmas we are expecting the Dahlen family. They are in our language school. I helped her shop in early march while our husbands were at a conference. They have a girl Rachel's age and Charles age- a boy. She will stay with me while her husband visits other mission homes which can only be reached by dirt roads and she doesn't want to go with due to arrival of a baby in February.

The middle of January we are going to a Bible camp about an 11 hour drive from here. Other families enjoyed it while we were here on furlough. All of our missionaries should be there and it will be the only time we get to see several of the families.

Once a month Cliff goes to where we lived before (Loanda) and serves 3 other places, too. The farthest is a 4 hour drive from here. When he goes, we won't have church services here. Due to his traveling or having church services in the morning once a month in our country church, I give Confirmation two or three times out of four in the month. It is held at the same time as Sunday School. the youth in our country church and one here are planning to present a play for Christmas. The Sunday School will have some poems and sing, our adult choir will sing two hymns and the same for the youth.

The end of October we had a one day women's retreat. Women came from several cities nearby and from our country church. In all we had 75. Our women's group made chicken-rice soup for dinner and cakes for coffee in the afternoon. Dona Ana from Curitiba was our speaker. We discussed the ecumenical movement and evangelism in our church. We divided into two groups- one German (led by a pastor's wife who is from Germany) and I led one of the two Portuguese groups. The points discussed are to be sent to Switzerland in preparation for study of the Lutheran World Federation to be held in Brazil in 1970. We think the study could have been more profitable had we been able to discuss this in each church before this meeting and leaders would have been better prepared for the discussion groups.

Since there is summer vacation from school now until the middle of February, we are planning to have a week of Vacation Bible School in the city and another in our country church. VBS was held in July for the first time in these congregations and enjoyed very much by all.

We had some very hot weather- 98 to 100, but now it is cooler at 85 to 88. We have had very little rain which has been bad for the crops. Some larger cities have had to ration water but thankfully, we have plenty of water.

Pete and Elna Mathiesen

Karen, Mark, Kristine and Paul

(courtesy Karen Mathiesen)

We continue to have many guests- example this week- the family of the German missionary who lives in a neighboring town, an intern from a seminary in the U.S. who spent 16 months in church in Curitiba, and Mathiason's from Cianorte. We enjoy the visits for we seldom had them in Loanda. I have a good helper so the extra company isn't more than we can handle. The lady who helps me now is married and a sister to the last one I had who left to get married.

We wish you a Blessed Christmas and happiness for the New Year.

Love,

Donna and Joey

The day Rachel printed her letter to you she was mad at her friend Lillian and wouldn't put her name down. Charles started coloring the picture. Each stripe on the shirt is a different color and the girl has purple hair. I will try to send it later. How does Lisa like Erik? Is he as good as she is? Your son arrived on Brasil's day of Independence and Grandma Biel's birthday.

Letter to Marian and Frank, March 30, 1968

2010-12-24T17:09:00.000-08:00

Biels in 1968

While Cliff was at the conference in Londrina, the Children and I stayed in Campinas. I helped two new families- one that came three days before the conference started. They have a boy Charles's age and a girl Rachel's age, so they enjoyed playing with each other. I helped enroll the boy in a Brazilian nursery school. Rachel and Charles went for a week and thought it was fun. The teacher speaks English as well as Portuguese. Twice I took Joan Dahlen to an open market to buy fruits and vegetables, to a store to buy food and once downtown by bus to go shopping. We did a lot of walking and got sunburned.

Cliff was gone for six days. When he came back, Helen just looked and looked at him, almost as if she had forgotten him. The new houseparents, Aarsvolds, from Kassen, Minnesota, were at the conference, too. We visited with them the evening before we left Campinas. They are adjusting very well.

We didn't have any difficulty coming through customs. The day we landed was the biggest day of Carnaval. None of our suitcases were opened. We are missing our cartridge tape recorder and Japanese camera that we had in a briefcase on the plane. We couldn't lock the briefcase and should have taken these things out of it and taken them to our seat. We wrote to the pastor in Brooklyn, New York, to see if we had left those things at his house and received an answer that we didn't leave them there.

From Campinas we had a two hour bus ride to Sao Paulo where we got a plane to Londrina which was a 3 hr. flight. In Londrina, Cliff hired a truck to take the things we had stored there. While in Londrina I visited two missionary families there. The children and I were in Londrina for two days, then Cliff came back to get us and we went on a two hour bus ride to Maringa where we are living.

We got to our home on the 14th, late in the afternoon. One day Cliff went to Loanda to get film strips, flannel-graph, and a projector that was there. It was a three hour trip from here, one way. We had been here ten days when he took off for Cianorte- two hours from here by jeep to teach for a week at the Bible School. After the school was over, he went to Campo Mourao, 2 hours from here and will have two services today and two tomorrow before he comes here for an evening service. He will be serving these other churches once a month for six months while the pastor is in Germany on furlough.

Last night, I went to a baby shower for a teacher of the United Missioner Society. There are five families living here from that mission. A Southern Baptist couple who live four blocks from us and the American wife of a Brazilian doctor were at this party. I had a nice time getting acquainted with these people. They have a school for missionary children with about 25 students. We hope Rachel will go there to first grade in September but we don't know yet if they will have first grade. There are several first grade age children but they don't live in this city and sometimes parents teach them the first year through Calvert which I may have to do.

Letter ends here.

Letter to Marian and Frank, May 9, 1968

2010-12-24T16:26:00.000-08:00

Donna Biel at a farm in Brazil.

Our barrels, gas dryer, sewing machine, etc. arrived in good condition. Rachel and Charles were thrilled to get their toys as they have been packed since the end of January. Boys in the neighborhood think the wagon is wonderful. I spent one day separating things and putting each person's clothes in a separate barrel. I have been doing some mending on the sewing machine.

Starting last Thursday, a girl from our church that is working in a doctor's office started living with us. We had an empty bedroom and she has her own bedroom furniture. She plans to stay here four months and then she will be married. She does the supper dishes and pays about $9 dollars a month for food. If we decide to go to a movie or visiting she will babysit.

Now I have a good helper who comes every day and stays until 5:30 and on Sundays until 3:00. We pay her twenty dollars a month but she eats well and only weighs about 90 lbs. She is 20 years old and had worked for five years in Sao Paulo. I will need a good helper as it looks like the American school here will not have first grade so I will teach by Calvert.

The children and I went with Cliff to work in the rural areas. One Saturday he had two services. One was a wedding. The kids were somewhat disgusted with the horrible roads. On that trip, I got about 25 bites on each leg from a mosquito that lives near a river. My legs swelled up and itching was terrible but this was taken care of by antihistamine medicine.

Unpaved roads in Brazil in the 1960's

Friday we were gone all day to different farm homes. Charles fell off a wall and on to cement where coffee beans were drying. He scraped his nose and forehead and has big scabs but we were glad he wasn't hurt worse.

Clifford Biel at a Brazilian farm in the 1960's

The farm homes that we were at were nice. These families live about 12 miles from here, half of the way on country roads, but they come here to church. Sunday we went to other rural areas where he usually has service twice a month. The roads are better than at the other rural areas but when it rains hard he doesn't go as it is too hard on the jeep and several don't have cars. It was interesting to see where Cliff goes but three little children who aren't quiet in church has made me decide not to go again except for Bible study once a month in the largest area. In the rural areas the women preferred to speak German amongst themselves. Sunday Cliff will be officially installed by a pastor from Curitiba representing the German church of Brazil. A choir of 25 is singing for the occasion. I hope they will continue to sing every Sunday. In the afternoon, the women are having a tea for Mother's Day. Cliff has started a Wednesday service with Bible Study and a film but so far the attendance has been poor.

Rural Congregations in 1960's Brazil:

We bought linoleum for the kitchen. It is pretty. The other day parts of it had paint eaten away when we gave our sink a lye treatment. I was cleaning with rubber gloves and the pail was accidentally spilled. Now we will move the rug so the spots won't be so noticeable. We were surprised to see that a wall of the living room was removable in three parts. Now we have a dining room.

Thanks for your card, Frank. We were shocked to hear of Martin Luther King's death and yet I suppose it could have been expected even earlier. We don't get the Time Magazine now but Andy Olsen's sent us a Newsweek on King's death. We are waiting to see who will win the nominations for Presidential candidates. Frankly, I can't see Bobby Kennedy as President but he seems to be popular.

Tomorrow our city celebrates its 21st birthday. There is a parade and it's a holiday for this community. The governor comes to dedicate some new buildings. The Japanese ambassador will be here and a Brazilian marine band that took second place in the U.S. at a band exhibition.

Helen kissing the Brazilian flag at the parade.

Are your plans any more definite about moving? How are you feeling, Marian? Harvey wrote that Lisa has to have supports in her shoes due to poor arches. I'm not surprised for her feet turned outwards. Will she outgrow this or always need arch supports?

Helen is quite a talker now- says short sentences. "Shut the door, it is mine." She says Jesus, jelly, butter, etc. She misses Rachel and Charles when they are at school 8am-11am, then she sleeps in the afternoon, so she doesn't play with them much until epm.

I went to the delivery room with the American teacher at the American School. I helped her translate as her Portuguese is more limited than mine. It was her first baby- total labor and delivery time was less than four hours.

Hope we get a nice long letter from you soon.

Love,

Donna and Joey

Letter to Marian and Frank, November 29, 1966

2010-12-24T13:43:00.000-08:00

Clifford Biel, Charles and Rachel

1966

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. She returned them in 2010. Most are recorded here.

Dear Marian and Frank,

Baby Lisa

Well, Nels was right. He said you would have a girl and waht a big one! We were glad to hear that everything went well. You certainly were fortunate to find enough money to get tot the hospital. What an experience! I like the name Lisa- one of the missionaries has a girl named Lisa. I agree with you as to delivery without pain- so far, Rachel's was the easiest- I had Demerol. In February, my sister, Olive, had had boy without pain but my deliveries have been too difficult to go without a hypo.

I hope you don't get discouraged and give up on breast feeding for when you give cereal and soon food, she will be content. I am still breast feeding Helen. Now she is a cheerful and smiling baby but in the first 2 months she had a lot of gas pains. She still wakes up to be fed at night. At 3 months, Helen weighed 15 lbs. Since we don't have baby food, she doesn't get more than cereal- occasionally, with egg yolk in it, bananas, and sometimes carrots. When she turned 3 months old she started turning from the back to her abdomen. She likes to sit in the corner of the sofa chair. When we talk to her she coos and coos.

You must have lost all of your weight gain since Lisa weighed 9 lbs. Did Cynthia lose all of the weight she had gained? She wrote that the doctor said she is in good physical condition. Hope they will have a baby soon.

We will find out in January when we will go on furlough. I wrote that we could go home early but the earliest would be March and probably won't be until July. We are anxious to see everyone. When Louie and Rosie get married I hope that we can have a family picture taken to keep on our dresser. Louie to be transferred about now. To where will he go?

Louie and Rosie's wedding photos,

which did indeed, sit on my Mom's dresser for years.

This last week we spent in Paranavai where Joey helped with special services which had films. The Olsen's go home when we do but they decided not to come back due to their adopted children. Three have Indian blood. Here adoption is frowned on and they think that heredity is stronger than the environment and that Olsen's girls could become prostitutes later in life. Here couples who are childless usually remain that way.

Sharon and Randy

Native American children adopted by Ardys and Andy Olsen

Our house was sprayed by government employees for the first time. It is to kill a bug that looks something like a cockroach and transmits a disease called chagas disease. It affects the heart and a person lives to 2 to 3 years after he is bitten. This is common in Northern Brazil, but I haven't seen the bug here.

Helen has already had the typhoid vaccine. Ardys Olsen brought oral vaccines from Sao Paulo. There were many cases of typhoid in Paranavai- 3 cases here and 2 deaths. Helen just had her firs polio shot- there is an oral one here, too. The 4i n 1 shot is hard to get here but the doctor says that if it is given, the whooping cough vaccine isn't as strong. And since many children have whooping cough here I am going to give the 3 in 1.

Same technique Dad was using.

We have some 4-H books that a friend of mine sent. She is working for the State of Oregon and was a college roommate. Joey made a beautiful design from the cover of two cans and in the center put a picture of himself, Rachel and Charles. The lid is cut into many sections and then with pliers he curled the strips and bent some in other directions. He also made bells and plans to make angels.

Rachel and Charles talk about Auntie Marian all the time- saying Auntie Marian gave me this or that. I don't know if you will be able to stand them for very long- they are such live wires- both extroverts and talk continuously. I told Rachel I wished she was a radio so that I could shut her off sometimes. You will be anxiously waiting to have Lisa start talking but when they come to the question age it is hard on one's patience.

Charles and Rachel with Bobby

We are having a heat spell. I'm glad we don't have water shortages as some of our neighbors do. Poor Helen has had a cold for a week. It is windy in the morning but hot and stuffy in the afternoon and evening. It is hard to get into the Christmas mood.

Our children are always so dirty and clothes soon get holes in them from scrubbing. I'm looking forward to seeing them clean.

Love,

Donna and Joey

Letter to Marian and Frank, October 24, 1966

2010-12-24T11:46:00.000-08:00

In our front yard, Loanda, 1966.

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. She returned them in 2010. Most are recorded here.

Dear Marian and Frank-

Here I thought we were getting news of the arrival of your little one. It is good to hear tht you have been feeling fine.

It's apparent you didn't get the letter I wrote answering your questions. I sent it a few days before we got a letter from you saying you had changed your address, but I had hoped it would be forwarded to you. I wrote that you shouldn't send us anything unless you want to send more candy. For one thing, custom duty is too high and we will be ready to go on furlough by the time it gets to us. We don't want to get new clothes until we are in the U.s. for we are limited to certain weight on the plane. We have given a lot of old clothes away to the poor. There is a possibility that we may be home before July- we will know at a conference in January. It is certain that this station will be closed so we could go in February but Joey has to teach 2 weeks in Bible School in Cianorte which starts in March so we may be here until April or July. The reason I think we may go home early is that next year there will be nine families to go and some will have to go earlier than others to spread out mission expense and not to leave so many churches vacant. So who knows? We may see you before you go to Europe.

In the other letter, I wrote that I had read "Bloody Morning" and enjoyed it. It tells about the Hungarian revolution. Last night we heard that it was the 10th Anniversary since the revolution started. We think the embroidered things that you sent are lovely. Someday I would like to hear of Frank's experiences when he left Hungary.

In the other letter I had thanked you for the presents you sent. Charles likes to bang on things with his plastic hammer. Today Joey was working on his car. Charles took some of Joey's tools and was banging on his tricycle (my car, he says). Rachel is forever taking some of Helen's clothes to put on the doll you gave her. I gave her booties, a cap, and a couple things that are too small for Helen to use. The necktie you sent is about the only one Joey uses and I use the half slip all the time.

This month has been lonely for Joey has been traveling. He was gone one week to Umuarama, where special services were held in a tent. Joey was the technician, so to speak, for he used his motor to show films as the town doesn't have any lights. The following week he was here and Andy Olsen from Paranavai was special speaker at services held here. Beautiful films that came from the U.S. in August were shown every night. Films were shown outside and attendance was good bus, as usual, hardly any new ones come to services that are held regularly. Last week, Joey and Andy went to a town 2 hours from Paranavai for the same film and service campaign. It is a German community which Andy serves. Tomorrow Andy comes here and they go for four days to a town one hour from here. They both serve this German church but many members are spiritually dead so they are praying for a revival. All of this has left Joey with slight liver trouple and upset stomach, but after a day of rest he is better. Charles was so thrilled to see Joey the first week after he was gone that he couldn't say anything but laughed and laughed.

Loanda, 1966 with Bobby

Our dog had a cut on a a leg that got inflamed with bugs. Joey put medicine on it twice and that apparently killed the bugs for after a week of hardly eating anything and staying in the hole under our tool shed, Bobby now is barking as usual.

Rachel is super active and always into something. One day she dumped out my perfume and filled the bottle with water to use in her playhouse. She and Charles fight from morning until night. If Helen turns out to be like them, I will be grey soon. People can't believe Rachel is four because she is the size of three 8 year old girls on this street. She weighs 46 lbs. and Charles is a chunk, too- weighing 35 lbs.

Helen at 2 months weighed 13 lbs 4 ozs. Quite a fattie! Besides breast feeding, she has cereal twice a day and sometimes a banana. It is quite a chore to make baby food as there isn't anything available except in large cities and then it is only soup or bananas. She doesn't have a tummy ache much anymore. Since 3 weeks old she has been smiling and now laughs out loud. Rachel likes to hold her and Charles gets upset if I let her cry for more than a minute. He calls her "my baby" and refers to her as "he".

Are you going to breast feed? It is nice that one can eat a lot and not gain weight. I am at my normal weight now. The biggest disadvantage is that whenever I go out for any length of time I have to take her along to feed her but it is nice not to have bottles to wash and prepare.

One hears such sad stories. A young woman who had eight children (one every year) discovered she was pregnant again. The baby is 4 months old. This lady put a stick up inter her uterus to try to have an abortion. A piece of the stick broke off and lodged there. She died of tetanus. Many babies die of tetanus because the mid-wife or whoever delivers the baby don't tie the cord with an antiseptic string. As yet there aren't any planned parent clinics. The middle and upper class use pills.

The doctor, who is good and very nice, was with me most of the time I was in the delivery room. He took fetal heart tones just four times in nine hours before delivery. The "nurses" here aren't trained to do much but they are good at giving shots. Blood pressure was never checked nor flow of blood (except right after delivery I was given a shot for hemorrhage) and on the second day when I told the doctor I was passing large clots he took my blood pressure. Blood flow didn't stop until two months- with Rachel and Charles it was three weeks.

Love, Donna

Notes along the side of the letter:

We are getting excited about going on furlough soon. Rachel is anxious to go to kindergarten. The children want to ride on a tractor with Grandpa and think it is great there are many farms to visit.

Louie Biel

We were surprised that Louie has already joined the Catholic church. If only he could see how corrupt that church is here and pagan like with their processions. Rarely does one meet a Catholic who reads the Bible or who knows anything about what it in the Bible.

Letter from Donna, February 25, 1972

2010-12-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

Helen leaning against the church.

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. She recently returned them. The most interesting parts are recorded here. This one was written on the back of a letter my father wrote.

The pillows are very cute. Helen thought it funny that her pillow has a little pillow. They will look nice on their beds. They didn't have anything on their beds for decorative purposes. I take it from the two different sizes of panties that you didn't know what would fit. The smallest one fits. I lost the 10 lbs. I had gained on furlough. I should try to lose more but haven't tried.

... If we go on our two month furlough next year we are thinking of doing what Gaylord Grant did. With money that it would cost to fly Miami-Mpls, they bought a used car, went through Kennedy Space Center and did other sight seeing. If we do this we could visit sponsoring churches in N.C. and Ohio plus visit you on our way to Minnesota. I think we should plan on staying three weeks so we don't lose much time traveling back and forth. We have asked for Mid-June to Mid-august. That way the children won't miss much, if any school.

Helen had dilation of the urethra the 1st of February. She stayed one day in the hospital with a catheter in. I'm happy to be able to write that since then she hasn't had anymore wetting in the day time but still wears diapers at night. Helen was sick a week ago with an infection of the larynx. She had a high fever but with medication she was soon well again. Next week she goes back to the Brazilian kindergarten after a 2 month vacation.

I have received the Calvert Correspondence course for Helen for 1st Grade. One of our missionary families was going to use it but they are resigning due to health problems. This course is the same one I used for 1st grade for Rachel. I have showed Helen many of the letters and how they are printed but she doesn't know the names of the letters. Rachel and Charles will continue at the small American School in August. Charles will continue to be the only one in his grade.

Their newest pet is Duchess, a lovely half grown kitten that is white except for black tail, ears, and one spot on her back. Charles is already planning on kittens and hopes the father will be our male cat, Blackie.

Dutchess and her kittens.

The past two weeks we have had almost continuous rain- either fine drizzle or cloud burst. The ceilings have started to get moldy plus shoes we don't use often. We had a cool summer with a lot of rain in December. Some say it hasn't rained this much in 20 years.

The next page is a note from Rachel

Dear Auntie Marian,

How are you? I am fine.

Thank you for the present and candy. I got a bike for Christmas. I also got a bracelet. How was your Christmas? Ours was nice except for the afternoon. I was trying to ride my bike and BANG (big shaky block letters) into the tree I went. I couldn't walk well for three weeks. On vacation we had Vacation Bible School and I cut my hair. Helen has her hair cut short also.

Well, I guess that's all so good-bye and thank you again.

Love, Rachel

P.S. The candy is very good.

Letter from Cliff, February 2, 1972

2010-12-24T09:33:00.000-08:00

Cliff and Donna Biel, Early 1970's

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. She recently returned them. The most interesting parts are recorded here. This one is from my father.

Dear Marian + Frank:

Hello to you, too! And happy new year! We got your packages today- thank you! All that candy- what a blow below the belt! You hit me in my weak spot: the mouth.

I just couldn't get handles on a Christmas letter this year, but Donna did, bless her. She's been upset though, not hearing from anybody on her side of the family and almost nobody on ours.

We just had our Carnaval Bible Camp- went really well in spite of the rain every day. In our room there were about 15 mattresses scattered on the floor, so close they were almost one bed. (Did I say mattresses? Rather, lumpy, slightly damp, holey, smelly old straw ticks). But that was only for sleeping.

Donna just left to go visiting. She and one or two of the ladies are going to new prospects to or to old hard-cases (women all) and making visits and they're having a good effect.

I'm going every night now except Monday to a different place for special services.

An interesting case stopped by the other day- an oldish German who was operated on for cancer of the larynx but they didn't get it all. He was on his way in to Rio to see if he could get free cobalt treatment. We "talked" quite a bit.

His story: POW in Siberia from 1945 to 1953, released in '54, he came to Brazil. His family was all killed during the war. Why POW so long? He was a member of the SS- Tank division (Konigtiger), 52 tons.

Anyway, I believed him, gave him passage to Rio, a Bible (in German).

Then a little later a drunk came by. "Jesus brought me here", he said. So I asked him if he was an evangelical and he said yes, but separated from the Assembly of God by Vice of Drinking. "But, when I fell, it wasn't my fault", he said. So as soon as he said that, I knew he was just wasting time. So I gave him directions to the Assembly church and he lurked off: in the opposite direction.

How's your family? We're all fine here.

We bought an old, used piano for Rachel to start taking lessons. The teacher comes for half an hour, three times a week. The piano, bought from a Canadian family, cost- get this- $460.00. New it would cost around a thousand. That's one thing I like about Brasil: old things still maintain their value.

Possibly, we'll be home in '73 for a 2 month visit. Our mission has a new option for missionaries called 22-2, twenty-two months service, two months furlough. We won't know for a while if it goes through or not (our application).

Rachel and Charles ride their bikes to school now. Charles tripped over (by our street corner) the other day- came yelling home. "My head, my head!" "Ehhh!" Couldn't find the lump. "Ai My arm's broken!" Next day after school, "Ai, My arm's not broken but it's out of joint!" He gets beside himself, magnifies.

Guess this is it for now,

Bye,

Joey

Letter to Marian and Frank, February 15, 1970

2010-12-23T22:40:00.000-08:00

Mom Holding Helen

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. She recently returned them. The most interesting parts are recorded here.

Dear Marian and Frank,

We got your lovely Valentine cards and letter three days ago. The children were delighted to get the cards and Rachel read and understood all her letter.

I had planned to write you the day your letter came, but then a lady came to our house at 7Pm from our congregation who has been in a mental hospital many times. She was hysterical and I listened to her until Joey came at 10:30. He is gone most evenings during Lent to different points in our parish. This lady stayed overnight. I listened to her for two more hours while Joey talked to the family. The 18 year old daughter had a fight with this lady and bit her, pulled her hair plus kicked her. The family wanted her to stay with us for a few days but she decided to face the music and go home. I would have been a nervous wreck if she stayed as Joey is gone today and yesterday was coming home at night. I feel sorry for for this family for the lady said she wouldn't stay anymore but go back to her father but she has a 9 year old son to think of. The daughter needs psychiatric care, too. Anyway, after this I felt I needed to relax.

I have a Reader's Digest Condensed stories book and enjoyed "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck. We got a book from the States- a paperback which we enjoyed very much. It is called "Smuggler for God" by Brother Andrew. A Dutchman who with his co-laborers is smuggling Bibles into communist countries and as yet, haven't been caught. Only in Albania and China were the people not interested in Bibles. He has been to Cuba and planned to go to North Vietnam and North Korea. He ends the book by saying all may be ambassadors of Christ when they travel abroad by carrying New Testaments of that country and leaving it somewhere as someone would want it but yet, I think this could be dangerous.

We hadn't heard- Are you planning on going to Hungary this year? You didn't mention if you work 5 days a week and what hours? 5 to 11 pm?

We hadn't realized that you were doing repair work on the house or that Louie was doing it. I'm sure you are enjoying being in your own house and being able to do to it whatever you like to do.

I'm going to try to get a map sent to you this week. They aren't expensive so consider it a present. I think I will send a map to the other brothers and sisters and perhaps they will be more interested in writing. ...

Does Lisa go to private or public nursery school? Here they have to be 3.5 years. I think Helen will go when she is 4. She went for two weeks in November but didn't listen much. We pay $5 a month for the school. There is a nearby public nursery but it is small and hasn't any openings. Helen seems to get into everything. I have to put my purse up high as she took money out twice and bought ice cream. She came back with change but I don't know if it was right as I didn't know how much she took. We have ice cream carts, cotton candy, and colored ice carts going by the house all day. A couple of days ago one of her friends cut off a big chunk of her hair- now she will have to use pixie hair style.

You asked about Valentine's Day. It is celebrated here in June, however, they don't have cards like we do to give on that day.

Tuesday Rachel starts back to school after two months of summer vacation. She has been living at the neighbors house, a Japanese girl and has been disobedient- not coming home after we call her several times so she has to stay home for a week. Yesterday we went to a good circus here. I told Rachel not to take her doll along but she hid it and took it along- then when the circus was over, she forgot it and it was stolen when we went back. Now she has to wait until Christmas before we buy her another one. She says she will listen to me now but I wonder.

Rachel learning how to ride a bike.

Charles enjoys the bike he got for Christmas. At times, Joey goes riding with him on his bike. Rachel has tried to ride it but can't yet. She is good at swimming and Charles is afraid of the water which goes past his waist. Charles is soon going to start kindergarten with me. He knows how to print many letters but doesn't know the name of the letters. In August, he will start first grade at the small mission school.

We had some sweltering weather 96-98 degrees every day but lately it has been raining and pleasant, in the low 80's.

When we get the books you sent, we will let you know. We found some books for Rachel in English at a a Christian bookstore in Campinas. We have sent for Child Craft Encyclopedia and when they come we will get a bookcase set up in their bedroom. One book we got for us at that bookstore which was published in England is "War of the Worlds" by Aldus Huxley. amazing when you think he wrote it before people were using automobiles.

Feb 17th

I got 3 maps sent today to your address. One is for Cynthia and Nels and the other for Louie and Rosie. I sent them by ship which takes 2 to 3 months. The maps are huge and it will show you how large Brazil is. More maps................. (a page must be lost...)

Letter to Marian, February 22, 1973

2010-12-23T21:04:00.000-08:00

Passport photo, Early 1970's

Aunt Marian

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. She recently returned them. The most interesting parts are recorded here.

Dear Marian, Frank, Lisa and Eric,

Yesterday your package arrived. It is quite nice getting presents after Christmas for everyone seems to enjoy or appreciate them more. Rachel and Helen were thrilled with their music boxes. At supper time we had enjoyable music. Rachel can hardly wait to start her cat paintings. Charles was busy shooting his gun and getting his games ready to play with Joey and I experimented the candy. The calendar is hanging in the kitchen- it is lovely and the sachet has already made my clothes smell better. The tie will go very well with a new suit Joey had made a year ago. We had a Crazy Eight card game that got lost so the game was familiar. I showed Helen and two of her friends how to play it. The other one will have to wait a bit until Helen learns to read better.

I suppose by now you have another son or daughter. We are anxiously awaiting the news. You sent your letter to Loanda and it was forwarded to Maringa. Our box number (caixa postal) is changing this year to number 1281. We will still use 964 this year plus 1281 for it will take a while to notify everyone of the change. The church did not have its own box number so decided when some new ones became available to buy one.

The children are back to studying. Helen goes to first grade Brazilian school in the afternoon. They have to wear uniforms- white blouse, navy blue skirt, white socks and black collegial shoes. I wish she didn't have a uniform as she has plenty of clothes that she could wear.

It is a grind to get her English assignment done in the morning- it takes about 2.5 hours.

Rachel likes to wear bermuda shorts to school but she wore most of hers out during vacation. I made four of them for her before school started.

Charles had a low fever for four days which developed into a bad cough. I took him to a doctor and he is much better.

Because of Helen's wetting problem we have decided we will fly right away to Rochester to see what treatment she needs. I wrote the Mission Board to see if she can have an appointment for June 25th. I told Joey that I can't possibly enjoy a trip until we get her problem taken care of. We plan to leave here June 19th and may spend a couple of days in New York.

The week after Lent starts we will have a week of Evangelization. It is more to wake up or alert our members for it says that our church doesn't have anyone converted to our church as many others do. Joey was gone one week to two preaching points three hours from here. He used the summer vacation time to give one week of Confirmation class and in the evening he held services.

Confirmation class in a rural preaching point in Brazil.

He got back in time to give three services on Sunday at different preaching points then took a bus Sunday evening to Joinville. He had meetings for two days, then spent Wednesday traveling back here with the Regional pastor getting here in time to have a meeting with two men that came from a church in our district that is about an 8 hour trip from here. Thursday Joey and the Regional pastor visited two neighboring cities to discuss problems with pastors there. Now in a week he will be going to a Bible Camp for 5 days.

Joey has already read Zane Grey and Agatha Christie. I like Aggie, too. At the larger centers they have books in English for sale. I finished reading "Kim" by Kipling. Many read this in college but I hadn't. The Indian society is quite complicated and that boy certainly had adventures.

... I'm glad the Viet Nam war finally came to an end. Every time I took the children to their dentist he gave me a lecture on the war and wanted to know what is wrong with some of my people. I told him most of the people wanted the war ended. He said a magazine interview with a US colonel said that the war was necessary to test some of the weapons. I told him that many career service men may be cold hearted and look at war as something necessary. The time Magazine told how one little girl told in Baptist 5.5 that her father was a prisoner so when the mother went to a parent's meeting someone asked her why her husband was in jail.

I'm going to see if I can get the others to write now.

Love,

Donna

Before I mailed this we received the candy and present you sent. We had to pay only 50 cents. I'm going to have Rachel and Charles write you letters. I think my gift is from Hungary and it is beautifully embroidered. Joey has been helping Charles with the Whiz-z-er whirler to see if it will perform everything that it is supposed to. Those balloons should last a long time. The panties we will save to use when in the States as they will need new ones about then.

Saturday two Missouri missionaries stayed overnight. Each has two children, one which is a baby. We had a barbacue dinner. One of the families stayed with us in July. They live quite far away and were on their way to see the water falls of Iguazu, about a six hour drive from here. They happened to get a hot time- about 100 in the shade every day this last week.

Guess I had better get this in the mail. Thanks for all that you sent.

Love,

Donna and Joey

Donna Biel

Letter to Marian, February 4, 197?

2010-12-23T19:53:00.000-08:00

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. She recently returned them. The most interesting parts are recorded here.

Dear Marian, Frank, Lisa, Erik, + Julianna,

About 10 days ago we got two packages with 61 books in them. Helen showed her Cinderella book all over the neighborhood. The little book on friends is cute. I helped her read it. A few days ago we got another package of books and the calendar you sent. Rachel was thrilled with her books and says she is going to write to you. I should have written you right away but read two stories by Agatha Christie first. As usual, I didn't guess who the murderers were. Joey has read several westerns. We had seen a couple of the Condensed Reader's Digest books which we had borrowed from a friend but we didn't read all of the stories. I think Rachel will be interested in reading them. Charles was happy to get books but is too busy playing with his friend.

As you probably heard, we talked to my parents and your parents, Marian. We heard my parents just like they were in the same room but it was hard to hear Mary and Harvey. We taped their conversation. I didn't think of much inspiring to say as we couldn't get through when we tried at 10 PM, only at 12:45 AM and I had gone to sleep. We didn't have my parents number but got through in 10 minutes. We have direct dialing to many cities in Brazil.

Tell Rosie + Cynthia we got their letters and cards. I had never seen a card like Rosie + Louie's and thought it was very clever. Rachel just received a letter from Laurie. I guess Rachel is a lot taller than her. Besides being tall, Rachel is putting on wt. She now weighs 132 lbs. I bought shorts for her but I had to let out all the seams for her to wear them. At least Charles is able to wear most of the pants she outgrows as they are for boy or girl.

Last Tuesday we got up at 5 AM. Six children, ages 11 to 14 went on a bike trip with Joey. They went mostly on dirt roads the 20 miles to a farm where we stayed for 2 days. On the way out it took 2 hours but on the way back it took 4 hours due to heavy rain the day before which made mud on some places. We had fun in the swimming pool at the farm. It has been hot- about 95 degrees every day. Rachel's nose peeled + Charles was bothered with dust on the trip out. Rachel got a bad cold but is much better. Now Joey went to the doctor to get medicine for tonsillitis. Helen and I went by car to take food out and bedclothes. They stopped along the way for a coke or ice cream but they had a pack sack with sandwiches and water. Two American friends went along and the other two are Brazilians. The latter can't ride their bikes to school as their mother feels it is too dangerous but she trusted Joey enough to let them go 20 miles with him.

Rachel is taking an embroidery class- not such simple stitches. She goes 2 hrs. every day during vacation. She enjoys it and seems to be doing well. Her main interest is painting plaster of paris which she can buy for cheap prices. She spends practically all of her money buying stamps that a Japanese Methodist Missionary sells as she has friends from many countries sending her stamps.

"Bilboquet", the toy that broke Charles's tooth.

Charles was playing with a wooden toy that swings in your hand. He was pestering Rachel. She kicked at him and her leg hit the ball toy, then hit one of his front teeth, breaking half it off. I was sleeping so had quite a scare when they started screaming. It came close to affecting the nerve for when he breathed in, the tooth hurt. The dentist put a metal protection on the tooth. After 6 months if the tooth is alright, he can put a material which looks like real tooth material.

Sunday for church we had 16 singers give a presentation. They did very well. They have traveled to several cities. With them is an American who has been her one month. He plays an electric guitar as does another who doesn't sing. Charles like music with a lively beat. Perhaps when he gets older he can take guitar lessons. He enjoys hearing the music he sang and played at your house when he was 3.5 years old.

Whenever we get Time Magazine, it has grim news. I wonder how soon there will be another Arab-Israeli war and if the U.s. will become involved. Sometimes I think that things are bad but probably will become worse. Here the food inflation last year was 65%- supposedly highest for index we saw of many countries, yet things don't sound as bad here as in the U.S.

Feb 14th

I didn't get this off for we are having a hot spell of 100 degrees every day. Fortunately, there is a breeze in the day.

Soon after receiving your last box of books we got the calendar and box of presents. We got everything that was written on the outside. We have eaten most of the candy- yum! yum! and are sipping the coffee. It is something like coffee with milk that we have for breakfast. Joey's shirt is too large, but I will take it in. I have my flowers and corn husk lady on the T.V. I took the corn husk lady to a coffee we had for women in our church. It is very cute. Helen was thrilled with doll clothes and her friends are envious. She has everything in the Skipper suitcase you gave her. The little coin bags are adorable. Rachel has drawn different parts of a horse from one of the books. She has an artist's ability- let's see who will the best: Rachel or Lisa? Rachel helped Charles put the jet motor together. He likes the gyroscope and plays with that often. The pictograph is something new and a clever way of seeing many pictures. We thank you for these many lovely gifts.

We are sending pictures taken from Rachel and Charles birthday party. We plan to have more made to send to other brothers and sisters. I'm sending some different ones to Mary and Harvey.

About how much does it cost for material for each of those animal pillows? I am going to make some for our church bazaar but don't know how much to charge.

Love,

Donna

Note:

Dear Auntie Marian, Uncle Frank, and wonderful cousins,

Thanks a lot for the books and things. Frankly, I think I got more than my share of books. Over 20! I've read at least 5 of 'em since they came.

Love,

Rachel

Letter to Marian and Frank, March 23, 1969

2010-12-23T18:31:00.000-08:00

Mom, Charles, Rachel, Velvet and Helen

Dear Santa,

Your presents arrived safely and we thank you very much. We paid just $.50 duty on it. the children were thrilled to get the package. I just finished reading the book you sent and enjoyed it. I often saw Orthodox Jews in New York. I learned a lot from the book and thought if only we as Christians would spend that much time studying the Bible! It was very impressive to see how much time and effort they put into study of their holy books, however, I can't imagine the Jew of today doing as much. Joey hasn't had time to read it yet as it came 2 days ago.

Last Tuesday Helen started vomiting in the morning but didn't vomit until night time, but then I called a doctor as I was worried of dehydration. We are having another heat spell- 92 to 94 every day, very dry, and terribly dirty. The doctor said she had pus on her tonsils. I gave her 2 shots and other medications. She is fine now but we can't get her to eat so I'm giving her Vitamin C orally. She had worms and took medicine for that. In all, she has lost about 2 pounds - her face and abdomen aren't so chubby anymore. She likes to go around singing, "I'm a little flower of Jesus, open your mouth to sing and close your eyes to pray." She dearly loves the 4 cats we have now- acquired most of them this last month.

Charles is busy getting into everything imaginable. He is terribly stubborn.

Rachel enjoys the Brazilian school from 8 to 11:30 the from 1to 3 she studies with me. In 2 more months we will be done with her correspondence course then in August she will go to the American school.

Mom home schooling Rachel.

A lady in our church teaches sewing. I told her starting in July that I would like to study sewing. It would be 2 hours every day- hopefully I wouldn't have to go more than 2 to 3 months. I hope to make some shorts on my own but I need more practice.

Mom sewing.

For a week after carnival I was without a maid as she ran away with the husband of the lady who cleaned the church on Saturdays. They were neighbors. A neighbor lost her maid during carnival when she ran away with her boyfriend. Now I have a married lady who for $20 a month works 7:30 to 4:30 or 5:00. She lives far away so if we want to go out at night (which is very seldom as Joey has most meetings or church services at night) then a girl from our church will come.

Today I took the children to see "Uncle Tom's Cabin". It was over their heads but I tried to explain some of it to Rachel. Joey just got back from church services out of town- 9:30 PM and decided to go to the movie- first one we have gone to in about 4 months.

We just got a letter from Harvey. He says Frank has been traveling a lot. Sounds like there will be quite a flood this year. When we were home there wasn't hardly any snow.

Starting tomorrow a 23 yr old Brazilian lad will start to live with us for 1.5 months while he awaits his papers to go to Germany for a year. He is not of German descent but has spent one year in the States and now wants to go to Germany. He is from our church in Londrina and his sister teaches English here in this city. They both speak English very well as she lived in Londrina with some of our school teachers.

Love,

Donna and Joey

Donna Biel

Letter to Marian and Frank, December 9, 1968

2010-12-23T16:54:00.000-08:00

Donna reading to Rachel, 1962

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. She recently returned them. The most interesting parts are recorded here.

Dear Marian and Frank,

We got your letter today soon after I mailed one to you.

We want to help pay for the consul stereo form Mary and Harvey. You certainly got a lovely present for a lovely price. ... buy records with the money we are sending. We leave it to your judgment.

If you wish to send anything, don't send toys as we have to pay import. I'm sure Rachel and Charles would like books and Rachel could use them as library books or I can read to them. There will be no import duty on books. Send them by boat so you won't have to pay much postage- it will take about 2 months to 3 months.

Joey doesn't have time to answer your questions as he is off to Londrina to a 2 day meeting. He is still working on Christmas to be sent to our church in Ohio. Needless to say, it won't get done by Christmas.

Thanks for sending different stamps on your envelope. Several friends save stamps.

... I'm sure you will be disappointed to know that Joey sold his accordion a long time ago. I know I wrote your folks but thought I had told you, too. He decided he wouldn't have time to take lessons. He sold it here for what he paid for it. I thought he should at least wait awhile and try to learn it. I know how you must feel after going to all the trouble to get it for him.

I'm wondering if Mary will have Christmas off from the hospital. If she has to work it will seem strange for Harvey and all the children.

Dad with Bobby and Velvet.

Velvet is the one on the left who had the puppies.

Everyone is enjoying the puppies. They get held so much that I hope it doesn't hurt them. Helen gets nervous when the puppies cry and tries to get Velvet to come upstairs and when she won't the children bring the puppies downstairs. They are trying to learn to walk. Three Sunday School teachers have asked for the males but no one wants the female.

I best get the rest of my letters done.

Love,

Donna and Joey

Letter from Donna, , Minneota, Monday, January 1968

2010-12-23T16:16:00.000-08:00

Donna with Helen, Marian with Lisa, Rachel

Winter 1968

My Aunt Marian kept many of the letters my mother, Donna Biel, wrote to her. She returned them in 2010. The most interesting parts are recorded here.

Dear Marian and Frank,

Thanks for the birthday cards. ...

It certainly was good to hear Louie's voice Friday. Saturday Joey left for the Moorehead area where he will be until Friday and when he gets back we are going to see Louie at Mary and Harvey's. Rachel is getting excited about the wedding. We didn't say much in case they decided to wait awhile.

... After the wedding we want to stay one night with you and one at Cynthia's, then we will go back to Mary and Harvey's and fly from Minneapolis ... We decided it was best to leave from Mpls. as it will give us more time to visit Julia, Stan's and your folks. We only saw Julia's on Christmas day and now we won't see them as they have chicken pox.

We have a nice stroller that we are wondering if you want to use, if not maybe Cynthia can use it. You can take Lisa on long strolls. Its seat can be put in three positions- straight up, partly back or lying down position. It has a basket in back for diaper bag or groceries and top on it for shade. We will bring it down when we go for the wedding.

I was glad to see our barrels go on Saturday. A trucking firm from Marshall got them and they will go to New York.

Rachel is kept aware of the world news. The other night she said she couldn't sleep thinking of the bombs that fell in the water and the ship in Korea. Thursday will be her last day of school. When Helen sees a bus in a book she says "Rachel".

We haven't had the flu but Helen and Charles had mattery eyes and colds and Joey has a cold. The reason, I now find out, that my sister, Nyla, was crabby on Christmas Eve Day was that she had the flu and was sick all the week she was here.

Helen now gets out of the crib by herself. She is quite a clown. She put on Rachel's coat and said, "Hi, Rachel" so we all called her Rachel and she giggled.

My family is having a family reunion for us on the 11th. We will leave her the 15th and be in De Witt the 16th for rehearsal. The 5th we will be at Harvey's and on the 6th we go to the Cities as on the 7th the children have their last dental appointment. The have had their teeth covered with a fluoride coating and I am going to have it done, too.

We are giving our TV. to Rosie and Louie for their wedding gift. We are taking it this weekend as we won't have room when we take our suticases. The T.V. is a floor model.

All for now. It won't be long and we will be in your neighborhood.

Love,

Donna and Joey

Feliz Natal! Merry Christmas!

2010-12-20T11:23:00.000-08:00

Every year I like to make a fun Christmas graphic and this year I used a picture of me when I was about two years old. This was in front of our Christmas tree in Loanda, Parana. On either side are my two dogs, Juba and Laila.

Wishing all of you a wonderful Chistmas

and all the best in 2011!

Cada ano eu gosto de fazer uma grafica original para o Natal. Este ano, usei uma foto de mim tirada em Loanda quando eu tinha uns dois anos. Estou em frente da nossa arvore de Natal. Os meus cachorros, Juba e Laila, estao do meu lado.

Desejando um Feliz Natal e tudo de bom

em 2011 para todos voces!

Conte Sua História/Tell Your Story

2010-01-19T19:17:00.000-08:00

Biels in Brazil started as a desire to capture some of the memories we have as a family during the years we lived in Brazil, 1962-1980. There are five of us. Dad (Clifford Biel), Mom (Donna Biel), me (Rachel Biel), my sister (Helen Faber) and my brother (Charles Biel). I thought we would all jump in with different stories and between us, give an interesting picture of that special time in both our lives and of Brazilian history. Although we were all there at the same time and had similar experiences, we translated them very differently as we are all unique to our own personalities, insights and interests.

Biels in Brazil começou com o desejo de capturar algumas das memórias que nós tivemos durante os anos que moramos no Brasil (1962-1980). Somos em cinco. Meu pai (Pastor Biel), minha mãe (Dona Donna), eu (Raquel Biel), a minha irmã (Helena Faber), e o meu irmão (Charles Biel). Pensei que todos entráriamos aqui com nossas histórias diferentes e que, entre nós, acabaríamos com uma história interessante desta época especial das nossas vidas e na história Brasileira. Embora estivemos lá durante o mesmo tempo e tivemos experiências semelhantes, traduzimos essas experiencias em maneiras únicas como somos individuos com personalidades, entendimentos e interesses bastante diferente um do outro.

Caminhão em Loanda, Paraná, 1964

So far, I have been the only one who has been posting, so I thought I would open it to the public at large. I do want to keep it to those years, 1962-1980 so that there is some cohesiveness in the telling. This time in Brazil's history was also one of great change, so there is a lot of material that could be covered here. Plus, photos from the 60's and 70's are always great! You can submit as many as you want. A blog works best when there is a page that can be read quickly. So, if you have a lot of stories to tell, make each of them a separate one for the blog. I think other missionary families would enjoy reading about each other and seeing the old photos. But, you can also share a specific event that moved you, talk about Brazilian history, culture, politics, religion or anything else you want to share with others. Of course, if you want to write a book, you might want to start your own blog! (Heh, heh!) I enjoy doing this and would love to see it grow, but it is a side thing.

Até agora, só eu estou escrevendo estas memórias. Entáo, pensei que seria legal abrir o blog para o público e quem quizer pode contribuir também. Quero limitar as histórias a esta época, de 1962-1980. Este período na história do Brasil foi um tempo de mudanças enormes no país e temos muito material interessante para cubrir. E, as fotos dos anos 60 e 70 são sempre tão legais para ver! Você pode submetir quantas você quizer. Um blog funciona bem quando as entradas são curtas, uma página. Se voce tiver muitas histórias para contar, faça cada um uma entrada. Acho que as famílias missionárias gostaríam de ver fotos e ler sobre as outras famílias. Mas, voce também pode me mandar eventos específicos que foram importantes na tura vida ou falar sobre o Brasil em termos de política, religião, cultura, ou qualquer interêsse importante para você. Lógicamente, se voce quizer escrever um livro, talvez seja melhor começar o seu próprio blog! (Ha, ha...) Tenho prazer em trabalhar neste blog e gostaria muito de desenvolver este tema, mas ao mesmo tempo, é um hobby.

Dona Donna tomando chimarrão.

How to do it:

In the right side bar, you will see where you can contact us. Click on my name and it will open an email. Send me your info there. I will load it on the blog and tag it. It will be tagged with your name, so if you write more than one post, you will find all of them under your name. I will need:

The text.
Any photos that you want to include attached as jpegs. You must own the photos or give credit to whoever owns them.
A short bio of you (small paragraph)
Any links on the internet that you refer to or that you own.

If you have your own blog, we can link the story to it and I will add you (if it relates to Brazil) on to my blog roll.

Como Contar a Sua História:

Na coluna da direita, voce verá os nossos nomes embaixo do contato. Clique e você poderá mandar-nos um email. Mande a sua história para mim, Raquel. Colocarei as palavras usadas no índice e você terá um com o teu nome. Se você mandar mais de uma história, você poderá encontrar-las todas juntas assim. Precisarei:

O texto.
Qualquer fotos que você quizer incluir anexadas em formato jpeg. Você precisa ser dono das fotos ou ter permissão para usar as fotos que você incluir.
Uma biografia curta sobre você (um parágrafo).
Qualquer endereço da internet que voce quizer ter referência (você tem um website, blog ou o teu assunto pode ser referido a algum lugar?)

Se voce tiver um blog, podemos fazer um link entre a sua história e o teu blog e se o tema do teu blog tiver algo relevante ao Brasil, te colocarei na minha lista de blogs.

Igreja Evangélica do Advento

Tell your story!

Conte a sua história!

Green Acre School: How Missionary Kids Learned English in Brazil

2010-01-18T00:48:00.000-08:00

We were bi-lingual kids, speaking English at home and Portuguese everywhere else. Most of our parent's missionary peers sent their children to study at the American School in Campinas (EAC), but my parents felt that we should be at home. We had some home schooling from my Mom but then were fortunate to have an enclave of American families that were connected to the Bible Institute of Maringá (IBM). Several families came together to form the Green Acre School. Brazilian schools normally have a four hour day so that students can pick to go in the morning, afternoon or evening. We went to a Brazilian school in the morning and to Green Acre in the afternoon.

Éramos crianças bi-lingues, falando inglês em casa e português em todos os outros lugares. A maioria dos outros missionários da nossa igreja mandaram os seus filhos para a Escola Americana de Campinas (EAC), mas os meus pais decidiram que nós deveríamos ficar em casa. A minha mãe nos ensinou parte dos nossos estudos em inglês, mas tivemos a boa fortuna de ter o Instituto Bíblico de Maringá na nossa cidade com várias famílias Norte Americanas conectadas com o Instituto. Estas famílias se juntaram para formar a escolinha Green Acre. Normalmente, as escolas Brasileiras são de 4 horas, manhã, tarde ou noite. Nós fômos a uma escola Brasileira durante a manhã e a Green Acre no IBM nas tardes.

Helen (Biel) Faber

Rachel Biel

Two families from IBM made their mark on my life during this time, the Mattesons and the Carpenters. Both sets of parents were like uncles and aunts to us. Jenny Matteson and I read and dreamed and talked and laughed and were like sisters. My brother, Charles, and Danny Matteson came up with crazy schemes that proved angels exist: they survived. Helen and Tim Matteson were the same age and I know that she liked him a lot when they were kids. Uncle Don Matteson was a youth leader and built a Bible camp, Acampamento Água Viva (Living Waters Camp), a place where I helped set the bricks, dug trenches and participated in once it went live. Aunt Verda Matteson made everything seem like home. She radiated joy, baked endless cookies and just made everything feel safe. Jenny and Danny were always at our house and Charles and I were always at theirs. Or, so it felt.

Duas famílias do IBM marcaram a minha vida durante esta época, os Mattesons e os Carpenters. Os pais das duas famílias eram como os nossos tios e tias. Jenny Matteson e eu leíamos, sonhávamos, conversávamos, reíamos e eramos como irmãs. O meu irmão, Charles, e o Danny Matteson estavam sempre entrando em esquemas loucos, provando que os anjos existem: eles sobreviveram. A Helena e o Timmy Matteson tinham a mesma idade e eu sei que ela gostava muito dele quando eles eram crianças. O Tio Donaldo era um líder de jovens e construíu o Acampamento Água Viva, um lugar aonde eu ajudei a criar, carregando tijólos, escavando e depois participando quando foi constuido. A Tia Verda sempre nos acolhia. Ela brilhava com alegria, fazia bolachas que nunca acabavam e tudo parecia ser bem protegido. A Jenny e o Daniel sempre estavam na nossa casa e nós sempre estávamos na casa deles. Ou, assim parecia.

Jenny Matteson

Danny Matteson

Tim Matteson

The Carpenters were a little different. Aaron and Andrew were a year older than me and Mark and John were very, very old, so I never got to know them very well. We didn't hang out at their house, but I loved their parents very much. Aaron and Andrew excelled at everything they tried: sports, academics, girls... they were popular, elegant, and as identical twins, got all the attention a kid, or pair of kids, could ever want. There was something gentle about all of the Carpenters. I can't vouch for Mark because I really don't remember him very well, but I do remember John as being gentle and sweet. Aaron and Andrew always seemed to be in a good mood and have a helpful hand. A couple of scenes:

We were rollerskating. Andrew fell and when he got up, he was as pale as sheet. "Look at what I can do!" he cried out. He had broken his arm and was holding it with his other one, lifting it and lowering it at the broken part.
Aaron showed me a lady bug and put it in his hair. He had a big afro then. We waited and waited for the bug to come out and looked for it and couldn't find it. Finally he said, "Oh, it will find its way out one of these days..." and he went on reading.

____

A história com os Carpenters foi um pouco diferente. O Arão e André eram um ano mais velhos que eu e o Mark e John eram super velhos, então nunca os conhecí muito bem. Não brincávamos na casa deles, mas eu semprei tive muita afeição pelos pais deles. O Arão e André sempre tinham muito sucesso em tudo que tentavam fazer: esportes, estudos, namoradas... tinham popularidade, eram elegantes, e como gêmeos identicos, ganhavam toda a atenção que um par de crianças poderia querer. Existia uma qualidade suave sobre todos os Carpenters. Não posso defender o Mark porque não lembro dele muito bem mas o John parecia ser um doce. O Arão e André sempre estavam de bom humor e prestes a ajudar qualquer pessoa que necessitava uma mão. Duas cenas:

Estavamos patinando e o André caiu e quebrou o braço. "Olha o que eu posso fazer!" ele chamou, levantando e abaixando a parte quebrada. Estava pálido como um fantasma.
O Arão colocou um bichinho no cabelo que desapareceu. Naqueles tempos ele tinha um afro enorme. Buscamos mas o bicho sumiu. "Ah, não importa. Logo ele sai" e continuou lendo.

Andrew Carpenter

Andrew was kind enough to be my date for my Senior prom. He went all the way to Campinas, a 12 hour bus ride, to keep me company. It was such a kind, kind thing for a friend to do and I will never forget it. I haven't had contact with Jenny, Danny, Andrew or Aaron for years now, but I have so many good memories. Ironically, the one I knew the least, Mark, is now the one I feel that I have the most common ground. Mark, John and Tim are on facebook, so we are getting to know each other again.

O André me fez um grande favor quando tivemos a nossa festa "prom" na escola Americana em Campinas. Não sei explicar em Português, mas ele viajou 12 horas de onibus para me acompanhar e nunca esquecerei a bondade dele. Não tenho tido contato com a Jenny, Danny, André ou o Arão por muitos anos, mas tenho muitas boas memórias. Ironicamente, o que eu menos conhecía é quem mais me identifico hoje. Mark, John e o Tim estão no facebook e estamos nos conhecendo de novo.

Aaron Carpenter

John Carpenter

Mark Carpenter

Aaron and Andrew Carpenter

A School Play at Green Acre

Not all of the memories at Green Acre are good ones. I was tied to my desk with a rope because I got up too much, a substitute teacher made me stick gum on my nose, some of the doctrine we were fed, even then, seemed hard to swallow, and a kid can have a hard time anywhere in this world. We were a one room school, all ages together, so it must have been hard to keep things in control. I will never forget when my brother, Charles, kept asking if he could go to the bathroom because he didn't feel well and the teacher kept saying no. Finally, ha made a dash for it and his body arched into a spasm as he became a fountain of vomit, smack in the middle of our room. Ah, the memories...

Nem todas as memórias da escola são boas. Me amarraram a minha carteira com uma corda porque eu me levantava demais, uma professora substituta me forçou a colocar o chicletes no nariz, e umas doutrinas, mesmo naquela época, eram problemáticas para mim. Uma criança pode resmungar em qualquer parte do mundo! Estávamos estudando numa sala, todas as idades juntas e deve ter sido difícil manter controle. Nunca me esquecerei de quando o meu irmão, o Charles, pediu permissão várias vezes para ir ao banheiro porque não se sentia bem. A professora não deixou. De repente ele deu um salto e correndo, tentou chegar ao banheiro, mas o corpo dele deu um golpe e ele se transformou numa fonte de vômito, bem no meio da nossa sala. Ah, sim... memórias.

Rachel- Halloween costume winner

So, what does all of this have to do with learning English? Well, the families represented were from different areas of the United States and Canada, but mostly from the Midwest. All of the parents patiently corrected us and ensured that we would be fluent in both languages. Our main teacher, Aunt Jeanette Faw, had the patience of a Saint. She was from Canada and worked with us for several years. We did have to learn the Canadian national anthem because of her... "Oh, Canada..." sigh.... English did become my primary language. I left Brazil when I was 18 and later learned Spanish and used it more than Portuguese. I feel that my vocabulary is still that of a teenager, although if I read a magazine or book, I do understand almost everything.

E, o que tudo isso tem a ver com o estudo de Inglês? Bom, as famílias representadas eram de diferente partes dos Estados Unidos e do Canada, mas a maioria eram do Meio-Oeste. Todos os pais tinham muita paciência, nos corregindo e assegurando que seríamos fluentes nas duas línguas. A nossa professora, Dona Janette Faw, tinha a paciência de uma santa! Ela era do Canada e trabalhou conosco por muitos anos. Tivemos que aprender a cantar o hino nacional do Canada por causa dela... "Oh, Canada..." (suspiro) O inglês acabou sendo a minha língua principal. Saímos do Brasil quando eu tinha 18 anos e depois aprendí espanhol e o usei mais do que o Português. Sinto que o meu vocabulário ainda é de uma jovem, mesmo que quando leio uma revista ou livro em Português, entendo quase tudo.

Tim Matteson

My father had an incredible command of the Portuguese language. He often told the story that when a foreigner arrived in Brazil, in the first year people said, "Oh, you are an American! Welcome!" After five years, people would ask, "Are you American?" Then, after ten, the question was, "How long have you been in Brazil?" It took about 15 years for the question to become, "Are you Brazilian?" When we first moved back to the United States, Dad would say things in Portuguese without realizing it. Language is the key to connect to a people and a culture. Every Brazilian thinks he or she is a poet and a philosopher, so to understand the music, the innuendos, the jokes and to really become a part of the social psyche, language is the entry way.

O meu pai tinha um comando incrível do Português. Ele contava a história de que quando um estrangeiro chegava no Brasil, no primeiro ano as pessoas diziam, -Ah, o Senhor é Americano! Bemvindo! Depois de cinco anos, as pessoas perguntavam, -O Senhor é Americano? Depois de dez anos, a pergunta era, -A quantos anos o Senhor está no Brasil? Demorou uns 15 anos para a pergunta ser, -O Senhor é Brasileiro? Quando voltamos aos Estados Unidos, o meu pai dizia coisas em Português sem perceber. A linguagem é essencial para ter uma conexção com um povo, com uma cultura. Todo Brasileiro pensa ser um poeta ou filósofo, então para entender a música, os inuendos, as piada, e para realmente participar na sociedade, a linguagem é a porta de entrada.

I feel extremely blessed by all the effort and care that all the adults at Green Acre invested in us. They made sure that we would have the tools to survive in an English-speaking world, provided us with a solid faith foundation, and gave us excellent role models as what loving, caring and conscious adults can achieve in a multi-cultural world. Many thanks to all of them!

Me sinto super abençoada por todo or esforço e cuidado que todos os adultos na escola Green Acre investiram em nós. Eles asseguraram que teríamos o que precisávamos para sobreviver num mundo aonde o Inglês domina. Nos deram uma base sólida na fé e nos mostraram como adultos podem ser carinhosos, amáveis e concientes num mundo multi-cultural. Agradeço a todos eles com todo o meu coração!

Heidi Lampe, Miss Apucarana: A Friend for Life!!!

2010-01-17T22:08:00.000-08:00

Heidi: 1975

You never know when someone will become a jewel in your life. I left home when I was 15 to go study at an American school in Campinas, a 12-hour bus ride from my home in Maringá. As there was an extra room, my parents took in Heidi Lampe, who was studying micro-biology at the University there.

Nunca se sabe quando alguém será uma jóia na sua vida. Eu fui estudar em Campinas, na Escola Americana, quando tinha quinze anos, 12 horas de viagem de onibus de Maringá. Já que tinha um quarto vázio na casa, os meus pais convidaram a Heidi Lampe à morar com eles. Ela estava estudando microbiologia na universidade lá.

Heidi: 1978

I don´t think I have ever met someone who can dance between worlds like Heidi. She juggles many different interests such as science, nutrition and alternative health with beauty. Heidi won a beauty contest when we were still in Brazil, yet she never showed an ounce of arrogance or conceit. Life has not been easy for her, but in everything she does, she gives endless love and does it with grace.

Acho que nunca conhecí alguém que pode dançar entre os mundos como a Heidi. Ela sabe coordenar muitos interesses diversos como ciência, nutrição e saúde alternativa com conceitos de beleza. Heidi ganhou a competição de beleza (Miss Apucarana) quando ainda estavamos no Brasil, mas nunca mostrou arrogância ou se fez de inzibida. A vida não tem sido fácil para ela, mas em tudo que ela faz, ele dá amor sem fim e o faz com graça.

Heidi: 2005

Heidi has always treated me like a younger sister, encouraging and enthusiastic. It was with great joy that I was able to have her and her daughters here in Paducah in 2006. Time goes by when we do not speak, but when we do, it is like no time has passed at all. These friendships are treasures and I hope that we will have the fortune to meet as old women someday and cackle about how we beat the odds.

A Heidi sempre me tratou como uma irmã mais nova, encorajando com entusiasmo. Foi com grande alegria que pude receber ela e suas filhas aqui em Paducah em 2006. As vezes o tempo passa quando não temos contato, mas quando voltamos a comunicar, é como se o tempo não passou. Estas amizades são tesouros e espero que teremos a fortuna de se ver como mulheres velhas algum dia e que poderemos gargalhar sobre como vencemos nesta vida.

Heidi in Paducah: 2006

Feira Hippie,1980

2010-01-17T21:14:00.000-08:00

Dad had a darkroom when I was growing up and taught me how to use it. I have always loved photography and continued to play with it in high school and college. I also started selling t-shirts at a hippie fair in Campinas and became friends with some full-time artisans who took me on an outing to a neighboring city that had a large artisan fair. I took these photos then and developed them in my high school photography class.

O meu pai era fotógrafo e tinha um quarto aonde revelava as fotos. Me ensinou como usar e continuei a estudar fotografia em Campinas e na universidade. Também vendía camisetas que eu pintava numa feira hippie em Campinas e fiz amizade com uns artesões que me levaram a esta feira. Eu tirei as fotos e revelei na minha classe de fotografia na Escola Americana de Campinas.

Donna Rae Gislason and Clifford Eugene Biel Get Married

2010-01-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

This year we celebrate 50 years since my parents got married in August, 1960. They knew each other for six weeks before they got engaged, and six months later they committed to a life together which would take them to Brazil for eighteen years and then on to Wisconsin.

Este ano celebramos 50 anos desde que os meus pais se casaram em agosto de 1960. Eles se conheciam por seis semanas antes de ficarem noivos e seis meses depois, se prometeram a uma vida juntos que os levariam ao Brasil por dezoito anos e depois de volta aos Estados Unidos em Wisconsin.

Grandpa Joe (Mom's father)

O pai da minha mãe.

Grandpa Joe, Grandma Helen, Donna, Cliff, Grandma Mary and Grandpa Harvey

Os avôs

Glen Gislason, Marian Biel, Marian Gislason, the pastor, Donna, Clifford, Stanley Biel, Nyla Gislason, ...., Louie Biel

Grandma Helen and Jay Gislason (Mom's youngest brother)

Sou Caipira!

2009-01-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

Gente, ainda nos consideram os Paranaenses caipiras? Sim... pelo menos em Chicago, ainda nos chamam de caipiras! Mas, temos uma historia rica para contar...

Those of us who grew up in rural areas in Brazil are considered "caipiras". It's a derrogatory word, like hillbilly, meaning that you are not educated, walk around barefoot with patched jeans, and live in dirt poverty. Even today, my Brazilian friends tease me about my accent which is from Parana, not hip like a Carioca from Rio or a Baiano from Bahia...

Elis Regina transformed the word "caipira" with this song, giving it dignity and poignancy. She was one of the leading voices in the Brazilian music scene when we were growing up and anyone who lived in Brazil during the 1970's will recognize this song.

O Menino da Porteira, Para o Charles...

2009-01-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

Os Brasileiros sabem a historia... O Charles sabia todas as palavras de cor!

The story is about a little boy who always opened the gate when the cowboy came through with his herd. I almost wept when I heard it again because it really pulls at your heart strings... The little boy and the cowboy have a close relationship which comes to a sudden close when a mean bull (according to the song), kills the boy. The cowboy never plays his horn again... Very sad.

Charles knew all the words to this song when he was a kid. He would belt it out in a monotone. I was always impressed with his memory and couldn't get over how he could remember the whole song... So, this is a Charles memory!

Those Lutheran Missionaries/Aqueles Misionarios Luteranos

2008-09-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

Someone is going to have to help with the names. I recognize Louie Becker, Jim Peterson, Uncle Don, Dad (of course), Gaylord Grant, Bob Fedde and I'm not sure about the rest. This must have been very early in the 1960's. Maybe even Campinas?

Alguem vai ter que me ajudar com os nomes. Reconheco alguns, mas nao outros. Deve ter sido bem logo depois que os meus pais chegaram em 1962. Talvez Campinas?

The tall and short of it all. Dad on the left, Otto in the middle, and not sure who that is at the right. My family was known as the "Giraffes" at our missionary meetings...
Os altos e baixos de tudo. O Pai na esquerda, Otto Tollefson no meio e nao sei o nome do que esta na direita. A minha familia era conhecida como os "girafas" nas reunioes dos missionarios...

When I look at these old photos, I am often amazed at how young all of these missionaries were when they took off to some unknown country in the time that they did. Most of them were in their 20's and 30's. Mom and Dad were younger than I am now when they left Brazil in 1980. I kind of like to think of them as having the cowboy spirit of adventure, except that instead of carrying a gun, they waved a Bible.

Quando olho estas fotos velhas, fico admirada de como estes misionarios eram tao jovens quando foram para um pais desconhecido na epoca em que eles foram. A maioria tinha 20 e poucos anos. Os meus pais eram mais novos do que eu sou agora quando eles sairam do Brasil em 1980. Eu gosto de imaginar estes misionarios como cowboys, tendo o mesmo espirito de aventura, so que em vez de um revolver, carregavam uma Biblia.

Mom was only 24 years old when she found herself in Loanda, in the middle of nowhere. Dad was often gone for days at various distant preaching points or church activities. She had a small baby (me), the streets were not paved and she didn't yet command Portuguese. What courage! They both talk about how that whole region in Parana was being burned and prepped for farmland. Xuxu, which I detest, was often the only vegetable Mom could get. The sky would be covered with smoke for days on end. Dad remembered driving through roads with flames of fire leaping up on both sides. I'm a chicken compared to them!

A minha mae tinha so 24 anos quando ela se achou em Loanda, no fim do mundo. O meu pai viajava bastante pregando em varios lugares distantes. Ela tinha um nene pequeno (eu), as ruas nao tinham pavimento, e ela ainda nao tinha comando do portugues. Que coragem! Os dois contam como aquela regiao toda do Parana estava sendo desmatado e queimado em preparacao para a agricultura. Muitas vezes ela so conseguia xuxu, que eu detesto, como a unica verdura. O ceu escurecia com cinzas por dias e dias. O Pai lembra passagens que ele dirigia aonde o fogo pulava pelos dois lados da estrada. Eu sou uma medronha comparada a eles!

Tortured Pastor Compensated/Pastor Torturado Compensado

2008-09-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

Received from former Brazil missionary, Otto Tollefson, on September 29th.

Associated Press

Brazil to Compensate US Pastor tortured in 1974. (Click for article in English)

O artigo fala sobre um pastor Metodista que foi torturado no Brazil em 1974. O Rev. Frederick Birten Morris tinha como uma de suas tarefas encorajar ecumenismo com a Igreja Catolica Romana. Ele tambem era um contribuinte para Time Magazine. A revista puclicou um artigo sobre o Dom Helder Camara, alabando ele pela critica que ele fazia sobre a ditadura da epoca. O Pastor Morris nao contribuiu para o articulo, mas mesmo assim for imprisinado, torturado e deportado de volta aos Estados Unidos. Ele continua a trabalhar com uma organizacao ecumenica envolvida com a America do Sul.

Antonio Roberto Monteiro de Oliveira (Toninho)

2008-09-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

Visita aos EU, Pastor Biel no seu escritorio.
Visit to the US, Pastor Biel in his office.

Meu nome é Antonio R M Oliveira, tenho 50 anos. Hoje sou advogado. E quero testemunhar a respeito do P. Biel. Pastor Biel entrou em minha vida ainda na infância, quando minha mãe, muito doente, tentava garantir a sobrevivência dos três filhos, trabalhando, sempre doente, como professora de bordados. Não tínhamos nenhuma ligação com a Igreja Luterana, mas sabendo da doença e das dificuldades de minha mãe, o P. Biel vinha nos visitar, e nos trazer palavras de conforto, orar e mais de uma vez eu o vi também trazer comida, vendo nossa miséria. E sempre me convidava gentilmente a frequentar a Escola dominical. Apesar de vir do estrangeiro, dos EUA que imaginava na época como a terra prometida de riqueza e poder, o P. Biel era um homem simples nos seus modos, na maneira de vestir, e preferia andar de bicicleta a usar o carro da igreja. A forma gentil e carinhosa do P. Biel me conquistou, de maneira que fui ficando na Igreja Luterana, e fiz o curso do Ensino Confirmatório, e depois a confirmação em 1973.

My name is Antonio R M Oliveira and I am 50 years old. Today I am a lawyer. I want to give testimony in respect to Pastor Biel. He came into my life when I was still a child, when my mother was very sick and tried to guarantee the survival of her three children, working, always sick, as a teacher of embroidery. We had no ties with the Lutheran Church, but knowing of the illness and difficulties of my mother, Pastor Biel would come visit us. He brought words of comfort, prayers and more than once, I also saw him bring food as he saw our misery. And, he would always invite me with gentleness to come and frequent Sunday School. Even though he was a foreigner, Pastor Biel was always a simple man in his ways, in the way he dressed and he would prefer to ride a bike over using the Church's car. His gentle and loving ways won me over and I ended up hanging around the Church. I went through Confirmation and was Confirmed in 1973.

Confirmacao/Confirmation 1973

Como meus pais eram separados, acho que adotei o P. Biel como um pai substituto. E adotei um pouco sua família como minha segunda família, e seus filhos como minhas irmãs e irmão. Ao ponto de fazer aulas de piano com eles. P. Biel sempre foi carismático, comunicava idéias complexas de forma simples. Prá falar de Abraão no retiro de jovens, ele se fantasiava de Abraão e dramatizava o papel.

As my parents were separated, I think I adopted Pastor Biel as a substitute father. And, I adopted his family a bit as my second family, his children as my sisters and brother. I even studied piano with them. Pastor Biel was always charismatic, communicating complex ideas in simple forms. To speak about Abraham at the youth retreats, he would dress up like Abraham and dramatize the role.

Pastor Biel dramatizando Abraão
Pastor Biel as Abraham
(Note: The "Abraham" was actually Isaac, blessing his children before he died.
It was done at a Bible Camp in Londrina.
O Abraão era realmente Isaque, abencoando seus filhos antes de morrer.
Isso foi num Acampamento Biblico em Londrina. Pastor Biel)

Era impossível não acreditar. Por sua sinceridade, prá qualquer um que o escutava ficava evidente a importância de sua mensagem. Frequentei o grupo de jovens da comunicade e graças ao incentivo do P. Biel, me increvi para um Curso Bíblico de Assistente Comunitário do Instituto Evangélico Luterano de Londrina. Sra. Donna foi minha madrinha no final do curso. Aliás, é preciso fazer justiça e reconhecer que Donna sempre foi uma pessoa amável e querida como o próprio P. Biel.

It was impossible not to believe. Because of his sincerity, the importance of his message was evident to anyone who listened. I participated in the Church's Youth Group and thanks to Pastor Biel's encouragement, I signed up for a Community Assistant Bible Course at the Evangelic Lutheran Institute in Londrina. Mrs. Donna was my godmother at the end of the course. By the way, it is necessary to be fair and to recognize that Donna was always a loving person and as loved as Pastor Biel.

Donna e Toninho, Formatura da IEL, 1976

Ainda pelo incentivo do P. Biel, decidi fazer teologia e me tornar pastor como ele. Na minha juventude, a influência do P. Biel foi marcante. Tive nele um conselheiro amigo, compreensivo, enérgico ao mesmo tempo. E passei ileso pela maior parte dos perigos da juventude. Quando me ofereceram drogas pela primeira vez, eu me lembrei que meu corpo é templo do Espírito Santo e disse NÃO, com convicção. Me tornei pastor, e o apoio moral do P. Biel me ajudou a superar as dificuldades do ministério e encontrar inspiração para levar missão adiante, pelas várias comunidades pelas quais passei.

Still encouraged by Pastor Biel, I decided to study theology and become a pastor like he was. In my youth, he had great influence on me. I had in him a friendly counsel, understanding and energetic at the same time. And, I went through my youth unharmed by the dangers I faced. When I was offered drugs for the first time, I remembered that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and I said, "NO!" with conviction. I became a pastor and Pastor Biel continued to give me his moral support as I faced the difficulties of ministry. He helped me find the inspiration I needed to continue the mission in the various congregations I served.

Tive o priviléigo de poder visitar a família do P. Biel depois de seu retorno aos EUA e foi acolhido com muito amor. Aliás, AMOR, foi a marca registrada do ministério do Pastor Biel.

I had the privilege of visiting Pastor Biel's family after they returned to the United States and I was received with a lot of love. In fact, LOVE was the registered trademark of Pastor Biel's ministry.

Toninho, Donna, Pastor Biel 1990
Mondovi, Wisconsin, USA

Sei que não sou nenhuma exceção como beneficiário do amor que ele manifestava. Ele sempre foi uma pessoa amorosa com todos. E seu amor é que sempre credibilidade a sua mensagem. Tive várias orientações políticas ao longo de minha vida. E na juventude, também a fase "revolucionária" de contestação a que via como o imperialismo norte-americano. Mas nunca consegui ver o P. Biel como norte-americano. Ele era um cidadão do mundo. Prá ele uma pessoa era em primeiro lugar um filho de Deus, tão digno e tão amado a ponto de Cristo ter dado a vida por ele. E ele tinha paciência para não politizar as coisas e dizer sempre que o ser humano é que importa. Pobres, ricos, brancos, negros, criança, jovens, idosos, cada pessoa era sempre especial para o P. Biel. E isso que faz diferença, afinal de contas.

I know that I am not an exception as a beneficiary of the love that he manifested. He was always a loving person to all. And this love made his message believable. I've had various political orientations throughout my life. And, when I was younger, I went through a "revolutionary" phase, protesting against North American imperialism. But, I was never able to see Pastor Biel as a North American. He was a world citizen. To him, a person was first a child of God, full of dignity and so loved that Christ gave his life for that child. And, he had the patience to keep from politicizing life, always saying that the human being was what was important. Poor, rich, white, black, child, youth, aged; each person was special to Pastor Biel. And, this, after all is what counts.

Pastor Biel, Aquidaba 1974

A passagem da família do P. Biel deixou um rastro de luz no Brasil. Até hoje, décadas depois, todo mundo lembra dele e de sua família.

Pastor Biel's family passage here left a ray of light in Brazil. Even now, decades later, everyone remembers him and his family.

O Brasil daquela época em que P. Biel esteve aqui, melhorou um pouco, progrediu, embora ainda esteja longe de resolver seus graves problemas sociais. E, tenho certeza que o papel educativo e missionário que o P. Biel desempenhou e sua contribuição pessoal tornaram nossa vida melhor. Sou muito grato a Deus pela vida do P. Biel, de Donna, Rachel, Charles e Helen. Que Deus os abençoe e recompense pelo seu amor.

The Brazil from that time when Pastor Biel was here has improved a bit, progressed, although it is still far from resolving its acute social problems. And, I am sure that the educational and missionary roles played by Pastor Biel and his personal contribution made our lives better. I am very grateful to God for the lives of Pastor Biel, of Donna, Rachel, Charles and Helen. May God bless them and reward them for their love.

Na fazenda do Tio Stan, irmao do Pastor Biel, 1990
At Uncle Stan's farm, Pastor Biel's brother, 1990

Guitar Man

2008-09-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

This is either Maringa or Londrina... I always loved the way this guy is standing there in the corner, so intent...

Maringa ou Londrina? Sempre gostei desta foto... O cara esta ai no canto, tao intento...

Rachel/Raquel

German Beauties/Lindas Alemas

2008-09-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

Some German girls from one of the rural areas Dad serviced. They seem very shy, sweet...

Algumas jovens de uma area rural aonde o pai pregava. Elas parecem bem acanhadas e doces...

Rachel/Raquel

Gene Foehringer, Man of God

2008-09-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

The guy in the poncho is Gene Foehringer, one of the American missionaries who had an unforgettable presence. As a child and as a teen, when Gene was around you felt like the world was alive. I lived with his daughter Ruthie in Campinas for a year and her mother was the accountant for the hostel, so I often saw her. All of them were fun, interesting, beautiful people. After we left in 1980, Gene stayed in Brazil to work with street kids in Sao Paulo. Several years later he had surgery and the blood was HIV positive. He died of AIDS in the United States, something I have never been able to accept very well. That such a man should suffer such a terrible death... But, we are hostage to our bodies and our environment, and although I do believe in the healing power of God, I think most of us are subject to the elements around us. I feel honored to have known him.

O cara com o poncho e o Pastor Eugenio Foehringer. Acho que serviram por um tempo no Rio, mas depois viveram por muitos anos em Sao Paulo. O Pastor Eugenio tinha o dom da vida. Ele entrava numa sala e todo mundo acordava porque ele tinha aquela presenca rara e magnetica. Depois que nos voltamos aos Estados Unidos, ele comecou a trabalhar com meninos da rua em Sao Paulo. Varios anos depois, ele contratou a SIDA numa transfusao de sangue num hospital. Morreu uma morte dolorosa e injusta. Ainda me choco com essa memoria. Mas, me sinto honrada em ter conhecido este homem maravilhoso!

Rachel/Raquel

Dona Sumiko

2008-09-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Dona Sumiko (tallest one at the back, smiling) was a Japanese missionary. We LOVED visiting her (or, I did). We always got wonderful treats and fun gifts like watercolor paints or interesting Japanese boxes and papers. Both Japan and Germany had treaties with Brazil where they sent immigrants who received land in exchange for cultivating it. Our city, Maringa, was 30% Japanese. My best friend was Japanese/Brazilian and I'm sure that her influence affected my palate, interest in the land, and openness to other cultures.

A Dona Sumiko esta de pe, atras das criancas. Ela era uma missionaria do Japao. Gostava muito de visitar com ela porque ela sempre tinha doces ou bolachas e um presente artistico. Mais tarde, a minha melhor amiga de infancia, a Adelia era Japonesa-Brasileira e o convivio com a familia dele me influenciou muito. Acho que porcausa dela gosto tanto da terra e tenho tanta abertura a outras culturas.

Rachel/Raquel

The Story of Coffee

2008-09-25T20:49:00.000-07:00

Coffee was the big agricultural product in our area in the early 1960's. It's hard work, labor intensive and frustrating to grow coffee. Our state was a borderline one climate-wise. A coffee plant takes four years to produce and a freeze can kill the bush. After several of these freezes, coffee moved further North, giving way to other crops that brought great prosperity to the area: corn, wheat, soy and other grains.

In the middle of it all, there are two missionary kids, Ruthie Foehringer and me. Ruthie and I later lived together for a year at the missionary hostel while we went to the Escola Americana de Campinas. I believe she has been involved in deaf education for the last several years.

___

A historia do cafe voces ja sabem. Ai estou eu com a filha do Pastor Foehringer do Rio de Janeiro, Ruthie. Quando eramos jovens moramos juntas em Campinas quando estudamos na Escola Americana. Ouvi dizer que ela e professora de surdos.

Rachel/Raquel

Boiada

2008-09-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

Many Brazilian songs talk about the "Boiada", and this is what you see here, a bunch of cattle crossing the road. Definitely early 1960's. Probably around Loanda...

Muitas cancoes Brasileiras cantam sobre a boiada, e vemos uma aqui, um monte de boi cruzando a estrada. Deve ser no comeco da decada dos 1960. Provavelmente perto de Loanda...

-Rachel/Raquel

Biel Boat Barco Biel

2008-09-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

I have no idea where this was taken, but it's been an all-time favorite that I would like to someday make into a large image. It says "Biel Rio" on the front. Click on the photo to see a larger image. You will see two men lounging around, shooting the breeze...

Nao tenho nem ideia aonde esta foto foi tirada, mas tem sido uma favorita por muito tempo. Algum dia, gostaria de fazer uma copia grande. Na frente do barco se diz: Biel Rio. Clicke na foto e vera uma imagem mais grande. Vera, tambem, dois homems conversando, batendo papo...

-Rachel/Raquel

The "Rio Biel" boat was in a port of Northern Brazil when we sailed on a cruise ship the first time down.

O barco "Rio Biel" estava num porto no norte do Brasil quando nos viajamos num navio de passeio na primeira viagem.

-Pastor Biel

Waiting At The River

2008-09-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

Waiting for the barge. Mom and Helen are in the car. I'm trying to get something from my brother. Below, we see it coming. We went over many barges during this time period- a sensible replacement for a bridge. The problem was all the waiting and waiting and waiting...

-Rachel

The Rural Germans

2008-09-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

I think these three photos are from Aquidaba, one of Dad's preaching points. Sunday mornings he preached in Maringa, which we all attended. Then, in the afternoon, he would rotate between rural churches up to an hour away. Mom would take us to the movies and we hated it when we had to go out to these rural places. Not because of the place itself or because of the people, but because we had to fidget through the same sermon we had already heard in the morning. "Oh, no..... not again!" One thing I learned from my father, which I still believe is key to life in the church, is that you don't go because you enjoy it or get something out of it. You go because you are there for the community. You go to give.

The photo above looks like a Confirmation photo. I do remember the blond. She was considered to be the hottest girl around. I agree. She was stunning. The precocious girl at the front probably wanted all of Dad's attention for herself.

The three German guys below were pillars of the community. We were at their houses many times. These people dedicated themselves to the church, many walking for miles to get there on Sunday afternoons.

I love the way these guys are standing. They look like a cover for some band, all cool, all carefully poised. But, notice the hands. Don't they look huge? That's called hard work. The guy in blue looks like my cousin Scott.

-Rachel

A Princesa The Princess

2008-09-24T23:28:00.001-07:00

Helen always dressed up like a princess when she was little. She told me recently that her dream came true as to her husband and kids, she is their Lady Helen.

A Helena sempre gostava de se vestir como princesa quando era pequena. Recentemente, ela me contou que o sonho dela se transformou em realidade. O marido e os filhos dela sempre dizem que ela e a princesa deles!

Rachel/Raquel

Rachel's Baptism

2008-09-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

Well, it's supposed to be a sacred experience, right? But, as you can see, I had absolutely no hope of looking towards a "normal" future. If you think I am strange, this is the proof: it's genetic! Mom being normal was not enough.

My outfit is beautiful! Dad's aunt made it (right? I'm thinking Great Aunt Martha who was also his Godmother...) and it is completely hand stitched, including little shoes. I still have it and some day hope to display it somehow.
-Rachel

More photos from my baby book. Dad and Mom.

Uncle Louie (Dad's youngest brother)

Aunt Marion (Dad's sister)

Estas fotos sao do meu batismo em 1962. Ainda estavamos nos Estados Unidos. A roupa que estou usando foi feita pela tia do meu pai, completamente costurado a mao. O meu tio Louie e tia Marion, irmaos do meu pai tambem estao nestas fotos.

Little China Girl

2008-09-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

I just want to squeeze her! (In a nice way...)
-Rachel

Dad Sitting Against the Wall

2008-09-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

I'm guessing Brooklyn, 1961? Please note the camera. Could it be the same one that took all these slides? And, the shadow- is that Mom?
-Rachel