Letter to Marian and Frank, December, 1969

 Rachel and Charles Biel

Iguazu Falls, Brazil, 1969

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,

I had this letter written before Thanksgiving but never got any further.  We are busy with Christmas poems for Sunday School, two plays which include youth and adults.  This time of the year it is difficult to start practice early as the school year ends in December and many are taking final exams, but for those who did well all year, they don't have to take final exams or at least, not in the subjects where they did well.

This year we had Thanksgiving at our church with 90 people present.  Almost all who came have children that go to the mission school here.  Last year it was held at the mission school with 60 and it was crowded.  The school children gave an enjoyable program.  Of those present, one other couple are Lutheran, some Baptist and most are from the United Missionary Society.

The first week in December we were gone for four days to the beach where we had two days of business meetings with our mission representative from our Board.  Rachel and Charles stayed with members of our church.  We were not to take our children along, but took Helen and there was one little girl for her to play with.  We enjoyed seeing the other missionaries but had to travel one day to get there and another to get back.  On the way back, Helen had a fever and was vomiting. 

Helen will have her tonsils out on the 30th of this month.  We have a doctor who is a specialist in child anesthesia.  She will be at a Catholic hospital run by Germans.  Helen recently got over a light case of the chicken pox.  Last month she had the mumps.  Charles recently had German measles with a high fever for one day.  When he had the mumps, he was in bed for almost three weeks due to re-swelling and fever.  Rachel has been very healthy and hasn't missed a day of school.

The children continue to be much larger than those of their age.  In the small mission school, Rachel has to sit with the 4th graders who are her size and her classmates, the 2nd graders, sit in smaller desks in front of her.  Grades 2-5 are taught by one teacher in a large room.  There are fifteen-  five of these are second graders.  Rachel's teacher says that she is reading very well. 

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

In Memoriam: Otto Tollefson

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...

Those Lutheran Missionaries/Aqueles Misionarios Luteranos

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!