Missionary Reunion 2012: Uncle Don turns 90!

There were about 20 or 30 American Lutheran missionary families in Brazil at any given time between 1962 and 1980.  The mission set up a hostel a few blocks away from the Escola Americana de Campinas, EAC, where most missionaries sent their kids to get an American education.  Don and Lil Aarsvold served as house parents for a couple of decades, raising these children in an environment that felt safe and nurturing to most of the children who lived under their care.  Many of these kids formed life-long bonds that continue to this day, decades later.

The Aarsvold family, courtesy David Grant

Uncle Don and Aunt Lil, as we knew them, seemed to have endless cheer, good-will, and were tireless in making us feel at home.  I went to EAC for high school, 1977-1980, and by the time I got there, most of the missionary kids had either gone on to college or now studied in the Brazilian school system, staying at home with their families, so there were only a few of us occupying this huge building.  1977 was also Uncle Don's and Aunt Lil's last year of service.  

They were replaced by a Brazilian couple, Ronaldo and Odete, who remained until the facility was closed down a few years later.  I believe that it is now a Senior Citizen's home.  Thomas Grant, one of the missionary kids, visited a few years ago and shared a current photo of the entrance:

Entrance to the Lutheran Hostel in Campinas, Brazil

Uncle Don celebrates his 90th birthday today and many of the missionary families are converging on their daughter's farm in Minnesota to honor him and Lil.  My parents and brother will be there.  I had hoped to go, too, but the 12 hour drive just didn't work out.  I celebrated my 50th year in January and most of the "kids" are now grandparents themselves.  Life goes on, but those early years have always stayed with us!

Lutheran Missionary Kids in Brazil, 1968, Courtesy David Grant

We were asked to contribute a page for a book that will be given to Uncle Don and Aunt Lil.  I made the photo collage at the top of this page and my Dad printed it out. I think it came out quite well!  You can click on any of these images to see larger views.

My parents will send me some photos and I'll post them here for "posterity".

Don and Lil Aarsvold dedicated much of their life to children and young adults.  Don wrote about his calling in 1992:

‘My God is Real”

There have been some things that have been laid upon my heart lately that I would like to write about. As I’ve been reading recently regarding various missions, missionaries and their work, I am reminded once again of our (my wife and I) ministry with the American Lutheran Church Mission in Brazil from 1967-1978. The following six years we spent in Anaheim, CA as Resident Counselors at the Lutheran Bible Institute. Throughout these years of ministry, many students would ask the question, “How come you left the farm to enter mission work, after twenty years of farming?” Well, it’s a long story, and this is how it all came about...

In my late teenage years I became convicted of my uncommitted life to Christ. My pastor helped me through this time, as I yielded my life fully to the Lord with a desire to live for Him and to serve Him wherever that might be.

I grew up on a farm and helped my Dad as a kid and then later worked on two other farms as a hired farm hand. During these years I had a very fine Christian girlfriend with whom I could share my thoughts and feelings. We talked and prayed a lot together! After one of these evenings upon my return home, I had a time of Scripture reading and prayer, went to bed and to sleep. Later, I was awakened by a vision in my room. It appeared on the ceiling - first like clouds in the sky and then gradually it became a map of the world. It sort of frightened me at first and then I remember saying -“What’s going on, Lord?” As I watched, one country after another disappeared except one - and that one remained, namely South America, and finally that disappeared too. I then remember saying, “Lord, are you trying to tell me something? If so, I want to be open to your will.” Needless to say, I shared this experience with my girlfriend and we prayed a lot regarding God’s will in our lives.

In 1946 we were married. By the way, she was Lillian Peterson of Kasson and a school teacher in the area. I continued farming and she teaching in the country schools. We purchased my home place south of Kasson and in the years that followed we were blessed with four children, Dennis, Cheryl, Mark and Donna. We were enriched in our church life and outreach to missions in various ways.

Then...in 1967, we were faced with a call to missions in Brazil, S.A. One of our first thoughts was regarding my vision in 1943 of So. America! Well, after much prayer and seeking God’s guidance, we made ourselves available to ALC Missions in April - with a specific call to minister as Houseparents to missionary children. In June, after our interview with the National Board we were extended an official call and would enter that field of service in late Dec. of 1967.

I just think it is so great to know that the Lord is concerned for His children and to realize how “right” his timing is! Just as surely as we knew He was calling us to Brazi], we also knew when our time there was finished. Our last year there once again became a time of searching as to God’s plan for us upon our return to the U.S. which would be in the Spring of 1978. Through a newsletter we received from the Lutheran Bible Ins titute in California we read that LW would be moving from their residence (a Lutheran church building) in Los Angeles to a new campus in Anaheim. Their plan was to be moved and begin classes there in January of 1979.

Again, I felt led to write to the Director of the School to inform him of our resignation from the Mission in Brazil and that we would be returning to the U.S. in 1978. I also shared with him our desire to continue in Christian service work and asked if there would be an area of service at LBI that we could fit into. It wasn’t long before we received a response from the Director (Pastor Frank Wilcox) who wrote they would indeed be needing a lay couple to be Resident Counselors at the new campus. He asked if we would visit with him in May (‘78) upon our return which we arranged. We felt good about our interview with him, but he at that time could not promise us a position there because of finances, etc. The Board of LBI was very interested in our application and certainly hoped and prayed that it would work out. That summer we continued with AbC Missions in Deputation work, etc. We continued in prayer regarding the LBIC possibility. Then...early in October we received a letter of call from LBIC to serve on their staff, beginning the first of Jan. 1979. We accepted this call with grateful hearts, being assured again of God’s faithfulness to us. He is “great and greatly to be praised!” Psalm 96:4a. We had six wonderful years of blessing in serving there with staff and students.

In one’s lifetime there are things that happen that I feel are important to “Family.” I often wish our children could have known my Dad (their Grandpa Aarsvold). He just loved children! I am thankful they knew and loved Grandma Aarsvold, as she was a wonderful person too.

I had a home life that was so meaningful. Dad and Mom loved the Lord and they lived their Christianity, which I never had reason to question. To be sure - we were not rich in worldly goods, though we always had sufficient food, clothing, a nice home and loving care. Our physical and spiritual needs were met, both in our home and at church.

I often wish my Dad would have left some writings of special “happenings” in his life for me, my children and grandchildren. I feel strongly regarding the faith stories of our lives and as a Christian parent, I trust and pray the spiritual part of life will never be taken for granted, but that it will be nourished and grow in faith, hope and love. There is real joy in living for the Lord and serving Him wherever we are!

“My God is Real” is what He has laid on my heart to share with you; and though you, my children, know all about what I am writing, I want my grandchildren and great grandchildren to know as well, so therefore [I] would like to pass [it]on for posterity. Thank you!

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

Letter to Marian and Frank, September 22, 1968

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,

We just got a letter from Mary informing us on the birth of your son.  Our heartiest congratulations!  We haven't heard the weight but she said that you might call him Eric Tomas.  He must have been born the day after you sent your last letter.  What does Lisa think of him?  Two little ones should keep you quite busy.  Now we are anxiously awaiting for Julia's news.

It certainly was something about Mike's sudden case of pneumonia.  Helen had several colds when we were home but all of us have been well since we came back.

We recently got a letter that Rosie sent in July.  It must have come by regular mail.  The snapshot she sent of Rachel is very good.  Rachel was very happy to get it.

It seems like time flies now that I'm teaching Rachel first grade by correspondence course.  It takes 1.5 to 2 hours every day and this is done when Helen naps.  There are 160 lessons to do and four covered readers with lovely books on the four seasons, arithmetic, writing, stories to read and a teacher's manual for me.  The last lesson was on two different sounds in "th" such as in "this" and "thank" and several words like this.  I pleaded with Joey to do this part of the lesson as I never learned to read by the phonetic system.  Rachel likes to study but I don't know how it will be now that the hot weather is arriving.

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

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!