Easter Letter, 1974

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 Marian and Frank, April 19, 1974

 Biel Family, mid-1970's, Brazil

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, Frank, Lisa, Eric and Julianna,

We received your package the day before Easter.  Joey brought it when I was trying to decide what to make for dessert on Easter- we made the cake.  Delicious!  We will have the other one on Joey's birthday.  Needless to say, we enjoyed the candy, too.  Thank you for the "sweet" gift.

We heard that you were going to Julia's for Easter.  I imagine you saw several changes in her house for Harvey wrote that he had been puttering around there and Julia said Martha went to help one day.

We remembered Julianna's birthday even though we didn't send a card.  It is easy to remember since Marian's is the next day and my sister Marian is on the 14th, too.

I suppose you are starting to enjoy spring weather.  We still have summer although the mornings and evenings are cooler.  It was chilly when we went to a mission meeting at the end of last month.  It was held at a city in the mountains of our southernmost state.  We traveled 24 hours by bus to get there, stayed two days, then spent another 24 hours traveling back.  That shows you are far away we are from some fellow American pastors.

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

 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

 Mom and Charles with Duchess, the cat.

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,

It seems like ever since we got back it has been raining a lot.  We got some big leaks fixed but have more to do.  The hard rains were starting to damage the wheat crop which was being harvested.  we were fortunate to have a beautiful day last Sunday when we had our annual fund raising dinner, bazaar and cake selling.  Everything sold well.

I was gone for four days to Londrina for orientation for leaders for Ladies Aid.  The next week cliff and I were gone for two days to a district pastor's meetings with the wives.  Cliff has gone to several meetings.  One was for a regional meeting of our church and now he is gone for three days where a study will be given on "Our faith, Our Life", a pamphlet which was put out by the church and many studies are being done by the lay people in which they seem to be well accepted.

A week from tomorrow, Helen will be a flower girl in a wedding at our church.  She is quite happy about it and has a light blue long dress that is being made for her.  The children are happy that Duchess has three kittens- two are almost all white like she is.  Rachel painted some boards and with some bricks made a bookshelf for her room.  Charles has his 3-speed on his bike, but hasn't been using it much.  He has been roller skating some, but Rachel has let her friend use Charles's skates and she has done a lot of skating.

 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 Marian and Frank, December, 1971

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, 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, December 6, 1963

 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