DRAFT
-- written at the cabin without looking at old letters and journal entries that will, at some point, jog my memory. I did look at a map and a few photos that were handy on my computer or posted to facebook.
After saying goodbye to Toni on or about March 13, 1984, I took a taxi back to I had left my baggage*, or perhaps straight to the bus station where I bought a ticket for a bus to Brasília.
By this time I was used to riding buses, often for long distances. The trip from Rio to Brasília took between 15 and 20 hours. I probably dozed a bit, but I don't remember actually sleeping on long bus trips. At the time, when I was 27 years old, I didn't use earplugs or an eyeshade.
It was a rare thing for me to take a taxi. When I first arrived in Brasil I took a taxi from the Campinas bus station to the "Lar" (see part 1 of this story). I think it was more than a year later before my second taxi ride, this time with Toni, when we went from the beach to the "Internato" (see part 2). The third, and perhaps the last, was at this point in my story. None of the taxi cab rides were pleasant experiences.
I'm sure I had arranged with soon-to-be internship supervisor, Pastor Walter Dörr, to pick me up at the bus station when I got to Brasília. He and his wife Lydia were empty-nesters with a large apartment on the third or fourth floor of a high rise residence. They gave me a room to use with a bed, a dresser, and a desk. Lydia provided the food.
Walter and Lydia were pious, prayerful, hard-working people who were probably 55-60 years old. Toni's brother and sister had gotten to know them in 1981, when they were on the Lutheran Youth Encounter team that Toni serving on too. Toni didn't get to know them because she was ill with hepatitis and was staying with Fawcetts in São Paulo at the time.
Pastor Dörr served the IECLB congregation in Brasília, and some other small gatherings of Lutherans (preaching points) in outlying areas of the Distrito Federal (DF) and the states of Goiás and Minas Gerais. In the DF we served a congregation in one of the "rural nucleuses, I think a place known as Tabatinga. In Goiás we traveled to Cristalina, in Minas Gerais, Paracatu. There was another congregation in the state capital of Goiás, Goiânia. All of these were preaching points at the time. Later some of them became congregations in their own right, and a church district formed around the area.
I don't remember practicing my pastoral skills at the main church building in Brasília. I remember staying at the Dörrs' home, studying and having meals there--but mostly I remember serving at the Day Care Center in Ceilandia where an employee of the Day Care Center rented a room to me, and, working with Pastor Nils and Brito. I remember serving the smaller Lutheran worship gatherings in outlying communities, usually with Pastor Dörr but, at least once, on my own.
During the four months that I lived in Brasilia and Ceilandia, I took two longer trips. Once going to Alvorada do Norte to try making contact with farmers who had moved there from the south, and once taking an extended trip north to Belem, and, from there, east to Juazeiro do Norte and Recife. When in Recife I stayed at a Catholic retreat center.
When serving at the Day Care Center I got to know the Lutheran "diaconisas" who lived in a building on the grounds, a building that was off limits to the rest of us. Every morning that I was staying at Dona Vilma and Seu Jose's house, I would have breakfast with them and then walk three or four blocks down a wide divided street (all dirt or gravel at the time) to the Day Care Center, arriving in time to join in a time of scripture reading and prayer led by the diaconisas. I helped in several ways with the children. I remember leading games. I honestly don't remember all the ways I was involved in their routine life.
At the time when I in Ceilandia Pastor Nils Sørbo was working on founding a Lutheran congregation. I participated in one or more Bible Studies led by Pastor Nils and the congregation's president known as Brito** who played guitar. I got to know Brito quite well, and, after leaving Brazil to return to the United States, we exchanged some letters. I haven't been in contact with him for a long time.
The new Ceilandia congregation's worship services were held at the Day Care Center. I only remembered that because I have a picture of another Norwegian Missionary, Berit Espeset, leading Sunday School songs with a large group of children. During that time Nils and Brito were working on getting a lot on which to build a the congegation to have their own place worship and Sunday School. The diaconisas were wanting the congregation to stop using the Day Care Centers on Sundays so they could enjoy quiet time on the weekend.
I remember going on a picnic with Pastor Dörr, and some of Lutheran church workers. The picture I have includes some youth, so I'd guess Berit was there. I have a recording of us singing together. I have a vague memory of another time when we went to a church retreat, perhaps linked to the Encontrão, in the DF for a day.
During the time I was in Brasília I had to renew my visa. That was not easy to do, as I recall. Brazilian bureaucracy was difficult to navigate. I remember hiring a "despachante" in Campinas to get whatever "papers" were necessary at the time to allow me to stay in Brasil beyond my first few weeks. I had to deal with the bureaucracy again when I was living in the south. In Campinas, as I recall, I got either a six month or year long permission to stay in the country. In any case it had to be renewed in Brasília. I think the bureaucracy was stickier in the DF than it had been in other places.
The 1983-1984 time period when I was living in Brazil was politically tumultous. I was aware thar Brazil had been ruled by a military dictatorship 1964, a dictatorship that had been loosening its grip, partly due to inflation running at 5-10% per month. Some Brazilian states began electing their governors in 1982, and soon after, a "Diretas Já" (Direct Elections Now) campaign began, which led, during to huge popular demonstrations in large cities, including at the congressional buildings in Brasília. As the time came near for the congress to vote on a constitutional amendment, the government, through its military, limited access to the DF and the area near the buildings where the congress was voting. I remember that buses bringing people to Brasília to participate in the Diretas Já campaign were stopped. I remember taking a crowded city bus to the congress' buildings on the day that the amendment was being voted on. The bus didn't stop, but I was able to take photos of the military surrounding the congress' buildings. I don't remember any political conversations with Walter or Lydia Dörr. As I recall, they had friends connected with the government.
I had planned to stay in Brazil until sometime in July. I chose to return earlier, partly because I was just in a hurry to get "home," to see Toni and my parents, and partly because my dad's mother's 90th birthday was being celebrated on June 28. I remember working on my own with a travel agent to get my one way return airplane ticket.
The United States felt unreal to me when I returned. Maybe I'll write more about that, and other things, later.
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*All of this is from a vague memory. I think my baggage, probably two large suitcases, was left at the home of an ALC missionary in Rio where Toni and I may have stayed while we were in Rio de Janeiro that second time. I think we found a place to stay with an ALC missionary. I have a vague memory of a missionary who wore thick eyeglasses. I don't remember his name, but I remember being in his house. I don't remember specifically that we stayed overnight there, though it makes sense to me that's what we would have done. My memory tells me that this particular ALC missionary was doing work among the poor, probably among favelados, individuals and families living in shanty towns known as favelas, in shacks, on land that was not occupied by anyone when the first people began to live there.
**José Carlos Ferreria Brito. I exchanged letters with Brito after leaving Ceilandia.
