I'm writing this from Toni's family cabin. Being part of Toni's family, and, of course, being married to Tonia Lynn Dahlin, has been the biggest blessing in my life. This part of my Brazil story begins when I traveled, by bus, from Rio Pardinho to meet Toni in Rio de Janeiro. (From here on, unless I specify otherwise "Rio" will mean Rio de Janeiro.)
I won't be able to say anything much about that trip from the south to Rio. Now, in 2025 Google Maps says it'd take 21 hours to drive the over 1,000 miles. I'm as sure as I can be that I would have first gone to São Leopoldo, perhaps staying for a night with the Wangens, before heading north.
I probably would have taken a long overnight bus with a seats that recline and are quite comfortable. My hazy memory tells me that Doris Nienow, with another young woman, happened to be going to Rio de Janeiro too, and I think the three of us ended up taking the same bus, and somehow Doris was at the gate with me when Toni arrived, and took a photo of our embrace.
I had arranged for Toni and I to stay in inexpensive rooms (yes, separate rooms) at the "Internato Feminino" in Rio de Janeiro. The "Internato" was a hospital for women that was connected with the IECLB (the Brazilian Lutheran denomination I was serving with), and had some rooms that IECLB people could stay in.
Toni and I have been talking a bit tonight (July 5, 2025) about our time in Brazil together and neither of us can remember details of just what we did when in Rio that first time. I know we went to the beach, I know we took showers at some other spot connected with church people, and then took a taxi back to the Internato. The taxi driver was crazy. I had to tell him we weren't in a hurry!
On Toni's third day with me, we took a long bus ride to Brasília, where we stayed with Pastor Walter and Lydia Dorr, and visited the Day Care center that I would eventually work at. After a couple days in the Brasília area we flew to Campinas. We stayed one night at the Wanderleys and visited the language school where I had studied for 7 weeks the previous January and February. We then went to São Paulo and visited the Fawcett family.
I don't remember whether we stopped with the Abels in Curitiba or not. We then took a pinga-pinga bus to a beach area, perhaps Tramandai, where we stayed with the Korndorfers -- but on that bus ride I wanted to talk about whether we should get married. Toni said I needed to ask her first, so I did, and, after a few seconds to put me on edge, she said yes. When we got to the Korndorfer's beach house, they were aghast that I'd asked Toni to marry me on a bus, so they put on a "noivada" party for us.
We then traveled together to São Leopoldo, probably stopping in Canoas to visit two young women that Toni had gotten to know, and who, with their parents, had befriended me. When we got to the São Leopoldo seminary, I think we stayed overnight with the American professor and family I had visited several times when I was living in Rio Pardinho. I showed Toni around the campus (the "Morro do Espelho"). I seem to remember that most of people I'd known when living in São Leopoldo weren't there. The seminary was on summer break. Many students, including apartment mates Jairo and Jorge were busy with their internships elsewhere in Brazil, and my roommate Sergio Sauer was in the United States.
I think we may have visited a large evangelical Lutheran gathering (the Encontão) but I'm not sure,
We then took a bus to Santa Cruz do Sul, where Orlando Panke met us and brought us to Rio Pardinho. I hope I can find some notes about our time in RP. I'm sure we stayed with Pankes and visited around the area. My memories of the time Toni and I spent in the RP area are mixed up with two other trips we made to RP together -- once when Naomi was a baby and then later when our kids were teenagers.
I'm not sure what happened after that. Somehow we ended up back in Rio de Janeiro where we we did some touristy things and bought silver engagement rings at an outdoor market near Ipanema. Then Toni flew back to the states and I went to Brasília to begin the a second part of my internship.
Because I'm at the cabin this week, I'd have a bit of time to write. However, I'm not being successful remembering details, and Toni doesn't remember any more than I do. I'll need to wait till I'm at home to look at old letters, personal journals, photos, etc. to jog my memory so I can write this story. But when I'm home I'll be busy... not sure when I'll get this done
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