What Do I Do? Part 3

Here’s a Test for You

A couple weeks ago we talked about what it means to be a true Christ Follower. We talked about how obeying Him and giving your “entire” life to Him is what it really means, right? OK, having said that, we should’ve probably talked about what the outcome will be once you decide to step out in faith and do whatever it is He’s asked you. As a matter of fact, I’m gonna list 3 options and I want you to guess which one is correct. Let’s see how smart you are. Alright? Here we go...

Question: Once you decide to give your entire life to Jesus and obey Him, your life
will_______.

A- Be easier than ever before, because you’ve decided to obey God, and that’s why you
can have “your best life now.”

B- Be full of rainbows, puppy dogs, gumdrops, fairy dust and whatever you touch will
turn to gold.

C- Be more difficult than ever and you’ll have to “press-into God” harder than ever
before. You’ll also frequently feel like quitting and will be tempted to fall to your
knees, looking to the sky (all while shaking your fist heavenward) as you scream out,
“why God?!!” And although you never really cuss out loud, the words definitely scroll
across your mind. You’ll also frequently feel like punching people in the face. You’re
tempted to get angry and bitter at everyone around you (because secretly you know
everything is their fault). You, all of the sudden, have the supernatural ability to pick
out everyone else’s faults because magically you don’t have any (actually this may
be a new gift of the spirit).And finally, you’ll second guess your decision and come to
the conclusion that you must have missed God because it’s so hard.


OK. Which one did you pick?
If you picked A, then I’m sorry to say, “you’re wrong.”... sorry. But this is what we think most of the time isn’t it? Even though Matthew 7:14 tells us that, “the way that leads to life is hard and that few people will actually be on that road.”

If you picked B then... well, everyone knows that if you’ve got fairy dust then the golden touch is like, sooooo unnecessary. So, B is wrong too.

If you picked C then you’re absolutely correct! Once you decide to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, strap on your boots (whatever that means) and get ready for the battle. If following Him was easy then everyone would be doing it, but it’s not. And the temptation will always be to second guess your decision and quit. No matter how many miracles you see or how many audible voices you hear it always seems like the temptation is to say (with our lip stuck-out, of course), “well, it must not have been God’s will and I guess we missed it.” But we must, must, must keep pressing forward.

The reason I’m talking about this today is because, “we’ve wanted to quit so many times here in Brazil.” For real. This is NOT easy. We received an evil report from the U.S. the other day and it really hurt ( I might be able to share it later). That, coupled with the fact that we’ve been here over a month now and we’re still stranded on the mountain with no phone/internet/or vehicle to contact anyone, we don’t speak fluent Portuguese so ministry is harder, one of our dogs was violently ill for over a week (throwing up blood-not eating-not drinking) We were having to force water down her throat so she wouldn’t dehydrate and die (here in the jungle) because there’s no vet for dogs, we’re having problems with my paperwork at the Federal Police and have spent several days trying to get it fixed. They said “I’m going to be fined $80 Realis per day” as a fine and communicating with them is very difficult, it’s been raining for over a week now (the only thing worse than being stranded in the jungle is being stranded in the jungle in the rain), all of our friends and the people we lean on when we’re going through difficulties are all in the US, our oldest son is in the US and we miss him, and ... I could go on and on but I’ll stop there.

I actually laid in bed the other night and tried to think of how we could send our container back to the US before we get it, get a job at a local church somewhere in the States and put an end to this craziness! It’s been hard and seems like it’s getting harder rather than easier. MJ and I were even talking the other morning and she was telling me that she only wants to stay here 12 months. And the fact that we’ve already been here 1 month meant that we’ve only got 11 months left. So, she had already started the countdown! When she said it we both looked at each other then we just busted out laughing! It sounded so stupid... to be here 1 month and we were already counting down to our escape?! lol! Then we talked about how faithful God has been to us. And we talked about “the call” He gave us to come to Brazil and there was no doubt about “the call” only doubts about our present circumstances. And the 2 really have nothing to do with each other (when it comes to how long we stay).
You see, the fact is that, when you really decide to follow Christ things WILL be difficult at some point in the journey. And you WILL consider quitting or bailing out early. Why?
Because ultimately it’s a spiritual battle and you’re battling against spiritual forces that are opposed to God and His Kingdom. Just read Ephesians 6:10-13. Go ahead...
In the last part of verse 13 and in the beginning of 14 it says, “having done all to stand firm... stand.” And that’s exactly what you’re gonna have to do too... stand firm. Stand firm in knowing that you heard from God and just do what he’s asked you to do.
So, long story short, we’re staying. We’re not shipping our container back, I’m taking my resume’ and throwing it in the trash, and I’m ripping MJ’s 12 month countdown calendar off the refrigerator. lol! Just pray for us... we need it: )

Not Counting Down Anymore in Brazil,
Jim and MJ

PS- One of the pics is in our backyard and the other is of something MJ found in the jungle that she wanted to use as a decoration... lol! You can take the decorator out of the city but she's still a decorator: )

Random Blog Friday: Slowly Introducing Parasites Into Our Diets

Here’s a Random Blog for ya...

Our water comes from a small black pipe that runs from the top of the mountain we live on. The only things is, we’ve been told that the water has parasites in it. Now, when I think of parasites it’s not a positive thing. I think of people with bloated stomachs or people having uncontrollable diarrhea because of these microscopic things that are living their stomachs. Having said that, we haven’t been real excited about drinking the water here... understandable, right? But we’ve been here for over a month now and haven’t drank hardly any water at all because we’re so paranoid. We’ve been drinking a little bit of bottled water but it’s too expensive to solely drink that. We do have this little cheap plastic thing attached to our faucet that “supposedly” purifies our water. I say “supposedly” because this thing is so ghetto I doubt that it removes anything at all from the water. But, since water is a huge part of “actually living”, we’ve started slowly drinking the water trying and acclimate ourselves to it. I mean, there’s thousands of people who live here and they drink the water, right? And they’re not walking down the street pooping themselves accidentally or anything like that so we’ve thrown caution to the wind and begun introducing the local water into our diets. Keep your fingers crossed. Haha! Now on a positive note, if I do get chronic diarrhea maybe it would aid in me losing weight? I’ve been here a little over a month and I’ve only lost about 7 pounds so maybe that could speed up the weight loss process? Just a thought: )

Please pray for us as we’re preparing to minister in a new school this coming Monday. The Federal Police met with Brad and Carolyn a few weeks ago and wanted us to come and put on a program about America where we can also share the Gospel. It’s in a town we haven’t ministered in yet so it’s a great opportunity.

The pics today are just from the camp property, MJ and a the kids coming back from a walk in the rain one day, one of my nephews (Boaz) and the huge carp he caught on a cane pole, and Maryssa and “a friend”... haha!

Have a great weekend and we’ll be back again on Monday!

Love Ya,

Jim

Lice and the One Legged Man

I remember when I got the call to ministry back in the Spring of 82’. It came during an altar call at a church in Tucker, Georgia where a Missionary from Jamaica prophesied (yes, prophesied... sorry to all my Baptist friends... haha!) over me that “God was calling me to preach!” I remember the feeling I had that morning too. To think that the God of Heaven would want a little punk like me was the most amazing feeling in the world. And “inside” I knew it was true. It was what God wanted me to do and I was totally down with it. But the ministry I had in mind was totally different than where I’m at today. But, looking back, if God would have told me where I was going to end up I probably would have messed it up or run the other way. That’s why I think God rarely shows us what our distant future looks like...”He just shows us each next step.”
Sometimes ministry definitely doesn’t work out like you think it will either. It isn’t always pretty and nice-and-tidy the way we envision it. It’s not just prayer and Bible study, for sure. For example a week or so ago, I was ministering to a lady here in the community who was very distraught. I prayed with her and gave her a big huge hug (because of how upset she was). After I hugged her and started to step back I noticed a massive lice infestation in her hair! The same hair that just 5 seconds earlier was resting on my shoulder, as she was crying! As I saw it, in my mind I said, “Oh my goodness... really? Lice? You’ve got to be kidding me!” For real? (I guess that’s just one more insect that I can add to my “bug encounters list” here in Brazil.) Here I was just trying to minister the love of Jesus to this lady and now there’s a good chance I’ve got lice, awesome! Thanks Holy Spirit for giving me the heads-up. Appreciate it.
It reminded me of something that happened back in 2001’. I was driving down the road near the hospital in Walton County Georgia. I was in my brand new Ford F-150 XLT extended cab truck that I just purchased. It still had the new car smell, I wouldn’t let anybody eat or drink in it, I detailed it 2x per week... you know how it is with a new vehicle, right? Well, here I was in my new truck driving down the road. It was about 95 degrees outside and very humid. I could see someone up ahead of me on the side of the road on crutches. Then as I got closer I noticed he only had 1 leg. As I passed him I could tell that he was really struggling. Then I thought, “man, it’s too hot out there to be walking on the side of the road with 1 leg on crutches” so I turned around to see if he wanted a ride. I stopped next to him and rolled my window down to ask him if I could take him somewhere. Then he looked up at me, from under his hat, and when he did it took me by surprise and kinda freaked me out. He had some type of disease that had eaten his nose and ears off! And when I took a closer look at his skin it was all “melted looking.” It was very sad. So, I asked him if he wanted a ride and he slowly said, “yes” and climbed up in my truck. I tried having some small talk with him (because I’m so good at small talk, haha! Yeah, right.) but it was difficult speaking to him. When we got to the place where he wanted to go I pulled over and then it happened... this guy started throwing-up all over the passenger door/floor/ window of my brand new truck! It was sooooo unexpected! I just sat there in amazement and then I said to him, “oh, it’s OK... don’t worry about it.” But in my mind I was thinking, “get out please so I can get to the closest car wash!” I was totally dumbfounded. Here I was trying to be a “Good Samaritan” and look what happens. I get puked on... awesome! Thank you, God.
But when I think about both of these situations... if God would have told me beforehand that the lady had lice, I probably wouldn’t had comforted her with a hug. And if God would have told me ahead of time that the guy was going to blow chunks all in my new truck, I probably wouldn’t have picked him up. And here’s the bottom line- she needed a hug and that guy needed a ride! But I’m so selfish that if God would have given me the heads-up I may not have done the right thing. So until (if it ever happens) I mature enough to where God can show me the ending it’s fine with me that He only shows me my next step. Because I’m still amazed that He even called someone like me anyway. He’s so merciful: )

Love Ya,
Jim

PS - I’m happy to report that I do NOT have lice and I took my truck to the car wash (back in 2000’) and used the little carpet cleaner machine thingy and it was fine: ) Also, the picture at the top is us with Necca. For those of you who came on the mission trip back in April you'll remember her as the sweet lady who cooked for us. btw- we're not giants... she's just short! lol!

“So, How Many Did You Have in Service Yesterday?”

"So, how many did you have in service yesterday?"

Has anybody ever asked you that? Or have you ever asked someone else that question? It seems like we tend to measure success by numbers. How big our church is, how many people showed-up at an event, how many people received Christ during an altar call, how many people were baptized, etc. Now don’t get me wrong. A lot of people coming to Jesus during an altar call is awesome. Seeing over 2,000 people get baptized during a two week period (like at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC a few months ago) is totally amazing. Having a big church that is making an impact for the kingdom of God in the community is a positive thing, for sure. And I think “big number ministry” stuff should be celebrated. However, success can’t ultimately (and only) be measured just by the size of the crowd. “Real” success in ministry isn’t measured only by the numbers. If that was the case then Jesus wasn’t very successful. Actually it seems that Jesus was always trying to avoid “the crowds.” Just skim through the Gospels and you’ll find that almost every time a bunch of people started gathering because of Him, He would leave for a different city (Matthew 8:18). Or whenever a large crowd gathered (because of all the exciting stuff-like miracles) He’d throw out some kind of demand for following Him and the crowd would magically turn into a small group of people (which mainly consisted of the 12 disciples).

Jesus spoke to thousands and thousands of people, performed more miracles than any of us could even imagine and He had the Holy Spirit without measure, yet, he really only had a small group of people that He poured into on a consistent basis. And He didn’t consider it insignificant. He actually seemed pretty content to only have a few guys (in comparison to the large crowds) that actually followed Him. So why is it that we only think we’re successful when we’re seeing “big numbers?” It’s stupid. Really the question we should be asking ourselves is “how are the people that I’m discipling doing?” Are they growing in their walk with Jesus? Are they maturing spiritually from being around me and at my church? Are they, in turn, discipling others for Jesus? That’s how we should measure success, not by how many were in service Sunday Morning. (But most christians/churches aren’t actually discipling, they’re just going to church and holding services... just an observation.)

Now, anytime you hear someone talking like this it’s usually because they’re jealous that their church isn’t growing. It’s usually because they’re bitter that the church down the street is doing great and theirs isn’t. But that’s not the case here. I was on the pastoral staff at the same local church for 9+ years before coming to the mission field. We were holding 3 services every Sunday Morning with 1200-1400 people in attendance every week. We’d put on outreach events for the community and would have 3,000-4,000 people in attendance every time... we were successful from a numbers standpoint. So I’m not speaking from the point of view of someone who wasn’t seeing success in numbers and I’m definitely not jealous of some other ministry. The reason I’m saying this is because I speak to a lot of pastors and staff members that are totally bummed-out because they’re measuring their success by the numbers and not by how the people, that they have now, are doing spiritually. You need to have the attitude that if your church grows... great. If it doesn’t grow... great. It’s all His anyway, right? Measure your success by how you’re doing (discipling) with the people that God has placed in your life and at your church. That’s it. Don’t compare yourself to the guy down the street. Just measure your success by what you’re doing with the people God has placed around you. Just be faithful there.

And I think I remember reading something about “that we’re nothing and that it’s God who gives the increase anyway, right?” (I Cor. 3:1-9)

Just some thoughts I had yesterday... hope you guys have a great week: )

Love Ya!

JIm

PS - The pics up top are after our English service we have at the Camp on Sunday Mornings. This was after service when we were just hanging-out. We started doing this service 3 weeks ago so that our families (all us missionaries... still can't believe I'm a missionary. haha) could worship in English each week (with praise and worship and with teaching) since all the other services we're in the rest of the week are in Portuguese.

I Hate To Do This to You...

Yesterday morning I was awakened by dogs barking and basically going crazy at the front window of our house. Even though I heard it, I just laid there like I didn’t hear a thing (don’t tell MJ- she just thinks I’m a heavy sleeper). Someone was at our house. MJ was already up and in the kitchen making coffee and I could hear that she had gone out to see who it was. After a few minutes she came back in the bedroom (where I was fake-sleeping) and said, “I hate to do this to you... but” and then she went into the story.

It seems that the principal of the Elementary School was at our house. Not because one of our kids had done something wrong (they’re not enrolled yet, otherwise that would be a strong possibility) but because she needed our help. Her husband is an alcoholic and is also very abusive. I had actually prayed for her a couple of weeks ago (that’s us in the picture praying) when we were ministering at the school and now she was here and in desperate need of our help. She wanted us to go get Brad (my brother-in-law) and for all of us to go with her to her house and pray for her husband who went on a drunken rampage the night before. He had hit her and had supposedly thrown some furniture around and she didn’t know what to do next.

So I got up out of bed and put pants on (because pants is usually recommended for this kind of stuff) and went outside to see her. And all before my 1st cup of coffee... awesome: )

When I got outside I hugged her and she just held me tight and wept. You could definitely feel her despair. We talked for a few minutes then we called Brad on the radio and he came to pick us up. We travelled off our mountain, down the highway, and onto another mountain. As we travelled deep back into the jungle we were amazed at how many houses and people lived there. We had never even known that this part of Terra Boa even existed. More people to reach... yesss!

When we got to her house her husband had barricaded himself in the bedroom as he was trying to sleep off his drinking binge from the night before. She proceeded to break into the room while we sat there. The house (actually it was a shack) was very small and unsanitary. We were all just looking around at everything (I was actually looking for an escape route in case he came in with a gun or something) and trying to take-in the environment while we prayed quietly to ourselves.

She was eventually able to get him up and into the kitchen where we were waiting. He was very reluctant to speak at first because he thought we were the police. But after we talked for a while (and after his 100th cigarette) He seemed less irritated. Then he offered us coffee in these little mason jars. As soon as he handed it to me Brad and I looked at each other and I know we were thinking the same thing... “oh crap! Do we have to drink this?” So I just looked at Brad and said out loud, “and if they drink anything deadly it shall by no means harm them” (see how I snuck in the Mark 16 reference? pretty spiritual, huh?) and then down the hatch it went. For all we knew this guy could have been mad that we were there and this could have been his way of retaliating... kill the missionaries with liquid “whatever-that-stuff-was.” That’s over the top, I know. Sorry, my mind tends to wander.

We spoke to him for another hour about Jesus and the Gospel, prayed over him and then left. Even though no decision was made by him to follow Jesus, I know for certain that God was and will continue to pursue and wrestle with that man. Please pray that He will.

The thing that stuck with me about the situation though is the fact she came and wanted “us” to help. And it’s not like we’re easy to get to either. But she knew that we were there and would be willing to help. Brad and Carolyn (my brother-in-law and sister-in-law) have definitely done a great job, over the last 2 years, of building a great reputation for the Kingdom here in Terra Boa. It’s really an honor to be here. Seriously. As much as we complain and as difficult as it is, we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

UPDATE

A few weeks ago we shared with you, here on the blog, about the ministry facility that we’ve been given here in the town of Terra Boa to start a church in. Well, it’s been raining for over a week so construction came to a screeching halt until the rain passed. But now that it has, the inside has been completely gutted, a new roof is going on today, and hopefully the bathrooms and a new floor will be poured with the next 2 weeks. It’s getting close! Keep praying for us because this will be the 1st evangelical church planted here in this part of the mountains of Terra Boa. It's still blows my mind to think that of all the people in the world... God chose our family to be the ones to do it (The Dunn's-Atkinson's & Moore's). Amazing: )

We Love You Guys!

Jim and MJ

Totally Random Blogging

The last couple of blogs have been serious so I thought I’d mix-it-up with what we’ll call a “Totally Random Blog.” I’ll probably start doing this once a week (on Fridays). There will be no deep hidden nuggets of wisdom (actually that’s usually not an issue anyway, haha!) and they’ll just have little “samplings” of our life here in Brazil. OK? Sweet. Here we go...

We had to go to Curitiba (which is a major city about 45 minutes from where we live) to get some paperwork that we needed from the Federal Police. We were in a district where shops lined both sides of the streets and there were all kinds (literally) of people walking around. There I was walking along, just minding my own business, when all of the sudden out of the corner of my eye I saw these 2 guys walking... no, strutting their bikes down the middle of the street with no shirts on. One was wearing spandex bike shorts and the other was wearing a pink speedo-like thing. Whoa... what in the world? I definitely had to do a double take. It was just so bizarre. Here in this metropolitan area, with everyone dressed normally, emerges these 2 guys who were totally out of place. I mean, we’re nowhere near the beach and I’m pretty sure that pink underwear/bathing suit thing is illegal... or at least it should be! I quickly grabbed my camera and told them I was a tourist (because I'm never afraid to throw down the tourist card if I need to, haha) and then asked them if I could get a picture with them (for your viewing pleasure, of course). lol! Wow, huh?!!! I would have ripped my shirt off and posed with them but that would have been totally inappropriate... : )

Love You Guys!
Jim

What Do I Do? Part 2

Yesterday we talked a little about the fact that the true mark of someone who is a Christian is not that they are busy doing stuff or that they are morally upright. It’s that they obey and do what Jesus asks them to do and that there isn’t anything that they would’t give up for Jesus if He asked them to. It’s all or nothing. (Just look at the story of the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17-25 he did a lot right but wasn’t willing to do 1 thing)
But now what? How do you fulfill what He’s called you to do... especially when it’s gonna take a HUGE step of faith to do it? Are you ready? Here it is...
Just do the next right thing. That’s it. Just do the next right thing.
Here’s an example... when we adopted 5 of our children back in 08’, rather than looking at the final goal of needing $40,000 we focused on the first thing we needed, which was $1,200 for our home study. Then we focused on the $400 we needed for our psychological evaluations (which I’m still surprised we passed, haha), then we focused on the next step. Then we focused on the next step, then the next. Rather than waiting until we got the whole $40,000 we just focused on the next step. It’s the same with moving to Brazil. Rather than focusing on the total amount we needed to move, we just did the first thing (bought plane tickets), then the next (visas), then... you get the idea, right? If we would’ve said, “we’re not moving until we get the whole amount we need (FYI, we’re still believing and trusting God) then we’d still be sitting at our house in Georgia and not here in Brazil. I know it, beyond a shadow of a doubt. But I think that’s exactly the way God works... He wants us trusting Him each step of the way... through faith. I mean, look at any person in the Bible and see how God dealt with and used them. God asked Noah to build an ark because He was going to destroy the world with a flood. It took faith to build a boat (Gen. 6:11-22) on dry land because it had never even rained much less flooded! What if he would have started building only after the first rain drop fell? Abraham went out, and left his country, without knowing where he was going (Gen. 12:1-3) by faith, just because God asked. Moses led the children of Israel out of captivity (Ex. 6:1-13) to the Promised Land by faith (it took 40 years but it could have been quicker, God was just wanting them to trust Him each step of the way... that’s why it took so long, duh!). I could go on and on but it’s all the same and it boils down to one thing... without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). He’s just waiting for you to take the first step and... “Just do the next right thing.” He will NEVER let you down. If He’s told you to do something, “just do it!”
We’d love to hear what God’s asked you to do and if there’s any encouragement we could give you or if you need someone to agree with you in prayer (or kick you in the butt!) please e-mail us at WeAreTheRev@gmail.com . We’d love to stand with you: )

Believing God Has Big Things For You,
Jim

What Do I Do?

Today’s blog is gonna be a little different. The other day I was in the town of Quatro Barros, sitting in the back of a van by myself, it was raining really hard, and the windows were all fogged-up. MJ and her sister were inside of a government building picking up some papers that we needed so that we can get our container out at the Port of Parana. And, as I was sitting there, I felt like I needed to write something to you. I don’t have any crazy bug or snake stories to tell you (although I could). But I just felt like I needed to write something to you and it’s serious. As a matter of fact, I’ve really felt impressed to share this with you for a couple months now but the timing wasn’t right but now I feel like it is, so here it goes...

As our family has been in the process of moving to the mission field in Brazil, we’ve spoke at several churches, met a lot of people, and had the opportunity to share our story here on-line with, God only knows, how many people. And the reaction to what we’re doing is usually the same. People say they admire us for doing what we’re doing and they look at us like we’re some kind of “super christians” or something. But we don’t and never have felt like we were ever anything special. For real. We’ve always looked at everything we’ve done (from adopting 5 children almost 4 years ago to selling our stuff and moving to Brazil this year) as just being obedient to God. Nothing more-nothing less. But there’s a problem with that. The fact that we’ve done what we’ve done only seems radical (to a lot of people) because they’re comparing us to what most people that call themselves “Christ Followers” are doing. That’s why it seems like we’re out of the norm and in a different league. But if you compare us to anyone in the Bible (especially people in the book of Acts-which should be our prototype of how real christians look and act) then what we’re doing just seems like a normal response to a loving God. To us it just seems normal to want to give every part of our life to Him. We’re NOT special!

So what does this have to do with you? And why am I saying all of this to you? Because I want to challenge you to do what God has asked you to do. Now, are you suppose to adopt a bunch of kids, sell/give all your stuff away and move to the foreign mission field or even plant a church? Maybe, maybe not. Only you and God really know the answer to that question. But God HAS asked you to do something. In Matthew 7:21-23 it says this:

Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.” On that day many will say to me Lord, Lord didn’t we prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from me you workers of lawlessness.’

Wow. If you just read that and think about the implications... on that day “many” are gonna say, ‘but Lord... I did this, this and that in your name’ and they’re gonna be turned away from the presence of God forever! People who were busy doing stuff. There are going to be many people who are going to be shocked to hear those words... and it says there’s going to be many... not a couple or a few, but many. In the first part of that passage it says that the only people who will be entering into the Kingdom of Heaven are the ones who are doing the will of the Father, too. Go ahead and look in your own Bible... it’s there. I’m not making this up. Now, I can hear some people saying, “but that’s just one scripture... you can’t form a belief on just one scripture”... OK. Here’s a few more for you then:

• Matthew 16:24-27
• Mark 8:34-38
• Luke 9:23-24
• Luke 14:25-33

If you need more, shoot me an email and I’ll send you some: )

Here’s the deal... God’s never, in all of history, “not” asked one of His followers to do something (i.e. none of His people are called to just sit and do nothing and only live life). He’s always asked His people to be obedient and do “something.” And, as we grow in Him, the things He asks us to do will be more difficult and they’re usually things that can only be accomplished with His help.

But see, there’s this false Gospel that’s being preached today that says, just pray this prayer and confess this after me, or just raise your hand and sign this card then you’re all good. Just attend church and be morally upright and... no!

Being a true disciple is abandoning all for Him. Being a true disciple is seeing Jesus for all that He is and being willing to walk away from anything and everything if God asks you to. It’s not just “confessing” Him as Lord, it’s actually allowing Him to “be” Lord of your whole life. That’s what it really looks like to be a true Follower of Jesus. That’s why when we felt like God was asking us to adopt we said, “yes.” That’s why, when He asked us to abandon everything we knew and were comfortable with, that we said, “yes.” Because we want Him more than anything and we’re following Him. Period. We’re not special or better than anyone else, we’re just trying to obey what He’s asked us to do. We’re not “Super Christians” we’re just Christians... nothing special.

So what has He asked you to do? He’s asked all of us to do general things (like- forgiving others, loving others like we love ourselves, etc.) but I’m talking about, “what has He asked you to do that’s specific to only you?” You know... and don’t try to explain it away. You know. Don’t listen to the fear yelling at you... listen to the faith that was placed in you by God (Romans 12:3) and step out and do what He’s called you to do.

I know that today’s blog is totally different than most of our others, but I really feel like God is speaking (no He’s calling out!) to someone through this today. You just need to obey... it’s gonna be OK: )

I’m gonna stop right there for now. If I’m talking to you and you know that I am... come back tomorrow and I’m gonna give you a couple of easy steps to get moving forward into what God has called you to do. So, if I’m speaking to you, read over the scriptures I shared at the top, ask God to forgive you for not doing what He’s called you to do, repent, get it under the blood and we’ll talk tomorrow in Part 2 of What Do I Do?

If I’m not speaking directly to you today, come back in a few days and we’ll be posting more updates from Brazil. We love you guys and thanks for reading.

Passionately Following Jesus,

JIm

We’re Under Attack

OK. It’s about 7:00pm and it’s pitch black outside already. The rain has stopped momentarily (finally, it’s been raining for a week straight) and everything is pretty quiet. Maryssa is cooking noodles on our miniature gas stove, I’m sitting at the kitchen table writing and MJ is standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes (the picture is the window/sink she is standing at). Everything is pretty quiet and peaceful. Then MJ decides to slide open the window in front of the sink so that she can yell out the window for the boys to go ahead and get in the shower and then it happened... as soon as she slid the window open a HUGE rhino beetle (the big ugly one on the flyswatter) determinedly buzzed in through the window straight for me! It was just like he was waiting for the window to open so that it could dive bomb me. As soon as he came in MJ dove into the cupboard and Maryssa screamed as she ran backwards. Then as the rhino beetle flew toward me (it sounded like one of those small R/C planes we used to build in the 70’s, seriously) I ducked and swatted all in the same motion. I barley tipped it and it shot across the kitchen and then it crashed landed on top of our little gas stove and landed directly in the fire! Haha! What are the chances of that?

So, the girls were screaming and all I could do is stand there in total amazement that this huge beetle was dancing around on top of our stove literally on fire! It was amazing. This thing flew in trying to inflict damage on me and now it was on fire, gasping for it’s last breath! And then it gave up the ghost... gone forever. That’ll teach em : ) lol! But it did stink up the house something fierce...

I can’t believe all the weird bug stuff we’ve encountered here. We’ve got so many bug bites all over our bodies it’s not even funny. And the sad thing is that it’s not even Summer yet (we’re coming out of Winter and going into Spring right now). Maryssa woke up the other morning with about 20 major bites all over the backs of her legs (that’s her in the picture). MJ and I have been spraying bug spray all over our bodies before we got to sleep each night because every morning we were waking up looking like we had chicken pocks or something... pretty sad, huh? I was standing on the front porch, minding my own business the other day, and a spider jumped off the roof right onto the back of my neck! Unprovoked! What’s up with that? MJ was fixing lunch yesterday and when she started tossing the salad she noticed a big worm and a little snail just chillin, side-by side, right on a piece of lettuce in the bowl of salad we were about to eat (you can see the lovely couple in the pic). I guess I need to talk to the guy with the fruit and vegetable truck and tell him to bump up the amount of pesticides he uses on our produce (just like back home in the U.S., haha). The other day Diogo yelled and said, “there’s a big spider on our front porch!” So I went out and sure enough... there was. But it wasn’t just a spider, it was several bugs all together. Look at the pictures! One picture is of our front porch and the close-up (with several bugs together) is a 1sq ft area to the left of the front door. It’s like all the bugs are “working together” to attack us. Is that normal? Are bugs supposed to co-exist and work in unison to torture a family like this? This is obviously a well organized assault. It’s like back home in the States, we have the ARMY, Navy, Air Force and Marines (and the Coast Guard)- here it’s the spiders, ants, giant mysterious winged things and beetles! All hand-in-hand (or leg-in-leg) planning and carrying out carefully strategized assaults against our family. I believe we’re under attack... for real!

OK, I know you don’t understand and you think I’m blowing this way-out of proportion but I’m not, I promise. I will say this though, “we really have felt under attack.” Not by insects (although they are coming at us from everywhere) but by our real enemy, the devil. We’ve been thrust into an environment that is totally unfamiliar to us. We’re in the middle of the jungle with no transportation, no phone, no internet, it’s been raining for almost a week now and we’ve all been stuck indoors (we need some sunshine before I hurt somebody!). We’re here with nothing but our family and a call from God to reach the people of Brazil with the Gospel. It’s lonely and we often find ourselves wondering “what the heck are we doing here?” And there have been blatant blows thrown at us (can’t be real specific, sorry) trying to tear us down emotionally and spiritually but we’re not going to relent. We’re not going to back down or slow down the advancing of the Gospel here. We really covet your prayers. Seriously. We desperately need you to pray for us because, honestly, it’s hard. You don’t realize how important church & community are until you don’t have them. We miss you all and even though we’re thousands of miles (or kilometers, see? I’m converting, haha) away we still think about you often. Our door is always open to you (literally and figuratively, that could explain the bugs) if you want to visit, so just let us know. We’ll provide the bug spray: )

Love Ya!

Jim

This Is Stupid!

Have you ever seen something and thought, “that’s stupid” or seen something that someone was doing and thought “that doesn’t make any sense”? Now let me preface the rest of this blog with this statement:
“I am from the United States, yes. But I’m not so arrogant to think that we (Americans) know everything and I realize that we don’t always do things the right way. I also believe that people from the U.S. are NOT better than people from other countries. I’m not one of those guys. I do think that God has blessed us and that we are privileged to have been born American though.” I love my country (cue the Lee Greenwood song here...)
Having said that, and even though I’m running he risk of ticking off all my Brazilian friends, I’ve made a few observations that I just don’t understand. And I’m just mentioning them because I just don’t get it and I need some clarification. There are soooo many things I could list but here are just a few:

Lightbulbs.
We all use them. No matter what country we live in, right? Well in Brazil lightbulbs are sold a little different. In the U.S. you can buy a pack of 4-100w bulbs at the grocery store for about $2.50. Here you can buy 1 bulb at the grocery store for about $1. A little bit more expensive but not that big of a deal. The weird thing is that before you take it to the register, to pay for it, you have to take it out of the box and screw it into a live light fixture (that the store has conveniently provided for you in the lightbulb area) to check it just in case the bulb doesn’t work. They do this because they don’t allow returns/refunds on faulty lightbulbs.
Here’s my theory of why they do this. There must be an epidemic of faulty lightbulbs being manufactured here that makes this necessary. That coupled with the fact that there’s a massive group of people who go around scamming stores trying to return lightbulbs. I realize the bulbs don’t cost $1,000 each but that just means that you have to return a lot more bulbs to make good money. Forget the fact that having a “live” light receptacle in the isle of the grocery store seems like a liability and is wasting electricity because it’s always on... but it’s better than having to return $1 to all those people trying to rip off the store returning lightbulbs. I don’t know, just a theory...

Roadside Maintenance
I’m use to seeing people cut grass back in the States along the highway. There’s usually a big tractor with a “bush hog” attachment or a big mower deck cutting the grass along the road shoulders and in the median. 1 guy, 1 machine. Here it’s different. They don’t have lawnmowers but they do have weedeaters. So, they’ll have 7-8 guys with weedeaters and another 4-5 guys standing there holding up these screens so that debris doesn’t get thrown into the roadway or hit a passing car. They maintain ALL the roadways like this. Do you realize how big Brazil is? It’s the 5th largest country in the world and has thousands and thousands of miles of roadways to maintain. Not only does this take 20x longer but it’s also turning a job that should take 1 person (with a mower) and turning into one that is using 13 men (with weedeaters) instead.
Here’s my theory on this. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is a conspiracy devised by the weedeater manufacturers who are controlling the lawn maintenance industry here in Brazil. Let’s just call them the “Weedeater Cartel.” If someone comes into the country with a lawnmower they “whack em” (no, not weedwhack em, I mean whack em like on the Saprano’s) so that they can maintain their domination of the roadside maintenance equipment racket. That way they sell more weedeaters and weedeater string and nobody has lawnmowers. That’s the only thing that makes sense, so that must be it...

Napkins
When you eat, you use a napkin to wipe your mouth and hands off with, right? Well, they have napkins here too. But rather than making the napkin out of a material that could actually “absorb something,” their napkins are made out of a material that has zero absorbency capabilities at all! It barely has the capability to smear, much less absorb. As soon as you start wiping this paper-thin-wax-like-thing begins to denigrate right in your hand. It’s almost magical. One minute it’s there and then... poof! It’s gone.
I have no theory on why the Brazilian napkin is made like this. Maybe they found out that “real” napkins are the leading cause of acne. Or maybe they found out that wiping something off of the corners of your mouth with something made of an absorbent material, that actually worked, causes skin cancer? I really don’t know. So, for me, this will probably remain one of the mysteries of Brazil... oh well.

OK. Obviously I’m just being sarcastic about all of these things. Even though all of the things are true, the explanations aren’t (just wanted to make sure you knew that, haha). But looking at them from my point of view they just don’t make any sense. To “me” it doesn’t make sense so that’s why in “my mind” it all just seems stupid. But just because these things don’t make sense to me doesn’t mean that they’re stupid. There’s probably a perfect explanation for all of these (and the hundred’s of other things I’ve seen). But rather than just believing that there’s a good explanation I automatically think their way is wrong and I could do it better. Even though I’m in their country I still believe “the American way” would be better. That’s just wrong. I mean who knows?... they could just be trying to create more jobs by having the “weedeater brigade” rather than just having 1 guy on a mower. Or maybe they’re protecting the environment by not having big-thick napkins?... I still can’t crack the lightbulb mystery but I’m sure there’s a reason. The thing is, I think we’re all like that to some extent though. Especially when it comes to the things of God. We think we know better than Him. Now, we’d never actually say that out loud, but we think it. God says, “forgive” and we think that doesn’t apply to us because that person really hurt me so God understands. Or He says, “submit to your husband” but you think just because your husband is a knucklehead it doesn’t apply to you. Or Jesus says, “don’t worry about anything” but you think that He understands when you worry because you’ve got so much that you’re dealing with right now. Man, we’re so arrogant! Just like I’m being arrogant when I think all these things here in Brazil would be better “my way”... we’re being arrogant when we think that God’s way of dealing with relationships, marriage, work, childrearing and problems etc. would be better our way. I think that’s something we have to war against and get out of our lives. He knows what’s best, not us. So, if He’s told you to handle a certain situation a certain way (according to His Word) just go ahead and do it... even if it doesn’t make sense: )

Still Trying to Wipe My Face with This Napkin,
Jim

PS - to all my Brazilian friends... I love you and your country. It's an honor being here with you and hope God allows us to stay a long time: )

Yeah, Right! Like I Believe That One

Have you ever been told something by someone and you just knew that they were pulling your leg? I mean, when you heard it, you just knew it couldn’t be true. Has that ever happened to you? This happens all the time to me here in Brazil.
I remember a couple of years ago, in December, we were told that we had to pay our caretakers (there’s an older couple that we’ve had on staff here since 09’ that help take care of the camp/property and guard it... they’re awesome!) an extra week’s salary because they had something called “the 12th salary” for people in Brazil. It was a gift from employers to employees and it was mandatory. When I heard it I laughed! Yeah, right! Like I’m gonna pay an extra week’s salary just because. But when the person who told me wasn’t laughing back, and I did some more investigating, I found out it was true.
Well the other day someone told me that there was something here in Brazil called “Children’s Day.” It’s a day where children are celebrated. Not to be confused with Mother’s Day or Father’s Day where parents are celebrated. But a day where kids are celebrated and get gifts. Really? For real? Do we realIy need this holiday? They already have Christmas where they get presents (not to be confused with celebrating the birth of Jesus) and Easter where they get all kinds of candy and gifts (not to be confused with celebrating Jesus’ victory over death on the cross) and they get their birthday where they get presents and cake! Do they actually need another day of the year, just for them? I mean, isn’t it enough that my kids get to eat all my food, sleep under my roof, take up all my time and drain me of all my energy- every day... now they get another day with gifts?! Man!
So, MJ and I got up really early this morning and made homemade cards for all the kids, and we made pancakes in the shapes of animals, blew-up balloons, put party favors at the table, spread confetti all over the place and... yeah, right!!! Haha! We actually didn’t do anything different (we did tell all the kids Happy Children’s Day as we were laughing). We just had a normal day. We woke up, hugged them, told them we loved them, made breakfast for them, joked around at breakfast and laughed with them, hung out with them a little... hey, every day is Children’s Day at our house! lol! Not that we’ll never celebrate Children’s Day, we just don’t understand the reason behind it. I’ll have to google it to find out (whenever I get around the internet... still don’t have it at my house). Maybe next year Dunn kids : )
But our kids aren’t like most children in Brazil. There are an estimated 7+ million children living on the streets of this country. And a lot of the children in our town (Terra Boa) are in single parent homes or homes where the parents aren’t involved in their kids’ lives. So, am I against having Children’s Day? For these kids... absolutely not. I think that we need to do everything we can to love on them and be there for them as much as possible... even if it means creating a day just for them. And while we’re here we’re gonna do as much as possible to love on the kids in our city and, more importantly, make sure that they know that Jesus loves them no matter what their home life is like.
Yesterday we hung-out all day with all the kids at the elementary school. It was like a field day because schools are closed today (Children’s Day- in case you didn’t know). We played outdoor games with them the whole day and supplied all the music for the day (FYI- brazilians love Group 1 Crew and Toby Mac!). The kids at this school live in poverty but you’d never know it (actually, the meal supplied at the school is the only hot meal most of them eat the entire day). These kids are beautiful. Just hanging out with them was an honor. It was a great day: )

Investigating Children’s Day (for my kids),
Jim

Getting Information A Day Late

We have this rule in the morning: “Don’t talk to Dad first thing in the morning.” That means - just leave Dad alone until he can get at least 1 cup of coffee in him to wake himself up then you can let the barrage of questions start flowing. Not that big of a deal. Just 10 minutes or so. That’s it.

So, I’m sitting in the kitchen this morning, trying to wake-up, drinking a cup of coffee, minding my own business, when Robert comes in asking to go to the rope swing. (We have a rope swing out in the jungle that swings over a little pond we call “the snake pit”)Even though he was breaking the whole “don’t talk to Dad rule thing” I told him he could go (see how awesomely merciful I am?) but only if all his brothers and his sister went with him (that’s everyone from Ana down). He said everybody wanted to go but Ana. I told him to just tell her that, “she had to go.” But when he went back outside I could hear him and Ana arguing back and forth. “But Dad said, “you had to go.”... well I’m not going... but Dad said... but I’m not going. Back and forth it went for a few minutes then I got up (even though I still had 3/4 of a cup of coffee left to drink) and walked over to the window, opened it up and told Ana that I said, “she was going.” Then Diogo, who was standing there too, spoke up and said, “Dad, she doesn’t want to go because of the flying snake.” “The flying snake?” Yes, the flying snake. What’s the flying snake?

They went on to tell me about, how yesterday, they were on the rope swing taking turns swinging over the pond, when all of a sudden a big long green snake literally jumped out of the top of the tree, flying (or falling) down 20-30’ to the ground, and landed about 6’ in front of them. They said that then it lifted up off the ground, with it’s head back, and got in the “I want to strike you-inject my poison in you-kill you-then eat you” position. They then told me that they ran, except for Gabriel who they left on the swing dangling over the pond by himself-yelling for help.

For real? Why didn’t you tell me yesterday when it happened? That’s like the kind of thing that you’d read about in a book or something that you’d see in a movie... a flying snake attacking you in the middle of the jungle? Sweet! Next time you guys need to come get me so we could take pictures or shoot some video or something... man! Nothing like getting information a day late, huh? Oh well... maybe next time.

It rained pretty much all day Sunday. We were still able to have church at the pavilion though... it was good. Then last night we participated in the Monday night discipleship class halfway down the mountain. It was raining but we still had around 40 kids in attendance. Today we’re hanging out at the elementary school with the kids. I’ll explain more about that in the blog tomorrow. Please continue to pray for us. We have a lot going on right now and it’s gonna be a busy week, for sure. We desperately need God to keep moving on our behalf so that we can be effective for Him... good stuff: )

On the Lookout for More Flying Snakes,

Jim