Killing A Car

Have you ever killed a car? I know that sounds kinda weird, but have you? Because  that’s exactly what we’re doing to ours. Here, let me start from the beginning...

When we moved to Brazil we left behind our 2 vehicles in the US. And we not only left behind 2 vehicles, we left behind 2 vehicles that were paid off! One of our vehicles was a Dodge Durango and the other was a Ford F-150. We couldn’t ship either one of the them here because they would’ve taxed us some crazy amount (I think it’s actually 150% of what the vehicle is worth) to bring it into the country. So, we sold my truck before we left and used that money to help move the family here and a friend of ours (thanks Mark Pusen!) sold MJ’s Durango for us (it sold a few months after we were already in Brazil). When it sold, we took the money that we got from the Durango and purchased a vehicle here in Brazil. We ended up buying a 98’ Volkswagen Parati. It’s a little 4 door hatchback that seats 5 (legally). Now, you might be saying, “but Jim, you have 9 people in your family in Brazil.” And I’d say, “yes... you are correct my friend.” Let’s just say that either everyone doesn’t get to go all at once or we look like the clown car at the circus when we roll up somewhere (you know, it’s where all the clowns keep piling out of this small car and you wonder how they all fit in it). But we’re thankful for our car nonetheless. Not having to walk or be stranded in the mountains/jungles of Brazil is something that you can’t even put a price tag on. But when Volkswagen rolled this car off the assembly line they never imagined the abuse that it was going to take, I’m sure of it. 

Let me try to explain where we live. We live about 5k up on the top of a mountain (it’s the tallest mt. in our state at 5,638 ft and it’s the 15th highest mt. in Brazil) way out in the middle of the jungle. It’s about 40 minutes from Curitiba and 7 hrs from Sau Paulo. There’s only 2 ways to get to the Camp (where our house is). You can either take the dirt road that starts in Terra Boa and go up the right side of the mountain or you can drive off the side of the highway near this big bridge (before you get to the reservoir) and go up the left side of the mountain. Either way, it’s like driving on the surface of the moon. There’s sooooo many potholes and dips and turns and rocks protruding out of the middle of the road. It’s crazy. And to drive the mountain roads with our car is even crazier. I would’ve loved to have my F-150 or MJ’s 4x4 Durango with the Hemi for these roads, but noooooo. We have a 4 cylinder front wheel drive Volkswagen instead... awesome. And for the last 9 months, every time we’ve gone up or down our mountain road, we’ve knocked a little of the life right out of our little car with each trip. We’ve rattled off door handles, fuel filters, headlights, the door to our gas tank, cracked the windshield, every handle or knob on the car is either loose or has fallen off. Even the covers where speakers are suppose to go (which we don’t have because there’s no radio) have shaken off of the doors. I mean, there’s only so much violent shaking a car like this can take before it literally disintegrates right before your very eyes. We’ve used it to haul horse feed, construction supplies, PVC pipe, lumber, rebar and bags of cement to the camp too. Then add the fact that we have to haul sound/video equipment to all the meetings along with 8-9 people at a time... it’s straight out of the manual on “How to Kill Your Car.” But we’re not walking and it makes things interesting and it’s gonna give us stories to tell for years to come. So stay tuned as our car dies a slow painful death.

The Executioner,

Jim



PS -  Well, it happened. I actually wrote the blog above a week or so ago. And before I could actually post it, our car died. 
It happened yesterday as we were on our way to the airport to pick-up some people at the airport (who were coming from the US for long-term missions work with us). About 15 minutes after we left the house the car lost power, backfired, and then let out the biggest plume of black smoke you've ever seen. It was amazing: )
But the problem is, now we're stranded. Great. Living in the jungles is difficult enough, much less without transportation. So, please pray that we can get it repaired quickly and that we'll be rollin' up and down the mountain again soon.

The First Camp of Spring

Here's a shot of everyone as they were arriving for the weekend.

Matthew, 4 of my nephews and 3 of the boys from the mountain standing on top of  "All Aboard."
They helped take all the teams through the Obstacle Course on Friday.

Welcoming all the teams and explaining the object of each obstacle.

Here's one of the teams going through 'The Trust Fall."  

One of the first teams to attempt "Born again." The bottom of the
 tire is 6' off the ground. So it's a lot harder than it looks. 

River Tubes are one of the new additions to the
camp this year. The kids loved them!

Students on the obstacle called "Islands." 

After using a couple different strategies, this team finally conquered the obstacle called "Giant Finger." 

The new zip line takes teams over the "Snake Pit" to the end of the course.

Walking on the "High Wire" as the rest of the team watches.

Trying to maneuver around the tree that's in the middle of the obstacle called "The Low V."

The tower that stands high above the rest of the course is home to the

"Climbing Wall" and the "Rope Wall." 

On the "Jungle Gym" the smallest person on the team must travel along upside-down 11' up in the air. 

2 of my nephews (Eli and Ike) along with Matthew.

One of the last teams competing by trying to stay on "All Aboard" for 30 seconds

The Giant Zip Line is one of the highlights of the camp, for sure.

Here are some of the students that were with us for this camp right before they left.
It's always a little difficult saying, "goodbye."

This past weekend we had our first camp of the Spring. As all of you are going into the Fall in the US, we’re coming out of our Winter here in Brazil. Although we held a couple of camps over the Winter months, this Spring and Summer are going to be very busy with numerous camps (both church groups and FREE camps for orphanages and favela kids). With the addition of Desafio de Selva (The Jungle Challenge- obstacle course), new tubes for the lake, the enlarging of the soccer field, as well as other things that we have planned- this should be a great year for us here at the camp. 

This past weekend we hosted a group from Piraquara, Brazil for 3 days. This was the first group to be able to go through the entire obstacle course and tryout our new river tubes. Everyone was ministered to in the services, everyone had a great time and the weather was perfect all weekend. 

I won’t ramble on much about it today (we’re very tired because of the long weekend and all the prep leading up to the camp) but I don’t want to miss this opportunity to thank all of you who support us financially and prayerfully. We literally couldn’t do this without you guys. It seems that we’re always under an intense amount of pressure just trying to live here and it gets tiring. But when we’re able to see students come and experience Jesus, and to know that if we weren’t here, it wouldn’t be happening on the mountain at all... it’s humbling. And it makes all the difficulties seem more do-able and worth the sacrifice. And we want you to know that the sacrifice that all of you make (our supporters) that allow us to be here, is definitely making a difference in the lives of children and teenagers who desperately deserve the chance to meet Jesus. And because of all of us together- they’re doing just that: )

Love ya,
Jim and MJ

Baptisms: The US vs Brazil

Getting things going with a little worship and explanation of what's going to happen today.

Brad, Carolyn and Pastor Fabio ( a pastor from Curitiba who is helping us on Thursday Nights) as they pray for the day and for the baptisms that are about to take place.

This is the 10 people who were baptized. What an amazing day!

Brad explaining to everyone how blessed he was to be able to
baptize 3 of his children and to see them follow after Jesus.

Everyone gathering around and participating in the baptismal service.

My nephew, Boaz, right before he was baptized.

Leondro, the first person MJ and I have personally been able to see come to
 Christ, be baptized and be discipled here on the mountain. What an honor.

My nephew, Zion,  as he came out of the water.  

                            

                                                   Brad giving Zion a hug after he was baptized.

                            

                        My niece, Bradlyn, after she was baptized- heading to shore.

People eating and fellowshipping after the baptismal service

My precious little niece, Jubi

Maryssa and a couple of the boys from the mountain jumping into the water after the baptismal service and lunch

Matthew doing "a cannonball" after everyone else jumped in first.

Some of the people sitting around after lunch watching some of the kids swim.

Me and Me Lady (MJ).

Some of the kids from the mountain along with 3 of my nephews and Matthew.

Some of the boys that came from Curitiba.
They were all looking at the horses that were inside the fence. City folks, ha! jk: )

Now when I say, “Baptisms: The US vs Brazil” I’m not meaning it like they (the US and Brazil) are pitted against each other in some type of UFC cage match with a portable baptismal tank in the middle or something like that. I’m talking about the way we baptize people in the US compared to how most churches do it here in Brazil. Now I’ve only been to a couple of brazilian baptismal services, but it seems like they’re all pretty similar.

Here, let me show you the differences I’ve noticed between the two. And this is just my own personal observation (actually I have several observations but I’ll only share a few). And I’m in no way saying one is better or more biblically correct than the other. I’m just talking about how I feel (personally) about the two and the differences I see. So here we go:

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The US- In the US when we baptized people (at least in the churches I was in) it was either during a Sunday night or a Wednesday night service (usually at the end) and it happened about once every quarter. 

Brazil- In Brazil they baptize people during the day because it’s usually outside and nobody’s crazy enough to get in the water at night. And it’s the main part of the service rather than a add-on at the end. It also happens about once a quarter.

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The US- The water is just the right temperature ( I know this, because I was the one who filled up the baptismal tank for years at our church) and it was very clean.

Brazil- The water is whatever temperature it is outside (because it’s almost always in a lake, stream, pond, pool, etc.) and it’s not usually very clean.

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The US- Everyone who’s attending the service sits comfortably in their pew (or theater chair) and observes (from a distance) in a climate controlled sanctuary as everyone is baptized. Some polite clapping usually takes place (occasional there's some type of emotional applause) as each person is dunked and comes-up out of the water.

Brazil- Everyone who’s attending the service is either seated (on the ground) on the banks of the lake, pond, stream, or pool. Some people even stand along the rim of whatever body of water they’re at. They’re right up-on-top of the action. And there’s no polite ‘golf claps’ as each person rises out of the water either. No. Everyone claps and cheers enthusiastically. It’s really a joyous occasion and the person being baptized  feels legitimately celebrated for what they’ve decided to do.

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The US- After service everyone just goes home. 

Brazil- After service everyone sticks around for hours and ‘parties’ with food and fellowship. They really blow it out. 

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OK. These are just a few of the differences I’ve noticed. So personally, if I was going to decide which way I’d prefer?... I’d have to go with the brazilian way. Because the thing that sticks out the most to me (and I know that in some US churches it’s different) is the fact that, here in Brazil, baptism isn’t treated like some type of punch-list item that’s checked off just because it’s time to baptize again or something that you do to look good to everybody who asks how many people you’ve baptized this year. No. It’s something that’s really celebrated. It’s a big deal. They don’t treat it lightly. I mean, just imagine a big party where they literally kill the fatted calf (or sheep, thanks Brad) and cook for hours and they play and have fun and laugh and really celebrate the fact that someone just got baptized. That’s what they do here and I really like it. 

But if you think about it, it is a big deal. For someone to publicly make the profession that they are dying to themselves and raising to life in Christ... it’s huge. I think that one of the problems could be that we (as US pastors and church attenders) get so used to the fact that people are getting baptized that we become desensitized to what’s actually taking place. It’s kind of like we forget to celebrate because we’ve seen it soooo many times before. 

As I’m sitting here writing this it just hit me... maybe that’s why a lot of people who get baptized (usually at a young age) get baptized again (the infamous baptismal do-over). Because their baptism was forgettable rather than something to remember. Maybe if it was a big deal and celebrated people wouldn’t feel like they had to do it again. 

Maybe (if when someone in the US get’s baptized) if there was more of a celebration that took place, that people would know beyond a shadow of doubt that something spiritual truly happened. And, maybe that way, they’d never forget what it was like the day that all their friends and family stood around the water as they made one of the most important statements anyone could ever make. I don’t know, just a thought.

Yesterday I was able to be a part of one of these baptismal services and it was awesome. The feeling in the air as people stood around the murky cold water was amazing. Smoke filled the air as meat had been on the grill for hours. And the people were crowded around the edge of the water with such anticipation. It was like they were there to witness something they’d never seen before and they were excited as they pressed-in close to the water. There definitely wasn’t a “been there-done that” feeling to it at all. They were ready to celebrate with their friends and family. 

And then after it was over everyone stayed and ate together. There was laughter and celebration that lasted for hours. It definitely wasn’t forgettable. It was something to remember. If the Lord ever calls us back to the US to start a church, that’s the way I’d like to do it too. As a Celebration. So don’t let me forget: )

Passionately Following Jesus,

Jim

PS- the pictures up top are only a few of the people who were baptized yesterday. There were 10 people in all, that were baptized, and it was such a blessing to be able to see them as they made this profession of faith. This was one of those days where all the junk we have to wade through to be here became a little easier and totally worth it. Thanks to everyone that supports us. You're the ones that made it possible for us to participate in this amazing event.