I’ve never used the blog for this before but right now we have a need that we wanted to make you aware of. Where we live is approximately 5k up on top of a mountain way out in the middle of the jungle. All the roads are dirt/gravel/rocks/mud and are brutal for any vehicle to have to travel on. (I actually wrote a blog about it. You can see it by clicking HERE.) And, when it rains, some parts of the road are impassable to most cars for days. It’s not good.
We purchased a VW station wagon a few months after we arrived here in Brazil. And even though we can’t fit our entire family in our car at the same time, we’re thankful to have transportation nonetheless. Cars/trucks/vans are so expensive here in Brazil and, in case you’re wondering, the VW was all we could afford at the time, that’s why we bought it.
But now we’re in need of another vehicle, and quick. Every part of our car has been shaken so violently (over the last year because of the roads) that it’s literally falling apart. We’ve had to put the car into the shop so many times over the last 6 months and the amount of money we’ve had to spend on keeping it running is crazy. We just had our engine rebuilt (we literally ran on 3 cylinders for several months) a few weeks ago and that repair alone was over $3,000. This type of vehicle was never meant to be driven in these conditions and driving on our roads has really taken a toll on our car. So, rather
than purchasing another similar vehicle we need to purchase one that’s more conducive, not only to the roads here in Terra Boa, but to our family and the ministry.
We minister to children in orphanages and favelas all over Curitiba. We also minister to people here in Terra Boa who are spread-out over a 5 mile radius in a very mountainous region of Brazil. And none of them have transportation. We already shuttle as many people as we can (as well as video/sound equipment, ministry supplies, etc.) to the camp and to ministry venues (using our car). But, if we had a larger vehicle, we’d be able to reach more people, more effectively, with the Gospel. Because, with a larger vehicle, we could pick-up people from down at the bottom of the mountain and either bring them to the camp or shuttle them to wherever we’re ministering as well.
Another issue that we currently have is that we always have to rent a larger vehicle whenever mission teams come to minister alongside of us here. This typically costs about R$1,000 per week. It seems smarter for the ministry to have it’s own vehicle that can be used for this rather than wasting money every time on a rental. And to be honest
with you, it would be awesome if our whole family could actually all go somewhere
together. It’s been over a year and a half since we’ve been able to do that (our car only seats 5) and having to decide who goes and who stays behind is stressful.
So that brings us to the purpose for this blog. We really need your help. Would you consider giving toward the purchase of a new ministry vehicle that’s built stronger and that seats more passengers? I can’t show you a picture of the exact vehicle because we need to raise all the money before we can pick the exact one. But after researching and seeing what vehicles are available (and that would best suit the ministry here), we’ve come up with the vehicle below is an example of what we need and for the best price.
The vehicle we’re looking at is a 2006 Peugeot Boxer. It has 126,000km on it and the cost is R$55,000.00 (depending on the exchange rate, that would be around $32,000US.).
Having a larger vehicle is vital to what we’re doing here in Brazil. Would you consider giving toward this? You can give by mailing your tax deductible donations to PO Box 231 Loganville, GA 30052 or you can give safely through Paypal by clicking HERE. Please mark your gift with “ministry vehicle” so that the funds will go toward the purchase of the vehicle rather than into the ministry’s general fund.
Thank you for partnering with us as we reach the children and teenagers of Brazil with the Gospel. We couldn’t do it without you.
Passionately Following Jesus,
Jim, MJ and the Whole Dunn Clan
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