Snakes, Robbery, Murder and the Zika Virus

What do snakes, robberies, murder and the Zika Virus all have in common? They’re all a part of life here where we live in Brazil.

Over the last month or so these things seem to have become commonplace here in the jungles of SE Brazil. It’s crazy when you really stop and think about it.

There have been a long string of robberies and home invasions all over the mountain. It’s weird. It seems like the first few years we lived here there was almost zero crime here in Terra Boa. But, here recently, it’s escalated to the point where you kinda wonder what’s going on.

A month or so ago a group of robbers tried to rob one of our neighbours and he (our neighbor) pulled a gun out and the robbers fled. Only problem is that they returned and blew up one of his houses with dynamite (for real- see photo) and fire bombed the other house, literally, burning it to the ground! What the heck!? This is Terra Boa, Brazil! This kind of stuff doesn’t happen here… so we thought.

All that remains is the chimney and the bathroom. the rest was burnt to the ground.

Here's all that remains after the house was hit with dynamite 

There’s a motorcycle track that Matthew and his friends go to just a few kilometers from our house. The family that runs it charges $ for people to race there and for the food that they serve during events. Here recently, after an event that they held, robbers waited until the event was over (and everyone was gone) then they shot and killed the owner of the track and stole his money. He was holding his infant daughter in his arms as it happened too. Very Sad.

Last week one of our son’s friend's was shot and killed right on main street in Terra Boa. It’s like we’re living in the wild west or something. And with practically zero police presence way out here in the jungle it’s a little sketchy sometimes.

A view of what our mountain looks like from the highway. It's the tallest peak on the left.
The town of Terra Boa lies at the bottom of the mountain.

The town of Terra Boa looks so quiet and uneventful. It's hard to
believe that this is where a murder just took place.

Then there’s the whole Zika Virus thing that’s happening. I read this morning that they're calling it a pandemic and everyone’s freaking out about it. The World Health Organization has declared a global emergency in response to the spread of Zika. The main concern is for pregnant mothers and the brain damage that it’s causing with their unborn children. As of now there’s no cure or treatment for it either.  

They actually just found the mosquito that carries the disease right here in Terra Boa too. Great, huh? And get this- the symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain, red eyes (conjunctivitis), muscle pain, neurological problems and headaches. Well, here’s the crazy thing- Me, Matthew and MJ are all showing symptoms for it! Ha! 

Mosquitos and mosquito bites are just part of where we live. Expecting to live in the jungle without mosquitos is like thinking you're gonna live in the city and never see a car. So what do you do?

But, even with all those things happening, the thing that’s totally insane right now is the amount of snakes that we’re seeing. It’s almost like someone’s playing a bad joke on us or something. Here, I’ll just give you an example of our snake drama this week alone.

We’re having to put in a new septic tank. And the way they do it here is to dig a massive hole (vault) in the ground. And then they brick the inside walls of the hole after it’s dug. Once it’s bricked they pour a cement cap on top of the huge vault. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention… it’s all dug by hand too! That’s right, we (and, by we, I mean Matthew and one of his friends from the mountain- haha!) had to dig a huge hole 8’ deep x 6’ wide x 15’ long. Not fun.

Here's Matthew down in the hole that he was digging for the septic tank.
Can't you tell how excited he is? lol!

When we had the brick delivered for the project we went ahead and put part of the bricks down in the hole so that we could start mortaring them-in the next day. Well, it rained that night so in the morning Matthew jumped down in the hole to throw the bricks out so they didn't get waterlogged (because the hole had filled with rain water). 

As he was grabbing bricks and throwing them up to his friend- suddenly his friend jumped back as he let the brick fall to the ground. There was a Jararaca (one of the world’s most poisonous snakes) coiled up inside the brick that Matthew had just grabbed and threw with his bare hand!

The next day we killed another Jararaca right in our backyard. Then, the day before yesterday, MJ and the kids took the dogs for a walk out on the trails here at the camp. When they got to the part of the trail where you have to jump over a small creek, 2 of the kids and a couple of the dogs jumped across first. Then, when MJ was just about to jump, the kids yelled, “Mom, stop!” And when she looked at the spot where she was about to jump to- there it was! The biggest snake (her words) she's seen since we moved here. It was raised up and ready to strike! And it was a Jararaca: ( They held the dogs and waited for the snake to leave- which it finally did.

When she got back from the walk and told me the story I was thankful and I was mad. I was thankful to The Lord that He protecter her, the kids and all the dogs. Any one of them could've been bitten but they weren’t. And I was mad because I didn't get to kill it and it’s still out there somewhere.

Later that evening Me and MJ were going to the truck stop to use the internet. We got into the car and as we were headed up the driveway on our way off the property, MJ yelled out, “there's another snake!” So I stopped the car and backed up. Yep, there it was. Another freakin’ Jararaca. Coiled up with it’s head raised in the air, mouth open displaying it’s hypodermic-like fangs- just wanting to strike. 

So I got out of the car, opened the trunk and looked for something to kill it with. All I could find was a tire iron. So I picked up the tire iron and as I started walking towards the snake I realised that trying to hit it with a tire iron wasn't going to be a good idea. The tire iron was only about 18” long and the snake was lunging toward me, striking, trying to bite me every time I got close to it and I was just gonna get bit. So I started re-thinking my strategy.

There wasn’t anything around to kill it with. I was so frustrated because the only good snake is a dead snake, right? But then, as I looked around, I saw a cement culvert pipe laying about 30’ away (we were in the process of installing it under our driveway) so I tried to roll it over the snake. But the closer I got to the snake the more it tried striking me and I couldn't roll the pipe over the snake because it kept backing up every time the culvert pipe got close to it: (

Here's the cement culvert pipe I unsuccessfully rolled over the snake

Eventually it slithered away into the jungle but I was furious at this point. That’s 2 snakes that got away in the same day. Man!

Then, yesterday, Matthew put his hand on top of the wall in front of our house and thought he was touching a piece of rope. Nope, it wasn't a rope- it was another stupid snake! This, thank God, was just a 4’ long tree snake. Non-poisonous but still aggressive. He threw it on the ground and then killed it. 

Here's the snake after Matthew threw it on the ground and killed it: )

Matthew had Diogo hold up the snake (for scale) and it was almost as long as he was tall!

And MJ just wrote me a minute ago and said Kevin just killed another Jararaca next to the orange bunkhouse when he was weed eating! Craziness. What’s up with all the snakes!?

With all this stuff happening right now, I’ll be honest with you, it gets you wondering if it’s worth the risk of even being here. I can honestly say that if this would've happened earlier in my walk with Christ I would've already cut a dust trail so fast off this mountain- it would've made your head spin. Because who wants to be robbed, killed, contract the  Zika Virus or be harassed or bitten by poisonous snakes? No one.

But here’s the fact of the matter- none of those things should determine whether or not we stay or go. Answering the question, “what is God’s will for our family?” is what should determine if we stay or go. 

By us not running, we’re showing our kids what it looks like to truly follow Jesus. And if we leave just because things are stupid-crazy then we’re not showing them that ‘following Jesus at all costs’ is what our lives are suppose to look like.

If we left solely because of the circumstances it’d be like saying to them "hey, follow God’s plan for your life unless it gets dangerous or uncomfortable. Then, if that happens, just do something different because God will understand. He wants you to be comfortable and safe kids.” No! We can’t show them that.

Now don’t get me wrong. We’re praying for wisdom and we’re definitely ‘willing' to do something different. lol! Trust me on that one: ) And we’re not living oblivious to what’s happening around us either. We keep our gates closed/locked, we have a bunch of dogs that will attack anyone who comes on the property uninvited, we keep our eyes open and we carry machetes to kill the snakes with, we spray bug repellant on our bodies (trying to keep the mosquitos away)- we’re trying to live wisely. But we’re not making decisions that will change or alter our path unless it’s what we think God wants us to do. Because that’s what true christianity is, right? 

So I say all that to say this- “what is it in our lives that dictates what we do and what direction we take? Is it a desire to do what He wants? Is it a desire to follow His plan for our lives? Or is it something else? Because, when it’s all said and done, I think it would be better to suffer (and possibly die) inside the will of God than it would be to live safe and more comfortable outside of His will.” What do you think?

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

               Jesus- in Matthew 16:24-26

Love Ya,

Jim

PS- As MJ and I were on our way to the truck stop tonight (to post this blog) we saw a Jararaca crossing the road. So I backed up and ran it over... 4 times! Man, that feels better: )