We went exactly 3 months living in the jungles/mountains/boondocks/wilderness (or any other adjective you want to use for where we live here in Brazil) without a vehicle. That’s right, 3 months with “no transportation!” Forget the part about having to walk uphill no matter where you go or the fact that we were stranded unless we could get someone to take us down the mountain (usually only for food or to use the internet). Then disregard the part about having a family our size, it’s been very trying to say the least. Brad and Carolyn have been very gracious to us and chauffeured us to all our governmental appointments and to buy groceries pretty much whenever we needed something. But when you’re independent like me, that can be extremely painful. Not being able to do something as simple as buying bread for the family to eat, without having to find someone to take you, was one of the most humbling things I’ve had to endure here. But our car sold in the States a few weeks ago so we were ready to buy a car here... finally!
Cars are very expensive here in Brazil and the selection isn’t anything like vehicles in the U.S.. We had found a 1980 Toyota 4x4 truck (that would seat 8 legally) for a little less than R$20,000 but it sold before we were able to get it. Bummer.
Then we held a camp a few weeks ago. The Pastor of the church, that had the group here, had a car he was driving that was for sale. It was a 1998 Volkswagen station wagon that will seat 5 legally. He was selling it for R$10,800. It had 96,000 kilometers on it but the speedometer didn’t work, so who knows how many miles it had?! We test drove it and thought it was OK but not really what we were looking for. Then after a week or so passed we felt like that car, although it wasn’t what we wanted or even that our whole family could fit in, was what we needed to get. For some reason we felt like that was the car we needed to buy, so we purchased it: )
It doesn’t have A/C, power steering, or power anything now that I think about it, it shakes pretty bad when you’re going over 50, it’s sits so low to the ground that it scrapes at certain places as you’re traveling up and down the mountain, it can’t seat our whole family at the same time, it doesn’t have a radio, it’s a stick shift so MJ can’t drive it... I could go on and on about the negatives. But you know what else it doesn’t have? A monthly car payment. It also allows us to get wherever we want without having to ask someone to take us. So we’re thankful. Is it exactly what we wanted? No. Is it something that we would have bought back in the States? No. Is it what God has blessed us with right now? Yes. And for that we’re thankful. Seriously, we are. It was so nice to be able to go and pick Michael (our oldest son) up from the airport by ourself when he came to town. It’s also nice being able to go down the mountain to buy groceries whenever we needed them instead of on somebody else’s schedule. And now the kids can jump on the trampoline and climb trees (I had banned them from doing this because we didn’t have a vehicle that could transport them to the hospital if someone got hurt... just call me Mr. Safety). You see, I can either focus on all the things that are negative about the car or I can look past all that to see the positive. It’s the same with every area of my life too. There are always gonna be negatives. But on the other hand there’s always gonna be positives too. It just depends on how I’m looking at it. The thing is, nobody (including God) wants to be around somebody that’s always looking at the negative side of every situation. There’s just something about an unthankful, negative, Debbie-downer attitude that repels people. And, on the other hand, there’s something about someone who’s always able to find the bright side of every situation and that has a positive outlook on life that attracts people. That’s who I want to be.
Is my car “a beater?” Sure. Is it luxurious? Nope. Actually it’s anti-luxurious. But it’s what I have and I’m not walking! So I’m not denying the fact that the car is-what-it-is. I’m just choosing to focus on the positive part of owning it. What about you? Are there areas in your life that you’re constantly complaining about? Have you noticed people leaving the room when you enter? It could be your attitude (or maybe you need to shower more, haha). We want to attract people, not repel people. So, this is one area I’m gonna try to improve on this year. What about you?
Just something to think about: )
And before I forget, “Thank You” to everyone who prayed for our car to sell in the U.S. and for us to get one here. Obviously, the picture at the top is our new car. Funny thing is, it’s the same color as our car we sold in the States. The only difference is... well, everything but the color. Lol!
Riding Not Walking,
The Dunn Family
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