Forgetting Your Anniversary

Have you ever forgotten your anniversary? You hear of “guys” doing it all the time. Then, after they do, they have to jump through all kinds of hoops just to get back into good graces. Well, I’ve never forgotten my anniversary. That is until yesterday.

I had just finished ministering at the pavilion, we tore down all the equipment, came home, ate lunch, yelled at a couple kids (that’s always a part of our Sunday afternoon routine) and then MJ and I sat down at the table to spend some time together and just talk (alone). It was actually nice finally being able to sit and have a conversation with my wife for a change. It seems like our life is a constant whirlwind of kids, projects, drama, ministry and everything else imaginable... everything except having enough time to just sit and talk (uninterrupted, that is). The weather was perfect (mid 70’s), the wind was blowing gently through all the open windows, the sun was shining and the blue skies were a welcomed change from the cold-crappy-gray weather we’ve had here the last few months. I know, that to most of the people reading this blog (back in the US), that cold weather would be a welcomed change for you since it’s been in the 100’s all across the country. But trust me, being wet and cold here in the mountains and jungles of Brazil is equally as miserable (even more-so, because we have no heat here). 

But anyway, it was great just sitting there with my wife and being able to look into her eyes and talk. She got up from the table to get something and I made a comment on how hot I thought she was (sorry, I just grossed my kids out with that comment, I’m sure) and how much I loved her. And, as she smiled and walked over to me, we kissed and hugged for a minute. Then she made the comment on how she couldn’t believe that we were still this much in love after all these years and I said, it’s been what?... 23 years, right?” And then we both just looked at each other and simultaneously gasped and quickly looked over at my computer (it was sitting on the table) to look at the date. Then we both (in stereo) said, “No way! Today is our anniversary!”

We had both forgotten our anniversary. That’s absolutely crazy. How can life be sooooo busy that you both forget one of the most important dates of your life? That’s just not right. But we had a good laugh about it and she told me not to tell anybody (which I've obviously ignored) and then we laughed some more.

The reason I’m blogging about this today is because- I’ve got to. There’s no way that I can’t NOT say anything. Not the fact that we both forgot that it was our anniversary. I’m talking about- there’s no way that I can pass up the opportunity to give God the glory that we’ve made it this far. We’ve been married for 23 years (we’ve been together for 25) and there’s no possible way that we would have made it this far but for Him and what He’s done in our life. There was so much drama at the beginning of our marriage that nobody thought we would make it (drama that was generated by me, of course). Statistically we were doomed from day one. But God had different plans. And when I finally woke-up and “really” gave my life to Jesus everything changed. 

We’ve had difficulties over the years but that’s just part of life no matter who you are. But, as we’ve pressed-in to God and relied on Him, we’ve been able to do some pretty amazing things together as a couple. And all the glory goes to God. Because, without Him, we would have crashed and burned a long time ago. Just wanted to thank Him publicly: )

Still In Love,

Jim and MJ

PS- yes I had a mullet (as did ALL the cool guys back in the 80’s) and a ridiculously hideous flesh colored mustache. But hey... when you’re hot- you’re hot, right? lol! jk. What in the heck was I thinking with that look? That’s just crazy. 

Mission Trips: Real Ministry or Just Another Word for Vacation?

There’s a running joke in our family. Someone that we know (who shall remain anonymous to protect everyone involved, haha) had made the comment to one of us that “missionaries are just people living in tropical locations on other people’s money.” For real... that’s an exact quote. Obviously the person who said it has never lived on the foreign mission field (or even visited the foreign mission field) or they wouldn’t have said it. At least with a straight face, because missions is anything but a vacation : )

But what about “Mission Trips?” Are “Mission Trips” just another word for going to a tropical location on someone else’s money (because you typically raise support to go)?  If you’ve ever been on a real mission trip, you already know the answer. I had been on 6 mission trips before Me and MJ moved our family to the foreign mission field. And every one of the trips were not only life changing but also physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausting. So, for me, another way to spell mission trip is W-O-R-K. Every trip we took made an eternal impact for the Kingdom of God AND was hard work. So the answer is no. Mission trips aren’t vacations they’re real ministry. 

And that brings me to today’s blog. We had a mission team (6 people) from NC and California come for 2 weeks and they were awesome. We’d been trying to finish the obstacle course (something to help draw children/teenagers here so we can get the Gospel to them) for several months now and the work they did put us over the top. They were able to help us pour all the cement on the remaining obstacles (which was all mixed by hand after the materials were wheelbarrowed uphill about a 1/4 mile thru the jungle to where the course is... fun!). I don’t know how many yards of concrete it was either, but it was a lot! Then they were able to help paint the inside of the 2 upper bunkhouses. Combine that with all the other ministry that took place at the orphanage, the day program for street kids in Curitiba, the home visits and food distribution on the mountain, the discipleship meetings... in other words, “they were busy, busy, busy!” 

But there’s one thing that most people overlook about mission trips. It’s  a HUGE encouragement to the missionaries who are there on the foreign mission field. That’s right, it’s a huge encouragement to the missionaries. 

Even though the people coming on the mission trip leave changed, the missionaries are changed as well. Your visit to the mission field helps encourage and strengthen them more than you can imagine. 

Being on the foreign mission field is very taxing. Not only are you constantly fighting against the enemy to get the Gospel to the people group that you’ve been sent to (and this plays-out spiritually, physically and emotionally), but you’re constantly fighting against loneliness.  

Even though we have friends where we are and we’re seeing people’s lives changed, we still miss home and we still miss our family and we still miss our friends and we still miss our church. But when someone comes and serves alongside of us for a week or two, it helps us know that we’re not in this alone and it gives us the encouragement we need to keep going!

So a BIG thank you to the Firth’s, the Berkleys, Crossroads Church, the Roberts and the Robinsons for coming here and serving with us (here in Brazil) over the last 10 months. You guys are such a blessing to us and all the people we’re ministering to: )

Love Ya,

Jim and MJ

PS - the pics up top are of the last mission team (the Firth’s) and some of the stuff they did while they were here. Thanks Guys!

If you or your church would like to schedule a mission trip to Brazil, just send us an email to HopeAndLifeBrazil@gmail.com  and we’ll get you all the info you need.

A Little Dose of Reality

The other day we attended a “Festival” at the High School. It was a beauty contest/concert/carnival type shindig. It was also billed as “a 14 hour Party” that started at 4pm and would go until 6am the next day. One of the reasons for the event was to help raise money for the high school so they could purchase security cameras. They were trying to raise around R$12,000. Sounds like a good cause, right? I mean, with all the violence and the lack of adult presence in the schools (especially male) it’s definitely a great cause. Also, one of the girls that we’ve been discipling was in the beauty contest portion of the event. She had asked MJ, Maryssa and Carolyn to help her with her hair, make-up and clothes (see pictures below). So we went to show our support for her during the contest.

The event was held at the high school in the Quadra (it’s like an outdoor gymnasium) and in the parking lot adjacent to the school. When we walked into the festival the first thing I saw were HUGE racks of ribs being cooked in between dual fires. Being the BBQ aficionado that I am, I was in awe and had to stop and pay homage (see picture below). Brazilians definitely have the whole “meat thing” down for sure.

Now this is where it gets weird...
as we entered farther into the venue, we saw these elaborate bars set-up serving alcohol. That’s right... there were a couple of portable bars set-up there. They had counters, fancy lighting, and the largest assortment of liquor and beer that I’ve ever seen at an outdoor event. It was crazy. The reason I say it was crazy, is because this was at the High School! And they were serving alcohol to minors! Now I’m not saying that their whole intention was to just serve alcohol to underage people (actually the legal drinking age here is only 18 anyway). But the fact that there were very few adults there made me wonder “who were they actually targeting with the alcohol?” And there were even some of the people who had been to our church services there walking around with alcohol in their hands too. Anyway, it was dark now and I knew this probably wasn’t going to be a good place to be as the night progressed (with all the alcohol that was being consumed) and was hoping the Beauty Contest was going to start (and end) so we could head back to the camp. 

The Beauty Contest went pretty good and Bruna (the girl we disciple) did a great job even though she didn’t win. We were very proud of her. 

After the contest we headed home and I felt sad. Not because Bruna didn’t win or because we were going home. I felt sad because the reality of what we had just experienced was sad. Here we were at the high school and all these students (that God has sent us here to minister to) were there- openly drinking and smoking and for some reason the “lostness” of the people was even more obvious then before. To look into their eyes and to know that they were without Christ was a sobering reality. I’m not saying that just because they were drinking that they were lost either. It’s hard to explain except that it was in their eyes. The emptiness, and the sadness that was there. It made me very sad but it also made us all-the-more determined to get the Gospel to them. 

And we were even sadder the next day when we heard (that after we had left) someone was shot and killed and another person was wounded because of drunken fight. And then we heard that we knew some of the people involved. The person who killed the other guy was actually in one of our services the week before this happened! Then the other night we found out that the brother one of Maryssa and Matthew’s friend’s was stabbed and killed at the party too. Very frustrating. What a waste. This may not sound like that big of a deal to you, because this kind of stuff happens all the time in the States, but there in the US we live in big cities. This is different. We live in a small village here, where everyone knows everybody and there’s not thousands of people crowding the streets everyday where you’d expect that kind of violence. This was in our quiet village where this kind of stuff doesn't happen. So, please continue to pray for us as we’re here bringing the Gospel to the people of Terra Boa and here on the mountain. 

Love Ya,

Jim

PS - I'm no rocket scientist, but the thing about all the tragedy that occurred was that you could see it before it even happened. 

14 hour party + Alcohol + Young People = Not Good 

The Thing that Keeps Us Going

I’d have to say about 50% of the time, we really struggle with what we’re doing (because of all the difficulties, because nothing is easy). Then about 25% of the time we’re neither struggling or excelling... we’re just surviving (or trying to survive). Then, there’s the remaining 25% of the time. That’s the part of what we do that keeps us going. It’s times like last Saturday that makes every struggle and every inconvenience that we endure- worth it! 

Last Saturday we were able to go into another orphanage and hang-out with the kids and minister the Gospel. The cool thing is that this isn’t just a one time shot either. This was our 3rd time back to this particular orphanage and we’re starting to be able to develop relationships with the kids. And these kids are amazing too. 

We were able to bring food and cook for them, we played soccer, we danced, we sang worship songs, and we were able to share the Gospel with them (and that’s the most important part). 

We talked about the scripture in  II Corinthians 5:17 where it says that “if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation... old things are gone and the new has come.” We have this whole illustration on “metamorphosis” where we show them a picture of a caterpillar and then show them a picture of a butterfly. Then we show them a picture of a tadpole then we show them a picture of a frog. Then, to be funny, we show them a picture of 1970’s Michael Jackson (which everyone knows, even here in Brazil) then we show a picture of him 30 years later (after all his plastic surgery) and everyone screams in horror and laughs. Then that gives us an opportunity to tell them about our lives before Christ and how He (once we started following Him) made us new and we have a new life in Him. It’s a pretty cool little illustration. 

And that’s the thing that excites us about being here. It never gets old, telling kids about Jesus and what He’s done in our lives. And it never gets old telling them how, no matter what their situation is, that He loves them and that He has a “new life” for them as well. So that’s the one thing that keeps us going here... just thought you’d like to know: )

And  if you’re one of the people who supports us... thank you for allowing us to be here doing what we’re doing. We literally couldn’t do this without you.

Love ya,

Jim, MJ, and the Whole Dunn Clan 

Facebook: Good or Evil (especially when you’re on the mission field)

OK. Let me start by saying this, “I think Facebook is an amazing piece of technology and I’m glad I have it.” To have the ability to stay connected and talk to people back in the US (and all over the world) at any time of the day or night (if the internet is working, that is) is awesome! I really don’t go on it (Facebook) that much. I mean, I don’t “Facebook stalk” (you know what I’m talkin’ about, so don’t play dumb) or anything like that, but I do correspond with friends and family almost daily through it and it’s free. So that’s a good thing. 

But on the flip side... when I go on it (Facebook) and I see pictures of everyone on their vacations or I have to see the picture of the new car they just bought their wife (that just happened the other day) or I have to hear about how awesome dinner was at the restaurant I use to frequent back in the States... well honestly, I get frustrated sometimes. Now I don’t get frustrated with the person who just posted the picture or made the comment, I’m glad they’re blessed and happy. I get frustrated with God. I get frustrated because when I see the pictures of the new sanctuary my friend just moved into and the lighting and video equipment they have is amazing, then I look at the facility we minister in and how crappy it is and how it’s in the middle of the jungle and how the toilets don’t even work because there’s no water... I start asking God “what’s up?!” Why me? Why can’t I minister back in the States to people I can actually speak fluently to in a facility that has heat and a/c? Why God? Then the next statement that goes through my mind (because I’m way too spiritual to actually say it out loud) is “God, it’s not fair! It’s not fair that me and my family are here in this ___________ (just fill in the blank... chances are it’s the word I was thinking, haha) and everyone else is back home where it’s comfortable. Because I can guarantee that none of you were snuggling with a 2 liter Coke bottle (that you heated up in the microwave) to stay warm last night. And I can just about bet my paycheck (actually I don’t get a paycheck... so scratch that) that you weren’t stuck for almost a month on the top of a mountain, in the middle of the jungle because it rained so much that you couldn’t drive on the muddy roads and everyone is going crazy because they’re so cold and wet either, right? 

So when I see all those pictures and I read the comments of my friends (most of whom are in the ministry too) heck yeah, I get frustrated. And I ask God, why me? 

Now, the spiritual pep talk I usually give myself (to push past all the “why me” thoughts) usually goes something like this... but Jim, you’re impacting people with the Gospel and your gonna have Heavenly rewards to enjoy for all eternity.” You and your family answered the call when most others would’ve said, “no.” You’re doing what God called you to do and... you get the idea, right? And I usually quote that scripture to myself from II Cor. 10:12 where it says that comparing myself to others is unwise. Then if that doesn’t work I’ll recall the time where Jesus was telling Peter how he (Peter) was going to die and Peter wasn’t diggin’ it too much and asked, well what about John ( John 21) and Jesus basically told him to just worry about himself. And that usually gets me through any pity parties I periodically have.

But here lately God’s been showing me something else through times like this. He’s shown me how wicked my heart actually is.  

He’s shown me that it’s something much deeper than “just measuring my life against someone else’s.” You see, I can rejoice and be happy for someone else who’s been blessed or whose situation is better (physically or financially) than mine. I don’t wrestle with that at all. My problem is thinking that it’s not fair that God isn’t blessing me (mostly in the area of comfort and ease of life) like most of the people I know. And that’s where my sinfulness is revealed and I’ll explain why. You see, whenever I’m dissatisfied with my life or whenever I’m dissatisfied with my circumstances, it’s like saying “God, I don’t think the life you’ve given me is good enough for me because I deserve better. I mean, I know what’s best for me not you, God! So you (God) aren’t really doing that great of a job providing for me and giving me  everything I need.”

You may think that’s going a little over-the-top, but it isn’t. Because if I really believe that God is my provider and that He has my life in His hands, then I need to be content with whatever my situation is at the present time, right? The Apostle Paul actually wrote about the same thing. It says in Philippians 4-

“for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

And that’s the thing I’m trying to learn... contentment. Contentment, no matter what the circumstance and no matter what everyone else’s circumstance is compared to mine.

So back to the question, “is Facebook evil?” No, it’s not. My heart is. And that's why I need to continually press-in to Jesus so that I can be changed by Him (progressive sanctification). So go ahead. Post all the pictures of all your new cars and your awesome vacations. It’s just making me stronger. 

But the pictures of all the food? STOP! Because that’s just wrong.

Learning to be Content With My Life,

Jim

The Hummingbird Whisperer

OK. Last year I wrote a post about how I was turning into my grandmother because of my hummingbird feeder... well, actually it was because of me finding pleasure in my hummingbird feeder. If you missed that post click HERE. Anyway, since I’m secure in my manhood, and I don’t care who knows, I thought it was time to tell you that my addiction has gotten worse. Now, we currently have 3 hummingbird feeders, some of the hummingbirds that visit everyday have names, and we actually have to remove hummingbirds (almost daily) from our home... by hand. They fly-in through an open window and then we have to catch them with our hands cupped together (with them inside) and then gently release them back outside. There’ve been a few that have been inside that almost died (because they were without food too long) and we’ve had to actually hand-feed them (see pics) until they had the strength to fly off on their own. What has happened to me?! Who would’ve ever thought that I’d become “the hummingbird whisperer?” But if you look at the video below you’ll see why. 

See? That’s pretty amazing, huh? Have you ever seen that many hummingbirds at once? It’s crazy! And they’ll fly right in the house and hover right in front of you, like they’re trying to see what your doing or something, before they fly back outside. When MJ’s at the widow doing dishes they come right inside and hover right in front of her face for a few seconds and then they’ll fly back outside. It’s kinda freaky. Sometimes you wonder if they’re gonna poke your eyes out or something. Everybody loves them except Maryssa. Actually Maryssa is afraid of them. One day she was at the computer, just minding her own business, and one flew in and got stuck in her hair. Of course (being the princess that she is) there was a lot of screaming and flailing going on, so now, every time one flies inside she hits the floor as she shrieks for help. It’s funny. Anyway. No deep theological thoughts today. Just a quick hummingbird update: )

Love Ya,

Jim

Underestimating The Power of Prayer

As christians we obviously believe in prayer, right? I mean, it’s how we communicate with God. Sometimes we pray with such faith that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God not only hears us but that He’s going to answer. But then sometimes, when we pray, we kinda just loft up softballs. You know what I mean, right? It’s when you’re so desperate that you (out of your desperation) just throw-up a “hail mary prayer” hoping that God will catch it (kind of like Doug Flutie did against the Caines back in the 80’s... either you know what I’m talking about or you don’t, sorry.) so that you can be rescued from your difficulty. It’s like you pray for something but deep down there’s this little spark of doubt that He’s going to answer your prayer in the way that you want. And you feel like the outcome won’t be exactly the way you want it to be and that you’re gonna have to just live with that particular situation. I mean, you know that God’s going to answer your prayer but His answer might be, “just deal with it.” Have you ever felt that way? 

To be honest with you, I’ve felt that way a lot here in Brazil. There’s been so much difficulty being here and we’ve been through so much spiritually, emotionally, physically, relationally... you name it, we’ve been through it, that we’ve wanted to quit soooo many times. We’re seeing lives changed by the Gospel and we’re seeing people effected by the love of Jesus but it’s a constant pressure that you have to push against continually. And it’s tiring. And it’s felt like, as we’ve prayed, that God’s answer to our prayers has been, “just deal with it because my grace is all you need.” Now that sounds great and all, but when you’re actually living in the middle of it, that’s just not what you want to hear. You want God to move mightily on your behalf and you want Him to move yesterday! But sometimes He doesn’t. He’s seems to be on a different timetable or something. I guess that’s what that scripture was talking about when it said, “with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). Cool scripture but not really what you want to hear when your waiting for a prayer to be answered.

So as we’ve been doing what God’s called us to do here in Brazil and as we’ve been pressing through the difficulty, we’ve definitely prayed some prayers that weren’t powered by a lot of faith. But prayers, nonetheless. And that’s where we underestimated the power of "our prayers."

We’ve been having MAJOR issues with someone here in the Brazilian government. The harassment from this particular government official has been going on for a couple of years (against my brother-in-law and sister-in-law) and has bled over onto Me, MJ and our children. We realize that the enemy (the devil) doesn’t want us here and that he uses people to buffet us sometimes. This particular person was definitely a tool in the hand of the enemy. Some of the things that this person was doing even seemed illegal. We spoke to a few of our friends (that are Brazilian) and they encouraged us to file charges against this person. We almost did but we just decided to drop it and just pray. And as much as I wanted to physically harm this person (sorry, when it comes to my family I get defensive) for their blatant attack against us, and as much as I wanted to go to Curitiba and file charges against this person, we decided to just let God defend us. And in the midst of our despair we underestimated the power of our prayers. I say that, because a couple of weeks ago, we found out that this person is no longer in their position with the government! We don’t know what happened except that we didn’t have to do anything... but pray. To be honest, by us praying, I was expecting this person to just start liking us and back-off or something like that. But God ("and I said, but Godddd"... said with my best T.D. Jakes preacher imitation voice. haha!) had different plans. He had them removed! He (God) fought the battle and we didn’t have to do anything but pray and trust Him. 

Salmo 91:2

By reading this I realize that you probably don’t understand the gravity of this event... but it’s HUGE! This person was literally threatening our family and with us being foreigners, we felt like there was nobody on our side and that this person had the Brazilian government on their side. But we had someone on our side all along... God. Bam! In your face devil!

I’m writing this today because I know that some of you have huge things that you’re facing right now. And as hard as it is, I just want to encourage you to not give up. Keep pressing in to God and keep petitioning Him for what you need. Sure, sometimes His answer will be, “just deal with it because I’m with you,” but sometimes He’ll blow your mind and go far beyond what you can ask or think. So don’t underestimate the power of your prayers!

Praying,

Jim

PS - the picture up top is of our youngest son Robert. He just lost a tooth last week. If you thought he “looked like trouble” before...

As christians we obviously believe in prayer, right? I mean, it’s how we communicate with God. Sometimes we pray with such faith that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God not only hears us but that He’s going to answer. But then sometimes, when we pray, we kinda just loft up softballs. You know what I mean, right? It’s when you’re so desperate that you (out of your desperation) just throw-up a “hail mary prayer” hoping that God will catch it (kind of like Doug Flutie did against the Caines back in the 80’s... either you know what I’m talking about or you don’t, sorry.) so that you can be rescued from your difficulty. It’s like you pray for something but somewhere deep down there’s this little spark of doubt that He’s going to answer your prayer in the way that you want. And you feel like the outcome won’t be exactly the way you want it to be and that you’re gonna have to just live with that particular situation. I mean, you know that God’s going to answer your prayer but His answer might be, “just deal with it.” Have you ever felt that way? 

To be honest with you, I’ve felt that way a lot here in Brazil. There’s been so much difficulty being here and we’ve been through so much spiritually, emotionally, physically, relationally... you name it, we’ve been through it, that we’ve wanted to quit soooo many times. We’re seeing lives changed by the Gospel and we’re seeing people effected by the love of Jesus but it’s a constant pressure that you have to push against continually. And it’s tiring. And it’s felt like, as we’ve prayed, that God’s answer to our prayers has been, “just deal with it because my grace is all you need.” Now that sounds great and all, but when you’re actually living in the middle of it, that’s just not what you want to hear. You want God to move mightily on your behalf and you want Him to move yesterday! But sometimes He doesn’t. He’s seems to be on a different timetable or something. I guess that’s what that scripture was talking about when it said, “with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). Cool scripture but not really what you want to hear when your waiting for a prayer to be answered, right? lol!

So as we’ve been doing what God’s called us to do here in Brazil and as we’ve been pressing through the difficulty, we’ve definitely prayed some prayers that weren’t powered by a lot of faith. But prayers, nonetheless. And that’s where we underestimated the power of "our prayers."

We’ve been having MAJOR issues with someone here in the Brazilian government. The harassment from this particular government official has been going on for a couple of years (against my brother-in-law and sister-in-law) and has bled over onto Me, MJ and our children. We realize that the enemy (the devil) doesn’t want us here and that he uses people to buffet us sometimes. This particular person was definitely a tool in the hand of the enemy. Some of the things that this person was doing even seemed illegal. We spoke to a few of our friends (that are Brazilian) and they encouraged us to file charges against this person. We almost did but we just decided to drop it and just pray. And as much as I wanted to physically harm this person (sorry, when it comes to my family I get defensive) for their blatant attack against us, and as much as I wanted to go to Curitiba and file charges against this person, we decided to just let God defend us. And in the midst of our despair we underestimated the power of our prayers. I say that, because a couple of weeks ago, we found out that this person is no longer in their position with the government! We don’t know what happened except that we didn’t have to do anything... but pray. To be honest, by us praying, I was expecting this person to just start liking us and back-off or something like that. But God ("and I said, but Godddd"... said with my best T.D. Jakes preacher imitation voice. haha!) had different plans. He had them removed! He (God) fought the battle and we didn’t have to do anything but pray and trust Him. 

By reading this I realize that you probably don’t understand the gravity of this event... but it’s HUGE! This person was literally threatening our family and with us being foreigners, we felt like there was nobody on our side and that this person had the Brazilian government on their side. But we had someone on our side all along... God. Bam! In your face devil!

I’m writing this today because I know that some of you have huge things that you’re facing right now. And as hard as it is, I just want to encourage you to not give up. Keep pressing in to God and keep petitioning Him for what you need. Sure, sometimes His answer will be, “just deal with it because I’m with you,” but sometimes He’ll blow your mind and go far beyond what you can ask or think. So don’t underestimate the power of your prayers!

Praying,

Jim

Hibernation

You know how bears hibernate in the Winter? I think that’s what’s happened to me here in the Brazilian Winter (remember it’s Winter here in Brazil, sorry USA and your 100 degree temps... ha!). I haven’t been hibernating from being a missionary, but I’ve been hibernating from being a missionary that blogs. For some reason my brain has totally shut-down when it comes to blogging here lately. It’s officially been 4 weeks since I last posted a blog and that’s just weird. Usually I’m working on 3-4 blog posts at once but lately my “blog holster” has been completely out of bullets. I think I’m thawing-out because I’ve started writing again and I have a few blogs brewing. Hopefully we didn’t lose a lot of readers since we’ve been in our “blog coma” but beginning Monday we’ll be posting again. A lot has happened over the last month and we’ll fill you in the best we can. So have a great day and a great weekend and we’ll see you next week : )

Love Ya,

Jim