Will We Stay or Will We Go?

Several weeks ago I was in the US. I know, most of you had no idea, right? Well, the reason I didn’t make that big of a deal about it on Facebook or send out any letters is because MJ didn’t come with me and she was back in the jungle by herself (with Matthew and the rest of the kids). And even though where we live is very remote and people don’t have all the things that we have in the States, one thing they do have is Facebook and social media. So, long-story-short, I didn’t think it was wise broadcasting to everyone that my family was here in Brazil all by themselves (for safety reasons).

The reason that I was back home in the US was to officiate a wedding for someone that I consider to be a ‘spiritual daughter’ to me and MJ. Actually Maryssa was the maid of honour as well, so she came too. It was a beautiful wedding and we were honoured to be a part of it. It was also very encouraging seeing so many of our Hope and Life Family there at the wedding: )

Amber and Jerrian right before he 'kissed his bride.'

I was able to speak at Grace Summit and at Graystone Church a few times while I was there. It was great seeing everyone and to be able to share some of the things that God is doing here in Brazil. Being able to minister to people from your own culture is something that I miss greatly. Even though I’m able to minister in English every Sunday at the church MJ and I pastor (which I’m very grateful to God for) it’s different being able to speak to Americans. I miss that. 

And, as it happens every time I go home, I get the same question, “when are you guys coming back to live in the US?” It’s actually a very good question. And it seems logical that we’d come back, right? 

Here, I’ll list out some of the main the reasons to come back for you: 

First and foremost our oldest son, Michael, and our daughter-in-law, Sarah, are there. Just the weight of that alone is reason enough to come back. But there’s actually more reasons too. All the rest of our family is there. Our parents (who are elderly) and all our siblings are there. Along with all our nieces and nephews too. So, our family is a big reason to move back.

Our daughter-in-law Sarah and our oldest son Michael

Secondly, being able to pastor and be a part of the American Church is something that we truly desire to do. And we know how to do it. It’s something that, without trying to sound arrogant, we're actually quite good at. And not only do we have several years of experience in it (the American Church)- but we were very successful at the churches we served in as we helped build the Kingdom in the cities where we were located. So pastoring in our own culture is another big reason to move back.

Thirdly, and probably the most glaring thing to most people, is not having to deal with all daily drama that ‘living here on the mountain’ entails… i.e., the water problems (no water 3 times in the last week alone- didn’t have any water at all for the majority of the day Tuesday), the power outages (2 in the last week- one lasted 15 hrs), all the venomous snakes, the copious amount of spiders, all the bug bites we receive every night as we sleep (only 3 last night, PTL), having to shake out all of our clothes and shoes before putting anything on (I neglected to do that yesterday and paid the price- see pic below), the lack of internet and cell service, the extreme weather we have to encounter all the time (we’ve had 2 hail storms, 3 wind storms some minor flooding over the last couple weeks)- and the list could go on and on.

                                            Here's some hail from one of the hailstorms last week

Here's one of the rain storms we've had over the last week. Although it seems beautiful and relaxing- try being held hostage inside for days with a ton of kids and dogs because of it. It'll change your perspective a little. Haha!

Here's a fresh spider bite- and all because I didn't shake-out my jacket before I put it on.
And yes, all the other bumps are older bug bites I've received over the last week or so: )

But there’s something that far outweighs all of those reasons to STAY rather than GO. Let me explain.

If you took all the reasons to move back and loaded them up on one side of a scale (one of those old-time ones with two sides) and then you put 'the reason’ we stay on the other side- this reason (singular) that we stay would easily outweigh all the reasons (plural) to move back right now. 

Now, you’re probably thinking- “I know what it is… it’s because of being able to minister to all those orphans and all the street kids. And it’s because you’re ministering in a place where there’s such a great need for the Gospel, right?” Well, I would have to say those are definitely benefits of being here but neither one is the thing that keeps us here. 

Actually, to be honest with you, the thing that keeps us here is being able to 'know Jesus.’ Now before you shut me down or think I’m just trying to sound super-spiritual just hear me out first. 

For the majority of my life (especially as a kid growing up in the church) I always believed (because I was taught) that I invited Jesus into my life. That I made a decision to believe in Jesus so that my sins would be forgiven and I would go to Heaven. But the problem with that kind of teaching is that it’s wrong. Sure, we need to believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. And yes, we are going to Heaven based solely on the fact that Jesus paid the price for us (a price we couldn’t pay) and He suffered the penalty for our sins. But that’s only part of it.

We can’t 'invite' Jesus to be a part of our lives like He’s some type of accessory. Like He’s something that we add to our already busy schedules. No. We don’t just add Jesus to everything else we’re already doing and try and fit Him in (usually on Sundays and if we’re really spiritual on a Wednesday Night). That’s ridiculous. He’s God and He requires everything. And He’s not just a part of our home-life. Or a part of our studies. Or a part of our jobs. Or just a part of our aspirations and goals. He’s the centre of them all. He’s the one that directs which way we go with our lives (if we’re truly Christ followers, that is).

There’s this phrase that's made over 18 times in the Gospels and it still applies to us all. And it’s the phrase “Follow Me.” Jesus made this statement several times in the bible and it still applies to us now. He said, 

“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.”

                                           Matthew 16:24-25 ESV

You see, to have a real relationship with Jesus, it involves more than just praying a prayer and receiving forgiveness for your sins. It means losing your life (i.e., your own personal goals and pursuits), picking-up your new life assignment (assigned by Him) and following Him. And as we follow Him we get to experience Him. We get to commune with Him. We actually get to know Him because we’re walking with Him.

But, sadly, most people never get to really experience Jesus in their lives like this because He’s just an addition to what they already have going on. And I totally relate to that. I mean, that’s what’s being taught from a lot of pulpits today. The problem is- it’s not scriptural and it’s misleading.

I even did this for several years (just adding Jesus to my already busy schedule) while I was in the ministry. Rather than endeavouring to keep my focus on following Him, I was busy asking Him to bless all my religious activity instead. And that’s living waaaay below what we were designed for. We were designed to walk daily with Him by following Him- not by asking Him to follow us.

And ever since we’ve made following Him the goal- life’s totally changed for us. And it’s not always easy. As a matter of fact I’d venture to say that life has more difficult days than it has easy days. But we get Him and that makes it worth it.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3 about all his many accomplishments (which are HUGE compared to anything we’d ever do). Everything from his heritage, to his education, to his status, to his zeal for God- he named everything he’d ever done. And it’s like you could see him loading it up on one side of those scales I was telling you about. And then on the other side of the scale he puts one thing all-by-itself that far outweighs everything he had or that he’d accomplished in his whole life (that was on the other side of the scale). He said it like this:

“I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”  Phil. 3:8

He said that knowing Christ far outweighed everything else in his life and it was rubbish compared to having the chance to know Jesus. When I read that I totally get it. I understand it. I relate to it because we’re living it and experiencing it in our life right now and it’s amazing.

So, here’s my question to you- “Is Jesus the centre of your life or is He just something that you add-in here and there? Is following Him your life’s goal or is something else what you’re aiming for?” Because I can tell you from walking both ways (just adding Jesus to my life- as opposed to making following Jesus the goal of my life)- that following His plans for my life is worth all the struggles we face. And it's solely because we get Jesus. 

So, to answer the question- "when are we coming back to live in the states?" Long-story-short- I don’t know. Whenever He leads us there. But, for the Dunn Family, right now Jesus is here in Brazil. So I guess we’ll be here until He says otherwise: )

Love Ya!

Jim and MJ

I Think We’re Alone Now

Todays blog is a painful one. It’s one that we knew would probably happen but hoped wouldn’t. Last night we said, “goodbye" to my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law and all my nieces and nephews as they boarded a plane headed back to the US not knowing if they’ll ever return. Being the only ones left (from the family, that is) in Brazil is a feeling that we’ve never encountered and quite frankly don’t know how it’ll play-out. But we know that God is faithful and that He knows what we need. So we’re trusting Him in spite of the heartache.

Me, Jubi, Calvary and MJ waiting before they left last night

But I don’t want to talk about us (the Dunns) today through the blog. No, today I want to tell you a little about my in-laws the Atkinsons. Some of you know them but most of you probably don’t. But Brad and Carolyn are what I think of as real spiritual trailblazers or better yet- ‘Pathfinders.’ Let me explain.

When I was in the ARMY back in 87’ I was in the infantry. Well, within the infantry there were a group of guys called Pathfinders. They were the guys who would drop-in behind enemy lines (and into uncharted territory) and make a way for everyone who would come after them (creating drop zones). Because even though it would still be difficult for everyone who followed, them making a path (hence the name Pathfinders) by placing beacons, colored smoke, flash panels, etc. for everyone first, it would make it easier for all who came in after them- because they showed everyone else ‘the way.' And, because they showed everyone 'the way,’ it saved lives and made a huge impact on the success of each mission that took place.

Well, to me, that’s what Brad and Carolyn (the Atkinsons) are- Pathfinders. They’ve gone in ahead of us (and everyone else who’s watched them over the last several years) and shown us ‘the way’ by blazing a trail that nobody else was on. And because of their commitment to Jesus and the Gospel- them dropping in 'behind enemy lines' and showing us the way- it’s ‘made it easier for all of us who have and who will follow. 

Carolyn, Brad, Zeke, Ike, Matthew, Eli and some friends who came to say goodbye at the airport

Back in 07’ Brad and Carolyn adopted a sibling group of 4 children from Brazil. If you know anything about adoption and the church you’ll know that back in 07’ adoption wasn’t really mainstream (in the church) yet and it didn’t have anywhere close to the traction that is has today. But as people (a.k.a. ‘Pathfnders’) like Brad and Carolyn stepped-up and starting adopting others followed (Me and MJ included). 

Because of them adopting from Brazil first, it made it easier for Me and MJ to adopt from Brazil in 08.’  And because they had already been here and done it they were able to show us the way. Not that it wasn’t difficult, no. But having someone to have gone ahead and cleared a path made it soooo much easier for us.

MJ and Carolyn last night (before the tears began)

And if you know anything about our story and how we came to be missionaries here in Brazil, you’ll know that Brad and Carolyn moved here 2 years before we did. We were given the camp in 09’ but Brad and Carolyn were the ones who actually moved here in 2010’ to get things started. They were the ones who literally ‘cleared a path’ at the camp and did a majority of the repairs to get things going so that we could minister to hundreds and hundreds of kids over the last 5 years.

My nephew (Zeke) and 2 of the young men they've discipled over the last 5 years (Jonea and Rodrigo)

They were the ones who began evangelizing the mountain and developing relationships with the people we live with before we arrived. They were the ones who figured out how to survive in a culture that’s totally different than the one we’re use to so they could pass on as much information to us as possible. They’re the ones who made it easier for us. I didn’t say, they made it easy for us, no. Because following Jesus is hard (Matthew 7:13-14) and living in the jungles of Brazil is extremely difficult. But when you have someone who’s done what God’s called you to do by going in first- it’s given us a huge advantage.

So, why do I think it’s important that you know all this? Well, last night around 6:00pm we hugged, kissed, cried and then waved goodbye as we stood and watched as Brad, Carolyn, Zeke, Eli, Boaz, Ike, Braidlyn, Reign, Zion, Calvary, Shiloh and Jubi all walked through security and down the corridor toward their terminal at Alfonso Pena Airport in Curitiba, Brazil. Leaving us here to carry-on what they made a way for us to do.

Even though we feel very sad right now, there’s a huge part of us that feels a tremendous amount of joy. Now, before you start thinking I’m bi-polar, I’ll explain. Those of you who have followed Brad and Carolyn over the last 5 years here in Brazil know that, for almost 3 years now, they’ve faced a tremendous amount of adversity (from outside sources) that’ve been coming against them. It’s put an enormous amount of stress on them as well as the entire family. So, for them to not be under the stress and the strain anymore makes us very happy for them.

As frustrating as it’s been for them and as difficult as the persecution made it for them to be here ministering- they continued. They continued to walk in a way that was pleasing to the Lord and they maintained a good testimony in the community through it all. If you ever want to see a living example of what it looks like to endure hardship as a good soldier ( II Timothy 2:3-4 ) Brad and Carolyn have done just that. Living here is extremely difficult and the fact that they did it without a break in 5 years is crazy!

I know, that as they land in the US today, that they’ll experience a myriad of emotions as they arrive home. All the family, friends, their home, clean water, reliable electricity, central heat/air, good internet, a ‘real' Wal-Mart… all the things that they’ve been without for the last 5 years will be overwhelming at first. But, as the weeks and the months pass, our prayer is that when they reflect back on the sacrifice that they’ve made for the sake of the Gospel over the last 5 years, that they’ll be able to relish in the fact that they did something that not many other followers of Christ have done- abandon everything for Jesus. And as they look back I just want them to know, as a fellow laborer, that I’m very appreciative of everything they’ve done for Me and MJ by making a path for us to further the Gospel in a place where people desperately need Jesus. We love you guys and miss you already.

Love Ya,

Jim