Saturday, April 29, 2006

. . .and my God shall meet all your [chocolate] needs . .

It was early May 2002. We had been in Brazil for a year and a half and, after a heavenly year of language school, surrounded by fellow missionaries and wonderfully supportive Brazilians, we had been shipped off to the back side of nowhere. We had been there for about 7 months and I hit a crisis point.
My dear mother-in-law sends me books and at this particular time I was reading what is referred to as a "culinary mystery"--a Miss-Marple-type mystery wherein the starring sleuth happens to be a chef who provides detailed descriptions of wonderful gastronomic creations. These should be read sparingly, because you always want to eat when you read them. Anyway, this particular sleuth was a chocolate confectioner. Day after day, I read descriptions of these amazing chocolate creations that, eventually, would aid in the capture of a murderer.
A week or so into my reading, it became time to shop for Mother's Day presents. I had waited too long to send anything from Brazil and so I went online. Godiva seemed the obvious place to start and so I spent several hours pouring over the Godiva, See's and Hershey's sites aiming to please two mothers and two grandmothers.
It was at that point I hit the crisis. I missed good chocolate. I missed a lot of things. I wanted to GO HOME! As Mother's Day got closer and closer, I got sadder and sadder. Then God did something for me I'll never forget.
A sign appeared in the median across from our apartment building: "Delicias de Paris" had opened. Two chocolate confectioners schooled in France had, upon graduation, decided to move to the back side of nowhere and open a chocolate shop. They specialized in truffles of all sorts.
My husband found it and on Mother's Day I received a half a pound of the best truffles I've ever had.
To be continued next post
. . .

Thursday, April 27, 2006

M is for Mommy


SPLASH!! I'm diving into the blogging world, just one small drop is the present flood of missionaries who are discovering the value of blogging.
Let's jump in with some FAQs:

Who am I?
My name is Cam Dunson (the Mommy in the picture) and I am a missionary sent by the Southern Baptists in the US to Porto Alegre, in the far south of Brazil. My husband, Jeff, plants churches in the greater metro area of 4.5 million and I spend most of my time and energy running a household and caring for him and our two children, Blake (age 6) and Parker (age 1 1/2). If you're not familiar with the world of missions, you may find it easiest to think of me as an ex-pat soccer mom.

Who are you? (To whom will this blog be of interest)?
I suspect that this blog will be of most interest to my mother (and my dad if I include photos of the grandkids :) but, other than those two, I expect this to be of value to:
--Our prayer partners, those folks who have committed to pray for our ministry.
--Other missionary/expat wives, mostly because of the recipes I plan to share.
--Other soccer moms, whatever their country of residence.
--Anyone contemplating missionary service or planning an overseas move.
--Anyone interested in learning more of the daily life of missionaries in general.

What will you post?
--Recipes, recipes and more recipes. It can be quite an adventure recreating Southern US cuisine with the ingredients available in other countries.
--Anecdotes and adventures. Life overseas with small children can be very, uh, interesting!
--Candid thoughts about God and my relationship with Him.
--Prayer requests regarding our ministry and family.
--Anything that readers indicate would be interesting.

Why call it "M is for Mommy"?
"M" is short for "missionary" in most religious blogging circles, code used because of the "undercover" status of many of our missionaries who serve in cultures hostile to American/religious influence. Because of the present ages of my children, most of my time is taken in the role of Mommy.

Well, that's about it. Thanks for visiting. I welcome your questions and comments.
cam