Overthinking Out Loud

Since I've found it so hard to think up topics to post on, I've decided to do a series on Everything I Know. We'll start with prayer and see where that takes us. The first thing I've learned about prayer is that you learn it "on the job." If you commit to being an intercessor (someone who prays for other people), God will show you how as you go along, especially if you ask Him. Remember when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray and He responded with an example of a prayer--the Lord's Prayer (See Matthew 6:9-14). One thing God will do is He'll impress upon you what He wants you to pray in a given situation. He leads us in prayer, just like He does in other areas of our lives. Ask Him, and then get really quiet. He'll show you what He wants prayed. For example, my mother prays a great deal for our ministry. We had a new convert recently and when my mom read about it on my husband's blog , she felt led to pray that this young beli...

We've been in Porto Alegre for 9 months today. As I look back on those months, I can see one certain lesson that God seems to be wanting me to get. It's been repeated over and over and over since we got here, not in scripture, but in my life. That lesson is "Hard things get easier with time and practice." Blake started 1st grade here this year. This was a surprise to us since we expected him to be in kindergarten. You would believe how difficult those first few weeks of first grade were! Take spelling, for instance. He got a 10 on his first spelling test. Every Monday, we had spelling homework to make a sentence with each word. It would take over an hour, I'd have to sit there and coach him in sentence ideas. The first month he cried every Monday. I didn't know if I could face 9 months of that. Now, he makes a perfect score on every test and is writing his sentences without our coaching. Blake is in physical therapy for his "toe-walking." Basically, ...

Overnight company? Morning breakfast meeting? This recipe has saved me many a time! Apple-Raisin French Toast Casserole

I'm about to get his with a tripple whopper, folks! June contains not only my 11th wedding anniversary, but Father's Day and Brazilian Valentine's Day. And so the big question for the day: WHAT IN THE WORLD WILL I GET MY HUSBAND ???!! A video game isn't romantic enough, a good Christian book isn't big enough, a sweater is just too practical, I don't have time to learn to knit a scarf. I need your ideas. There are about 350 of you people reading this--someone is bound to come up with something. Leave your ideas in the comments page. To do this click on the word "comments" below and type your comment in the text box that pops up. The easiest thing is then to check the "anonymous" button and hit the "publish" button. You can always sign your name in the bottom of the comment if you don't want it to really be anonymous. I thank you from the bottom of my heart! Cam

"I won't need to see him again." With that short statement, Parker 's neurologist released him. Those of you who have been our prayer partners know Parker's story. Twenty-three months ago, EXTREMELY pregnant and in the depth of Backwoods Brazil, I began to have problems and, after two trips to the emergency clinic, I hopped on a plane to the states. We had been planning to return home for Parker 's birth anyway, I just left a month earlier than expected. During my first ultrasound in the states, the sonographer was strangely quiet. There was too much empty space in the brain cavity. Something was missing. The readings indicated a missing corpus callosum, a bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres. I called Jeff that evening. He and Blake had remained in Brazil to pack up and settle things at home and in the ministry. We prayed and cried together on the phone. It was terrifying. For two weeks, we struggled with computer equipment to try and g...

Following is a memoir from a retired missionary, Ann Wollerman, who served in Brazil for about 40 years. She is 91 at the time this tape was made. The tape was then transcibed and posted on the internet. I'm posting the entire transciption here because I found it so inspiring. It's long, but worth the read. As you read it, notice 1. Her astounding faith. 2. Her extreme determination. 3. The abundant grace of God made available to her as she lived in a really difficult place. You can go along way on the mission field with those three things. TESTIMONY OF ANN WOLLERMAN, MISSIONARY TO BRAZIL, DECEMBER 9, 2001 (ALMOST 91 YEARS OLD It is so good to be back with you again. The hugs and greetings! And I want to thank Pastor Dale and all of those who make the program for giving me this wonderful opportunity to once again share with you the great, miraculous things that God has done in my life. And I do it humbly giving all the glory and all the praise to Him. And I want to encourage yo...

Folks, I'm tellin' ya' --you haven't lived until you've explored the central shopping district of a major South American city! I went yesterday to Centro Porto Alegre. Every city in Brazil has a Centro. Centro is the oldest area of town. It's where the bus lines all end. It's where the working class does their shopping. It's also where the thieving class does their thieving. So whenever I go to Centro, I try to walk, look and act very thug-like. It's very difficult to drive to Centro and so you have to take the bus. It's a real adventure. It's cold here in Porto Alegre and, seeing that it's time to put the down comforter on the bed, I went to the "sewing notions" district of Centro to get some snaps to make the comforter cover. YES! -- an entire DISTRICT of sewing notions stores! About 4 blocks of beads, pins, needles, zippers, pin cushions, measuring tapes, and literally TONS of yarn! If you can imagine it, it's down there ...

This is a great, easy recipe to copy those wonderful spiced peaches you get in the states. Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups peach halves 3 (6-inch) sticks cinnamon 1 tsp. cloves 1 tbs. vinegar Instructions: Combine ingredients, heat to boiling. [I took the peach halves out of two cans and then poured in syrup to make 4 cups, plus a little more liquid.] Simmer 5 minutes, drain and chill.

[Continued from post below: . . .and my God shall meet all your [chocolate] needs . . .] At that point, I knew I could make it on that muddy little island on the Equator. God had met not only my needs, but my wants and, despite the pity-party I had thrown for myself, He had reached out to me in a way I could relate. We frequented that little chocolate shop for the few years that we lived there. I told the owner the story of how God had touched my heart by putting him there (I doubt that he, with his broken FrenchPortuguese understood such a flaky story told in my broken EnglishPortuguese). Two years later, while we were on our first furlough, our son Parker was born. Parker had a mild case of hydrocephallus that eventually required surgery and the mission doctors decided that we couldn't return to the Back Side of Nowhere. We were offered the chance to move to South Brazil. We weighed our options and felt God's leading to Rio Grande do Sul. God gave me so many signs from Him du...

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 ...

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 m...