A military general tells Gary Dawson he has to leave the Amazon and then a little girl runs up, wraps her arms around his leg, and changes the whole tone of the confrontation. That moment captures the heart of this conversation with Dr. Robert Jackson: what it looks like to follow a calling when the pressure is real, the stakes are high, and the outcome is out of your hands. Gary, author of Gringo Mama, shares why his family stayed in Venezuela after missionaries were expelled, and how decades of life among the Yanomama people shaped his faith, language, and sense of purpose.

We also go where most mission stories don’t. Gary explains the Yanomama view of the spirit world and the role of shamans, describing fear, deception, and the dark promise of “power” that often ends in destruction. He recounts a tense journey into an enemy village, a night of warnings, and a chilling encounter where a shaman claims he heard them coming and identifies God as the “enemy God.” The description of a place with no darkness, no death, and a crystal river brings the Bible to mind and raises hard questions about spiritual warfare, discernment, and what evil looks like across cultures and at home.

At the center, we come back to the gospel. Gary reflects on assurance of salvation, the truth that Jesus saves us when we can’t save ourselves, and the deeper comfort that Christ also keeps us. We close with practical needs and prayer: help printing more copies of the book, support for medical debt from caring for the Yanomama, and urgent prayer for two year old Rihanna, diagnosed with aggressive leukemia. If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find these stories and the hope behind them.

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Jacksonville Florida

32241

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