Now let me tell you that today I had an opportunity to do something that I never even thought about!! I went to JAIL!!!
Now let me explain what I am talking about!! This month in Nicaragua we had the opportunity to work with an organization called REAP Granada!! One of these ministries is to go to the local jail and minister to the inmates there!!
So today we were leaving the house with 13 World Racers and about 20 Local Nicaraguan and we road on the back of 3 pick up trucks to the jail! When we got there one of our Nicaraguan friends, Jessie, who is part of the Reap team said that he would be willing to take 2 of the ladies into the cell!! When I heard this I knew that this was an opportunity God had been planing for me!! My first month I wrote out a bible lesson about the Shepard and the 1 lost sheep!! This morning God placed Mathew 18: 12-14 on my heart which is the parable of the lost sheep!! So this was confirmation that I was so posed to go and share this!!
So teammate Rachel and I went into Cell 22 with our other teammates Ryan and Daniel as well as Jessie, and two other American Men that are missionary’s in Nicaragua. When we walked in it was nothing that I have ever seen before!! We walked into a room with no windows with just concrete walls and a tin roof!! There were no beds just cardboard on the ground and about 35 large tattooed men with out shirts on!! As we walked in Jessie informed Rachel and I that he had only ever brought women into the cell 1 time before and it had been quite some time since then!! He told us that he did not know how they were going to react so to say in the back and be prepared for anything!!
Well this is what it looked like we were greeted by the men and they invited us to sit on there beds ( remember the cardboard on the floors) and we started! Jessie started by just saying hello and then the inmates decided that worship should happen before anything else!!
This was one of the most powerful things that I have seen when a group of 35 men are all chanting and singing to God about how great he is!! They were worshiping so loud that the floor was literally shaking!! It was amazing!!
Jessie then gave all of us the opportunity to speak about what ever God has placed on our hearts!! I went first and spoke about the lost lamb!! I was not sure how this was going to go because first it was being translated and second I was a women speaking to all men!! Well when I started I was nervously say the least but let me tell you that I had ever single mans attention and I could tell that the translation was working with the AMENS and the hallelujahs that were being shouted with the words I was saying!! Then everyone else spoke and the men were receptive to every single one of us that spoke!! At the end we passes out sweet bread and juice and finished with worship!!
Once again the worship was so powerful the the floor and walls were shaking!! It was amazing to see how God is so alive even in a jail where you would expect to see hopelessness their was courage, joy and the Love of God!!! As we left we shook hands with the inmates and when the door shut again the continued with worship singing to God with JOY and LOVE!!
When we were leaving he jail Jessie and the other missionaries that we were with said that the way that the inmates reacted today was out of the ordinary and that normally they were not as calm or receptive to the words but something was different today and they were thankful for that!!! God worked in amazing ways today and I am so thankful l for everything that he did and what he is going to do in the lives of the Men that we spoke today in Cell 22!!
ALSO I AM FULLY FUNDED!!! I AM SO THANKFUL FOR EVERYONE THAT HAS HELPED THE PAST FEW MONTH WITH FUNDING!!
We have another full week in Nicaragua and I am excited to see what God has planed for us!!
LOVE
JULIA
