The Immigration Detention Center (IDC) is a place unlike any I’ve ever seen. This is where the government takes immigrants when their visas have expired.
Once arrested, immigrants can choose to go back to their own country or wait and try to receive refugee status. Many choose to stay because their own countries have become unsafe for them.
Some people may receive refugee status, some may get resettled to another country, some go home. Mostly it’s a lot of waiting.
They split the men and women up in two different rooms and from what I’ve heard the only time they get out of those rooms is when a visitor comes.
Our ministry in Thailand mostly looks like teaching English to children.
Today was different.
Suzy, one of our hosts, invited us to visit the IDC. Erin, Jenny, Holly, and I agreed to go, though we didn’t quite know what we were getting ourselves in to.
We got up early, stood in many lines, bought food for our people, and around 10:30 am went inside.
The room is separated by two fences. Between the fences there is walking room for the guards.
The first thing I saw when I walked in the room were children on the opposite side of the fence from me. Tears came to my eyes immediately. I kept praying..
“Abba. Strength. Abba. Strength. Abba. Strength.”
My heart broke for these people.
Erin, Jenny, and I spoke with a woman who was a pastor. She had been in the IDC for almost three years. Her husband visits her every day.
Erin prayed for her. Through tears she shouted words through the fences that we aren’t really sure if the woman heard because everyone was shouting.
But we know God heard.
I spent most of the hour there with Holly talking to a teenage boy. He and his father have been there for three years.
We talked about a few things but the conversation always looped back to music.
He asked if I played any instruments. He told me his favorite was classical music. He listed off some of his favorite American artists such as Rhianna and Snoop Dog.
Then he started singing…
“Hey, I was doing just fine before I met you I drink too much and that’s an issue but I’m okay.”
It was hard to hear because everyone was yelling, but somehow I got it. So then I started singing…
“Stay and play that Blink-182 song that we beat to death is Tucson, okay.”
I will never forget his smile.
What it fully meant to him that I finished his duet I may never know, but I do know what it meant to me.
The fact that God would send me all the way across the world to sing a Chainsmokers song with a teenage boy who has spent the last three years of his life in a detention center really just shows me how far the Lord goes for each of us.
It shows me how far He goes to show His love for us.
Our conversation finished soon after our jam session and we were ushered out by the guards.
I don’t know what the future will hold for him. I don’t know when he’ll get out.
What I do know is this:
The Lord has a big plan for him. He works even in the midst of trails, pain, and captivity. I know there is freedom in the Lord even when physical freedom feels like a far-fetched hope.
I know that my God has already set each of us free.
I also know that now whenever I hear that song I will be reminded of one of the best duet partners I’ve ever had.
With all my love,
Chels
P.S.
While I can’t tell you their names, please be in prayer for the people I mentioned in this blog. Both the woman and her family and the boy and his. Be in prayer that they would be resettled and safe. Pray for strength and endurance. Pray for the Lord’s love and peace to be poured out on them. Thank you.
