“We may not be able to go in after all,” it was reported to us as we saw our contacts walking back. I began praying “God just make it possible for us to go in so we maybe able to share your love with these women!” 5 minutes later: “We can go in but we still had to wait 15 minutes.” 15 minutes later we head in and we are told: “This will be the last time we can come here unless the find one Christian in the prison because right now there is none and there is no need for you to be here.” On the contrary that is exactly why we need to be here so more people can know His love. This was the beginning of our morning at the local prison.
We head into the prison where all the people were. As we were walking by all the men a lot of them started shouting at us. My mission was to ignore them but God said “They are people too, just say hello.” So I listened and I smiled at them and said hello. The looks on all their faces when I acknowledged them was that of pure shock. I don’t think they were actually expecting me to treat them like a human. However, just that simple act probably meant so much to them.
We joined the women who were there waiting for us to spend time with them. Throughout the time we were there the women were so receptive and so attentive. We put on a skit, we sang some Christmas songs, one person shared their testimony and another person shared the reason why we were there. As Erin, one of my teammates, was sharing her story I began looking around and saw just how attentive all the women were. They were all looking straight at her. It wasn’t a look of just pretending to pay attention, but I could tell they actually were. After Erin was done sharing we were told we had 5 minutes left. Wait what!? We still have to share the Christmas message! As Kirstie gets up to start sharing about Jesus I began praying, “God make this time thing not an issue and do what only you can do.” It was at the point I stopped praying I looked out into the prison courtyard. The men were standing and listening too. The men I had just smiled and said hello to were standing and listening to the Gospel! I looked around even more and I saw the guards were standing and listening as well! The place we were doing all of this wasn’t the place we were supposed to be originally. We were supposed to just be with the women on their ward but because of circumstances we were placed in a central location so that it wasn’t just the women who heard it was the men as well and the guards!
“We are going to gather around these women and pray for them.” Well this could be awkward but I’m in month 6 of my race and I’m used to awkward situations by now. Praying over these women wasn’t awkward at all. In fact when we were done and the women stood up to go back to their cells there were tears on almost every single woman’s face. They had had no idea what we had been praying but nonetheless we saw The Holy Spirit move in that moment. I look over to the men and they were all still watching us a couple of them had tears in their eyes as well.
It was time for us to leave. As I was walking out one of the guards smiled at me and said “Thank you!” I smiled back.
Prison ministry was one thing that I was hoping to be able to do while on my race. 2 weeks ago I was finally able to get that opportunity. It was better than I could have ever imagined.
Fundraising update: I am $2,765 away from being fully funded by January 1. Please consider donating in order to help me stay on the race!
