This month has truly been an interesting one, to say the least. Having so many teams together has been challenging at times. We are constantly at the children’s home taking care of the babies or the boys or the girls (around the clock). We are also out planting sod on the soccer field and helping to lay bricks for a new church near the children’s home. Rarely do we get to do something outside of these things, but a few days ago I had to opportunity to make a few visits to a local jail and be a part of the ministry that is happening there.
It has been so awesome to be a part of that too! A guy that has done the World Race before, came back to the Philippines to help at the children’s home and around Malaybalay, and was the one that introduced us to this ministry. This prison was a lot different from prisons in America too. For one thing, there are about 30-50 people in each cell, but also the men, women, and minors are all in the same building. The cells are decorated with Christmas lights, random pictures, and colorful sheets on their beds (triple bunk beds to the ceilings). They prisoners are also noticeably a lot less violent than you would expect.
A lot of the men that are in prison are there because of drug related crimes, which in the Philippines is a very serious offense. Since being in jail, however, a lot of them have become Christians and share their testimonies openly with us. I have had some of the best conversations with some of the minors their, as well as some of the prisoners in isolation. They have so much joy for being in such a gloomy place. They love to tell us what God is showing them and how they worship Him. Most of the cells have one guitar that one person knows how to play and they play us all the songs they know (which is not many).
Josh and I wanted to change that so he brought his guitar and we taught the men a lot of new songs that they could sing and gave them the chords and lyrics as well. They didn’t want to stop either! They wanted to learn as many songs as we could teach them and it was so encouraging to hear them continue to sing them even after we had left their cells. I really can’t explain how awesome it was that we got the opportunity to do this. I feel like my words are not sufficient enough to explain the experiences we have had in the prison with the men and women there. God has allowed us to do so many amazing things so far on this trip, and it is so awesome to see all the blessings He keeps showering down on His children.
