During my time in Peru I was blessed with the opportunity to participate in a day of prison ministry at the prison in Trujillo. We had a contact in Peru who was able to set up two days for a group to go into the prison and encourage the people there and share Christ’s love with them. I wasn’t able to go on the first day as the slots filled up quickly, but the second time I was fortunate enough to go with 5 other people from my squad. It was an amazing and unique experience! It’s impossible to fully describe the experience and the environment and my emotions in enough detail to do it justice, but I’ll attempt to paint a clear and accurate enough picture as I can.
So we set off for the prison in the morning with our Bibles in hand and one guitar. To get there, we took a combi (which is basically 15-passenger van, but in Peru it’s almost a game of how many people you can fit in at a time. The most I heard so far was 32.) and then caught a bus which took us right outside the prison. We met our contact’s wife outside the prison who gave us some food to bring into the prison and give to some of the prisoners, as the food they get from the guards is pretty bad. She then helped us get through check-in and then left us with her husband, Marco, who was our contact in the prison (more on him later).
Now I’ve never really been in a prison before (let alone a Peruvian prison) so I didn’t really know what to expect. I’d imagine this one was a little bit different then prisons back home though. The prison was pretty spread out. The plan for the day was to do four separate “mini-church like” services in different areas of the prison. We would do one service, which consisted of singing a couple praise/worship songs and then one of us sharing our testimony or giving a word that God placed on our heart, and then proceed to another area of the prison through fenced-in walkways that connected the different parts of the prison. The four areas we went to were the maximum security section, a place called “the pit” (which was just a string of cells that held maybe 50 men each), an area that almost looked like a market as people had little craft shops and other merchandise for sale, and another area lined with cells with a communal area in the middle where men would play cards or hang their laundry up (prisoners simply wear the clothes that they were brought in with). It was a busy day filled with lots of singing and pouring ourselves out for the prisoners. On the trip back to the place we were staying at I just felt beat…but also extremely satisfied and joyful for what God taught me and did through the team and me.
One of the things God really showed me throughout the day was that touching peoples’ hearts has really nothing to do with me or what I say or what I do; it’s solely on the work God in a person’s heart that causes growth. I was a little nervous at the beginning of the day because the group was kind of in a funk and our hearts weren’t really in the right place to do a day of ministry in the prison. People were tired and dealing with struggles on their teams and just not looking forward to what the day had to offer. So I wasn’t really confident in how effective ministry was going to be that day. This thought continued at the prison as we only knew a couple of worship songs that we sang over and over again and then our various talks were simple and (at least for me) didn’t go as planned in my head. I struggled throughout the day believing that what we were doing was actually making a difference and that we were touching their hearts. But Marco sensed this and constantly reminded us that what we were doing was in fact making a difference and even though it may not look like we are doing much, God was really using us to bring about His Kingdom here. It was a great reminder for me that even though I may not think we are being super creative or that I didn’t nail my sermon in the way that I wanted, it ultimately doesn’t matter because God is the one that works on peoples’ hearts. As Paul writes to the Corinthians…
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:6-7
And God’s presence was totally felt there. It was amazing to see how even in a prison where you just assume worldy, dangerous “sinners” are, that even there God’s Kingdom is present and growing. I realized that these men are in fact…men. Human beings. Just like you and me. And just like you and me, they have dreams and interests and passions and wants and needs. And just like you and me, they can experience the gospel and the love of Christ. It was so cool to see the men just shouting praises at the top of their lungs and listening intently to the Word being preached and even participating in a baptism ceremony. That’s right…we had a baptism ceremony in the prison. It was probably the coolest part of the whole day. I love the symbolism of baptism: the outward proclamation that we have died to ourselves and confess that our lives are now Christ’s who has bought us at the price of His Son’s death on a cross for our sins. And so 7 men took that step using the inflatable pool that we brought into the prison. Such an amazing experience!
I loved my day at the prison. It was amazing seeing God’s Kingdom alive and active there and just the passion that Marco has for sharing the gospel with his fellow inmates. Marco told a little bit about his story and how he was falsely accused and sentenced to his prison term. But now he sees it as a means for God to use him to minister to people in prison who wouldn’t otherwise be able to hear the gospel. I don’t know if he is innocent or not, but to me it doesn’t really matter. All I see is a man who loves the Lord and wants other people to experience the same love and grace that he has experienced. And that is a beautiful thing.
So that was my experience in the prison. I am so grateful to have been blessed with the opportunity to witness all that God is doing there. It was just another example of just how BIG God’s Kingdom is. Thanks for continuing to follow with me on this journey and for all your prayers and support.
