One of the many amazing opportunities I’ve had in Swaziland is prison ministry. Every Monday we have a sleepover and Leo’s house (Leo is a man from holland and a man of God) and hangout and just take time to relax and pretty much debrief and catch up with family and friends with the convenient WiFi. Then in the morning half of my team goes with Leo to Big Bend Prison. It’s about a ten minute drive then we enter through a gate and park and get ready to visit with the prisoners. I’ve been to Big Bend once so far and on this specific trip we were with some of Leo’s visiting friends from holland along with two of my teammates and Caleb, my squad leader. We knock on the door and wait for the answer. A man opened a slot and talked to Leo as we stood behind him. He told Leo he had to inform the Chaplin that we were here and to prepare the prisoners to see us. We then sit, waiting and anticipating, for the gate to open and for our visit with the prisoners to officially begin. The man opens the door about ten minutes later and escorts us through a set of large doors that keep the prisoners inside. We then walk into a large courtyard where we see various prisoners walking the ground. We follow the man and he leads us to a separate, smaller courtyard. As we approach I hear the song of 80 prisoners of Christ singing their praises. A deep bass backs of a single soprano voice which leads the men in their melody. We enter the room and are greeted by 80 manly faces of God. Worn faces, faces that have experienced many hardships throughout their lives. Faces worthy of a frown but full of cheer and spirit. They finish their song and Leo introduces us. He gives a short word and then Blake’s up. Blake tells a story about a pencil maker and his pencils (in the story were the pencils and God is the pencil maker) and how the pencil maker makes us all unique and he makes us all for a purpose. He finishes his story and then Noah gets up and leads a few worship songs for the group. After Noah finishes one of the prisoners plays a few songs. Now it’s my turn… I get up and share about Gods love for us and about how his love is infinite and there is nothing we can do to earn it and there’s nothing we can do to lose the love he has for us. I used to struggle grasping the idea of Gods love for me so it was incredible to be able to share how I had grown. After my testimony, two more people shared. Lastly before leaving we sang another songs and broke into groups to pray for the prisoners. I got to shake each of their hands and tell them that God loves them. We left the prison and then drove back to Leo’s house where we debriefed our time with the rest of the team. I learned so much from these men even though none of the prisoners shared testimonies or gave words. They taught me about joy for the lord and that God is bigger then our situations. Something that I struggle with daily. They might be in prison and they might not be free to live as they please but they have freedom in Jesus Christ and through him they have eternal life and eternal joy. They know that God is on his throne and he never left it. Men of God
