The air is cool as the sun is just rising. The guards greet us with a friendly “Dumela”. The prisoners are just getting done with their breakfast as they begin to crowd around the tree in the middle of the sand filled prison yard. The majority are in their standard orange shirt and pants with the occasional yellow uniform belonging to only the trustees. A crowd begins to form of middle aged men, majority being here for crimes such as rape and theft. The sound of about 60 men singing worship songs begins to fill the air. It almost brings tears to my eyes as we sit in our line of chairs listening and watching these men dance and sing praises with all they have in them. When they are finished, we kindly introduce ourselves and why we here and a member from our team begins to share the Word. They gather around; some standing and some sitting on the nearest bucket. At the end of the message, the men are asked if any would like to give their lives to Christ and we begin praying as 15 or so raise their hands to receive salvation. As our time there neared the end, we began walking around to each prisoner shaking their hands and exchanging smiles as we tried to take in the reality of this bizarre circumstance. After some small talk and learning one’s love for art, another for the crafts they hand make, we say goodbye to our new friends.
This experience touched our teams so much that a couple of my teammates had an amazing idea to start a fundraiser called “Bibles Behind Bars”. After learning that only a few of the prisoners actually have Bibles, we decided that this was something we wanted to change. Within a couple of weeks we were able to raise about $1,000 and purchased 80 Bibles total for the prisoners here in Molepolole. For our last day of ministry here in Botswana, we had the privilege of going back to the prison this morning. I knew that it was me who was supposed to speak, as I had prepared a message about two weeks back. We arrived at the prison yard early this morning and went to a new section where they hold the prisoners who are awaiting their trial. The rain began to fall, so we all crowded into a tiny room with about 60-70 prisoners as they all began to sing their worship songs. The interpreter introduced me and I shared my message about Paul from 1 Timothy. I walked them through scripturally what the words grace, mercy, faith, and love meant and how it relates to our walk with Christ. I encouraged them to not let their circumstances define who they are or where they are going. I reminded them that God still has a plan and purpose for each of us and that they can still be used for His glory, even amongst these prison walls. At the end of my message, the interpreter again invited whoever wanted to give their lives to Christ forward. About 16 men came forward and with prayers and cheers, we all celebrated together as we welcomed our new brothers into the Kingdom of God.
For whatever reason, prison ministry is something that the Lord has given me a passion for ever since my first mission trip to Haiti. I have not been to many, but I hope that I can somehow use this passion in the future. It’s funny to see the desires The Lord places on our heart and exciting to think and pray about how He can use all of these in the future.
After a month of somewhat slow ministry, I chose to truly enjoy the opportunities we were given while working with Capro Missions. We helped out with some maintenance here around the compound, got to know the students here at the discipleship school, and even spent a few days in the Kalahari Desert doing door to door evangelism. My team will be leaving tomorrow morning to spend a few days in Johannesburg and fly out on the 31st for Mongolia. Pray for safe travels and that we don’t turn into ice cubes as the average temperature there this time of year is about 10 degrees. Thank you for your continued prayer and support. See you soon America!
