Nov. 27 - The days are going by too quickly

 Ministry Partners,

This morning I awoke at 7 to drizzling rain. Here I thought I was leaving Oregon rain and cold behind. One day is cold and the next is hot.

 

Regardless of  rain or the hot sun, meat & fish are displayed in the open.

When we arrived at the breakfast buffet at 8, we found the whole area taken by other guests so we took seats outside under a covered area along with some other guests. Now, I know why our 9 o'clock breakfast yesterday was so picked over. After eating we all went back to our rooms until 10:45 when we left for the very close prison here. The Deputy O.C. told Alfred yesterday that he wanted us there at 11. It was good to meet him but realized we knew him from meeting him at a different prison some years before. Of course we found favor with him.

After doing 3 prison crusades yesterday, we were only scheduled to do one today. It was so nice to see that they were ready for us and had the 350 men assembled although we had to wait a few minutes for them to bring in 25 women and 2 children. It was apparent that their woman guard was not too happy.

The porch overhang, in a U shape, made a great covering for the prisoners with the women sitting on my left. The center of the U was cement so I did not have to worry about mud as it had stopped drizzling but it did mean I would be in the sun for the entire crusade. I was thankful that at times God provided a bit of shade covering the sun.

Watching prisoners faces loose that hopeless look and seeing them 'nodding and smiling' in agreement as I quote scripture during the message and having them respond to the invitations makes my heart happy. I actually don't actually have words to accurately describe it. The prisoners often say that they had no hope before the team came.

At one point Pastor Aaron was interpreting for me and I looked over and saw Alfred sitting in a chair next to the women prisoners, he was holding one of the children. He loves on children every chance he gets, I know he misses his 3 year old son, Honor, at home in Australia. I hear him often face timing him.

After we finished the guys dropped me off at the hotel and then went into town to purchase some coolant for the van and purchase drinking water for the van as well as more batteries for the sound system. Our system rums on electricity and on battery which we keep charged. But the handheld microphones the guys use need batteries ans well as the pack for my headset mic.

Tomorrow we do two prison crusades but the following 4 days we do one a day as we head toward Tanzania, entering the country on Dec. 3. I cannot believe how fast the days are going by here. 

Thank you for continuing to pray for the prisoners and for us.

That none would be lost,

Arlene