Dec. 10 - Paidha Prison - The Lord goes before you. Duet. 31:8

 Ministry Partners,

"It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Duet. 31:8

Today although I woke at 6am, I decided to go back to bed and just rest for a bit since we do not need to be at the prison until 2pm but I fell asleep until about 7:30. It was just in time to get ready for a breakfast of tea, scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausages, greens and the best pineapple ever, it was really yummy! As we walked back to our rooms, we observed all the staff cleaning the stones in preparation, I suppose, for a meeting in the small conference room. There they were in their bare feet, sloshing large containers of water all around with narrow long handled brushes.

The staff washing the stone courtyard

Having the mornings free allows me to get this blog started so that after the crusade, it does not take as much time to finish it and I can get to bed earlier and that is a good thing but when we do two crusades a day that is not an option. The 15^th of Dec. will be here soon and that begins the best opportunity. The Currently when we are doing only one farm prison a day Alfred asks for a 2pm time as that gives the prisoners time to come in from the fields. However, from Dec.15^th to Jan.15, the prisoners are allowed a break from fieldwork and stay at the prison, available all day, which allows us to do an AM or PM crusade. In addition, during those dates, NO ONE is allowed to visit the prisons; no church groups, no NGO’s and no family ONLY IRM is allowed to enter and have all the time we need for our crusade. Because on other days, we have to compete with them for time. That should tell you how much God has opened doors for us and how much favor we have found with the Ugandan government. Please continue to pray that we would to find favor with them.

The drive to the prison was less than an hour even though we had to drive through some village roadwork. The O.C. was at a meeting but his staff did a good job of welcoming us. The 140 prisoners had mats to sit on in a room that was adequate so they were not scrunched together and I had the opportunity to greet them before the 18 women entered to sit on the right hand side of the room where there was another mat them. I was glad that I had the opportunity to greet some of them before we started.

Today was hard for me as once again they did not speak Luganda of Swahili only Luo. When I heard that one prisoner said he understood English I prayed, “Dear Jesus, regardless to what the translator says, please Holy Spirit cause them to hear what they need to hear to receive Christ as Savior.” The young man tried to follow me but kept stopping me to repeat what I had said. At first, he said I was not talking loud enough and moved to my other side so he could observe my mouth. I do not think of myself having an axcent but the guys assure me that I do. But after the prisoner stopped me a number of times I started speaking in very short sentences but I started to forget each time where I was in my message so I felt I needed to explain to the prisoners why I was having to ask Alfred where I was in the message. I told them about the tumor in my skull and how the radiation had damaged the nerves on top of my brain, my comprehension and memory banks and that by stopping so many times to repeat what I said I then could not remember my next part of the message. Talk about a humbling experience!

But, something really interesting happened when I started to lead them in the prayer of salvation and it happened through the entire prayer. I said, “Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for me.” All the prisoners began to repeat the prayer in Luo at the same time the inmate was translating my words in Luo. It was if they understood exactly what I had said with absolutely no translation. When the guys and I talked about it later Aaron said how surprised he was and that it was if they understood my English words. They did the same thing when I led then in the prayer to forgive. PRAISE JESUS the Holy Spirit caused them to hear what they needed to hear today. They boldly responded to each invitation.

When we ended the crusade, I gave the women each a donated scarf and 3 children a crochet cap.

On the way home I saw the most darling little girl alongside the road who would not smile at me but when I gave her a cap she put it to her nose, smelled it followed by a tiny smile that brighter her whole face. As we continued to drive, Alfred spotted a woman carrying a container of bananas on her head so we stopped and bought some. I found a lovely scarf for her accompanied by a tract and as we drove away, I noted she was standing there reading the tract with a man I assumed was her husband.

I have eaten dinner and it is now almost 8pm so it is time for me to bathe and get to bed. Tomorrow is an early morning as we have quite a drive and we do two crusades to do.

Please continue to  pray for the prisoner and for us.

That none would be lost,

Arlene