prision ministry

As February comes to an end I realize that I am halfway through my time here and things just now seem to be getting busy. I am teaching English 3 hours a week at the Colegio Menno Americano school to the primary level. I teach levels Pre first grade to second grade. It is quite challenging as I have very energetic students. I also am continuing to work with the rest of my team to organize the school library which has become a bigger project then we anticipated. I am also contimue to go twice a week to another town called Anapoima to work with the poorer communities there.

I got involved in the prison ministry after my host dad (who is the pastor at the La Mesa Mennonite Church) came home after one of his weekly visits to the jail and mentioned that there is a North American inmate there. He then told me that this person does not speak much Spanish and would be interested in someone who spoke English to come and talk to him. So after much thought about who he was going to ask, my host dad decided to ask me. Of course I responded with a yes. So once every week ( on Thursdays) I am accompanying a group of men and women to an all mens jail. We have a time of worship and then a lesson and some time to talk individually with the inmates. During this time another women accompanies me as I share the gospel with the North American inmate in English. After some time of sharing I then pray for him. I am there for an hour and a half each Thursday. The group of people that go include a pastor from Bogota as well as some members from his church, my host dad, some people from my church and myself.

Being a female in an all mens prison is a challenge in itself. When I first entered the jail I was nervous because I had never done anything like that before. However I soon relaxed and was able to interact with the inmates. As I listened to the story of the North American inmate I realized that he knew quite alot about Christianity as he had grown up in a Catholic School. The more we talked the more he told me his story, he admitted that he needed to change his life but did not know where, when or how he was going to accomplish that change. A highlight was getting to meet him and sharing the truth in English. One of the biggest things I have learned through this is that prison inmates are not bad people but rather people who have made bad choices in life and are recieving the consequences of their actions.

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40 "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'

I have seen this passage lived in so many ways through the lives the of the Colombian people. I realized this when I was visiting Barranquilla with my host family. While there we were hosted by friends and family who so graciously opened up their homes to us. The first morning we were their we awoke to a breakfast buffet of plantains, whole fish (head, tail, eyes, fins and everything else), a meat ball like thing, yuca, cheese, freshly squeezed orange juice and bread. Then later on in the day as we went to various houses to visit we were offered something to eat or drink and sometimes both. This went on the whole 2 weeks we were their as it is part of the Latina culture. Also another example I saw of this was when a women by the name of Martha offered to host me for several nights even though she had just met me that day. She had lived in the US for awhile and using her knowledge that Americans eat vegetables and fruit she graciously offered me a lot of it which I happily accepted since I could feel myself lacking in the nutriants from vegtables ( Colombians don´t really eat vegetables) since I had not eaten anything but rice, meat, plantains and potatoes for three days prior to that. Another example is I was invited to spend the night at my host mom´s sister´s home and having not brought any extra clothes with me she lent me some of hers to sleep in.

The church in La Mesa offers a comedor (or soup kitchen) to children ages 7-14 five days a week during the school year. They serve them lunch as well as a bible lesson. Their is also a group of people who go to the local jail once a week to give a devotional and visit with the immates. My host parents have also invited many people into our home for meals and just to chat.

I really enjoy seeing this being lived out and hope to continue with this kind of hospitality throughout my own life.