El Buen Pastor Women's Prison (cont.)

The living conditions at the prison are pretty bleak. The girls don't have individual cells, only massive rooms with rows of beds, laundry hanging everywhere, cockroaches scattering, all inside damp musty concrete block walls. The prison grounds were converted from an old convent and now look like a horror movie set. The building's ornate decorations and corbels, unkempt, rusty, and falling apart, are as broken and weary as it's inhabitants.

They eat beans, rice, hot dogs, and occasionally eggs, for every meal. They are not allowed to have fruit for the possibility of turning it into alcohol. I'm still not sure why they are not given vegetables. They are allowed outside for 1 hour, only 2 times a week. 20 minute phone calls are scheduled 4 times a week. I really don't understand how they survive.

A local news channel recently did an investigative series at the prison (in fact, the footage was shot the very same day I (Jamie) visited for the first time in February). Unfortunately it is all in Spanish of course. We attempted to translate and add subtitles for you but couldn't figure out how to add them large enough to see. Besides, at the rate we were going uh...it would have been a while. Hopefully you can get an idea of what what's going on and at least get a visual of the ladies and their surroundings.

If you would like to know more about what is being said in the videos, please contact us by phone or email and we would be happy to translate for you.

Women's Prison Ministry

Last night was my (Jamie)second meeting with Bianca, a 20 year old German girl serving a 6 year sentence for drug trafficking, in El Buen Pastor women's prison. She has been there ever since the day she was caught at the San Jose airport smuggling cocaine in her luggage 1 1/2 years ago.

Bianca is understandably depressed. She is not only alienated from the other girls culturally, but doesn't not even have the privilege of family visits since they are in Germany. She filed papers one year ago for a transfer to finish her sentence in Germany, but who knows how long they will be caught up in red tape. She will not know if her transfer has been accepted until a few hours before she is taken away that same day.

Bianca has recently accepted the Lord but is still not sure what that means in her life, how to pray, or how to read her Bible. I will be meeting with Bianca every other Wednesday night to disciple her. My goal is to just build a friendship with her and allow the Lord to do the rest.

Thanks to Pastor Peter at Countryside, I now have an awesome bible study to do with her called Just for Starters. It has 7 lessons that cover just the basics and even teaches you how to read a passage and how to pray. It is really just perfect for her so I am really looking forward to it!

Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to pray for Bianca as she steps out of her comfort zone and reaches out to the Lord. Please also continue to pray for me, I am out of my comfort zone as well, that the Lord would use me to work mightily in Bianca's life, and that I would step aside and allow His words to shine through.

I will be posting soon on the living conditions in the prison with some local news reels...

Life Lesson #1,367,540...

Have you ever been worried about something, thinking,"poor me... this isn't fair... how are we going to make it better?" Look out...It's a perfect opportunity for God to issue a reality check.

Last week we were at the end of the month, and the end of our budget. We had about 12,000 colones (about $24) left for food for the last 2 weeks. At first it didn't seem too bad, then our cupboards started getting bare. We share this with you not to make a pity party out of it, but in honesty, for perspective. We started wondering how we were going to make it on this budget. What happens if something unexpected comes up? As the days past, I (Jamie) started getting a little down, thinking, "How am I going to keep my family healthy?" and I began to feel a little sorry for myself. (Have you ever been there?)

Last Friday night, out of the blue, we had an unexpected knock at our gate. There was our friend Richard, with a bag of deliciously BBQ'd ribs and a salad. "I was just walking our dinner guest home," he said, "and we thought we'd share our leftovers with you." There was our dinner and lunch for the next day. Check point #1.

On Sunday, we went to our little church. It's a very simple church. They use an overhead projector with hand written songs, a variety of plain folding chairs (1/4 of which are broken) and meet in the small upstairs room of an office building. The pastor and his family are some of the sweetest and most generous people we have ever met. It's a wonder how they can feed their family of 7 on the average pastor's income, about 500,000 colones ($1200) a month. Keep in mind that groceries here are no less expensive than they are in the states, some items cost significantly more, and the average rent is $600.

After the service, the pastor's wife asked us how we make our income. I briefly explained, in my caveman Spanish, that we receive donations from supporters. She nodded her head and walked away. For a second, I thought maybe I had said something wrong, but then she came back carrying a large, heavy grocery bag. "Here," she said in Spanish, "this is our contribution, it's a gift." Every ounce of me wanted to say, "No, please don't. You need it more than we do." but I graciously accepted it, thanked her profusely, and started walking home fighting back tears as we went.
When we got home, I opened the bag and started to cry. "OK God, I get it. I need to trust you. You will provide. Thank you!"

This is what was in the bag...
rice, beans, pasta, salt, and soup mix...and a whole lot of Jesus!