Prison Ministry

THis moning I went, as I usually do, to the prison to visit with the female prisoners. Missy always prepares the lesson and I assist by interpetting for a deaf woman who is there. In fact, we translate the lesson into sign language and Hausa...it makes it interesting.

So, today I tried reading the scripture passages in Hausa...not an easy task. They all said that I tried. I'm glad I did it because now I see why even Nigerians have a difficult time reading the Hausa scripture...I had thought that they just ignored punctuation because that is how it sounded, but the language just doesn't flow smoothly.

Anyhow, as they said, I tried...they got one of the guards to come and join us to read the scripture. Often one of the the guards will join us, but most of the time they just listen from their table. I usually leave a copy of the lesson for them. Today one of the guards asked us to bring her a Bible. I think it is cool that we are not only ministering to the prisoners, but also to the guards.

The women have told us that other groups/people come to visit, but I think we the only group that comes each week which is encouraging to them. Murna, the deaf girl who I interpret for, asked me to bring some books for her to read. So, today I pcked up a copy of the Atonement Child, by Francine Rivers, to take her. She was so excited to have a book of her own. She asked me to write in it so that she can remember me when she goes home (Sept. 25!). I also too a couple of others but asked that she leave them at the prison so that the women all have something to read. We are trying to help the prison start a library.

A few of the ladies were down today. One is sad because she has not seen her mother in a long time...her mother lives here in Jos but hasn't been to visit in a while. We hope to contact the mother and ask her to visit. The other is concerned about what to do if she gets out of prison. Here is her story...please pray for her:

She is married and has 5 children. Her husband cheats on her regularly and won't work, so she has to do all the work and the house work. One day she came home and saw that there was food in the house that she had not cooked...one of her husband's mistresses had cooked it. So, she took the food to the mistress and they got into a huge fight. In the midst of the argument she poured a pot of boiling water on the woman. The woman died, so now she is in prison. She has been in prison for at least a month but has yet to go to court. She was in tears today as she asked us about what to do it she gets out of prison...does she go home to an abusive, cheating husband so that she can care for her children or does she not? We have no answer for her right now but can only pray that God will guide her.

Another woman, one who has become a believer since coming to jail back in June,asked if we can deliver a message to a pastor. She would like to ask the pastor to forgive her! She is really growing in her faith, studying, praying, praising! It is amazing to see what God is doing in her life! She is also concerned about what she will do when she gets out...please pray for her, too, her name is Stella.

Last week we took correspondance courses provided by the Emmaus organization for prisoners. All of the women wanted to study and all of them returned the quiz to us today and got the next lesson! What an encouragement! Even the one woman who is Muslim is doing the study...pray for her that she can understand that she can not follow Mohammad and Jesus at the same time.

I know this is a lot to pray about but it is such an exciting ministry! These women are hungry for the Word- and have plenty of time to grow...I am so blessed to be able to visit them each week.